Li Shi was increasingly satisfied with her son-in-law Lei Ting. Although she was not usually eloquent, seeing Lei Ting make a special trip back to pay his respects to her, she held onto him for a long time, asking after his health and showing concern.

After Lei Pan’er finished practicing her calligraphy, she also ran over, happily performing proper greetings to Li Shi and Ren Yaoqi, then obediently sat beside Ren Yaohua. This child used to love throwing herself at Ren Yaohua, but now that Ren Yaohua was pregnant, even though no one had specifically taught her, she knew the proper boundaries and would no longer bump into Ren Yaohua. She was so well-behaved and sensible that one could not help but love her.

Li Shi teased her, “Is it a little brother or sister in your mother’s belly?”

Lei Pan’er smiled brightly, “It’s a little brother! Pan’er likes little brothers!”

Li Shi was so amused she couldn’t stop laughing. She beckoned the child over and held her in her arms, “Why do you like little brothers?”

Lei Pan’er pouted, “Mother already has Pan’er. It’s better to have a little brother. A little sister definitely wouldn’t be as smart and adorable as Pan’er.”

Everyone burst into laughter.

When Lei Ting took Lei Pan’er away so that Ren Yaohua and Li Shi could continue their private conversation, Ren Yaohua asked about Ren Yaoqi’s marriage.

She only asked Ren Yaoqi one question: “Are you willing yourself?”

Ren Yaoqi smiled and nodded.

Ren Yaohua looked at her once and asked no more. When she had first heard about the marriage between Second Young Master Xiao and Ren Yaoqi, she had somewhat suspected that Prince Xian’s mansion wanted to use Ren Yaoqi for a marriage alliance, just like when Li Shi had been married into the Ren family years ago. She had been planning to return to her maternal home to inquire clearly, but Lei Ting had stopped her.

Lei Ting had patiently analyzed the situation for her, helping her calm down. Ren Yaohua realized that, given Ren Yaoqi’s intelligence, if she truly were unwilling, she would certainly find a way to create some disturbance to refuse the marriage, just as Ren Yaoqi had prevented her from marrying Han Yunqian, Qiu Yun, and Zeng Kui back then.

Now, hearing Ren Yaoqi personally acknowledge it, Ren Yaohua felt relieved. Just as Ren Yaoqi didn’t want to see her entrust herself to the wrong person, she naturally hoped Ren Yaoqi could marry a satisfactory husband.

As for the outside rumors that Second Young Master Xiao was in poor health, she might have had concerns in the past. But now that she had married Lei Ting, she had gained her insights about marriage. Some couples who spend a lifetime together might not compare to those who spend just a few years together. She now understood the principle that “white hair can be as strangers, while chance meetings can become old friends.” Given Ren Yaoqi’s intelligence, if she could regard Second Young Master Xiao favorably, then Second Young Master Xiao must have his merits, and these merits were at least enough to offset his disadvantages.

Having understood this point, Ren Yaohua felt at ease.

Regarding the Ren family’s continued desire to bring Ren Shimin back, the three women also discussed this matter. Ren Yaohua rarely refrained from expressing her opinion. Upon hearing that Ren Shimin didn’t want to return to the Ren family, she said nothing. No matter how deep the affection, it cannot withstand repeated turmoil and trampling.

Under the earnest entreaties of Lei Ting and Ren Yaohua, Li Shi and Ren Yaoqi stayed at the Lei family for lunch before returning home.

When leaving, both Li Shi and Ren Yaohua’s eyes showed reluctance. Li Shi repeatedly reminded Ren Yaohua to take good care of her pregnancy, temporarily leave household affairs to Nanny Zhou and the others, and never try to be too strong. If she needed anything, she should immediately send someone back to inform her. Nanny Zhou would select good wet nurses and servant girls for the child. In short, she had thought of everything for Ren Yaohua.

Ren Yaohua agreed to everything and escorted Li Shi and Ren Yaoqi to the entrance of her courtyard, where Li Shi refused to let her escort them any further.

After returning from the Lei family, Li Shi was in excellent spirits. As parents, nothing was more important than seeing their children living happily.

Next, Li Shi began leading Ren Yaoqi in preparing for the New Year. Fortunately, they had few people and weren’t living with several branches of the family, so there was much less to handle.

