Scheme of the Official Descendant

Chapter 78: The Person Who Jump Out

The Ren Family and the Han Family now were like a loving husband and a favoured concubine. The two sides have already reached a tacit agreement, and if nothing goes wrong, they will soon exchange tokens to settle the marriage.

The first person to jump out of his seat was Ren Yaoting of the East Mansion.

On the second day of the Han Family’s visit, the Old Madam of the East Mansion, Liao, came over.

At that time, the junior members of the West Mansion were just about to leave after paying their respects to Old Master Ren and Old Madam Ren in the Ronghua Courtyard. Then the concierge came to report that Liao had brought Seventh Miss with her.

The Ren Family has not been separated, the East and West Mansions of the Ren Family are still considered one. Although there was a long wall of flowers separating the East and West Mansion, there was a cavernous door in the wall. But Liao never passed through the middle of the wall. She had to go through the main gate and send the concierge to report to her.

When Liao and Qiu were young, they did not see eye to eye, and there were countless rounds of open and closed arguments. When the last head of the Ren Family, Baoming, was still alive, he paid the most attention to the orderly conduct of the young and the old. No matter how the two sisters-in-law fought, it was always Liao’s fault if it went to the elders, and Liao was therefore very upset with her father-in-law.

At the time of Ren Baoming’s death, there was a legacy that the first and second houses would not be separated. Liao had promised to do so before his death, but as soon as her father-in-law’s death was over, she found a reason to have a big fight with Qiu. Then she took her son and moved to the West Garden, which was separated by a flower wall. Although she did not say anything about splitting up the family, the two houses had been living separately for so many years, except for a monthly sum of money allocated by the eldest house to the Eastern Mansion to maintain the livelihood of each person in the Eastern Mansion.

Liao also insisted that anyone from the East Mansion who came to the West Mansion must go through the main gate and was not allowed to pass through the flower wall between the two houses. The Second Old Master of Ren Family was away from Yanbei for many years and wrote to her several times to no avail.

On the West Mansion side, Old Master Ren saw that she could only make such a fuss, so he let her go. The mansion is large and was originally divided into the East and West Mansions, so there was no need to change the courtyard again. On the contrary, the separation of Liao and Qiu made the Ren Family much more peaceful.

The younger members of the Ren Family saw Liao coming over. They bowed to her and greeted her. Qiu had a polite smile on her face, “Why do you have time to come over today?”

Although Liao was from Yanbei, she was not tall and was a bit fat, looking a bit rich. Hearing Qiu’s words, Liao’s face also squeezed out some smiles, then greeted Old Master Ren first and called him Brother-in-law.

“You haven’t eaten yet, have you? Eldest Daughter-in-law, add two more sets of bowls and chopsticks over here.” Qiu explained to her daughter-in-law. Seeing that Liao didn’t refuse either, she then turned to Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoyin. “You will each go back to your courtyard and have your meals there today.”

Liao’s eyes swept over Ren Yaohua and nodded, “I came here today because I have something to discuss with my brother and sister-in-law, so it is good for them to leave first. Ting’er, you should also go out first.”

Ren Yaoting had been quietly following behind Liao. She looked over as Ren Yaohua passed her by,  the coldness in her eyes made one’s heart palpitate.

Hearing Liao’s words she answered a low yes and followed the group out together.

“Third Sister, I have something to say to you.” Ren Yaoting called out to Ren Yaohua.

Ren Yaohua had sensed Ren Yaoting’s hostility before, and she vaguely understood why in her heart. However, she was not a good-natured person. Therefore, when she heard Ren Yaoting’s words, she felt annoyed and coldly replied, “I have to go back to have my meal first, let’s talk about it when I’m free.”

After saying that, she left without looking back.

Ren Yaoting stared closely at her back. Her lower lip turned white as she bit herself.

As soon as the idle people had left, Liao sat down and spoke, “I remember that Brother-in-law once righteously accused me of saying that the Ren Family was not divided?”

“What does Sister-in-law mean by that?” Old Master Ren said with a frown of surprise, somewhat confused as to how Liao could bring up the same old issue again.

Liao smiled faintly, “Since there is no family separation, why don’t we in East Mansion know about such a big event that the Han Family and the Ren Family are going to get married? I heard that the Ren Family is going to join hands with the Han Family to set up a salt farm, is it true? Is it possible that when something good happens, it’s just your West Mansion’s business?”

Old Master Ren shook his head helplessly at his words, “I have written to inform my second brother about the salt farm, and he agrees. Since the first and second houses are not separated, no matter how the Ren Family benefits, it is a common benefit for both houses. Sister-in-law’s remarks are a bit unreasonable. As for the marriage between the two families, they each have their own plans. It has not yet been finalized.”

Liao was not happy to hear this, “I’m being unreasonable? Well, if that’s the case, we also have girls of the right age in the East Mansion. Since you insist on the East and West families, then it doesn’t make any difference whether you marry a girl from the East or the West, let our East Mansion girl marry.”

As she said that, Liao glanced at Qiu: “Back then, your Eldest Granddaughter got a good marriage to the Gu Family, and after that, your Second Granddaughter also married into the Yan Family in the capital. But the Eldest Grandson of the East Mansion was married to a family of rags, and that girl had a hard life. I would have been kept in the dark if she hadn’t had one incident after another before our family was tied. I don’t need you to give me any explanation for this, but the Han Family’s marriage to the West Mansion must be given to us.”

