CH 46

Chapter 46: Don’t Quarrel with a Shrew

At this time, another nanny ran in and almost bumped into Ren Yaoqi. After a hasty bow and apology, she ran to the young master Ren Yiyan. Ren Yaoqi recognized her as the nanny in charge of the Elder Sister-in-law. She can’t help feeling suspicious.

After avoiding the crowd, Ren Yaoqi looked at the servant behind her and said, “What happened? Why haven’t the Third Sister and the others come back yet?”

Hearing the words, the woman came over and whispered in a voice that only the two of them could hear: “Fifth Miss, Third Miss is still cleaning the room over there, and Fifth Madam and the others have just returned. Something happened to Ninth Miss.”

Ren Yaoqi was startled, and the woman was already self-conscious and continued to reply: “Ninth Miss is not used to being followed by people around her when she goes to the bathroom, so today she turned away everyone and went to bathroom by herself.”

The servant’s face was a little weird, she seemed to want to laugh, but she tried her best to hold back, “Everyone waited outside for a while, and suddenly heard a scream from the clean room. Maidservants are rushed to going in, the Eldest Young Madam, Miss Han, and others who were cleaning their hands in the outer room next door also came. But I saw… I saw the Ninth Miss somehow sat down on the floor of the room with her eyes closed and screamed, and also overturned the bucket. The whole body… the whole body is filthy.”

How could this happen? Ren Yaoqi could not help but be shocked.

Even if they go out on weekdays, the bathroom is clean and tidy, and there is little smell, because in addition to the incense, the bucket was always cleaned and filled with fine sand, and even injected with mercury when they were concerned about the appearance.

Also Gong barrels are usually very heavy, how could Ren Yaoying overturn them? And it’s a bucket full of filth.

“How could Ninth Sister look like this?” Ren Yaoqi asked.

The servant also looked confused: “The Eldest Young Lady went in and ordered the maids around Ninth Miss to help her out, and only then did we hear Ninth Miss yelling ‘there are snakes’. People have been busy searched the clean room up and down, but there was nothing.”

“How could there be snakes in such a cold day?” Ren Yaoqi frowned.

The servant also nodded and said, “That’s right. Everyone has searched all over, and they haven’t even missed the roof and corners. Not to mention snakes, they haven’t even seen a snake-like rope. So everyone said that Ninth Miss either was bewitched, or have committed a crime against some god, not only saw what shouldn’t have seen, but also poured dung on herself.”

Ren Yaoqi was noncommittal to the unauspicious words, “Didn’t Fifth Aunt and the others come out first?”

“The Fifth Madam brought the Eighth Miss and the others out first, saying that she wanted to walk on the river bank to get some air, and then they all went back when they heard the sound in the room, then they are still helping the young lady with the aftermath.” Although the woman said said that Fifth Madam was going back to take care of the aftermath, but her expression was disapproving. Madam Lin, this mother and daughter she hate so much, it is already good if she didn’t add fan the fire.

“Fifth Miss, do you want to go over and have a look?” the servant asked, with a gloating tone. The people around Madam Li in the Ziwei Courtyard were all displeased with the people on Concubine Fang’s side. Seeing Ren Yaoying deflated, she couldn’t help feeling happy.

Ren Yaoqi thought for a while, then shook her head: “I won’t go, Third Sister and the others should be coming back soon.”

Thinking about what she said earlier that she would come out to meet her sister-in-law and the others, Ren Yaoqi walked around casually outside.

When they reached the shed where the servants rested, two people walked towards her quickly.

Ren Yaoqi turned her head and saw the young man named Yuan Dayong who was with Zhu Ruomei before, and the one who secretly grabbed him was a middle-aged man in his forties. Ren Yaoqi realized that he might be Yuan Dayong’s father, Steward Yuan who was working in the outer courtyard of the Ren Mansion.

“I, Yuan Zhi, have met Fifth Miss.” Steward Yuan bowed towards Ren Yaoqi, and although Yuan Dayong did not speak, he also followed his father and bowed respectfully.

Ren Yaoqi looked at Yuan Zhi and nodded with a smile.

Although Yuan Zhi was born with a refined appearance and a short goatee, although he was only a small manager, he had the air of a scholar.

Ren Yaoqi thought, he was willing to risk his life to help Zhu Ruomei, so he must have a good character.

