Fifth Master Ren’s words made Old Master Ren frown, and his gaze toward him became sharper.

In the Ren family, Old Master Ren had always been absolute in his authority. The children and grandchildren in the household all showed unconditional obedience to Old Master Ren as the head of the family. Fifth Master Ren normally wouldn’t dare contradict his father’s words, but today Old Master Ren had been contradicted several times by his two sons, all over mere trivial matters between two women. This greatly displeased Old Master Ren.

Under Old Master Ren’s gaze, Fifth Master Ren instinctively lowered his head, but immediately raised it again, barely managing to meet his father’s eyes.

Old Madam Ren had always been somewhat partial to her youngest son. Seeing the situation was going badly and fearing that father and son would fall out, she immediately stepped forward with a stern face to scold Fifth Master Ren, “Shut your mouth! You’re becoming more and more ill-mannered! If Fang Shi is a poisonous woman, isn’t Lin Shi also a poisonous woman? Who goes around slashing people’s faces with knives at the drop of a hat? If we continue to indulge her temperament, will she one day turn her knife on the elders when they don’t satisfy her wishes? And you’re still taking her side—I think you’ve been blinded by lard too!”

Lin Shi’s methods today had indeed been too extreme, so Fifth Master Ren opened his mouth but ultimately had no words to argue back. He just stood there stiffly without moving.

Old Madam Ren was furious in her heart. She looked at Old Master Ren’s expression, then with a cold face drove him away, “What are you standing around here for? It’s annoying just looking at you! Get out!” She didn’t mention sending Lin Shi back to her natal family.

Old Master Ren snorted coldly and was about to speak when the senior maid Jin Lian lifted the curtain and entered.

Old Madam Ren hurriedly asked, “How is the situation at Fangfei Courtyard? Is her injury serious?”

“In response to Old Madam, the physician has already examined Concubine Fang. All five knife wounds are on her face and haven’t injured any vital areas.” Jin Lian’s face paled slightly as she recalled the horrible state of Concubine Fang’s face that she had just seen at Fangfei Courtyard. She steadied herself before continuing, “However, those knife cuts are very deep, and the dagger wasn’t clean. Now it’s also summer… The physician said the wounds will need quite some time to heal, and even after they heal, those scars probably can’t be removed. Concubine Fang’s face is… is ruined…”

Upon hearing this, Old Madam Ren couldn’t help but gasp, “It’s this serious?” She glared at Fifth Master Ren, who was also somewhat stunned. “Look at this! Look at this! How vicious the attack must have been!”

Fifth Master Ren paused, then gritted his teeth and said, “Mother, this matter must not get out. Even if you won’t think of Huijun, you should think of Jian’er and Yu’er. If others find out, it might affect the children’s future marriages.”

Old Madam Ren said angrily, “You still dare bring that up! If they didn’t have such a reckless mother, would this have happened? I regret letting you marry such an unreliable person into the family back then!”

Fifth Master Ren wanted to retort, but Jin Lian said, “Just now, Third Master sent someone to instruct Third Madam that externally, this incident should be explained as Concubine Fang accidentally falling onto broken porcelain pieces and scraping her face. He also said that after Concubine Fang’s injury heals in the future, she should quietly recuperate in her courtyard and not be allowed to go out.”

Fifth Master Ren was delighted upon hearing this, then said to Old Madam, “Third Brother is right. Mother, you should also have Sister-in-law properly manage the people below. I’ll carefully warn the old women and maids in my courtyard.” Fifth Master Ren felt his third brother was indeed his own family.

Fortunately, those in the garden at the time were all maids and old women from around Lin Shi and Ren Yaoyu. Even if others had seen Lin Shi running out in a disheveled state with blood on her hands, they hadn’t witnessed her using the knife with their own eyes.

Old Madam Ren completely ignored him and directly waved her hand to dismiss him.

However, before Fifth Master Ren left, Old Master Ren said calmly, “Since you’re protecting Lin Shi and unwilling to send her back to her natal family, then accompany her in punishment. Don’t go to the capital for now either. Stay confined with Lin Shi in your courtyard for three months to reflect. All monthly allowances for everyone in Liuli Courtyard are suspended for one year!”

Fifth Master Ren frowned. He and Lin Shi had always spent money lavishly, relying on the silver the Ren family provided each year. Now that his monthly allowance had been suddenly stopped for a year, it meant he wouldn’t be able to withdraw silver from the accounting office for an entire year.

Although Fifth Master Ren felt it might be somewhat inconvenient in the future, having never lacked for silver, he thought it would merely be inconvenient. He didn’t realize that Old Master Ren intended this as a lesson for him, so he said nothing more. As long as Lin Shi wouldn’t be sent back to her natal family, he was relieved.

Old Madam Ren somewhat understood Old Master Ren’s intentions and knew that without silver, the fifth household couple’s days would probably be difficult. They might even have to use Lin Shi’s dowry, and at her great age, she naturally knew of many couples who had turned against each other over dowry silver.

