“Since you still need to go to Yunyang City for follow-up consultations every month, wouldn’t it be inconvenient for you to return to the mine?” Ren Yaoqi asked with a smile.
Zhu Ruomei scratched his head, then suddenly realized this gesture was somewhat unseemly and immediately put his hand down: “I can plead with the mine supervisor to let me do more work on regular days.”
Ren Yaoqi shook her head: “You should focus on taking care of your mother. Although your sister is capable, she’s only ten years old and probably can’t manage everything. Moreover, last time my father already instructed the supervisor to return your indenture contract to you. With your abilities, finding better work in Yunyang City wouldn’t be difficult. Why don’t you bring your mother and sister to live in Yunyang City? It would make the medical consultations much more convenient.”
Ren Yaoqi knew that people who voluntarily sold themselves to work in the coal mines were either refugees from other places or those from extremely poor families who desperately needed money. Zhu Ruomei had come to work in the Ren family’s coal mine because he urgently needed silver to treat his mother’s illness. For sturdy young men like Zhu Ruomei, the Ren family would pay twenty to thirty taels of silver at once, essentially buying out their labor.
If there were choices, very few people would truly be willing to work in the mines. The Ren family’s coal mine had even experienced several incidents of workers fleeing, which had greatly troubled the Ren family masters.
Zhu Ruomei remained silent for a moment, then raised his head and said: “Then this humble one will repay the thirty taels of silver the Ren family initially gave me.”
Ren Yaoqi tilted her head thoughtfully: “How about this instead? I’m looking for someone to help me with an important matter, and this is something I can’t entrust to others. If you feel uneasy about it, then help me handle this matter properly, and consider it as repaying those thirty taels of silver. How does that sound?”
Upon hearing this, Zhu Ruomei immediately said: “If Fifth Miss has something that needs to be done, just give this humble one an order. How could this humble one ask you for silver? This matter cannot be mixed up with that.”
Ren Yaoqi showed a disappointed expression: “If that’s the case, then I can’t very well ask you to help me with this matter. I’ll have to find someone else instead. It’s just that this matter is somewhat urgent, and I don’t know if I can find someone suitable and reliable.”
Zhu Ruomei thought for a moment, then finally compromised: “Then please give your instructions, Fifth Miss. This humble one will help you handle the matter properly and will keep it confidential.”
Seeing that he had agreed, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but smile slightly.
At this moment, she and Zhu Ruomei were in the pavilion, while Pingguo, Sangshen, and the other maids stood outside the pavilion.
Although there were occasionally old women and maids passing by, seeing that a master was resting here, they didn’t dare to look much and hurriedly paid their respects before passing by.
When Ren Yaoqi spoke with Zhu Ruomei, if she lowered her voice, those outside couldn’t hear clearly.
Ren Yaoqi carefully gave Zhu Ruomei detailed instructions, and fearing he might not remember, she repeated the important names, place names, and events once more.
“Do you remember everything?” Ren Yaoqi asked with concern.
Zhu Ruomei frowned slightly as he silently recited what Ren Yaoqi had said twice in his mind, then nodded: “Fifth Miss, please rest assured. This humble one remembers everything clearly. The places you mentioned are detailed, and the people all have names and surnames – they won’t be difficult to find. This humble one will disguise myself well, and even my mother wouldn’t recognize me.”
However, he was somewhat puzzled about Ren Yaoqi’s reasons for having him do such a thing. But he also knew that wealthy families had many matters that couldn’t be spoken of to outsiders, so it wasn’t appropriate to ask too many questions. He only thought in his heart that he must help Ren Yaoqi handle this matter well.
Seeing that he had truly remembered everything, Ren Yaoqi felt relieved.
If this Zhu Ruomei was truly the same Zhu Ruomei she had heard of in her previous life, then he certainly had some real abilities. Otherwise, Xiao Jingxi, who was known as “strategically infallible,” wouldn’t have entrusted his retreat to him.
She just didn’t know if, in this life, with her horizontal intervention, Zhu Ruomei could still have the same prospects as in her previous life. Many things require the right timing and circumstances. If her interference caused him to live an unremarkable life, that would truly be a pity.
With these thoughts in mind, Ren Yaoqi smiled and nodded: “In that case, you should go back first. However, handling this matter will probably take a day or two. Can you arrange things properly with your mother?”
“This humble one will rush back to Yunyang City immediately to explain things to my family. Fifth Miss, please rest assured.”
“If there’s anything at home that I can help with, just have Sister-in-Law Yuan come tell me,” Ren Yaoqi instructed.
Zhu Ruomei thanked her solemnly again, then took his leave and left the residence.
Ren Yaoqi sat alone in the Yiran Pavilion for a while, seeming to be thinking about something or perhaps just daydreaming. The maids outside the pavilion saw this and wanted to come in, but didn’t dare.
It wasn’t until Ren Yaoqi gently smoothed her skirt and stood up, saying gently, “The wind is picking up. Let’s go back.”
That afternoon, both Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua were in Li Shi’s room listening to Nanny Zhou teach them about household management, while Li Shi sat on the nearby kang making soft boots for Ren Shimin.
