Hong Ying’s words left both Ren Yaoqi and Xiao Jinglin stunned.

The Meng family was delivering dowry today, which meant tomorrow would be the wedding day for Yun Wenfang and the eldest daughter of the Meng family.

Yelu Sage seemed very interested in these Han customs, standing by the window, looking down below the entire time, no longer listening to the storytelling.

The Meng family was considered one of the top noble clans throughout Yanbei. They were conducting the daughter’s wedding with great ceremony. Although it couldn’t compare to when Ren Yaoqi got married, it was still done on a grand scale. This could be heard from the lively sounds coming from outside the window. Many guests who had originally been drinking tea and listening to stories in the teahouse also surged to the street to watch the excitement.

Xiao Jinglin and Ren Yaoqi remained seated without moving. Neither of them was a person who enjoyed crowds and excitement.

It wasn’t until the dowry procession passed by and the street gradually returned to its usual order that the tea customers who had gone to watch the excitement all returned. However, groups of twos and threes were still discussing this marriage between the Yun and Meng families.

Yelu Sage also returned, still using her somewhat stiff-sounding Chinese to say: “You Han women make such a big celebration when marrying.” These words seemed to carry some sentiment.

Ren Yaoqi and Xiao Jinglin didn’t continue this topic with her, merely smiling upon hearing this.

The storyteller in the teahouse finally stopped talking about the old King of Yanbei’s deeds and instead began telling a folk tale about a heaven-made match. Yelu Sage seemed to enjoy it very much, drinking tea while listening intently, occasionally even smiling.

Ren Yaoqi and Xiao Jinglin had nothing pressing today, so they accompanied the newly arrived Liao princess in passing the time. Near noon, Xiao Jinglin ordered someone to have a nearby restaurant send some food up, too lazy to leave the teahouse for a restaurant.

This entire morning and noon were very leisurely. Apart from seeing the Meng family deliver the dowry, nothing particularly special happened. Originally, Ren Yaoqi and Xiao Jinglin had suspected that Yelu Sage wanted to take advantage of going out to do something, but Yelu Sage remained well-behaved in the teahouse the whole time without any unusual movements.

After finishing lunch, the three of them left the teahouse. Yelu Sage was also very interested in the various shops on the street, but seeing that neither Ren Yaoqi nor Xiao Jinglin showed any intention of getting out of the carriage, she didn’t suggest getting off to browse the shops either. However, when passing by a blacksmith shop, Xiao Jinglin had the driver stop.

“I previously had a dagger reforged here. Since we’re passing by, I’ll go down and see how it turned out.” Xiao Jinglin was very enthusiastic about collecting various weapons and also liked to draw weapon designs for people to craft according to her specifications.

Upon hearing this, Yelu Sage’s eyes lit up: “Can I go see too?”

Xiao Jinglin looked at her, thought for a moment, then nodded. She then turned to Ren Yaoqi and said, “Why don’t you wait for us at Duobao Pavilion, not far ahead? You’re not interested in weapons, and it’s stuffy and hot inside. I’ll come to find you very quickly.” Xiao Jinglin was worried that the weapon shop was full of rough men, especially the apprentices working the forge inside, who might even be shirtless. She was afraid this might frighten Ren Yaoqi.

Ren Yaoqi nodded and smiled: “Alright, then I’ll wait for you at Duobao Pavilion.”

Duobao Pavilion was currently the largest jewelry shop in Yunyang City, usually catering to refined customers and quite famous. When women from great families went out, while they couldn’t casually browse other shops, Duobao Pavilion was somewhere they could visit.

Xiao Jinglin and Yelu Sage got off the carriage. Ren Yaoqi had the carriage continue forward a few steps to Duobao Pavilion, which wasn’t far from the blacksmith shop.

They had just finished eating and come out. At this time, Duobao Pavilion didn’t have much business either. In the front shop, only two or three female customers were looking at jewelry.

Ren Yaoqi’s status was different now. As soon as she got off the carriage, the female proprietor of Duobao Pavilion personally came out to greet her, respectfully welcoming her into the shop. Inside the front shop was a tearoom for distinguished guests to rest. Ren Yaoqi didn’t need to personally go to the front shop to make selections. She only needed to say what she wanted, and the proprietor would naturally have people bring items into the inner tearoom for Ren Yaoqi to choose from.

Ren Yaoqi had come here merely to find a place to sit, with nothing particular she wanted to buy. However, since she was already here, she couldn’t very well leave empty-handed. So she asked the proprietor to bring some currently fashionable pearl flowers to look at. Not long ago, during Ren Yaohua’s daughter’s full moon celebration, Ren Yaoqi had heard that Lei Pan’er’s birthday was also approaching. Although she had already prepared several precious gifts, thinking of how cute Pan’er looked wearing pearl flowers, Ren Yaoqi decided to give her a couple more beautiful pearl flower sets.

The proprietor quickly had people bring up five or six trays, each tray displaying ten pairs of pearl flowers. Ren Yaoqi glanced over them and found that the pearls used for the pearl flowers were all quite good, and the styles were also extremely novel. She became somewhat interested, thinking of selecting several more pairs to take back.

As she was seriously selecting pearl flowers, she heard people talking outside – it seemed customers had arrived. The proprietor was accompanying Ren Yaoqi in selecting pearl flowers and quietly instructed the shop assistant that, since there was a distinguished guest today, they should temporarily not serve other customers.

