Chapter 90 -

Chapter 90: Chapter

The main hall of the Bai family estate was lit with warm lantern light, but the air inside was colder than winter ice.

Sitting high upon the central wooden throne was Old Madame Bai. Her hands rested heavily on her cane, and her sharp eyes swept across the room with deep anger. Sitting nearby was her eldest son, Master Bai, along with his brothers.

"Mother! You must give us justice!" Madame Liu wailed, slamming her knees onto the cold stone floor. She cried violently into a silk handkerchief, her makeup completely ruined by her tears. "Yimei has humiliated our entire family! She swapped our Cloud-Mist Tea with rotten swamp weeds! She made us the laughingstock of every noble family in the capital!"

Madame Liu hit her chest with her fist, her gold bangles clattering loudly. "I spent my hard-earned savings to buy that rare tea! But that wicked girl swapped it out behind our backs! Now everyone thinks our branch is full of cheap beggars!"

"Yes, Mother! You must punish her!" Madame Chen chimed in, weeping loudly right beside her. "She didn’t stop there! She tricked my poor daughter-in-law An Yulan into presenting fake glass as imperial jade to Lady Xiao! And worst of all... she drugged my poor son Wenjiang with high-proof Fire-Wine!"

Madame Chen wiped her nose with her sleeve, her voice rising into a sharp scream. "My poor Wenjiang is still lying outside, throw-up all over his silk clothes, babbling nonsense like a madman! How could Yimei treat her own brother-in-law like a dog on the street?!"

"She did it on purpose!" Bai Xiuying cried out, her eyes red with jealous hatred. "Grandmother, Yimei wanted to ruin us so she could steal all the praise for herself! She even paraded around like a shameless servant, serving tea to Master Xiao Jun just to show off!"

Old Madame Bai’s heavy eyebrows pulled together. She listened to their loud screaming, her eyes growing darker by the second.

Finally, Old Madame Bai raised her heavy wooden cane and slammed it against the floorboards with a thunderous BOOM!

"Silence! All of you!" Old Madame Bai roared, her deep voice echoing off the high wooden beams. The entire room instantly went dead silent. Not a single person dared to breathe.

Right at that exact second, the heavy wooden doors of the main hall swung open.

A cool night breeze blew inside, carrying in the soft, graceful rustle of silk. Yimei walked into the grand room, her posture straight, her head held high, and a faint, calm smile resting on her delicate lips. Right beside her, Liu Feng smoothly rolled Zhengyu forward in his wheelchair.

Zhengyu sat tall, his rich dark robes making him look like a formidable young lord. His dark eyes swept across the weeping women with absolute disgust and cold indifference.

Madame Liu pointed a shaking finger straight at Yimei. "There she is! The snake who bit her own family!"

Yimei didn’t even glance at them. She stepped into the center of the hall, bowing with perfect, effortless grace. "Yimei greets Grandmother, Father, and the honored Elders."

"Yimei," Old Madame Bai spoke, her voice heavy as a mountain. "Your family members claim you deliberately sabotaged their gifts and ruined their reputation at the Prime Minister’s banquet today. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Madame Bai stepped forward from the First Branch’s side, her face full of worry. "Mother, please hear the full story before judging—"

Yimei gently raised her hand, signaling for her mother-in-law not to worry. She looked up at Old Madame Bai, her dark eyes clear and completely innocent.

"Grandmother," Yimei began, her clear, sweet voice filling the quiet hall. "Aunts say I swapped their tea and fake jade. But may I ask... how could a simple daughter-in-law who stayed inside her own courtyard all morning possibly swap gifts that were locked inside their private rooms?"

Madame Liu froze, her loud sobbing instantly cutting off. "You... you obviously bribed our servants!"

"Bribed your servants?" Yimei chuckled softly, a light, mocking sound that made Madame Liu’s blood boil. "Aunt, why would your loyal servants take money from me to betray you? Are your servants really that cheap?"

Master Bai narrowed his eyes, nodding his head slowly. Yimei’s words were completely logical.

"Then what about the wine?!" Madame Chen shouted angrily, her face turning red as a beet. "My son Wenjiang said he drank Fire-Wine left on his window sill! You poisoned him!"

