CH 30

Ren Shimin’s face froze, and he stared at Ren Yaoqi.

Ren Yaoqi stared back uncompromisingly, and the father and daughter stood staring at each other in the cold wind.

In the end, Ren Shimin felt that it was demeaning for him to contend with a child like this, so he coughed lightly, gave himself a step-down, and said kindly: “Daddy’s sword dance is just for physical fitness, and to admire the demeanor of the ancients. It’s not for the sake of fighting against others.”

Ren Yaoqi looked at the precious longsword with amber and agate on the silver hilt in his hand, the precious longsword has the blade already opened, and suddenly reached out to take it.

Ren Shimin hastily took a step back, surprised, and said: “Yaoyao, Daddy’s sword is a real sword, don’t touch it, it will hurt your hand.”

She naturally knew that this was a real sword, and she also knew that her father had listened to someone’s exaggeration outside, and felt that his talent for sword practice was innate and exceptionally good, and after practicing for a few years, thinking that he was an unprecedented master.

That's why, in the previous life, when she went and cried in front of Ren Shimin and complained to him that the Ren family wanted to give her to Military Supervisor Lu, Ren Shimin went to Old Master Ren and Old Madam Ren to dispute but failed. Hence, he took the sword from the wall of the western secondary room of the study.

”Yaoyao, don’t be afraid, Daddy will go find that Zeng Yu right now.” He stroked her head to comfort her, then rushed out confidently with his sword in hand.

When meeting again, it was already heaven and man apart.

Ren Yaoqi took a step forward, and held the hilt of the sword very resolutely: “Daddy, since you only practice sword to strengthen your body and mimic the ancient masters, then don’t use this sword.”

Ren Shimin was taken aback by Ren Yaoqi’s serious expression, and couldn’t help letting go: “Why?”

The sword fell into Ren Yaoqi’s hand, it was heavy, and was a bit difficult for her to hold, but she still held it tightly in her hand, and said in disgust: “Because this sword looks too vulgar. How could the ancient sages, with the spirit of immortals, use this kind of sword decorated with gold and jade? Besides, there is no need for such a sharpened sword to strengthen your body.”

Ren Shimin carefully looked at the sword in Ren Yaoqi’s hand. He didn’t feel it before, but after Ren Yaoqi said this, he really felt that the sword was a bit gaudy, and couldn’t help but say: “Fifth Brother found this sword for me and it cost me a lot of money, but looking at it, it's a bit fancy. How about I ask the steward to find me another one with a more ordinary appearance tomorrow?”

Ren Yaoqi shook her head: “Daddy, why don’t you consider cutting a bamboo sword yourself? ’Having integrity thus unyielding, one's quality is naturally upright. Going through fierce winds and heavy rains, would rather break than bend. Remaining emerald green all four seasons, not taking part in all kinds of flowers competing for beauty.’1 This is the graceful demeanor of an ancient master! Didn't Daddy often say that having no meat makes a person thin, and having no bamboo makes a person vulgar?“

Ren Shimin touched his chin when he heard the words: “Bamboo sword? Isn't it too childish?”

Ren Yaoqi shook her head earnestly, with some criticism in her tone: “You don’t practice swords like those barbaric warriors who like to fight fiercely! It may be a bit of a joke in the eyes of laymen, but why does it matter what they think of us and what we do to ourselves? Could it be Daddy uses this vulgar thing because he cares about other people’s views?”

Ren Shimin glared at Ren Yaoqi: “Of course not.”

After thinking about it, he smiled and nodded in agreement, “There is some truth in what you said. Daddy will carve a ‘Gentleman's Sword’ when there is time.”

Ren Yaoqi breathed a sigh of relief. Many people are impulsive because of having a blade in their hands and feel that they have something to rely on. Weapons have the ability to give people courage.

In the future, she will urge her father to practice this kind of “gentleman” sword that can only strengthen the body!

”I’ll put this sword aside for you, okay?” Ren Yaoqi handed the sword in her hand to the maid behind her, regardless of whether Ren Shimin agreed or not.

