Ren Yaoqi looked at Ren Yaohua with a surprised expression: "Third Cousin? Is he looking for me for something?"
Seeing Ren Yaoqi's expression, which seemed genuinely unaware, Ren Yaohua averted her gaze: "How would I know? Probably just asked casually since you rarely appear in Grandmother's courtyard."
Ren Yaoqi smiled upon hearing this: "Third Cousin has always been meticulous with etiquette."
Ren Yaohua rubbed her teacup, lowered her head in thought, glanced at Ren Yaoqi again, and furrowed her brows slightly as if pondering something.
"What's wrong, Third Sister?" Seizing the rare moment when Ren Yaohua seemed softer, Ren Yaoqi smiled and waved her hand in front of her eyes.
Ren Yaohua was startled and couldn't help but glare at Ren Yaoqi.
This was the first time Ren Yaoqi had made such an intimate gesture in front of her, and she felt somewhat uncomfortable.
Ren Yaoqi's smile remained unchanged as she tilted her head slightly to look at her: "What are you thinking about so deeply?"
Ren Yaohua originally wanted to say, "What's it to you!" But for some reason, the words that came out were: "Grandmother seems to intend to marry Fourth Sister into the Qiu Family."
As soon as she said it, she herself was stunned and involuntarily reached out to touch her lips.
Logically, such an unfounded and abrupt statement, especially concerning a young lady's marriage, should not have been spoken even if she knew about it—let alone to a sister with whom she had never gotten along.
Ren Yaoqi was also surprised; she hadn't expected to hear such a thing from Ren Yaohua.
However, the Ren Family's desire to strengthen ties with the Qiu Family through marriage had existed in her previous life. Old Master Ren and Old Madam Ren had indeed planned to marry the Eldest Master's legitimate fourth daughter, Ren Yaoyin, to Qiu Yun, the legitimate eldest son of the next clan head of the Qiu Family.
In her previous life, for some reason, the marriage ultimately did not come to fruition. After the Ren Family declined, the Qiu Family arranged for Qiu Yun to marry a noble young lady from another prominent family.
As for Ren Yaoyin, she seemed to have become a noble concubine for the eldest son of the Yun Family, Yun Wenting.
In her previous life, the Ren Family had initially considered two candidates for Qiu Yun's fiancée: one was Fourth Miss Ren Yaoyin, and the other was Ren Yaohua. Both were legitimate daughters, and among the Ren Family's girls, their ages matched Qiu Yun's most closely. They were also Old Madam Ren's two favorite granddaughters.
From what she knew, Old Madam Ren had seemed to favor Ren Yaohua more at the time.
But at the critical moment, "Han Yunqian" had unexpectedly appeared. Ren Shimin was very fond of Han Yunqian and, without consulting the Ren Family elders first, proposed marriage to the Han Family. In the end, the Ren Family agreed, thinking it was not a loss to marry Ren Yaohua to Han Yunqian, the only son of the Han Family. Ren Yaoyin was then betrothed to Qiu Yun.
In this life, the marriage with the Han Family was not even on the horizon yet. Had the Ren Family already decided on Ren Yaoyin as Qiu Yun's fiancée? According to seniority, shouldn't Ren Yaohua's marriage be proposed first?
Thinking of this, Ren Yaoqi looked at Ren Yaohua: "Why bring up Fourth Sister's marriage so suddenly?"
Only then did Ren Yaohua realize how awkward it was for the two of them to discuss such matters privately. Her face showed a hint of discomfort, but seeing Ren Yaoqi's calm and composed expression, Ren Yaohua didn't want to lose face in front of her younger sister.So she forced herself to calm her expression and pretended as if nothing had happened, saying, "This morning, Second Aunt came over and mentioned Second Brother's marriage. First Aunt happened to be there too, so she discussed with Grandmother about arranging a marriage for Third Brother. Then, somehow, First Aunt shifted the topic to Fourth Sister. Grandmother said not to rush Fourth Sister's matter, as she already had something in mind. At that point, Second Aunt brought up the Qiu Family. I was originally in the warm pavilion with Fourth Sister, but when I came out, I happened to overhear these words. Later, when I saw Fourth Sister come out as well, I felt it was inappropriate to continue listening, so I left with her. However, I didn’t hear Grandmother or First Aunt refute anything at the time, so presumably what Second Aunt said wasn’t wrong."
Their grandfather, Ren Yonghe, and his younger brother, Ren Yongxiang, belonged to the main branch of the Ren Family and resided in the main family estate.
Ren Yonghe and Ren Yongxiang also had several half-brothers from concubines, who had already moved out to live separately. The siblings from those uncles did not share the same generational ranking as them and were only seen during the New Year and the Ghost Festival ancestral ceremonies.
Second Aunt was the mistress of the neighboring Eastern Estate, the eldest daughter-in-law of their granduncle, and came from the Su Family of Yunyang City.
