CH 134

Chapter 134: Special Treatment

The Dragon Boat Race in Yunyang City was an annual event in Yanzhou, and every year, notable families all around Yanzhou would gather here for the Dragon Boat Festival.

When the Ren Family’s carriage came out of Baihe Town, there were already quite a few traveling carriages on the official road. However, there were still a handful of families like the Ren Family who dispatched more than 20 carriages.

It was already sishi in the morning when they arrived at Yunyang City. Although the sky was already bright, it was not too warm to be unbearable.

>> sishi

(please read in sleepyautumn.link, thank you >.< )

Ren Family’s carriages used breathable gauze curtains because the weather was getting hotter. Since the beginning of entering the city gate, Ren Yaoqi’s eyes kept looking outside. She could see the hidden pedestrians and carriages, and hear the various noises from the market. This was the prosperity of Yunyang City as the number one city in Yanbei.

When the Khitans invaded the south, the Ruler of the Khitan thought of moving their capital south to Yunyang City. Unfortunately, he was kicked out of the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun by Xiao Qishan, the fourth Prince Yanbei. The capital of Yunyang City became the dying wish of the Ruler of Khitan.

Ren Yaoqi was unfamiliar with Yunyang City. In her last life, she had only been here a few times with her mother when she was still young, but rarely she had the chance to travel after she grew up. Like her mother Li, she was a neglected existence in the Ren family. In the last life she wanted to escape to her ancestral home outside Yunyang City to seek refuge, but was stopped halfway before entering the city.

The Ren Family’s carriage slowly passed through the most spacious main road in Yunyang City and entered the inner city.

“Where is the carriage going?” Ren Yaoqi asked Ren Yaohua.

Ren Yaohua gave Ren Yaoqi a strange look, and then it occurred to her that this was the first time Ren Yaoqi had come to watch a dragon boat race.

“The dragon boat needs to be launched first, the official race won’t start until the afternoon. We are going to the Ren Family’s private residence in Yunyang City, and we will be staying there for the next few days.”

Ren Yaoqi knew that the Ren Family had a mansion in Yunyang City, she had also been there before.

The carriage in front of her stopped. Ren Yaohua lifted the curtain and checked, “Aunt is going back to the Lin Family, she will not travel on the same road as us.”

Sure enough, a few carriages left the group after. Ren Family’s carriage moved again. After less than a quarter of an hour, it finally stopped in front of a red Manzi Gate. This is the main entrance of the side mansion. The gate was not very big, but Ren Yaoqi remembers that this mansion was actually a spacious four-entry mansion.

Before the trip, they had already arranged their personal residence. As soon as Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua got off the carriage, they were led by the matron to the west wing of the third entry. The two sisters would stay together in the first room on the north side of the west wing. The room was very spacious and fully furnished. Some of them were furniture that was used every day by Ren Yaoqi and have been arranged before they came in.

Ren Yaohua was quite familiar with this room. She must have stayed in this room every time she went to Yunyang City. Old Madam Ren would live in the north room of the third entry, so the west wing of the third entry was the place with better conditions.

After they settled down, Fifth Master came over to ask Old Madam Ren for instructions. Then he took the Fifth Madam Lin and their pair of children to his in-law’s house. People from the Fifth Branch seldom lived in the side mansion when they come to Yunyang City, most of the time they would live in the Lin Family Mansion. Even though Old Madam Ren was dissatisfied with her youngest son, she didn’t want to cause any resentment at this moment and embarrass the Ren Family in front of others, so she waved her hand and let them go.

As a result, there was no proper daughter-in-law who served Old Madam Ren, other than Concubine Fang.

(please read in sleepyautumn.link, thank you >.< )

Concubine Fang had changed her clothes and planned to serve the Old Madam. Unexpectedly, Ren Yaohua had already dragged Ren Yaoqi to meet Old Madam Ren. She didn’t give Concubine Fang a chance to intervene and serve.

Old Madam Ren was surrounded by several granddaughters and the Eldest Granddaughter-in-law, plus a room full of maidservants, so there was really no need for Concubine Fang to do anything.

In the end, Old Madam Ren looked at Concubine Fang then shifted her gaze to Ren Yaohua, and ordered Concubine Fang to go back.

Old Madam Ren was a very shrewd person. She didn’t mind giving Concubine Fang a little more face behind the closed door of Ren Family’s inner courtyard. It didn’t even matter if Concubine Fang’s limelight overwhelms the main wife Li. But when she went outside, where the aristocratic families gathered together, she was really ashamed to treat a concubine as a proper daughter-in-law. This person wasn’t worth losing her or the Ren Family’s reputation.

So it’s not that Old Madam Ren didn’t understand the difference between a concubine and the main wife, she just acted according to the occasion.

Old Madam Ren sent an order to arrange the noon meal in the side mansion a bit earlier. When the time came Ren Family’s ladies only needed to enter the carriage, while managing the trip was tasked to the men and stewards of the family.

Ren Yaoqi sat quietly and listened to her sisters and happily chatted about the interesting events at last year’s Dragon Boat Festival around Old Madam Ren.

The atmosphere was happy and harmonious, then a servant hurried in and reported, ”Old Madam, the carriage of the Yanbei Royal Family has arrived.”

Old Madam Ren, who was leaning back on the kang and resting, immediately opened her eyes and sat up straight when she heard this, “Which one of them came?”

The servant, however, glanced at Ren Yaoqi who was sitting on the side, and replied, “Just a carriage and a maid. She said that it was sent by the County Princess to pick up Fifth Miss.”

