Scheme of the Official Descendant – Chapter 6

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Scheme of the Official Descendant – Chapter 6: Calculations

    The outer courtyard and the inner courtyard of the Ren Estate were clearly demarcated. Even if some people worked in the Ren family for a lifetime, to pass the threshold of  the hanging flower gate with the vertical lotus column of the inner courtyard remained extremely difficult .

    "Mother, it is time for you to stand firm and lay down the rules! Now that we have returned, will concubine Fang still dare to stretch out her hand so far?" Ren Yaohua said coldly, "I will arrange for her to come in tomorrow, and as for those servants who chose to lean where the winds blows, let them all be thrown out."

    Momo Zhou persuaded: "Third miss, we have just returned so  let it stand as is for now. The number of maids we brought back is, after all, only this few.  Even if we are to get rid of some to acquire new people, the numbers needed to be able to manage our Ziwei courtyard adequately would be important. And, when one wants to buy others servants, one still has to ask the old lady and the eldest mistress first, so without proper justification, one can’t simply drive the people out of the yard. Otherwise, this will not only chill the hearts of the people below, the old lady will also not tolerate it."

    Ren Yaohua, who already despised her father's concubine deep in her heart, raised her eyebrows after hearing momo Zhou's words, "Then momo, let me be the one to act. As for a reason? Isn't it obvious? Laziness, spreading rumors, stealing, disrespecting their masters... since they have been caught, can they still refute it?"

    "Third miss ..."

    "So third sister is not willing to give up before she offends everyone in the Ren family ?" Ren Yaoqi interjected suddenly.

    Ren Yaohua looked at Ren Yaoqi with a cold face. Ren Yaoqi turned a blind eye to her anger and proceeded to say quietly: "Concubine Fang has re-arranged a lot of people to come in to work in the Ziwei courtyard. But with the exception of momo Zhu, the two maids next to me and a few close-knit maids, most of those servants are actually not her own."

    "Not hers?" momo Zhou thought for a while, and groaned, "It is reasonable to say that she does not have that great of an ability, to be able to insert so many of her own minions in only a year..."

    After all, relationships need to be cultivated. Momo Zhou had helped supervise lady Li's businesses for more than a decade, but even she, only succeded in grooming a dozen true confidantes by her side of which, two, were later sent away.

    On deeper thought, the other wives of Ren's family were not vegetarians. How could they stand to let a simple concubine like Fang sit comfortably and ride on top of their head?

    Ren Yaoqi nodded: "The workers in the Ziwei courtyard are mostly newly hired maids who were selected from various Zhuangzis a year ago."

    Ren Yaohua sneered and squinted at Ren Yaoqi: "This yard is under the rule of Concubine Fang, so don't you still have to pass through her hands when picking people? Even if these people had nothing to do with her before, now they won't be able to stray from her orders. Will they not be loyal to her then?"

    Ren Yaohua had a strong temper but she was not dull witted. In spite of her young age, she has in fact been helping her mother, Li, deal with her affairs since she was a child.

    Ren Yaoqi did not deny Ren Yaohua's words. Instead, she nodded in agreement: "Third sister is right. These people have been following Concubine Fang's lead and now that they hold such positions, they will feel all the more indebted to her. With this, Concubine Fang's reputation in the people's heart in the estate has only been improving."

    Lady Li and Ren Yaohua had both left to the Zhuangzi. Few superiors were left for them to obey in the Ziwei courtyard, the rules applied were similar to other yard, and under Concubine Fang's supervision, no harsh punishments were dealt. Therefore, in the Ziwei courtyard, Fang shi easily gained the approval and recognition of the servants of the Ren family as a true master.

    Although Ren Yaohua's face was even darker, this time she didn't immediately reply.

    The maid, Xi'er, couldn't help wondering: "But didn't fifth miss say that these people are not Concubine Fang's people? Now miss says that they are hers... Are they hers after all?"

