CH 65

Chapter 65: Appearance of The Adulterer

Because of the experience of the previous life, Ren Yaoqi has a different understanding of the family members of her ancestor, Prince Xian, than outsiders, and also has a heartfelt kinship.

It is easy to add icing on the cake, but difficult to send charcoal in the snow[1].

If someone stands up and helps you aimlessly when you are in despair about the world, you can understand this feeling.

Ren Yaoqi calmed down the mixed emotions in her heart, stood up, and asked Xiang Qin, “Where did they go? How long have they been gone?”

Xiang Qin hurriedly said: “Third Miss left after you and Eight Miss went to the bathroom. Originally, she wanted to tell you directly. But Third Miss is impatient, she is afraid… afraid that uncle and master will encounter some trouble again, so she went to find someone first. She also said that if she hasn’t come back after three or four-quarters of an hour, she would let her servant come and tell you so that you could help to cover up the matter in front of the other masters.”

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help smiling wryly when she heard the words. Ren Yaohua didn’t go to find someone because she was afraid that their uncle would encounter some trouble, but she was afraid that his uncle would cause them trouble. The last time his uncle sold the house to buy a cricket, Ren Yaohua was very angry, and she was afraid that he would do something ridiculous again this time. Because every time Li Tianyou leaves home, nothing good would happen.

Moreover, Ren Yaohua didn’t want the rest of the Ren Family to see Li Tianyou. In her heart, not only was this uncle unable to back up her mother, but could even hinder them. She felt a little ashamed to be with him.

In her previous life, Ren Yaohua had never been kind to those in the Prince Xian Mansion. She once followed Nanny Zhou to send money to her grandfather’s house, she even took a few prostitutes with her to shout at her grandfather that she would never give them money again if he didn’t sell out those “opera singers”.

Grandfather, who had never had a temper, got angry and threw the silver at Ren Yaohua’s feet, and then took a whip for the opera and whipped that prostitute out, saying that she would never be allowed to join the Li Family again and that he would not recognize her as his granddaughter.

Although later when Li sent money to her natal family, her grandfather still took it heartlessly, he was always very cold towards Ren Yaohua. But this time Ren Yaohua didn’t come back for nearly an hour after she went there. Seeing that it was almost time for lunch, Ren Yaoqi had to quietly send a few trusted maids to look for her.

In the end, the temple sent someone to say that the meal was ready and let Ren Yaoqi go over to have the meal.

Ren Yaoqi could only secretly send someone to continue looking for her while she went to see Eldest Madam Wang on her own.

Fortunately, the Eldest Madam wanted to discuss the affairs of the Liu Family with the Eldest Young Madam, so she didn’t care about the meal, and only let them go to the room arranged by the temple to have their meal by themselves.

After hearing what the Eldest Madam and the Eldest Young Madam said, the two sisters of the Liu Family cried in front of Madam Liu that the Ren Family bullied them with their numbers.

However, the Eldest Madam was so furious after she found out what words the Liu sisters said to scold Ren Yijun. Not only did she not care about blaming Ren Yaoqi for helping Ren Yijun lecture the sisters of the Liu Family, but she also treated her very kindly. No mother can tolerate others calling her child short-lived.

So when Madam Liu opened her mouth and asked the Ren Family to show sincerity before they would settle the matter, otherwise she would have to bring the Ren Family into disrepute, the Eldest Madam only gave her a cold smile.

One of the senior maids who served the Eldest Madam looked at the Eldest Madam’s face and said to Madam Liu with contempt: “Our young master is not afraid of anything, but your girl has just met us for the first time and already asked our young master to talk to her. Without even bringing a servant with her, is she trying to come to the Ren Family as a concubine? To be honest, we are a large family, so we don’t mind having one or two more people to eat.”

At these words, the Liu Family’s faces suddenly turned ugly. The Eldest Madam bowed her head and took a sip of tea, pretending that she had not heard her subordinate’s impertinent.

A good blind date turned into a tense meeting.

