CH 60

Chapter 60: Looking out for each other

Lin Kun looked at his wife in his arms who had a determined look on her face, but the words of Old Master Ren from before came to mind.

“My Ren Family is not that unreasonable, Jia’er has been married into your Lin Family for many years, but she has never produced anything. She is already three years older than you, and now she is already twenty-nine years old. The doctor said that even if she gives birth to this child safely, it is unlikely that she will conceive another child in the future. We, the Ren Family, can’t watch your single line succession of Lin Family’s Second Branch become unsustainable in your generation… When you have a few heirs, the Ren Family can come forward to negotiate with the Lin Family on your behalf. At that time, the members of the Eldest Branch of Lin Family will not be able to use the amount of your heir as an excuse to make trouble…”

Lin Kun’s lowered eyes hid his thoughtful expression.

Suddenly Ren Shijia cried out in alarm and Lin Kun snapped back to attention, asking, “What’s wrong? What’s wrong?”

But Ren Shijia took his palm and pressed it to her abdomen, saying with a joyful expression, “My lord, he’s moving, the baby is moving.”

Sure enough, Lin Kun felt the palm of his hand on Ren Shijia’s abdomen feel like it had been kicked by something, and he could not help but smile, “Yes, he is moving, and he kicked me.”

But Ren Shijia was moved to tears, and hurriedly grabbed her husband’s hand to ask for confirmation, “It’s a healthy baby this time, isn’t it? He will be born safely, right?”

He closed his eyes, but when he opened them again, they were already gentle and quiet: “Yes, he will be safe and sound.”

Ren Shijia breathed a sigh of relief and placed her hand on the back of Lin Kun’s hand and pressed it together against her belly, nestling into Lin Kun’s embrace, a contented smile spreading from the corners of her mouth.

Lin Kun spent his meal in Ren Shijia’s courtyard and then planned to return to Yunyang City.

This time he had come to the Ren Family to pick up his wife and return to Yunyang City, but Ren Shijia was still angry and was determined to stay at her mother’s house to give birth, so Lin Kun had no choice but to go back to Yunyang City alone.

Behind the back of others, the couple had agreed to wait for another two months or so, and Lin Kun would come back when Ren Shijia was about to give birth.

When Lin Kun came out of the Nuan Pavilion, the nanny who specialises in making medicinal food happened to be walking past the door.

Lin Kun’s footsteps stopped in front of her, and in a voice that no one else could hear, he said very coldly, “When the baby is born, you will leave.”

The nanny smiled at his words and bowed her head, also saying in a nearly inaudible voice, “Don’t worry, Sixth Master Lin, this servant won’t stay. This servant wishes Sixth Master Lin every success in his heart!”

Lin Kun gave her one last look, “Tell your master to take care of herself!” After saying this, he took a step and left.

When he had gone, that nanny straightened her back and skimmed her lips in disapprovingly.

In the afternoon, Old Madam Ren came to Nuan Courtyard again. This time she brought four teenage maids over for Ren Shijia to look over.

The four maids were all born in the Ren Family’s home, and Old Madam Ren planned to buy them from outside if she could not find any suitable ones at home. After all, most maids born in the family were well-behaved and easy to handle.

The maids were all decent looking and not too distinguished, and seemed to be very disciplined in their behaviour. One of them, Jinlian, was also in the service of Old Madam Ren.

Although Ren Shijia was still a bit shy. She had already understood a lot, especially when she saw her husband and felt more and more guilty. So when she saw that the old lady had come with her, she wasn’t so repulsed anymore.

She looked at the maids a few times, and when Old Madam Ren sent them off, she said, “Mother, pick whichever one you think is good, but my husband said he wanted to wait until the baby was born and I returned to the house.”

Old Madam Ren was not asking Ren Shijia to send the concubine right away, she already was satisfied that her daughter had been enlightened.

So when she heard Ren Shijia’s words, she said with a soft sigh, “Then I’ll leave it to you.”

The next day was the day she had arranged with Qiu Yun and Yun Wenfang to go to the Bailong Temple to eat vegetarian meals.

Ren Yaohua had also received Li’s instructions the day before, so when she got up in the morning to go to the Ronghua courtyard to say hello, she was already dressed to go out.

It was the time when the trees were decorated with greenery and the flowers were beginning to spread, so most people had taken off their heavy fur clothing and replaced it with lighter, thinner jackets. Especially the teenage girls, whose love of beauty made them change into their newly made dresses early on.

The beauty was beautiful, but when the wind was cold in the morning and evening, they froze like quails on a tree branch. But this had become a fashion for the world, although who know where it come from.

After all, Ren Yaoqi didn’t have the small temperament that a girl of her age should have. Although she had taken off her fur clothes, the jacket on her body was much thicker than others, the only person who wore proper clothes in the spring. It was the light emerald color of the fabric and the light yellow apricot flowers made of silk on the bun.

However, she had a fair complexion, a good appearance, and a light temperament. Although her clothes were different from those of other girls, she still looked dignified and quiet.

Ren Yaohua wore a skirt and a jacket in bright red colour. She liked red clothes so much and they matched her temperament very well.

