Upon hearing this, the maidservant’s face reddened, and she stood frozen in place.

Ren Yaoqi smiled and said to Ren Yaohua, “She’s not from Baihei Town, so she probably doesn’t know the rules of ice skating competitions. Third Sister, could you lend me a tael of silver? Just consider it asking for good luck.”

Ren Yaohua glared coldly at the maidservant for a long while, but finally instructed Xiangqin to take out a tael of silver and give it to the maidservant. The maidservant curtsied and withdrew as if granted amnesty.

“Xiangqin, stay. The rest of you go play over there.” After Ren Yaohua dismissed all the people behind her, she looked Ren Yaoqi up and down several times and frowned, “Do you know that Young Master Wen?”

Ren Yaoqi shook her head, “When he came to the mansion with Cousin, I encountered them once in the corridor. We exchanged greetings and went together to pay respects to Grandmother. After that, I rarely left my courtyard, and even when I saw him from afar, we didn’t speak again.”

Ren Yaohua looked at Ren Yaoqi, seeming to judge the truthfulness of her words, “I noticed he looked in your direction several times earlier. I originally didn’t know who he was looking at.”

Ren Yaoqi was slightly surprised. She hadn’t expected Ren Yaohua to be so observant.

She had felt Yun Wenfang’s gaze earlier and had wondered about it secretly, not being entirely sure who Yun Wenfang was looking at. In this lifetime, she clearly hadn’t provoked him. Usually, she hadn’t even deliberately avoided occasions where he was present – she considered her behavior quite natural. She really couldn’t understand what had attracted his attention.

“Stay away from that person in the future!” Ren Yaohua said with a stern expression.

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but smile bitterly. She also wanted to stay as far away from him as possible.

However, Ren Yaohua thought Ren Yaoqi’s expression showed dismissiveness and sneered, “He’s not some Young Master Wen – he’s the Yun family’s second young master. I deliberately had people inquire after hearing a few words from Eighth Sister earlier. Quite a few people in this mansion know his identity. Didn’t you notice Fifth Aunt’s attitude toward him? Everyone knows what she’s planning. Besides Fifth Aunt, quite a few others are keeping an eye on this Young Master Yun. Fifth Aunt’s maternal family, the Lin family, and Second Aunt’s maternal family, the Su family, are both in Yunyang City, and the Su family and Yun family are even related by marriage.”

Ren Yaoqi nodded, “Mm, I understand.”

Ren Yaohua was still somewhat unaccustomed to Ren Yaoqi’s obedience and continued lecturing, “You also know what kind of family the Yun family is. There’s still an unmarried princess in Prince Yan Bei’s mansion. This Young Master Yun may not even be able to make his own decisions.”

Ren Yaoqi smiled sincerely at Ren Yaohua, “I understand. Thank you, Third Sister.”

Ren Yaohua was startled, then uncomfortably turned her face away and snorted coldly, “I don’t want Mother to worry and grieve over your thoughtlessness in the future.”

At this moment, the deafening sound of gongs and drums rang out again. Xueli and Wujing came running over with somewhat dejected expressions, “That Young Master Wen won, and Fifth Young Master came in fifth.”

Ren Yaoqi was somewhat surprised, “How could it be fifth? Wasn’t it fourth?”

Where would the Ren family’s attendants dare compete with their masters for ranking? The top four should have been those young masters.

Wujing seemed to think of something amusing, “A big fellow ran very fast and was leading far ahead with Young Master Wen earlier. When they reached the opposite shore, somehow he tripped and fell, sliding very far. But after he got up, he caught up again and finished second.”

Ren Yaoqi smiled slightly and didn’t pay it much mind.

“Next, they’re competing in ice ball. Third Miss, Fifth Miss, which team should we choose this time?” Wujing asked enthusiastically.

Ice ball was when several teams competed for a colored ball, with the team that got the ball winning. There would be several rounds, and it was considered the climax of the ice skating competition – the earlier “seizing rank” was just a warm-up.

Ren Yaoqi thought for a moment and consulted with Ren Yaohua, “Third Sister, should we still choose Fifth Brother’s team?”

Several maidservants looked disappointed upon hearing this, obviously thinking Ren Yijian had little chance of winning.

Qingmei, who had returned with everyone else, hurriedly said to Ren Yaoqi, “Miss, Eighth Miss gave Young Master Wen’s team a gold ingot that looked to weigh at least three taels. Ninth Miss also gave Young Master Wen’s and Young Master Qiu’s teams five taels of silver each.”

She was dissatisfied that her mistress had only given a tenth of a tael of silver as prize money and had bet on Fifth Young Master’s team, which obviously couldn’t win.

Ren Yaoqi thought for a moment and asked Xueli, “How much did the others give?”

