When the door of the family ancestral hall opened, Ji Xingmian was kneeling on a cushion.
Three years ago, she had knelt here while they tried to force her to surrender control of the businesses her mother left behind. Now she was kneeling here again, because the Ji family matriarch had told her to "come home and offer your mother some incense."
The incense wasn't even lit yet.
"Xingmian, you've been away for three years. Haven't you made enough of a fuss?" Her second uncle, Ji Jianye, stood before the offering table, tapping its surface. "Do you know how much your mother's businesses have lost in your hands?"
Xingmian didn't look up.
Lost.
She had taken the three pharmaceutical factories her mother left on the verge of bankruptcy into the industry's top three. Last year's revenue exceeded a billion. In her uncle's mouth, that became a loss.
"Sister, don't blame Uncle for being blunt." Ji Wanqing came through the side door with a tray of tea, looking dutiful and gentle. "Your management is just too aggressive. The family elders are worried."
Xingmian raised her eyes.
Her dear younger sister wore a Chanel suit, a Cartier watch and a fresh French manicure. Three years ago, Wanqing had worn bargain clothes and trailed after her calling, "Sister, wait for me."
"So?" Xingmian asked, her voice mild.
"So the elders have decided to take back management of your mother's businesses." Jianye pulled a document from his pocket and tossed it down before her. "Sign here. Wanqing will manage them from now on. Come home, stay here in peace, and you'll get every penny you're entitled to."
Xingmian looked down.
A share-transfer agreement.
The businesses her mother left her, the enterprise she had spent three years of time and effort rebuilding, would become Wanqing's with one signature.
"Uncle, why should I hand my mother's businesses to somebody else?"
"Because your surname is Ji!" He slapped the table. "You're a member of this family, so the businesses belong to the family! You're a girl. You'll marry sooner or later. Are you going to marry into another family and take the Ji businesses with you?"
The hall fell quiet for a few seconds.
Wanqing approached and crouched beside her, all tenderness. "Sister, don't blame Uncle for speaking frankly. He wants what's best for you. Working out in public is so hard for a girl. Let me manage the businesses. You can stay home as the Ji family's eldest daughter. Wouldn't that be nice?"
Xingmian studied her face.
It was full of "for your own good." Her eyes were full of triumph.
Wanqing had been the same three years ago. Saying "Don't worry about us, Sister," while moving Xingmian's belongings into her own room, one item after another. Clothes, jewelry, even their mother's keepsakes.
"Wanqing is right." Her third uncle, Ji Jianguo, spoke too. "Xingmian, you're a girl. Stop thinking about business all day. Look how sensible Wanqing is. She's studying business management. She'll be able to help the family."
Xingmian stood.
Her knees hurt from kneeling, but she didn't care.
"Uncle, Wanqing's business-management tuition was paid with my money."
Jianguo's face changed.
Wanqing's expression stiffened for an instant, then softened again. "Sister, what are you saying? The family paid my tuition..."
"The family?" Xingmian smiled. "When my mother died, the Ji family's account had thirty thousand left. Three years of your tuition, living expenses, clothes and handbags all came from the businesses my mother left."
She looked at Jianye. "Am I right, Uncle?"
He did not look pleased.
"Xingmian, you can't put it like that..."
"Then how should I put it?" She picked up the agreement and leafed through it. "I sign, my mother's businesses become Wanqing's, and I become a useless rich daughter waiting to marry? Is that what you mean?"
"You!" His face flushed red. "Is that how you speak to your elders?"
"Elders?" She slapped the agreement back onto the table. "Why didn't you remember being my elders when you tried to force me to sign?"
The hall door suddenly opened.
The Ji matriarch came in leaning on her cane, two bodyguards behind her.
"What's all this noise?" She didn't speak loudly, but the whole hall went silent.
Xingmian looked at her.
This was the real head of the Ji family. The person who had forced her to leave three years ago.
"Grandmother." Wanqing hurried over and held her arm. "What brings you here? We were discussing the businesses with Sister."
"Discussing?" The old woman glanced at Xingmian. "Has she agreed?"