Ren Yaoqi originally thought that only juniors would go on this trip, but when it was time to leave, she found out that the Eldest Madam Wang and the Eldest Young Madam Zhao were also going with them.

It didn’t matter to Ren Yaoqi, but she felt that if the elders were present, those who liked to jump around would stop.

In addition to Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua, there were also the Eldest Madam and her daughter-in-law, Qiu Yun, Yun Wenfang, the Third Young Master Ren Yijun, the Fifth Young Master Ren Yijian, the Sixth Young Master Ren Yixiong, Ren Yaoyu, and Ren Yaoting.

On the carriage, Ren Yaoqi glanced out at the youngsters riding on their horses. The Third Elder Brother, Ren Yijun, was not on the horse, but was pulled by the Eldest Madam to sit in the carriage in front.

Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua chatted casually, “I thought that Third Brother would come before, I was just making a casual promise, but I didn’t expect him to really come. He used to hate going out with everyone.”

It was because all the other boys in the Ren Family could ride horses, but he was the only one who had to ride in the carriage with his sisters.

Ren Yaohua glanced at Ren Yaoqi and said after a pause, “He really didn’t want to come originally, but Eldest Aunt lost her temper and gave a deadly order, so he had to come.”

As soon as Ren Yaoqi heard this, she knew that Ren Yaohua still had something to say.

Although Ren Yaohua no longer lived in the Ronghua Courtyard, she spent more time in that courtyard than in the Ziwei Courtyard because she was pleasing to the Old Madam. She could also use the maidservants in the courtyard, so she was mostly aware of what was happening in the courtyard.

Ren Yaoqi moved over with great interest and asked, “Is there something that I don’t know about?”

Ren Yaohua had recently become accustomed to Ren Yaoqi’s familiarity, and did not hide it when she asked, “I heard from Eldest Aunt and Grandmother yesterday that the Second Madam of the Liu Family of Yunyang City would be taking her pair of daughters to the Bailong Temple to eat vegetarian today.”

“The Second Madam of the Liu Family?” Ren Yaoqi was slightly stunned, not responding for a moment. “The Liu Family who run an oil workshop in Yunyang City, all the oil used in our house is bought from their workshop.” Ren Yaohua added implicitly seeing Ren Yaoqi’s confusion “The two girls of the Liu Family are both dignified and ladylike.”

Ren Yaoqi understood that today, she was going to meet a girl for her Third Brother, Ren Yijun.

Ren Yaoqi remembered that in his previous life, Ren Yijun had never found a suitable match, either because the Eldest Madam disliked the girls of other families for their vulgarity, or because the mothers of other girls disliked Ren Yijun’s weakness.

Ren Yijun’s own temperament was also awkward, and he became impatient after a few more such incidents.

In particular, he once overheard a girl from a family whispering behind his back that he was a short-lived man who could fall down in a wind and that she would have to be prepared to be a widow if she married him.

Ren Yijun was so furious that he made a servant set fire to the tails of some horses pulling the carriages, resulting in several horses going berserk.

Although no one was on the carriages, a woman who was napping on the side of the carriage was trampled to death by the horses because of the narrow road where the carriage was parked.

The people of that family went back and made a lot of noise about how Ren Yijun was not only in poor health but also had a violent temperament. If he fell in love with a girl from a family, he would yell, beat her if she looked down on him, or even kill her.

In the end, the Ren Family spent a lot of silver to settle the matter, but Ren Yijun’s reputation was also completely ruined. Since then, no daughter from a good family was willing to marry him.

When Ren Yijun met another girl who was interested in him, he took it upon himself to drive her away. The Eldest Madam had to worry a lot about this matter, but Ren Yijun’s stubborn temper got the better of him and he only said one thing: he would never get married in this lifetime!

Before Ren Yaoqi left the Ren Family, Yijun had never married, and when the Ren Family eventually fell, he was heard to have become a monk.

When Ren Yaoqi recalled Ren Yijun’s past, she could only sigh.

She just wondered which time was it that Ren Yijun set fire to someone’s horsetail. Now, it seems that it hadn’t happened yet. The current Ren Yijun was a bit squeamish about his marriage but not to the point of changing his color when talking about it.

If it hadn’t happened yet, then could it be stopped?

But in her previous life, she hadn’t had much contact with Ren Yijun before that change, and she hadn’t paid much attention to his affairs. She still heard these things from the servants in the courtyard. So she wasn’t sure when it had happened when he was seeing a girl from that family. Was it this time?

On the way, Ren Yaoqi dwelt on this matter, and she was still leaning against the wall of the carriage when they almost arrived at the Bailong Temple.

As a result, the carriage wheel hit a big stone and made Ren Yaoqi almost crashed into the tea bowl in front of her, but Ren Yaohua pulled her back.

“What are you doing!” Ren Yaohua glared at her and scolded her in a low voice.

The two large maids waiting in the carriage both held back their laughter and turned their heads away.

Ren Yaoqi touched her forehead and silently pushed the tea bowl and teapot towards Ren Yaohua.

Ren Yaohua: “…”