CH 55

Chapter 55: The Lin Family

The Lin family is the largest grain merchant in Yanbei.

The head of the Lin family today is the Eldest Old Master of the Lin family, which is also the father of the Fifth Madam Lin.

Several decades ago when Lin’s father’s grandfather died, the Lin family had divided the family at once. The grain store was divided equally between the two brothers, Lin’s grandfather and granduncle. The Lin family’s grain store expanded twice as much under the hard work of the two brothers.

Unfortunately, Lin’s granduncle and uncle were robbed and killed by thieves when they traveled far away. Only the Madam of the second branch of the Lin family was left behind.

Lin’s aunt was already eight months pregnant at the time. After suddenly hearing the sad news of her husband and father-in-law, she could not bear the blow of premature birth. She managed to gave birth to her husband’s surviving son but died on the maternity bed.

After that, the Lin family took over the business of the second branch and brought the premature nephew of the second branch to take care of him, named him Lin Kun.

Lin Kun was born prematurely at eight months, so everyone thought that he would not be able to grow up. However, this child was very tenacious and grew up peacefully.

Lin Kun was raised by Qiu, the Old Martriach of eldest branch, since childhood. He got the same love as her own grandchildren. When Lin Kun was seventeen years old, he begged the Old Martriach to marry Ren Shijia, a girl from the Ren family.

She was happy to know that Ren Shijia was the daughter of her niece. The Ren family also did not refuse the Lin family’s marriage proposal out of some consideration, and married Ren Shijia to Lin Kun of the Lin family’s Second Branch.

When the Lin family took over the business of the second branch, it was for a stop-gap measure. The business of the second branch of the Lin family should be returned to the Second Branch after Lin Kun grew up. However, after so many years, the Lin family has never returned the business, and only treats Lin Kun as the young master of the eldest branch.

The Lin family has many grandchildren, and it makes a huge difference whether Lin Kun is a member of the second branch or the eldest branch.

At this time, the Eldest Madam came in, and Ren Shijia smiled and called her sister-in-law.

Eldest Madam said in a warm voice: “I have sent someone to clean up your Nuan Pavilion, do you want to go over and have a look?”

Old Madam opened her eyes at this time, said to Lin: “You and Shijia have always been close. You know her preferences, so go with your sister-in-law to help her take a look at the Nuan pavilion. If you see that it is good, Shijia will also be satisfied. She has just returned and is tired, so she should rest here now.”

Lin got up with a smile and said to Ren Shijia, “Then I will go and take a look for you. If there is anything that needs to be replaced, I will replace it for you, so don’t say you don’t like it again.”

Ren Shijia said, “I’m sure I’ll like what sister-in-law likes. Thank you, Eldest Sister-in-law and Fifth Sister-in-law, for making you work so hard.”

“What are you talking about? We are all happy that you are back.”

Lin patted Ren Shijia’s hand, bowed with the Eldest Madam and withdrew.

Li looked at the pair of Old Madam and Ren Shijia. After thinking about it, she also got up and said, “Since sister-in-law wants to rest, I will take the children and go back first.”

She also could see that Ren Shijia must have something to do when she came back now. Unfortunately she had never had the opportunity to talk to Old Madam Ren alone before, so she decided to leave.

The Old Madam nodded: “You guys can go back first.”

Ren Shijia smiled amicably and said, “Third Sister-in-law, remember to bring Yaohua and Yaoqi to my courtyard to play when you have time.”

Li returned her smile and nodded her head.

Ren Shijia’s attitude towards Li was quite friendly, especially since she had married into the Lin family and had never been able to give birth to any children, so she could especially appreciate Li’s suffering of not having a son.

Li took the two sisters, Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua, and withdrew.

Only then did Old Madam Ren dismiss those who were waiting around her and sat up: “Why are you back now? What happened?”

Ren Shijia’s eyes were red and she finally bowed her head and sobbed.

Old Madam Ren frowned, but a sighed: “What are you crying about? Be careful of hurting your body, it’s not good for the child.”

Ren Shijia’s sobbing voice immediately stopped, quickly took out a handkerchief and wiped her tears, sucked it and said, “Mother, I’m so scared, I… I don’t dare to stay in the Lin family anymore.”

Old Madam Ren originally thought that Ren Shijia came back because the couple had some kind of disagreement, but now she heard such a sentence from her, she couldn’t help but feel shocked: “What happened?”

Ren Shijia jumped into Old Madam Ren’s arms, her face a little white: “After I got pregnant, the Lin family arranged a small kitchen for me, so I wrote to my aunt to ask her to help me find a cook in Jiangnan. A few days ago, my aunt sent me two cooks, one good at making Jianghuai cuisine and one good at making medicinal meals.”

The aunt that Ren Shijia spoke of was Old Madam Ren’s own sister, the Old Madam in charge of the Fang family in Jiangning, which was also Concubine Fang’s principal mother.

Old Madam Ren gently patted Ren Shijia’s back: “I heard your aunt mention it in a letter, did something went wrong with those two cooks?”

Ren Shijia shook his head: “It’s not that there’s something wrong with the cook, it’s…that there’s something wrong with the Lin family. The cook who can make medicinal meals can also cure some women’s chronic illnesses. That time I asked her to see if the fetus in the womb was healthy. She actually saw that my previous miscarriages were… because I was tampered with!”

