The two newly appointed external affairs managers, Nanny Liu and Sister-in-Law Niu, were naturally quite busy with their “three fires” as new officials taking office.
On the day the new bonsai were moved in, Third Master Ren Shimin was very satisfied when he saw them and even praised Nanny Liu a few words.
But by the second day, in just one night, those dozen or so pots of clivia were discovered to have rotted from the roots.
“Nanny Liu, what is the meaning of this?” Nanny Zhou pointed at the cluster of clivia that the maids had brought in, asking with a stern face.
Nanny Liu broke out in a cold sweat despite the winter weather. Seeing that she was the only one called over, she smiled apologetically: “Nanny Zhou, this matter… this servant doesn’t quite understand either. However, shouldn’t you also ask Sister-in-Law Niu and the others?”
Nanny Zhou’s face darkened: “Why ask others? Sister-in-Law Niu said she was only responsible for the narcissus—you were responsible for the clivia.”
Nanny Liu had originally just been nervous about being blamed alone and instinctively wanted to drag others in to share the responsibility. But hearing Nanny Zhou’s words made her feel uncomfortable, so she couldn’t help but look up and defend herself: “Nanny Zhou, it’s true that this servant selected these clivia, but when selecting them, this servant went together with Sister-in-Law Niu. Moreover, that flower seller was introduced by Sister-in-Law Niu’s husband.”
Nanny Zhou was displeased: “Then why did Sister-in-Law Niu say that the clivia were carefully selected by you and your youngest son?”
Upon hearing this, Nanny Liu was stunned, then sneered angrily: “You’re listening to her bullshit! I was wondering why, among so many flower growers outside the town, the couple specifically chose such a remote location! Later, I heard neighboring flower growers gossiping and learned that the couple had received five taels of silver from that flower grower. Now thinking about it, those flowers must have had problems from the start—they’re ganging up to frame me!”
Sister-in-Law Niu had a very good personal relationship with the original external affairs nanny candidate, Nanny Wei. It was said that both sides even intended to arrange marriages between their children.
Unexpectedly, Nanny Liu emerged as a dark horse in the end, causing Nanny Wei to develop considerable resentment toward her. Consequently, Sister-in-Law Niu also became somewhat cold toward Nanny Liu. Additionally, there was competitive tension between the two external affairs nannies, so their relationship really couldn’t be called good.
Purchasing managers taking kickbacks was very common—even Nanny Liu herself had a profit to skim from each pot of flowers. Even after she learned about the five taels of silver, Sister-in-Law Niu had given her two taels. Although she was dissatisfied that Sister-in-Law Niu had taken more than her, thinking there would be plenty of time in the future, she hadn’t said anything.
Now she felt she had fallen into someone’s trap—perhaps Sister-in-Law Niu had set her up to get revenge for Nanny Wei. Although she hadn’t been in Ziwei Courtyard for long, she knew Third Master Ren’s temperament. He wouldn’t care at all if other things were done poorly, but if something he cared about went wrong, the person responsible would be in serious trouble.
So she couldn’t bear this blame.
Upon hearing this, Nanny Zhou looked shocked: “How could such a thing happen?” As she spoke, she angrily pointed at Xi’er nearby and ordered, “Go call Sister-in-Law Niu here!”
Seeing Nanny Zhou’s reaction, Nanny Liu suddenly regretted exposing this matter. Although managers taking kickbacks from merchants was common, this kind of thing could never be brought into the open under any circumstances. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but Xi’er had already left to carry out the order.
Soon, Sister-in-Law Niu was called in.
Nanny Zhou immediately launched into her: “I was thinking before that you were only responsible for those narcissus, while the clivia were Nanny Liu’s responsibility, so I only called her to question. Who would have thought I’d hear that the flower grower was found by you? And you received five taels of silver in tribute from them? Sister-in-Law Niu, what do you have to say for yourself!”
Upon hearing this, Sister-in-Law Niu glared at Nanny Liu in shock and anger. Seeing her evasive eyes and that she didn’t dare look at her, she immediately understood that Nanny Liu had betrayed her.
She spat in Nanny Liu’s direction and turned to Nanny Zhou: “Don’t believe that two-faced old hag! Today, I finally understand what ‘holding the bowl to eat meat, then cursing the cook after putting it down’ means! When taking the silver, why didn’t she find it too hot to handle? Now that problems have arisen, she’s busy trying to wash herself clean, as if her own hands were so clean! She’s not selling herself in a brothel—why is she pretending to be a virgin?”
