Ren Yaoqi found a chance and called Ren Yaohua aside to talk in private.
"Send someone to keep an eye on the East Palace and report back immediately if there's any movement."
The two were still in the east side room of the main house in Ronghua Courtyard. Old Lady Ren was in the Ming Hall next door listening to the head maid Jinlian reporting in detail the list of gifts that Lady Lin had brought today, and she was personally instructing what gift to return later. Her voice came through the hollow carved Xiang bamboo curtain.
Originally, Ren Yaoyin was embroidering shoe uppers with an embroidery basket in the east room. She had just gotten up and went to the warm room where she lived to find silk thread.
Ren Yaoqi's voice was so loud that it was practically touching Ren Yaohua's ear. Hearing this, Ren Yaohua warily glanced towards the Xiangzhu curtain. Although she wasn't used to it, she still imitated Ren Yaoqi and leaned in close to whisper in her ear for fear of being overheard. "What's going on in the East Palace? Is there any movement?"
Just as Ren Yaoqi was about to speak, light footsteps were heard from inside. It seemed that Ren Yaoyin had come out of the warm room. The two sisters sat down as if nothing had happened.
Sure enough, Ren Yaoyin came out from the east room with a strand of gold thread in her hand.
The old lady told the sisters to stay in the main house, and asked Mrs. Lin to have lunch at Ronghuayuan at noon, and asked the sisters to join her.
It was not convenient to talk at this moment. Ren Yaohua lowered her head and thought for a moment, then put down the teacup in her hand. She slowly stood up and said to the maidservant Wu Jing, "Go change your clothes."
Ren Yaoyin came over, smiled gently at Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua, then sat back on the kang and busied herself with her embroidery, not noticing anything unusual.
Ren Yaohua went out with her maid.
Ren Yaoqi was still sitting there drinking tea, and occasionally she would come over to ask Ren Yaoyin questions about needlework. Ren Yaoyin patiently answered her one by one, and sometimes she would stop and take out unused scraps of cloth from the embroidery basket to demonstrate the complicated stitches to her.
No matter what her sisters asked for advice, as long as Ren Yaoyin knew the answer, she would always answer them seriously, without any perfunctory response or hidden knowledge. It was undeniable that among the Ren sisters, Ren Yaoyin was the most knowledgeable.
Not long after, Ren Yaohua came back. Ren Yaoqi looked up at her, and Ren Yaohua nodded imperceptibly.
Although he did not ask clearly what Ren Yaoqi was going to do, Ren Yaohua still went out and arranged people to keep an eye on the East Palace.
When it was almost time for lunch, Old Lady Ren sent someone to the Liuli Courtyard to invite Mrs. Lin over.
The eldest wife didn't come. It was the eldest young mistress Zhao who came with the eldest mistress Lin. The eldest wife went to watch over the kitchen herself. After the sisters left the east side room, the eldest young mistress Zhao called Ren Yaoyin out again and told her something.
Just then, Ren Yaohua's maid Xiangqin came in and stood quietly beside her master.
Seeing that Old Madam Ren and Madam Lin were talking nearby and had no time to pay attention to them, Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoqi returned to the east wing.
Seeing that no one was watching, Xiang Qin quickly said, "Sister, a few maids from the East Palace came to visit today, and one was chatting in the gatehouse. Other than that, there was no other movement."
The East and West Palaces were originally one family, and many of the servants on both sides were relatives, so it was normal for them to interact with each other. Although the old lady of the East Palace did not like people from the two sides to interact with each other, the second wife, Su, was not very strict about this.
Ren Yaoqi nodded and instructed, "Just keep an eye on those people from a distance for now. Don't let anyone see them."
Ren Yaoqi and Xiangqin were both very quiet. Ren Yaohua also deliberately lowered her voice and asked, "What will the East Palace do?"
Ren Yaoqi thought for a moment and said, "I hope she can make some moves, otherwise I will have to spend a lot of time and effort to arrange it."
Ren Yaoqi was trying to drag the East Mansion into this. Based on her understanding of the Su family, they would probably be suspicious of Concubine Fang.
The last time she used Ren Yaoting to bring down the Su family, Ren Yaoqi deliberately didn't take too much credit. Given the Su family's shrewdness, they would definitely connect Ren Yaoting's abnormal behavior with their contact.
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