Fu Tingyun received the guests at the ornamental gate.

Accompanying Lady Li were two maids and seven or eight elderly female servants. The maids carried boxes of pastries, while the servants held various silks and satins.

“It’s all because of our Thirteen.” Lady Li’s face was full of apology. “He gave your eldest daughter a fright.” She pointed to the items behind her. “These are just a small token of our regard. Please accept them, Madam Zhao.”

“Children playing around—Lady Li, please don’t take it to heart,” Fu Tingyun repeatedly declined.

Although Lady Li had come to apologize, the Li family’s Thirteenth Young Master, who had deceived Youyou was nowhere to be seen. Was it because Lady Li couldn’t control her son? Or was it that Lady Li was too indulgent, fearing they might embarrass Young Master Li, and thus unwilling to force her son to come with her to the Zhao residence? Whether it was the former or the latter, she felt Lady Li lacked sincerity. Seeing the lavish gifts from the Li family, she disapproved of Lady Li’s approach of using expensive fabrics to make up for wrongdoing. While privately grateful that in the past her family had only been nodding acquaintances with the Li family, she felt that the Li family’s way of handling matters was quite different from her own family’s approach, and it would be best to maintain a certain distance in the future. Her expression grew somewhat cold.

Lady Li, perhaps feeling guilty because her son hadn’t come to apologize to her, or perhaps noticing Fu Tingyun’s cold expression, appeared somewhat uneasy and murmured: “Regardless, our Thirteen was in the wrong. You must accept these gifts, or else my mind won’t be at peace.”

Only for peace of mind?

Fu Tingyun’s expression grew even colder.

She instructed Yu Wei to accept the gifts but did not invite Lady Li inside. Instead, standing under the eaves, she politely asked: “Have you had lunch yet? Would you like to join us?”

Only then did Lady Li realize she had interrupted the Zhao family’s lunch. She hurriedly said: “No need, no need. You continue with your meal. I should be going.” She then explained, “I was in such a hurry to come apologize to Madam Zhao that I didn’t notice it was almost noon.” Looking up at the sky, she smiled and said, “The Zhao family serves lunch quite early!”

“We have guests, so we started a bit earlier,” Fu Tingyun replied cordially, once again inviting her to stay for lunch.

Lady Li firmly declined. When Yu Wei brought over the return gifts prepared for the Li family, Fu Tingyun didn’t insist further and saw Lady Li out the main gate.

Returning to the hall, Third Elder Sister asked with concern: “What did Lady Li say?”

Fu Tingyun recounted the entire exchange. Third Elder Sister, Ah-Sen, and Wang Jingtong all felt indignant: “How could they behave like this? No wonder their child is so ill-mannered!”

“Let it go,” Fu Tingyun said. “Now that we know what this family is like, we’ll just be more cautious in our dealings with them in the future.”

Despite these words, everyone couldn’t help but sigh for a while.

Fu Tingyun asked Third Elder Sister to stay and keep Wang Jingtong company. Third Elder Sister hadn’t visited for some time, and having heard that Zhao Ling was about to be promoted again, she also wanted to inquire about the details. Knowing that her husband would finish his duties at the You hour (5-7 PM), she sent a servant to invite him to dinner to help keep Ah-Sen company. The children went to Youyou’s western wing room.

Chun Bing noticed the calligraphy practice sheets laid out on the desk, held down by a paperweight, and walked over to look.

Youyou immediately ran over and clutched the practice sheets to her chest, instructing her maid A-Luo: “Put these away properly—we have guests, and the desk is a mess.”

A-Luo smiled and quickly stored the practice sheets in the cabinet.

Chun Bing sighed helplessly.

Meanwhile, Yuan Xiao and Young Master Xi had already climbed onto the kang bed and called Chun Bing over for tea: “…It’s Iron Goddess tea that Ninth Uncle brought back from Guizhou.”

Chun Bing smiled and joined them on the kang. Seeing that Young Master Xi was drinking honey water, he asked with a smile: “What kind of tea does Young Master Xi like?”

“I don’t like the taste of any tea,” Young Master Xi replied. “I only like sweet water. But since Tutor An says this tea is good, I had She Jiang brew it for you all.” He continued, “Elder Cousin, do you find it tasty? If you like it, I can have some packaged for you to take home. You can also bring some for Third Uncle to try.”

“That would be great!” Chun Bing agreed with a smile. “Such fine tea must be limited in quantity—just a small amount will be enough.”

Young Master Xi nodded repeatedly.

Yuan Xiao, however, said: “This tea tastes better than the tea served in large bowls.”

Chun Bing gave Yuan Xiao a knock on the head: “If you don’t understand, don’t speak nonsense.”

Yuan Xiao rubbed his head.

A-Luo brought over pastries in a begonia-shaped sectioned box.

Youyou moved the section with almond cookies closer to Chun Bing.

Chun Bing’s eyes lit up.

Then he saw Youyou move the section with twisted sugar candies in front of Yuan Xiao.

His hand, reaching for an almond cookie, froze momentarily.

None of the children noticed Chun Bing’s reaction, being absorbed in their conversation.

“How can that Young Master Li be so bad?” Yuan Xiao asked. “Don’t his family members discipline him at all?”

“Most likely because his family is very wealthy,” Young Master Xi said. “I heard Mother Zhou say that in her village, someone killed a person, paid money to the victim’s family, and the family didn’t press charges.”

“There are such things?” Yuan Xiao found this fascinating and urged Young Master Xi: “Tell me more about it!”

