“If Concubine Fang truly instigated our young miss from behind the scenes this time, then she’s being far too disrespectful toward both our West Manor and the Su family,” the nanny said with a frown.

“Perhaps she thought she was doing the Su family a favor,” Su Shi said in a calm voice. “However, this favor wasn’t hers to grant. Concubine Fang has overstepped her bounds this time.”

Su Shi’s voice was as calm as still water, revealing no hint of displeasure, but the nanny who had served her for many years could sense that her mistress was indeed somewhat unhappy.

Regardless of Concubine Fang’s motives for acting this way, and regardless of whether her actions had brought benefits to the Su family, she had ultimately used Ren Yaoting.

If she could use her once, she could use her a second time. This time it was fine wine, but next time it could be poison.

The nanny understood this principle, and Su Shi understood it even more clearly.

Just a few days after Ren Yaoqi returned to the manor, she heard that the Han family had another quarrel. It was said that the Han clan members were furious that Han Dongshan had yet to give them a proper explanation, and some were fanning the flames, claiming that Han Yunshan was deliberately stalling for time to properly handle those treasures and find an opportunity to exonerate himself.

This time, the angry Han clan members nearly stormed into the Han manor’s inner courtyard.

Han Taita, whose health was already poor, was so frightened that her asthma was triggered. If Han Yunqian hadn’t rushed over in time, Han Taita might not have survived.

This time, the Han family members also became angry and drove out all those who had been refusing to leave the Han residence.

Initially, those people stubbornly refused to go, but finally Han Laoye threatened that if they continued making trouble at the Han residence, he would reclaim all the land and property that originally belonged to their branch of the clan, and would no longer provide annual payments to the clan.

They had no evidence of Han Yunshan embezzling clan property, and even the only witness had vanished without a trace. However, the money the Han family gave to the clan was real and substantial.

This time, many who relied on clan relief or had children studying at the Han family’s clan school fell silent.

Finally, the Han clan leader came to mediate and agreed with Han Yunshan. The clan members would first return with him to Jizhou, but Han Yunshan must provide the clan with an explanation within three months.

Some felt the three-month deadline was too long and were dissatisfied. However, under the clan leader’s mediation, these people reluctantly agreed and left with the clan leader for Jizhou that very day.

After hearing about this incident, Ren Yaoqi recalled that in her previous life, Han Taita had died quite early, seemingly within these one or two years. However, she couldn’t remember the exact timing.

Among the Han family members, she had never met Han Laotaitai and Han Laoye, but both Han Dongshan and Han Yunqian were not simple men. As for Han Taita and Han You, after several encounters, she found them both to be gentle and good-natured, well-educated, and reasonable.

After some more days passed, they heard that Han Taita’s condition hadn’t improved. Ren Yaoting came to the West Manor to ask Ren Yaoqi and her sisters to visit Han Taita together.

Actually, given Ren Yaoting’s nature, she would have preferred to go alone, but if she went by herself, she feared others would gossip, so she thought to bring Ren Yaoqi along. Since she had invited Ren Yaoqi, naturally the rest of the Ren family learned about it too.

Old Madam Ren, thinking that “business relationships may fail but friendships remain,” had all the granddaughters go visit the patient.

Originally, the eldest daughter-in-law was supposed to lead the group, but she claimed to be feeling unwell, so the elder madam took the younger generation instead.

Just as they were about to leave, Nanny Zhou caught up and secretly instructed the Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua sisters: “Although you’re going to visit the sick, just take a look from afar to show your concern, then leave. Don’t stay long in Han Taita’s room.”

“Why is that?” Ren Yaohua asked in surprise.

Nanny Zhou said quietly: “You’re young and don’t understand these things, which is normal. I heard Han Taita has been coughing up blood frequently these past few days. I’m afraid it might be ‘maiden’s cough.’ If you catch this disease, your life will be ruined. So you must be extremely careful—don’t touch anything in Han Taita’s place, and don’t eat any food from their manor.”

Hearing this, Ren Yaohua laughed: “Nanny, you’re being overly cautious. Didn’t they say it was asthma?”

But Nanny Zhou was serious: “Third Miss, you don’t know—some families with unmarried daughters won’t tell the truth about certain illnesses to outsiders, fearing future in-laws might look down on them. Just listen to this nanny’s advice: be extremely careful and don’t be careless.”

Seeing that Nanny Zhou was genuinely worried, Ren Yaohua nodded in agreement: “I understand. I won’t go near her.”

Nanny Zhou then looked at Ren Yaoqi.

Ren Yaoqi also nodded to show she understood.

Only then did Nanny Zhou let the two sisters leave.