“I am bringing my dog son to apologize.” Yuan Zhi glanced at his son and made another bow towards Ren Yaoqi, “Earlier it was my dog son who was unruly and disturbed Fifth Miss. Luckily, Fifth Miss is generous enough not to bother him. Sinner, come over and kowtow.” The latter sentence was addressed to Yuan Dayong.

Ren Yaoqi raised his hand to stop Yuan Dayong’s movement, and said to Yuan Zhi with a smile: “He just happened to go the wrong way, and he avoided me in time in the end, so it’s not a big deal. Steward Yuan is making a big deal out of this.”

Yuan Zhi glanced at Ren Yaoqi, then at his son, and finally let him retreat behind him.

“Thank you, Fifth Miss.” Yuan Zhi thought for a while, then said hesitantly, “The one who wishes…”

Ren Yaoyaoqi didn’t wait for him to finish before interrupting in a warm voice, “I said, it’s just a wrong turn, it’s not a big deal.”

Yuan Zhi heard this is a sigh of relief, he just heard his son say that he and Zhu Ruomei have barged into the place where male servants are forbidden to enter to argue, also coincidentally met the Ren family Fifth Miss, although his son said Fifth Miss did not blame him, he was still feeling uneasy.

Zhu Ruomei’s identity should not participate in the ice play competition. But because his son came to beg him, and he also saw that Zhu Ruomei’s mother was seriously ill and needed a lot of money, he begged the housekeeper who had a good personal relationship with him to make Zhu Ruomei replace another servant who happened to have injured his leg.

This matter can be big or small, if it is pursued by the superiors, not only Zhu Ruomei and his son will lose their jobs, but even the housekeeper who is good to him will not be able to walk around.

So he quickly lowered his head and said joyfully, “Yes, yes, I understand, thank you Fifth Miss.”

However, Ren Yaoqi also understood that although Yuan Dayong told his father that she bumped into their dispute, he concealed the fact that she rewarded Zhu Ruomei with a hundred taels of silver.

Ren Yaoqi took a look at the father and son, and suddenly smiled and said, “It’s just that this kind of thing can’t be separated. I know that you are a good-hearted manager, so you take this as idle matter, but if someone make it as serious problem, I am afraid it will involve many people. I’m not a nosy person, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t nosy people out there.”

Yuan Zhi wiped the sweat from his forehead, bowed his head and replied, “I understand, thank you Fifth Miss for your reminder.”

Ren Yaoqi nodded, and suddenly said: “I remembered, you are that steward Yuan from the Events Department in the outer courtyard? I once heard from my father that your cursive handwriting is excellent.”

Yuan Zhi looked up a little flattered: “Third Master, he remembers this lowly one?”

Ren Yaoqi looked at him and smiled without saying a word.

At this time, the maid behind reminded Ren Yaoqi: “Fifth Miss, Third Miss and the others are back.”

Ren Yaoqi looked up, and sure enough, she saw Ren Yaohua, Ren Yaoyin, Ren Yaoyu, Ren Yaoting, and Han You coming here following Fifth Mrs. Lin. Sisters-in-law Zhao and Ren Yaoying were nowhere to be seen, presumably Zhao was still there to appease Ren Yaoying.

Ren Yaoqi said to Yuan Zhi and Yuan Dayong: “You guys step back first.”

Yuan Zhi and his son hurriedly saluted again, bowed and retreated.

The father and son walked away here, and Yuan Dayong suddenly asked his father with some doubts: “Father, when did the Third Master read your rough writing?”

Yuan Zhi glanced at his son, and said in a low voice: “What I write the most in the office is invitations and receipts. These are all written in regular script. Where do you think the third master saw my rough script? “

Yuan Dayong frowned: “But the Fifth Miss, she said…”

Yuan Zhi sighed lightly: “The Third Master doesn’t know, but the Fifth Lady can remind him to know. You are smart, but you still lack a little bit of experience after all.”

Although the Third Master doesn’t manage much in Ren’s family, he still has the right to promote one or two people. Nominally, he is also in charge of the Ren family’s three coal stacks in the north and south of Yan, and a coal mine in Xishan.

Of course, the Third Master himself never asked about these vulgar things, and he handed over these matters to a few shopkeepers trusted by his subordinates.

The young shopkeeper can completely decide on his own. If he wants to appoint and dismiss the big shopkeeper and the vice shopkeeper, although he still needs to discuss with the Eldest Master and ask the Eldest Master to help him. The Eldest Master is quite lenient to the younger brothers, as long as the demands are not too much, he won’t refuted his brother’s face.

