Xie Wan went to the Fu Feng courtyard and sat for a while, playing a game of guessing riddles with Xie Wei, before returning to her room.

  Unexpectedly, good news came from Wu's mother. In her hometown village, there was a nephew in the clan whose family only had an old father and was so poor that they couldn't even afford to cook. He wanted to come out and find a job. Xie Wan asked about the child's age and heard that he was just eleven this year, so she said to Wu's mother: "Let him take a look." For Wu's mother's sake, even if he can't be promoted to an important position, at least let him be an apprentice.

  Luo returned after dinner and reported on the business situation for the past two days. As expected, after replenishing goods, sales have also increased significantly, although still not comparable to before, at least it has stimulated a positive reaction.

  Xie Wan couldn't help but ask about the situation with his employees, and Luo Sheng said: "Actually found two, only their qualifications are average, if they want to manage the shop, at least need to be trained for three to five years. However, their character is upright, all of them are down-to-earth, and they are all from poor families, without any fancy ideas."

  Xie Wan nodded and said, "It's already good if they can be honest and upright. The most important thing now is to find someone to take care of the shop first. You bring them over in two days, and if everything is fine, let them go to Li Zi Hutong to learn some basic skills for a while. In about ten days, the shop at Qingyuan State Yuyin Fang will be returned, and after you've tidied up and opened it, it'll take another two months. By then, you can send them over. For now, let's hire a second manager to watch the shop."

  Luo nodded: "Then I'll send a message back early tomorrow morning."

  Xie Wan had Yu Xue give him a bowl of hot and steaming mutton noodles, and then told him to go back to his room.

  Xie Lang was not in the mansion, and Yi Feng Yuan was also quiet for a night.

  It wasn't until the next morning that Xie Wan found out that Ren Yun had actually stayed overnight in the mansion.

  After breakfast, Wang's family sent someone to pass on the message that a special table of wine and dishes had been prepared in the upper house to entertain Ren San Gongzi, and all the young masters and misses in the mansion were asked to go to the upper house for company at noon.

  Xie Wan was extremely disgusted with such behavior. The Ren family, at most, had some reputation in Hejian Prefecture, and apart from the few relatives in the capital, the Xie family's reputation was not much lower than theirs. Madame Wang humbled herself to host a banquet for a child of ten or so years old just to curry favor with them, which really lost the dignity of the mistress of the Xie household.

  She asked Yuxue: "How long will this Ren Yu stay before going back?"

  Yu Xue said: "I heard that when Master Ren comes, he will at least stay for ten days to half a month. This time, it won't be just over ten days, and I'm afraid he won't return to the mansion." After finishing speaking, she smiled again: "Miss seems not to like Master Ren."

  She fell on the kang table and sighed: "I just asked."

  Just before the banquet, she arrived at the Yulan Hall in the main courtyard, where guests were usually received. All the young masters and misses of the mansion had already gathered there, surrounding Wang Shi and Ren Yun, who were chatting animatedly.

  Ren Yuanyan's eyes were sharp, and she immediately jumped up and rushed to thank Xie Wan with a bow: "Third sister has arrived."

  Everyone at the table stopped talking and laughing, Xie Wan asked Wang Shi about her well-being, and then Xie Wei warmly invited her to sit beside him. Xie Yun poured tea for her, and Xie Qi pointed to her cup and said: "Third sister is late, she should be penalized with a drink!"

  Xie Tong and others cheered. Xie Yun said: "Sister is too young, can't drink wine! Besides, she's still in mourning, let her just have some tea."

  Xie Qi shook Wang's arm: "Everyone is following the rules, it was agreed that whoever is late will be penalized with a cup. Why don't you follow the rules when it comes to Sanmei? Besides, this isn't a formal banquet, just a few of us closing the door and having dinner together, what kind of breach of etiquette is that?"

  Xie Yun looked at Wang Shi.

  Wang said with a smile: "Yun brother is right, little sister is still young and can't drink. Wan sister don't spoil their rules, you drink three cups of tea!"

  Xie Qileng refused. He coldly said: "If you rely on being small to be unruly, then shouldn't the people bigger than me have even more excuses? You can be unruly, I can be unruly, and the biggest one here is Big Brother. In that case, we don't need to punish anyone else, just punish Big Brother alone!"

  Everyone was speechless after hearing those words. Even Xie Wei and Xie Yun didn't say a word.

  Xie Qi stood up, holding the wine jug and walking around the crowd towards Xie Wan. Ren Yun pulled her sleeve: "She's your sister!" Xie Qi smiled sideways: "It's precisely because she's my sister, not an outsider, that she can't escape this rule! It's just three cups of wine, what's there to be afraid of?!"

  Although the cup was only the size of a copper coin, three cups of wine down the hatch couldn't hurt anyone much. But whether Xie Wan's eight-year-old body could withstand these three cups of wine and walk out of the banquet hall sober was an obvious question.

  What if she got drunk and lost face in front of Ren Yun, would he then keep a distance from her out of respect?

  Xie Xuan, who had been wandering between various government offices with a good-looking face in his previous life, was all too familiar with the petty thoughts among women. However, just because he chatted with Ren Yu for a few words under the gate, he provoked such revenge from her. It seems that this Xie Qi is indeed not ordinary cunning.

  Unfortunately, most of the Xie family were waiting to see her make a fool of herself, and the only one who would stand up for her, Xie Liang, was still out of the house.

  Xie Qi had already arrived in front of her, picked up the wine glass in front of her and filled it to the brim. The fragrance of the wine was intoxicating, it was a batch of Zhu Ye Qing from years ago. In her past life, she had a good capacity for liquor and often accompanied her melancholic brother in drinking. Only she didn't know if she still had this ability in this life.