Li Shi also didn’t constantly pressure Ren Yaoqi to embroider her trousseau. The wedding garments for the Yanbei Prince’s mansion were prepared by the mansion according to custom. Ren Yaoqi didn’t need to embroider her wedding dress; she only needed to embroider a red bridal veil for herself.

Li Shi even joked with Ren Yaoqi that, fortunately, she was marrying into a prince’s mansion; otherwise, given Ren Yaoqi’s needlework skills, to avoid embarrassing both her maternal and marital families, she would have had to secretly hire professional embroiderers.

Although Ren Yaoqi’s needlework wasn’t excellent, it wasn’t so poor as to be unseeable. It was just much more ordinary compared to Li Shi and Ren Yaohua. In needlework, the only things she could take pride in were designing patterns and matching colors.

Because Ren Yaoqi could save considerable time on embroidering her trousseau compared to others, Li Shi didn’t confine her as strictly as she had confined Ren Yaohua. Instead, thinking that after marrying into the prince’s mansion, she would encounter many situations, she often kept Ren Yaoqi by her side, having Nanny Zhou teach her more about social relations. Even if Li Shi wasn’t particularly clever, she knew that what one needed to learn for marrying into an ordinary family versus a prince’s mansion was completely different.

A few days before New Year’s, the Ren family again sent someone to invite Ren Shimin back, but he refused again. Regarding whether to send New Year gifts to the Ren family, Li Shi consulted Ren Shimin, who said it wasn’t necessary. When it came to being decisive, perhaps no one in the entire Ren family could match Ren Shimin. When he said he was severing ties with the Ren family, he truly severed all ties, leaving no room for reconciliation.

This year also passed peacefully and smoothly. Nanny Zhou didn’t return until after the first lunar month. Originally, Li Shi had wanted Nanny Zhou to stay until Ren Yaohua safely gave birth, but Ren Yaohua refused. Ren Yaohua’s request for help from her maternal family was unavoidable, but now the fetus in her womb was past three months, and Nanny Zhou had arranged most of the Lei family’s affairs during this period. If the maternal family’s chief stewardess continued to stay at the Lei family, it would inevitably invite gossip. So after the first month, Nanny Zhou returned. Fortunately, the dowry servants Ren Yaohua had brought were all capable. After experiencing a New Year and receiving Nanny Zhou’s training, they had all begun handling inner courtyard affairs with ease.

After the New Year, rumors began circulating that Second Young Master Yun was getting engaged again. This time, the chosen girl was Eldest Miss Meng. The Meng family was one of the top families in Yanbei. Eldest Miss Meng was the legitimate daughter of the main branch, raised since childhood by Old Madam Meng. She was well-educated, gentle, and virtuous – naturally a suitable match for Second Young Master Yun.

However, Eldest Madam Guo, who was Eldest Miss Meng’s birth mother, Madam Guo, had originally had some reservations about this marriage. The last time Guo Yujiao and Miss Jiang had fought, Guo Yujiao was pushed into a pond in the dead of winter, and the two Miss Jiangs had caused a major scandal. This incident had brought Madam Guo considerable blame from her own natal family, and all of this was caused by young ladies competing jealously over Yun Wenfang. Consequently, the relationship between the Meng and Yun families had also grown distant.

However, it was said that this marriage between the Meng and Yun families was facilitated by the Princess Consort, and the Yun family was also interested in repairing relations with the Meng and Guo families, so this marriage was ultimately arranged.

It was just said that Second Young Master Yun had sustained some injuries on the battlefield and needed to recuperate at home for several months, so when this marriage was announced, the party involved was nowhere to be seen. The wedding date for Second Young Master Yun and Eldest Miss Meng was set for October this year.

After Yun Wenfang’s marriage was settled, it was Eldest Miss Yun Qiuchen’s turn.

Yun Qiuchen and Young Master Han Yunqian could be considered a talented and beautiful pair. Both families had previously intended to form a marriage alliance, so the two families became close again.

Just as everyone in Yanzhou was waiting to see the Yun family’s double happiness, another major event occurred.

Somehow, the capital had also heard about Yanbei’s Thousand Gold Banquet and aroused the interest of the current Empress Dowager. So for this year’s Thousand Gold Banquet, the Empress Dowager planned to send ten young ladies to participate in Yanbei’s Thousand Gold Banquet to compete with Yanbei’s young ladies in talents and skills.

When this news broke, everyone in Yanbei from noble families to common people were amazed, wondering if the Empress Dowager had too much idle time on her hands.

