Chapter 34: One Pot End

 

The two newly appointed foreign affairs momos, Momo Liu and Mrs. Niu, are officials taking office with three fires¹, so they are naturally busy.

- Metaphor for new officials doing a few things to show talent and strength

On the day the new bonsai moved in, Third Master Ren Shimin was especially satisfied seeing it and even praised Momo Liu a few words.

But on the next day, overnight, those dozens of pots of clivia were found to be rotten from the roots.

”Momo Liu, what’s going on?” Momo Zhou pointed to the clump of clivia that the maid moved in, and asked with a sullen face.

Momo Liu broke out in a cold sweat in the winter, and when she saw that she was the only one coming, she apologized and said, “Momo Zhou, this matter… this slave is not very clear. However, don’t you need to ask Mrs. Niu and the others together?”

Momo Zhou pulled her face down and said, “Ask others what for? Mrs. Niu said that she is only in charge of narcissus, and you are in charge of clivia.”

Momo Liu was originally only a little nervous when she saw herself being accused here alone, and subconsciously wanted to bring others together to share the responsibilities, but now she felt a little uncomfortable after hearing what Momo Zhou said, and she couldn’t help raising her head to argue: “Momo Zhou, it’s not wrong that these clivias were chosen by this slave, but this slave went with Mrs. Niu when they were picking them. Furthermore, the flower farmer was introduced by Mrs. Niu's family's head.”

Momo Zhou was displeased: “Then why did Mrs. Niu say that clivia was carefully selected by you and your youngest son?”

Momo Liu was taken aback when she heard the words, and then she sneered angrily, “You listened to her farting²! I also asked why there are so many flower farmers outside the town, but the couple chose a place so remote! Later, I heard the flower farmers beside discuss it and found out that it was the couple who took five taels of silver from that flower farmer. Now that I think about it, there must be something wrong with those flowers, and they joined hands to mess with me!”

- Talking nonsense

Mrs. Niu has a very good personal relationship with Momo Wei, the original foreign affairs momo candidate, and heard that the two parties intend to form a family.

In the end, they didn't see Momo Liu emerge as a dark horse, making Momo Wei have a lot of prejudice against her, hence even Mrs. Niu somewhat ignores Momo Liu. In addition, there is also a competitive relationship between the two foreign affairs momos, so the relationship between the two is really not good.

In fact, it is very common for purchasing managers to get kickbacks when purchasing, even Momo Liu herself has oil and water to gain for every pot of flowers. Even after she knew about the five taels of silver, Mrs. Niu gave her back two taels of silver. Although she was dissatisfied that Mrs. Niu made more money than she did, she didn’t say anything when she thought about the future.

Now she felt that she had fallen into someone else’s trap, maybe it was Mrs. Niu who tripped her up in order to stand up for Momo Wei. Although she has not been in Ziwei Courtyard for a long time, she knows the temper of the Third Master of the Ren family. He doesn’t care if other things are not done well, but if something goes wrong with the things he cares about, the person in charge will be unable to bear it.

Thus she can’t bear the charge.

Momo Zhou was surprised when she heard the words: “There is such a thing!” She pointed to Xi’er who was at the side angrily and ordered, “Go and call Mrs. Niu in!”

Seeing Momo Zhou’s appearance, Momo Liu suddenly regretted that she had exposed this matter. Although it’s common for the momo in charge to get something in return from the merchants, however, this kind of thing can’t be put on the bright side. She opened her mouth to say something, but Xi’er had already taken orders to go out.

After a while, Mrs. Niu was called in.

Momo Zhou struck the head and covered the face³ right off: “Thanks to you that I thought you were only responsible for those narcissi, and clivias was the responsibility of Momo Liu, so I only asked her to come over to ask questions. Didn't think however that I was told that the flower farmer was found by you? Still received five taels of silver from other people? Mrs. Niu, what else do you have to say!” 

- To scold someone to their face fiercely, describing a bad attitude

When Mrs. Niu heard this, she glared at Momo Liu in shock and anger. Seeing that her eyes flickered and she didn’t dare to look at her, she immediately understood that Momo Liu had betrayed her.

She gave a “pei” towards Momo Liu, then turned to Momo Zhou and said, “Don’t trust those two-faced three-edged old goods⁴! Today I understand what it means to ‘hold up a bowl and eat meat, put down the bowl and scold your mother⁵’! How come you don’t think the silver is sticky when you take it? Now that something went wrong, you hurriedly wiped yourself clean, as if your own hands were so clean! You don’t have to go to the flower house to sell, what kind of yellow flower girl⁶ are you pretending to be!“

- A young, inexperienced, and unmarried girl

- Taking advantage yet still having no conscience and scolding, being heartless and not knowing how to repay favors

- Two-faced three-edged = Behaving one way in front and behaving another behind one's back
- Old goods = Used to express contempt and disgust towards the elderly

Mrs. Niu was well-known for being aggressive when she was young, and there was even a nickname called “Spicy”. Now that her children are older, her temper has been restrained a lot, but she is the type of person that refuses to suffer. She has a short temper and can say anything when her temper comes up.

