To be fair, her great-grandfather, the previous head of the Ren family, had some vision when purchasing the mansion. Putting aside the exquisite and elegant house, the feng shui of the entire house is excellent.

It is high in the southeast and low in the northwest, with the West Mountain at its back and the Baihe River in front, which embodies the "geographical momentum" sought in Feng Shui. The West Mountain, with its long, winding ridges, provides the residence with vitality, making it a place where winds can be stored and qi can be gathered.

The pavilions are like clouds, the houses are high and low, and the layout is staggered. The main roads are connected in all directions. The Ronghua Garden where the owner lives is located in the center. The layout is like the Tai Chi Yin Yang fish diagram. The inner and outer courtyards together form a total of eight courtyards, forming the shape of the Bagua.

If the land is good, the crops will grow vigorously; if the house is auspicious, the people will be prosperous.

The person who built this house must have been an exceptional master of geomancy.

However, such a mansion can be lived in even by the descendants of dragons and phoenixes. Although the Ren family can temporarily borrow its fortune, they will not be able to suppress its nobility over time, and they are afraid that their fortune will backfire on them.

It was no wonder that a few years after she left the Ren family, she heard people say that the Ren family had fallen into decline and the house had changed hands.

As for where the other people living in the house had gone, she was no longer interested in finding out.

Passing through the tall wall-mounted gate of Ronghua Courtyard decorated with glazed tiles and piers, the first thing that catches your eye is the giant Lingbi stone placed in the shallow pool in the center of the courtyard. Because the shape of the stone resembles a mountain, it is named "Cangshan Xiongju".

It is said that this stone was transported back from Anhui by the former head of the Ren family at great expense. It is also considered a wonder of the Ren family.

Passing the Lingbi Stone are the three spacious flower halls of Ronghua Courtyard. They are closed on weekdays and opened wide only during festivals and banquets. When there are many guests, there are two cross-courtyards on the east and west sides available.

Passing through the hall is the front yard of the main house of Ronghua Garden.

Mrs. Qiu, the old lady of the Ren family, had a peculiar habit: she disliked flowers and trees, disliking those vibrant things that attracted insects and ants. Consequently, the entire courtyard was dominated by a seam of neatly-jointed bluestone. Only in spring and summer, when a few blades of grass would unexpectedly sprout from the base of the wall, would a glimpse of green emerge. Unfortunately, as soon as they appeared, they were plucked out by the rough maids sweeping the yard.

It snowed heavily for two days before the sky cleared up. The accumulated snow was blown into hard ice by the north wind before it could break. Ren Yaoqi walked all the way under the corridors or on the ground covered with cotton lichen.

The courtyard of Ronghua Garden was spotlessly clean without any trace of ice or snow. It had been cleaned so thoroughly that only the unchanging bluestone ground could be seen.

At this time, two girls about twelve or thirteen years old were kneeling on the bluestone ground in the front yard of the main house.

They were wearing the indigo winter uniforms of the second-class maids in the Ren Mansion. They knelt upright and reverently with their foreheads touching the ground, but their bodies were as shaky as the few dead leaves hanging on the branches. No one knew whether they were frozen or scared.

Ren Yaoqi walked past them and could hear the sound of them sniffing when he stepped on the steps leading to the main house's foundation.

"It's Fang'er and Hui'er who serve Eighth Sister." Qingmei, who was originally one step behind, took a look at the two of them, hurriedly caught up with the first two steps, and reported in Ren Yaoqi's ear with her mouth half covered in a mysterious manner. It was not difficult to hear the excitement in her voice that there was going to be a good show to watch.