Young Master Xu was still young and was always accompanied by his wet nurse. The wet nurse smiled and said: “The young master comes from a blessed family and hasn’t heard of such matters. That family was originally from an official background…”

Chun Bing frowned slightly upon hearing this and sternly interrupted the wet nurse: “Using power to bully others is not honorable! Just like that, Li Thirteen. You shouldn’t learn from him. Otherwise, you’ll become like Li Thirteen.”

The wet nurse looked embarrassed.

Since he had started this topic, Yuan Xiao felt somewhat sheepish and muttered: “We’re just listening, that’s all!” He glanced at Youyou, hoping she would take his side.

Youyou, however, felt that Chun Bing made sense and said: “Monkey see, monkey do. If you listen to too much of this, you’ll end up imitating Li Thirteen.”

Chun Bing immediately smiled with happiness.

Yuan Xiao couldn’t help feeling awkward.

The wet nurse, with a red face, picked up Young Master Xu: “I’ll take the Second Young Master for his afternoon nap.”

Youyou gathered some pastries for Young Master Xu, and then the wet nurse carried him to the side room.

Chun Bing began chatting with Youyou: “Are you going to see the dragon boat races during the Dragon Boat Festival?”

“No,” Youyou replied. “Father is not at home, and my brother and I are still young—Mother can’t manage alone.” Far from being disappointed, she added cheerfully, “We’ll eat zongzi at home then.”

Why don’t you come with us…

The words were on the tip of his tongue, but Chun Bing swallowed them back.

He would be going with his father, and if he wanted to bring Youyou along, he would need his father’s permission first. If his father didn’t agree, he would be unable to fulfill his promise, and wouldn’t that make him untrustworthy?

Chun Bing had never wished to be an adult as much as he did now.

Then he could take Youyou to see the dragon boats, and bring along Young Master Xi and Young Master Xu too. Youyou would surely be delighted!

He couldn’t help but lower his head.

Then his brother’s loud voice reached his ears: “Cousin Youyou, why don’t you come with us? Father said he would take my brother and me to see the dragon boat races at the Western Garden during the Dragon Boat Festival. If I ask Father, he will agree…”

Chun Bing sat up straight, looking somewhat nervously at Youyou.

Youyou smiled with her eyes curved into crescents, her lips moving as if about to say something, when suddenly a “thump, thump, thump” sound echoed in the room.

Everyone looked toward the source of the noise.

They discovered it was coming from the window on the western side.

Youyou quickly called to A-Luo: “Go see what that noise is.”

Fifteen-year-old A-Luo immediately went to push open the window.

Chun Bing hurriedly cautioned from behind her: “Be careful!”

A-Luo turned back to smile at Chun Bing, exerted a slight force, and pushed the window open.

They saw Li Thirteen and the servant boy from earlier sitting on top of the neighboring wall, poking at their window with a bamboo pole.

Youyou pursed her lips in displeasure.

Young Master Xi jumped down from the kang: “What does he want? I’ll go find Zheng San and use a pole to knock him down. Let’s see if he dares to peep into our courtyard again!”

Yuan Xiao also got down from the kang but shouted at Li Thirteen: “What do you think you’re doing?”

Li Thirteen was startled when he saw Yuan Xiao and asked: “Who are you to them?”

“What does it matter who I am?” Yuan Xiao retorted. “Have you no manners? How can you spy on someone else’s courtyard…”

Li Thirteen completely ignored Yuan Xiao and directly addressed Youyou: “Hey, I didn’t mean it! I saw how good you were with a slingshot and just wanted to get to know you… Didn’t expect you were a girl… You should have just settled this privately with me. Why did you have to bring the adults into it… I was in a difficult position… To apologize to you, I paid a hefty price to bribe their servants…”

Is this how one apologizes?

Youyou glared fiercely at Li Thirteen. Thinking about how Chun Bing was always so composed, it was almost intimidating. she couldn’t help tugging at Chun Bing’s sleeve and said: “I don’t want to deal with him…”

Chun Bing responded with a stern “Hmm” and instructed A-Luo: “Close the window, please!”

A-Luo complied immediately.

Li Thirteen became anxious: “Hey, you! What’s it to you? What right do you have to tell someone to close the window?” Then to Youyou, he said, “Hey! I came to apologize to you. This is too impolite!”

“If you knew anything about politeness, you wouldn’t have paid a large sum to bribe the neighbor’s servants to climb the wall!” Chun Bing replied mercilessly. “If you truly wanted to apologize to my cousin, you should have entered properly through the main gate, not sneaking around riding on walls and poking at people’s windows!”

Hearing this, Li Thirteen’s face turned crimson. He defended himself: “You’re the one who’s sneaking around! I just didn’t want to come with my mother…”

A-Luo also found this Young Master Li’s behavior extremely absurd and, ignoring the fact that he was still speaking, directly closed the window.

Li Thirteen’s voice was shut out.

Youyou asked with great concern: “Will he climb over here?”

“He won’t,” Chun Bing said with certainty. “You and Yuan Xiao go to Young Master Xu’s side room. I’ll go ask to see the neighbor’s master…”

Youyou hesitated: “Shouldn’t we tell Mother?”

Chun Bing swallowed hard at the question.

This matter should indeed be reported to the adults, allowing them to negotiate with the neighbor’s master… How could he have forgotten this?

“Then, then let’s tell Aunt!” he said, suddenly feeling somewhat dejected.

Youyou responded with a clear “Yes” and ran to the main room.

By the time Ah-Sen arrived, Li Thirteen was long gone. The neighbor’s master, however, had found the servant who had let Li Thirteen in… but that was no longer Fu Tingyun and her family’s concern.