Momo Liu also became enraged when she heard this, she raised her head and retorted back: “I took the silver, but wasn't it precisely the hush money you gave me? That flower farmer is your and your family's head's connection! Now that something has happened, it is natural to ask for an explanation from the couple of you!”

Mrs. Niu originally took five taels of silver, but in the end, Momo Liu insisted on asking for two taels and promised to let her take the big money next time. The meat in her mouth flew away⁷, and she was not feeling well. Didn't think Momo Liu is the one who took advantage, but is shameless enough to let other people bear the brunt once something went wrong. Immediately, she became extremely furious.

- Failing on the verge of success

”You are shameless! If you have the guts, spit out the money given to you! Still playing tricks behind people’s backs! Who doesn’t know how you became a manager? Didn’t you just give Momo Zhu twenty taels of silver!” Mrs. Niu scolded, pointing at Momo Liu’s nose.

Momo Liu became angry with embarrassment: “Heh, do you think that you are innocent? Wasn’t your sister-in-law begging Momo Gui in Old Madam's room back then? In the end, how much money was paid to the people around Concubine Fang to pretend as blind?”

Momo Zhou, who had been sitting on the sidelines, glanced out the window. Mrs. Niu has a loud voice, which has attracted many people to poke their heads from outside.

Seeing that the timing was almost up, Momo  Zhou patted the table and got up: “You have big guts! It even involved the Old Madam! And what did you say about Momo Zhu taking twenty taels of silver?”

Momo Liu’s expression was not good. Because the matter of Mrs. Niu involved the people in Old Madam's room, no one dared to say anything more, but her twenty taels of bribes were hard to say.

Mrs. Niu smiled: “Everyone in the yard knows that the night before you announced the candidate for the foreign affairs momo, Momo Liu gave Momo Zhu twenty taels of silver and asked her to go to Fifth Young Lady to plot the job of foreign affairs momo.”

Momo Zhou’s complexion changed: “Presumptuous! How dare you touch Fifth Young Lady! The candidate for foreign affairs management was discussed by Master and Madam the afternoon before that day. What does it have to do with Fifth Young Lady!”

Momo Liu was taken aback when she heard the words and said in astonishment: “It was discussed in the afternoon?”

Seeing Momo Liu’s expression, Mrs. Niu rolled her eyes and understood a little, she couldn’t help covering her mouth and laughing gloatingly: “Now I understand what it means to have congenial stink⁸!”

- Bad people get along very well as they have similar states of minds

Momo Liu’s face was ashen.

Momo Zhou was also seriously pissed off and ordered a maid to call Momo Zhu over. Lifting the curtain, she went out of the side room and went to the main room to report today’s events to née Li.

After Momo Zhou came back from née Li’s main room, Momo Zhu had already arrived. After some confrontation, it was completely revealed that Momo Zhu deliberately cheated Momo Liu of twenty taels of silver by using the information she heard from Fifth Young Lady.

It’s just that Mrs. Niu and Momo Liu didn’t end well because of taking bribes.

Not wanting to deal with the three of them in detail, Third Master Ren Shimin got enraged because he discovered that the dozens of pots of clivia that were dying did not die of illness, but were scalded to death by pouring hot water from the roots...

Third Master is an elegant and refined person, and this kind of “flower killing” is extremely intolerable to him. Immediately, he ordered née Li to conduct a thorough investigation.

This investigation led to Momo Wei's head.

It turned out that Momo Wei had always been brooding over the fact that Momo Liu had replaced her as the foreign affairs momo, and was unsettled when she learned from Mrs. Niu that Momo Liu had made a few taels of silver by doing an errand this time. So at night, the clivias bought by Momo Liu was soaked in boiling water one by one to death.

After Third Master knew about it, he immediately ordered for Momo Wei to be expelled from Ren Estate. After Fifth Young Lady found out, she hurried over to intercede with Third Master and finally saved Momo Wei’s life.

It’s just that the incident of several other momos also happened at the same time. Third Master was intolerant and asked née Li to clean up all the people in the yard and drive out those who are not on the stage, so as not to be an eyesore in front of him.

Although née Li said a few words of refusal, she was still happy in her heart, because Concubine Fang got all these people in.

(One Pot End)

- To completely resolve or destroy at once

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