Qiu had endured this for a long time, but when she heard this, she was so angry that her liver ached. She couldn’t help but say, “When we tied the knot with the Gu Family, were there any girls of the right age in the East Mansion? Is the Second Young Master of the Gu Family have to wait for seven or eight years before getting married? As for the Yan Family’s marriage, wasn’t it the Second Brother who sent a letter back begging me to give Yaoqin to someone as a bride? In the past few years, Second Brother and Shixu have had a smooth life in the capital, isn’t it because of the help of the Yan Family? The marriage of Yilin was decided after we had consulted Second Brother and you, why didn’t you stand up against it? Before the Liu Family had an accident, who could have predicted that the Liu girl would have such a destiny? Sister-in-law, you have to have a degree when you say the wrong things. “

Liao bristled at her words. She was unwilling to resign to being rendered speechless by Qiu’s refutation but unable to think of anything to say in rebuttal for the moment.

Old Master Ren was well aware of the nature of these two and knew that he could not let them argue any further, otherwise, it would be endless, so he stepped forward to round things off, “Alright, one of you should say one less sentence.”

He said, “The marriage between the Han Family and the Ren Family was first proposed by the Han Family, and Old Master Han and the Madam of the Han Family had their eyes on Yaohua from the very beginning. Only Yaohua and Yaoyin are the most suitable age for the Young Master of the Han Family. As for Yaoting’s marriage, I will take it to heart and will not be too hard on her when the time comes. They are both girls of the Ren Family, so I will not favour one over the other.”

Liao came here today because last night she heard some maids in her granddaughter’s courtyard discussing the marriages of the young masters and young ladies of the two houses. They said that all the good marriages were taken by the West Mansion and that the West Mansion might even get to eat the meat of the East Mansion. She also said how the Han Family was so rich and how the Young Master of the Han Family was so outstanding, and that there was obviously a suitable girl from the East Mansion, but the West Mansion had not even asked about the marriage.

Liao couldn’t sleep after hearing this.

She was not a very shrewd and powerful person, but she had been in trouble with Qiu all her life. Everything else was fine, but she could not see Qiu’s complacency and could not bear the fact that Qiu had taken advantage of her.

After the death of the previous head of the Ren Family, she knew that Qiu, the Eldest Daughter-in-law, was in charge of the Ren Family’s backyard. So she tried her best to draw a clear line with the Eldest Family, just because she did not want to look at Qiu’s face.

When she heard Elder Master Ren’s words, Liao laughed coldly, “Who can be sure of what will happen in the future? I am not so easily fooled.”

Seeing that she would not take it lying down, Old Master Ren could only say good-naturedly, “Then what does sister-in-law want? We can’t just talk about the Han Family’s marriage. The Han Family’s preferred candidate is indeed the Third Girl.”

When Liao heard this, she looked at Qiu, who had turned her head away. After thinking about it, she was moved and said with a smile, “She doesn’t have to marry the Han Family either. I know that the Yun Family has a young master in the Ren Family. The Yun Family may have the intention of tying the knot with the Ren Family, and the Yun Family’s Old Madam and Sister-in-law are cousins… If it’s true that you don’t have selfish intentions as Brother-in-law said, then why don’t you think of a way to facilitate the marriage between the East Mansion and the Yun Family?”

Qiu couldn’t help but sneer when he heard the words, this calculation was well done. She was about to speak when Old Master Ren gave her a wink. She gritted her teeth before turning her head away as if she hadn’t heard anything.

Old Master Ren said gently to Liao: “I will consider this matter carefully. If the Yun Family really has this intention by then, then it will be the same whether the girl from the East Mansion marries off or the girl from the West Mansion.”

Liao, however, looked at Qiu who was obviously furious, and laughed, “Is this true, Brother-in-law?”

Old Master Ren’s face fell, “Have I ever said anything in vain?”

Liao smiled, “Naturally, you have not. Then how about Brother-in-law giving me an accurate word today, if the Han Family’s marriage cannot be given to our Mansion, then if the Ren Family wants to negotiate a marriage with the Yun Family in the future, only girls from our Mansion can marry there, how about that?”

“Aren’t you just being unreasonable?” Qiu said angrily.

But Old Master Ren waved his hand, “Then this matter is settled.”

Qiu was so angry that her heart felt so stifled, she almost passed out.

But Liao laughed and stopped stirring things up, got up quickly, “In that case, I will not disturb your meal.”

After Liao’s departure, Qiu, who was still shaking with anger, immediately calmed down and relaxed.

Master Ren glanced at her with some surprise.

Qiu ordered the maids to heat the food, and said, “I know her best, she doesn’t want me to be pleased with her. If she can’t make me angry, she won’t leave.”

Qiu had some disdain in her heart. Liao’s kind of mind couldn’t even control her own daughter-in-law, she deserved to only be used as a weapon. She had never given Liao any thought at all.

As for the Yun Family’s marriage, there was no word on it yet, and even if there was a word on it later, she can say she had not agreed to what Old Master Ren had promised.