Li Shi knew that Rome wasn’t built in a day, so she didn’t rush to defend her brother. Instead, she agreed: “He was indeed somewhat wild in his youth.”

Ren Shimin counted the bank notes and was unusually sharp for once: “What you saved plus what Li Tianyou repaid doesn’t amount to this much silver, does it?”

Only then did Li Shi carefully observe Master Ren’s expression and say cautiously, “Indeed, I can’t hide anything from you. There’s also some that Qi’er sent back…”

Upon hearing this, Ren Shimin indeed frowned: “Didn’t I say not to let her interfere with these matters!”

Master Ren felt that being expelled from the family was already a very shameful thing for a family head. Now, having his married daughter give him silver to repay the Ren family’s debts made him lose even more face.

Li Shi remembered what Ren Yaoqi had instructed her to say and quickly said: “Actually… Qi’er said this money isn’t given for free. She… she has her eye on those paintings by Tang Miao and Jiang Yuanyi that you have…”

Seeing Ren Shimin’s eyes widen, Li Shi’s voice grew smaller and smaller.

Ren Shimin was stunned for a long moment, then laughed and scolded: “This girl! Didn’t I give her two paintings as part of her dowry when she got married? She’s still thinking about my treasures.”

Seeing that Ren Shimin didn’t seem angry, Li Shi finally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled: “Qi’er said rather than selling them to others who would ruin them, it’s better to sell them to her. Moreover, she’ll buy them and still keep them in your study for you to safeguard, until… cough, until after you pass away, then give them to her.”

Such rebellious words would have angered other elders to death, but Ren Shimin burst out laughing upon hearing them, then cheerfully put away the box: “Fine! I won’t let her suffer a loss either. I’ll leave all the things in my study to her in the future. For now, I’ll temporarily keep them.”

Since his treasures didn’t have to fall into others’ hands, Master Ren was very happy. As for ownership issues, Master Ren had no ambition regarding this – as long as he could enjoy and appreciate them whenever he wanted, he was satisfied. After all, you can’t take them with you when you’re born or when you die, so what’s the point of fighting over them?

Nanny Zhou couldn’t help but glance at Ren Shimin upon hearing this, thinking to herself: All your valuable possessions are in that little study of yours. Could your favoritism be any more obvious?

However, giving them to their young lady was better than giving them to that bastard Ren Yihong. Nanny Zhou was still satisfied with this outcome.

After Master Ren inquired about the origin of this large sum of silver, he took the box and left without thinking much about it.

After Ren Shimin left, Nanny Zhou said to Li Shi with some concern: “Princess, most of that silver was given to you by the Princess Consort and Prince, considered compensation for your dowry silver. You’ve given it all to Master. What if in the future…”

Li Shi waved her hand to stop Nanny Zhou’s words and said firmly: “There are no ‘what ifs’! Even if he becomes destitute in the future, I’ll accompany him through it.”

Li Shi picked up the outer garment Ren Shimin had just taken off, her gaze gentle: “Besides, ultimately, his break with the family is because of me. How can I watch him struggle over these worldly possessions? I only want to see him happy and content every day, even if what makes him happy is just those lifeless objects in his study.” Rather than her.

Nanny Zhou looked at Li Shi, shook her head, and sighed, saying nothing more.

Ren Shimin wanted to repay the Ren family in one lump sum with the silver, but Ren Yaoqi stopped him. She convinced him to give it in installments, completing the payments within a year. Ren Yaoqi was afraid that if they repaid too readily, Old Madam Ren might cause more trouble.

Ren Shimin didn’t care about these small details. Following Ren Yaoqi’s advice, he first had someone send eighty thousand taels to the Ren family, with the remainder to be given in several more installments. Whether it was because Ren Yaoqi’s previous words to the Eldest Madam had taken effect or because the Ren family needed the silver, the Ren family ultimately accepted the silver Ren Shimin sent.

On the Ren family’s side, after Old Master Ren’s funeral, some changes occurred in the inner quarters.

First, a batch of maids was released from Old Madam Ren’s courtyard. The senior maids who had served Old Madam Ren-Shanhu, Jin Lian, and several others were all matched with young stewards from outside and happily left Ronghua Garden with generous dowries provided by the Eldest Madam.

Then the Eldest Madam sent up a batch of new people to serve Old Madam. Though Old Madam Ren was somewhat dissatisfied at first, these new maids were not only beautiful but also clever and sensible, knowing all her little habits inside and out. They were even more convenient to use than the original senior maids, so she gradually got used to them.

The Eldest Madam had always handled the big and small matters of the Ren family’s inner quarters, but she reported to Old Madam Ren daily. The Eldest Madam still did this, and for major matters, she would first seek Old Madam’s opinion before handling them. Old Madam Ren didn’t notice any difference from before.

Old Madam had been the female head with complete control over the Ren family’s inner quarters since she married into the family as a young woman. Even after her son married and she let her eldest daughter-in-law manage the household, the Eldest Madam had always followed her lead. After so many years, Old Madam Ren had relaxed her vigilance.