Second Brother, Ren Yilin, was the illegitimate son of Second Uncle. Second Aunt, Su Shi, had no sons and only gave birth to one daughter, Ren Yaoting, who ranked seventh in the Ren Family. However, Su Shi was a generous person and had arranged several beautiful concubines for Second Uncle, resulting in two illegitimate sons.
Su Shi came from a prominent family and had a reputation for being virtuous. Therefore, even though she had no sons, her situation was far better than that of Third Madam, Madam Li, who also had no sons.
"Isn’t Second Brother’s fiancée still in mourning?" Ren Yaoqi asked casually.
She remembered that Ren Yilin’s marriage had been arranged two years ago, with the second daughter of a Jizhou scholar surnamed Liu. By all accounts, it should have been a good match.
The wedding was originally scheduled for April this year, but just after the Lunar New Year, Ren Yilin’s fiancée’s grandfather passed away, requiring a year of mourning. Moreover, Scholar Liu had just spent money to secure a position as a deputy magistrate in Mozhou, but due to his father’s death, he had to return home for mourning less than two months after taking office.
Misfortune never comes alone. Recently, news came from Jizhou that Scholar Liu, while still in mourning for his father, went out drinking with friends at a brothel. In a panic to avoid acquaintances, he lost his way and somehow fell into a river and drowned.
Miss Liu’s one-year mourning period was not yet over, and now she faced another three years of heavy mourning.
Ren Yilin was already seventeen this year, and Miss Liu was sixteen.
"I heard that the Eastern Estate is in an uproar. Concubine Yuan cries and complains to Second Master and Second Madam every day, saying that Miss Liu is ill-fated—she brought misfortune to her grandfather and father even before marrying into the Ren Family. She’s a jinx, and Concubine Yuan is clamoring to break off the engagement and find another match for Second Master."
The one answering was Wujing, Ren Yaohua’s maid. She knew more about these matters than her two mistresses and couldn’t help but interject.
After speaking, she nervously glanced at Ren Yaohua, fearing she would be scolded for speaking out of turn.
Although Ren Yaohua frowned slightly, she said nothing and simply lowered her head to drink her tea.
Ren Yaoqi smiled gently at Wujing.Wujing breathed a sigh of relief, understanding that Ren Yaohua was not stopping her from continuing to speak and that the Fifth Young Miss also seemed willing to listen. She continued happily, "Second Madam has always treated Second Young Master and Fourth Young Master as if they were her own. Naturally, she is anxious now. Although our Ren Family is divided into the East and West Mansions, major decisions are still made by the Old Master and Old Madam of our West Mansion. That’s why the Second Old Madam of the East Mansion sent Second Madam to seek Old Madam’s advice."
Upon hearing this, Ren Yaoqi merely lowered her head and smiled.
In truth, Madam Liao of the East Mansion and Madam Qiu of the West Mansion had been at odds since their youth. In other matters, Madam Liao would have preferred to make her own decisions and keep things as separate as possible from the West Mansion. However, when it came to matters that required breaking trust and integrity, she naturally hoped the West Mansion would take the lead. That was why she sent Second Madam to seek out Madam Qiu.
At this time, the entire Ren Family likely hoped to break off the engagement with the Liu Family. Originally, the Ren Family had taken an interest in the Liu Family’s daughter only because of her father’s status as a Provincial Graduate. When Liu the Provincial Graduate had previously secured the position of Assistant Prefect, the Ren Family had contributed significant effort.
The Ren Family had built its fortune through commerce, and every investment was expected to yield returns.
Now that Liu the Provincial Graduate, this "promising talent," had died, and the Liu Family had no other exploitable advantages, this marriage alliance had lost its value.
Ren Yaoqi remembered that in her previous life, the engagement with the Liu Family was ultimately broken off. However, the Liu Family’s daughter was also a woman of strong character. Not long after the engagement was broken, she hanged herself.
Thinking of this, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but glance at Ren Yaohua.
The Ren Family treated other families’ daughters as mere objects, discarding them at will. In the end, did the retribution fall upon innocent women of the Ren Family like them?
"What’s wrong?" Ren Yaohua frowned when she noticed Ren Yaoqi staring at her in a daze.
Ren Yaoqi snapped back to attention. "Oh, I was just thinking about how pitiful that Liu Family’s daughter is."
Upon hearing this, Ren Yaohua fell silent for a moment before saying calmly, "How many pitiful women are there in this world besides the Liu Family’s daughter? It all depends on fate. What can one do if fate is unkind?"
There was a hint of melancholy in Ren Yaohua’s voice, as if she were thinking of her own mother, Madam Li, and her years of struggle within the Ren Family’s inner courtyard, or perhaps contemplating her own uncertain future.
Ren Yaoqi looked at Ren Yaohua, her expression complex.
She, too, had once believed in fate, but in this life, she no longer wished to.
Completed works by Meinan:
[bookid=2288861,bookname=《The Scheming Daughter of a Noble Family》]
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