But in the end, for the sake of their respective reputations, everyone tacitly agreed to put the matter behind them. As for the matter that the Liu Family wanted to use this to blackmail the Ren Family, it was successful in the last life, but in this one, it was just a thought.

The Eldest Madam was a little disappointed with her visit to the Bailong Temple and planned to return after a short break for lunch.

As they were not having lunch together, Ren Yaoqi told the Eldest Madam that Ren Yaohua had gone to the distant Jialing stupa and it would take some time before she could come back. Because she felt that Ren Yaohua was accompanied by maidservants, the Eldest Madam didn’t care. She was discussing with her family members about the next blind date for Ren Yijun, whose marriage was a matter of concern to her.

Oh no, it started to rain heavily outside while eating. The Eldest Madam sent someone over to say that they would rest in their rooms after the meal and wait for the rain to stop before leaving for home.

The person who had sent out to look for Ren Yaohua had not yet returned, so Ren Yaoqi could only go to the Eldest Madam once more, saying that Ren Yaohua had sent her maid back to say that she had met her uncle’s servant on the way and wanted to go to pay her respects to him, so she had not yet returned.

Although Li Tianyou was known to be unreliable, he was, after all, the brother of Ren Yaoqi’s mother, their natal family, and a proper elder, so the Eldest Madam did not say anything. She only said that if Ren Yaohua came back, she would go and report to her.

As soon as Ren Yaoqi returned to her room, she told Xiang Qin to find her a bamboo hat and a coir raincoat, arranged for Ping Guo to keep watch in her room, and took two maids, Xiang Qin and Sang Shen. For two maids out of the courtyard, she told them that if anyone came to ask, they should say she had gone to look for Ren Yaohua.

She was only an eleven-year-old child, and it was only natural for her to be playful. Moreover, Yanbei’s rules were not as strict as those near the capital city in the south.

Ren Yaoqi took the others to the place where Xiang Qin had told them to look, but there was no sign of Ren Yaohua.

But when it rained, the people in Bailong Temple disappeared. Walking along the road, she felt that the huge ancient temple was empty, and even the footsteps would leave an echo. The cold rain fell onto the flat stone road and splashed onto Ren Yaoqi’s embroidered shoes, which didn’t take long to get wet.

Coir raincoats and bamboo hats can be found in the temple, but no suitable wooden clogs can be found.

Ren Yaoqi felt uneasy.

In her last life, she and Ren Yaohua had not been to the Bailong Temple at this time of year. So in her last life, Ren Yaohua had not met Dong Sheng. But Dong Sheng had disappeared in the last life.

Ren Yaoqi did not know when Dong Sheng had disappeared in the last life, but the fact that Ren Yaohua had not returned after so long always made her feel that something was wrong.

The main building of Bailong Temple covered an area of about 100 mu. In addition, there were many houses built periphery around it. Some courtyards were rented out to pilgrims who came to the temple to burn incense or seek medical treatment, while others were rented out to scholars who want a quiet place to study. For example, the near Baiyun Temple was using the land of Bailong Temple, so Baiyun Temple had to pay some incense money to Bailong Temple every year.

Although they were both under the seat of Buddha, there were clear accounts to be settled.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, from the royal family to the common people, all believed in and respected the Buddha. In addition to the court’s annual rewards, the monks at the monastery have 30 acres of farming land each, which, together with the large donations from incense-bearers and the reclaimed barren land, makes the monastery’s annual output a considerable amount of income.

Most of the monks didn’t hold their land but rented the cultivated land to farmers who didn’t have any. So every large monastery was a large landowner. Therefore there was a saying that of the ten parts of the wealth of the world, Buddha has seven parts.

If Li Tianyou had come to Bailong Temple, most likely that he would have been in one of the surrounding courtyards under the name of Bailong Temple.

Many scholars rent the courtyard of Bailong Temple, and many scholars like to play fight. Although most of them did not gamble for money when they gamble on chicken fights and crickets, they gamble on some ancient paintings and antiques. It can be said that as long as the prize was not valuable things like real money, they would think it is elegant.