    Ren Yaoqi thought for a while, and said softly: "Although these people are all newly picked out from different Zhuangzis by Concubine Fang, they are all either related to the old lady, the eldest wife, the second wife, or the powerful maids in the courtyard of the fifth wife. Some even have a kinship with them. For example, the sister-in-law Niu who is in charge of the gate to our courtyard, her sister-in-law is the eldest daughter-in-law of momo Gui who works in the old lady's courtyard, and the maid, Liu'er, who is in charge of serving tea for visiting guests in our yard is close to the older lady. The sister of the maid at the Autumn Equinox courtyard, wife Liu, who is in charge of hot water in the backyard was originally a houekeeper in the outer yard of the Ren family, but her niece is now in charge of the fifth wife’s yard..."

    Momo Zhou could be regarded as a seasoned veteran in courtyard matters. After hearing these few sentences, she immediately understood the powerful relationships at work there, and her heart couldn't be more turbulent.

    The maid Que'er was also frightened and said: "She actually used placing new maids in our Ziwei courtyard as a favor to please the other masters of the Ren family!"

    Ren Yaoqi shook her head and glanced at Ren Yaohua.

    Ren Yaohua's lips were pressed tightly, giving her a stubborn look on her cold face, but her eyes were full of anger.

    "She can please the old lady and the people around her by doing this, but it is not her main purpose."

    After hearing this, everyone turned their eyes to Ren Yaoqi.

    Ren Yaoqi looked at Ren Yaohua: "Her aim is third sister and mother."

    Ignoring the stunned eyes of the people around her, Ren Yaoqi continued to say in a hurry, "She is aware of third sister's temperament, knows that she will not tolerate the people she arranged to stay in the Ziwei courtyard, and will clean them up upon her return. In fact, these people are not related to Fang and throwing them out will not affect her. Redardlesss, Concubine Fang will have earned herself a favor but you, will be offending the old lady, the eldest lady, the second lady, and the fifth lady because of this..."

    According to what Ren Yaohua said, she was ultimately a granddaughter of the Ren family and the old lady always cared for her a bit on weekdays so, although she had commited a mistake, she would still eventually return to the Ren family. On this, Concubine Fang was always very clear. Never would Ren Yaohua and lady Li be completely driven out of the Ren family.

    Concubine Fang remained, after all, a concubine. Even giving birth to the third household's only son, would never be enough for her to take over the position of the official wife. So instead, what she  had been aiming for was the power to rule the Ziwei courtyard.

    Even if Li and Ren Yaohua returned to the Ren Estate, they would then no longer be able to shake her position.

    "This despicable and shameless viper!" Xi'er gritted her teeth and cursed.

    Ren Yaohua gradually calmed down her anger, and said in a cold tone: "She can just wait and see, I will deal with her well!"

    Ren Yaoqi asked calmly, "Then, how do you plan to sort her out? Let mother set the rules in the courtyard, and then use it as an opportunity to fix Concubine Fang?"

    Ren Yaohua raised her eyes and looked at Ren Yaoqi with a calm face.

    Momo Zhou was afraid that the two sisters would quarrel again, so she hurriedly ended the argument: "The third young miss has been worrying about us for the past year. The Ren family servants now only follow  concubine Fang and don’t recognize lady Li as a genuine master. Third miss is to give my lady an opportunity to not just set the rules but also regain some prestige as a master."

    Ren Yaoqi didn't want to argue with Ren Yaohua either, so she nodded: "The idea is not wrong, but the timing is ."

    "Oh? Why is it wrong?" Ren Yaohua raised her eyebrows and said coldly.

    Ren Yaoqi said seriously: "Haven't I asked third sister how she plans to deal with Concubine Fang? Before you left the house, you did in fact sort her out several times, but have you ever thought about why it was that you could do so? Let her deflate and leave her no way to air her grievances?"

