It was quite a coincidence that Old Madam Ren and First Madam Ren had gone out today to attend a birthday banquet and weren’t at the mansion.

The Li family visitors were Li Siliang, the family head, his wife Madam Li, and their married eldest daughter Madam Li Ma.

The Ren family was one of the top households in Bailu Town, so it wasn’t easy for the Li family to enter the Ren mansion’s gates. They were stopped by the gatekeepers, who wouldn’t even pass on their message.

The Li family made a scene at the Ren family’s gate. Madam Li and Madam Li Ma were truly mother and daughter – their loud voices nearly scared the gatekeeper out of his wits.

Madam Li Ma put her hands on her hips, gesturing with orchid fingers while crying and scolding: “My parents scrimped and saved for years to get my brother such a bride, but after you took the betrothal gifts, you turned your backs on us and sold my poor unborn sister-in-law to a brothel down south! What evil have we done! Oh, my poor sister-in-law! Who will judge this injustice for our family?”

Li Siliang listened to his daughter wailing and saw she had attracted several passersby from in front of the Ren family gate, who stood pointing and watching the excitement. Worried, he tugged at his wife’s sleeve and whispered: “Tell our daughter to tone it down. If this gets too big and makes the master family lose face, we might not get the money and end up beaten by their servants instead.”

Madam Li was crying dramatically while watching the excitement. Hearing this, she thought Li Siliang made sense and secretly gave her daughter a meaningful look.

But Madam Li Ma was in full swing and completely missed her mother’s signal: “…They said it was because she accidentally offended your Third Miss and was beaten nearly to death before being driven out. How can they be so heartless! Heaven above! What sin is this! My poor sister-in-law!”

As more onlookers gathered and the gatekeeper was thoroughly frightened, a servant woman realized something was wrong and immediately ran into the mansion to report to the masters.

Madam Li, listening from the side, sensed something amiss and stepped forward to tug at her daughter’s sleeve. Weren’t they here for money? Why bring up the young lady?

The Li family sold rouge and face powder. Having been a shop owner’s wife for decades, Madam Li wasn’t completely naive.

Madam Li Ma gave her mother a reassuring look and whispered, “Mother, these wealthy families fear losing face most. By saying this, they’ll give us more money to shut us up later. If a brother wants to marry a good wife, he needs more betrothal gifts, right? Worst case, I’ll cry a few more times later and say what I said earlier was all a misunderstanding.”

Thinking of her son at home, Madam Li hesitantly let go of Madam Li Ma’s hand.

But Madam Li Ma was secretly pleased. She had instigated her parents to come today because someone had secretly given her fifty taels of silver, promising another fifty after she finished this performance. One hundred taels was a huge sum. When she married, her parents had skimped to save money for her brother’s marriage, giving her a dowry worth less than twenty taels. She knew their family’s finances and had always resented her parents’ favoritism.

So whether her parents could get money from the Ren family today didn’t matter to her – that money had nothing to do with her anyway. She just needed to make a big scene and ruin the Third Miss of the Ren family’s reputation.

With this thought, Madam Li Ma wailed even more vigorously, nearly shaking down the Ren family’s gate plaque.

Ren Yaohua was just coming out of the garden when she encountered the panicked gatekeeper’s wife coming to report. Ren Yaohua sneered: “I’d like to see what tricks they’re playing!” Then she headed straight for the main gate with her maids and servants.

Upon hearing the news, Concubine Fang frowned and called Ren Yaoying over.

“Did you bring the Li family here?”

Ren Yaoying glanced at Concubine Fang: “Mother, I can’t swallow this humiliation without bringing down Ren Yaohua! I don’t want to see her showing off in front of me anymore! If you won’t help me get revenge, I’ll do it myself. I want to see how she can marry into the Qiu family after getting a reputation for being cruel and vicious!”

Concubine Fang sighed: “Ying’er, why won’t you listen? I told you to be patient a little longer – I’ll always look out for you. What you did today was too rash! Though Ren Yaohua is impulsive, she’s not stupid. If you’re not careful and she bites back, you’ll be the one who suffers.”

Ren Yaoying disagreed inwardly. She stepped forward to hug Concubine Fang’s arm and shook it, pleading softly: “Mother, please help me. With you here, why should I fear her schemes?”

Concubine Fang looked completely helpless.

When Ren Yaoqi received the news, she was in the Lingxian Pavilion watching Ren Shimin restore paintings. Though it was still unclear what kind of person Sun Shiniang was, her mounting skills were quite exquisite. Ren Yaoqi came to watch daily. Sun Shiniang was responsible for removing the painting from its backing and repairing the foundation paper, while Ren Shimin handled color restoration. The two worked well together, and both paintings were expected to be fully restored within less than a month.

