After returning from the ice-skating competition, Ren Yaoying temporarily moved back to Fangfei Courtyard and was unwilling to go out or see anyone.
Madam Lin mentioned to Old Madam Ren several times that she wanted Ren Yaoyu to move back to Glory and Splendor Courtyard, but Old Madam Ren pretended not to hear.
The Spring Festival arrived quickly. Although the winter in Yanbei was very cold, it did not dampen people's enthusiasm for visiting and exchanging New Year greetings.
Married women who lived close to their natal families had the custom of returning to their parents' home on the second day of the lunar new year to pay respects.
First Madam Wang Shi's natal family was in Wuzhou, further north. Normally, it took a day and a night by carriage to travel from White Crane Town, but with heavy snow blocking the roads, heading north was even more difficult. Coupled with the busyness of the New Year festivities, she had hardly ever returned to her natal home to pay respects since marrying into the Ren Family.
However, Fifth Madam Lin began preparing for her trip to Yunyang City as early as the first day of the lunar new year. Yunyang City was only a little over two hours by carriage from White Crane Town, allowing for a round trip in a single day.
Old Madam Ren's legitimate daughter, Ren Shijia, had returned last year on the second day. This year, because she was pregnant and needed to rest, she had sent a letter early on saying she would not return to White Crane Town. Ren Shijia also had difficulty with childbirth—she had been pregnant twice but miscarried both times. The third pregnancy resulted in a stillbirth. Now that she was finally pregnant again, the Lin Family naturally took it very seriously, especially since Ren Shijia was nearly thirty, and the older she got, the harder childbirth would become.
The eldest daughter of the Ren Family's main branch, Ren Yaochi, had married the legitimate son of the second branch of the Gu Family, the Jiangning Textile Commissioner. She had not returned to Yanbei for two years.
The second daughter of the main branch, born of a concubine, Ren Yaoqin, had been married off to the capital through a matchmaker arranged by the Second Old Master Ren of the Eastern Mansion. She became the second wife of a fifth-rank official surnamed Yan from the Ministry of Revenue. Yan was sixteen years older than Ren Yaoqin, and his eldest son from his first wife was only a year younger than Ren Yaoqin. However, the Yan Family was a maternal clan—the current emperor's birth mother was from the Yan Family. Thus, even though Yan was only a distant relative of the Yan Family's main branch, he still managed to secure a fifth-rank official position in the capital.
In her previous life, when Ren Yaoqi first arrived in the capital, she had sent someone to look for this second sister, whom she barely remembered, only to be told that Ren Yaoqin had died a year earlier. When asked about the cause of death, the Yan Family evaded the question. Later, Ren Yaoqi asked Mr. Pei to investigate and learned that Ren Yaoqin had been involved with her stepson, the eldest young master of the Yan Family. After the Yan Family discovered this, she felt ashamed and committed suicide. At the time, this matter was handled by Fourth Master Ren Shixu and his wife, who were stationed in the capital. Ren Yaoqi, far away in Yanbei, had not heard a single word about it.
On the second day of the lunar new year, when Ren Yaoqi and her sister went to pay respects to Madam Li, First Madam happened to send someone over to ask if Madam Li needed a carriage prepared for going out. Madam Li politely declined.
"Mother, are we still not going to our maternal grandparents' home to pay respects this year? You haven't visited for several years," Ren Yaoqi asked with a smile after First Madam's messenger left.
Madam Li shook her head but had yet to reply when Ren Yaohua sneered, "Why go back? To drink the northwest wind? Who knows if they've already pawned the house this year! And then Mother would have to redeem it for them..."
"Hold your tongue!" Madam Li suddenly shouted.
Ren Yaohua looked at Madam Li and immediately fell silent.
Madam Li's face flushed red, her eyes brimming with tears, her expression a mix of embarrassment and humiliation. Madam Li rarely lost her temper with her daughters and was usually even indulgent toward them.Yet she too had her own forbidden line—she could not tolerate anyone speaking disrespectfully of her maternal family. The reason Madam Li failed to please Old Madam Ren, aside from her inability to bear a son, was also because when Old Madam Ren once scolded her, she had indirectly insulted Madam Li’s mother, and Madam Li had talked back.
Seeing Madam Li trembling with anger, Ren Yaoqi tugged at Ren Yaohua and pulled her down to kneel together before Madam Li. This time, Ren Yaohua obediently followed Ren Yaoqi and knelt, for she could see that her words had truly wounded her mother’s heart.
“Remember this! The bloodline of the Li family must not be insulted by anyone, for no one is worthy!” Madam Li took a deep breath and said slowly.
Her voice carried a pride and a sense of superiority over others that she had never shown before. Though her father and brothers were unreliable and her own life was far from satisfactory, it could not erase this innate, bone-deep sense of superiority.
“Your daughter remembers,” Ren Yaoqi said softly, giving Ren Yaohua a slight tug. Ren Yaohua lowered her head and repeated in a muffled voice.
“Both of you, leave now. Hua’er, you are to reflect on your actions behind closed doors today!” Madam Li said with rare firmness.
Ren Yaoqi helped Ren Yaohua to her feet, and the two of them withdrew as instructed.
After her daughters had left, Madam Li stood dazed for a moment before covering her face and collapsing onto the kang.
Nanny Zhou stepped forward to console her, but upon seeing the tears streaming from between Madam Li’s fingers, her own eyes grew moist. In the end, she silently wept alongside her.
After the mistress and servant had wept together, Nanny Zhou, seeing that Madam Li had calmed somewhat, went forward to wipe her tears.
“I’ll have someone fetch hot water for you to wash your face,” Nanny Zhou sighed softly. “Third Miss didn’t mean it. Please don’t take it too hard.”
