Madam Ren laughed and said,
"I guess Jiaor must have come back with the bracelets. Sister-in-law, why don't we go and have a look?"
With a smiling nod, Jin Aichuan replied,
"Sure. I heard that Ren Jiao spent nearly a month just thinking about the bracelet designs. He's really put his heart into it. Let's go and see his ingenuity."
In the engagement customs of the Great Yin Dynasty, apart from exchanging the eight characters of birth, a very sincere groom-to-be would painstakingly design a pair of bracelets for the bride-to-be. Then he would go to a workshop and personally forge them under the guidance of an old craftsman, symbolizing a lifetime of togetherness.
This not only showed his respect for the bride but also demonstrated his feelings.
However, if a family was really poor, this step of making bracelets was usually skipped. Those who were particular would find good wood and carve wooden bracelets themselves.
But for a girl from a prestigious family like the Liu family, the bracelets were usually made of pure gold inlaid with beautiful jade, signifying a perfect match.
The group headed towards the front yard in a grand manner.
Despite the cold weather, the yard was crowded with people. Ren Jiao was holding a mahogany box, looking extremely happy with a beaming face. It seemed that he was very satisfied with the bracelets he had made.
Everyone warmly said a lot of auspicious words, and then someone started to encourage and push Ren Jiao towards Liu Mengxian.
Liu Mengxian stood there blushing, twisting the handkerchief in her hand almost into a rope.
Ren Jiao also blushed. Holding the box, he tenderly poured out his feelings to Liu Mengxian. Then he opened the wooden box, and sure enough, a pair of delicate and gorgeous gold-inlaid jade bracelets were lying quietly inside.
They shone brightly, radiant and dazzling.
The maid beside Liu Mengxian happily took the box, took out the bracelets with a silk handkerchief, held them up high for everyone to see, and then put them on Liu Mengxian's wrists in public.
This meant that she was very satisfied and had accepted the engagement.
The crowd let out a chorus of "Oh—" and rushed forward to playfully tease the two of them.
Yun Xi watched happily and genuinely felt happy for Liu Mengxian. She wanted to go up and offer her congratulations, but there were too many people and she couldn't squeeze in at all.
Helplessly, she glanced at Ling Yan who was protecting her like a mother hen, and Yun Xi said,
"Forget it. I'll congratulate her during the meal later."
"There are too many people here. Let's go to the side room and sit for a while."
Ling Yan gave a soft "mm" and, together with Saixing, escorted her to the side room.
The Liu family was very polite. As soon as she sat down, a maid brought tea and snacks and respectfully placed them on the table for them to enjoy.
Yun Xi happened to feel a bit hungry, so she picked up a snack and ate it slowly.
Just then, Yun Qianying, accompanied by Liuyun, walked over haughtily.
"Don't think that just because you're Mother's biological child you can do whatever you want,"
Everyone was outside at the moment, and there was no one else in the side room. Yun Qianying didn't bother to pretend anymore. She came up and haughtily taunted Yun Xi:
"You weren't raised in the Yun family. I'm the one who's been by Father and Mother's side. Look at Brother, he didn't even recognize you, did he?"
"Mother also said that no matter what, I'll always be a young lady of the Yun family. So I advise you to be obedient and don't have delusions of competing with me for the position of the Yun family's young lady. Otherwise, I'll make sure you have no place in the Yun family."
"Humph—"
Yun Xi sneered disdainfully. Without even raising her eyelids, she directly hit Yun Qianying where it hurt:
"I didn't know you were in charge of the Yun family. Then why didn't your marriage with the Shen family work out?"
"You..."
Choked with anger, Yun Qianying picked up the tea beside her and splashed it at Ye Xi's face.
Ling Yan, who had been on guard against her, waved her hand and blocked all the tea back, splashing Yun Qianying all over.
"Ah!"
Yun Qianying let out a shrill scream. She fumbled to take out a handkerchief and while wiping herself, shouted:
"You dared to splash me! You actually dared to splash me! I'll... I'll..."
"Xiaoying, what's going on?"
Liu Jingyue's voice sounded at the door in time, interrupting Yun Qianying's shrill cries.
"Today is your cousin's engagement day. Making such a fuss is simply indecent."
Everyone turned around and saw that Liu Jingyue and several other ladies had walked up to the door with frowned brows. Apparently, they had all been attracted by Yun Qianying's scream.
"Woo... Mother..."
Yun Qianying immediately threw herself into her mother's arms and cried piteously:
"Mother, I saw Sister Xi sitting alone and lonely in the side room, so I wanted to come over and talk to her and resolve the previous misunderstandings."
"But... but who would have thought that as soon as I greeted her, Sister Xi told her fierce maid to splash me with tea. Woo... I guess the misunderstanding between Sister and me was too deep before. Mother, don't blame Sister. It's all because I didn't explain clearly..."
Tsk tsk. With such a submissive and aggrieved look, the other ladies who didn't know Yun Xi well all gave her a condemning look.
But Liu Jingyue knew that Yun Xi would never act without reason. There must be some other reason behind it.
However, there was no one else in the side room, and their arguments couldn't lead to a conclusion. It would only ruin the joy of Liu Mengxian's engagement banquet.
Liu Jingyue didn't say much. She just gave Yun Qianying a meaningful look and then turned to Jin Aichuan beside her and said:
"Sister-in-law, please send someone to take Xiaoying to change her clothes and redo her makeup first. It's cold in winter. I'm afraid she'll catch a cold."
"Alright."
Jin Aichuan agreed and told the nanny beside her to take Yun Qianying down first.
Seeing that Liu Jingyue didn't side with her, a flash of resentment quickly passed through Yun Qianying's eyes. But she said obediently:
"Mother, although Sister Xi misunderstood me, I really want to make up with her. Sister Xi's clothes were also splashed a bit just now. Why don't we go and change together?"
"Xiaoxi, were you also splashed?"
Liu Jingyue immediately pulled Yun Xi over and examined her carefully.
Sure enough, she saw a patch of water on the hem of her skirt, but it didn't look like it was splashed.
Yun Xi was also very surprised.
Ling Yan had protected her so well just now that not a single drop of water had splashed on her. Could it be that she had been seeing things just now?
Just as she was wondering, she heard Saixing exclaim first:
"Oh, it really is. I didn't notice it just now. I was so careless."
So it wasn't just her imagination...
Looking at Yun Qianying's "sincere" face beside Liu Jingyue, Yun Xi sneered in her heart. She had used this trick at the Qionglin Banquet last time, and she was still using it now. She really had no progress at all.
Curious to see what she was up to, Yun Xi said,
"Alright. Let's go together then. Thank you, Madam Liu."
"You're welcome."
Jin Aichuan smiled and said a few polite words. With a wave of her hand, the nanny beside her bowed and led the two of them through the side door towards the dressing room at the back.
Walking through the corridors, when they reached a pond, Yun Qianying suddenly let out an "ouch" and in a flash, grabbed Yun Xi and fell towards the lake beside them.
Yun Xi never expected Yun Qianying's conspiracy to be so blatant. Caught off guard, she was really dragged by her and staggered towards the pond.
In the cold winter months, getting soaked in the pond would almost surely lead to a cold.
Ling Yan's eyes turned cold, and she reached out to grab Yun Xi.
But they were falling too fast, and Yun Qianying was holding onto Yun Xi tightly.
Dragged down by the weight of two people and without a proper support point, Ling Yan grabbed Yun Xi's arm and threw her onto the path, but then she herself "plop" into the pond.