Wang's original intention was to half persuade and half intimidate Madame Ren into accepting Xie Qi, although Xie Qi couldn't bring out much dowry, after all, she is now the eldest daughter of the main house of the Xie family. Putting aside her temperament and upbringing, in terms of family background, it's not too humiliating for the Ren family either. But unexpectedly, Madame Ren's attitude was so resolute, with a few hints of tearing up the face, which made Wang secretly excited.

  She forced a smile and said, "Madam, don't worry. The affairs of these children are only clear to themselves, and outsiders don't know the details. In my opinion, the two of them also had this kind of relationship before, so it's not necessary to take it too seriously. Anyway, now that Yu has been found, we can give an account to Old Lady."

  Mrs. Ren's lips curled up with a cold smile, and she said slowly: "Don't mention the word 'feeling' anymore, madam. Now that things have come to this point, we must get to the bottom of it. If it was indeed Yuange who sent her away, we will exchange something else for her return and apologize to Qisha in person. And if not, then both children can clear their names."

  Is this what you mean by refusing to acknowledge any relationship between Xie Qi and Ren Yu?

  Wang listened and also came up with a temper, saying: "If so, I don't know what high opinion the lady has?"

  Mrs. Ren said, "I just heard from Yu Ge that he was afraid of affecting Qi Jie's reputation, so he didn't say anything. That night, he secretly went to the backyard of Wu Tou Zhuang's house to look for Qi Jie and try to get her back, but unexpectedly ran into Wan Jie, who helped cover it up."

  "If it's true that Yu sent the jade over, then there's no need to go back for it again tonight. We can just invite Wan over and ask her about it."

  Xie Qi was suddenly startled, and she didn't even know there was such a thing?

  Wang also felt speechless, although it was true that Ren Yuanye sneaking into the inner courtyard to find Xie Qi was not quite proper, but they were all just children after all, and it couldn't be linked to anything about men and women. If this matter was really confirmed from Xie Zhu's mouth, wouldn't it have proven Madame Ren's words true? And Xie Qi not only lied, but also framed someone?

  But can she find a reason to refute Mr. Ren's proposal?

  "Go to the third girl's house and see what she is doing, invite her over to talk."

  She gave Su Luo a meaningful glance.

  Xie Wan returned to her room after parting ways with Xie Wei outside of Qifengyuan, also thinking about how this matter would develop.

  Xie Qi's trick of bumping into the pillar can only deceive those who are unaware, at least Wang Shi and Ren Furen cannot be deceived. Wang Shi is angry, but she will likely help Xie Qi cover up this lie.

  Now let's see how Mrs. Ren will respond.

  However, since Huang and Wang had a falling out, he might also lean towards Madame Ren. Although Xie Rong did not advocate for Huang to seek advancement through the Ren family, having more connections would mean having more paths in the future, wouldn't it?

  She never thought Mrs. Ren would let Wang come and invite her.

  When Su Luo came over to explain her intention, she was indeed stunned for a good while.

  Su Luo smiled and said, "Both of you are from the Xie family, one stroke cannot write two 'Xie' characters. Now that Qi sister has been wronged, you should help your sister clear her name."

  Xie Wan didn't know what Mrs. Ren had asked her to come over for, but from Su Luo's words, she also heard that it was to help Xie Qi lie.

  Why did it have to be her?

  She returned to Qiufengyuan with a lot of doubts in her mind.

  Although everyone in the house looked calm and collected, Xie Wan also caught a whiff of gunpowder.

  Wang pointed to the side of the couch and asked her to sit down, saying in a gentle voice: "I called you here to ask you something. On that night when you went to Wutou Village, did you hear any noise in the yard from inside the room?"

  Xie Wan's heart skipped a beat, so it was because of this matter?!

  Madam Ren actually revealed the secret that she had kept hidden from Ren Yun for so long, in order to expose Xie Qi's intentions?

  Is she telling the truth or not? If she tells the truth, it's inevitable that she'll offend Wang Shi. What benefits will she gain from offending Wang Shi at this time? If she doesn't tell the truth, then Wang Shi will necessarily try every means to get the Ren family to acknowledge Xie Qi - otherwise, who else can be held responsible for the scar on her forehead? If a scar is left behind because of this, even if they do get engaged in the future, people will still gossip about it behind their backs.

  If Xie Qi were to climb up to the Ren family, wouldn't that be an even greater obstacle for Xie Wan?

  She thought of this and glanced at Mrs. Ren, who also looked at her with expectation in her eyes.

  Xie Wan couldn't help but feel a little disdainful, if Ren Yun had mentioned that she was covering for him, then he must have also mentioned Xie Yu. Otherwise, why would she cover for her? The fact that Mrs. Ren only asked her to come and testify, without asking Xie Yu, wasn't it obvious that she thought the third house wasn't worth offending?

  Besides, she helped Ren Yun cover up in front of Xie Wei, and Xie Wei knew but didn't say anything was one thing. Now that she had torn the paper to show her, it was another matter altogether. How could she still get close to Xie Wei from now on?

  It seems neither side has good intentions.

  Everyone in the house saw Xie Wan's silence and became somewhat anxious.

  Madam Ren coughed and said: "Third Miss saw something, don't be afraid, just speak out directly."