Unexpectedly, the assistant went out for a while, then returned, quietly saying a few words to the proprietor. Upon hearing this, the proprietor looked at Ren Yaoqi with some hesitation.

Seeing this, Ren Yaoqi smiled: “What’s the matter?”

The proprietor smiled apologetically: “Young Madam, since you’re here, we naturally shouldn’t serve outside customers. However, the ones who came are Second Miss Yun and Third Miss Yun from the Yun family. They say they know you. You see…”

Upon hearing this, Ren Yaoqi quietly raised her eyebrows but smiled and nodded: “So it’s the Yun family misses. Let them come in. I’m just here to sit and casually pick some small trinkets. You can conduct your business as usual, no need to mind me.”

The proprietor quickly agreed and gave the assistant a few instructions.

Before long, the tearoom curtain lifted, and Yun Qiuping and Yun Qiufang entered.

Seeing Ren Yaoqi, Yun Qiuping properly lowered her head and curtsied, still with her wooden, dull appearance. Yun Qiufang also curtsied, while smiling and saying: “So it’s the Young Madam here. I was wondering who had such great influence to make Duobao Pavilion stop doing business.”

No matter what words came from Yun Qiufang’s mouth, somehow, they always sounded awkward to the ear.

Ren Yaoqi naturally wouldn’t quibble with a young girl. She nodded at them and smiled gently: “I didn’t expect to encounter you two. What a coincidence. Are you here to select jewelry?”

Yun Qiuping smiled shyly. Yun Qiufang curled her lips: “Yes, I heard Duobao Pavilion got a batch of extremely fine new goods yesterday. I’m accompanying Second Sister to pick some trousseau items.”

Actually, for a great family like the Yuns, when marrying off a daughter, they had plenty of precious items for the trousseau. There was no need to run to the market shops to buy trousseau items. These two Yun misses were probably finding excuses to come out and play, right? And they chose to do so on the very day the Meng family was delivering the dowry?

Although she thought this way, Ren Yaoqi naturally wouldn’t point it out. She just smiled and asked the proprietor to bring out some fine jewelry and headdresses for the two Yun misses to select.

Duobao Pavilion’s good items were generally not displayed in the front shop. The proprietor immediately agreed and went to fetch them.

Ren Yaoqi then made casual conversation with the Yun sisters. Yun Qiuping remained silent as always, only answering when asked and never initiating conversation. What was rare was that Yun Qiufang also spoke relatively little today, even seeming somewhat absent-minded, occasionally looking outside.

Ren Yaoqi quickly noticed this and couldn’t help but frown slightly in her heart.

Just then, the tearoom curtain lifted again, and someone else walked in. However, when Ren Yaoqi saw clearly who had come, she was momentarily stunned.

“Have you finished selecting?” A familiar male voice sounded. The person walked into the tearoom, his gaze not lingering on Ren Yaoqi. That handsome face no longer bore the usual cynical expression, appearing cold and somewhat stiff.

Yun Qiuping lowered her head and said softly: “Not… not yet, Second Brother.”

The newcomer was Second Young Master Yun Wenfang of the Yun family, who hadn’t appeared in public for quite some time.

The usually flamboyant Yun Qiufang also seemed somewhat wary of Yun Wenfang. After glancing at him, she quickly said, “We’ll be done soon, Second Brother. You should also sit down and have some tea.”

Yun Wenfang stood in place for a while, then sat down without a word in the position diagonally across from Ren Yaoqi, his gaze finally looking over.

Yun Wenfang’s complexion wasn’t very good. Originally, after several years of training, his skin tone was somewhat darker than typical young masters, appearing very healthy. After not seeing him for this period, although Yun Wenfang hadn’t become pale again, his lips carried a somewhat sickly pallor and appeared dry, as if he had suffered a serious illness.

When Yun Wenfang looked over, Ren Yaoqi also glanced at him. She didn’t know how to describe Yun Wenfang’s expression at this moment. It seemed to lack focus, yet also seemed to carry bone-deep hatred and thick unwillingness. She just didn’t know toward whom that hatred was directed, or what caused the unwillingness. When Ren Yaoqi looked more carefully, she only saw a heavy mist, hazy and indistinct, like flowers in a mirror or the moon’s reflection in water.

For a moment, no one spoke, and the atmosphere became somewhat silent.

Ren Yaoqi thought: Why hasn’t Xiao Jinglin come yet? Perhaps she should find an excuse to leave first.

But before Ren Yaoqi could speak, Yun Wenfang spoke up, addressing her: “Does Young Madam Xiao have urgent matters and need to leave first?” When he said this, Yun Wenfang even smiled.

Ren Yaoqi looked at him, sighed inwardly, but said: “I made arrangements to meet the Princess and the Liao princess here, wondering when they might arrive.”

“Yelu Sage?” Upon hearing this, Yun Wenfang called out the Liao princess’s name.

Ren Yaoqi nodded.

“Stay away from her.” When Yun Wenfang said this, his tone was icy cold, still with his usual commanding attitude. However, just after saying this, he frowned, pressed his lips together, and was silent for a moment before adding somewhat unwillingly with a stiff expression: “The old Liao King had sixteen daughters, eight survived, and only she was given military authority. Her uncle is the current Southern Court King.”

Ren Yaoqi looked around. Although there were only a few customers here, this still wasn’t an appropriate place for such a conversation.

As if understanding her concern, Yun Wenfang twisted his lips: “So what if walls have ears? I’m not afraid of offending the Liao people.”

Still as arrogant as ever!