Concubine Fang’s lips moved slightly, and she couldn’t hold her chopsticks steady, finally putting them down.

“Master won’t let Yaoying marry into the He family, will he?” She looked at the man beseechingly, wanting to hear a definitive answer from him, but unfortunately, the man’s expression remained indifferent throughout.

Concubine Fang said to herself: “Ren Yaohua married the head of the Lei family, Ren Yaoqi is marrying into the Yanbei Prince’s mansion – how could their younger sister marry that kind of person? Master definitely won’t agree, he won’t agree!”

The man glanced at Concubine Fang without responding to her, then turned and left. He was only responsible for telling this woman the news from outside – everything else had nothing to do with him.

Concubine Fang muttered neurotically in a low voice: “It’s not supposed to be like this… it shouldn’t be like this… my children all have good fates… better than anyone else’s…”

As she spoke, tears flowed down Concubine Fang’s cheeks, though she seemed unaware of it herself.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Ren Yaoqi was awakened by her maids. The nannies from the Yanbei Prince’s mansion led servant girls carrying trays and various boxes as they filed into Ren Yaoqi’s west wing.

Ren Yaoqi’s boudoir was relatively spacious, but with over twenty people entering, it immediately felt somewhat crowded.

The nannies and maids all had beaming faces. They curtsied to Ren Yaoqi in unison, then began their respective duties, serving Ren Yaoqi as she bathed and changed clothes, washing and dressing her. Because they were well-trained, although there were many people, everything was orderly and neither chaotic nor noisy.

The fragrant bath water had been specially prepared – aromatic and elegant, with a subtle rather than overpowering scent. A woman’s bath on her wedding day was a ritual for warding off evil and praying for blessings, meant to dispel impurities and pray for health.

The weather was very good on this day. The previous few days had been somewhat overcast, but today the sun was shining brightly – a very good omen. However, while the omen was good, it also meant Ren Yaoqi would suffer more today, because her ceremonial dress had layer upon layer and was extremely complex.

Ren Yaoqi’s auspicious dress was deep yellow with a total of eight layers. Although each layer wasn’t particularly heavy, when worn all together, they still made one feel very stuffy. However, these were rules established by the ancestors, and Ren Yaoqi would only wear this once in her lifetime, so she could endure it.

The nannies and maids from the Yanbei Prince’s mansion were all very meticulous, carefully smoothing out even the slightest wrinkle on the ceremonial dress. Just the bathing and dressing took a full hour.

Ren Yaoqi didn’t recognize the “Blessed Nanny” who came to arrange her hair. She was quite elderly and was said to be someone with both sons and daughters who was very fortunate. Ren Yaoqi sat quietly before the dressing table, listening to the Blessed Nanny chanting while arranging her hair, and felt somewhat dazed. It seemed that only at this moment did she truly realize she was about to marry and become a wife.

In her previous life, when Ren Yaoqi was young, she had also had vague fantasies about her future husband. Like every ordinary girl, she couldn’t help imagining what kind of person he would be and whether he would love her. But later, fate played tricks on her. After Ren Yaoqi left Yanbei, she never again had thoughts of marriage, and even those hazy fantasies from her youth gradually faded from memory, never to be recalled again.

In this life, initially, Ren Yaoqi had only thought about changing the fate of her loved ones. She hadn’t expected to encounter Xiao Jingxi.

At this moment, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but carefully recall whether the person she had hoped for in her youth had any similarities to Second Young Master Xiao. After thinking for a long time, she did not conclude.

Ren Yaoqi thought there should still be some similarities. If Xiao Jingxi, such a man, weren’t for his poor health and rarely appearing in public, he would also be the dream man of most women in this world.

Ren Yaoqi was thinking about these various things, and when she came back to her senses, she found her head felt heavy. Three or four maids were surrounding her, helping her put on the phoenix crown. The Double Happiness Kingfisher Three-Phoenix Crown was six or seven inches tall. Although it wasn’t solid inside for ease of movement, the full head of pearls and jade ornaments still made her head feel very heavy.

Seeing Ren Yaoqi move her head, the nanny helping her with the phoenix crown couldn’t help but smile: “Is Miss not used to it? You’ll get accustomed after wearing it a few more times. In the future, during New Year festivals and ancestor worship ceremonies, you’ll need to wear ceremonial dress and a crown. When the Princess Consort first married into the Prince’s mansion, she was also somewhat unaccustomed, but after wearing it more often, she got used to it.”

Ren Yaoqi smiled at her and sat up properly.

By the time Ren Yaoqi was finally completely prepared, half the day had already passed.

There was still some time before the Yanbei Prince’s mansion would come to fetch the bride. Pingguo secretly brought Ren Yaoqi a bowl of bird’s nest porridge and two dishes of pastries.

Ren Yaoqi was indeed somewhat hungry. Ren Yaohua had also eaten something when she got married, but Ren Yaoqi was afraid the Yanbei Prince’s mansion had many rules, and with a roomful of people watching her, she couldn’t eat. So she had Pingguo put the things down without touching them.

However, the head etiquette nanny from the Yanbei Prince’s mansion smiled and said, “We servants will wait in the outer room and come back later to touch up your lip rouge.” Afraid Ren Yaoqi would be embarrassed, she added, “There’s still some time before the auspicious hour. You should eat something to tide yourself over, otherwise you’ll feel very uncomfortable.”

