“I am your legitimate elder sister, your concubine mother’s master! You ask what I am? After not seeing each other for a year, have you fed all your learned etiquette to the dogs? Concubine Fang, is this the result of your upbringing?” Ren Yaohua sneered coldly.
“Third Young Miss, please forgive me. This concubine has failed in teaching and discipline.” Concubine Fang’s voice was low and soft, her posture extremely humble. “Ninth Young Miss, quickly go apologize to Third Young Miss.”
Ren Yaoying jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on: “I won’t apologize to such a vicious person. She wants to harm Sixth Brother to death and beats and scolds us. Concubine Mother, let’s go!”
“Ren Yaoying, say what you just said again.” Ren Yaohua said coldly.
“I’ll say it, you… mmph… mmph…”
“Third Young Miss, please spare Ninth Young Miss her loose tongue. She’s still young and doesn’t understand. Everything is this concubine’s fault. This concubine will kneel to you.” Concubine Fang urgently pleaded while covering Ren Yaoying’s mouth to prevent her from further angering Ren Yaohua.
“Concubine Mother—” Ren Yaoying cried out. The scene sounded quite miserable.
Ren Yaoqi glanced outside the door. The maidservants and matrons Concubine Fang brought should still be standing outside. She felt somewhat troubled.
After thinking, she still lifted the curtain.
In the east side room, Concubine Fang was kneeling straight-backed before Ren Yaohua with her head lowered. Ren Yaoying desperately tried to pull Concubine Fang up but was shaken off.
Ren Yaohua stood before the kang, watching coldly. Nanny Zhou looked at Concubine Fang, then at Ren Yaohua, seeming to want to speak but hesitating.
Sixth Young Master Ren Yihong stood frowning by the curtain, seeming to want to step forward but not knowing what he could do, appearing troubled.
The group also noticed Ren Yaoqi entering.
“Fifth Young Miss, your face—” Concubine Fang immediately saw the injury on Ren Yaoqi’s face and couldn’t help crying out in shock.
Ren Yaoying also stared in surprise at the five finger marks on Ren Yaoqi’s left cheek, then glanced at Ren Yaohua and said to Concubine Fang: “Fifth Sister must have been beaten by Third Sister!”
Her certain tone sounded somewhat gleeful at others’ misfortune.
“What are you here for?” Ren Yaohua said with a cold face.
Ren Yaoqi glanced at Ren Yaohua and walked over to help Concubine Fang stand: “Mother asked me to come tell Concubine Fang that she just took medicine and lacks energy, so it’s inconvenient to see you. She already knows and appreciates Sixth Brother and Ninth Sister’s filial hearts. Today, the snow is heavy and the wind is cold, and the roads are slippery. Please take Sixth Brother and Ninth Sister back to rest early. Otherwise, if they catch cold from this, while Concubine might not feel distressed, she, as their mother, would certainly be heartbroken.”
Concubine Fang’s body stiffened. She quickly glanced at Ren Yaoqi, then looked toward Ren Yaohua.
Following Concubine Fang’s gaze, Ren Yaoqi also looked at Ren Yaohua. Seeing Ren Yaohua only standing there, sneering coldly, she continued: “But seeing how sincere Concubine is, even kneeling and kowtowing to mother here, I will convey this to mother.”
Ren Yaoying clamored: “My concubine mother wasn’t kneeling to—”
Ren Yaoqi quickly cut off her words: “Who else could Concubine be kneeling to if not mother? Here, there’s only Third Sister, Sixth Brother, Ninth Sister, and Nanny Zhou. Third Sister, Sixth Brother, Ninth Sister – though you are nominally Concubine’s masters, Concubine Fang is, after all, a concubine properly elevated into the residence by father, and has merit in bearing heirs, making her half an elder. For her to kneel to any of you would be neither reasonable nor proper. If outsiders knew, wouldn’t they say you were arrogant?”
Everyone present changed expression.
Concubine Fang seemed to want to speak, but Ren Yaoqi gave her no opportunity: “Moreover, even if we are all children who don’t understand these principles, Concubine has always been praised by her grandmother for being learned, reasonable, with a refined heart and orchid-like nature. Could she not understand this principle? If she were kneeling to you, wouldn’t that be deliberately placing you in an unrighteous position? I don’t believe Concubine would do such a thing, right, Concubine?”
Ren Yaoqi released the hand supporting Concubine Fang and stood up, turning her head to smile at her with a look of complete trust.
Concubine Fang lowered her head, slowly moving her knees to turn around, facing the direction of Li Shi’s bedroom in the west side room, and respectfully kowtowed three times.
After kowtowing, Concubine Fang rose by herself, gently brushing the dust from her tender yellow satin skin skirt, before looking up at Ren Yaoqi and saying softly: “Fifth Young Miss is correct. This concubine was kneeling to Madam, not to others.”
Concubine Fang hid the probing look in her eyes toward Ren Yaoqi very well. Ren Yaoqi also pretended not to see it, maintaining a familiar manner as she said lightly: “Since that’s the case, Concubine should return with Sixth Brother and Ninth Sister. Nanny Zhou quickly sent several matrons to carry lanterns for Concubine Fang and the others. The roads outside are slippery – they must be careful to support them properly.”
Nanny Zhou froze, glanced at Ren Yaoqi, then looked at Ren Yaohua, who stood with a cold face, saying nothing. Finally, she lowered her head and responded yes, bowing to Concubine Fang: “Concubine, Sixth Young Master, Ninth Young Miss, please. This servant will have people escort you back.”
