Ren Yaoqi didn’t know if it was because she had always harbored some wariness toward the Han family, but listening to Han Laotaitai’s words, she always felt they contained a hint of warning.
Could it be that the Han family had some shameful secret they didn’t want people to stumble upon? Ren Yaoqi pondered secretly.
Han You rarely had the chance to play host and were very happy. Hearing Han Laotaitai’s words, she didn’t pay much attention and simply nodded in acknowledgment.
Han Laotaitai turned to instruct her two maids to stay behind and look after the young misses, then led the Ren family’s elder madam to the flower hall.
Han You led everyone toward the inner courtyard’s small garden, introducing various anecdotes about the courtyards along the way, much like how the Ren family sisters had introduced the Ren residence to her during her last visit.
However, since the Han family had only recently moved to White Crane Town, even after racking her brains, Han You could only come up with a few dry sentences, making her feel embarrassed first.
The Han family’s garden was indeed not as exquisite as the Ren family’s, but it was extremely large, with quite a few rare flowers and plants.
However, having grown accustomed to the Ren family’s gardens, the Ren sisters showed only brief curiosity when they first entered. After seeing nothing but flowers, trees, and rocks that were far from matching the Ren family’s refinement, they lost interest.
Nevertheless, since Han You was enthusiastically introducing the garden’s flowers and plants to them like treasured possessions, they could only force themselves to show interest.
Only Ren Yaoting truly seemed genuinely interested.
“Oh, your manor grows ‘Little Five Treasures’?” Ren Yaoyin pointed at a camellia not far away and asked in surprise.
Little Five Treasures was a precious variety of camellia, also known as “Eighteen Scholars.”
Han You looked up and smiled with pursed lips: “Yes, but it hasn’t bloomed.”
Ren Yaoyin walked over to examine it carefully, then shook her head regretfully: “Being able to keep it alive is already good—it probably won’t bloom. It’s extremely cold here, not suitable for this type of flower to grow. I once tried raising one too, and even had Mother hire an experienced gardener to tend it, but it still didn’t survive.”
Han You smiled: “I also said it wouldn’t survive, but Brother insisted on trying to grow it. My mother loves camellias very much. Once she dreamed of a whole courtyard of ‘Eighteen Scholars,’ so Brother had people find several plants. However, only this one survived in the end, though it hasn’t bloomed. Brother says he’ll make it bloom next year—I wonder if that’s possible.”
“Of course it’s possible.” As soon as Han You finished speaking, Ren Yaoting interjected with complete confidence.
Everyone looked at her somewhat strangely, but Ren Yaoting had already bent down to examine the camellia carefully.
Ren Yaoyin coughed lightly and changed the subject: “This shows that Young Master Han is indeed a rare filial son.”
After touring the garden for a while, when they were nearly at the northwest corner, one of the two maids Han Laotaitai had sent earlier hurried forward to Han You: “Miss, the Ren family young misses have been walking for so long and must be tired. Why don’t we go sit in the pavilion over there? This servant will have people prepare some tea and refreshments. Wouldn’t it be more comfortable for the masters to sit in the pavilion and admire the flowers?”
The maid pointed in the direction they had come from. Indeed, they had glimpsed the protruding eaves of a small pavilion through the flower path earlier.
Hearing this, Han You looked ahead at the path and glanced somewhat hesitantly at Ren Yaoting and the others.
The Ren family sisters were indeed somewhat tired from walking, but Ren Yaoting still wanted to tour more of the Han residence. Ren Yaoyu casually asked: “What’s ahead there?”
Everyone seemed to see the corner of a red wooden door around the bend, apparently leading to some small courtyard or building.
The maid who had spoken earlier quickly said, “That’s an abandoned courtyard in our manor. I heard it used to be a library. But later, Master built a new study in the inner courtyard, so this place was abandoned. It hasn’t been cleaned in ages. A few days ago, one of the women who tends the garden’s flowers and trees said she saw rats this big!”
The maid gestured with her hands—they were as big as house cats.
Several young misses were startled and quickly stepped back a few paces.
Ren Yaoyin asked suspiciously: “I remember the Han family only moved here last year? How could they have built a new study so quickly?”
Han You seemed somewhat displeased and shot the maid an imperceptible glare, speaking before her: “Although our family moved here recently, my grandfather actually bought this residence long ago and specially sent people to look after and maintain it. So before we moved in, the residence had already been renovated once.”
“No wonder I noticed the paint on that gallery we passed earlier was still quite new.” Ren Yaoyin nodded in understanding and smiled.
The two maids saw that the young misses neither said they wanted to continue forward nor that they wanted to go to the pavilion, so they exchanged glances. The maid who had spoken was about to say something else when Ren Yaoyu stated: “Let’s go rest in the pavilion. It would be bad if we encountered some big rats.”
Ren Yaoyin had no objection and nodded: “Resting would be good too. My mother might send someone to call us back soon.”
Ren Yaoqi glanced toward the corner ahead. Although she vaguely felt something was amiss, she didn’t voice opposition to draw attention.
