These several nannies were all originally found by Concubine Fang from the estates, all having more or less some family connections with the nannies and maids useful to the masters of various courtyards. Originally, they were traps set by Concubine Fang targeting Ren Yaohua, but in the end they were kept after Ren Yaoqi’s persuasion.
Now that they had made such major mistakes with solid evidence, and it was Third Master who ordered their dismissal, naturally, it couldn’t be blamed on Li Shi and her daughters.
These nannies initially weren’t willing to wait for their fate and went around trying to make connections. But everyone in the Ren family knew Third Master Ren’s temperament very well—when he didn’t care about matters, he would turn a blind eye even if you turned the world upside down, but once you provoked his anger, he wouldn’t sell anyone’s face.
For example, Sister-in-Law Niu had someone send word to her sister-in-law, asking her to beg her mother-in-law Nanny Gui. But unfortunately, when Sister-in-Law Niu and Nanny Liu were arguing earlier, Nanny Liu had said she had begged Nanny Gui and bribed people around Concubine Fang.
This one sentence implicated quite a few people, and the story spread so that all the servants in the mansion knew about it.
So before Sister-in-Law Niu’s sister-in-law could even speak, she was scolded bloody by Nanny Gui, who said her maiden family was disgraceful and forbade her from interfering in her maiden family’s affairs again.
Unfortunately, when these servant women were pulling connections, they didn’t forget to undermine each other, deeply afraid that their rivals would stay while they were driven away and seek revenge later. The result was predictable.
The head maid Que’er in Li Shi’s main house was telling Li Shi the information she had just gathered with a smile: “Master was also angry at Concubine Fang because of this. When Concubine Fang dragged her ‘sick body’ to apologize, he said she was poor at judging people and let anyone into Ziwei Courtyard. He also said that now that Madam has returned, she should just take care of her own health and Sixth Young Master and Ninth Miss, and not interfere randomly in our Ziwei Courtyard’s affairs.”
“Father criticized Concubine Fang like this?” Ren Yaohua glanced at Que’er and frowned.
Que’er smiled somewhat embarrassedly: “Master is like an immortal—naturally, his words sound much better than what this servant can convey.”
Ren Shimin was usually polite in front of his wife and concubines, rarely speaking harsh words of criticism. So this time, Ren Shimin’s few criticizing words to Concubine Fang seemed very gratifying to the maids.
Indeed, Li Shi’s expression brightened slightly upon hearing this.
She was a kind and weak woman, but having suffered many losses at Concubine Fang’s hands, harmony between wife and concubine was impossible. Unfortunately, because Concubine Fang’s birth mother was Old Madam Ren’s sister from the same mother, and she hadn’t given birth to a son, over the years, she inevitably lacked confidence before Concubine Fang.
Ren Yaohua glanced at Ren Yaoqi, who was sitting beside Li Shi, smiling silently: “There’s plenty of time regarding Concubine Fang—she’ll have her day of suffering. For now, can those servant women be immediately sent back to the estates? We need to select new people before the New Year.” Speaking to this point, Ren Yaohua sneered: “According to my temperament, I’d want to sell them all off directly!”
Ren Yaoqi shook her head slightly. Speaking of it, except for that eavesdropping Nanny Guan, the rest of those servant women couldn’t be considered Concubine Fang’s people. She was driving them away only to completely break Concubine Fang’s arrangements from this year and make everyone in Ziwei Courtyard recognize the situation, allowing Li Shi to consolidate her position.
As for the nannies accepting bribes, that wasn’t anything at all. Whether it was wrong or not depended entirely on the master’s thoughts.
So Ren Yaohua’s sense of righteousness seemed completely unnecessary to her. Not everyone was qualified to be considered their opponent.
So she pondered and said gently: “It’s already late today. Let’s send them tomorrow morning. Anyway, Eldest Sister-in-Law has already been informed. Mother, should we select some more maids for our courtyard?”
