Chapter 54 Seeking the Best in Law
After putting the letter away, Ruan Bi asked Yunying to get up and invited Xiuzhi in to serve tea. They chatted for a few minutes.
After finishing her tea, Yunying took her leave.
Ruan Bi took out the letter again, looked at it, shook her head and chuckled.
Xiuzhi tidied up the teacups, glanced up at her, smiled and said, "That's wonderful, Miss, you can finally smile again. It seems we should invite Sister Yunying to come and visit more often." During the three days at Yuxu Temple, she hadn't seen Ruan Bi smile once; she was always preoccupied and frowning.
Ruan Bi sensed the hidden meaning in her words and rolled her eyes at her.
Xiuzhi stuck her tongue out at her and went downstairs with the teacup in her arms.
Ruan Bi glanced at the letter again, then lit a tinderbox and burned it. Once her emotions had calmed down a bit, she realized that Yun Ying's arrival, while advantageous—making Ruan Chi hesitant to act rashly—was also a troublesome matter—her every word and action would now be closely monitored and reported to Prince Jin. If she were an innocent lamb, it wouldn't matter, but she wasn't. If he knew her methods, would he still be devoted to her?
After much deliberation, she thought to herself, "So be it. If he dislikes me because of this, there's nothing I can do. I can't just do nothing and wait for him to come to my rescue. Besides, it's uncertain whether he can even save me. His power is mainly in the court. If I were a man and wanted to enter politics, he could help me. He can't interfere in other people's private affairs, but arranging for Yunying to come in is already enough to show his good intentions."
Xiuzhi brought in tea and saw that Ruanbi's face had darkened again. She frowned and said, "You were smiling just now, how come your mood has turned so dark so quickly?"
"Xiuzhi, you're starting to chatter like Anping, who's always by Gu Xiaobai's side." Ruan Bi took the tea and said, "Go and ask the maids if there's been any activity in the mansion these past few days."
Xiuzhi said in surprise, "Didn't Granny Liu say all that as soon as we entered the door?"
Ruan Bi hesitated to tell her that she wasn't entirely convinced by what Granny Liu said. "Granny Liu is getting old; she might have overlooked something. You can ask her again."
Xiuzhi withdrew and returned a moment later, saying, "It's pretty much what Granny Liu said. Prince Jin gave the Third Master a concubine, the Second Miss went to the Xiangguo Temple with the First Madam, and the Old Madam is in a good mood, having people play cards every day. The Fourth Miss is currently recuperating in her room, and the Third Miss's fiancé is probably going to be beheaded... Oh, and Hanxing said that while the young lady was away, Granny Liu's grandson was beaten again, and I heard that the one who beat him was Sister-in-law Luo's son." Sister-in-law Luo's son is Luo Shan's grandson, meaning that Luo Shan's grandson beat Granny Liu's grandson.
"Alright, you can go now and call Granny Liu in."
After Xiuzhi left, Ruan Bi opened the money box, took out ten taels of silver and one tael of loose silver, and placed them on the table.
Just as she finished setting things out, Granny Liu came in. She had dark circles under her eyes and looked quite tired. She asked, "Did you need something, Miss?"
“Aunt Liu, you did a great job at Yuxu Temple last time. I thought about rewarding you when I came back, but I’ve been too busy lately and forgot.”
"That's my duty, young lady, you don't need to be so polite."
“It is your duty to do your job, and it is my duty to be fair in rewarding and punishing.” Ruan Bi pointed to the silver on the table and said, “The reward is here, you can choose for yourself.”
Granny Liu glanced at the silver, her heart sinking. She had originally intended to remain neutral between Ruan Bi and the First Madam, neither betraying either. Of course, once the situation became clearer, she could side with either side at any time. But clearly, this young lady was no longer satisfied, forcing her to take a stand.
Ruan Bi wasn't in a hurry and continued drinking her tea.
After hesitating for a long time, Granny Liu stepped forward, picked up ten taels of silver, and looked at Ruan Bi.
“Aunt Liu, I heard your grandson was injured by some naughty children again. You should go home now.” Ruan Bi put down her teacup and handed her the remaining one tael of silver on the table. “Buy some candy for your grandson.”
"Thank you, Miss." Granny Liu accepted the gift but didn't leave. After a moment's hesitation, she said, "Miss, there's something I've been wanting to tell you, but I haven't had the chance yet. It's about Fourth Miss's marriage."
It wasn't that there weren't opportunities before, but rather that the timing wasn't right.
Ruan Bi knew perfectly well what was going on and asked, "Oh? What happened to Fourth Miss's marriage?"
"Fifth Miss, you know I used to work for the Lu family and still have some connections. I heard that the third young master of the second branch of the Lu family, whom Fourth Miss is engaged to, has the most servants around him, and they are all handsome."
Ruan Biwei was taken aback, then suddenly realized what was going on.
Seeing that she understood, Granny Liu withdrew.
Ruan Bi held the tea, shook her head and chuckled. The ladies in the Ruan family were all incredibly strong.
For the sake of the family's interests, the old lady not only used her granddaughter as a tool, but also cruelly sacrificed the happiness of her own daughter, Ruan Lan. The first wife eradicated her rival, Consort Lin, and all her children, even marrying her fourth daughter to a homosexual. How could she do such a thing? Just how much did she hate Consort Lin? In comparison, the second wife was much weaker, but she was by no means someone to be trifled with; she still held a trump card in her hand.
Xiuzhi came in, opened the money box, quickly counted it, and said, "Oh my, my good girl, you've finally saved up some money, why are you giving Liu Mama so much all at once?"