As for Li Tianyou, he didn’t care whether it was elegant or not, and he didn’t care whether he was betting on money or a house, he just bets for his pleasure.

“Fifth Miss, your shoes are wet, you should go back and let the servants find them.” A maid came up and whispered.

Ren Yaoqi looked at the new pink embroidered shoes under her skirt and was thinking about sending more people out to look for them, when Xiang Qin suddenly pointed ahead and said, “Look, Miss, it’s Master.”

Ren Yaoqi immediately looked up and saw two more people coming this way in the rain not far away. The one who walked in front was a man in his mid-twenties who was not too tall. He was wearing an old ragged hat from who-knows-where, but not wearing a straw raincoat, so he was drenched from the neck up. His colorless gown didn’t fit him very well, and the sleeves were rolled up several times. It was like a child who had been naughty and secretly wears adult clothes.

The man behind him was a black man with an ordinary face standing tall like a tower. Li Tianyou often joked that it was a waste of time for him to pretend to be a Wu Sheng, and that he should play the black Bao Zheng[2].

The man walking at the back saw Ren Yaoqi first, so he stepped forward and whispered something in the ear of the man in front of him. The man behind looked up and saw Ren Yaoqi, stunned for a moment, then suddenly covered his face with his sleeves and turned around to run away. But his sleeves were pulled up, and he frantically rolled down his sleeves, looking embarrassed and funny.

On the side, Xiang Qin covered her mouth and laughed.

Ren Yaoqi helplessly called out to the man who was dragging his attendant to escape: “Uncle, I have seen you!”

Li Tianyou stopped walking feeling very depressed. When Ren Yaoqi walked over, he heard him turn his back and teach his followers: “I told you to eat less regularly! Look at how big you’ve grown, every time I try to turn around and run gracefully, I would be recognized! From now on, you can only eat two bowls… no… one bowl of rice per meal! Do you hear me!”

The man who had always been submissive reluctantly lowered his head and said yes.

Li Tianyou rolled his eyes and whispered even more, “Look which niece of mine is it? The one who is very fierce or the one who likes to look at the sky with both eyes like her father?”

Ren Yaoqi wept and laughed as she watched the black-faced man take another serious look at her before returning, “Master, it’s ‘the one who likes to look at the sky with both eyes.'”

Ren Yaoqi: “….”

Li Tianyou turned around with a sigh of relief and was startled when he saw Ren Yaoqi standing behind him and glared at his attendant: “Why didn’t you warn me that she was standing right behind!”

Seeing that it was still raining, Ren Yaoqi did not bother with him and only asked, “Has Uncle seen my Third Sister?” Although she could hear from the conversation between the two that it was unlikely that Li Tianyou had seen Ren Yaohua.

Sure enough, Li Tianyou shook his head, and the water on his bucket hat flung onto Ren Yaoqi’s face: “I didn’t see her, and even if I did, I fled.”

Ren Yaoqi wiped the water droplets off her face helplessly: “Then what about Dong Sheng beside you? Did you only take Dong Sheng and Xia Sheng out today?”

Li Tianyou was busy rolling up his long sleeves and said casually, “I don’t know, Dong Sheng went to help me distract… I mean, Dong Sheng went to work. That boy is nimble, but he’s a dumb one. He hasn’t come back after all this time, so I’m caught up by the rain! Let’s see how I’ll teach him a lesson when he comes back!”

Ren Yaoqi’s face turned pale when she heard his words, speechless and unable to speak.

If Dong Sheng disappeared this time, would Ren Yaohua, who went to look for him but did not return, also disappear?

Li Tianyou also noticed that Ren Yaoqi’s face was not right, and asked suspiciously, “What’s wrong with you?”

Ren Yaoqi looked up, glanced at Xia Sheng behind Li Tianyou, thought for a moment, and said, “My sister said she saw Dong Sheng, so she chased after him, but she hasn’t come back after walking for more than an hour.”