Yuan Dayong pondered over his father’s words carefully, and was a little startled: “Father, are you thinking too much? How old is Fifth Miss?”

As soon as he finished speaking, he thought of the pair of quiet eyes he and Zhu Ruomei met when they came out to meet her, and what she explained when she asked the maid next to her to send Zhu Ruomei a hundred taels of silver notes. In other words, he was a little uncertain.

Here Yuan Dayong is wondering what kind of person Ren Yaoqi is, while Ren Yaoqi has already welcomed the Fifth Madam Lin and the others there.

“Fifth Sister, you didn’t see it just now, the appearance of Ninth Sister is really pitiful. Hey! Has she got hysteria? How will she come out to see people in the future?” Ren Yaoyu said loudly when she saw Ren Yaoqi, her tone was pity, but the expression can’t help but gloat.

Ren Yaoqi glanced at Madam Lin, whose mouth was slightly curled up, and shook her head secretly. Ren Yaoying was probably punished this time.

When a few people entered the greenhouse, everyone in the greenhouse looked over. Ren Yaoqi looked into their eyes, and then looked at the servants and maids who were whispering behind them, and knew that someone had already spread the news about Ren Yaoying.

After Lin Shi and Ren Yaoyu came in, they didn’t yell anymore, but Ren Yaoyu pretended to be mysterious and whispered to Ren Yaoyin and Han You from time to time, with a very sympathetic look on her face. It’s just that both Ren Yaoyin and Han You lowered their heads and didn’t respond.

On the contrary, Madam Lin sighed and said to Ren Yaohua: “Yaohua, Yaoqi, you can explain Yaoying a little bit later. It’s just…cough…it’s nothing. I have already explained that they are not allowed to spread it. Fifth Aunt knows you Sisters have always been at odds, but Yaoying is your biological sister after all, so why is there any overnight feud between sisters?”

Lin’s voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just enough for the people at the greenhouse to get a general idea of it. These words not only indirectly acknowledged what happened to Ren Yaoying, but also took the opportunity to trample on sisters Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoqi.

Ren Yaohua immediately smiled slightly and said: “It turns out that the Fifth Aunt also explained not to let people spread it? Why didn’t you stop the Eighth Younger Sister when she yelled so loudly that everyone knew about it?”

Lin’s face changed slightly, and Ren Yaoyu glared at Ren Yaohua dissatisfiedly: “What do you mean by that? When did I yell?”

Ren Yaohua glanced at the whispering maidservants on the other side of the greenhouse, and sneered silently.

Everyone followed her eyes and found that two of the maids had accompanied Ren Yaoyu to clean the room before.

Ren Yaoyu was about to jump up to argue with Ren Yaohua, Lin hurriedly held her down, glanced at the man on the other side of the greenhouse, restrained her temper and said to Ren Yaohua: “Yaohua, don’t say things without any basis. You have to behave like a sister, how can you just put a label on your sister?”

Ren Yaohua said with some disgust, “At least I won’t be so ruthless as to make my own sisters die because of some minor disagreements!”

Lin’s eyes flickered when she heard the words, and she snorted coldly: “I can say one sentence and you can answer ten sentences. Where did you learn this rule?”

Ren Yaohua wanted to talk back, but Ren Yaoqi pinched her arm and motioned her to look around.

Ren Yaoqi knew that Ren Yaohua suspected Lin’s mother and daughter of fixing Ren Yaoying, and she was very disgusted with their behavior of slapping her back after doing something bad. However, Lin was the elder and she was the junior. Even if she has a big reason, it is not her turn to blame Lin. Because even if she wins the argument, she is still lose.

Ren Yaohua was also afraid that Lin would end up blaming her mother for her lack of discipline, so she could only take a deep breath and hold her breath, turning her head away from Lin.

After a while, Han You stood up with some uneasiness: “I, when I came out, my grandmother told me to go back early, so I’ll go with my brother first.” Everyone then saw Han Yunqian walking this way.

Lin’s face showed a loving smile and stroked Han You’s hair: “Good boy, you are most obedient and know how to respect your elders, unlike some…hey! Today you and Yunqian will go back first, and come to play in our house some other day. Our Yu’er likes you very much.” Ren Yaoting took Han You’s hand affectionately and even came over to whisper in her ear, which made Han You puff out a smile and hastily held it back.

