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Chapter 98: The Secret of Han Family (2)
Ren Yaoqi didn’t know if it was because she was always wary of the Han Family, but she had a feeling that there was a warning in Old Madam Han’s words.
Could it be that the Han Family had some hidden secrets that they didn’t want anyone to see? Ren Yaoqi wondered to herself.
Han You was very happy to be the host for the first time and did not care much about what Old Madam Han had said, so she just nodded and answered yes.
Old Madam Han turned around and instructed her two maids to stay behind to look after the young misses before she led the Eldest Madam to the flower room.
Han You brought them to the small garden in the inner courtyard. On the way, she mentioned some of the fascinating objects in the courtyard, much like the Ren sisters had done to introduce her to the Ren Mansion the last time she visited the Ren Family.
But the Han Family was new to Baihe Town after all, so Han You racked her brains and only managed to get a few dry sentences, embarrassing herself first.
Indeed, the Han Family’s garden is not as elaborate as the Ren Family’s, but it is a very large place, and there are indeed many exotic flowers and plants in it.
The Ren sisters were used to seeing the Ren Family’s garden, therefore they were intrigued by the Han Family’s garden. But when they realized that, aside from the flowers and trees, there were merely rocks, which were considerably less beautiful than the Ren Family, and they lost interest.
But since Han You was so excited to introduce the flowers and plants in the garden to them, they could only keep up their spirits.
It was Ren Yaoting who really looked interested.
“Hey, you’ve even planted ‘Five Young Guards’ in your house?” Ren Yaoyin asked in surprise, pointing at a Camilla not far away.
Five Young Guards is a precious variety of camellia, also known as ‘Eighteen Scholars’.
>> Eighteen Scholars
Han You looked up, pursed his lips, and smiled: “Yes, but it didn’t bloom.”
Ren Yaoyin walked over and took a closer look at it, shaking her head in regret, “It’s good that it’s alive, but indeed it shouldn’t be able to bloom. It’s extremely cold here, and it’s not suitable for this kind of flower to grow. I raised it once before and let it grow. My mother hired an experienced flower farmer to take care of it for me. So I didn’t think it would survive.”
Han You laughed and said, “I also said that I can’t keep them alive, but my brother insisted on raising them. My mother likes camellias very much. Once she dreamed of a yard full of ‘Eighteen Scholars’. My brother asked someone to find some camellias. But in the end, only this one survived, but it didn’t bloom. My brother said that they would bloom next year, but I don’t know if it’s possible.”
“Of course it is possible.” Han You’s words had only just fallen, Ren Yaoting already interjected with full conviction.
The crowd gave her a somewhat odd look, but Ren Yaoting had bent down to take a closer look at the Camilla flower.
Ren Yaoyin coughed lightly and changed the subject, “From this, we can see that Young Master Han is indeed a rare filial son.”
They walked around the garden for a while. When reached the northwest corner, one of the two maids sent by Old Madam Han came up to Han You and said, “Miss, the ladies of the Ren Family are tired after such a long stroll, why don’t you go inside and sit in the pavilion? I will ask someone to prepare some tea. Wouldn’t it be more comfortable for the masters to sit in the pavilion and enjoy the flowers?”
The direction the maid pointed was the direction they had come from, and just now they had indeed vaguely seen a small gazebo protruding from the eaves in a flower path.
Han You sniffed at the words and looked at the path ahead, looking somewhat hesitantly at Ren Yaoting and the others.
The Ren sisters were also a little tired from their walk, but Ren Yaoting wanted to take the Han You for a stroll.
Ren Yaoyu casually asked, “What’s up ahead?”
Everyone looked at a corner of a red wooden door around the corner, it seemed to lead to some small courtyard or house.
The maid who had spoken before said first, “It’s an abandoned courtyard in our mansion. I heard that it used to be the library. But then the Old Madam built a new study in the inner courtyard, and it was abandoned. It hasn’t been cleaned for a long time. A few days ago, a woman who took care of the flowers and trees in the garden said that she saw such a rat this big…”
The maid reached out and gestured, and it was as big as a house cat.
The highborn young ladies was startled at the words and hurriedly backed up a few steps.
Ren Yaoyin did ask suspiciously, “I remember that the Han Family only moved here last year, right? How come the new study room was built so quickly?”
Han You seemed to be a little displeased. She stealthily glared at the maid and said before the maid could, “Although our family has only moved here recently, my grandfather bought this house a long time ago. He even sent someone to take care of it. So before we moved in, the house had already been renovated.”
“No wonder that the paint on the veranda before was still very new.” Ren Yaoyin nodded in understanding and smiled.
When the two maids saw that the ladies did not say they wanted to go on nor did they say they wanted to go to the pavilion, they could not help but exchange glances. The maid who had spoken before was about to say something else, but Ren Yaoyu took a stand and said, “It’s better to go to the pavilion to rest in case we really bump into some big rats.”
Ren Yaoyin nodded without comment, “It’s good to take a rest. My mother might run and send someone over later to tell us to go back.”
