Chapter 35 -

Chapter 35: Chapter

A loud wave of murmurs broke out across the hall. The Capital Association was made up of the most influential noble wives in the capital. Getting their personal requests on day one was a massive social victory.

Grandma Bai smiled warmly at Yimei. "Your tea house only made its debut today, Yimei, yet it is already doing so exceptionally well. You have brought great honor to our family’s name!"

An Yulan, still nursing her sore, swollen cheek from Maid Lu’s slap, clutched her handkerchief tightly, her eyes burning with jealousy. Madame Chen looked equally sour, unable to digest the fact that Yimei was receiving such high praise from the matriarch.

Yimei bowed her head with flawless grace, her expression calm and humble. "Grandmother is far too generous with her praise. However, the success of the tea house today was only possible because Mother guided me so carefully on how to manage the estate’s resources."

Yimei turned toward Madame Bai, offering a soft, respectful smile. "Without Mother’s support and wisdom in overseeing the Northern Courtyard, I would never have had the time or backing to open the shop so smoothly."

Madame Bai froze in place. Her eyes widened in pure shock, and she quickly exchanged a stunned look with her eldest daughter, Bai Rulan. Beside them, young Bai Meiling’s mouth formed a happy little ’O’.

Madame Bai had expected Yimei to take all the glory for herself. She had never imagined her daughter-in-law would publicly hand her a share of the credit right in front of the entire family!

Old Master Bai Tianming looked over at his Main Wife, his strict face softening with rare, genuine approval. "Madame Bai... it seems you have managed the household well behind the scenes. Good. Very good."

Madame Bai felt a rush of warmth flood her chest. Hearing praise from her husband for the first time in years, her cheeks flushed with quiet happiness, and she sat up straight, her chin held proud and high.

Sitting in his wheelchair, Zhengyu watched the entire interaction unfold. His dark, calculative eyes shifted from his mother’s delighted face to Yimei’s cool, unbothered profile. A faint twitch touched the corner of his lips. He almost wanted to shake his head at how effortlessly Yimei manipulated the room, but he kept his posture still, suppressing his amusement so he wouldn’t look too entertained.

Meanwhile, sixteen-year-old Bai Meiling was not about to let An Yulan off the hook so easily. Wanting full revenge for the mean words An Yulan had whispered earlier about her mother, Meiling suddenly spoke up in her loud, childish voice.

"Grandmother! Since sister-in-law Yimei’s tea house is doing so amazingly well on its very first day, what about Second Sister-in-law An Yulan’s shop?" Meiling asked innocently, tilting her head. "Didn’t her father give her a fine silk shop in the South Market to manage? How is her business doing?"

An Yulan’s heart instantly dropped into her stomach. Her face turned ghost-white.

Second Uncle Bai Chengbang, never one to pass up a chance to dig into Madame Chen’s side, picked up on the lead immediately. He chuckled loudly, setting his wine bowl down.

"Ah, yes! The silk shop!" Second Uncle boomed. "Second Daughter-in-law, how are your monthly accounts looking? Yimei just opened today and sold out every single batch! Surely an established silk shop like yours is making double the profit, right?"

Third Uncle Bai Chenghao sneered softly, joining in on putting her down. "Yes, tell us! With all the proud talk from Madame Chen’s branch, you must be managing the silk shop brilliantly! How much raw silk did your shop import from the southern merchants this month?"

An Yulan’s mind went completely blank. Her hands began to tremble under the table.

The silk shop was indeed doing fine, but the truth was, An Yulan knew absolutely nothing about running it! She left every single detail to the shop manager and had never even set foot inside the building since receiving it.

"I... I..." An Yulan stammered, her voice shaking violently as her face burned under the heavy gazes of the entire family. "The... the shop is... it is doing well... but... but..."

"What was your total profit last season?" Second Uncle pressed further, leaning in with a sharp, mocking grin. "And what is the current price per bolt of southern embroidery?"

An Yulan squeezed her eyes shut, sweat breaking out on her forehead. "I... I do not know..."

The two uncles opened their mouths to grill her even harder, ready to thoroughly humiliate her in front of the Old Master.

Panicking, Madame Chen shot frantic, pleading looks across the table toward the uncles’ wives. Catching Madame Chen’s desperate glare, Madame Liu and Madame Zhang immediately reached under the tablecloth and delivered two sharp, violent punches straight into their husbands’ thighs!

