Chapter 24: Meeting

 

Née Li was even more surprised when she heard this.

Ren Yaoqi is different from Ren Yaohua, she is not favored by the Old Madam since she was young, so she has an aversion going to Ronghua Courtyard.

Usually, except for the morning and evening greetings, she would not go as much as possible.

Ren Yaoqi knew what née Li was thinking: “I happened to be looking for Fourth Sister, so I will also stop by to have a look, Mother, don’t worry.”

Seeing her insistence, née Li couldn’t say anything more, but said to Ren Yaohua: “Hua’er, should you also go and have a look?”

In the past, née Li would never have said such a thing, but recently the relationship between the sisters Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua has eased, which is evident to née Li and a few close people around her.

”No need, I’ll go back as soon as I went there, Third Sister will stay and talk to you.” Ren Yaoqi went out while talking.

She had something on her mind so she only cared about leading the maids to walk forward. Going around the nine-turn corridor, when she was about to turn into the garden, she heard voices blowing in the air of several men talking in the garden. At the same time, she heard the squeak of several pairs of boots stepping on the snow getting closer.

(Nine-turn corridor)

-

”Didn’t Third Uncle bring us to the garden and said that he would personally pick snow from the plum blossoms to boil and make tea? There are several plum trees planted in the estate, but none of them bloomed…cough cough…” A juvenile voice complained, dissatisfied.

”Miscalculation! I miscalculated! However Yijun, it’s not that Third Uncle is admonishing you, but you should come out more to hang around. If you are always stifled in your room, even if you are not sick, you will become sick.” Ren Shimin expressed leisurely.

”Third Master, didn’t you see that Third Young Master coughed again just now? It’s terrible, he must have caught a cold from the wind when he went out. Eldest Madam will definitely peel off my skin when I go back later! Young Master, since there are no plum blossoms, shall we go back? You have to watch your body carefully!” A crying voice hurriedly spoke.

”Noisy! Where did this young master go that it’s your turn to take care of things? Give me…cough cough…” The young man broke out in dissatisfaction but was interrupted by a cough.

”Young Master…”

When Ren Yaoqi heard this, she understood that it was her father and third cousin who are in the garden at this time.

Her third cousin, Ren Yijun, was the Eldest Master’s second son and suffered from deficiency brought on from his mother’s womb. A fortune teller once asserted that he would not live to be ten years old. Over the years, Eldest Madam has searched everywhere for a secret recipe for nourishing the body, stewed nourishing soup for him every day, and only ate medicinal food for three meals a day. It can be said that her cousin grew up as a medicine jar.

(Medicine jar)

- A metaphor for a person who is constantly sick and often drinks medicine

Now Ren Yijun is sixteen years old, and although he has frequent minor illnesses, he is still alive and well.

Thinking that it was her father who abducted this cousin who rarely went out, and let him feel the cold wind in the snow, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but feel a headache. If Ren Yijun really caught a cold because of this, Eldest Madam will definitely blame him again.

Because of his poor health, Ren Yijun was always detained in his yard and rarely went out. In addition, his family, from the Old Madam to his brothers and sisters, all of them indulged him, which made him develop a somewhat eccentric and withdrawn temperament. The relationship between him and his brothers of the same generation, including his legitimate elder brother, is indifferent. With the exception of his Third Uncle, Ren Shimin, who he gets along with.

Ren Yaoqi remembered that in her past life, she didn’t like this Third Brother who was strange and never had a smile on his face.

Until later, the Ren family did not dare to bring back her father's body after he died.

Under the scorching sun of the sixth lunar month, she knelt in the Ronghua Courtyard and cried and begged Old Master Ren and Old Madam Ren to collect her father’s body. In the end, she almost fainted from heatstroke but the people inside did not move the slightest bit.

At that moment, Ren Yijun walked over with a sullen face leaning on a cane, pulled her up, and left.

Dazed and stumbling, she was dragged by him to the Ren family’s three provinces hall, where the memorial tablets of the ancestors were enshrined. It was the Ren family’s ancestral hall.

”What’s the use of crying? Their hearts are hard, and their blood is cold. You should be like this…” Ren Yijun raised the cane in his hand and swept down the dozen or so memorial tablets on the altar.

She was so frightened that she was dumbfounded. She watched him throw away the cane in his hand and stomped on the tablet on the ground like crazy, and curse at the same time: “Eating our offerings but letting your descendants suffer, allowing those filthy people from the Ren family to trample us, then these incense will be broken and abandoned!”