So Old Madam Ren didn’t know that some servant women who had previously only obeyed her orders had been quietly replaced by the Eldest Madam. Some of these people wanted to secretly find Old Madam to appeal, but they were intercepted before reaching Ronghua Garden.

After Old Master’s death, the Ren family’s financial power was all controlled by Eldest Master Ren. The Eldest Madam used her trusted people to replace Old Madam Ren’s trusted people, and everyone in the Ren family’s inner quarters understood which side they should stand on.

The Ren family’s inner quarters were quietly changing hands, yet the person involved, Old Madam Ren, was completely unaware. She still lived in the atmosphere of supreme authority and unquestioned dominance that the Eldest Madam deliberately created for her.

Until one day, Old Madam Ren discovered that Ren Yaoyin, who used to come pay her respects daily, hadn’t come to Ronghua Garden for a long time. When the Eldest Madam came for her daily greetings, she said Ren Yaoyin was ill, quite seriously, and couldn’t be exposed to wind or leave her room. Old Madam Ren had to temporarily set aside her plans to have Ren Yaoyin marry into the Yun family and instructed the Eldest Madam to have people take good care of Ren Yaoyin.

The Eldest Madam agreed readily in front of Old Madam, but behind the scenes, she had been in contact with the Yang family she had previously favored. Although they couldn’t formalize the engagement during Old Master Ren’s mourning period, both parties had intentions of forming a marriage alliance.

As for Ren Yaoyin, shortly after Old Master Ren’s funeral, she was placed under strict supervision by the Eldest Madam. All the servants and maids who had previously served her were replaced, and the guards at her room and courtyard doors were all replaced with strong servant women, preventing her from taking even half a step outside her room. The Eldest Madam publicly claimed that Ren Yaoyin had served Old Madam day and night during Old Master’s funeral without even changing clothes, finally collapsing from exhaustion and needing quiet recuperation.

Although Ren Yaoqi had promised the Ren family she would contact the Yu family, she had never actually planned to meet with this so-called Yu family, because she knew the Yu family was just a front – the Han family behind them was the real mastermind.

But Ren Yaoqi wasn’t in a hurry to meet with the Han family either, as that would seem too passive. She was waiting for the Han family to come and find her.

Old Master Han had been living very comfortably and pleasantly recently, because his enemy’s family was following his design step by step toward ruin. He enjoyed this process very much. The only pity was that the old man from the Ren family couldn’t withstand the pressure and died too quickly, disappointing him since he had originally arranged a spectacular finale.

Compared to the declining Ren family, the Han family was becoming increasingly prosperous.

Although the Han family’s foundation in Yanbei was still shallow, they had gradually established a foothold among Yanbei’s prominent families over the past few years. Young Master Han, designated by Old Master Han as the next heir to the family, had become a leader among Yanbei’s younger generation, gradually being compared to the Yun family’s eldest son. He had even gained the appreciation of Yanbei’s renowned minister Sheng Shihong, becoming his final disciple with unlimited prospects. Now, the Han family was about to form a marriage alliance with the Yun family.

However, in Old Master Han’s heart, all this was still far from enough. He wanted the Ren family to repay tenfold everything the Zhai family had suffered back then. Besides reclaiming everything that originally belonged to the Han family, he wanted to see the Ren family members become destitute one by one and ultimately die miserable deaths. Only this could comfort the spirits of his Zhai family ancestors.

Originally, everything was proceeding according to Old Master Han’s wishes, and it seemed his long-cherished dream would soon be realized.

Unfortunately, not long after Old Master Ren’s death, things began to change. The Han family seemed to have offended some malevolent spirit and started having bad luck.

First, they competed with a suddenly appearing Gao family for the grain and oil business in Shunzhou, and the Han family inexplicably lost. Later, Old Master Han learned that this Gao family was related to the Lei family’s chief steward’s brother-in-law’s family. Simply put, the Gao family was just a lapdog under the Lei family’s name, hardly worth mentioning in Yanbei. Yet Ren Shimin’s second wife, Jiang Shi, was from Shunzhou, and the Jiang family had both reputation and connections in Shunzhou. Even so, the Ren family had lost to the Jiang family.

The Han family originally thought this was just a coincidence due to their overconfidence.

But then, several newly opened salt wells in the northwest region, a joint venture between the Han family and Yun family, also encountered problems.

Originally, with the Yun family’s status in Yanbei and their connections, making money from salt wells was a sure thing, which was why the Han family had chosen to cooperate with the Yun family. But now there were problems, and even the Yun family didn’t know where the issue lay. They only knew that after salt was mined from the wells, there was no follow-up – no sales channels. This was something they had never encountered before.

By this point, not only the Han family but even the Yun family began to sense something was wrong.

The first to react were the two young men, Han Yunqian and Yun Wenting.