Jianye rushed to hand over the agreement. "Mother, look. The terms are perfectly fair. After signing, Xingmian will still receive an annual dividend..."
"I'm not signing."
Xingmian's voice was quiet but clear.
The hall went silent again.
The old woman stared at her. "What did you say?"
"I said, I'm not signing." Xingmian repeated it. "I'll manage my mother's businesses myself. Nobody is taking them."
"Ji Xingmian!" Jianye snapped. "Don't be ungrateful! If it weren't for your mother, do you think I'd even bother discussing it with you?"
"Then don't discuss it."
Xingmian took out her phone and dialed.
When the call connected, she said only, "Bring everyone in."
Three minutes later.
The hall door opened. Twenty bodyguards in black suits filed inside and formed two lines.
Their leader came to Xingmian and bowed. "Ms. Ji."
Everyone in the hall froze.
She accepted the documents he offered and turned to the matriarch. "Grandmother, three years ago you said I was too young to protect the businesses. I'm twenty-three now. Would you like to see whether I can?"
The old woman's expression changed.
Jianye and Jianguo exchanged a look. Each saw shock in the other's eyes.
"What... what are you doing?" Jianye pointed at the guards. "Are you turning against the family?"
"Turning against it?" Xingmian smiled. "You've got it backward, Uncle. The family is turning against me."
She handed over the documents. "The last three years of financial reports for my mother's businesses. Revenue grew three hundred percent. Market share went from nowhere in the rankings to the industry's top three. Is the 'loss' you keep talking about the net profit in these reports?"
Jianye took the documents and flipped through them. His expression grew worse.
Wanqing leaned in to look. Her face changed too.
"That's impossible..." she murmured. "I heard you were doing badly..."
"Heard?" Xingmian looked at her. "From whom? Uncle?"
Jianye's face went bright red. "Xingmian, you..."
"What about me?" She stepped closer. "The year my mother died, you diverted eight million from her account to fill the hole in that wretched company of yours. Shall I bring out the bank statements and discuss it?"
His face instantly went white.
She turned to her third uncle. "Your daughter's overseas tuition came out of the Ji family's public account. But was there any money in that account? I earned that money."
Jianguo's face stiffened too.
The matriarch struck her cane hard against the floor. "Enough!"
Everyone quieted.
She looked at Xingmian with a complicated expression. "What do you want?"
"Nothing." Xingmian said, "I'll manage my mother's businesses. I won't interfere in Ji family affairs. I don't want Ji family money either. But if anyone tries to touch what my mother left me—"
She smiled.
That smile bore no resemblance to the girl who had knelt here begging three years ago.
"Don't complain when I stop recognizing the Ji name."
Nobody spoke.
Wanqing bit her lip, her eyes reddening. "Sister, are you really that heartless?"
"Heartless?" Xingmian looked at her. "When you took my mother's keepsakes out of my room, did you think about heartlessness? When you had my belongings thrown outside, did you think about it? When you told the entire family I was losing money and forced me to give up control, did you think about it?"
Wanqing went pale.
"That's enough." Xingmian's smile disappeared. She turned toward the door. "I've said what I came to say. I'll manage the businesses myself. Anyone with objections can come to me."
At the door, she stopped.
"Oh, Grandmother."
The old woman looked up.
"Three years ago you said I wasn't fit to inherit the Ji family. I didn't come back today to be anyone's heir." Xingmian said, "I came to tell you that the person you chose isn't as good as me."
She left.
The bodyguards followed in a procession.
The ancestral hall was as quiet as a tomb.
Jianye collapsed into a chair, cold sweat covering his forehead. Jianguo's face was livid. He couldn't say a word.
Wanqing bit her lip, her nails digging into her palm.
The matriarch stood looking in the direction Xingmian had gone.
"Madam..." The steward spoke cautiously. "Should we..."
"No." She closed her eyes for a moment. "The child has grown wings."
Outside.
Xingmian got into her car. Her phone rang.
"Ms. Ji, the people from Shen have arrived."
"Let them wait." She pressed her brow. "I'll be there shortly."
The car drove out of the Ji family's old residence.
In the rearview mirror, the house receded into the distance.
Three years.
At last, she could walk out standing tall.