Although the Han family also lived in town and wasn’t far from the Ren family, the Ren family women still took carriages when going out.

After getting in the carriage, Ren Yaohua asked Ren Yaoqi: “Is eldest sister-in-law also not going to the Han family because of what Nanny Zhou mentioned?”

Ren Yaoqi thought for a moment, then shook her head: “Eldest sister-in-law has a loyal and honest nature. Even if she knew, she wouldn’t avoid going for this reason. It must be that the eldest aunt feels sorry for the eldest sister-in-law and went in her place.”

The eldest daughter-in-law, Zhao Shi, indeed had a loyal and honest temperament without any scheming thoughts. She probably wouldn’t avoid going herself and let her mother-in-law go in her place.

However, Zhao Shi had been taking medicine daily recently, reportedly trying to conceive quickly. The elder madam probably didn’t let her go for this reason. If Zhao Shi happened to be pregnant at this time and caught an illness, it would be problematic.

The Ren family had sent word ahead before coming—otherwise, even with good intentions of visiting the sick, they would be criticized for not knowing proper etiquette.

So the Han family had sent someone to wait at the Han manor entrance early on.

The Ren family’s carriage was led directly to the second gate.

This was Ren Yaoqi’s first time visiting the Han family. She had no impression of the Han residence anyway—she probably hadn’t visited in her previous life.

Although the Han residence’s layout couldn’t compare to the Ren family’s, and the various buildings in the manor weren’t as magnificent as the Ren family’s, it was generally dignified and modest. However, discerning people could notice differences in the details.

For instance, the tall ornamental wall stone at the entrance to Han Yunshan and Han Laotaitai’s courtyard was in no way inferior to the Lingbi stone called “Majestic Mountain Stance” in the Ren family’s Ronghua Garden.

A small garden they passed had many precious flowers and plants.

However, the Han family’s wealth was displayed very subtly. Those without a discerning eye would only think the Han residence was rough and spacious.

The Ren family women were first led to meet the Han family’s matriarch, Han Shi.

However, everyone was startled when they saw Han Laotaitai.

It wasn’t because Han Laotaitai was unsightly to behold. Quite the contrary—this old lady, who was about the same age as Han Laoye, had bright eyes, very few wrinkles on her face, and black hair. She looked like a lady in her forties, even more spirited than her daughter-in-law, Han Taita.

The Ren family members were all rather puzzled.

Including the elder madam, this was the first time the Ren family women had met Han Laotaitai. Originally, because Han Laotaitai frequently claimed illness and didn’t go out, with the sickly Han Taita handling social obligations, everyone naturally assumed Han Laotaitai was decrepit and physically weak.

They hadn’t expected such an appearance.

Seeing the surprise in everyone’s eyes, Han Laotaitai smiled and said: “My legs aren’t good, so I don’t like going out much. Usually, my daughter-in-law represents me in social activities.”

Only then did everyone notice that although Han Laotaitai’s legs showed no obvious problems on the surface, she walked slowly and constantly had her granddaughter, Han You, supporting her. Only then did everyone believe her somewhat.

Ren Yaoqi was also secretly observing Han Laotaitai. She noticed that Han Laotaitai’s face had almost no wrinkles, but when she spoke, faint laugh lines were appearing and disappearing around her mouth, suggesting she had been someone who loved to smile in her youth. Now, though her manner was gentle, she seemed somewhat dignified.

As Ren Yaoqi was silently observing, suddenly a gaze shot in her direction. This gaze was extremely sharp.

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but start, meeting Han Laotaitai’s eyes.

Showing a shy smile, Ren Yaoqi lowered her head somewhat embarrassedly, like someone caught secretly watching others.

Han Laotaitai withdrew her gaze, invited the elder madam to take the seat of honor, and instructed the maids to serve tea.

The several junior members of the Ren family who had come also sat below the elder madam according to their seniority.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Ren Yaoting couldn’t help but ask: “Old Madam, how is Han family’s aunt’s illness? We came specially to visit the sick today.”

With this interruption, the Ren family’s elder madam couldn’t help but frown.

The Ren family’s visit to see the patient had been announced to the Han family early on, but first, exchanging pleasantries with the household elders was also proper etiquette. However, Ren Yaoting’s interruption made it seem as if she was saying this elder didn’t know what was important.

However, in front of outsiders, though the elder madam was displeased, she wouldn’t show it, much less publicly scold her niece Ren Yaoting. She nodded to Han Laotaitai and smiled as she continued: “If it’s convenient, we’d like to visit Han Taita. Our family’s old madam heard that Han Taita was ill and is also very concerned. She has always appreciated Han Taita’s scholarly and reasonable nature, often mentioning her to us daughters-in-law.”