Ever since Ren Yaoyu was punished with house arrest last time and Ren Yaoying replaced Ren Yaoyu to live in Ronghua Garden, Ren Yaoyu had regarded Ren Yaoying as her number one enemy. Even Ren Yaohua, who originally didn’t get along with her, had become less detestable in Ren Yaoyu’s eyes.

During these days, Ren Yaoyu had given Ren Yaoying plenty of trouble, but Ren Yaoying refused to take the bait. Instead, she secretly made Ren Yaoyu suffer several setbacks, making Ren Yaoyu hate her to the point where her teeth itched.

The quarrel between the two finally came to a temporary end. Ren Yaoyu’s gaze shifted, and suddenly her face lit up with joy as she called out, “Father, Mother, over here.”

Everyone turned to look and saw Fifth Master Ren Shimao and Fifth Madam Lin Shi, who had been absent all along, walking toward them.

Just then, the young masters were also walking over while chatting and laughing. Lin Shi tugged at Ren Shimao’s sleeve and pointed to their son, who was walking off the field, sweating profusely with a dejected expression. The couple then turned and headed toward Ren Yijian and the others.

Seeing this, Ren Yaoyu glared at Ren Yaoying, then called out “Father, Mother” while quickly walking out to meet them.

The corner of Ren Yaoying’s mouth curved into a slightly sarcastic arc. She turned her head away and spoke with Han You, who was chatting happily with Ren Yaoting from the Eastern Mansion.

The cold wind outside was rather biting. Earlier, when there was excitement to watch, everyone had been infected by the atmosphere on the field and was holding small hand warmers, so they hadn’t felt cold. Now that the competition had paused, these pampered young ladies who lived in luxury couldn’t bear the cold and returned to the warm pavilion one after another.

Ren Yaoqi saw Ren Yaoying, Ren Yaoting, and Han You walking over, seemingly getting along very harmoniously, while Ren Yaoyin, who had originally gone out with Han You, was walking and talking with Ren Yaohua.

“What do you usually do for entertainment? I’ve heard about you for a long time, but never had the chance to meet you. Seeing you today, I feel as close to you as my sister,” Ren Yaoting said intimately, linking arms with Han You.

“Eh? Seventh Sister, where did you hear about Sister You? I only met her once when she came to our Western Mansion last time,” Ren Yaoying asked with a puzzled tone.

Ren Yaoting glanced at Ren Yaoying, “When I went to my maternal grandmother’s house to celebrate her birthday this spring, I heard my eldest female cousin mention her. I suppose my eldest female cousin also heard Young Master Han mention Sister You as his sister. I remember Young Master Han also went to celebrate my maternal grandfather’s birthday, and he’s a fellow student with my second male cousin.”

Ren Yaoting’s mother, Su Shi, was the legitimate eldest daughter of the current head of the Su family.

Han You nodded happily, “My elder brother visited the Su family several times when he was in Yunyang City.”

Ren Yaoying nodded as if suddenly understanding, “No wonder you and Sister You both gave prize money to the maidservant with the yellow sash earlier. So there was this connection.”

Ren Yaoting hummed in agreement and then continued talking quietly with Han You.

However, Ren Yaoying didn’t show any displeasure at being ignored. Instead, she left those two and walked over to sit two seats away from Ren Yaoqi with a smile.

Several young masters were also ushered in. Ren Yaoyu was pestering Ren Yijian with questions, letting out bell-like laughter at appropriate moments. However, Ren Yijian was getting annoyed by the questions and finally couldn’t bear it anymore, shouting, “Ren Yaoyu, since you can’t even tell east from west and have to ask me, I suppose you don’t even know the sun rises in the east? Can’t you at least look up at the sky!”

The smile on Ren Yaoyu’s face froze, her face turning red with suppressed anger. She endured it, but seeing the glances from Yun Wenfang and Qiu Yun ahead, tears welled up in her eyes. Finally, she glared fiercely at her brother and ran away in shame and anger.

Lin Shi secretly glared at her son and smoothed things over with a smile, “These siblings usually have a good relationship and are used to bickering. Now they’re making a scene even when they’re out.”

Ren Yijian stuck out his tongue and quietly made a face.

Several young masters went to change clothes. When Ren Yaoqi and the others saw Fifth Master and his wife approaching, they quickly stood up to pay their respects.

Eldest Young Madam said, “Fifth Uncle, Fifth Aunt, you’re finally here. My husband wanted to wait for you to arrive before starting, but seeing that Yijian and the others had already changed into light clothing, we decided to start first.”

Ren Shimao laughed heartily, “Our carriage had some problems on the way, so we were delayed.”

