Chapter 39: Sisters Discussing Marriage

 

Ren Yaoqi looked at Ren Yaohua in surprise: “Third Dousin? Does he want something from me?”

Ren Yaohua saw Ren Yaoqi’s expression, as if she really didn’t know, so she turned her sight away: “How do I know. He must have seen you rarely appear in Grandmother’s yard, and asked casually.”

Ren Yaoqi smiled and said, “Third Cousin has always been well-mannered.”

Ren Yaohua stroked the teacup, lowered her head to think for a while, then glanced at Ren Yaoqi again, frowning slightly as if she was thinking about something.

”What’s the matter? Third Sister?” It was a rare moment for Ren Yaohua to be mild, Ren Yaoqi smiled and stretched out her palm, and waved in front of her eyes.

Ren Yaohua was taken aback, and couldn’t help but glared at Ren Yaoqi.

This was the first time Ren Yaoqi made such an intimate action in front of her, and she was a little uncomfortable.

Ren Yaoqi’s smile remained unchanged, and she turned her head slightly to look at her: “What are you thinking about?”

Ren Yaohua originally wanted to say “What are you doing!” But for some reason, those words turned into a sentence: “Grandmother seems to intend to marry Fourth Sister to the Qiu family.”

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she froze for a bit, and involuntarily stretched out her fingers to touch her lips.

It stands to reason that such nonsense, groundless, and unfounded words, related to a lady's marriage, even if she knew about it, she shouldn’t say it, and moreover, she still told and let her sister who had always been at odds with her know.

Ren Yaoqi was also a little surprised, she didn’t expect to hear such things from Ren Yaohua.

However, there's a matter of the Ren family wanting to cement old ties with the Qiu family in her past life. Old Master Ren and Old Madam Ren indeed planned to marry the Eldest Master's legitimate daughter, Fourth Young Lady Ren Yaoyin, to the eldest son of the Qiu family's patriarch, Qiu Yun.

It’s just that the marriage between the two of them in the previous life didn’t work out in the end for some reason. The Ren family lagged behind, and the Qiu family married a concubine from another well-known family for Qiu Yun.

And it seemed that Ren Yaoyin became a concubine for Yun Wenting, the eldest son of the Yun family.

It’s just that in her past life, the Ren family had originally chosen two fiancées for Qiu Yun, one was the Fourth Young Lady Ren Yaoyin, and the other was Ren Yaohua. Because both of them are legitimate descendants, and among the daughters of the Ren family, they are the most suitable age for Qiu Yun, furthermore, they are the two granddaughters that Old Madam Ren loves the most.

As far as she knew, Old Madam Ren seemed to like Ren Yaohua more.

At the critical moment, “Han Yunqian” this Cheng Yaojin¹ happened to come out halfway. Ren Shimin liked Han Yunqian very much and proposed marriage to the Han family before discussing it with the elders of the Ren family. In the end, the Ren family felt that there would be no disadvantage in marrying Ren Yaohua to Han Yunqian, the only son of the Han family, and agreed. And Ren Yaoyin was assigned to Qiu Yun.

- Someone or something coming out of nowhere and disrupting the matters.

 In this life, the Han family’s marriage has no shadow at all, but the Ren family chose Ren Yaoyin as Qiu Yun’s fiancée? According to the ranking, Ren Yaohua’s marriage should be mentioned in advance, right?

Thinking of this, Ren Yaoqi looked at Ren Yaohua: “Why did you suddenly mention Fourth Sister’s marriage?”

It was only then that Ren Yaohua realized that it was embarrassing for the two of them to talk about these things in private, and there was an uncomfortable look on her face, but seeing Ren Yaoqi’s serious and calm expression, Ren Yaohua didn’t want to be skittish in front of her younger sister.

So she managed to calm down, pretending to be nonchalant, and spoke: “Second Aunt came over this morning and mentioned Second Brother’s marriage. Eldest Aunt happened to be there too, so then she discussed with Grandmother about Third Brother's marriage. Following that, unknown why, Eldest Aunt circled back to Fourth Sister again, and Grandmother expressed not to worry about Fourth Sister, she knows well. At this time, Second Aunt mentioned the Qiu family. I was originally in the warm pavilion with Fourth Sister and happened to overhear it when those words come out. After that, seeing that Fourth Sister came out, it was not good for me to listen, so I left with her. However, at that time, I didn’t hear any rebuttals from Grandmother and Eldest Aunt, so I think what Second Aunt said was not wrong. “

Their grandfather Ren Yonghe and uncle Ren Yongxiang are the direct branches of the Ren family, and they live in the main house of the Ren family.

Ren Yonghe and Ren Yongxiang have a few concubine brothers who have already separated from the estate to live alone, and those cousins from those uncles are not in the same rank as them. They are only able to meet every year when it's the time for Spring Festival and Ghost Festival² to worship ancestors.

- During the seventh month, known as Ghost Month, it is believed the ghosts will come out from their realm. It is the time when the deceased will visit the living. Rituals will be performed to free their sufferings, and descendants of their ancestors will worship them as a sign of filial piety.