    Ren Yaohua didn't say a word, but Xi'er chipped in: "Of course it is because our third miss has more credit than concubine Fang in front of the old lady! With the support of the old lady, concubine Fang naturally doesn't dare to be so presumptuous when facing the third miss."

    Old lady Ren didn't like lady Li, but she was good to her granddaughter, Ren Yaohua .

    When Ren Yaohua pushed Ren Yihong into the water, the old lady only thought that it was an overflowing mistake of youth, not a deliberate act. She did not put all the blame on her granddaughter and even helped by lightly taking up her defense in front of old master Ren.

    "Concubine Fang knows this too. But what happens if one day the old lady no longer stands on third sister's side?"

    "How is this possible? The old lady has always loved third miss. When we were at the Zhuangzi, she even sent someone to deliver food to her." Que'er shook her head hurriedly.

    Ren Yaohua and momo Zhou were silent.

    The old lady was not short of granddaughters among the younger generation. In  today's Ren family there was the fourth miss, Ren Yaoyin, who's the daughter of the eldest wife, and Ren Yaoyu, the daughter of the fifth wife who's known to be most favored by the old lady. They were often invited to stay in the Dongnuan Pavilion of the Ronghua courtyard by the old lady.

    Today, Ren Yaohua and Li went to greet the old lady. Although the old lady was glad to see Ren Yaohua, she coldly rebuked Ren Yaohua when she pleaded for her mother, Li.

    Before, never was there a day in the Ren family, where the old lady Ren would say a word wrong to Ren Yaohua. Every time old lady Ren would reprimand Li, when Ren Yaohua was on the sidelines, old Lady Ren would still show her granddaughter a bit of face.

    "So the most important thing for third sister now is not to try to find trouble with concubine Fang and let your reputation for being mean and domineering spread out to the point where everyone knows. Instead, third sister should strive to consolidate her position in front of the old lady. As long as you are still the most favored granddaughter in the old lady's eyes, you will then have opportunities to sort out Concubine Fang in the future." Ren Yaoqi calmly and objectively pointed out.

    No one noticed her indifference towards old lady Ren in her calmness. It seemed that in her heart, the old lady Ren was just a tool for gaining a foothold in the household. Nowhere in her words could you feel the usual familial care between a granddaughter and grandmother.

    "Third Miss, fifth miss makes sense." Momo Zhou pondered over  Ren Yaoqi's words again, and the more she thought of it, the more frightened she became .

    Concubine Fang first got rid of lady Li's oldest maids who had stayed in the Ziwei courtyard. This allowed Fang shi to not only cut off the remaining connection between Li's courtyard and the main house of the Ren family, and to deepen the estrangement between Ren Yaoqi and her mother and third sister. It also enabled her to fill up the multiple positions left vacant in the Ziwei courtyard .

    Doing so would induce Ren Yaohua's fury upon her return, which would then allow Concubine Fang's later move to come into play.

    Let Ren Yaohua rage, completely fall out of favor with old lady Ren, and offend the masters and mistresses of the Ren family till she is left isolated. This, was Concubine Fang's ultimate goal.

    Ren Yaohua also started to understand now, and couldn't help feeling aggrieved. She wanted to sarcastically ask Ren Yaoqi, "If I am to fall out of favor with grandmother, will that not be exactly as you wished?"

    However, glancing at Yaoqui's calm and undisturbed eyes, she swallowed back those words.

    Although Ren Yaohua was noncommittal, momo Zhou understood her very well and knew she must have listened. She was very pleased and smiled at Ren Yaoqi: "Fifth Miss has grown up. Even the lady and this old slave had not thought about these things."

Ren Yaoqi looked down and said nothing. With her previous life's experience under the tutelage of Pei Zhiyan, now looking at the winding of these inner house schemes it seemed as if the veil hiding this shadow puppet theater and the numerous people at play had been lifted. All the interlocked strings were clear at a glance