After Ren Yaoqi returned to the city, she asked Ren Shijia's housekeeper to help her find some high-quality medicinal herbs and tonics, intending to send them to Lei Pan'er at the Lei family's farm in the name of herself and Ren Yaohua.
Lei Pan'er was still a child and didn't need those nourishing herbs, so it was just a courtesy. Ren Yaoqi borrowed the cook from Ren Shijia's kitchen and asked her to make a few snacks, specifically instructing them to look good.
Ren Shijia likes to eat dim sum on weekdays. After Mrs. Wen left, Lin Kun asked someone to find a cook from Jiangnan who was good at making various dim sum.
Finally, Ren Yaoqi asked the maid Sang Zhen to bring medicinal herbs, two rolls of snacks, and two jars of candied fruits to the Lei family's villa to visit Lei Pan'er on behalf of her and Ren Yaohua.
After returning from her visit, Sang Zhen told Ren Yaoqi that Lei Pan'er had woken up and was fine. She didn't know how she fell into the well, and she only remembered chasing a flightless starling, and then she knew nothing else. Fortunately, when she woke up again, she was already in her bed, so she didn't get scared.
She heard that Sang Zhen was sent by the two elder sisters of the Ren family to visit her, and asked Sang Zhen to come into the room to talk. She was very happy to see the snacks and candied fruits that Sang Zhen brought with her, and said that she would come to visit the two elder sisters after her injury healed.
When Ren Yaoqi heard that Lei Pan'er was still as lively, smart and mischievous as before, she couldn't help but feel happy.
"How is the maid named Yuegui?" Ren Yaoqi thought for a while and asked.
"I didn't see Yuegui. I asked the wet nurse when I came out. She just said that Yuegui was sent back to Yunyang City by the housekeeper. She didn't know anything else." Sangzhen replied.
Ren Yaoqi thought that although Lei Ting was young and didn't care about the affairs of the inner courtyard, he was not stupid. This time Lei Pan'er's accident should have made him alert to his daughter's situation.
The next day, Ren Yaohua sent Xiangqin over to say that the Lei family's steward had sent some valuable tapestry, bird's nests, and ginseng to the other courtyard early in the morning as a return gift. The Lei family's return gift was much more valuable than what Ren Yaoqi had sent.
Because Ren Yaoqi lived in the Lin family, the Lei family sent the things to the Ren family's villa. Ren Yaohua asked Xiangqin to deliver all the things to Ren Yaoqi.
Ren Yaoqi asked the maid to pick out some tapestry and bird's nests and send them to Ren Shijia, and asked Xiangqin to keep the rest.
There were still three days before the Thousand Gold Banquet, and many noble ladies from other states and counties came to Yanzhou in Yunyang City.
Xiao Jinglin sent a letter saying that the princess wanted her to play the piano in front of the guests tomorrow to check the results of her piano practice over the past few days, so she would send someone to pick her up early the next morning to take her to the Yanbei Palace.
When Ren Yaoqi received the letter, he was thinking of writing back to make fun of Princess Xiao for being stage fright, but when he saw the name of the guest invited by Princess Yanbei, he was stunned.
Ouyang was the wife of Xu Wanli, the principal of Yunyang Academy.
Yunyang Academy is the highest institution of learning in Yanbei. Its president, Xu Wanli, holds a very high status in the hearts of Yanbei's scholars and is a leading figure in the Qingliu school.
Xu Wanli was born into the direct line of the Jiangnan Xu family. The Xu and Pei families were both prominent in Jiangnan's scholarly circles. Someone once calculated that over the past three hundred years, the Pei family was the most prominent family to have produced prime ministers and cabinet ministers, with the Xu family second.
The Xu family had roots in Jiangnan, but this particular Xu, after achieving top honors in the imperial examination in the 35th year of the previous emperor's reign, refused to enter the imperial court and began traveling. Eventually, Xu Wanli arrived in Yanbei and, somehow, became the principal of the Yunyang Academy.
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