Seeing that everyone intended to rest in the pavilion, Ren Yaoting couldn’t say anything more.
The two maids secretly breathed a sigh of relief and enthusiastically led everyone toward the pavilion.
Unexpectedly, before they reached the pavilion, Ren Yaoting suddenly pointed at a tree in the distance blooming with huge white flowers the size of bowls and exclaimed: “What kind of tree is that? I’ve never seen it before.”
Han You looked in the direction Ren Yaoting was pointing and smiled: “That’s a dove tree. Although the flowers are large and beautiful, they have no fragrance.” Seeing Ren Yaoting keep looking in that direction, Han You thought for a moment and said: “Shall I take you over there to have a look?” Without waiting for the maids to speak, she said to Ren Yaoqi and the others, “I’ll take Sister Ting to see the dove tree. If you sisters are tired, please rest first. We’ll be right back.”
The dove tree Ren Yaoting had spotted was in the northeast direction, still some distance from the supposedly abandoned library they had seen earlier, so the two maids didn’t stop them.
The Ren family sisters weren’t very interested in flower viewing and didn’t follow. Han You simply took Ren Yaoting with her.
One of the two maids Han Laotaitai had sent smiled and said, “This servant just remembered there are several honey locusts planted over there. I should go remind our young miss not to get her hands scratched. Xiao Qin, you accompany the Ren family’s young misses to rest in the pavilion—I’ll be right back.”
The last sentence was directed at the other maid. The one called Qin’er nodded: “Sister Shan’er, you go ahead. I’ll take good care of the young misses.”
Shan’er hurried after Han You and Ren Yaoting.
Qin’er led the Ren family sisters to the pavilion and instructed the little maids to prepare tea and refreshments. Soon, the little maids came carrying tea and snacks. Although it was just a brief rest, the snacks arranged in small dishes filled an entire table.
Suddenly, what seemed like a cry of alarm came from the northeast direction of the garden, apparently from the maid called Shan’er.
Qin’er, who was instructing little maids to set out chopsticks for the Ren family’s young misses, paused in her movements. The Ren family sisters also looked back in surprise.
Qin’er quickly smiled: “It must be Sister Shan’er getting her hair caught in that honey locust again. She gets careless every time she passes by there, which is why she was so eager to go remind Miss.”
No more strange sounds came from that direction, so everyone believed Qin’er’s explanation and made some jokes about it.
Qin’er handed the chopsticks she was holding to a Han family little maid: “I’ll go check on Sister Shan’er. Otherwise, if her hair gets messed up and she can’t find a place to fix it, and the household women see her, there’ll be more trouble.”
With that, she curtsied and left as well.
Only the Ren family sisters and several Han family little maids remained in the pavilion.
If the Han family elders saw this, they would probably scold Han You for being discourteous. However, Han You had a good nature, and all the Ren family sisters had a favorable impression of her, so no one would deliberately find fault with her over this.
Ren Yaoqi smiled and asked a Han family little maid serving behind her in a low voice: “Is there a privy nearby? I need to freshen up.”
The Han family’s little maid quickly nodded: “There’s a privy on the east side of the garden. This servant will accompany Miss.”
Naturally, Ren Yaoqi hadn’t thought of doing anything underhanded while avoiding the Han family’s eyes—that wouldn’t be realistic. She was a guest who had just arrived and would certainly need to be accompanied by someone from the host family.
So she nodded with a smile: “Thank you.”
Ren Yaoqi said goodbye to Ren Yaohua and the others, then left the pavilion with her own maid Pingguo and the Han family little maid.
“What’s your name?” Ren Yaoqi asked the maid along the way.
The little maid was flattered by Ren Yaoqi’s gentle attitude: “This slave is called Hua’er.”
“Hua’er? You look quite young. How long have you been in the manor?” Ren Yaoqi continued chatting with the maid.
The little maid even held up her fingers to count seriously before answering: “This slave has been at the Han family for eight months.”
“So you didn’t come from Jizhou with them?”
“No, this slave was sold in by a matchmaker a few months ago.”
Ren Yaoqi nodded, then asked somewhat hesitantly: “Are there rats in that small courtyard to the northwest?”
Unexpectedly, the little maid was stunned and asked in confusion: “Rats? How could there be rats? Doesn’t the mute woman sweep there daily?”
This little maid hadn’t heard Shan’er’s words earlier—she had been sent by the steward when delivering tea.
Ren Yaoqi remained composed: “Oh, I probably heard wrong. Who is the mute woman? I didn’t see her when I entered the garden.”
The little maid said: “The mute woman is mute and specially looks after that small courtyard.” Then she added somewhat uncertainly: “But what you said about rats isn’t impossible either, since only the mute woman tends to it there. Other maids and women aren’t allowed inside.”
Hearing this, Ren Yaoqi’s heart stirred: “Not allowed inside? You’ve never been in?”
The maid quickly shook her head: “This slave is just a little maid—how would I dare go in? Even Sister Qin’er and Sister Shan’er, who serve by the old madam’s side, wouldn’t dare enter.”