Xi’er suddenly ran in from outside.
Nanny Zhou frowned and scolded with a stern face: “Why are you in such a hurry? Where have all your manners gone?”
Xi’er hurriedly said: “This servant just heard from the gatekeeper’s wife that the Han family – the Han family is having a big quarrel.”
Upon hearing it was about the Han family, Li Shi immediately looked up and asked in surprise: “What? The Han family? What is the Han family quarreling about?”
Nanny Zhou knew that Li Shi was very satisfied with this marriage connection to the Han family, so she also forgot about teaching the maid proper manners and looked at Xi’er, waiting for her to continue.
“Around noon today, ten to twenty people came from Jizhou and went straight to the Han family’s residence. The Han family has been living in our town for a year now and has always kept a low profile, never having many visitors, so everyone found it strange. Moreover, those people were making a commotion along the way, so some busybodies followed them to watch the excitement.”
“Those twenty or so people were invited into the Han residence by the Han family’s steward, who told outsiders they were relatives from Jizhou. But not long after these relatives went inside, there were sounds of quarreling coming from within, and the commotion was quite loud. Later, even the Han family’s Old Master and Young Master Han, who had gone out, were urgently called back.”
Since Li Shi hadn’t asked Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua to leave, the two sisters remained seated, listening.
Ren Yaohua frowned upon hearing this and asked: “Since they were people from the old home in Jizhou and were invited in by the Han family’s steward, they must truly be relatives. Why would the Han family quarrel so fiercely with relatives from their hometown?”
Xi’er said: “Some people said they heard from the words those Jizhou people were shouting that Old Master Han had secretly sold off some of the Han family’s property, and the Han family clan members had all been kept in the dark before. Now that they’ve found out, they’ve come to make trouble.”
Li Shi put the half-sewn shoe sole she was working on into the embroidery basket beside her, somewhat surprised: “How could this be?”
“Wouldn’t the Han family people know how much property their clan has? They only speak up after someone has sold it off?” Nanny Zhou was also somewhat puzzled.
“It seems they’re saying that many years ago, the Han family had an aunt who married a sea merchant in her early years. Because her husband and son both died in a shipwreck, she returned to the Han family to seek refuge with relatives. It’s said this aunt had accumulated many priceless treasures. Since she had no children, after her death, she gave her property to the clan members who had cared for her in her old age, making it communal property of the Han clan. But not long after, when the Liao people invaded our Yanbei, those valuable treasures were all plundered by the Liao people. So the later generations of the Han family never actually saw those treasures, and only some old people in the Han clan would occasionally tell the younger generation stories about how wealthy this aunt used to be and what priceless treasures she had owned. Everyone originally just listened to these as stories and didn’t take them seriously.”
Nanny Zhou shook her head and laughed: “Such talk indeed cannot be taken seriously. I once heard someone from a ruined family boast to others that their ancestors used to pave roads with gold bricks, and even their chamber pots were made of pure gold, but unfortunately, everything was robbed by the Liao people in the end. No one believed such talk when spoken, but the younger generations in the family loved to hear it, and eventually it became more and more exaggerated with each telling.”
But Xi’er shook her head: “The Han family people originally also just listened to it as a joke and didn’t take it seriously, but a few days ago, someone from the Han family learned that a treasure that had only appeared in legends was recently secretly sold by Old Master Han to an outsider. Only then did the Han clan make a fuss, saying that the legend was true, and that the aunt’s property hadn’t been taken by the Liao people at all, but had been secretly hidden by the Han family clan leader who took advantage of the situation to claim it as his own, and was finally passed down by the previous clan leader Han Jianping to his daughter and son-in-law.”
Upon hearing this, everyone couldn’t help but look at each other. Li Shi said: “This… this doesn’t seem very likely, does it?”
“Oh, they also discussed on the road that no wonder Old Master Han was able to accumulate so much family property in just a few decades. They had originally thought it was because Old Master Han was capable enough to build it up himself, but now it seems he must have benefited from the Han family ancestors’ legacy. They came this time to demand an explanation from Old Master Han,” Xi’er said, lowering her voice.
“What do you think?” After remaining silent for a moment, Ren Yaohua suddenly turned to ask Ren Yaoqi, who had been sitting beside her listening with interest without expressing any opinion.
Ren Yaoqi smiled back at Ren Yaohua and shook her head: “After so many years, whether this is true or not can’t be clarified. After all, that aunt’s property wasn’t seen by anyone… well, perhaps except for a few people?”
Hearing this, Ren Yaohua couldn’t help but frown slightly: “You believe it too?”
Of course, Ren Yaoqi didn’t believe it. It would be strange if she did.
However, she still replied: “Whether I believe it or we believe it doesn’t matter at all. What’s important is that certain people in the Han clan believe it.”
Perhaps those certain people didn’t all entirely believe it either, but believing it would bring them considerable benefits, so they all coincidentally chose to believe it.
“Moreover, I don’t know whether grandfather and grandmother believe it or not,” Ren Yaoqi added, tilting her head slightly.
“What does it matter to the Han family people whether grandfather and grandmother believe it or not?” Ren Yaohua didn’t understand.