Yanbei’s Thousand Gold Banquet was essentially for the various noble families of Yanbei to select daughters-in-law. What was the court doing sending people to interfere? Even if the southern girls were all beautiful as flowers and multi-talented, the prominent families of Yanbei wouldn’t marry them into their homes!

No one understood the Empress Dowager’s intentions with this move, but throughout Yanbei, from teahouses and taverns to inner courtyards, everyone’s conversations revolved around the Thousand Gold Banquet. Speculation about the Empress Dowager’s motives was varied, with most people leaning toward conspiracy theories.

The people of Yanbei were overthinking this time. The reason the Empress Dowager sent people to participate in the Thousand Gold Banquet was simply because of a rumor.

It was said that Prince Xian’s little granddaughter resembled the late Noble Consort Wan and was extremely beautiful. Even Second Young Master Xiao was bewitched by her beauty and would marry no one but her, which was why he resolutely refused the Empress Dowager’s bestowed marriage, because Second Young Master Xiao looked down on Eldest Miss Yan.

It should be known that Empress Dowager Yan had more than once mentioned in public that Eldest Miss Yan had the charm of her youth, and Eldest Miss Yan had therefore been praised as the capital’s greatest beauty. Now, someone was saying that Eldest Miss Yan was not as beautiful as Ren Yaoqi, who resembled Noble Consort Wan. Wasn’t this saying that the Empress Dowager was not as beautiful as Noble Consort Wan?

The person the Empress Dowager hated and detested most in her life was Noble Consort Wan, without exception.

When Noble Consort Wan was alive, although her birth couldn’t compare to Empress Dowager Yan’s and she wasn’t as young as Empress Dowager Yan, she surpassed her in every way. Wherever Noble Consort Wan was present, the late Emperor’s gaze would never fall on other beauties in the harem. What’s more, Noble Consort Wan was too clever – even if all the women in the harem united, they couldn’t match her alone. It was impossible to catch her in any wrongdoing. In the end, the imperial concubines could only bow to her wishes, and even Empress Dowager Yan had once submitted to Noble Consort Wan.

So whenever anything involved Noble Consort Wan, Empress Dowager Yan would lose her composure, and this had been the case for many years.

When Ren Yaoqi learned that Empress Dowager Yan would send young ladies from the capital to participate in the Thousand Gold Banquet, she couldn’t help but think of that conversation she had overheard between Second Miss Meng and the others.

This Thousand Gold Banquet was advocated by Eldest Miss Yun Qiuchen. She wondered what role Yun Qiuchen played in this affair – was there calculation involved, or was it pure coincidence?

Ren Yaoqi had interacted with Yun Qiuchen multiple times. Although they weren’t close friends, she had to admit that she was a thoughtful and intelligent woman, excellent in appearance, family background, temperament, and talent. Of course, she also had more schemes than ordinary women and greater ambitions than ordinary women.

The Empress Dowager had made it clear she would send people to participate in Yanbei’s Thousand Gold Banquet. The Yanbei Prince’s mansion had no reason to prevent this, and the Empress Dowager hadn’t given the Yanbei Prince’s mansion a chance to refuse. She was already selecting outstanding young ladies from prominent families in the capital. This year’s Thousand Gold Banquet was in May. The young ladies selected by the Empress Dowager would depart from the capital by April at the latest, and it was already February.

Regardless of the Empress Dowager’s purpose in interfering with Yanbei’s Thousand Gold Banquet, this year’s banquet had become the grandest event of the year in Yanbei. Many young ladies who originally weren’t qualified to participate in the Thousand Gold Banquet were looking for opportunities and using various connections to participate. People all have competitive spirits, and these girls’ thoughts were simple – they wanted to outshine all the women sent by the Empress Dowager.

However, because the Empress Dowager was interfering, this year’s Thousand Gold Banquet invitations were more precious than any previous year. Originally, because one session of the Thousand Gold Banquet hadn’t been held, some eligible young ladies from prominent families hadn’t had the chance to participate and had been waiting for this session to show themselves.

So the Yun family finally announced that, besides issuing only two invitations per family, young ladies who were already engaged or not between twelve and fifteen years old were not within the invitation quota.

Learning this, Ren Yaoqi became even more composed. She didn’t want to wade into these troubled waters.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as she wished. Ren Yaoqi was among the first young ladies to receive an invitation from the Yun family.