Ren Yaoqi was somewhat baffled.

Ren Yiyan shook his head and lightly patted Ren Yijun’s shoulder, his tone carrying gentle reproach, “Third Brother, we were talking about Yunqian’s chess skills. How did you bring up Third Sister? Didn’t you play chess with Yunqian before?”

Ren Yijun frowned and moved aside to avoid Ren Yiyan’s hand. Not knowing what he was thinking about, his expression became somewhat displeased. He glanced at Han Yunqian sideways, snorted lightly, and turned his head to the side without answering Ren Yiyan’s question.

Ren Yiyan felt somewhat helpless and could only smile apologetically at Han Yunqian.

Han Yunqian withdrew his calm, dark gaze from Ren Yaoqi, smiled and nodded at Ren Yiyan, then thought for a moment and asked Ren Yijun, “Brother Yijun, is there something Yunqian did wrong that inadvertently offended you? Yunqian is willing to apologize for any inappropriate words or actions.”

During these days, he had naturally noticed that Ren Yijun’s attitude toward him was vastly different from before. He had long heard that Third Young Master Ren had an eccentric temperament and unpredictable moods, so he hadn’t paid special attention to it earlier. Looking at it now, it seemed Ren Yijun harbored some grudge against him over something.

Before Ren Yijun could speak, Ren Yiyan answered for him, “Don’t misunderstand, Yunqian. My third brother just has this kind of temperament, but he means no harm. Please don’t take it to heart.”

Ren Yijun glanced at Ren Yiyan. Although somewhat displeased, he didn’t say anything more.

Qiu Yun stroked his chin and smiled at Ren Yijun, “Did Third Cousin mean earlier that Fifth Cousin Sister plays chess even better than Yunqian?”

Ren Yiyan looked at Ren Yijun in confusion. Seeing that he still maintained his indifferent attitude, he could only continue answering for him, “Third Brother has been playing chess with Fifth Sister frequently lately and has probably suffered several defeats. That’s just his nature – he’s happy when someone beats him. Fifth Sister’s music, chess, calligraphy, and painting were personally taught by Third Uncle, so she’s considerably better than ordinary boudoir ladies. But saying her chess skills are better than Yunqian’s is just Yijun favoring his sister as an elder brother.”

Although Ren Yiyan’s words sounded reasonable, those who understood Ren Yijun’s character knew he wasn’t the type to practice brotherly harmony and sibling unity. When he praised someone, it must be because that person surpassed him in areas he cared about.

Even Han Yunqian, who had only limited contact with Ren Yijun, looked thoughtfully toward Ren Yaoqi again.

Qiu Yun looked at Yun Wenfang and suddenly clapped his hands with a laugh, “Then I must ask Fifth Cousin Sister about this. Why does she only play chess with Third Cousin? I didn’t know she was good at more than just painting. Zishu, come with me.”

With that, Qiu Yun grabbed Yun Wenfang and strode toward Ren Yaoqi under everyone’s surprised gazes.

Ren Yiyan wanted to say something, but suddenly remembering what his father had mentioned earlier about marriage alliances between the Yun, Qiu, and Ren families, he watched the retreating figures of Qiu Yun and Yun Wenfang and ultimately swallowed his words of objection.

Han Yunqian also glanced at Qiu Yun and Yun Wenfang. Although he remained in place without moving, he began pondering the dramatic change in attitude from Ren Yijun and Ren Shimin toward him.

Over there, Ren Yaoqi saw Qiu Yun and Yun Wenfang walking toward her and frowned slightly.

Although she was the only one sitting alone in the corner among the female family members, there were many attending nannies and maidservants in the warm pavilion. In broad daylight, surrounded mostly by close relatives and family friends, no one felt there was anything improper about Qiu Yun and Yun Wenfang’s behavior.

“Fifth Cousin Sister,” Qiu Yun called with an amiable smile.

Ren Yaoqi stood up and curtsied, calling out “Cousin, Young Master Wen.”

Qiu Yun exchanged pleasantries with Ren Yaoqi for a while but didn’t mention chess again.

Afterward, he simply walked a few steps to pick refreshments and fruits from the fruit plate on a nearby small table. He even smiled warmly as he directed the two maidservants behind Ren Yaoqi to help him brew tea and crack pine nuts.