Could carriage problems delay them for an entire morning? Couldn’t they have sent someone ahead or returned to the Ren mansion to have another carriage sent to pick them up? Everyone was somewhat puzzled.

Lin Shi continued, “Oh, we also happened to encounter Prince Yan Bei’s convoy on the road. They were just taking a brief rest in Baihei Town before rushing back to Yunyang City. My maternal family has some connections with Prince Yan Bei’s mansion, so since we met them, we went to greet them and arranged for some hospitality.”

“Oh? Who from Prince Yan Bei’s mansion is returning at this time? It’s only a few days until the New Year. Could it be that the heir has returned from the capital?” The people of Yan Bei always held some awe toward Prince Yan Bei’s mansion. However, since Prince Yan Bei’s mansion was usually very low-key, this made everyone even more interested in their affairs.

Lin Shi smiled slightly, “How many years has the heir been away since he went to the capital? If he were returning today, how could we not have heard about it? It’s the second son who has returned.”

As soon as Lin Shi said this, there were waves of surprised exclamations around them. Lin Shi looked quite satisfied with this reaction.

“The second son has returned? Didn’t he go overseas to the South Seas to seek immortals and medicine? Why did he suddenly return today? Has his illness been cured?”

“Mother, did you see that second son’s true appearance? Is he, as the rumors say, more handsome than Pan An, flawless as beautiful jade?” Even Ren Yaoyu, who had been angry earlier, was attracted by this topic and gently shook Lin Shi’s arm as she asked.

Hearing this, Lin Shi sighed, “The second son seems not to have found any immortals on this long journey, though according to the guards around him, he did find some medicine. I saw that he brought back several cartloads of tree branches and herbs – you could smell the strong medicinal aroma from far away. If he were well, he would certainly have met with my husband and me. But his current condition… Ah!”

Ren Yaoqi listened from the side with a slight smile.

Lin Shi claimed her maternal family had connections with Prince Yan Bei’s mansion, speaking as if she were familiar with everyone in Prince Yan Bei’s mansion. In fact, in her previous life, Lin Shi had always been urging Fifth Master to curry favor with Prince Yan Bei’s mansion, but unfortunately, she never succeeded in the end.

Second son Xiao probably couldn’t even figure out who they were.

Fifth Master and Fifth Madam had left the group early, presumably having received news beforehand that the second son, Xiao, was returning, and had gone specifically to meet him. Unfortunately, the legendary second son wasn’t someone they could easily meet, so naturally they couldn’t get their wish.

As for that sickly second son, he should indeed have found good medicine on this trip.

When he left Yan Bei two years ago, he was said to be so seriously ill he was near death. He had lied about going to the South Seas to seek immortals and doctors to comfort his mother and grandmother, not wanting them to experience the pain of white-haired people sending off black-haired ones.

He must have had some fortunate encounter this time, so that although he was still sickly afterwards, his condition had improved considerably. At least in her previous life, he was still alive and well when she left.

The women here were all enthusiastically discussing second son Xiao’s affairs. Women always liked to gossip about handsome men.

Over there, the young masters who had competed earlier came out after changing clothes.

Lin Shi smiled at Yun Wenfang, who was walking in front with Qiu Yun, “Zishu, I heard you won several rounds in a row and got quite a lot of prize money. I’m afraid you should treat everyone to a meal.”

Everyone looked at Yun Wenfang and laughed upon hearing this, and Qiu Yun deliberately bumped him with his elbow.

Lin Shi was just taking advantage of her acquaintance with Yun Wenfang to tease him. Yun Wenfang certainly wouldn’t keep the prize money he won for himself – he had rewarded it all to the people on his team.

However, Yun Wenfang replied seriously, “I did indeed receive quite a lot of reward money from the young ladies. If you hadn’t mentioned treating everyone, I would have felt uneasy about it.”

This amused everyone greatly.

The young ladies had been here all morning and had consumed quite a bit of tea, so they all had nannies lead them to relieve themselves. Due to limited space, Lin Shi took Ren Yaoyu and Ren Yaoting, while Eldest Young Madam Zhao Shi went first.

After a while, a nanny came from outside to invite Ren Yaohua, Ren Yaoying, Ren Yaoyin, and Han You to go over, presumably because the first group had come out.

Ren Yaoqi had gone earlier, so she stayed behind to wait for Lin Shi and the others to return.

Over there, the Ren family’s young masters were talking with Qiu Yun, Yun Wenfang, and Han Yunqian.

Not knowing what they were discussing, Third Young Master Ren Yijun suddenly said disdainfully, “Wait until he beats Fifth Sister, then you can crown him champion!”

Everyone’s gaze immediately turned toward Ren Yaoqi, who was sitting alone.