CH 48

Chapter 48: Li’s Family History

Ren Yaoying has temporarily moved back to Concubine Fang’s Courtyard since she came back from the ice play competition, and she doesn’t want to go out to meet people.

Madam Lin mentioned several times to Old Madam Ren that she wanted Ren Yaoyu to move back to Ronghua Courtyard, but Old Madam Ren pretended to be deaf and dumb as if she didn’t hear.

The Spring Festival is coming soon, and the winter in Yanbei is very cold, but it still doesn’t stop people’s enthusiasm for visiting New Year.

At that time, women who married close to their natal families had the custom of returning to their natal homes on the second day of the new year to pay New Year’s greetings.

The Eldest Madam of the Ren family, Madam Wang, has her natal family in Wuzhou, which is farther north. It is a day and night drive away from Baihe Town on weekdays. Now that the road is blocked by heavy snow, it is even more difficult to travel north. In addition to the busy New Year’s Eve, she married into the Ren family. She almost didn’t go back to my natal home to pay New Year’s greetings.

The Fifth Madam, Madam Lin, started preparing to go to Yunyang City on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Yunyang City is only more than two hours’ drive away from Baihe Town, and one can go back and forth in a day.

The Old Madam Ren’s daughter, Ren Shijia, came back on the second day of the Lunar New Year last year. This year, because she was pregnant and had to raise a baby, she sent a letter early saying that she would not return to Baihe Town this year. Ren Shijia also had a difficult time with offspring, she failed to keep her pregnancy twice, and her third child was stillborn. This time she finally got pregnant again, so the Lin family naturally attached great importance to it. After all, Ren Shijia is almost thirty, and it will be more difficult to give birth when she gets older.

The eldest daughter of the Ren family, Ren Yaochi, married the son of the second branch of the Gu family, and has not returned to Yanbei for two years.

The Second Miss Ren Yaoqin, who born from the concubine of the eldest branch, was married to a fifth-ranking official of Minister of Household Affairs in the capital named Yan. The matchmaker is by the Second Old Master of the East Mansion. Yan was sixteen years older than Ren Yaoqin, and his eldest son was only one year younger than Ren Yaoqin. However, the Yan family was a descendant of the Yan family of the emperor’s birth mother, so even though Yan was only from a distant branch of the Yan family, he could still be a fifth-ranking official in the capital.

When Ren Yaoqi first arrived in the capital in her last life, she sent someone to find her second sister, who had no memory of her, but was told that Ren Yaoqin had been dead for a year, and asked why Yan’s family was evasive. Ren Yaoqi later asked Teacher Pei to help her investigate and learned that Ren Yaoqin had killed herself in shame and anger after being discovered by the Yan family for having an affair with her stepson, the youngest of the Yan family. The Ren family had sent Ren Shixu and his wife, the Fourth Masters of the Ren family in the capital, to handle this matter, but Ren Yaoqi, who was far away in Yanbei, hadn’t heard anything about it.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, when the Ren Yaoqi and her sister went for greeting Madam Li, the Eldest Madam sent someone over to ask Li if she wanted to prepare a carriage to go out, but Li declined.

“Mother, are you still not going to visit your grandparents’ house this year? You haven’t been there for several years.” After the Eldest Madam’s people went out, Ren Yaoqi asked with a smile.

Madam Li shook her head before answering, but Ren Yaohua sneered and said, “What are you going back for? Drinking northwest wind? I don’t know if the house has been pawned off by them this year! When the time comes, I will have to redeem it from my mother.”

“Shut up!” Mrs. Li shouted suddenly.

Ren Yaohua looked at Li and couldn’t help but stop talking.

Li’s face rose red, her eyes were flushed, and the look on her face was embarrassed and tinged red. Li seldom loses her temper with her daughter, and can even be said to be obedient to her words.

But she also has a scale of rebellion, and she can’t tolerate anyone speaking insultingly to her natal family. The reason why Li does not please Old Madam Ren, in addition to her inability to give birth to a son, another reason is that when Old Madam Ren scolded her, Li talked back and bring up her mother.

Seeing that Li was shaking with anger, Ren Yaoqi pulled Ren Yaohua and dragged her to kneel in front of Li. This time Ren Yaohua obediently followed Ren Yaoqi and knelt down, because she could see that her words really hurt her mother’s heart.

“Remember! No one allowed to insult the blood of the Li family, because no one deserves it!” Li Shi took a deep breath and said slowly.

Her voice carried a sense of pride and superiority over all others that she had never had before. Even though her father and brother were not in tune, and she herself was not doing well, she could not erase this innate sense of superiority that was engraved in her bones.

“This daughter remembers.” Ren Yaoqi gently tugged Ren Yaohua, who repeated in a low, muffled voice.

“All go out, Hua’er shall think about it in her room today!”  Mrs. Li said in a rare stern voice.

Ren Yaoqi pulled Ren Yaohua to get up, and the two of them retreated in response.

After her daughters left, Li was stunned for a moment and then collapsed on the bed with her face covered.

Nanny Zhou went up to persuade her, but when she saw the tears flowing from Li’s fingers, her eyes were also wet. In the end, she cried silently with her.

