CH 108

Chapter 108: Is it her?

Ren Yaoqi had also seen that silhouette in the forest, but because they were at a distance and covered by bamboo shadows, she couldn’t see them very clearly. Matron Xu asked permission to chase after them, and Ren Yaoqi let her go with a nod. Ren Yaohua ordered her maid Wujing to follow her.

“Who could it be just now?” Ren Yaohua frowned and muttered to herself. She like to frown, so there were always two lines on her brows despite her young age. It made her beautiful face always look a little serious.

Ren Yaoqi moved slowly towards the bamboo forest side, Ren Yaohua pondered about it and followed her.

Spring is coming to an end, and many new bamboos that have broken through the ground have grown green leaves. There are still many small round holes in the wet and soft ground, which were left when the maidservants came over to dig bamboo shoots a while ago. They did not dig up the bamboo shoots out of greed. Because this miniature bamboo forest is primarily for ambiance, the density of the bamboo must be precise and cannot be allowed to grow uncontrolled.

The soil of this small bamboo forest is very soft. Stepping on it will leave shallow footprints in the soil.

Ren Yaoqi looked down and surveyed the two lines of newly left footprints, pondering.

“This must be left behind by those two people before,” said Ren Yaohua.

There are two kinds of footprints left, big and small. Both of them were in the style of the round pointed toe of the embroidered shoes commonly used by women, so they should not be left behind by men. Since it wasn’t a man and woman secretly meeting to meet each other, then why would they run away when they saw them coming over?

“Let’s go to Auntie’s courtyard first, we can’t speculate anything here,” said Ren Yaoqi, shaking her head.

“Miss, there is only Auntie’s courtyard in this neighborhood. Maybe those two merely ran away to Auntie’s courtyard. We’ll just keep an eye out to see who is acting suspiciously,” Xiangqin leaned closer and whispered.

What Xiangqin said was also very likely. Ren Yaohua nodded and led the way to hurry toward Ren Shijia’s courtyard.

A few maids were standing in the courtyard chatting and laughing quietly. When they saw Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua enter, they hurriedly came forward to salute. Ren Yaohua’s eyes swept over them and realized that they were the subordinates Ren Shijia had brought back from the Lin Family, “Did anyone walk in just now?” Ren Yaohua asked after looking at their shoes one by one and found that they were all clean and dry with no traces of mud.

Several maidservants looked at each other somewhat strangely upon hearing this, a slightly older one said, “Back to Third Miss, this servant didn’t see anyone come in. There were only a few of us in the courtyard just now.”

Ren Yaohua was a little disappointed.

“Third Miss and Fifth Miss, is everything alright?” that servant asked tentatively.

Ren Yaoqi laughed, “It’s nothing. Just now we saw someone walking ahead of us and coming over, so we asked which sister arrived first.”

That servant frantically said, “Earlier today, the only one who came was just Eldest Young Madam and Forth Miss together. Then they have already gone back after seeing Master.”

“Then we’ve probably mistaken. Is Auntie still resting? Can she meet the guests now?” Ren Yaoqi asked.

The servant smiled and said, “I’m afraid the wife is still resting. This servant will lead two young misses to see the Master. He’s looking very energetic.”

Ren Shijia had only given birth to her baby in the early hours of this morning, so it was normal that she was still resting at this moment.

The two sisters didn’t bother Ren Shijia but followed the servant to see the baby. The baby was given to a nursemaid who had been prepared before, he did not live with Ren Shijia.

When Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua went over, a nursemaid, four common maids, and four rough servants were all guarding the room. The baby was still asleep and hadn’t opened his eyes, his palm-sized face was wrinkled and still pink.

Just like a little monkey, when he stared at he didn’t move, when he poked he still did not moving.

Everyone in the house spoke softly, Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua were also very careful not to wake the child up.

This was the time when someone from outside suddenly came. Ren Yaoqi turned her head just in time to see a young man of medium build with a square jaw. She and Ren Yaohua saw who the visitor was and frantically went up to greet him, calling out, “Uncle.”

It turned out to be Lin Kun, Ren Shijia’s husband, who had arrived.

Lin Kun smiled and nodded, glancing towards the child, then softly quietly said, “Children are always sleepy when he is just born. After a while, he will be able to play with you.” He sounded like he was afraid that Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua would dislike the child for being uninteresting.

At this time, the child’s little face was wrinkled into a ball and cried in a thin voice. It seemed that he had woken up.

When Lin Kun heard this, he took a big step toward the child and bent down to gently hold the child in his arms. The world generally cherished a grandson more than a son, but the nursemaid and maids around the house were not surprised by Lin Kun’s actions.

Lin Kun’s posture of holding the child, although not skilled, is very proper. He must have been instructed by the nursemaid. He lowered his head and looked at the child in his arms with a smile, his expression turned softer.

The child seemed to recognize his father’s breath, and after a few delicate cries, he stopped crying. He did not open his eyes, so it was unclear whether he was awake or not.

Lin Kun carried the child to the two sisters and explained patiently with a smile: ”After birth, he only opened his eyes once, then refused to do it again after. He looks better with his eyes wide open, if he is awake I can show you. “

Although Lin Kun’s words were teasing his son’s ugly appearance after birth, his words carried the joy of being a father.

