Old Madam Ren was so angry she felt dizzy: “How can you say that the Ren family was ruined by us?”

When it came to raising her voice, Liao Shi was confident she wouldn’t lose to Old Madam Ren. She immediately snorted with laughter: “Wasn’t this prison disaster caused by your affairs in the West Residence? You’ve even dragged the entire Ren family into this quagmire. Previously, considering that both the East and West Residences are all Ren family members, I had no complaints when our East Residence contributed people and effort. But you’ve gone too far! The Ren family’s assets don’t belong solely to your West Residence, so what gives you the right to decide to take out half to save someone? Did you ask for our opinion?”

First Master Ren, seeing that she was an elder, could only speak calmly: “Second Aunt, we’ve invited Second Brother to discuss this every time.”

Liao Shi angrily pointed at him: “That’s because you know my son is soft-hearted and easy to bully, so you deliberately take advantage of us! Let me tell you, as long as I’m here, no one should think of taking advantage of our East Residence! This time we’re dividing the family!”

Liao Shi had been thinking about dividing the family for decades, and this was absolutely a great opportunity. This crisis was caused by the West Residence’s poor decision-making, so naturally, she wanted to use this opportunity to separate. Why should the people of her East Residence suffer along with the West Residence?

Old Madam Ren also remembered the letter that Second Master had written, and said angrily: “What do you mean this trouble was caused by our West Residence? If Second Uncle hadn’t written back saying we should agree to the Zeng family betrothal, would we have had so many troubles? How dare you come here now and say we did something wrong?”

Liao Shi retorted without backing down: “Hasn’t our Second Master listened to Big Brother in everything all these years? He’s always gone east when Big Brother said east, west when Big Brother said west. When has Big Brother ever listened to him? The reason he’s stayed in the capital all these years without returning wasn’t also because of something Big Brother said back then? This time, he was just casually mentioning it out of concern for his great-niece’s betrothal. I don’t believe you agreed to the betrothal with the Zeng family just because of his one letter!” Now they’re blaming it on whom?

Old Madam Ren couldn’t refute this because what Liao Shi said wasn’t wrong. Old Master Ren wasn’t the type to marry off his granddaughter because of one word from his brother. What prompted the betrothal between the Ren and Zeng families was that letter from Fang Yacun. Moreover, it was indeed Old Master Ren who had sent Ren Yongxiang to the capital years ago.

Liao Shi and Old Madam Ren had been at odds since they were young; neither had ever looked favorably upon the other, and now the atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense.

Fifth Master Ren felt they needed to placate Liao Shi first, so he tried to persuade her diplomatically: “Second Aunt, even if we’re going to divide the family, shouldn’t we wait until Father returns first? You know that Father makes all the major household decisions. Even if we younger generation agrees, if Father refuses when he returns, you still won’t be able to separate. So there’s no point in you making a scene here today.”

The Ren family’s wealth was indeed all controlled by Old Master Ren, and even to save him this time, the family had to ask his opinion and let him make arrangements.

Second Master also stepped forward to persuade his mother: “Mother, Fifth Brother is right. The urgent matter now is how to rescue Big Brother, and whether to divide the family should be discussed after Big Brother returns. Moreover, Father and Fourth Brother are still in the capital, and dividing the family is such a major matter that requires their agreement too.”

Only then did Liao Shi relent somewhat: “I’m not saying we have to divide immediately right now, but at least we need to make things clear. I’ll say it again: even close brothers should settle accounts. You pay for rescuing Big Brother yourselves, and you can’t touch our share!”

Old Madam Ren also knew this wasn’t the time to quarrel with Liao Shi, or else it would delay rescuing Old Master Ren.

So she didn’t continue arguing with Liao Shi, only saying: “Fine, let’s discuss this matter when our old master returns. I can’t make the decision anyway. I don’t care anymore. It’s getting late today, so you should all go back and rest. There are many things to be busy with tomorrow.”

Liao Shi thought about it – she had made enough of a scene today, and she didn’t want Old Master Ren to be unable to get out of prison either.

As long as they didn’t use her family’s money to ransom him, that would be fine.

After that, everyone withdrew from Old Madam Ren’s Ronghua Garden.

From that day forward, First Master Ren immediately began busying himself with rescuing Old Master Ren.

It was somewhat difficult for the Ren family to produce one million five hundred thousand taels at once. Even if they could manage it, it would affect the coal warehouses’ operations, but producing five hundred thousand taels first was no problem.

As for the coal mines and coal warehouses, the government had already sent people to audit the accounts early on, which made things quite convenient now.

So after just three short days, everything was arranged. Five hundred thousand taels of silver were sent out, and the accounts of the coal mines and coal warehouses in Yanbei territory were handed over to the people sent by the government.