The two master and servant cried, and when Nanny Zhou saw that Li was better, she went forward to help her wipe her tears.

“This servant is going to get someone to fetch hot water to clean your face.” Nanny Zhou sighed softly, “Third Miss didn’t mean it, so don’t be too sad.”

Li choked with sobs and said, “She was born by me, and the blood of the Li family is also flowing on her body, it’s fine for others to look down on them, but she…”

Nanny Zhou went forward to hold Li, who was choking up, in her arms, and gently patted her back to soothe her. Li collected her tears and said with some embarrassment, “Nanny, I am not a child anymore.”

Nanny Zhou smiled and sighed, “Nanny has watched the county princess grow up, in Nanny’s eyes you are the same as Third Miss and Fifth Miss.”

Ren Yaoqi, who came out of the principal room, looked at the gloomy Ren Yaohua, and said in a low voice, “Third Sister, you clearly know that mother doesn’t want to listen to that. Don’t say it again in the future.”

Ren Yaohua cast a sideways glance at Ren Yaohua and snorted softly.

Ren Yaoqi shook his head and was about to say something more when Ren Yaohua spoke up, “Isn’t it true that you like whatever father likes and you hate whatever father hates? Father doesn’t like uncle, if you say good things for grandfather’s family, aren’t you afraid that father will be angry?”

Ren Yaoqi thought about it and looked at Ren Yaohua and teased, “Is it possible that in the eyes of Third Sister, father is such an unreasonable person? He even interferes with whoever we like?”

Ren Yaohua was furious, “You… oily mouth and clever words!”

Ren Yaoqi made a face: “You… are incoherent!”

The corners of Ren Yaohua’s mouth twitched: “You’re childish!”

Ren Yaoqi laughed lightly, and only then did she curb her laughter and said seriously, “Father didn’t look down on grandfather and uncle, it’s just that…”

“It’s just that uncle coquettishly praised father’s paintings, then tricked him into making a copy of an ancient painting, and finally mortgaged his painting to the gambling house as a real one!” Ren Yaohua interjected.

Ren Yaoqi was silent.

Ren Yaohua was right, Ren Shimin was angry because of this matter, and finally threatened to break off their relationship with their uncle.

“I don’t want to look down on grandfather and uncle, but I can’t understand how they could mortgage their house just to buy a cricket when the family couldn’t even afford it! I can’t understand how they can’t even afford to keep their maidservants and attendants, but they have to keep a troupe at home! The family can be penniless all pawned long ago, but they can still be happy to walk birds and dogs and singing opera! They still think they are the grandsons of the phoenix, but they don’t realize that the sky has changed outside!

Ren Yaoqi was again silent.

She had no way to refute Ren Yaohua’s words, because what she said was the truth.

Some people have been used to being superior all their lives, and they don’t know how ordinary people live because no one has taught them.

Their maternal grandfather’s surname was Li Mingqian, and Li was the surname of the country. Before he was demoted to Yanbei, he was a real nobleman, a Xianwang conferred by the late emperor himself.

Now they are just ordinary people in Yanbei, and their children and grandchildren will never be allowed to enter capital without being summoned.

In her last life, she could not understand the actions of her grandfather and uncle because her surname was not Li.

But she remembered that in her previous life, after her father’s death, all the relatives, including the Ren family, refused to collect his corpse, but only her uncle dared to take the martial arts student he had raised to carry his father’s corpse back and sell the “General Changsheng”, the cricket which her grandfather regarded as his lifeblood, for his burial.

It was also the untalented uncle who, on her mother’s orders after she was abandoned by the Ren family, chased her back to the capital at the risk of beheading and tried to steal her out of the Pei family.

In the end, she declined him politely and persuaded him to return to Yanbei. That was the first time she knew that a man in his thirties could cry with tears and snot flying all over his nose, completely disregarding his image.

As the saying goes, a friend is found in adversity[1].

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t say this to Ren Yaohua, so she could only sigh, and turned to go to her west chamber.

There are many things that need to be experienced to understand the ups and downs of human relationships.

Lin came back only on the sixth day of the lunar new year. As soon as she came back, she was called to the Ronghua Courtyard by Old Madam Ren. Of course, she didn’t blame her for returning late, but asked her about Ren Shijia’s situation. Although Old Madam Ren arranged for someone to take care of her early in the morning, she was still worried about her daughter.

Yun Wenfang didn’t see anyone during the New Year’s Eve. Qiu Yun said that he went back to Yunyang City to pay New Year’s greetings to his elders, but he didn’t know if it was true or not.

On the day of the Lantern Festival, Baihe Town was very lively. Several big families raised funds to hold a temple fair. Ren Yaoting from Dongfu asked Han You to go to the lantern festival at night, and the Han family agreed for the first time. The Second Madam came over and invited Ren Yaoqi and her sister to go with her.

Madam Li hoped that sisters Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoqi would go out and meet people more, because Ren Yaohua was almost at the age of marriage.

In the end, Ren Yaoqi, Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoyu went together, while Ren Yaoyin and Ren Yaoying did not go out.

These are sentence that can’t translated well by machine translation so I just shoot in the dark and hope for the best:

[1] 俗话说逆境逢知己，患难见真情。