"Xiuzhi, don't you know that the value of silver lies in the moment it's spent?"
Xiuzhi muttered resentfully, "I didn't realize that Granny Liu was worth so much money."
She certainly wasn't worth it, but Luo Shan was the First Madam's personal attendant and also the Second Steward, so the information he spoke of was valuable. Granny Liu's son had already passed away, and her wife had returned to her parents' home. She was raising a grandson alone, and only remarried Luo Shan because she couldn't make ends meet. Her grandson had been beaten and scolded by Luo Shan's grandson several times; it was hard to believe she held no resentment. Of course, she couldn't tell Xiuzhi this. Ruan Bi smiled, stood up, and said, "Let's go, come with me to see what illness Fourth Sister has."
“Girl, you’re being silly. Fourth Miss isn’t sick at all. Actually, it’s just that the First Madam instructed her not to go out, so she wouldn’t run into any unrelated people.” Xiuzhi lowered her voice and said, “I heard from Hanxing that Young Master Xu has been loitering around the entrance of our Liaoyuan Garden these past few days. The night before last, he was talking to the old woman, and then the old woman went into the garden and went to the main house.”
Ruan Biwan'er, the hot water bottle is also a unique plant.
The fourth young lady had lost some weight and was making clothes in the embroidery room. When she saw Ruan Bi come in, she waved the skirt in her hand and said with a smile, "Your new skirt will have to wait for two more days. Don't worry, I'll make sure you stand out at the chrysanthemum festival at the Duke of Dingguo's mansion."
"What chrysanthemum festival?"
"Don't you know, little sister? The Princess of Jingyi County from the Duke of Dingguo's mansion has sent an invitation, inviting you and your second sister to come to the mansion at the end of the month to admire the chrysanthemums. I heard there are quite a few other young ladies from other families as well, it must be very lively." Although the fourth young lady tried her best to speak calmly, she was still a little upset, because this time, her name was not on the invitation.
“When I came back just now, my mother and grandmother were both busy. They only asked about me from outside the door, and we didn’t even see each other.” After a pause, Ruan Bi said, “I heard you weren’t feeling well?”
The fourth sister smiled sadly and said, "It's nothing serious, I'll be fine after a few days of rest."
Ruan Bi waved her hand and said, "You all go down, I want to talk to my fourth sister."
Xiuzhi left without saying a word, and Qiulan glanced at the Fourth Miss before leaving after seeing her nod.
"Fourth sister, I heard that the young man from the Lu family who is being betrothed to you is a homosexual."
The fourth sister shuddered, then laughed and said, "Thank you for telling me, sister. I'm not surprised at all that she did this, but I don't know how she will treat the third brother in the future." She paused and said, "Sister, I've wronged you before. I knew that Mother wanted to marry you off to my paralyzed eldest cousin, but I didn't tell you."
"Those are all things of the past, why bother bringing them up again?"
The fourth sister paused for a moment, avoiding Ruan Bi's eyes, and said, "Sister, that painting of a hibiscus beauty was painted by Cousin Xu."
"Yes, I already knew that."
"Does your younger sister also know that Grandmother wants to marry you off to him?"
"Yes, I know that too."
"It seems nothing can be hidden from you, sister." The fourth sister felt a mix of emotions. She lowered her head and continued threading the needle, her voice slightly trembling. "He... is very good. Now, I congratulate you, sister."
The words were so sarcastic that Ruan Bi felt a headache coming on. Firstly, she had never thought highly of Xu Chuanyang, and secondly, the old lady already had other ideas; Gu Jingyi's invitation to the chrysanthemum gathering seemed to have ulterior motives. Furthermore, the fourth young lady's attitude disappointed her; she was too submissive.
She immediately lost interest in the conversation, stood up, and said, "Fourth Sister, you're overthinking things. I haven't even gotten a good look at Cousin Xu yet. Besides, aim high and you'll achieve something; aim for the middle and you'll achieve less; aim low and you'll surely fail! Why do you always aim low, Sister?"
Hearing this, the fourth sister raised her head and said with slight annoyance, "Sister, how could I possibly want to be inferior? Tell me, do I still have any way to be superior? I am different from you. You are a disciple of Master Ziying, while I have nothing."
"Sister seems to have forgotten that I only became Master Ziying's disciple three months ago, and you were still Father's good daughter just a few months ago. I heard that Father strongly insisted on your marriage to Cousin Xu." Ruan Bi said disdainfully, "If this is all you are capable of, why did you cause trouble in the first place and drag Aunt Lin down with you for nothing?"
"Yes, yes, yes." The fourth sister's eyes immediately reddened, and she threw her clothes down. "It's all my fault, it's all my overestimation of my abilities, it's all because my ambitions were higher than my fate. Sister, what are you saying again? Don't think I don't know that you have no good intentions towards me either. Although I don't understand why, I know that you want to send me to the palace."
Ruan Bi sneered, "Yes, that's right, but I didn't force you. You forgot that it was your own choice."
"Then why don't you send me in? You gave me hope, then dashed it. Now that I'm in this state, you can't escape responsibility for it either."
“I can still send you to the palace, but with your abilities, how will you establish yourself there? Tell me, Fourth Sister.”
The fourth sister was speechless and glared at her.
Ruan Bi said loudly, "Fourth sister, let me tell you, I can still send you to the palace and marry you to Xu Chuanyang, but tell me, why should I help you? Just because you're pitiful? Instead of hoping for others' sympathy, you should regret being born." With that, she turned and left.
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