Ren Yaoqi glanced at that corner in front of her. Although she had a vague mental feeling that something was wrong, she did not object to avoid drawing attention to herself.
Ren Yaoting saw that everyone meant to go to the pavilion to rest, so she could not say anything else.
The two maids secretly breathed a sigh of relief and enthusiastically guided them to the pavilion.
Before they reached the pavilion, Ren Yaoting suddenly pointed at a distant tree with large white flowers the size of a bowl and exclaimed, “What kind of tree is that? I’ve never seen it before.”
Han You looked at the tree where Ren Yaoting pointed and laughed, “That’s a dove tree. Although the flower is big and beautiful, it has no fragrance.”
>> Dove Tree
Seeing that Ren Yaoting couldn’t stop looking over there, Han You thought for a moment and said, “Why don’t you go with me to have a look over there?” Without waiting for the maid to say anything, she said to Ren Yaoyao, “I will take Sister Ting to see the dove tree, if you are tired, go and rest first, we will come over later.”
The dove tree blossom Ren Yaoting saw was in the northeast, some distance from the place where she had seen the abandoned study pavilion, so the two maids did not stop them.
The Ren sisters were not interested in seeing the flowers and did not go along. Han You just brought Ren Yaoting away.
One of the two maids sent by Old Madam Han said with a smile, “I remember that there are a few locusts on the trees planted there, so I must go and remind my lady to not stay. Xiao Qin, accompany Ren Family misses to the pavilion to rest, I’ll be back soon.”
The latter sentence was said to another maid. The maid called Qin’er nodded, “Sister Fan’er you go, I’ll greet the young miss.”
Fan’er went after Han You and Ren Yaoting.
Qin’er took the Ren Sisters to the gazebo. She also explained to the little maids to prepare tea and cakes. Not long after, the little maids came over with refections. Although it is just a small sitting, there was a table full of snacks on small plates.
Suddenly a cry of alarm seemed to come from the northeast of the garden as if it was from the maid called Fan’er from before.
Qin’er, who was leading the maids to lay out the chopsticks for the ladies of the Ren Family startled, and the sisters of the Ren Family also turned their heads to look back in surprise.
Qin’er hurriedly laughed, “It must be because Sister Fan’er has locust stuck on her hair again, she is always careless every time she tries to catch it. That’s why she’s so anxious to warn Miss.”
There were no more strange noises coming from there, so everyone believed Qin’er’s story and laughed and joked a little.
It was Qin’er who handed the chopsticks to one of the Han Family maids, “I’ll go and check on Sister Fan’er, otherwise she won’t be able to find a place to fix her hair if it’s messed up, and if other maids see it, there will be more trouble.”
With that, she bowed and left.
Only the Ren Sisters and a few Han maids were left in the pavilion.
If the elders of the Han Family had seen them, they would have blamed Han You for being rude. But Han You was good-natured. The Ren sisters had a good impression of her, so no one deliberately picked on her.
Ren Yaoqi smiled and asked the little Han maid who was waiting behind her, “Is there a clean room around here? I want to change my clothes.”
The Han maid nodded: “There is a bathroom in the east of the garden, I will accompany you there.”
Naturally, Ren Yaoqi didn’t think about doing small tricks to bypass the Han Family’s sight, it was not rational. They were a guest who was new to the house, and they were surrounded by people from the family.
So she nodded and smiled, “Thank you very much.”
Ren Yaoqi greeted Ren Yaohua’s few people and led her maid, Pingguo, and the Han Family’s young maid out of the pavilion.
“What’s your name?” On the way, Ren Yaoqi asked the maid.
The little maid was flattered to see Ren Yaoqi’s gentle attitude: “This servant is called Hua’er.”
“Hua’er? You look so young. How long have you been in the house?” Ren Yaoqi continued to chat with the maid.
The little maid even stretched out her fingers and counted carefully before saying, “It has been eight months since this servant came to the Han Family.”
“So you didn’t follow the family from Jizhou?”
“No, this servant was sold in by a broker a few months ago.”
Ren Yaoqi nodded and said with some hesitation, “Is it true that there are rats in that small courtyard to the northwest?”
She didn’t expect the little maid to be dumbfounded at her words. That maid asked in confusion, “Rats? How can there be a rat? Isn’t there just a mute woman sweeping every day?”
It turned out that this little maid had not heard Fan’er’s words before, she was sent here by the steward only when she was delivering the tea.
Ren Yaoqi remained calm, “Oh, maybe I heard it wrong. Who is that mute woman? I haven’t seen it since I came to the garden.”
The little maid said, “That mute woman is mute. She is the one who looks after the small courtyard.” She said, “But it is not impossible for you to say that there are rats, after all, the mute woman is the only one who looks after it, other maids and ladies are not allowed to enter.”
Ren Yaoqi’s heart stirred at her words, “Not allowed to enter? You’ve never been inside?”
The maid shook her head, “I’m just a maid, how dare I go in? Even Sister Qin’er and Sister Fan’er, who served the Old Madam, don’t dare to go in.”