"Ouch!" Second Uncle yelped, nearly jumping out of his seat.

"Cough!" Third Uncle choked on his breath, rubbing his bruised leg in pain as his wife shot him a lethal glare.

The two uncles instantly shut their mouths, coughing awkwardly and staring down at their plates.

An Yulan sat frozen on her cushion, pale, sweating, and utterly humiliated, while Madame Bai and her daughters shared a quiet, victorious smile across the table.

As soon as Old Master Bai and Grandma Bai stepped out of the hall, the quiet atmosphere shattered instantly.

An Yulan slammed her silk fan onto the table, her face red with tears of pure embarrassment. "This is completely unfair!" she hissed, glaring directly across the room at Yimei. "She just got lucky with a few cheap tea leaves! How dare she try to humiliate me in front of the whole family?!"

Bai Wenxiu and Bai Shishi immediately chimed in, their voices loud and bitter.

"Exactly!" Bai Wenxiu sneered, crossing her arms. "She acts like she’s so noble just because she opened a small tea house! She’s still just a plain, low-born girl who got lucky!"

"And look at her clothes!" Bai Shishi added, looking Yimei up and down with disgust. "She doesn’t even know how to wear fine silk properly! She looks like a servant playing dress-up!"

Sixteen-year-old Bai Meiling opened her mouth to yell back, but Yimei simply held up a quiet hand, stopping her with a calm, unbothered smile.

Before Yimei could even say a word, Madame Liu stepped forward, fanning herself with a snarky chuckle.

"Oh, save your tears, Second Daughter-in-law," Madame Liu said, shooting a fake, pitying look at An Yulan. "If you spent half as much time learning how to run your silk shop as you do putting on heavy makeup, maybe you wouldn’t have been slapped by Maid Lu tonight!"

"Madame Liu!" Madame Chen snapped, her face turning dark red as she stood up to defend her side. "Watch your mouth!"

"I’m only speaking the truth, Sister Chen," Madame Zhang joined in smoothly, giving her spoiled son Bai Jun another sweet cake from the table. "Some people teach their children how to manage businesses and study hard, while others only teach their children how to drink wine and whisper nasty gossip. It’s no wonder Second Uncle and Third Uncle had so many questions for you all tonight!"

Second Uncle’s arrogant son, Bai Ruizhe, scoffed loudly from the side. "At least I know how much our family’s shops make! Unlike certain people who can’t even answer simple questions about silk!"

"You little brat!" Bai Wenliang slurred, stumbling forward as if he wanted to fight his younger cousin.

His wife, An Yulan, quickly grabbed his arm, her face burning with pure shame as she tried to pull her drunk husband back. "Stop it, Wenliang! Sit down! You’re making a complete fool of yourself in front of everyone!"

Bai Wenliang shoved his wife’s hands off him. He had gone to the Northern Courtyard earlier today specifically to mock Zhengyu, expecting to find his crippled brother rotting in the dark. Seeing Zhengyu sitting upright in midnight-blue silks and getting praised by the elders had driven him crazy with jealousy.

"Get off me, Yulan!" Bai Wenliang yelled at his wife, pointing a shaking, wine-stained finger at Zhengyu’s wheelchair. "I went to his broken yard today to see him, and he looked like a ghost! He’s just a cripple pretending to be strong tonight! He’ll never be an imperial scholar! He’ll never be the family heir!"

"Wenliang, shut your mouth!" Madame Chen shrieked, terrified that Grandma Bai might hear him from the corridor.

Madame Bai stood up calmly from her seat, looking down at the messy, screaming concubine branch with her chin held high.

"Rulan, Meiling, let us go," Madame Bai said in a clear, loud voice, completely ignoring Madame Chen’s furious glares. "We have better things to do than listen to a drunkard and his bitter family make noise."

Madame Bai gave Yimei a warm, approving look before walking gracefully out of the hall with her two daughters trailing behind her, their heads held proud.

Lin Feng slowly pushed Zhengyu’s wheelchair toward the exit, with Yimei walking right beside him. As they passed the noisy crowd, Yimei didn’t even waste a single glance on An Yulan or the screaming girls, leaving them all fighting among themselves in total humiliation.