Because his tone is gentle and he doesn’t have the airs of an elder, Ren Yaohua couldn’t help but remarked, “I heard from Matron Zhou that babies are not very good-looking when they are born, and when they cry they like cats. But after waiting a few days, their face will look better.”

Lin Kun’s mouth curved slightly when he heard this, and he nodded, “Third Miss is right, then I won’t dislike him for the time being.”

Ren Yaohua couldn’t help but burst out laughing, and couldn’t help feeling more fond of this uncle whom she seldom met.

A servant happily ran in, saluted, and said: “Master, Madam has woke up. She immediately searches for the Young Master. This servant will carry the Young Master over and let Madam see him.”

It turned out that Ren Shijia woke up.

Upon hearing this, Lin Kun asked with a smile, “Has she eaten yet? The old matron said that it is best to let her drink a bowl of medicinal porridge soon after waking up.”

The servant shook her head: “Miss said she wants to see the young master first.”

Lin Kun handed the child in his hand to the nursemaid behind him and shook his head somewhat helplessly, “I’ll go and take a look at her, and you can carry the child over after she drinks the porridge.” That latter sentence was addressed to the nursemaid.

That nursemaid should be the person sent by Old Madam Ren to take care of Ren Shijia. Seeing that Lin Kun was not forgetting to care for his wife at this moment, her heart rejoiced and didn’t go against Lin Kun’s intention. Instead, she agreed and said, “Master is right.”

Before Lin Kun left, he warmly asked Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua, “Your aunt is not allowed to see the wind for the time being, so the house is not very ventilated, I’m afraid that you will be uncomfortable. There’s no need to see her today, I’ll tell her about your arrival.” Although they were words of rejection, they made people listen and feel thoughtful.

Ren Shijia woke up at this moment because her heart was attached to her son who was just born, Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua were uninterested in disturbing her at this moment, so they nodded their heads in response.

Lin Kun went out again with the nursemaid.

Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua stayed for a while, then got up to say goodbye.

When they walked to the door, they saw that the nursemaid who had followed Lin Kun out before had come back again, now carrying the child over to show Ren Shijia.

When the two sisters came out, Ren Yaohua said, “Uncle is very nice.” It was rare for Ren Yaohua to be so blunt and use good words to evaluate a person.

Ren Yaohua, however, smiled and was noncommittal.

A person’s temperament might not have more than one side, she had only met Lin Kun a few times and was not in a good position to judge this person.

After the two of them left the courtyard, they found that Matron Xu and Wujing, who had gone after the two suspicious people before, were already waiting outside the courtyard.

“How is it? Did you find anyone?” Ren Yaohua walked over and said softly.

Matron Xu sighed and shook her head, “We searched all around and did not find the figures of those two people from before.”

Ren Yaoqi had already expected this result, and was not disappointed when she heard this, nodding her head, she said, “Maybe it’s just two lazy and skittish people, since we couldn’t find them then let’s forget about it.”

She said so, but after returning to the main room of Ziwei Courtyard, Ren Yaoqi called Pingguo over, “Find out anything?”

Pingguo came forward and said in a low voice: “This servant took the sizes of the two pairs of feet and went to Matron Liu, who serves Eldest Young Madam. She knew the sizes of the summer clothes that were made for the people in the inner courtyard. The size of the smaller pair of feet was the same as many of the maids have in the house, so there is nothing to find there. The other one this servant found out that it is worn by larger feet, and there is a slight difference between the right and left shoe.”

Ren Yaohua glanced at Ren Yaoqi in surprise, “When did you send her to check this? How can two pairs of footprints be used to find someone?”

Ren Yaohua laughed, “When I was looking at the footprints, I roughly measured them with my own feet, and found that the size was a bit on the large side, and the two feet seemed to be different in length. That is why I secretly instructed her to go and ask Matron. You were walking in front and didn’t hear it.”

Ren Yaohua glanced at Ren Yaoqi and turned her head to ask Apple, “So who is it?”

Pingguo saw Ren Yaoqi nodding her head signaling her to speak, so she softly said, “There are twenty or so servants with big feet in the mansion. Most of them are from the outer courtyard or the rough work servants. But there are only six who have large feet in the inner courtyard, and there are three who are about the same size as those feet. The only one whose left and right foot sizes are different is the cook in Nuanxiang Courtyard who is known as Servant Wen. Afterward, this servant went to Madam’s courtyard again and found out that Servant Wen didn’t go back until we all left, and she is wearing a green coat today.”

“Someone from Auntie’s courtyard?” Ren Yaohua frowned.

Ren Yaoqi remembered Servant Wen who made medicinal food that she saw in Ren Shijia’s Courtyard at that time. A native of Jiangnan, Old Madam Fang had helped Ren Shijia find her.

Ren Yaoqi had previously suspected that the timing of this Servant Wen finding out that Ren Shijia’s previous miscarriage was fishy and too coincidental, and that it was the Fang Family who had recommended her to Ren Shijia. Now it seemed that this cook really have some relationship with Concubine Fang.