White Dragon Temple, located between Baihe Town and Yunyang City, couldn’t be considered the largest temple in Youzhou, but it was absolutely one of the most exquisite temples in the region. The temple halls were magnificent, its scenery pleasant, and its vegetarian cuisine was particularly renowned.

Because it was only an hour’s carriage ride from Youzhou’s premier city of Yunyang City, wealthy families frequently visited White Dragon Temple. Especially during major Buddhist festivals, the number of pilgrims was countless.

Fortunately, today wasn’t a day like Buddha’s Birthday. Even so, when the Ren family’s carriage reached the temple gates, they still saw quite a few other carriages.

Ren Yaoqi had visited White Dragon Temple once or twice before, though that was in her previous life.

After alighting from the carriage, the Eldest Madam and her daughter-in-law, Zhao Shi, walked ahead, conversing in low voices. The younger generation followed behind them.

Ren Yaoyu complained quietly to her brother: “Didn’t they say it would just be us siblings? Why did Eldest Aunt and Eldest Sister-in-law come too?”

Ren Yijian was speaking with Ren Yihong and didn’t pay her any attention, leaving her feeling snubbed. However, Ren Yaoyu didn’t dare hold it against her brother—she had been asking him for many favors lately.

Not far from White Dragon Temple’s entrance, in the middle of the courtyard square on the white stone-paved path, lay a north-south oriented single-arch bridge. The entire bridge was about three to four zhang long, one zhang wide, and about one zhang deep. However, there was no water under the bridge, but rather a golden water channel built with green bricks. In the bridge openings on the east and west sides of the single-arch bridge hung round, square-holed money bells.

As Ren Yaoqi’s group was walking past the white stone railings facing the right side of the bridge opening, less than two zhang away, Ren Yijian quickly said to the servant woman following behind: “Quickly give the young master a few coins,” while showing off to Ren Yihong: “Every time this young master passes by here, he hits the target without fail.”

It turned out that the coin-shaped bells in the bridge opening were for pilgrims to strike. Standing outside these railings and throwing copper coins at the bells, if you could hear a “ding” sound, you would receive good fortune.

Children especially loved this game and often wouldn’t leave until they heard the bell ring. Ren Yaoqi had thrown coins before during previous visits, but never hit the target once.

People had already gathered around the railings, and from time to time, you could hear a “ding” sound and cheers.

However, the Eldest Madam turned around and said to the eager Ren Yijian: “Brother Jian, we should first go inside and offer incense to Buddha, then you can play around White Dragon Temple afterwards.”

Ren Yijian looked at the Eldest Madam’s kind expression and reluctantly put the two coins back in his hand.

The Eldest Madam turned back and continued walking while talking with the eldest daughter-in-law.

The Eldest Madam was a devout Buddhist and had always been pious in her worship, so the Ren family’s younger generation all followed behind her properly. Even Ren Yaoyu, whose mother wasn’t here, was much more well-behaved in front of the Eldest Madam.

After following the Eldest Madam to offer incense in the hall, she instructed: “I’m going with your eldest sister-in-law to draw divination lots. You can walk around the temple, then come find us when it’s time to eat. Just make sure you always have attendants with you, especially you girls.”

Everyone agreed, and Ren Yijian immediately pulled Ren Yihong away, asking Yun Wenfang and Qiu Yun, “Cousins, do you want to come with us?”

Qiu Yun shook his head with a smile: “We’re not children, we don’t play those games.”

Ren Yijian rolled his eyes and ran off.

Ren Yijun looked at his mother and secretly moved toward Ren Yaoqi’s side. The Eldest Madam frowned: “Yijun, come here. Come with me and your eldest sister-in-law to draw divination lots.”

Ren Yijun was still quite obedient to his mother at this time, so although his face showed reluctance, he ultimately stopped.

The Eldest Madam then said to Ren Yaoyin, who was leaning weakly against a servant woman with a pale complexion: “I’ve asked the guest monk to prepare a rest room. Come with me to rest.”

Ren Yaoyin couldn’t tolerate the bumping of the carriage and felt unwell. She couldn’t travel long distances by carriage.

Ren Yaoqi hesitated about whether to follow Ren Yijun, then, after thinking it over, she said to the Eldest Madam: “Eldest Aunt, I’d also like to come with you to draw divination lots.”

The Eldest Madam looked at her with some surprise, but said gently, “You’re still young, no need to go. Just play with your sisters. I remember that White Dragon Temple had an apricot grove behind the mountain. I wonder if they’re blooming yet.”