However, Old Madam Ren still said nothing. Old Master Ren’s decisions weren’t something she could change.

After Fifth Master Ren left, Old Master Ren sneered, “His wings aren’t even fully grown yet, and he already knows how to defy his elders. Let him think carefully about who gave him everything he has today!”

As he stood up to leave, he said coldly, “Don’t let me discover you secretly giving him silver, or you’ll be punished along with them.”

Old Madam Ren sighed and quietly replied Yes.

The matter between Concubine Fang and Lin Shi seemed to conclude with Concubine Fang’s convalescence and Lin Shi’s confinement. Although some rumors circulated in the mansion afterward, the Ren family masters had unified their story and severely punished one or two servants who gossiped. Later, no one dared mention it again because none of the parties involved showed themselves.

The rumors about Ren Yaohua outside temporarily subsided because those spreading them had quieted down, so the rumors showed no signs of further spreading. After all, without solid evidence, rumors would weaken over time. All the masters of the Ren family kept a low profile and rarely went out.

However, when Old Madam Ren tried to arrange marriages for Ren Yaohua, families of suitable status would become troubled upon hearing it was the Third Miss of the Ren family. This infuriated Old Madam Ren, who summoned Ren Yaohua several times for lectures and ordered her not to leave the house until the outside rumors died down.

After a month passed this way, an incident made the rumors that had been spreading wildly in Baihe Town collapse on their own.

The courtesan who was supposedly a former Ren family maid, later silenced by Third Miss Ren, returned completely unharmed. Not only did she return, but she returned in glory.

This was said to be another earth-shaking, ghost-weeping story.

It turned out that this courtesan had originally sold herself to the brothel to support her childhood fiancé’s studies, hoping that one day he would achieve success in the imperial examinations. Unfortunately, her fiancé ultimately failed to pass the prefectural examination and disappeared without a trace. Later, in despair, the courtesan was sold around and brought to Yanbei, when she suddenly learned from a client that her fiancé was in Shunzhou and had already married a beautiful wife.

The courtesan was a woman of strong character. She immediately used the money she had earned to have someone help her buy back her freedom, then rushed to Shunzhou to find her fiancé.

Her fiancé was indeed in Shunzhou and had indeed married, and had even prospered with her former support. The courtesan wanted to sever ties with her fiancé, but he cried and explained his difficulties. It turned out that after failing the examination, he had tried to commit suicide by drowning but was saved by a merchant father and daughter. He caught a severe cold from falling into the water and was seriously ill for half a year. When he went back to find his fiancée, there was no trace of her, and some even said she had died. So he married the young lady who had saved him a year later.

After the two clarified everything, they embraced and wept. The man’s wife was also very understanding and happily allowed her husband to take the courtesan as a concubine, creating a happy ending for all.

The courtesan had returned this time to collect her belongings stored at an inn in Baihe Town. In a few days, she would return to their Jiangnan hometown with her former fiancé.

This story, with its twists and turns and ending that matched contemporary aesthetic preferences, was much more popular than Ren Yaohua’s story. So people outside spread this story enthusiastically, and the previous rumors about Ren Yaohua buying maids to send to brothels naturally collapsed.

Some observant people began to gradually notice the unreasonable aspects of the previous rumors about Third Miss Ren. When Third Miss Ren and Fifth Miss Ren appeared before everyone again, no one could see any discord between the sisters. When people secretly asked Fifth Miss Ren about sisterly matters, although Fifth Miss Ren would complain that her sister was too controlling, outsiders heard it as evidence that Third Miss Ren had the bearing of an elder sister. Though she was somewhat serious and stern, she was someone who understood reason and distinguished right from wrong.

Others began spreading that the noble concubine of the Ren family’s third household was ill and had been ordered confined by Third Master Ren. Some who knew this noble concubine’s true identity and knew she was very favored in the Ren family began to have thoughts. Combined with the previous incident where the Li family had made a scene at the Ren family’s main gate, publicly claiming Third Miss Ren had been harsh to Ninth Miss’s maid, which was ultimately settled by the noble concubine, some conspiracy theorists felt they were beginning to understand something.

Especially those legitimate wives who had troublesome concubines in their households felt the most sympathy for Third Miss Ren.

However, outsiders didn’t know that when Ren Yaoqi heard the story spreading outside about the lovelorn courtesan seeking her husband, the corners of her mouth twitched uncontrollably.

She had asked Zhu Ruomei to arrange a reasonable new identity for Mei Hong, but she hadn’t expected him to come up with such a dramatic story.

What Ren Yaoqi didn’t know was that although Zhu Ruomei was a big, burly man, he had a great hobby of listening to opera. He particularly disliked noisy martial arts plays, but loved exactly this type of scholar-beauty romance where lovers eventually unite. Creating this story had cost him considerable brain cells and was the result of thorough discussions with his mother and sister. Zhu Ruomei himself was moved by this story.