Lin is a bit surprised how Ren Yaoting, who has always been a bit arrogant, can be so affectionate with a shy girl like Han You, but when she glanced at Ren Yaoting’s secret glance at Han Yunqian, she couldn’t help but realize, and the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but hook slightly. Han You said goodbye to Ren Yaoting and walked to Han Yunqian’s side, the two siblings saluted together and said goodbye to Lin’s few people.

Ren Yaoting rose to return the salute, but when she looked up, she met Han Yunqian’s quiet and profound eyes. Han Yunqian’s gaze contained a certain inquisitiveness that had not been present before. Ren Yaoqi looked at him for a moment, and then looked away as if nothing had happened.

Han Yunqian also turned around and left. At this time, the Young Madam Zhao, returned, and Lin got up with an anxious face and asked Zhao, “Brother Yan’s daughter-in-law, is Yaoying feeling better? And have you found out what happened before?”

Zhao’s brow was tightly furrowed, her heart was a bit worried, she was afraid that she would be reprimanded by the Old Madam and her mother-in-law when she returned. Seeing Lin’s question, she glanced at her husband’s side and shook her head: “Fifth Aunt, we’d better go back and talk about it.”

Lin’s face showed surprise: “What exactly did you find out? You’d better talk about it, otherwise I’m afraid someone will falsely accuse good people.” Lin cast a glance at Ren Yaohua.

Zhao hesitated for a moment, but finally thought of Lin as an elder, and saw that it was inappropriate to ask or not to answer, so she came up to Lin’s ear and whispered a few words.

Lin’s face was surprised, her eyes widened and she said, “How could it be her?” Zhao nodded and said vaguely, “We can’t be sure, we should wait until we get back and ask the Old Madam to decide. After all, it’s not a person from our house, so it’s not good to dispose of them at will.”

The crowd was a little surprised to hear a word of it, how could someone really have caused Ren Yaoying to fall into the dung? That person isn’t even a member of the Ren family.

Ren Yaohua looked at Ren Yaoyu and Lin with some suspicion, she always felt that Ren Yaoying’s bad luck with this mother and daughter was inseparable. It was too coincidental that they ran back to watch the fun. Ren Yaoyu glared at Ren Yaohua arrogantly.

“If that’s the case, why don’t we go back to the mansion first?” Lin said to Zhao. Mrs. Zhao nodded, and told the nanny behind her to talk to the Fifth Master, Eldest Young Master and others over there. There were supposed to be a few ice play performances after that, but they were also cancelled.

The members of the Ren family began to head back home. When they went back, Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua got into a carriage. When the carriage was moving fast, Ren Yaohua beckoned to her maid, Xiang Qin, and asked her to inquire about the people around the eldest young lady. Xiang Qin is somewhat related to a nanny surnamed Feng next to Madam Zhao.

“I don’t believe that this matter has nothing to do with Fifth Aunt and the others. The expression on Ren Yaoyu’s face when she rushed over was like she knew something.” Ren Yaohua frowned.

Ren Yaoqi didn’t stop her, but just smiled and said, “I was very worried that you and Fifth Aunt would really quarrel. Speaking of which, isn’t it what we liked to see when the two of them confronted each other?”

Although she really didn’t dare to compliment Lin’s method, Lin didn’t deal with Concubine Fang, but vented her anger on a child like Ren Yaoying.

Ren Yaohua was silent for a while: “You also think it’s the Fifth Aunt’s fault?”

However, Ren Yaoqi didn’t answer Ren Yaohua’s words directly. She tilted her head and thought for a while, then smiled suddenly: “Third Sister, I’ve wanted to tell you something for a long time.”

Ren Yaohua looked at Ren Yaoqi suspiciously.

Ren Yaoqi said slowly: “In the future, before you decide to quarrel with someone, you have to think about whether the other party is an unreasonable shrew. If the other party is, you should stop at the right time, calm yourself down and stop arguing with her. Because If you quarrel with a shrew, you are a loser no matter whether you win or lose. If you lose the fight, the shrew will be unreasonable and you will lose face and waste your energy. If you win the quarrel, others will say that you are more aggressive and unreasonable than the shrew. Left and right are not human.”

Ren Yaohua stared at Ren Yaoqi in a daze upon hearing the words: “You!”

The maidservants serving in the carriage couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

Ren Yaoqi blinked at Ren Yaohua: “Third Sister, do you think this makes sense?”