Everyone present looked changed.

Aunt Fang seemed to want to speak, but Ren Yaoqi didn't give her a chance. "Besides, even though we are all children and don't understand these principles, Aunt has always been praised by Grandmother as well-educated and virtuous. Doesn't she understand this principle too? If she kneeled down to you, wouldn't she be deliberately putting you in an unfair position? I don't believe Aunt would do such a thing, right, Aunt?"

Ren Yaoqi let go of the hand that was trying to support Aunt Fang, stood up, tilted his head and smiled at her, as if he trusted her very much.

Aunt Fang lowered her head, slowly turned around on her knees, and kowtowed three times respectfully towards Li's bedroom in the west room.

After she finished her kowtow, Aunt Fang stood up and gently brushed the dust off her pale yellow satin leather skirt. Then she looked up at Ren Yaoqi and said softly, "Fifth sister is right. I am kneeling to the Madam, not to anyone else."

Aunt Fang hid the curiosity in her eyes about Ren Yaoqi very well, and Ren Yaoqi pretended not to notice, still looking familiar and briskly saying, "In that case, Aunt Fang, Sixth Brother, and Ninth Sister can go back. Madam Zhou, please send a few maids to light the way for Aunt Fang and the others. The road outside is slippery, so they need to be careful."

Nanny Zhou was stunned. She glanced at Ren Yaoqi, then at Ren Yaohua, who had a cold face and remained silent. Finally, she lowered her head and replied with a "yes". She bowed to the other aunt and said, "Auntie, Sixth Young Master, Ninth Sister, please come in. I will have someone take you back."

Aunt Fang nodded to Nanny Zhou and said to Ren Yaohua, "Third sister, I will come early tomorrow morning to serve the Madam." After that, she left with her two children without any delay.

Nanny Zhou also followed him out.

Ren Yaoqi watched Aunt Fang's soft yet straight back walk out of the main room. Although her dark eyes were still smiling, they were as calm as the surface of a winter lake, deep and without ripples.

Ren Yaohua's eyes have been fixed on Ren Yaoqi's face since the beginning, as if she wants to see a flower on her face.

"Ren Yaoqi, what do you mean?"

Ren Yaoqi thought for a moment, then looked at Ren Yaohua seriously and said, "Third sister, what do you think I mean? If I had let Aunt Fang kneel down and Seventh Sister continue to make a scene, and if this had alarmed the rest of the family, who do you think would have suffered?"

Ren Yaohua stared at Ren Yaoqi for a long moment with an unfathomable look in her eyes, then pulled the corners of her mouth together with a somewhat sarcastic smile, "I thought you were very close to Aunt Fang and had a deep brotherly bond with Sixth Brother and the others, so you couldn't bear to see them being wronged by me. Could it be that you've forgotten who it was that insisted, in front of Grandpa and Grandma, that I was the one who pushed Sixth Brother into the water?"

Ren Yaoqi lowered her eyes and said nothing. This was the deadlock between her and Ren Yaohua, and there was no point in explaining.

Besides, the ice is three feet thick and it didn't freeze overnight, so she didn't expect to change the relationship between them today.

"Just think of it as me not wanting my mother to be implicated again."

At this time, Madam Zhou came in with four maids carrying copper kettles, copper basins, face towels, and medicine boxes. She bowed to the two and said, "Third sister, fifth sister, I have sent four maids to escort Concubine Fang back to Fangfei Courtyard."

Although Aunt Fang was their father's aunt, she did not live in Ziwei Courtyard. Instead, she lived alone in a courtyard with her two children. Although it was only a courtyard with one entrance, it was considered a great honor.