"Aunt Chen, please speak with care," Yimei replied smoothly, turning her cool gaze toward her. "Brother-in-law Wenjiang is a grown man. If he finds random wine on a window sill and chugs the entire bottle right before the biggest banquet of the year, is that my fault? Or is it simply because he lacks self-control?"

Meiling quickly covered her mouth with both hands to hide a loud snicker, while Rulan bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud.

Old Madame Bai’s face grew darker as she looked at Madame Chen. "He drank random wine off a window sill before an Imperial banquet?!"

"Grandmother," Zhengyu’s deep, cold voice suddenly broke through the room.

Everyone turned to look at the wheelchair-bound young master. Zhengyu leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees, his dark eyes fixed on Madame Liu and Madame Chen like a predator watching easy prey.

"Instead of blaming my wife for their own stupidity," Zhengyu said, his voice full of sharp, biting ice, "perhaps they should explain why they brought cheap swamp weeds and fake glass to the Prime Minister’s estate in the first place."

Zhengyu sneered coldly, mocking them openly in front of his family. "If Yimei had not stepped forward with her fresh ginger tea to save our family’s name, the Prime Minister would have kicked our entire family out today. My wife didn’t ruin your reputation. You ruined yourselves, and she cleaned up your pathetic mess."

Madame Liu and Madame Chen gasped, their faces draining of every drop of color.

Old Madame Bai slammed her cane down onto the floor again. "Is this true?!" she boomed, her voice full of stern anger. "The Prime Minister’s wife praised Yimei’s tea while calling your gifts cheap garbage?!"

Madame Liu trembled like a leaf in the wind, stumbling backward. "M-Mother... it was a mistake! We were tricked by the shopkeepers in the market!"

"Silence! Fools! Absolute disgraceful fools!" Old Madame Bai roared, slamming her heavy cane down repeatedly. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! "You bring fake trash to high nobles, get dead drunk at an engagement party, and then come home crying like victims to blame your eldest nephew’s wife?!"

Master Bai stepped forward, his face dark with immense shame and anger as he glared straight at Madame Chen. "Madame Chen! You have spoiled Wenjiang for far too long! He drank himself senseless, embarrassed us in front of the entire capital, and caused a total scene at the Minister’s estate! As his father, I will no longer tolerate his shameless behavior!"

Master Bai slammed his hand onto the table, his voice loud and strict. "From this moment on, Wenjiang is strictly confined to his room! He is not allowed to step a single foot outside for two whole months! Let him reflect on his disgraceful actions!"

Madame Chen felt her knees go weak, letting out a horrified gasp. "Master Bai, no! Please, he is your son!"

"Not another word!" Master Bai barked coldly, turning his head away.

"Grandmother, please forgive us!" An Yulan cried out, falling to her hands and knees in terror, tears streaming down her cheeks. "We didn’t know!"

"Forgive you?!" Old Madame Bai sneered coldly, her eyes full of total disdain. "You have dragged the Bai family name through the mud! Everyone in the capital is laughing at us tonight because of your endless greed and stupidity!"

Old Madame Bai stood up, her gaze icy cold as she issued the rest of the punishment. "Starting tomorrow, the branches involved will have their monthly allowance cut in half for the next six months! And you, Madame Liu and Madame Chen, will spend the next month copying scriptures inside your rooms. You are forbidden from leaving your courtyards!"

Madame Liu and Madame Chen felt as if lightning had struck them directly on their heads. Half their allowance?! Confined to their rooms?!

"No! Mother, please!" Madame Liu screamed, grabbing at her chest.

"Get out of my sight! All of you, dismissed!" Old Madame Bai barked, turning her back on them in complete disgust as she walked out toward her private quarters.

As the disgraced relatives dragged themselves out of the hall like beaten dogs, weeping and cursing out loud, Yimei stood calmly beside Zhengyu.

Yimei looked down at her husband, catching the tiny, satisfied smirk playing at the edge of his lips.

"You spoke up for me back there," Yimei whispered softly, leaning near his ear so only he could hear, her warm breath lightly brushing his skin. "Thank you, husband."

Zhengyu’s ear twitched slightly, turning a faint shade of red. He quickly turned his head away, clearing his throat to hide the sudden rise of warmth in his neck.

"I merely spoke the truth," Zhengyu muttered coldly, gripping the wheels of his chair. "Don’t get used to it."

Yimei chuckled quietly, her eyes sparkling with amusement as she walked right beside him straight to their courtyard.