Chapter 21: Fate

 

Ren Shimin thought of Old Madam Ren who said that the painting he gave away were children’s playthings. At that time, although he was extremely unhappy, it was difficult to refute because Old Madam Ren was an elder.

Née Li was stunned for a moment and looked at Momo Zhou at a loss.

Momo Zhou wanted to say something, but Ren Yaoqi, who knew Ren Shimin very well, interjected with a smile: “Daddy has prepared some good things for others, can you tell us about it?”

Ren Shimin’s expression softened, and he said to Ren Yaoqi, “Young Master Han saw a painting at my place. Before I left, I asked a servant to send the painting to him.”

Ren Yaoqi blinked: “I'm guessing that the painting Young Master Han was interested in must be Daddy’s painting!”

Ren Shimin was happy in his heart, but with a calm expression on his face, he asked: “Oh? How did you see it?”

Ren Yaoqi replied solemnly: “He has helped us so much, wouldn’t it be a big loss if he picks out other people’s paintings?”

Ren Shimin laughed, and everyone in the room could feel his joy from the bottom of his heart.

Née Li was also happy when she saw the father and daughter, but Ren Yaohua just lowered her head and played with the agate bracelet between her wrists, seemingly absent-minded.

”This young master of the Han family is also an elegant person. If there is a young lady in the Han family, it's possible to communicate with our Third and Fifth Young Ladies.” Momo Zhou took advantage of Ren Shimin’s happiness to join in the fun, but is actually inquiring about the Han family's affairs.

The Han family only moved to Baihe Town last year. At that time, they were still in the village. After they came back, there were people who mentioned the matter of the Han family, but there was no contact.

Momo Zhou who is accustomed to crawling and fighting in the inner house naturally knows that the clearer and brighter your inquiries are, the more dominant you are.

Ren Shimin was in a good mood, so he gave face to Momo Zhou’s words: “I heard Master Han say that he has a son and a daughter, Young Master Han is fifteen years old this year, but I don't know about Young Lady Han. I see that the Han family's upbringing is pretty good. Although Young Master Han is young, he is eager to learn and know etiquette, especially his Yan-style regular script, which is extremely well-written.”

Ren Yaoqi originally heard Ren Shimin mention the Han family but didn’t know which Han family it was for a while, but now listening to him praising the young master of the Han Family, she suddenly remembered.

In the year when her mother and Ren Yaohua went to the village, a new family with the surname Han moved to Baihe Town. Later, Ren Shimin took a fancy to the talent of the young master of the Han family and set up a marriage for Ren Yaohua. The Ren family saw that although the Han family was low-key, they were well-connected, had considerable wealth, and only had one son. They were also happy to see this marriage succeed.

It’s just that the young master of the Han family suddenly broke off the engagement for no reason. The Ren family originally disagreed, but finally compromised for some reason.

Ren Yaohua received a great blow, and her temper became more and more prickly. The Ren family already regarded her as an abandoned child.

In the end, with the help of the Second House's Second Old Madam, née Su, Ren Yaohua married Zeng Kui, from the Second Old Madam's maiden family, Eldest Grandmother Su's nephew from her cousin.

Eldest Grandmother Su was from the capital, and her cousin was Zeng Lin, who was the new commander of Ningxia at that time. Zeng Lin had numerous wives and concubines, but Zeng Kui was the only son.

At that time, the unmarried sisters of the Ren family were all envious of Ren Yaohua’s good life. After breaking her engagement, she could still find such a good prospect who was hard to find even with a lantern. But they didn’t know until a few days before Ren Yaohua got married that the young master of the Zeng family had been scalded by a momo with boiling water when he was younger and had been blinded in one eye.

(Hard to find even with a lantern)

- Rare

Old Madam Ren personally came to Ziwei Courtyard to persuade Ren Yaohua to get married. During the process, the Old Madam reasoned with logic and moved her with emotion. Ren Yaoqi did not know how Old Madam Ren persuaded her “most beloved granddaughter” who was arrogant and domineering, to happily marry a man with a face as ugly as a ghost.

But she succeeded, and Ren Yaohua married into the Zeng family without making a fuss.

Half a year later, Ren Yaohua strangled her new husband with her own hair, and was thrown into the red tent of the military camp by Zeng Lin in a rage. On the night when the northwest wind was blowing, Ren Yaohua set fire to the barracks and died in the fire.

As a result, the Ren family became enemies with the Zeng family, and bad luck followed.

And the young master of the Han family, who broke an engagement with Ren Yaohua, married Yun Qiuchen, the eldest young lady of the Yun family, in the same year. She is a talented woman and has ten miles of red makeup. It's unclear know how many young men and women in Yanbei were envious.

(Ten miles of red makeup)

- Used to describe an extremely rich dowry

”Yaoyao? Yaoyao?” Ren Shimin shook his hand in front of Ren Yaoqi’s eyes and called to her with a frown.

