Chapter 106 -

Chapter 106: Chapter

Yimei stopped right at the doorway, her fingers lightly gripping the wooden tray. She turned her head slightly to look back at him.

"What do you think Grandmother will do if she wakes up tomorrow?" Yimei asked, her voice quiet in the dim room. "Will she really go along with this separation nonsense, or will she just punish Second Uncle and let the matter go?"

"Grandmother spent her whole life building this family," Zhengyu said smoothly, his voice dropping low. "She created the Three Branches because she wanted unity. But she is not blind, and she is not weak. Second Uncle didn’t just steal money, he betrayed her trust and threatened to tear her life’s work apart."

He leaned forward slightly, his eyes burning with an icy glint.

"She will not sweep this under the rug," Zhengyu continued cold and direct. "She might hurt inside because he is her son, but she knows that if she lets Second Uncle off easy now, the whole Bai family will fall into complete lawlessness. Tomorrow, she will throw the book at him."

Yimei listened, nodding her head slowly. His answer made complete sense. The old matriarch was tough as iron, and she wouldn’t let anyone destroy her hard work.

"Then we stand ready for tomorrow," Yimei said softly.

With a small smile, she pulled open the heavy door and stepped out into the night, leaving Zhengyu alone with his thoughts in the quiet room.

The moment Yimei closed the heavy wooden door behind her, the cold night air hit her face. She walked along the quiet wooden corridor, holding the tray with the empty porcelain bowl.

Suddenly, a sharp, electronic chime rang inside her mind.

[Ding! System Notice!]

Nine’s mechanical voice popped up clearly, followed by a bright blue screen floating right before her eyes.

[Target Character: Bai Zhengyu]

[Current Favorability Rating: 28%]

[Warning: Favorability rating has dropped by 7%! Target feels his authority was challenged.]

Yimei stopped right in her tracks. Her eyes widened, and her calm face instantly twisted with pure disbelief and annoyance.

"What on earth did I do to make him like me less?!" Yimei muttered under her breath, her voice tight with irritation. "I literally brought him his medicine! I made sure he didn’t freeze or fall sick in that dark room!"

[System Response: Target has a very high ego and strong defensive walls, Host. He does not like feeling managed, lectured, or pushed around.]

"Egoistic jerk," Yimei snapped back in her mind, her dark eyes flashing with anger.

She turned around, glaring back at Zhengyu’s closed bedroom doors. All her patience for his dark, moody attitude evaporated completely. She had spent the entire day running around the East Market, fixing up a three-story pavilion, going down to the farm, and fighting off Second Uncle in the grand hall. She was not going to sit around begging for the approval of a moody, stubborn man.

"Fine," Yimei spat quietly, turning back around and marching toward her own bedroom. "If he wants space, he gets space! If he wants distance, I will give him a whole ocean of distance. I’m completely done dealing with his stupid mood swings!"

Qinqin was waiting inside Yimei’s warm room, lighting the bedside oil lamps. When she saw Young Madame march inside with a pale, annoyed face, she quickly stepped forward.

"Young Madame?" Qinqin asked nervously, taking the wooden tray from her hands. "Did the First Young Master drink the medicine? Did... did he yell at you?"

"He drank it," Yimei said, her voice cold and flat as she took off her heavy fur cloak and threw it onto a chair. "And from now on, Qinqin, you don’t need to ask me about his business anymore. Whatever he wants, let Liu Feng do it. I have a tea pavilion to run tomorrow."

Qinqin blinked, completely surprised by her mistress’s sudden sharp tone, but she quickly bowed her head. "Yes, Young Madame! I understand."

Yimei sat down at her wooden dressing table, pulling the pins from her hair. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, her lips pressed into a firm, tight line.

....

The cold morning sun rose over the snowy roofs of the Bai Manor.

Yimei got out of bed early, put on a simple dark blue winter dress, and ate her breakfast in complete silence. She did not ask Qinqin about Zhengyu, and she did not send any maid to check on him. She did her morning work quickly and quietly.

When it was time for Zhengyu’s daily acupuncture, Yimei picked up her small wooden medicine box. Her face was calm and completely smooth, showing no emotion at all.

She walked down the quiet hallway and pushed open the heavy wooden doors to Zhengyu’s room.

Inside, Zhengyu was lying on his bed, propped up against a large white pillow. He was holding a thick book in his hands. A warm stove crackled softly in the corner of the room, keeping the air cozy.

When Yimei walked in, Zhengyu did not look up right away. He kept his eyes on his book, acting like he did not care that she was there.

Yimei did not care either. She did not say "good morning." She did not ask how his legs felt. She did not even say a single word of greeting.

She walked straight over to the side of his bed and set her wooden medicine box down on the small table with a soft clack. She pulled out a clean silver needle, her hands moving smoothly and quickly.

Zhengyu held the book in front of his face, but his dark eyes kept looking over the top edge of the pages. He watched her silently, waiting for her usual quick remarks, her bold questions, or her advice.

He waited for her to speak.

Five minutes passed. Not a single word came out of Yimei’s mouth.

The room was totally quiet, except for the soft sound of Zhengyu turning a page and Yimei placing the fine silver needles into his legs. She focused completely on her work, treating him like a normal doctor treating a stranger.

Zhengyu’s jaw tightened behind his book. The heavy silence in the room felt very strange, much worse than any loud fight they had ever had. His fingers squeezed the edges of his book a little tighter, but he refused to say anything first. He kept pretend-reading while secretly watching her.

Once all the needles were in place, Yimei pulled out a small notebook and a brush. The needles had to stay in his legs for two full hours.

Instead of looking at him or trying to start a conversation, Yimei sat down on a rosewood chair near the bed. She opened her notebook and began writing down plans for her new tea pavilion, listing prices, wooden tables, and silk curtains. Her eyes stayed glued to her paper the entire time.

Two long, quiet hours passed.

The room stayed completely silent. Zhengyu read his book, and Yimei wrote in her notebook, neither of them saying a single word to the other.

When the two hours were up, Yimei put her notebook away and stood up. She pulled the silver needles out of his legs one by one, wiped them clean with a soft cloth, and put them back into her wooden box.

Click.

She snapped the latch shut. Without giving Zhengyu a single glance, Yimei picked up her medicine box, turned around, and walked straight out of the room.

The heavy door clicked shut behind her, leaving the room instantly silent.

Zhengyu sat on his bed, slowly lowering his book to his lap. He did not pick up another page, and he did not call for Liu Feng.

He just sat there in his quiet room, staring fixedly at the closed wooden door, his dark eyes filled with a deep, strange anger.

"She’s ignoring me."