There are three study rooms, all filled with books and paintings. You can smell the scent of ink as you enter the yard.
There was a huge pond in the courtyard, its water shallow but dark black, now frozen solid. After the floating snow on top was shoveled away, the pond looked like a crystal black jade.
This is the pool where Ren Shimin usually washes his brushes, and he named it Wenhan Pool.
This was the place Ren Yaoqi was supposed to be most familiar with, but after entering, she couldn't help but look around. Pushing open the door of the study, the mess inside made it almost unbelievable that this was a study.
Ren Yaoqi remembered that Ren Shimin's study was the messiest she had ever seen. He didn't like servants coming in to clean it up; he liked to spread his books and paintings everywhere, but he could quickly find each of his paintings and was very proud of it.
In the entire Ren family, the only person besides Ren Shimin himself who can clearly remember the position of every book and every calligraphy and painting in Ren Shimin's study is Ren Yaoqi.
Ren Shimin looked back at the four children following behind him, frowned and thought for a moment, then pointed at the sandalwood and marble-inlaid desk facing the door and said, "All of you go sit over there and don't move."
Ren Yaoqi knew that Ren Shimin did not usually write or draw on this desk. He liked to use the low table in the room on the right. The desk here was where he usually drank tea, so it was relatively tidy.
Several people walked cautiously through the mess on the floor and sat in a circle around the desk.
Ren Yaoqi reached out and took the upside-down cylindrical bamboo tube in the middle of the desk, which looked like a flat-bottomed bell. Then, her hands uncontrollably took out a few Go pieces from the drawer under the desk and put them in. Just as she was about to put it to her ear and shake it, it was snatched away by Ren Shimin, who was sitting next to her.
"Daddy has told me many times that this is for drinking tea, not a toy, and you are naughty again." Ren Shimin frowned and disapproved.
Ren Yaoqi came back to his senses, blinked, and quickly blinked back the tears in his eyes.
Ren Shimin was stunned, wondering if his tone was too harsh. In the end, he could only put the bamboo cup back into Ren Yaoqi's hands and said helplessly: "Forget it, this cup hasn't been used for half a year. I'll give it to you to play with. Daddy will make another one tomorrow."
Ren Yaoqi looked at the crudely made bamboo cup in her hand and burst into laughter.
She had two of these cups in the camphorwood box under her bed. When she was little, she always liked to play dice with the bamboo cups her father made when he wasn't looking. She had been caught twice, but she still enjoyed it.
A flicker of jealousy flashed in Ren Yaoying's eyes, but her smile was seven parts genuine and three parts curious, without a trace of malice. "Was that gambling just now, Fifth Sister? I heard that Uncle is the best at it. Did Fifth Sister learn it from Uncle?"
Ren Shimin's expression suddenly darkened.
Ren Yaohua looked at Ren Yaoying with a cold gaze like a sharp knife. Ren Yaoying forced a smile but couldn't help but shudder.
The only person whom Ren Yaoying could openly call her uncle was her stepmother's brother.
Ren Yaoqi played with the cup in her hand and smiled nonchalantly, "Aunt, isn't my sister well-read? How come you don't know that rolling dice is actually a form of divination? What kind of gambling game is this? Where did you hear this nonsense?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com