“Besides, Third Miss gave the same as you, Eldest Young Madam gave five taels of silver to each team. The fourth Miss gave one tael to each team. The Seventh Miss gave two taels to Young Master Han’s team. Miss Han gave one tael to each team. On the young masters’ side, Eldest Young Master gave twenty taels to Fifth Young Master’s team in Fifth Master’s name, and gave fifteen taels to Young Master Qiu’s team himself. Third Young Master… only Third Young Master didn’t give any silver. The other young masters all gave less than Eldest Young Master.”

Ren Yaoqi nodded and asked Ren Yaohua, “In that case, our tenth of a tael of silver is indeed too little. Third Sister, what do you think would be appropriate for this round?”

Ren Yaohua thought for a moment and instructed Wujing, “Then let’s be the same as Fourth Sister and the others – give one tael to each team.”

Ren Yaoqi nodded to Xueli, telling her to do the same.

Ren Yaohua glanced at Ren Yaoqi and stood up, “I’ll go over and watch.”

In the past when the elders were present, the amounts given were according to seniority – the elders gave large sums while they only gave small amounts for show. Generally speaking, the amounts didn’t differ too much, so Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoqi hadn’t paid much attention before. They hadn’t expected that with the elders absent today, some people would break the rules.

Ren Yaoqi knew that although Ren Yaohua didn’t want to stand out in today’s circumstances, her competitive nature also wouldn’t allow her to lose face. Thinking of what she had lectured her about earlier, Ren Yaoqi knew she was sensible and wouldn’t act rashly, so she nodded, “Third Sister, go ahead. I’ll go change clothes.”

The place the Ren family had temporarily designated for changing clothes was a thatched hut not far from the riverbank. Inside, it had been tidied very neatly, incense had been burned, and floor cloths had been laid.

When Ren Yaoqi came out after changing, she saw dozens of people on the ice surface fighting in a mass, with spectators outside the colored flags cheering themselves hoarse. The atmosphere was very lively.

Ren Yaoqi stood on the high riverbank and watched for a while, roughly making out the few people in the center who were fighting magnificently and domineeringly for the ball. She also saw Ren Yijian fall flat on his back because he couldn’t squeeze into the center.

After walking along the riverbank for a while with several strong women arranged by Nanny Zhou and Xueli, just as she was planning to go around from behind the warm pavilion, she suddenly heard rustling sounds coming from somewhere unknown, followed by someone cursing in a low voice, “Damn! Zhu Ruomei! If you don’t let go, my arm’s going to break!”

The women behind Ren Yaoqi were alarmed, but Ren Yaoqi immediately waved her hand to stop their outcry.

“Yuan Dayong, you turtle’s grandson! If you hadn’t tripped me, I could have won the seizing rank. Do you know how much silver those prize money amounts to?” a man said breathlessly and angrily.

Yuan Dayong grimaced in pain, “If I hadn’t tripped you, you’d be kicked out of the coal mine by the overseer as soon as you got back today! Do you think that silver would still end up in your hands?”

“Why wouldn’t what I won end up in my hands? Let anyone try to snatch it!”

“Yes, you’re formidable! But what about your mother and sister? Will they roll up their bedding and run away with you? Your mother is already too sick to get out of bed!”

“You also know about my mother… she’s seriously ill… What do you think I’m fighting so hard for?” Zhu Ruomei’s hoarse voice carried some choking.

Yuan Dayong sighed and consoled him in a low voice, “I knew that’s why I asked my father to let you take someone else’s place. You know that because the rewards for winning competitions are generous, many people beg for the opportunity but can’t get it. You coal mine people can only guard the perimeter – those who can enter are mostly Ren family servants. So everyone understands the rules and knows that as long as there are masters present, you can’t win during the seizing rank. Only you, this blockhead… Sigh! If my father weren’t familiar with the head steward, being kicked out would be getting off easy for both of us.”

As the two spoke, they had already climbed up from the bushes below the riverbank. Before they could stand up, they saw Ren Yaoqi and her group standing not far away.

Ren Yaoqi also saw them – two men wearing Ren family servant clothing, with red and yellow sashes tied around their waists respectively.

The man with the red sash had a fair, clean appearance and looked quite refined. The one with the yellow sash was very tall and robust, with a dark complexion but extremely upright features.

The fair-complexioned man was startled, and his face paled somewhat. He hurriedly pulled the person beside him to kneel on the ground, burying his head low and not daring to look in their direction again.

The tall, robust man also obediently knelt beside the fair man.

“Fifth Miss, what should…” The woman blocking Ren Yaoqi’s front turned around and quietly inquired, meaning whether to call people over to drag away these two who had broken rules and run wild in a place designated as “no entry for idle people” for punishment.

Ren Yaoqi shook her head, “Tell them to leave quickly and not be seen by others.” With that, she stepped forward.

The woman ran to the two men and dismissed them.

At this moment, Ren Yaoqi had already remembered why the name “Zhu Ruomei” had sounded familiar when she heard it.

Three years ago, she had heard of this person. Because the name “Zhu Ruomei” was somewhat unusual, she had remembered it.