Chapter 76 -

Chapter 76: Chapter

Madame Bai looked at her husband, Old Master Bai Tianming.

Tianming’s face darkened with every word his brothers spoke. Listening to Second Uncle and Third Uncle boast about their ambitious sons cut straight into his pride.

Look at his brothers, their sons were healthy and active! Meanwhile, what did Tianming have to show for himself? He had two sons. Two. Yet one was a useless, crippled cripple bound to a wheelchair, and the other was a mindless, stupid drunkard who spent his nights passed out in wine shops!

What terrible, cursed luck! Tianming thought bitterly, clutching his wooden cup so tightly his knuckles turned white.

"Since the family is so confused on who should manage this year’s planting season..." a smooth, clear voice suddenly echoed from the entrance of the hall, "...why doesn’t the First Young Master take up that responsibility?"

Every single head in the hall snapped around.

Yimei walked into the dining hall, stepping calmly alongside Liu Feng, who was rolling Zhengyu’s wheelchair in.

The entire family froze, their mouths dropping slightly open.

Both Yimei and Zhengyu were dressed impeccably in high-quality silk robes. But it wasn’t just their clothes, there was something striking and entirely different about Zhengyu today.

He didn’t look like the dying, dull-skinned invalid they had all watched rot away for months! His sickly, pale complexion had gained a warm, healthy color, and his clear eyes held a sharp, dangerous spark. Even though his expression remained as cold, icy, and unreadable as ever, his whole body radiated vitality.

Madame Liu’s fake smile completely wiped off her face, and Second Uncle’s jaw went slack.

Zhengyu sat tall in his chair, completely ignoring the stunned silence of the room, while Yimei stood by his side, her eyes glinting with a sharp, bold challenge.

"Greetings to Grandmother, Master Bai, Mother, and the Uncles," Yimei said, her clear voice breaking the silence in the room.

Across the table, An Yulan’s face turned sour. She squeezed her silk cloth tightly, glaring at Yimei with deep jealousy. She had expected Yimei to come back looking tired and miserable after a week on the road. Instead, Yimei looked fresh, pretty, and completely relaxed.

The rest of the family sat in total shock, holding their chopsticks in mid-air.

Zhengyu never came to the dining hall for breakfast. For years , he had stayed hidden inside his dark room, letting everyone believe his health was getting worse. But here he was sitting straight up in his wheelchair, looking calm and powerful.

Madame Bai gasped, her eyes wide as she looked at her son’s healthy skin. Madame Liu and Madame Chen looked at each other in panic, their smug smiles completely gone.

Zhengyu didn’t say a single word. He just raised his dark eyes and looked slowly around the room, making his shocked relatives feel small.

Yimei kept her sweet smile, stepping behind Zhengyu’s wheelchair. The fight for control of the Bai family had officially started.

"Yimei, come bring Zhengyu over and sit down," Grandmother Bai ordered, her strict voice warming up just a little as she motioned toward the two empty places.

Yimei nodded politely. She walked behind Zhengyu’s wheelchair and smoothly guided him right up to his spot at the long table before taking the seat right beside him.

The moment the two of them settled down, Second Uncle Bai Chengbang slammed his teacup onto the table. He glared directly across at Yimei, his face tight with anger.

"Yimei! What kind of absurd talk was that just now?" Second Uncle barked out, his voice sharp and aggressive. "You are just a young woman who recently married into this family! How dare you blabber about household affairs and hand over the spring harvest funds to a invalid who can’t even stand on his own two feet?"

"That’s right!" Third Uncle Bai Chenghao chimed in instantly, sneering as he pointed a finger at her. "Know your place! The spring planting season is a massive responsibility that controls our family’s wealth for the whole year! It takes healthy, capable men to handle the ledgers and manage the fields. What does Zhengyu know about farming or money when he spends all his time locked up in his room?"

"Exactly," Madame Liu sneered, joining the attack with a bitter laugh. "To suggest such nonsense right in front of the Old Master and Grandmother... Yimei, did your trip outside make you forget the proper manners of the Bai household?"

Across the table, An Yulan smirked happily, waiting to watch Yimei get scolded and humiliated right in front of the entire family.

Zhengyu sat completely still in his chair. His face turned icy cold, and a dangerous light flashed in his dark eyes as the uncles continued to hurl insults at him and his wife.

Yimei, however, didn’t flinch. She simply sat up straight, picked up her wooden chopsticks, and looked up at the angry uncles with a calm, sweet smile that made their blood boil even more.

"Uncles, your voices are quite loud for people with such short memories," Yimei said softly, taking a slow sip of her hot tea.

The dining hall went dead silent. Second Uncle’s face turned bright red, while Third Uncle choked on his breath.

Yimei set her cup down with a gentle clack and looked straight at Second Uncle. "You say the spring harvest controls our family wealth. But if I remember correctly, last year’s harvest ledgers under your branch ended up with a huge loss of three thousand silver pieces."

Second Uncle froze, his jaw dropping. "That—that was because of bad weather!"

"Bad weather?" Yimei turned her head toward Third Uncle. "And what about Third Uncle? Last season, your branch bought bad seeds that ruined twenty acres of good land. If healthy men produce results like that, maybe someone with actual brains should handle the money."

Madame Zhang slammed her chopsticks onto the table, her face twisting with pure rage. "Yimei!" she spat out, pointing a trembling finger across the table. "You just married into this household! How do you even know all this nonsense?!"

"I know because I actually read the open account books instead of just counting my allowance, Auntie and if I was wrong why hasn’t grandma or master bai scolded me.. it is something everyone knows" Yimei replied with a calm, fake smile.

Bai Ruizhe stood up aggressively, banging the table. "You cheap girl! How dare you speak to my father and mother like that!"

"Sit down, Ruizhe!" Old Madame Bai’s voice crashed through the room like thunder as she slammed her wooden staff onto the floor.

Ruizhe flinched and fell back into his seat, trembling under the matriarch’s glare.

Old Madame Bai turned her sharp eyes onto Zhengyu. "Zhengyu, your wife speaks very boldly for you today. What do you have to say?"

Zhengyu slowly lifted his head. His cold, dark eyes swept across his pale relatives before landing on Master Bai.

"My wife is right," Zhengyu said, his deep voice filled with absolute authority. "The family fields have been managed like a joke for two years. If Master Bai wishes to keep losing silver, give the ledgers back to my uncles." He leaned back, a cold smirk touching his lips. "Otherwise, hand the key over to my courtyard."

Madame Zhang and Madame Liu trembled with anger, while Madame Bai sat up straight, her heart beating fast with sudden hope.

Master Bai Tianming looked at Zhengyu’s healthy, glowing face and sharp eyes. For the first time in two years, he saw the sharp mind of his eldest son fully awake.

[Host! Zhengyu took your side in public! Target’s favorability +2! Current favorability: 20 points!] Nine’s voice chimed happily in Yimei’s head.