Thus, at noon that day, the Ren family members finally welcomed Old Master Ren back home.

The last time First Master Ren returned, he had been supported back home, while Old Master Ren was practically carried back.

Ren Yaoqi had been waiting at Ronghua Garden since early morning, but when she first saw Old Master Ren, she almost couldn’t recognize him.

In just over ten days, Old Master Ren’s hair, which had originally still been mostly black, was now mottled and full of silver strands. His cheeks had sunken in on both sides, making him look like someone who had suffered a serious illness, and the wrinkles on his face had deepened considerably. Where was even half of his usual vigorous and sharp-eyed dignified appearance? If someone said he was an old beggar living on the streets, people would believe it.

When Old Madam Ren saw him, she couldn’t help but cover her mouth and cry. The other female family members also wiped away tears, and the whole room was filled with gloom and sorrow.

First Master Ren knelt before Old Master Ren, his voice choked with emotion: “Father, have you fallen ill again? I haven’t seen you for just a few days, how did you…”

First Master Ren felt that Old Master Ren looked much more aged and weak than when he had seen him before. When he had seen Old Master Ren last time, he had already thought he looked more aged than when he had first left, and had attributed it to not having washed for many days, plus having been ill. But seeing him again today in this condition, First Master Ren couldn’t help feeling heartbroken and pained, wondering if it was because Old Master Ren had fallen ill again without anyone to care for him.

But he had arranged with Secretary Yang before to have a physician examine Old Master Ren.

Old Master Ren weakly waved his hand and was about to say something when he suddenly bent over and “wa—” spat out a mouthful of blood.

Everyone was shocked at this sight. Ren Yaoyu, who was standing in front and got blood splattered on her shoe tips, screamed in fright and backed up several steps, nearly falling to the ground.

Ren Yaoyu’s scream made the atmosphere in the room turn fearful.

Old Madam Ren rushed over, her hands trembling as she wiped the blood from Old Master Ren’s mouth corners, crying: “Old Master, what’s wrong with you? Didn’t Dalang say your illness was better? Why are you coughing up blood?”

Old Master Ren opened his mouth, but then his head tilted and he fainted. Old Madam Ren nearly fainted from crying as well.

First Madam immediately ran out to have someone summon a physician to the residence.

Ren Yaoqi watched Old Master Ren’s symptoms from the side, feeling somewhat puzzled in her heart. How had he suddenly become so seriously ill?

Old Master Ren’s collapse cast a shadow over the hearts of all the Ren family members. Everyone’s faces showed worry, and the joy that had originally come from Old Master Ren’s return was also diluted.

During this period, physicians had been coming to the Ren residence almost daily, so this time the physician arrived quickly.

The physician quickly took Old Master Ren’s pulse and concluded that Old Master Ren had caught a chill some time ago, and the cold had invaded his heart and lungs. After being delayed for several days without treatment, although medicine was eventually used, it was only a mild tonic medicine that wasn’t quite suitable for his condition and never provided a complete cure. In recent days, Old Master Ren’s emotions had also experienced great ups and downs, triggering the illness, which was why he was coughing up blood.

As Old Master Ren had been detained as an important suspect previously implicated in the Ningxia massacre case, and later when the Ren family agreed to pay large sums to ransom Old Master Ren, it was normal for the physician who had been invited to treat Old Master Ren to be cautious about using strong medicine for fear of being implicated.

However, the physician’s lengthy and obscure explanation full of yin and yang and meridian talk was incomprehensible to Old Madam Ren, who anxiously asked directly: “Physician, just tell me whether he’s in danger or not, and how to cure him.”

The physician said: “To say there’s danger, there isn’t much; to say there’s no danger, that’s not entirely true either. In short, he needs good rest, less mental and physical strain, medicinal treatment, and quiet recuperation. This old one will go prepare a prescription first.”

These words sounded like there wasn’t anything seriously wrong, and Old Madam Ren finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, seeing the blood that Old Master Ren had coughed up on the ground, Old Madam Ren still felt uneasy, and an ominous premonition floated up in her heart.

Ren Yaoqi also looked thoughtfully at the bloodstains on the ground.

She felt something was off, but she wasn’t a physician after all, and what she had learned of medical arts was only superficial knowledge, not even enough to qualify her to examine patients. The physician spoke convincingly, and after listening carefully, she didn’t find anything wrong with what he said, so she could only conclude that she was being overly suspicious.

The other Ren family members didn’t think much of it. Since the physician said he would recover after some quiet rest, they were all reassured.

For the Ren family now, this was a troubled time, and if Old Master Ren collapsed at this critical juncture, the Ren family would probably become even more chaotic.