  Xie Wan raised her head and said, "That night, I heard my elder sister exclaiming in surprise, then she came out! I was afraid that she had been frightened by something, so I rushed out quickly. The corridor was wet with snow, and Yu Xue even slipped and fell."

  Wang didn't know about Xie Wei's involvement and asked: "What is your older sister's name?"

  Xie Wan spread her hands and said, "She said she was scared by a stray cat. But I think her expression looked like she was really frightened, I don't know what she saw. Why not call Big Sister over to ask?"

  Wang did not think that Xie Wan, although she had never been present, had thought things through thoroughly, and at the moment did not suspect anything, pinching her handkerchief in silence.

  Should I invite her or not? What if the one who surprises Xie Wei is Ren Huan, what should I do then? Wei Jie isn't as easy to handle as Wan Jie, and she has a Huang family backing her up.

  Since the incident with the Zhao family, Wang felt a few points of inferiority when facing Huang.

  Mrs. Ren listened to Xie Wan's words, but felt somewhat stifled. Since her brother-in-law had said that it was Xie Wan who helped him cover up, why did Xie Wan pretend not to know and shift the blame to Xie Wei instead?

  At least she didn't deny it happened.

  She said to Wang, "Let's just listen to San Gu Niang and go invite Da Gu Niang over."

  Wang could only nod, hoping that Xie Wei wouldn't expose this matter.

  Su Luo ran another errand and invited Xie Wei, who was drawing floral patterns in the Huang residence.

  Xie Wei listened to Wang's words and immediately looked at Xie Wan, who innocently spread her hands.

  She hesitated for a moment, then said: "It's true, I saw him in the backyard, it was indeed Yuange, he had been wandering around Qisha's door for a long time. I was afraid of scaring Wan sister, so I pretended it was a stray cat that came in. And," she paused here, looked at Xie Qi and continued: "In those days, Yuange's mood was also very low, don't know why."

  Madam Ren's face relaxed as she looked at Ruan Shi and her daughter, then turned to Wang Shi.

  Xie Qi cried out: "It was obviously Gege who gave it to me, he gave it to me!"

  Wang shut his eyes and opened his mouth several times, but simply didn't know what to say.

  When Xie Wei's letter appeared in Madam Zhao's hands, how could she still expect her to help her and Xie Qi speak? She really didn't know who was secretly stirring up trouble between the third house and her. If she found out, she would definitely tear him apart!

  Now that's settled, Xie Wei has clearly said it out loud, and Xie Qi not only suffered a loss but also shouldn't expect to marry into the Ren family again.

  "It's true that if I hadn't spoken up, things wouldn't have been clear. For a moment, I was confused and almost believed the children's words, misunderstanding Yuange. She let out a deep sigh and began to speak with extreme remorse, "This is all because of my poor teaching, which led to Qijie making such a mistake. Please, madam, take into account her young age and forgive her this time. - Now, bring the jade over!"

  It doesn't make sense to hold onto someone else's things. Wang took the jade and glared at Xie Qi.

  Madam Ren had come for the sake of discussing jade, and previously she was very considerate of the two families' faces. If it weren't for Xie Qi's sudden move later on, she wouldn't have torn her face apart like that. Now seeing Wang Shi's attitude, she couldn't help but secretly admire her ability to yield and adapt, someone who could make facial expressions at will was naturally not easy to mess with.

  The friendship of the two families for several generations cannot be ruined because of this matter, so I said: "It's not all Chess sister's fault. If our Yu brother had told his wife about the importance of jade earlier, I believe Chess sister is not an unreasonable person either. It's just that children like new and interesting things. I was also a bit impatient, and if there's anything wrong, please forgive me, madam."

  "Where's the harm? It's because our family has such a relationship that the children will be close to us, isn't it?"

  Wang handed the jade back to Madame Ren and then sternly said to Xie Qi, "From now on, you are confined for half a month and will be punished with copying 'Admonitions for Women' twenty times!"

  Xie Qi felt disappointed and frustrated, his heart aching as if he had been wounded. Now with an injury on his forehead and still having to face punishment, he was even more humiliated. He held back tears and reluctantly agreed, biting his lip as he retreated.

  Mrs. Ren didn't even glance at her, but smiled and pulled Xie Wei's hand: "Is your mother still in the room? I was just talking to her about borrowing a headscarf and we didn't finish, I'll have to go back and bother her again."

  Xie Wei said softly: "Mother has been waiting in the house to talk to you, madam."

  Mrs. Ren let go of her hand and praised Wang Shi, saying: "Not to mention anything else, the several young masters and misses in the mansion are all quite outstanding."

  Mr. Wang smiled and declined with modest words, stood up and walked out of the door with him.

  Ruan's bamboo basket was empty after drawing water, her heart full of joy had turned into a bubble, feeling more empty and lost, she sat down and burst into tears.

  Xie Wanming was innocent and got stained with a body of ash, but in the end, he fell into a refreshing and clean ending, which is the best outcome.

  But she couldn't feel at ease in her heart, for she knew Wang's character all too well. If he didn't have this intention, then that was the end of it; but if he did, then he would definitely want to get what he wanted. Although he had apologized and yielded to Madame Ren today, had he really given up on this idea? Xie Qi was Xie Hong's eldest daughter, and she had suffered this injury for no reason today. Even if Wang could let go of it, could Xie Hong be willing to let go of it?