With that, the etiquette nanny led the group of people out.

Pingguo again brought the bird’s nest porridge to Ren Yaoqi. Ren Yaoqi took it and drank it in small sips, also eating a few pieces of pastry. With something in her stomach, she indeed felt much more comfortable.

After Ren Yaoqi finished eating, Pingguo brought young maids to bring her tea and a spittoon for rinsing her mouth.

Ren Yaoqi looked at Pingguo’s calm and steady appearance and smiled: “The Yuan family must be getting anxious waiting, right?”

Pingguo blushed and stammered: “No…” After glancing at Ren Yaoqi, she emphasized: “This servant wants to always stay by Miss’s side to serve. If… if I marry, this servant won’t be able to serve you closely.”

Her serious expression made Ren Yaoqi laugh. She shook her head: “That won’t do – Sister-in-law Yuan would blame me. The Yuan family has already been waiting for you for several years.”

Ren Yaoqi had originally wanted to arrange Pingguo and Yuan Dayong’s marriage before her own wedding, to have the Yuan family as her dowry servants. However, previously the Yuan family were all servants of the Ren family, and since her branch no longer had relations with the Ren family, Ren Yaoqi had spent some effort to get the Yuan family out of the Ren family, so the marriage was postponed until after her own wedding.

The Yuan family naturally were more than willing to follow her. Although Sister-in-law Yuan had coveted Pingguo as a daughter-in-law for a long time, having waited several years already, waiting a few more months was nothing – this daughter-in-law wasn’t going to run away.

Hearing Ren Yaoqi say this, Pingguo’s expression darkened.

Ren Yaoqi looked at her with a smile: “After you’re married, you can help me manage the courtyard. Won’t you still be serving at my side?”

Hearing this, Pingguo became happy again.

Nanny Xu, who had originally been the steward nanny by Ren Yaoqi’s side, had returned home some time ago because her son had fallen ill. Ren Yaoqi had given her quite a bit of silver, telling her to focus on treating her son’s illness at home.

Ren Yaoqi had originally kept Nanny Xu by her side to test her true intentions. Later, although she learned that Nanny Xu hadn’t intentionally tried to harm Ren Yaohua back then, and Ren Yaoqi no longer blamed her, she still felt somewhat uncomfortable about it.

After Nanny Xu returned home, Ren Yaoqi didn’t find herself another steward nanny. She thought Xiao Jingxi’s courtyard certainly already had stewards, so things would continue as they were.

As for the affairs of her quarters, she planned to entrust them to Pingguo and Sangshen, having one manage internal affairs and accounts, and the other manage the maids in her quarters. Both Pingguo and Sangshen had been carefully trained by her over the years, and she was accustomed to using them. The two maids, Leshan and Leshui, were still young, so there was no rush to arrange marriages for them – they could remain by her side for close service for several more years.

Besides these four senior maids, Ren Yaoqi also had four dowry maids: Chunyan, Chunlan, Qiulian, and Qiuxiang. They had all been selected and carefully trained by Nanny Zhou. They were all eleven or twelve years old, clever and bright. Nanny Zhou had specifically chosen younger ones not only because they were easier to train, but also planning to have them take over after the senior maids married out, so Ren Yaoqi wouldn’t be left without anyone to use.

Ren Yaoqi was quite satisfied with these four young maids and planned to have her senior maids train them well so they could be useful in the future.

Xiao Jingxi arrived at the Ren family at the hour of the Monkey. The timing of this marriage was said to be significant, calculated by the etiquette officials in the Prince’s mansion based on the birth dates and times of the two newlyweds.

Before Xiao Jingxi entered, the Ren family set off ceremonial firecrackers in advance, and several nannies came to lead Ren Yaoqi to bid farewell to Old Master Ren and Li Shi. Originally, Ren Yaoqi should also have bid farewell to the Ren family ancestors, but since Old Master Ren had been expelled from the Ren family and there was no ancestral shrine with Ren family ancestor tablets here, they set up an incense table in the courtyard for Ren Yaoqi to pay respects to various gods and Buddhas.

When bidding farewell to her parents, Li Shi couldn’t help but shed tears. With both daughters now married, as a mother she still felt sad. Old Master Ren looked at his daughter dressed in wedding attire and felt very reluctant in his heart. If it were up to him, he would have preferred to keep Ren Yaoqi for a few more years. Now that his daughter was married, there would be no one to accompany him in appreciating calligraphy and paintings.

After bidding farewell to her parents, Ren Yaoqi was taken back to wait for Xiao Jingxi to come and escort her out. The Yanbei Prince’s mansion had different customs – Ren Yaoqi didn’t need to be carried out by her family’s brothers. From beneath her feet to the sedan chair outside, everything was covered with bright red felt carpets, and Ren Yaoqi would walk out together with Xiao Jingxi.

Xiao Jingxi was also wearing deep yellow auspicious clothing today. This was the first time he had worn such a bright color in public – his usual ceremonial dress was black.

As Second Young Master Xiao walked this path, he unsurprisingly attracted the gaze of everyone who saw him.

“Whose young man is this, so elegant and refined? I wish to give myself in marriage to him for life.”