Fortunately, most of the time, Ren Shimin was a soft-tempered persimmon, so he waved his hand indifferently.

Satisfied, Ren Yaoqi took Ren Shimin’s sword and left. Before leaving, she didn’t forget to pressure all the maids serving in the study, that they must praise the Third Master more when wielding bamboo swords than with real swords. 

The time is coming to the twelfth lunar month, the original foreign affairs manager in the Ziwei Courtyard, Momo Jian, because of her age, accidentally broke her leg when she got up at night and was sent to the village outside to recuperate.

The power in managing foreign affairs is not small, especially since she is also responsible for some purchasing matters.

The end of the year is approaching, and Eldest Madam naturally dispatched someone to purchase some things in the preparation for the new year. It’s just that the Ziwei courtyard has some inconvenient things to buy. It stands to reason that the Ren family has not yet separated, and most of the items needed by each house can be obtained from the public account, but there are still some things that need to be bought yourself.

For example, today Third Master felt that the pomegranate bonsai placed in his yard were unrefined, and wanted to replace them with winter daphne. His old man temper came and said that he wanted to change, and immediately change it right away, so the people in Ziwei Courtyard had to replace it and go find a few pots of winter daphne and come back.2

Another example is that when Third Master was painting today, he suddenly thought of the poem: ’Bamboo basket carrying rain clearing the original wreckage, seed grows like the red crown of a crane. Many mouths are eloquently sweet like honey, but would rather listen to the unusual part that is slightly sour.’ This means that the people in the Ziwei Courtyard must look for red bayberries3 for him.

This kind of sudden situation is frequent in Ziwei Courtyard, especially when the new year is approaching, there will be more and more situations.

The Third Master is picky and demanding, everyone in the Ren family knows this.

But Third Master is generous! As long as you can get him what he wants right away, he doesn’t care how much you spend money.

In addition, the other masters and maids in the yard wanted to buy personal items like clothes, jewelry, needles, and threads… There is a lot of oil and water4 for the manager of foreign affairs. Of course, you also must have contacts and connections to be competent.

As a result, the minds of the women in Ziwei Courtyard began moving.

The Third Madam, née Li, has only one senior momo to use, Momo Zhou, and the rest are some maids, and as the new year approaches, Momo Zhou has a lot to do. In the end, the new manager of foreign affairs had to be selected from among those old wives and married women.

Sure enough, on the next day, the master released the news that one of the second-class momos from Ziwei Courtyard would be selected to temporarily take the post of foreign affairs.

For a while, the second-class momos of Ziwei Courtyard began to try their best to inquire about the news. Most of these women have some nephews working in the outer court. If they take this job, they can take the opportunity to gain face in front of the Third Master later, that would be a great thing.

Initially, the youngest son of Momo Jian had done several errands for the Third Master. In the end, the Third Master thought he was smart and capable of handling things, so he kept him by his side and made him a personal long-term follower, especially following him when going out.

Even Momo Zhu in Ren Yaoqi’s room also turned around to ask Ren Yaoqi for news.

”What? Momo, you don’t want to serve in my room anymore, so you want to find another way out?” Ren Yaoqi put her chin on one hand and smiled at Momo Zhu.

”No, no, this slave is helping Momo Guan from the backyard to find out.” Momo Zhu has no other relatives in the Ren Estate, but Momo Guan has a nephew who lives in a group room in the outer courtyard and has not received any serious errands. He usually just waits for the estate to assign some idle errands. Momo Guan gave Momo Zhu some clothing materials to help her inquire.

Ren Yaoqi thought for a while: “I seem to have heard Momo Zhou mention a few words, saying that Mother had taken a fancy to Momo Wei from the tea room and Mrs. Niu who is in charge of the keys to our courtyard.”

When Momo Zhu heard the words, she rolled her eyes around and told Momo Guan the news. In addition, she told Momo Wei and Mrs. Niu about this as a happy event, hoping to take the opportunity to buy favor.

In less than a day, all the women and maids in Ziwei Courtyard knew that either Momo Wei or Mrs. Niu were going to take over the post of foreign affairs manager.