Ren Yaoyu pouted and said quietly, “In years when it wasn’t cold, they wouldn’t bloom until March or April. This year is colder than usual. How could they bloom so early?”

But the Eldest Madam had already walked away with the eldest daughter-in-law and Ren Yaoyin. Ren Yijun followed behind them with his hands behind his back, looking listless. When the Eldest Madam noticed, she turned around and lectured him a few times.

Seeing that the Eldest Madam’s group had left, Ren Yaoyu immediately asked Qiu Yun: “Cousin, where shall we go?”

Qiu Yun glanced at Yun Wenfang, then looked at the Ren family sisters.

Ren Yaoyu looked at him with a beaming smile, while Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoqi seemed to be thinking about something else, their attention not focused on them.

“Why don’t we go to the apricot grove behind the mountain first? Even if the apricot blossoms haven’t bloomed, it would be nice to see the mountain scenery. Originally, we came for a spring outing, didn’t we?”

Everyone had no objections.

Qiu Yun was also familiar with White Dragon Temple and didn’t need a temple monk to guide them. He led the group toward the back mountain while eloquently introducing the origins of White Dragon Temple and the historical stories behind various temple buildings.

Qiu Yun was exactly this type of person. If he wanted to appear warm and friendly, he would be your most considerate and understanding friend. But if he wanted to maintain distance from you, he would be someone difficult to approach, yet impeccable in matters of profit and interest.

Because of this, Ren Yaoqi had greatly disliked him in her previous life. In this life, she also only wanted to keep her distance from him.

In this year’s early spring, the apricot blossoms behind White Dragon Temple indeed hadn’t had time to fully bloom, though some apricot trees had small flower buds opening sporadically on their paper-thin branches.

“Shall we sit in that pavilion?” Qiu Yun, acting like a guide, pointed to an octagonal pavilion hidden among the apricot groves and suggested to the group.

As they approached, they discovered people were already sitting in the pavilion—two young men and two young women, all appearing to be thirteen or fourteen years old.

Qiu Yun paused in his steps, frowning slightly as he said quietly to Yun Wenfang: “Oh no, they’re people we know. Do you want to avoid them?”

Yun Wenfang raised an eyebrow slightly, glanced at the pavilion, and smirked: “No need. Am I afraid he’ll report on me?”

Just then, a young man in blue clothing in the pavilion also looked over. Seeing Qiu Yun and Yun Wenfang, he was slightly startled, then stood up and said: “Zishu, Jinyuan, what are you doing here?”

Qiu Yun smiled and walked forward: “Brother Su, what a surprise to meet you here.”

Ren Yaoqi also looked toward the people in the pavilion. The young man who knew Qiu Yun and Yun Wenfang had refined features and emanated a faint scholarly air. His movements were very composed, clearly showing he came from a good background.

Qiu Yun addressed him as “Brother Su”—could he be from the Su family of Yunyang City?

Unfortunately, in her previous life in Yan Bei, Ren Yaoqi had rarely had opportunities to go out because she wasn’t favored by the old madam. Although the Ren family frequently went to Yunyang City, Ren Yaoqi rarely went, and when she did, it was only to visit her maternal family.

People she might not have recognized even if she’d met them in her previous life, she certainly couldn’t recognize them in this life.

The other young man in the pavilion had ordinary looks but wore fine clothing. Of the two young women, one could barely be called plain, with several freckles on her face. The other, younger girl was quite pretty, but her eyes were overly shrewd, making her unpleasant to look at.

Over there, the young man surnamed Su was being very friendly toward Yun Wenfang: “Haven’t seen you in a long time. Your brother said you went on a long journey?”

Yun Wenfang leaned against a pavilion pillar in a lazy manner. Hearing this, he only responded with a “Mm” as an answer, seemingly indifferent to the friendly overture from the young man surnamed Su.

Qiu Yun stepped forward to smooth things over, patting his forehead: “Oh right, how rude of me. Brother Su, these are my three Ren family cousins. Third Cousin, Fifth Cousin, Eighth Cousin, this is Second Young Master Su Yunchen of the Su family. The second aunt of the Eastern Manor is his aunt, so he’s your cousin too.”

So he was from the Su family.

Ren Yaoqi’s group quickly greeted him properly.

Su Yunchen courteously bowed in return, then introduced the other three people in the pavilion to Ren Yaoqi’s group.

“This is Eldest Young Master Tang. Zishu and Jinyuan, you should have met him before—he only entered our academy last year. These two young ladies are his cousins, from the Liu family of Guidong Ward in Yunyang City.”