Li Tianyou was taken aback: “What? Little Yaksha[3] went after Dong Sheng? She, she, she, she won’t be caught by those people, right?” The last sentence was asking Xia Sheng beside him.

Ren Yaoqi, however, seized upon his words and asked sharply, “What kind of people are you talking about? Why do they want to arrest my sister?”

Li Tianyou sniffed and pulled the torn hat off his head, unable to say anything.

Ren Yaoqi said, “Uncle if you don’t tell me, in case something happens to my sister, how will you tell my mother!”

Li Tianyou’s face twitched and his teeth ached a little. After thinking about it, he gave Xia Sheng a sidelong glance, “You say it.”

When Xia Sheng was about to speak, Li Tianyou was busy adding, “Pick the important ones and don’t say anything that doesn’t matter.”

Xia Sheng was silent for a while before he said, “Master was originally….”

“Stop!” Li Tianyou shouted, stopping Xia Sheng’s words and glaring at him, “This master said, pick the important things to say!”

Xia Sheng’s face was still expressionless, but in his heart, he was growling, “I haven’t said anything yet!”

“Forget it, I’ll say it. Who knows if things gonna be distorted by your words!” Li Tianyou gave Xia Sheng a somewhat disgusted glance and said to Ren Yaoqi, “I originally had an important matter with someone, so I sent both Dong Sheng and Xia Sheng away. The person I had an important matter with had offended some people before, and then… then at the critical moment they barged in, so I ran away through the back door. Didn’t want that group of people to come after this master instead!”

Speaking of this Li Tianyou had some indignation on his face, “They chased after this master and luckily Dong Sheng didn’t listen to me and go far away. He changed into my clothes to lure the people away. Then Xia Sheng found me. After that, we came back together to find Dong Sheng. Little Yaksha must have seen Dong Sheng, who had run away in my guise, so she went after him.”

As she listened, Ren Yaoqi looked a bit odd and could not help but look at Li Tianyou for a few moments before suddenly asking, “Uncle, what kind of clothes were you wearing before?”

Li Tianyou thought for a moment: “A white coat with a large white crane embroidered in red, which was quite powerful and dominant. This is the first time I’ve worn this garment. Tsk – I’m sure I’ll get a lot of chatter from Yi Hong when I get back.” Li Tianyou was a bit depressed.

But Ren Yaoqi was getting more and more speechless, she felt like she knew something.

While they were talking, the rain had stopped.

Ren Yaoqi instructed the two maids who had come behind her, “Go to Baiyun Nunnery, one of you spy inside and one of you looks around there.”

Before she had finished speaking, Li Tianyou jumped up, “You, you, you, you, how do you know about Baiyun…that nonsense?”

Ren Yaoqi ordered the old maid to leave before turning her head to look at Li Tianyou, “I guessed.”

“Then, then, then, then, what else did you guess?” Li Tianyou said undauntedly.

Before Ren Yaoqi could say anything, Xiang Qin, who had been standing behind her, suddenly exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand and looking at Li Tianyou with wide eyes, “So the pr-, pro-, prostitute is?”

Li Tianyou was stunned and puzzled, “What are you talking about? What prostitute?” Xiang Qin looked at Ren Yaoqi, then lowered her head and closed her mouth tightly, refusing to speak anymore, but the corners of her eyes couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Li Tianyou.

However, as if he knew something, Xia Qing came over and whispered a few words in Li Tianyou’s ear.

Li Tianyou’s face instantly turned red and then shouted strangely, “Which bastard is slandering this master behind his back? To hell with their grandfather’s face! This master is just stealing incense and jade!”

Xiang Qin and the two maids who had lost their faces also turned red as they listened.

Ren Yaoqi shook her head and changed the subject, “The rain has stopped, and in a little while my Eldest Aunt will order us to depart back, so it’s important to find Third Sister first. Otherwise, it will be troublesome.”