Second Aunt is the wife of the head of the east mansion separated by a wall. She is their granduncle's daughter-in-law, born from the Su family in Yunyang City.

Second Brother Ren Yilin is the concubine son of their Second Uncle. Second Aunt, née Su, has no sons, and only gave birth to a daughter named Ren Yaoting who is the seventh in the Ren family. However, née Su is a generous person, she took in several beautiful concubines for Second Uncle, and he has two sons from those concubines.

Née Su’s family background is prominent, and she has a reputation for virtuousness, so although she has no son, she is in a much better situation than the Third Madam née Li who is also without a son.

”Isn’t Second Brother’s fiancée still in her filial piety?” Ren Yaoqi asked casually.

She remembered that Ren Yilin’s marriage was settled two years ago, to the second daughter of a Juren³ named Liu in Jizhou, and logically it was considered a good match.

- A rank achieved by passing the provincial examination.

The wedding was originally scheduled on the fourth lunar month of this year, but it just happened that Ren Yilin’s fiancée’s grandfather passed away on the first lunar month, and she had to observe a year of filial piety.  Juren Liu just happened to spend money to make up for a vacancy of a local magistrate in Mozhou, but because his father passed away two months after taking office, he has to return home because of Ding You⁴.

- A traditional moral etiquette for officials. The moment they learn of the news of their parent's death, they must resign and return home immediately to guard their parent for twenty-seven days.

Misfortunes never come singly. News came from Jizhou a while ago that Juren Liu went out to drink wine with friends before his filial piety. Finally, in order to avoid acquaintances, he panicked and fell into the river and somehow drowned.

Young Lady Liu’s one-year filial piety has not yet passed, and the three-year filial piety is coming again.

Ren Yilin is seventeen this year, and Young Lady Liu is also sixteen this year.

”This slave girl heard that the east mansion had fallen apart, Concubine Yuan went to Second Master and Second Madam every day to cry and complain. She said that Young Lady Liu had a bad fate, and she killed her grandfather and her father before she even marry into the Ren family. Said she is a broom star⁵, and is clamoring to break off the engagement.”

- A bearer of bad luck.

The one who answered was Wu Jing, a maid beside Ren Yaohua, she knew more about these matters than the two masters, so she couldn’t help but interject.

After she finished speaking, she glanced at Ren Yaohua nervously, fearing that she would blame her for being talkative and unruly.

Although Ren Yaohua frowned, she didn’t say anything, she just lowered her head and drank tea.

Ren Yaoqi smiled slightly at Wu Jing.

Wu Jing breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Ren Yaohua didn’t stop her from continuing to speak and that Fifth Young Lady also wanted to listen, she continued with some joy: “Second Madam had always treated Second and Fourth Young Masters as if they were was her own, and now she is naturally anxious too. Although our Ren family is divided into the east and west mansions, our Old Master and the Old Madam of the west mansion are the ones who make the decisions. So Second Old Madam in the east mansion sent Second Madam to ask the Old Madam for advice.”

Ren Yaoqi just lowered her head and smiled when she heard the words.

In fact, the Old Madam of the east mansion, née Liao, and the Old Madam of the west mansion, née Qiu, do not get along when they were young. When it comes to other matters, it is best for née Liao to make a clear distinction between themselves and the west mansion. But for this kind of thing that needs to violate virtues, she naturally hopes that the east mansion can help her make a decision, and thus let Second Madam come to née Qiu.

At this time, everyone in the Ren family hopes to break the engagement with the Liu family. Originally, the reason why the Ren family settled with the lady from the Liu family was because of Young lady Liu’s father’s status as a Juren. Before, the reason Liu Juren was able to get the position of the local magistrate was that the Ren family contributed a lot.

The Ren family started out as a businessman, and their investments must have a return.

Now that Juren Liu, the “talent worthy of cultivation”, is dead, and the Liu family has no other use, this marriage has lost its value.

Ren Yaoqi remembered that the engagement with Liu family in the last life withdrew in the end, it's just that Young Lady Liu was also a woman with an intense personality. She hanged herself shortly after the broken engagement.

Thinking of this, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help looking at Ren Yaohua.

The Ren family regards other family's women as objects and abandons them whenever they want to, and ultimately, did the retribution from these innocents fall on the women of the Ren family?

”What’s wrong?” Ren Yaohua couldn’t help furrowing her brows seeing Ren Yaoqi staring at her in a daze.

Ren Yaoqi came back to her senses: “Oh, I was thinking that Liu family’s Young Lady is really pitiful.”

Ren Yaohua was silent for a while, and said in a low voice: “Is Young Lady Liu the only pitiful woman in this world? It depends on fate. What if fate is not good?”

There was some melancholy in Ren Yaohua’s voice, not knowing whether she was thinking of her mother née Li’s struggle in the inner courtyard of Ren’s family these years or thinking of her unknown future fate.

Ren Yaoqi looked at Ren Yaohua with a complicated expression.

She originally believed in fate, but in this life, she didn’t want to believe in it anymore.

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