Chapter Thirty-Nine: This Is Fate!

"Quickly, please take the seat of honor." Cheng Mingye smiled as he ushered the old man to the main seat in the hall, while simultaneously giving Cheng Yingxue a subtle, meaningful glance.

Seeing this, the young girl wanted to find some excuse to leave immediately. However, before she could even open her mouth to fabricate a reason, Cheng Guangyao, who had just settled into his chair, let out a cold snort. "Hmph! If I hadn't come, wouldn't you all have turned this Cheng household completely upside down?"

"Mingye, I heard that you have already sent word to annul the marriage engagement with the Shen family, and that you even promised to take Yunniang into business with you?"

"Ah... yes, yes, I did promise Yunniang that I would take her along to do business..." Caught off guard by the direct question, Cheng Mingye’s face stiffened. Rubbing his hands together, he quickly scrambled for a justification, "It is mainly because Yunniang truly possesses a natural talent for it, and she even just solved..."

"Absurd!" Cheng Guangyao shouted sharply, cutting off the man's words without mercy. "In my eyes, you are all acting against the laws of heaven!"

"Except for widows who have no other way to survive, since when has it been the place of women in this world to go out and engage in such public trade? Yunniang is a young lady of a respectable family; instead of staying home and preparing for marriage, she is clamoring to go run a business—and you, Mingye, you are actually indulging her and joining in on her folly!"

"But... but Father, I have already promised Yunniang that as long as she can identify the root cause of the losses at the cosmetics shop over the years, I will take her on and teach her how to do business." Cheng Mingye bit the bullet and contradicted his father in a low voice. "The ancestral teachings of our Cheng family have always emphasized integrity as our foundation... Father, you surely wouldn't want me to lose my credibility in front of the younger generation, would you?"

"Besides... Yunniang is truly a rare talent in the business world. Her future achievements might not even fall short of..."

"The Cheng family ancestral teachings also clearly state that one should not easily heed the words of women or small-minded people!" Cheng Guangyao’s eyes widened. "It seems you haven't taken that lesson to heart at all!"

"Furthermore, what kind of future can a daughter have? Even if she does, it will mostly benefit her future husband's family!"

"I believe the engagement with the Shen family is perfect—the Cheng family’s paper business happens to need the support of the Shen family’s timber trade... That is far more reliable than the ethereal 'future' you speak of!"

"Enough, it is settled. I see no need for further discussion. Someone come here..." Cheng Guangyao waved his hand, preparing to order someone to forcibly remove Cheng Yingxue. Seeing this, the young girl’s brows knitted tightly: "Wait!"

"Grandfather, before you make this decision, have you ever asked for Yunniang's opinion?"

"Opinion?" Cheng Guangyao raised his eyebrows high, as if he had heard a great joke. "Since ancient times, marriage has been a matter of 'the command of parents and the word of the matchmaker.' You are a junior, and a girl at that—what right do you have to an opinion?!"

"Is it because I am a junior... or because I am a woman, that I cannot have any thoughts regarding my own marriage?" Cheng Yingxue’s eyes were filled with disappointment. "Or are you saying that a woman's entire life is meant to be spent just hoping to 'marry into a good family'!"

"And what else would it be?" Cheng Guangyao slammed the table. "Women throughout history have lived this way... why must you be the only one to act so rebellious, and the only one to harbor so many useless thoughts!"

"Useless thoughts... Grandfather, I am fighting for my own interests, I am striving to do the work I wish to do..." The young girl did not yield an inch. "How can that be considered a useless thought?!"

Cheng Guangyao stroked his beard impatiently. "Anything that hinders the good marriage the family has arranged for you is a useless thought!"

"Even if your so-called 'good marriage' means letting Yunniang marry a sickly weakling who might not live past twenty?" The disappointment in Cheng Yingxue's eyes turned into despair.

"Yes, even if it means marrying a sickly weakling who won't live to twenty... even if that second son of the Shen family were to die tomorrow, and you had to become a widow on the spot," Cheng Guangyao stated without hesitation, "you will still marry into that family obediently!"

"Then what about my life?" the girl asked, looking up at him. At that moment, she felt that her grandfather, who sat in the seat of honor and had dominated the world for a lifetime, looked so pedantic, stubborn, and ridiculous. "What then becomes the meaning of my life?"

"You have no life," Cheng Guangyao said expressionlessly. "Naturally, there will be no meaning to it either."

"Or, even if there is, it is to serve your parents-in-law wholeheartedly... If you are unfortunate enough to become a widow early, then remain a widow, until you can earn another chastity arch for the Cheng and Shen families!"

"Chastity arch... a chastity arch, always a chastity arch!" Hearing this, Cheng Yingxue could no longer bear it. She thought of her sister, who had been starved to death by her husband's family, and the young bride from a century ago who had been strangled to death.

She felt as though every crevice of those stone arches carved from Yixian slate was seeping with the blood of women... and the scent of that blood was so strong she could hardly breathe!

Why... why can women in this world not determine their own destinies... why must they live their entire lives just for the sake of that cold, lifeless stone arch!

"Why must women, in life and in death, exist only for that chastity arch? Why can a few light words from you decide our fate so easily?!"

The young girl shouted these words, her eyes reddening completely.

Cheng Guangyao’s voice rose sharply in response: "Because that is fate! Yunniang."

"—That is the fate destined for you as a woman! It is the fate you must accept as long as you remain a member of the Cheng family!"

"Then I shall leave the Cheng family!" Cheng Yingxue rose abruptly from the floor, her sleeves fluttering with a sharp sound. "If being a member of the Cheng family means I must accept such a fate, then I will leave the Cheng family from this moment on!"

"You... what did you say?!" Cheng Guangyao stared in disbelief, his white beard trembling with rage. "Say that again!"

"I said—" the young girl suddenly grew calm, "Yunniang wishes to sever all ties with the Cheng family."

"I no longer wish to be a member of the Cheng family."

"Yunniang, you must be mad!" Cheng Guangyao clutched his chest, looking utterly devastated. "All your study of poetry and etiquette has gone to waste!"

"Yes, I am mad." Cheng Yingxue remained unfazed, her eyes fixed on the old man in the hall, her gaze unwavering. "But am I the only one who has gone mad?"

"Grandfather, you forbid me from doing business—is it truly because you fear I will challenge your authority and escape your control—"

"Or is it because you fear that I will prove that a woman can be just as capable as the men you have always placed your hopes in!"