In May, Nan Yi received a message from Quan Fu, and for the first time, she had little interest in going out for a trip.
She wanted to go out, if only Fourth Uncle wasn't with her.
Nan Yi was unaware that Nian Shi was also traveling with them.
Old Master Kang brought quite a lot of people with him this time, including the First Prince, the Crown Prince, the Third Prince, the Fourth Prince, the Fifth Prince, the Seventh Prince, the Thirteenth Prince, and the Eighteenth Prince.
As in previous years, Nan Yi sent Dragon Boat Festival gifts to close friends in advance and received a lot of return gifts. When the storeroom could no longer hold them all, Yi Ren quietly asked her master to put the things away.
Nan Yi liked to hide things, and even her personal maid, Yi Ren, couldn't find them. As time went on, Yi Ren inevitably noticed something was amiss.
Yi Ren was clever and oblivious to this, often deliberately leaving opportunities for Nan Yi to be alone, or intentionally or unintentionally reminding her that the storeroom was full, that something was rare, and whether the master should put it away, rambling on about all sorts of things, and then cleverly leading Xiao Shunzi away.
As time went on, she stopped trying to hide it from Yiren. The downside of having a personal maid was that she was smarter than her, and every move she made was under her watchful eye, so there was no way to hide it from her.
The benefits are, of course, numerous.
This girl often covers for her and cleans up the mess when her actions leave traces.
Xiao Shunzi and Granny Qiu both knew that there was a secret between their master and Yiren, but they tacitly kept quiet about it.
As promised, Yinzhen brought the thirteenth and fourteenth princes to Tongzhou to pick up Nan Yi and take him back to the mansion the day before their departure.
On the estate, Nan Yi and his servants, along with the Tong sisters, were catching fish around the pond.
The pond was large, but Xiao Shunzi kept throwing fish fry into it, and the largest fish he caught weighed about ten pounds.
Nan Yi chuckled as he held a large fish in both hands, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yinzhen and the thirteenth and fourteenth princes striding over.
The smile froze at the corners of her mouth.
The two Tong sisters, along with Lady Yi and a group of servants, paid their respects to Yinzhen, who politely asked the two sisters to rise.
"Yun'er, Ning'an, greet your uncle." Nan Yi's two little nieces also shyly stepped forward to greet him.
"Please." After two years apart, Yinzhen did not forget to give a gift. He reached into his sleeve, paused for a moment, and then took out the gift and handed it to the two little maids. "Take this to play with. Come to the mansion more often in the future. There are two little princesses in your uncle's mansion who are the same age as you. You can play together."
The gifts from Yinzhen looked very precious, and Yun'er and Ning'an dared not accept them. The two turned their gazes to their aunt (Nan Yi) to seek her opinion.
Their mother had no say in this matter.
As cousins, less than a year apart in age, the two sisters, Tong Tinglan and Tong Tinglan, had less responsibility for their upbringing since they were handed over to Granny Qiu for instruction.
With the personal guidance of Granny Qiu, the two sisters grew up to be graceful and dignified in their speech and behavior, and their every move became natural and elegant. The two Tong sisters were increasingly satisfied and simply let go of her and lived a leisurely life on the estate.
According to Nan Yi, her two little nieces were taught by Granny Qiu to be well-behaved at a young age, and they didn't have any of the liveliness of a young girl.
But she didn't intervene. This era has its own rules for survival. Only she was an anomaly. No, she was an anomaly to begin with.
Nan nodded, indicating that they should take it.
Setting down the large fish in her hand, Nan Yi's lowered eyes flickered slightly. That thing seemed to be a gift for her—two white jade lions. In her memory, someone had asked her what she liked, and she had casually said "lions."
Trying to please her? No way. If I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have bothered in the first place.
"A good haul! Fourth Sister-in-law, will my brother be able to enjoy a whole fish feast today?" Thirteen asked with a smile, and Fourteen also came over to greet him.
Nan nodded, "Sure, but we didn't catch enough fish. Why don't you all go and help out, and experience farm life while you're at it?"
Li Er and Xiao Shunzi were catching fish in the pond by boat. Usually, Li Yi did this job, but he was busy with other things today.
"Okay, Fourth Brother, let's go together." Thirteen and Fourteen wanted to go into the water and shouted to Xiao Shunzi to row the boat back.
The gentlemen arrived. The Tong sisters, one divorced by her husband's family and the other in a similar predicament, were in an awkward position and could not stay long. They told Yun'er and Ning'an to return to the estate.
Yinzhen didn't want to go into the water, but he couldn't resist the persuasion of the thirteenth and fourteenth princes. It was a rare opportunity to come to the estate and relax a bit.
He was persuaded to go, leaving only Nan Yiyi, Huan'er, and Granny Zhao on the shore.
The boat wasn't big, only able to hold six or seven people. The three of them boarded, and it was a little crowded, so Li Er gave up his spot and stood at the bow.
Thirteen took the pole from Xiao Shunzi and rowed the boat, while Fourteen directed him to row further in, saying there were big fish ahead. Yinzhen stared indifferently at the water.
Lotus flowers were still growing in the pond. Nan Yi saw them heading towards the middle and quickly stopped them, "Don't go in there, the water is deep in the middle, you can't swim, be careful not to fall in..."
Before he could utter the word "water," the words caught in his throat. Nan Yi's gaze darkened slightly as he saw the boat spinning in the middle of the pond, its hull rocking violently.
Fourteenth Brother yelled, "Thirteenth Brother, stop rowing! Stabilize the boat!"
"I didn't row, the boat seems to have hit something." He tried to stick the pole into the water to stabilize the boat.
On the other side, Xiao Shunzi saw his master's swaying body and turned pale with fright. He quickly squeezed into the middle of the boat and stretched out his hand to grab his master. Li Er also noticed the situation and flew over, but bumped into Xiao Shunzi's standing body.
The two men collided violently, lost their balance, and fell into the water one after the other. Their large movements caused the boat to tilt even more severely.
Implicated by the two men, Yinzhen called out "Thirteenth!" and leaned his body towards the outside of the boat, waving his hands twice in the air before "plop!"
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