Li Tianyou hung his head and said, “Then let’s go and look for her.”

They turned back towards the Bailong Temple.

They had not gone far when they saw some maids hurrying out.

They ran over with a few steps and bowed, “Fifth Miss, we have finally found you. Just now, Eldest Madam asked this slave to come to you. The maid in your room said you had come out, so the Eldest Madam sent her servants out to look for you. Why is Third Miss not with you?” As she spoke, she glanced at Li Tianyou in surprise, and secretly judged his identity.

Ren Yaoqi said, “Third Sister was looking for a place to take shelter from the rain, and I had already sent someone to look for her. When I came out I happened to meet my uncle who came over to look for me.”

The woman breathed a sigh of relief and busily bowed to Li Tianyou, called him Old Master, and then said to Ren Yaoqi, “Since Fifth Miss had met Old Master, then Madam can rest assured. The Eldest Madam asked her servants to go and find the Fifth Young Lady because she wanted to tell you that because of the rain before, there is a flash flood on the mountain road. Several carriages turned over in the ravine, and just now someone was sent to find the monks in the temple to help rescue the carts. The Eldest Madam said that we should delay our return, so as not to encounter anything in such a hurry to go back.”

Ren Yaoqi nodded: “Then I’ll ask more sisters to make the trip, and will personally apologize to Eldest Aunt when I get back.”

The maid then went back to repeat her orders.

Now that they were not in a hurry to go back, there was plenty of time.

Ren Yaohua had disappeared, and she would rather find her herself than alert the Eldest Madam to have someone from the Ren Family help. She didn’t trust the Ren Family.

In case something happened to Ren Yaohua, she could still try to keep it under wraps. If they let the Ren Family know, there was no telling what the consequences there would be.

Ren Yaoqi and Li Tianyou were planning to split up to look, but they didn’t go far when she heard Li Tianyou shouting from behind: “Yaoqi, Yaoqi, come here quickly. Dong Sheng and the others are back!”

Ren Yaoqi hurriedly turned her head and walked over quickly.

Sure enough, she saw Ren Yaohua soaking wet all over. Behind Ren Yaohua was a medium-sized man with a fair complexion but an ordinary face. He should be the martial artist named Dong Sheng.

Ren Yaoqi looked at Ren Yaohua, who did not say a word, and asked with a frown, “Where did you go, Third Sister? Where are the maidservants by your side?” She remembered how many people Ren Yaohua was with when she went out. Now only she and Dong Sheng came back.

Ren Yaohua turned her head to look at Dong Sheng with a very unfriendly expression when she heard the words, and snorted coldly: “You asked him what good things he did!”

Li Tianyou secretly asked Dong Sheng: “What did you do?”

But he found that Dong Sheng was standing there with a dead face. He opened his mouth when he heard the words, but finally swallowed them without saying anything.

Both Li Tianyou and Xia Sheng were a little surprised. Dong Sheng and Xia Sheng had opposite temperaments. Xia Sheng didn’t like to talk or laugh, he just asked and answered, but Dong Sheng had a lively temperament, he smiled a little when he saw people talking.

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[1] It means that there are a lot of people who willing to congratulate you when you are succeeded, but when you are in hardship hardly anyone would help you.

[2] Bao Zheng (包拯; Bāo Zhěng; 5 March 999 – 3 July 1062), commonly known as Bao Gong (包公; Bāo Gōng; ‘Lord Bao’), was a Chinese politician during the reign of Emperor Renzong in China’s Song Dynasty. During his twenty-five years in civil service, Bao was known for his honesty and uprightness. Bao Zheng today is honored as the cultural symbol of justice in Chinese society.

In mainstream Chinese mythology, he is often portrayed wearing a judge’s zhanjiao futou hat and a crescent moon on his forehead, and black skin.

Dari <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bao_Zheng>

[3] Yaksha.

Source: Baidu

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I snorted so hard when Li Tianyou called Ren Yaohua Yaksha lol. Rude of him, but that is very funny.