The room instantly fell silent, and the gazes of the people in the room all went to Ren Yaoqi.

Old Madam Ren also stared at Ren Yaoqi. After contemplating, she spoke to Ren Yaoqi with a loving smile on her face, “Since the County Princess came to pick you up, you should go.”

Ren Yaoqi did not expect Xiao Jinglin to invite her so quickly and was also a bit surprised. After listening to Old Madam Ren’s words, she softly obliged, “Yes,” and then got up and retreated.

(please read in sleepyautumn.link, thank you >.< )

The carriage of the Yanbei Royal Family stopped at the entrance. It was painted black with a green hood and looked very ordinary. Only when Ren Yaoqi walked into the carriage that she found under the eaves of the carriage, there was Yanbei Royal Family’s logo, an eagle with spread wings.

Ren Yaoqi subconsciously glanced toward where the coach driver was sitting, and couldn’t help but felt disappointed. This time the coach driver wasn’t Dongsheng but a middle-aged woman in her forties. The maid beside the carriage welcomed Ren Yaoqi and helped her onto the carriage.

Ren Yaoqi only brought Pingguo with her. She reasoned that the County Princess didn’t like too many people following them, it was not good if others were there and bother her. Since the County Princess wasn’t here, Ren Yaoqi let Pingguo get on the carriage as well.

Xiao Jinglin’s maid, Hongying, was a girl who didn’t like to talk, answered any inquiries succinctly. Ren Yaoqi wasn’t a talkative person either and stopped asking after a couple of questions. She was really Xiao Jinglin’s personal maid. Her temperaments were the same as her master’s.

The carriage traveled for nearly half an hour and finally stopped at the edge of a pier in Yunyang City.

The Liyang River ran through Yunyang, so there were a few piers in Yunyang City. However, the wharf in Yunyang City was not used for civil or commercial purposes. The river mouth into the city was guarded by the army, so most of the time there were no boats in the Liyang River in the city. There were only women squatting on the stone steps of the wharf in twos and threes, washing vegetables and laundry, and laughing and cursing like in the market.

Today’s dragon boat race was not held outside the city gates and not in this section of the river within the city.

Hongying jumped off the carriage first, then turned around to help Ren Yaoqi.

When Ren Yaoqi got off the carriage, she saw a small boat docked by the river. Ren Yaoqi had seen this kind of boat when she was in the capital city. The rich young masters liked to sit inside to drink and listen to music. However, it was rare to see it in Yanbei.

As Ren Yaoqi was standing on the shore and sizing up the boat, the front door of the boat suddenly opened, and then Xiao Jinglin walked out from inside.

Xiao Jinglin seemed calm when her eyes found Ren Yaoqi, but she asked, “Are you afraid of water?”

Ren Yaoyi shook her head and walked down the stone steps along the shore. There were a few rotten vegetable leaves on the stone steps near the water surface and even some filthy fish scales. When walked down, she could smell the fishy smell of water, the stinkiness was not worth mentioning.

(please read in sleepyautumn.link, thank you >.< )

Xiao Jinglin reached out and pulled Ren Yaoqi onto the boat. Although the boat was not big, its body was very stable, didn’t shake even when Ren Yaoqi stepped on it.

There was only a maid who was similarly dressed as Hongying in the boat and no one else.

Ren Yaoqi looked around curiously. Inside the boat was quite spacious. It came with daily utensils. Other than that, there was nothing special.

Although Xiao Jinglin’s face was cold, she kept holding Ren Yaoqi and leading her to sit on the cushion before letting go, fearing that she would not be able to walk steadily on the boat.

“The Second Brother asked Eldest Brother to buy this pleasure boat in the capital. He bought three boats in total. This was only launched for the first time yesterday. When I heard that you came, I thought that you might not have sat on this before, so I had someone pick you up and bring you here.” Xiao Jinglin stared at Ren Yaoyi and explained weakly.

Ren Yaoyi was looking around and smiled at Xiao Jinglin, “Thank you, County Princess, I really haven’t entered this kind of boat before.”

Xiao Jinglin observed Ren Yaoqi a few more times, then smiled back, “It was fortunate that you didn’t get dizzy when you came up. Yesterday, Mother Consort vomited as soon as she got in. It scared my grandmother so much they didn’t want to enter the boat. Then the Second Brother took this boat and gave it to me.” There was a rare mischievousness in her words.

>> Mother Consort

There were few rivers in the north, so Yanbei people were not as good at water as people from the south, and most people were not used to boats. Although Ren Yaoqi had never been on a pleasure boat, she had been on a ship before.

>> Pleasure Boats

(please read in sleepyautumn.link, thank you >.< )

The pleasure boat sailed slowly through the river in the inner city, and many people on the river bank stopped to look at it. It was rare to see a pleasure boat in Yanbei, let alone one that dared to sail in the inner city. Ren Yaoqi was in Xiao Jinglin’s favor today and people kept pointing at her for the whole journey.

Xiao Jinglin didn’t change her face. She didn’t care about the movement outside the boat. Ren Yaoqi was also able to sit still. She was in a backlight position where people outside can hardly see her face clearly, so she hardly felt any pressure.

When the boat was approaching a large stone bridge across the river, there was a banging sound and something hit the boat.

Both of them originally did not care about it, but unexpectedly there were two more banging sounds followed after.

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but look at Xiao Jinglin. Is someone smashed the boat?