His chosen distance was perfectly calculated – if they spoke quietly here, those maidservants couldn’t hear clearly, yet it would make others think they had a clear view of the situation here.

When he dismissed her maidservants, Ren Yaoqi became somewhat alert, feeling this situation seemed familiar. However, outsiders couldn’t see anything improper about it, and she couldn’t react too strongly.

Looking at Yun Wenfang, who stood before her without speaking, Ren Yaoqi was thinking of calling over the two maidservants who were serving tea at a distance when Yun Wenfang spoke, “Thank you for the prize money you gave.”

This sounded very peaceful, without the tension from when they were together in her previous life. It seemed like a good beginning, so Ren Yaoqi smiled and nodded, “I haven’t congratulated Young Master Wen on winning first place in the earlier competition.”

“Are you afraid of me?”

Yun Wenfang suddenly asked this somewhat uncertain question in a low voice, which was completely unrelated to their previous conversation.

Ren Yaoqi was slightly startled, then smiled and shook her head in denial, “How could that be?”

Yun Wenfang’s thick eyebrows furrowed slightly, his bright star-like eyes fixed on Ren Yaoqi, serious and confused.

Ren Yaoqi didn’t like his gaze, although it contained no malice and could even be said to have some childlike innocence.

But she always felt it carried an innate aggressive aura. Perhaps because he was still young and extremely handsome, this feeling wasn’t very obvious to others.

However, Ren Yaoqi felt somewhat unsettled.

“I said before that I wanted to see your paintings. Did you paint anything for me?” Yun Wenfang asked matter-of-factly.

Ren Yaoqi suppressed her temper and looked up at Yun Wenfang, speaking peacefully yet seriously, “Young Master Wen, although our two families are old friends, after all, there are distinctions between men and women. You should know how much damage private exchanges would cause to a woman’s reputation. Therefore, please forgive me for not being able to give you my things without a reason.”

Ren Yaoqi reasoned with him. She bore some responsibility for how things had turned out in her previous life, and in this life, she didn’t want to make an enemy of a thirteen or fourteen-year-old child. She tried to treat him as a junior, which would allow her more tolerance toward him.

“Is this why you won’t talk to me?” Contrary to Ren Yaoqi’s expectations, Yun Wenfang didn’t get angry at her refusal but instead smiled.

Ren Yaoqi found this person’s thoughts truly difficult to fathom. Just as she was about to nod and answer “yes,” the smile on Yun Wenfang’s face faded again.

“You don’t remember me anymore.”

Although he murmured this to himself, Ren Yaoqi heard it.

Her expression couldn’t help but change, and she almost thought Yun Wenfang had experienced a previous life like hers. But thinking it over carefully, she felt something was wrong, so she asked, “What do you mean by that, Young Master Wen? Have we… met before?”

She had always thought their first meeting was in the corridor of the Ren family’s main residence. Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but carefully recall memories from her previous life, but too much time had passed, and she really couldn’t remember.

Yun Wenfang looked at her confused expression, pressed his lips together, and seemed somewhat dissatisfied.

Just as he was about to speak, a nanny who had earlier accompanied Ren Yaohua to relieve herself came running in urgently. After looking around, she immediately walked toward Ren Yaoqi.

As she approached Ren Yaoqi, she was leisurely stopped by Qiu Yun, who had been concentrating on enjoying refreshments, “Which household’s nanny are you, running around recklessly without knowing proper manners?”

Ren Yaoqi recognized her as a useful nanny under Nanny Zhou’s command and smiled at Qiu Yun, “This is a nanny from my mother’s side. She probably got anxious seeing no one attending to me and hurried over. Please don’t blame her, Cousin.”

These words made the two maidservants standing beside Qiu Yun serving him attentively blush. They lowered their heads and slowly moved over.

Qiu Yun raised his eyebrows slightly, coughed lightly, then calmly lowered his head to sip his tea without changing expression, no longer finding fault with the nanny’s manners.

Ren Yaoqi stood up and said to the nanny, “Third Aunt and Elder Sister-in-law haven’t returned yet? Come with me to greet them.” With that, she smiled and nodded at Yun Wenfang, then walked directly outside.