She was infected by his crazy and reckless appearance, thinking about the cause of her father’s death, hatred rose in her heart, she got up and picked up the tablets on the ground and smashed them against the wall one by one.

When the rest of the Ren family heard the news and rushed over, there were only pieces of broken wood left on the ground. The tablets of the ancestors were smashed to pieces.

Old Master Ren was so angry that he almost fainted, Eldest Master stepped forward, slapped Ren Yijun, and knocked him to the ground. Eldest Madam collapsed on the ground, horrified.

But he sneered and looked around the crowd: “I smashed everything! Family law and everything are directed at me! Anyway, the lives of the Ren family are worthless!”

That was the first time she realized that Third Brother who had been treated like a porcelain doll since childhood was actually not as weak and vulnerable as they imagined.

Ren Yaoqi turned around and walked back, thinking of persuading his father and Ren Yijun to go back, when he heard the voice of an unfamiliar young man.

”Since there's no rootless water in the plum blossoms, it's also good to use spring water to make tea. I happen to have a jar of spring water from the mountains that has just been brought back. Why don’t I have someone go back and get it now?”

(Rootless water)

- Water from either the first snow, morning dew, breeze, or drizzle to make tea

Ren Yaoqi paused.

She looked into the garden through the branches and leaves of the clumps of a shrub in front. Walking side by side with Ren Shimin and Ren Yijun is a young man about fifteen or sixteen years old. She was a bit far, and there were trees covering her, so she couldn’t see the young man’s face clearly. All she knows is that he is tall, standing like a jade tree facing the wind. Unlike Ren Shimin, who is free and relaxed in his wide-sleeved robe, he has a kind of introversion and calmness that is extremely rare in young people.

(Jade tree facing the wind)

- Used to describe a person who is elegant and graceful

Ren Yaoqi has a guess about his identity.

At this time, footsteps sounded again behind her, turning her head, Ren Yaoqi saw Ren Yaohua walking along the corridor, and seeing her standing at the entrance by the garden, but not going in, she couldn’t help frowning and look over.

Over there, Ren Shimin was suggesting drinking tea and playing chess at the warm pavilion in the garden, when Ren Yaoqi turned around and walked back.

”What are you doing standing there?” Ren Yaohua glanced into the garden, obviously also faintly hearing someone in the garden.

Ren Yaoqi smiled at her: “It’s nothing, I seem to have heard the voices of Father and Third Brother just now. I wanted to greet them but found someone else was with them so I did not go.”

Ren Yaohua stopped asking and took the lead going to Ronghua Courtyard. Ren Yaoqi glanced in the direction of the garden again, and then followed Ren Yaohua.

In Ronghua Courtyard, the main room of Old Madam Ren is bustling. When Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoqi went in, they saw that apart from Old Madam Ren, Ren Yaoyin, and Ren Yaoyu, there was a woman in her thirties and a girl about eleven or twelve years old.

The woman had a pretty face but had an unhealthily sallow face, and her body seemed to be sick.

The girl sitting next to her looks similar to the woman, except that her eyes are not as big, and have slanted single eyelids. Her complexion is very good, fair and clear, and her lips are not painted but are bright red.

It is said that one white covers three ugliness, but she is not ugly herself, so she looks charming.

(One white covers three ugliness)

- A pale complexion covers any facial defects, from the saying 'A handsome man hides a hundred ugly men'

”Why are you here?” Old Madam Ren was a little surprised when she saw Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoqi walking in.

”I’m here to find Fourth Sister.” Ren Yaohua smiled and walked over to salute Old Madam Ren.

After hearing the words, Old Madam Ren didn’t ask any more questions, and she didn’t even care about why Ren Yaoqi came here.

”These are the two daughters of the Third Family,” Old Madam Ren said to Madam Han, and then told the two sisters: “Madam Han and Young Lady Han, you haven’t seen each other before. Come and meet them.”

Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoqi stepped forward to greet the mother and daughter of the Han family.

”I’ve heard from Auntie Xiao that all the young ladies of the Ren family are outstanding. It’s true when I saw them today.” Madam Han smiled and pulled Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoqi up one by one, and looked at them.

Auntie Xiao is a well-connected person who always speaks good things to the patrons she mentions and never says bad things.

Old Madam Ren said with a smile: “It’s still the lady from the Han family who is everyone's model of what's virtuous and talented.”

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