Chapter 114 -

Chapter 114: Chapter

The room remained quiet except for the soft clatter of Zhengyu’s wooden chopsticks against the porcelain plate. Yimei sat near the window, quietly flipping through her notebook, completely absorbed in her business calculations. She didn’t look up, nor did she make any effort to start a conversation.

Zhengyu swallowed his last dumpling and set his chopsticks down. He took a sip of the warm herbal medicine, wiping his lips with a clean cloth. He looked over at Yimei, his dark eyes narrowing slightly at her calm, distant posture.

"Aren’t you interested in knowing who started this whole thing?" Zhengyu asked, breaking the silence. His voice carried a sharp, questioning weight.

Yimei didn’t even lift her head from her notebook. She casually turned a page, her ink brush hovering lightly over the paper.

"I am not interested," Yimei said, her voice smooth, flat, and completely indifferent. "You will eventually tell me anyway."

Zhengyu’s jaw tightened instantly. The calm, restrained act he had maintained all evening completely cracked.

He slammed his medicinal bowl down onto the wooden tray with a loud CLACK, the dark liquid splashing slightly over the rim.

"Why are you giving me the cold shoulder?!" Zhengyu snapped, his deep voice thick with sudden, sharp frustration. "Even when I helped you and sent my shadow guards to protect your building, you are still acting like this! You walk in here, barely say two words, and treat me like a total stranger!"

Yimei slowly stopped writing. She set her brush down on the stone holder, closed her small notebook with a soft snap, and lifted her dark eyes to meet his furious gaze.

Her face remained completely smooth, unbothered, and cool as ice. She didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t flinch from his anger.

"I didn’t know that you cared," Yimei said softly, her clear eyes looking straight into his. "Or isn’t this what you wanted?"

Zhengyu froze, the words dying right in his throat.

"You don’t like feeling managed, lectured, or pushed around," Yimei continued smoothly, leaning back slightly in her rosewood chair. "You like your space, your quiet, and your dignity. So I am giving you space. I do my duty, I give you your needles, I make sure you drink your medicine, and I leave you alone. Isn’t that exactly how you prefer things, First Young Master?"

Zhengyu stared at her, his lips pressed into a tight, pale line. For the first time, his sharp tongue failed him. He wanted to bark back a cold reply, but looking at her completely calm face, he realized that her silent distance cut far deeper than any argument they had ever had.

Before Zhengyu could find his voice, a heavy, booming sound vibrated through the floorboards.

BOOM... BOOM... BOOM...

The grand brass bell at the main gate rang three long times, shattering the heavy silence in the room. The Great Uncles had officially entered the manor gates.

Yimei stood up calmly, smoothing down her light blue winter dress and wrapping her fur cloak tightly around her shoulders. She looked down at Zhengyu, her expression entirely businesslike.

"The elders are here," Yimei said, her tone smooth and distant once more. "Let us go."

The wooden door opened, and Liu Feng brought in Zhengyu’s wheelchair, setting it down smoothly by the side of the bed.

"First Young Master, Young Madame," Liu Feng bowed low. "The main hall is fully lit. Old Madame Bai has been escorted to her seat by Old Master Tianming, and the three Great Uncles from the southeast have just taken their places. Second Uncle and the Second Branch are already waiting inside."

Yimei nodded calmly. "We are coming."

As Liu Feng carefully assisted Zhengyu from the bed into his heavy wooden wheelchair, draping a dark velvet blanket over his legs, Zhengyu’s eyes stayed fixed on Yimei. The anger in his face had settled into a sharp, cold focus.

"It was An Yulan," Zhengyu said suddenly, his deep voice slicing through the quiet rustle of clothing.

Yimei, who was checking her small sleeve bag, paused for a moment. She looked over at him, her dark eyes remaining smooth and unbothered.

"An Yulan?" Yimei repeated softly, as if she was simply confirming a detail she had already suspected.

"My shadow guards watched her leave the East Market right before Boss Qian called his thugs," Zhengyu explained, his tone dropping into a bitter sneer. "She went straight into Boss Qian’s wine shop herself. She told those two shopkeepers that your pavilion was built on dirty money, and she promised them that if they ruined your building tonight, the Bai family would back them up."