Concubine Fang nodded to Nanny Zhou and said to Ren Yaohua: “Third Young Miss, this concubine will come early tomorrow morning to serve Madam.” After speaking, she decisively led her pair of children away without any delay.
Nanny Zhou also followed out.
Ren Yaoqi watched Concubine Fang’s gentle yet straight-backed figure leave the main hall. Her lacquer-black eyes, though still smiling, were as calm as a winter lake surface, deep and waveless.
Ren Yaohua’s gaze had been fixed on Ren Yaoqi’s face from the beginning, as if trying to see a flower bloom from her face.
“Ren Yaoqi, what do you mean?”
Ren Yaoqi thought for a moment, looking at Ren Yaohua seriously: “Third Sister, what meaning could I have? If I had just allowed Concubine Fang to continue kneeling and let Seventh Sister continue making a scene, alarming others in the residence, who do you think would suffer the loss?”
Ren Yaohua stared at Ren Yaoqi with an inscrutable expression for a long while, then pulled at the corner of her mouth in a somewhat sarcastic smile: “I thought you had close dealings with Concubine Fang and deep sibling affection with Sixth Brother and the others, so you couldn’t bear to see them wronged by me. Could you have forgotten who it was that insisted before grandfather and grandmother that I pushed Sixth Brother into the water?”
Ren Yaoqi lowered her eyes without speaking. This was a deadlock between her and Ren Yaohua – explanations would be useless.
Moreover, Rome wasn’t built in a day. She didn’t expect to change their relationship today.
“Consider it that I don’t want Mother to be further implicated.”
At this moment, Nanny Zhou returned with four maidservants carrying copper kettles, copper basins, face towels, and medicine boxes. She bowed to the two and reported: “Third Young Miss, Fifth Young Miss, this servant has sent four matrons to escort Concubine Fang back to Fangfei Courtyard.”
Though Concubine Fang was their father’s concubine, she didn’t live in Ziwei Courtyard but lived alone with her pair of children in a separate courtyard. Though only a single-section small courtyard, it was already a tremendous face.
Ren Yaoqi nodded. Nanny Zhou directed the maidservants to place the copper kettles, basins, and other items on the nearby plum blossom small table. Two young maidservants curtsied and withdrew, leaving only Li Shi’s two senior maidservants in the room: “Fifth Young Miss, let this servant apply a compress to your face. Otherwise, if you go out and get blown by the wind, you’ll be uncomfortable tonight.”
Ren Yaoqi nodded and walked back to sit on the kang.
Senior maidservant Xi’er dampened and wrung out a face towel. Nanny Zhou took it and gently applied it to Ren Yaoqi’s face. The scalding heat from the towel made Ren Yaoqi involuntarily turn her head slightly. Nanny Zhou quickly said, “Fifth Young Miss, just apply it briefly and it’ll be fine. Please don’t move.”
Ren Yaoqi sat still without moving. After all, she was no longer a willful ten-year-old child – a little pain could be endured.
The two senior maidservants Xi’er and Que’er exchanged glances, then lowered their heads. One held a medicine bottle waiting, the other wrung out another face towel ready for Nanny Zhou to change.
Ren Yaohua didn’t leave either, sitting on the other side of the kang, speaking quietly with Nanny Zhou about Li Shi’s illness.
Ren Yaoqi listened silently, only then learning that Li Shi had caught a cold on the road. After returning, she had knelt for a long time outside Old Madam Ren’s courtyard, causing her condition to worsen. A physician had come to examine her and prescribed medicine to dispel wind and cold.
In her previous life, Ren Yaoqi had also been ill, so she didn’t know about Li Shi’s illness – no one told her. When she recovered and went to pay respects to her mother, she was slapped twice by Ren Yaohua and driven out.
She had been ill for four or five days then. When she recovered, Li Shi had also recovered, showing that this illness shouldn’t be serious.
Ren Yaoqi thought she should still ask Nanny Zhou tomorrow to see the prescription the physician gave Li Shi.
After Nanny Zhou helped Ren Yaoqi with several hot compresses, she took the ointment from Que’er’s hands and gently applied a layer to her face. Ren Yaoqi sat motionless, letting her work.
“Fifth Young Miss, are you ill?” Nanny Zhou noticed Ren Yaoqi’s complexion, seeing some swelling under her eyes and her lips not as moist as usual, and remembering that Ren Yaoqi hadn’t come out to welcome them when Li Shi returned, she asked.
Ren Yaoqi paused, then nodded: “I was ill for some days, but I’ve been improving these past few days. About two more doses of medicine should cure it completely.”
Nanny Zhou was both angry and anxious: “Fifth Young Miss, how can you be exposed to the wind when ill? Don’t the matrons and maidservants around you know how to stop you?”
Speaking of this, Nanny Zhou’s expression changed again: “You said you’ve been ill for some days?” They did not know this while at the estate – the people remaining at the Ren residence hadn’t sent word to them.
“Mm, I fell ill when it was still warm, then cold last month.” After the autumn heat, northern temperatures dropped sharply, with alternating hot and cold weather, the easiest time to fall ill.
Nanny Zhou frowned, looking at Ren Yaohua. Ren Yaohua’s face was already covered in ice: “It seems the people in Ziwei Courtyard have all forgotten their surnames!”
Nanny Zhou sighed: “We were away for a year, and Old Madam entrusted Ziwei Courtyard to her care – naturally, things change with circumstances. Previously, we thought the two maidservants, Ying’er and Zhu’er, had stable temperaments and had served Madam for many years, making them most suitable to watch the courtyard. If anything happened in the residence, they could promptly send word to the estate. We didn’t expect Old Madam to marry them off. Now they can barely enter the inner courtyard – such a pity.”