CH 18

October 31, 2022

Since the Fifth Madam was born, it has been smooth sailing. Now that she was pushed aside by a concubine she had never liked, how could she swallow this breath?

She immediately ran furiously to the Ronghua Courtyard to complain to Old Madam Ren. At that time, Old Madam Ren was having lunch with Aunt Xiao.

The Fifth Madam didn’t care so much, she started crying after she broke in, accusing Concubine Fang of hiding evil intentions and designing Ren Yaoyu in order to make her daughter stand out. In the end, Auntie Xiao, who was sitting quietly, was also scolded by her.

Old Madam Ren’s face sank immediately: “Presumptuous! Who allowed you to be rude without any regard for the old or young? The Ren family’s face has been lost by you! Scram for me!”

Née Lin had never seen Old Madam Ren speak so harshly to her, and she started to cry after being stunned.

At this time, the Eldest Madam got the news and rushed over, pulling née Lin to the side to comfort her.

Auntie Xiao embarrassedly got up and said goodbye. The Old Madam was infuriated by née Lin’s ignorance which made her lose face in front of outsiders. After saying a few sentences to Auntie Xiao, she gave a meaningful glance at Momo Gui to send Auntie Xiao out.

Momo Gui understood what the Old Madam meant, and whispered to the maid, Jinlian, to get silver, and then accompanied Auntie Xiao out with a smiling face.

As soon as the people left, Old Madam Ren had an outburst: “It’s me who let you go too far on weekdays to make you so excessive! From today, you go to the ancestral hall to think with Yu’er behind closed doors! When you figure it out is when you will come out!”

The Fifth Madam is wronged. The reason why she is so presumptuous in front of Old Madam Ren is that Old Madam Ren usually treats her like her own daughter. Occasionally, she will be willful a few times, and Old Madam Ren will cover up for her in front of her sisters-in-law and the younger generations.

Her mother, Madam Lin, had reminded her multiple times that she have wisdom and eyesight. No matter how good her mother-in-law was, she could never be her real mother. She had always been disapproving of being asked to act more cautiously at her husband’s house.

“Mother, if it wasn’t for that slut Fang Yaru who designed my Yu’er, why would I be anxious?” The Fifth Madam softened and cried.

But Old Madam Ren slapped the table angrily and said, “What slut? Even if she didn’t marry into my Ren family, she would still be your cousin! You said née Fang framed Yu’er, but is there any proof or physical evidence? Yu’er already admitted that the puppet was made by her!”

The Fifth Madam was at a loss for words, and she really couldn’t come up with any evidence.

But she has been dealing with Fang Yaru for more than 20 years, and she knows Fang Yaru better than her elders. If Fang Yaru didn’t get involved in this incident, she wouldn’t believe it.

Why does everyone else get bad luck, and she gets the advantage? This kind of plot has been repeated countless times in Fang Yaru’s life, and she rose to the top by constantly stepping on others.

“Let the table be withdrawn, I won’t eat it!” Seeing that she didn’t speak, Old Madam believed that she was making trouble unreasonably, and was furious.

Seeing that the table of vegetarian dishes was basically untouched, the Eldest Madam carefully persuaded her.

The Fifth Madam over there was unwilling and said: “Mother, I have no complaints about you locking me up in the ancestral hall. But Yu’er is weak, can you let her come back first? As for the evidence you said, I… I can’t get it for the time being. But I will send someone to my mother’s house and let my mother send a competent woman over here. I don’t believe I cannot find whether the puppet has been manipulated or not.”

The blue veins on the forehead of Old Madam Ren jumped: “Eldest Daughter-in-law! Put her in the ancestral hall for me! Anyone who dares to leave the estate without my permission will be beaten to death if they are found out!”

“Mother–“

The Eldest Madam hurriedly stepped forward to grab née Lin, and whispered: “Fifth Sister, why are you so muddled? Although you used to be the daughter of the Lin family, but now you are a madam of the Ren family. There is a saying that a family’s ugliness cannot be made public, such thing, how can you let your maiden family interfere? Isn’t this telling your maiden family that you were wronged by your in-laws’ family?”

The Eldest Madam glanced at the Old Madam and said, “Besides, the elders of your maiden family are naturally good, but… those women are not necessarily all good. Do you still remember the momo beside you? “

Née Lin was stunned for a moment, as if remembering something, her face turned pale.

As the most favored daughter of the Lin family, how could there be so few dowry momos and maids by her side when she got married? Momo Chen was picked out by her mother for her.

Momo Chen is also really capable. Everything she knew about Concubine Fang was also heard from Momo Chen.

But a few years ago, Momo Chen was found to be having an affair, and she even quietly let the man into the inner courtyard to steal joy. This incident almost affected her and ruined her reputation. In the end, it was Old Madam Ren who used forceful methods to help her. It was also because of that time that the momos and maids around her either died or were sold.

(Steal joy = Not something for minors, if you know you know)

The Lin family was also at a loss because of this matter and did not dare to send more people over.

Fortunately, Old Madam Ren loves her very much, and she has never suffered any loss in the Ren family, so the Lin family is relieved.

Now that the Eldest Madam mentioned this matter, née Lin was naturally uneasy and did not dare to say that she was going to go back to her maiden house to let reinforcements come.

“What are you still doing here? Didn’t you hear what I said?” Old Madam Ren drove people away with a cold face.

“Yes, Mother. I’ll take Fifth Sister out.” The Eldest Madam said respectfully and then dragged the aggrieved Fifth Madam out.

At this moment, Momo Gui ran back in a hurry, and said happily: “Old Madam, the Third and Fifth Masters are back! The carriage has arrived at the door!”

Old Madam Ren’s face looked much better: “The Third and Fifth are back? Didn’t you say that the road was blocked by heavy snow, and it will be delayed for a few days?”

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, merchants were not allowed to participate in the imperial examinations. When the Second Old Master was young, he once thought of taking the imperial examination to be an official and make the family shine. It’s a pity that after repeated trials and failures, in the end, he was merely a Xiu Cai.

(Xiu Cai = the lowest of the literati class, everyone who participated in the imperial examination can be called a Xiu Cai, regardless if they pass the exam)

Fortunately, in his generation, the Ren family was not short of money, so Old Master Ren spent a lot of money to let his younger brother get an official position. Although he has no serious errands, he became the chairman of a large chamber of commerce in the capital of Yanbei.

Ren Shiyuan, the eldest son of the Second Old Master and was ranked second in the Ren family and stayed in Baihe Town to serve his mother. The fourth son, Ren Shixu, was in the capital with the Second Old Master. He married the legitimate daughter of a fifth-grade capital official. With the help of the Yue family, he got a job at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

(Ranked second = He’s the eldest son of the Second Old Master but not the eldest child of the whole Ren family)

The Fifth Master of the Eldest House, Ren Shimao, followed his uncle in the capital for several months every year to learn some official dealings.

(Eldest House = In a family, after the eldest son took over the family, his house would automatically become the eldest house. His younger brothers’ house would follow as the second house, the third house, etc.)

The Third Master, Ren Shimin, is an anomaly in the Ren family. He neither likes to do business nor to be an official, but he is only interested in elegant things such as reciting poetry, painting, playing the piano, and dancing with swords. He went to the capital this time to attend the quinquennial art fair in the capital, and he has been away from home for half a year.

The two brothers returned together today.