Ren Yaoqi returned to her senses, and when she saw that everyone in the room was looking at her, she forced a smile.

”Yaoyao, are you not feeling well?” Ren Shimin reached out and probed her forehead.

Née Li also spoke: “Still not getting better? Why is your face so ugly?”

Ren Yaoqi obediently let Ren Shimin touch her forehead indiscriminately, and did not remind him that the palm of his hand that touched hot tea could not detect body heat, she just lowered her head and said, “No, I just suddenly remembered that Daddy had arranged a lot of paintings to draw and calligraphies to copy for me when he left home, but I didn’t manage to complete it because I was unwell for quite a period of time. I was afraid that Daddy would scold me when he checks homework later.”

Hearing this, Ren Shimin pulled back his hand helplessly, and scolded with a smile, “When did Daddy ever blame you? That it scared you like this?”

Seeing that Ren Yaoqi’s face had gotten a lot better, née Li couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief: “It’s fine if you’re not sick.”

Although Ren Yaoqi has been acting as a bridge of communication between Ren Shimin and Li Shi, she has been worrying about how she can stop everything before it happens.

”Master, Madam, Concubine Fang has brought the Sixth Young Master and Ninth Young Lady to greet you.” The maid, Shanhu, reported through the curtain.

Ren Shimin looked at Née Li in surprise: “Isn’t Concubine Fang still ill?”

Née Li thought that he was blaming her, and said uneasily: “I... I told her not to come.”

Ren Shimin nodded and motioned for people to come in.

After a while, Concubine Fang walked in with a pair of children.

Today’s Concubine Fang was wearing a light blue sheepskin jacket of ordinary fabric, with a round bun and a Zhaojun cover on her forehead. Despite dressing simply, it did not change her dignity and beauty. Along the way, the head is slightly low, the bee waist is clear, and a graceful walk. It has a romantic attitude of its own, yet it's rare to be not seen as frivolous.

(Zhaojun)

- Ancient women's head ornament made of animal fur, like a hat but without the top to show their bun

It’s no wonder that the servants of the Ren family like to secretly learn from her.

Ren Shimin looked at Concubine Fang, and his eyes couldn’t help but contain some admiration. Toward beautiful things, he has always been generous to watch.

Concubine Fang’s eyes swept slightly towards Ren Shimin’s direction, then immediately avoided it, and came forward to kowtow to Ren Shimin and née Li.

Ren Shimin smiled and nodded: “Get up, didn’t Madam let you rest and recuperate?”

Concubine Fang’s beautiful eyes narrowed, her smile was a little weak, but her joy radiated from the inside out: “It’s this concubine who heard that Master is back. This concubine… this concubine is here to greet you.”

Ren Yaohua looked at Concubine Fang’s appearance but her anger didn't come out. Although she tried her best to restrain herself, the words she said were still very cold and stiff: “Since you are asked to rest, you should rest well. If you come out like this and by chance have a cold and become seriously ill, the people outside will not know about it. They'll think it was my mother who was harsh to you!”

Concubine Fang’s face darkened when she heard the words, and the smile on the corner of her mouth was a bit bitter, but she bowed her head very softly to answer: “The Third Young Lady has taught a lesson, it's this concubine who was not thoughtful.”

Ren Shimin frowned and glanced at Ren Yaohua. Before he, the head of the family, had spoken, his daughter taught her father’s concubine a lesson, which was disrespectful to him.

Ren Yaoqi smiled at Concubine Fang: “Don’t take offense, Aunt. Third Sister, she always speaks straight, and a good word will become unpleasant when she speaks, and I am the most impatient when talking to her usually. But I don't think her original intention was to ‘teach’ you a lesson. She saw that you were wearing too thin, she is worried that you will catch a cold.”

Ren Shimin looked at Concubine Fang’s clothes.

Momo Zhou was also surprised: “Concubine, why are you wearing so little today? How cold is it outside? You don’t take care of yourself very much. When it wasn’t so cold a few days ago, you still knew how to wear a thick cloak with a fox fur coat. You didn’t deliberately made our Madam feel sorry ah.”

Concubine Fang’s face turned red.

”My Sixth Brother and I were eager to see our father, and we were making noise to come over sooner. Aunt only cared about what we were wearing but neglected herself. Mother, don’t blame Aunt, okay?” Ren Yaoying looked at née Li aggrievedly.

(Aunt/Mother)

- Concubine-born children call their biological mother Aunt(concubine) and their father's legitimate wife Mother

”Your mother hasn't blamed anyone yet, why are you all wronged first?” Ren Shimin interrupted, his voice was gentle, and he restrained himself very well.

Although he doesn’t care about these inner courtyard affairs, because of his sensitive temperament, this kind of back and forth between women extremely annoys him.

---

_{After considering for a few days, I decided to change the title 'Miss' to 'Young Lady'.}

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