  "Sister, drink it quickly." Xie Qi smiled warmly and cutely, without any hint of coercion.

  Xie Wan raised her wine cup, covering her mouth with her sleeve and bringing it to her lips. Everyone at the table stared at her, seeing that the cup had paused in front of her lips for a moment before she suddenly covered it again and put it down. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Xie Qi and said: "Drinking like this is no fun, I didn't know you guys had rules beforehand. How about this, Second Sister, you guess whether there's still wine in the cup or not. If you guess correctly, I'll willingly drink three more cups."

  Everyone was stunned and looked at Xie Qi.

  Xie Qi pressed his lips together and stared at her, "What if I'm wrong?"

  Xie Wan smiled and said: "You didn't guess it right, just hug your knees on the ground and do ten flips."

  Xie Wan didn't take Ren Yu seriously at all, and even if she got drunk in front of him, it wasn't a big deal. But Xie Qi was already nine years old, after all, she was almost a young girl, and if she did somersaults in public, it would be extremely embarrassing! The consequences of doing ten somersaults were much more serious than getting drunk.

  Xie Yun burst out laughing and clapped her hands: "Great! Let's make a bet then!"

  Ren You looked at Xie Wan and then at Xie Qi, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

  "Wang said: 'What's with girls doing flips? They should be punished for something else!'"

  "It's so unfair!" Xie Wan pouted: "We're both your grandson's daughters, why does Second Sister have to be punished with wine just because she lost? I only bet her a few flips, it's not like I was going to hit or scold her. Is Grandma looking down on Second Sister, thinking she'll definitely lose, or that Second Sister can't afford to lose?"

  With so many people around, Wang naturally wouldn't admit to being biased. He chuckled and said: "I won't get involved with you guys, let you sort it out yourselves!"

  Xie Qi was born with a strong personality and had his heart set on seeing Xie Wan make a fool of himself in front of Ren Yu. Of course, he wouldn't easily admit defeat. After hearing Xie Wan's provocative words, he loudly said: "Fine, let's bet! Don't think you can rely on being younger than me to get out of it!"

  Xie Wan smiled and said, "Of course I'm willing to admit defeat."

  Xie Qi glared at her with a scowl, walked closer to her, stared at the small hand covering the wine cup, and carefully examined the corners of her lips and face. After a while, she blurted out: "There's wine in the cup! I didn't see you drinking at all!"

  "Is it?" Xie Wan smiled and withdrew her hand.

  The cup is empty, where's the wine?

  Xie Qi's eyes widened in shock, pointing at the cup and then at Xie Wan, repeating: "How is this possible, how is this possible?"

  "What's impossible?" Xie Wan leisurely pulled out a wet handkerchief from her sleeve and handed it to Yu Xue behind her, "You didn't see me drinking, but that doesn't mean there's no wine in the cup. If you want to gamble, admit defeat quickly, Second Sister, hurry up and flip the dishes over, or else the food will get cold."

  Her drinking capacity from her past life didn't carry over to this one, but that doesn't mean she doesn't know those little tricks at the wine table. Those tricks can't fool adults, of course, but adults also wouldn't push an eight-year-old kid like Xie Qi to a point where they can't get out of it, right?

  "You cheated! You poured all the wine onto your sleeve!"

  Xie Qi loudly pointed at her and shouted. Then he ran to Ren Huan's side, shouting: "Huan brother! San sister is cheating!"

  After a moment of silence, he muttered: "But the third sister's bet with you was whether there was wine in the cup or not, it wasn't about where the wine went. If you say cheating, it can't be said."

  "Not bad! That's exactly what I meant! Second sister, hurry up and flip over!"

  Xie Yun was so happy that she started dancing with joy.

  Xie Qi was so anxious that she almost cried, but Wang Shi just smiled slightly as if watching a mischievous child, because he had spoken first.

  The boys didn't know the inside story and, relying on their masculinity, were unwilling to let the Ren family look down on the Xie family for being incompetent. So they all started teasing from the side. Xie Qi bit her lower lip and did ten flips before covering her face and crying as she returned to her room. Ruan Shi was afraid that she would offend Ren Huan, so she changed her clothes and comforted her to stop crying, then sent her back.

  From start to finish, Xie Qi had no appetite, let alone drink wine, and even the thumb-sized shrimp only ate three.

  Xie Wan happily clinked her tea cup with Xie Wei's and savored the chilled quail tongue and steamed deer jerky in front of her.

  Xue Yun occasionally looked at her with inquiring eyes during the meal, but Xie Wan didn't even glance in his direction and returned to her room with a full stomach.

  Xie Qi's bad mood seemed to have lasted for two or three days, until the eve of Laba Festival when Xie Hong returned with a beautiful pearl flower branch that finally lifted her spirits.

  However, Xie Liang returned that night, and Xie Wan no longer felt suffocated and wanted to move around, so even if Xie Qi was out of breath, it didn't affect her.

  Xie Lang returned, and Ruan Yu also came to play at the Wind and Cloud Pavilion with Xie Yun and Xie Tong twice. Both times, Xie Wan used the excuse of being asleep and didn't come out to greet them, so even Xie Cang noticed her abnormal behavior.

  "Mr. Ren is warm and polite, and his learning is not bad either. He's a person worth befriending. Even if you don't like to socialize, you should at least greet him. It's not good to ignore him like this."

  Xie Lang thought that his sister was just spoiled by their parents in the past and had a bit of a willful temperament, so he carefully advised her.

  Xie Wan was quite displeased with the four words "can be friends" that came out of his mouth. However, she didn't want to have anything to do with the Ren family herself, and it was because of the Ren family's betrayal in her past life that she couldn't find a suitable excuse to stop her brother from associating with Ren Yun, so she could only nod silently, pretending to agree.