Chapter 121 -

Chapter 121: Chapter

"What do you even know about hatred?" Zhengyu asked softly, staring down at his own hands.

Yimei looked at him in silence for a long moment before she spoke, her voice dropping into a slow, quiet rhythm.

"An Yimei doesn’t know anything about hatred," she said smoothly. "But I once read a book about a woman. She was like a living doll, she couldn’t feel anything, she couldn’t taste anything. She was dead, yet still moving. She was dead, yet still able to talk and work. She didn’t hate anyone else in the whole world... except herself. And do you know what she did to end that self-hatred?"

Yimei leaned forward, her face stopping just inches away from his. Her dark eyes locked directly onto his, deep and unreadable.

"She took a white powder, poured it into a jar of wine, and drank every single drop," Yimei whispered, her breath brushing lightly against his face. "She drank until her pulse completely stopped... and everything went pitch black."

Zhengyu stared back at her, his entire body freezing. ℯℯ𝑙.

She stood up, taking her box ready to leave. "She lived worse than you... at least you have a mother who still cares about you. She had no one."

With that, she turned on her heel and walked out, letting the door slam shut behind her.

She marched down the corridor toward her courtyard, her sandals snapping loudly against the clean stone floor.

[Host, did you really have to tell him how you committed suicide?] Nine’s voice echoed sharply inside her mind. [Was dropping your past life’s story really necessary just to win an argument?]

She burst into her bedroom, shoved the heavy doors shut behind her, and leaned back against them, breathing heavily.

"If I didn’t spell it out for him, he’d never wake up," she muttered into the quiet room. "He needed a reality check, Nine. Now he has one."

Just then, Qinqin’s soft voice called out from behind the door. "Umm... Young Madame, the carriages are already here. Everyone is being called to gather at the front gate."

Yimei walked over and pulled the door open, letting Qinqin inside. "Alright. Come, help me change my outfit."

Qinqin smiled as she stepped in. "Madame is so smart. You even prepared a simple outfit specially for today. I’m sure Old Madame Bai will be furious when she sees everyone else still wearing their expensive, flashy clothes."

Yimei unfastened her outer robe and nodded. "That’s the last thing she wants to see. Besides, the southeast isn’t a place where we should draw unnecessary attention. If you are from a noble family with heavy stone walls and guards surrounding you, then sure.. dress as lavishly as you want. But if you don’t have guards or walls protecting you, the safest thing to do is look as plain as possible."

Qinqin went over to the table to pick up the folded bundle of clothes. "Madame, is that what you wrote in the note you asked me to give to Mother-in-Law and her daughters earlier?"

"Hmm," Yimei murmured. "Let’s get ready quickly and stop talking."

Yimei slipped into a plain brown and white hanfu, simple, comfortable, and easy to move in for a long travel day. She sat at her vanity table, leaving most of her dark hair down and fixing it back with just a single silver hairpin.

Yimei stepped out of her room, smoothing down her simple brown and white hanfu. As they walked toward the main gate, the rest of the family was already gathered around the four plain wooden carriages.

Madame Zhang stood near the front wearing a simple, plain attire alongside her son. Her husband was standing right beside her, chatting softly with Second Uncle Changbang. On the other side, Madame Liu looked completely miserable, with huge dark circles under her eyes as if she hadn’t gotten a single wink of sleep, her daughter and son huddled nervously at her side.

Madame Chen, on the other hand, was dressed rather lavishly, standing tall with An Yulan and her daughters, who were all looking extremely proud of themselves. The moment Yimei walked up, An Yulan sneered and made a mean remark about Yimei’s clothes.

"There’s no difference between you and a servant at this moment," Yulan said mockingly, proudly flaunting her expensive wine-colored hanfu. "Quite befitting for your low status, don’t you think?"

Her sisters-in-law burst into giggles at her stupid joke, covering their mouths with their silk sleeves. Yimei didn’t even blink, completely ignoring them.

Just then, Madame Bai arrived with Meiling and Rulan. Exactly as Yimei had advised in her note, all three of them were dressed in very plain, modest robes. Standing there in the crowd, you could hardly even recognize them as noble members of the great Bai family.

Soon after, Zhengyu arrived with Liu Feng pushing his wheelchair across the gravel. Zhengyu wore a set of plain blue robes, looking just like an ordinary commoner.

The moment Madame Liu saw Liu Feng, her face twisted into a deep frown. "Why is that servant following you two?!" she snapped loudly, pointing an angry finger at Liu Feng. "Have you forgotten Grandmother’s orders? No guards or servants are allowed to follow us to the southeast! The same goes for that maid of yours, she shouldn’t be tagging along either!"

She pointed an accusing finger at Qinqin. Yimei opened her mouth to put Madame Liu in her place, but before she could drop a single word, Old Madame Bai walked into the courtyard, flanked by Zhengyu’s father and Master Taiming.

The entire yard went dead quiet.

Old Madame Bai’s sharp eyes swept over the crowd, landing cold and heavy on Madame Liu.

"The guard will accompany Zhengyu because he is crippled," Old Madame Bai said, her voice cutting through the morning chill like steel. "If you want a guard as well, try breaking one of your legs and I’ll make sure I send you a useful one."

Madame Liu’s face turned completely red, then white, and she immediately shut her mouth, stepping back into the crowd without daring to breathe another word.

Old Madame Bai then turned her sharp gaze onto Qinqin, who shrank back slightly. "And as for this maid over here, she isn’t from the Bai family. She is Yimei’s dowry maid, so she can follow her mistress wherever she goes."

Old Madame Bai paused, looking directly at Madame Liu, Madame Chen, and the rest of the wives with deep disdain.

"Most of your own dowry maids ran away the very second they heard they were free to go," Old Madame Bai added harshly, her eyes full of disgust. "That shows the kind of evil and wicked people you all are, even your own servants aren’t willing to suffer along with you."

Madame Chen and An Yulan bit their lips, looking away in humiliation, while the rest of the family lowered their heads in utter silence.