Sister-in-Law Niu was famously fierce in her youth, even earning the nickname ‘Spicy.’ Now that her children were grown, her temper had mellowed considerably, but she still wouldn’t take losses lying down and would explode at the slightest provocation. When her temper flared, she could say anything.
Nanny Liu was also quite angered by these words and immediately retorted: “I did take silver, but wasn’t what I took the hush money you gave me? That flower grower was connected through you and your husband! Now that problems have arisen, naturally we should seek explanations from you, couple!”
Sister-in-Law Niu had originally received five taels of silver, but Nanny Liu had forcibly demanded two taels from her and promised to let her take the larger share next time. Having the meat fly away from her mouth left her feeling quite displeased. She hadn’t expected Nanny Liu to be such a shameless goods—wanting to take advantage when available but letting others take the blame when trouble arose. She immediately flew into a rage.
“You shameless wretch! If you have the guts, spit out that silver! Only knows how to play dirty behind people’s backs! Who doesn’t know how you got this manager position? Wasn’t it by giving Nanny Zhu twenty taels of silver!” Sister-in-Law Niu pointed at Nanny Liu’s nose and cursed.
Nanny Liu was furious with shame: “Ha, was your manager position obtained cleanly? Originally, wasn’t it your sister-in-law who begged Nanny Gui from Old Madam’s room? How much silver did you stuff to Concubine Fang’s people in the end—do you think others are blind?”
Nanny Zhou, who had been sitting aside watching with folded arms, glanced out the window. Sister-in-Law Niu’s loud voice had already attracted quite a few people peeking outside.
Seeing the timing was about right, Nanny Zhou slammed the table and stood up: “How dare you! You even dare drag Old Madam into this! And what about what you just said regarding Nanny Zhu receiving twenty taels of silver!”
Nanny Liu’s expression turned ugly. Sister-in-Law Niu’s matter, because it involved people from Old Madam’s room, naturally no one dared say much about it. But her twenty-tael bribe was not something good to discuss.
Sister-in-Law Niu sneered: “Everyone in the entire courtyard knows that on the evening before you announced the external affairs nanny selections, Nanny Liu gave Nanny Zhu twenty taels of silver to go through Fifth Miss’s connections to get this external affairs nanny position.”
Nanny Zhou’s expression changed: “Outrageous! You dare implicate Fifth Miss! The external affairs manager selections were discussed and decided by Master and Madam that afternoon, before that day—what does it have to do with Fifth Miss!”
Upon hearing this, Nanny Liu was stunned and asked in shock: “Decided that afternoon?”
Seeing Nanny Liu’s expression, Sister-in-Law Niu’s eyes rolled as she understood some things, and couldn’t help but cover her mouth and laugh gloatingly: “Now I finally understand what ‘birds of a feather flock together’ means!”
Nanny Liu’s face turned iron-blue.
Nanny Zhou was also quite angry. She ordered a maid to call Nanny Zhu over while lifting the curtain to leave the ear room and go to the main house to report the day’s events to Li Shi.
When Nanny Zhou returned from Li Shi’s main house, Nanny Zhu had already arrived. After some confrontation, the matter of Nanny Zhu deliberately deceiving Nanny Liu out of twenty taels of silver using information heard from Fifth Miss was completely exposed.
However, Sister-in-Law Niu and Nanny Liu didn’t fare well either due to the bribery matter.
But before specific punishments for these three were decided, Third Master Ren Shimin became furious because he discovered that those dozen pots of dying clivia hadn’t died from disease but were scalded to death by someone pouring hot water on their roots.
The Third Master was a refined man, and this kind of “flower killing” was extremely intolerable to him. He immediately ordered Li Shi to investigate thoroughly.
This investigation led straight to Nanny Wei.
It turned out that Nanny Wei had been brooding over Nanny Liu replacing her as external affairs nanny. When she learned from Sister-in-Law Niu that Nanny Liu had profited several taels of silver from this assignment, she became extremely angry. Taking advantage of the night, she used boiling water to kill each of the clivias that Nanny Liu had bought, one by one.
When Third Master learned of this, he immediately ordered Nanny Wei to receive fifty heavy paddle strikes and be expelled from the Ren family. When Fifth Miss learned of this, she hurried over to beg Third Master for mercy and finally managed to save Nanny Wei’s life.
However, with the other nannies’ matters also occurring simultaneously, Third Master became impatient and told Li Shi to clean house in the courtyard—anyone who couldn’t measure up should be driven out so they wouldn’t be an eyesore.
Although Li Shi also received some criticism, she was still happy in her heart because all these people had been brought in by Concubine Fang.