When Pingguo came in to report trouble outside, Ren Yaoqi didn’t disturb Ren Shimin, who was concentrating on his work. She quietly left the Lingxian Pavilion.

“Third Sister has already gone?” Ren Yaoqi asked.

Sangshen nodded: “Old Madam and First Madam went out today. The third Miss went as soon as she got the news.”

Ren Yaoqi nodded: “Go find the head steward of the inner courtyard, and also call Nanny Zhou.”

Sangshen went to carry out the orders while Ren Yaoqi headed outside with Pingguo and several other maids.

As soon as Ren Yaohua reached the gate, she heard Madam Li Ma’s wailing outside. She stood behind the spirit wall listening quietly for a while, her expression growing colder, but she maintained some restraint and didn’t lower herself to go out and argue with that unreasonable shrew – that would truly be a joke.

She beckoned Xiangqin over and whispered instructions in her ear.

Xiangqin had been filled with righteous indignation, wishing her mistress would let her go bite that woman. After hearing Ren Yaohua’s instructions, she nodded repeatedly, then strode out boldly with two servant women.

Ren Yaohua didn’t show herself, still standing behind the spirit wall, listening.

Moments later, Xiangqin’s clear, sharp voice rang out: “What ignorant woman is this? Is the Ren family’s gate somewhere you can run wild? And you people! Watching others make unreasonable scenes – don’t you know how to chase them away? Has our Ren family’s entrance become a marketplace where anyone can make trouble as they please?”

Madam Li Ma secretly sized up Xiangqin, noting her respectable dress and appearance. But having managed her family’s rouge shop before marriage, she knew this was just a maid with some status, so she wasn’t intimidated. Instead, she repeated the story about the Ren family selling Chun’er and demanded that they produce the person.

Seeing someone finally come out, Madam Li was relieved, though her attitude was much better than her daughter’s: “Miss, we just came to get an explanation today. The Ren family took our betrothal gifts but sold Chun’er away – who is my son supposed to marry?”

Xiangqin glared with great authority: “Marry whoever you want! The Chun’er you mention was our Ninth Miss’s head maid, right? She made a grave error and was punished by Nanny Zhou from our madam’s side before being sold! Since when does the Ren family need to explain to you when we discipline an errant maid? If you want explanations, go find the magistrate at the government office!”

“We gave betrothal gifts…” Madam Li Ma immediately said.

But Xiangqin cut her off unceremoniously: “What betrothal gifts? Did she accept betrothal gifts from your family? She’s just a maid without even her freedom – how could she decide on her marriage? If she accepted betrothal gifts from your family, I’ll have someone report to the authorities right now and have her arrested! No wonder she was driven from the Ren mansion – the girl was rotten from the start!”

Madam Li quickly said: “No, no, she only accepted the betrothal gifts after your master arranged the marriage – it wasn’t done secretly behind the family’s back.”

“Oh?” Xiangqin looked at Madam Li sideways: “Our Third Master and Third Madam never arranged any marriage. Which master arranged her betrothal?”

“It was Concubine Fang,” Madam Li immediately replied.

Upon hearing this, Xiangqin burst out laughing: “Madam, are you here for entertainment? Though Concubine Fang is half a master, since when do concubines arrange marriages?”

At this, the watching crowd began whispering among themselves. Concubines weren’t considered proper masters – even if giving face to a maid, it required the main wife’s consent.

Outsiders didn’t know that Concubine Fang had always held a special position in the Ren family, sometimes having more face with Old Madam Ren than the third branch’s legitimate wife. Even the head of the household, First Madam Wang, would give Concubine Fang face in small matters. For Concubine Fang to marry off a maid or two to win loyalty wasn’t a big deal.

Madam Li and Madam Li Ma exchanged glances.

Xiangqin continued: “Since our mansion could sell Chun’er, her indenture contract is in our master’s hands. You might want to go back and check the Great Zhou legal code.”

The Great Zhou legal code’s “Household Law: Marriage” stipulated: “All slave marriages must be arranged by the family head. Those who marry privately without asking their master shall receive one hundred lashes, and regardless of duration or whether children were born, the marriage shall be dissolved.”

This “family head” naturally referred to the master who held the slaves’ indenture contracts.

Though Xiangqin cited the Great Zhou legal code to intimidate the Li family, these common people also knew this law and had grown accustomed to it. So when Xiangqin, herself a slave, spoke of it, she felt no discomfort – because at that time, this was accepted by everyone.