Liu Feng’s jaw tightened as he listened from behind the wheelchair, his hands gripping the wooden handles tightly.

Yimei let out a small, almost soundless laugh. "An Yulan really never learns, does she? She thinks throwing mud at my name in the market will save her husband’s sinking ship in the manor."

"Let her do what she wants, but whether or not she succeeds will be left to me."

...

Soon, the hall was filled with the members of the Bai family. They all sat down in their usual positions, while three chairs were placed beside Old Madame Bai for the Great Uncles.

Master Bai sat down with Madame Bai, while Madame Chen sat with her children at her own table.

Yimei and Zhengyu sat beside each other and Zhengyu’s sisters, as everyone kept quiet to hear what Old Madame Bai would say.

"Hmm... since everyone is here, let us begin," she finally said. "I made sure to ask my ancestors for guidance before calling this meeting. As you all can see, seated beside me are my uncles—my first, second, and third uncles. They all had to come all the way from the southeast just to witness and help settle the problem at hand."

The First Great Uncle spoke, "When we received the letter, we were very disappointed. My niece here has always praised each of her sons for managing the family business well and keeping the farms properly maintained over the years. My late brother and her father would be proud of what she has done with the Bai family as of today, but now you all are using your greed and arrogance to tear apart this family."

"Separation?!" the Second Great Uncle shouted, looking at Second Uncle and his family. "What utter stupidity is that? Our family has never dared to sever ties with one another... never. What mindset do you have to think that way?"

Second Uncle, Bai Chengbang, trembled on his feet. His face turned red, then pale, and his sweaty hands clenched tightly into fists inside his sleeves.

Beside him, Madame Liu looked terrified, clutching her daughter Bai Xiuying’s hand.

Second Uncle slammed his hands together, stepping into the center of the hall. He looked up at Old Madame Bai, his eyes filled with years of built-up bitterness and anger.

"Separation?!" Second Uncle yelled out, his voice cracking with emotion. "Yes! I wanted to divide the family estate! I wanted to break away!"

Gasps echoed across the entire room. Madame Chen’s children shifted uncomfortably, and An Yulan’s eyes widened in horror.

"Chengbang! How dare you!" Old Master Bai Tianming shouted, standing up from his seat near Madame Chen. "You talk about separating the family in front of the ancestral tablets and the Great Uncles?!"

"Shut up!" Second Uncle screamed at Old Master Bai, completely losing his composure. "You have no right to speak to me! All these years, Mother has never cared about me or Third Brother! She only ever cared about the First Branch! Everything good went to Zhengyu and his mother!"

He turned directly to Old Madame Bai, pointing a shaking finger at her.

"When the farms lost money, who stayed up all night fixing the records? Me! When the market taxes went up, who dealt with the corrupt officials? Me!" Second Uncle wept bitterly, shouting at the top of his lungs. "But what did I get? Nothing! Every piece of good land, every major store, every bit of praise went to Zhengyu! Even when he became a cripple, you still favored him over my own boys!"

The First Great Uncle slammed his wooden walking stick against the stone floor. BANG! "Silence! You committed forgery and stole family land, yet you dare blame your mother?!"

"I stole because I had to!" Second Uncle snapped back, wiping his sweaty face with his sleeve. "I knew the moment Mother passed away, the First Branch would kick my family out onto the streets with nothing! I was securing a future for my wife and children! I cannot take this anymore!"

Second Uncle fell to his knees, bowing heavily toward the three Great Uncles, his head hitting the cold floorboards.

"If you want to punish me, punish me!" Second Uncle cried out, his voice echoing in the dead silence of the hall. "Stripping my title or beating me with rods, I don’t care! My family and I will pack our belongings and leave the Bai Manor tonight! We will sever ties with this family forever!"

The entire hall fell into a suffocating, frozen silence.

Old Madame bai had enough.

"In that case then this will be my judgment.. as the matriarch of the bai family.. I will strip everyone of their properties and right to the lands and businesses owned by the bai family.. and I am also sending an eviction notice to every branch to leave the bai manor in the next 24 hours."