Madam Li choked back a sob. “She is my own flesh and blood, carrying the Li family’s blood in her veins. If others look down on them, so be it, but she…”
Nanny Zhou stepped forward and embraced the sobbing Madam Li, gently patting her back to comfort her. Madam Li wiped her tears, somewhat embarrassed. “Nanny, I’m not a child anymore.”
Nanny Zhou smiled and sighed. “I watched the Commandery Princess grow up. In my eyes, you are just like Third Miss and Fifth Miss.”
Outside the main room, Ren Yaoqi looked at Ren Yaohua’s sullen, unhappy face and said quietly, “Third Sister, you know perfectly well that Mother cannot bear to hear such things. Please never say them again.”
Ren Yaohua shot Ren Yaoqi a sidelong glance and snorted lightly.
Ren Yaoqi shook her head and was about to say more when Ren Yaohua spoke up. “Isn’t it that you like whatever Father likes and dislike whatever Father dislikes? Father doesn’t care for Uncle. Aren’t you afraid of angering Father by speaking well of our maternal family?”
Ren Yaoqi thought for a moment, then looked at Ren Yaohua teasingly. “Could it be that in Third Sister’s eyes, Father is such an unreasonable man that he would even interfere with whom we like?”
Ren Yaohua retorted angrily, “You… glib-tongued and cunning with words!”
Ren Yaoqi made a face. “You… incoherent!”
Ren Yaohua’s mouth twitched. “You’re childish!”
Ren Yaoqi chuckled softly, then quickly composed herself and said seriously, “Father doesn’t look down on our maternal grandfather or uncle. It’s just…”
“It’s just that Uncle used flattering words to praise Father’s painting, then tricked him into making a copy of an ancient painting, only to pawn Father’s work as the genuine article at a gambling den!” Ren Yaohua interjected.Ren Yaoqi fell silent.
Ren Yaohua was right. Ren Shimin had indeed been angry over this matter, ultimately declaring he would sever ties with their uncle.
"I don't want to look down on our maternal grandfather and uncle, but I can't understand how they could mortgage the house just to buy a cricket when the family was already struggling to put food on the table. If Mother hadn't redeemed the house, even Grandmother would have ended up homeless with them! Even more incomprehensible is that they couldn't even afford to keep maids, nannies, or servants, yet they still insisted on maintaining a private opera troupe at home. Everything of value had long been pawned, leaving them utterly destitute, yet they could still happily stroll around with birds, gamble on dog fights, and put on grand operas! They still act as if they're descendants of royalty, completely unaware that the world outside has long since changed!"
Ren Yaoqi remained silent once more.
She had no way to refute Ren Yaohua's words because they were the truth.
Some people, having lived their entire lives as elites, simply have no idea how ordinary people live, because no one ever taught them.
Their maternal grandfather's surname was Li, given name Qian. Li was the imperial surname. Before being exiled to Yanbei, he was a genuine descendant of the imperial family, personally enfeoffed as Prince Xian by the previous emperor.
Now, he was merely a commoner in Yanbei, with his descendants forbidden from entering the capital for generations without a summons.
Ren Yaoqi did not bear the surname Li, so in her previous life, she too could not understand her maternal grandfather and uncle's actions.
But she remembered that in her previous life, after her father died, all their relatives, including the Ren Family, refused to collect his body. Only her uncle dared to take the martial actors from his opera troupe to carry her father's corpse back. He then sold the cricket "Ever-Victorious General," which her grandfather treated as his lifeline, to give her father a proper burial.
It was also that unreliable uncle who, after she was abandoned by the Ren Family, followed her mother's dying wish and risked execution by pursuing her back to the capital, trying to sneak her out of the Pei Family.
In the end, she had gently refused him and persuaded him to return to Yanbei. That was the first time she witnessed a man in his thirties crying so uncontrollably, tears and snot flying, completely disregarding his image.
As the saying goes, adversity reveals true friends, and hardship shows genuine affection.
Ren Yaoqi could not say any of this to Ren Yaohua. She could only sigh and turn to go back to her own west wing.
The warmth and coldness of human relationships are things one often needs to experience firsthand to truly understand.
Madam Lin did not return until the sixth day of the lunar new year. As soon as she arrived, she was summoned by Old Madam Ren to the Glory and Splendor Courtyard. It wasn't to scold her for returning late, but to inquire about Ren Shijia's condition. Although Old Madam Ren had arranged for people to care for her daughter early on, she was still constantly worried about her.
Yun Wenfang was nowhere to be seen during the New Year period. Qiu Yun said he had gone back to Yunyang City to pay New Year's respects to his elders, though it was unclear if that was true.
On the day of the Lantern Festival, White Crane Town was bustling. Several wealthy families jointly funded a temple fair. Ren Yaoting from the East Manor invited Han You to visit the lantern fair in the evening, and surprisingly, the Han Family agreed. The Second Madam came to invite Ren Yaoqi and her sisters to join them.
Madam Li hoped that Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoqi could go out more to meet people, as Ren Yaohua was already approaching marriageable age.
In the end, Ren Yaoqi, Ren Yaohua, and Ren Yaoyu went together. Ren Yaoyin and Ren Yaoying did not go out.
Thank you to 24758882, Qin Yier, sissi2011, Tiger Not Afraid of Cat?, and Xueyu Doll for the pink tickets~Thank you to Night & Coffee, Right Grass Robe, Singing Song, caian, caian, Towel Quilt 1986, The Brave, Minmin Nettle, panc, Leaves Dancing in the Wind, Beautiful Eyes YXQ, Beautiful Eyes YXQ, and Ugly Warm Winter for the rewards~^^
The next update will be around 12 o'clock.
(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please come to Qidian to vote for recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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