Originally, Li Shi’s two head maids had both been sent away by Fang Shi. Nanny Zhou had selected two from the second-rank maids to train well, but Li Shi said she wanted to give the newly trained two maids to Ren Yaoqi, so she needed to add a few more.
Additionally, Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua also needed to add a few younger ones to be trained by the head maids for two years first. When several older head maids were married off, they could step up.
“I’ve already spoken with Nanny Zhou, asking her to select some young maids for you and Hua’er this time.” Li Shi smoothed a strand of Ren Yaoqi’s hair and said with a smile.
Ren Yaoqi nodded and turned to Nanny Zhou: “Nanny, go tell those nannies being sent back later that Mother pities their family livelihoods, so although they can’t stay in the mansion, each household can send one young girl to work here. If they have daughters, granddaughters, or nieces at home, let them select a few first, then you can choose from among them.”
Upon hearing this, Nanny Zhou was stunned, but Ren Yaohua almost couldn’t help jumping up: “What do you mean? We finally drove them out, and now you want to bring them back? Don’t you think there aren’t enough demons and monsters in the mansion?”
Ren Yaoqi patiently explained to her: “We select maids from the Ren family’s household servants anyway. Even if we don’t give them this favor, won’t the people finally sent from the estates still be related to them? And most will still come from the families of those influential accompanying servants’ households? Since that’s the case, why not sell this favor?”
Leveraging the situation was perfectly normal to Ren Yaoqi.
When Li Shi married into the Ren family, besides Nanny Zhou, she had no accompanying servants of her own. Even the four head maids around her later were all trained by Nanny Zhou. So in many matters, Li Shi was often isolated from the Ren family.
This led to her being devoured to the bone without even knowing where the problem lay.
The Ren family’s situation was complex, but the Ren family’s household servants weren’t unusable.
On the contrary, if used properly, they would be much more manageable than maids bought from outside. Sending back those several cunning old nannies and having their relatives come to Ziwei Courtyard to serve would bring more benefits than harm.
Upon hearing this, Ren Yaohua thought carefully. Although her face still showed displeasure, she didn’t voice any more objections.
Nanny Zhou, at her level, naturally understood Ren Yaoqi’s intention immediately and couldn’t help patting her thigh happily: “This move of Fifth Miss’s seems workable to this old servant.” Then she turned to comfort Ren Yaohua: “Third Miss, you should trust this old servant. Rest assured, this old servant has good judgment in selecting people. Even if their foundation is crooked, this old servant can finally straighten them out!”
Nanny Zhou was quite confident about this point. Young girls in her hands were like blank paper—she could paint them however she wanted.
Li Shi trusted Nanny Zhou greatly and nodded to Ren Yaohua: “Nanny Zhou used to follow my mother… mother and has seen many storms. If she says it’s workable, there won’t be problems.”
Speaking to this point, Li Shi seemed to remember something, her gaze somewhat dimming as she lowered her head.
Nanny Zhou glanced at her and couldn’t help sighing inwardly, then quickly smiled at Ren Yaohua: “Third Miss?”
Ren Yaohua turned her head aside and said coldly: “Just don’t send any to my room!”
This meant she wasn’t opposing it.
Ren Yaoqi smiled and nodded: “When the people arrive and Nanny has trained them well, let Third Sister choose first.”
But Ren Yaohua felt these words sounded somewhat like comforting a child. And made her, the elder sister, seem petty? She couldn’t help glaring at Ren Yaoqi.
But Ren Yaoqi had already turned to speak with Nanny Zhou: “That Nanny Guan doesn’t need any favor—send her back directly, and spread the word that anyone connected to her won’t be used by Ziwei Courtyard in the future.”
Let those who chose the wrong side take this as a warning.
Nanny Zhou thought about it and nodded in agreement: “Fifth Miss is right. Our Madam has a good nature, but that doesn’t mean she’s a soft persimmon that anyone can squeeze.”