“What!” Old Madam Ren almost jumped up in shock. She pressed Ren Shijia’s shoulder and said sharply, “Jia’er, do you understand what you said?”

Ren Shijia nodded with a palpitating heart: “This daughter knows. This daughter was also shocked when she heard this at the beginning and did not dare to believe it. Old Martriach even let me follow her to manage the household, and the sisters-in-law of the eldest branch were not as good as me. I have never given birth to a child for my husband, and Old Martriach not only did not let him take a concubine, but also let the Eldest Madam and the others to enlighten me. I thought I was a lucky woman at that time. But… but this time I told my husband what the cook told me, so he quietly found a doctor for me who was highly skilled in medicine. That doctor said that both my husband and I were in good health and that it was unreasonable that we have frequent miscarriages.”

The Old Madam frowned and doubted: “The doctor you saw before didn’t see anything wrong? Didn’t I also send you some experienced midwives? They didn’t see it either?”

Ren Shijia said, “I brought those two midwives to me for questioning afterward. They said they thought I was just weak and had insufficient blood and qi, so they paid attention to helping me replenish my blood and qi everyday. But they couldn’t tell whether I was born with poor health or was harmed by someone. As for the doctors who usually ask for my pulse, they are all the people the Old Martriach usually used. I… Mother, what should I do? I am afraid that this child will also be killed by someone. I’ll be thirty in another year, and the midwives said that when I get pregnant, it will be even harder to give birth. Mother, please help me, help me.”

Old Madam Ren’s heart jumped as she listened to the news, and she was busy comforting her daughter: “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, with Mother here, no one can hurt you. I’ll send someone to invite a doctor into the house to take your pulse. I will definitely help you to keep the fetus in your belly. Don’t go back to the Lin family for now.”

“I came back to Mother’s house on the pretext that I had an argument with my husband. On the way, the Old Martriach and the Eldest Madam sent someone to persuade me twice. They are sure to send someone over again.” Ren Shijia said worriedly.

Old Madam Ren patted Ren Shijia’s shoulder: “I will block them for you, do not care about anything, just worry about raising the baby.”

Ren Shijia sat up from Old Madam Ren’s arms: “Mother, if this matter is true, what will this daughter do? If it is true, they, they are too cruel. Old Martiach is my own grandaunt!”

The Old Madam frowned in her mind and thought about the matter, did not answer Ren Shijia’s words, only said: “When your father comes back, I will discuss it with him, you pretend not to know anything first.” The Old Madam recruited a maid to come in, and asked her to go to a doctor she knew well to come into the house to take Ren Shijia’s pulse.

When the maid went out, Old Madam Ren said: “What you said just now, remember not to talk to your Fifth Brother and Fifth Sister-in-law, and do not let them see any clues. You have to insist on it to the outside world that you came back only because you were dissatisfied with your husband, understand?”

“Yes, mother, this daughter knows.” Ren Shijia hurriedly assured.

Not long after that, the Fifth Madam, Lin, came over and said that she had already visited Ren Shijia’s Nuan Pavilion and had added a few small items.

Old Madam Ren asked Ren Shijia to go back and rest.

When the doctor entered the mansion, the Old Madam asked the doctor to go to her yard to explain, and then let him go to Nuan Pavilion to read Ren Shijia’s pulse.

At noon, when Old Master Ren came back, the Old Madam dismissed the others and talked about the suspicions of Ren Shijia with the Old Master.

“Speaking of which, I already felt that something was wrong, so after Jia’er became pregnant this time, I especially gave her two trustworthy midwives.  A few years ago, the Lin family also said they wanted Jia’er to pick a boy from the grandson of the eldest branch to pass on. But the children’s biological parents have not died yet, are they gonna grow up with their own biological parents? The eldest branch’s calculations are very good.”

“What did Lisheng say?” Old Master Ren, who walked slowly for a few steps, stopped and asked.

Lisheng he was talking about was Lin Kun’s name, Ren Shijia’s husband.

Old Madam Ren said: “You don’t know his temperament? That’s the best he can do! I also liked him at the beginning, so I agreed to marry my daughter, but I didn’t want this to be the result. The Lin family came to beg and said it well when she married Jia’er. They said they were asking for the nephew of the second branch, but now the second branch has become the eldest branch. If anything happens to Jia’er, we will not get along with Lin Family anymore! This is outrageous! I treat their girl as my daughter, but they are trampling on my daughter like this.”

Old Madam Ren became angrier and angrier as she spoke, and she could not control her voice anymore.

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trying to piece together the family connections between these characters are too confusing, my head is in pain right now.

also I don’t have any idea how to translate the wife of the Old Master’s father. The best I can do is Old Master’s father is Old Partriach, and his wife is Old Martriach. Because they are from eldest branch, I translate it into Eldest Old Partriach/Martriach.

Is it too confusing? Should I keep it or start using their chinese title but with added footnotes?

I’m sorry for this lousy attempt :”(

For anyone confused, I put every single characters’ lineage on Table of Contents page below. Hopefully that clears it up! (and not instead adding stress because the bullet points system lol)