A deep silence rang in the air. Old Madam neither rejected nor accepted her claim. She just blankly stared at her with empty eyes.

But for Lihua, that was enough of an answer. She slowly bent and kneeled in front of her and gently picked her hand.

The Old Madam said, "You don't have to kneel in front of someone who has caused you trouble ever since you stepped in."

"It is nowhere near to the troubles you must have faced in your life. Also, you said that I won the challenge. But I still haven't. Until I get your blessings too, my victory will be incomplete."

The Old Madam was genuinely taken aback. "Me? Really?"

"Aren't you the Matriarch of the family? You are the Head. You are a part of this family as much as others are. Of course, you were always on my radar," Lihua seriously nodded.

Her mouth twitched.

There was a beat of silence.

"I haven't told this to anyone. Not even Weizhe and Weiyuan."

"I know. The reason they don't know is because you didn't let them. You must have hidden your injuries so that they never realize the truth."

A faint, sad smile etched on her lips. She slightly parted as she spoke,

"Looking at Weizhe, Weiyuan, Wei, Li or Fai...you would never think that the Jiang family's men could ever raise their hand against their wife, right?"

Lihua grimly nodded.

She thought about Wei and her heart warmed up. He was so doting and loving that he would rather die than hurting even a single strand of her hair.

"But the older generations did. The Jiang family is highly patriarchal. It was never just that the head of the family took all the decisions. They considered women beneath them. Women were nothing but just a tool for child-bearing for them. There was total tyranny. My late mother-in-law suffered just as much at the hands of my father-in-law. Beating women became like a habit just how we eat and sleep. The generations after them watched this and learned that it was fine to abuse women. So they followed their footsteps."

"It was the same with my husband. He saw his mother getting beaten, but he was taught it was okay. My family...was similar. My father or grandfather never hit their wife, but they didn't respect them either. So, you can say that the norm in our generation became that a woman will always listen to her husband. She would never defy him and neither raise her voice against him. Those thoughts became a part of me too. I knew what fate awaited me when I married my husband. But I was ready because that was the norm. Nobody really thought otherwise."

Lihua's gaze dimmed in sadness.

"My father was a merchant. That's why my father-in-law thought that it was a good idea to form a relationship with my family and use the connections for the Underworld activities. A merchant's job was useful. My father was more than happy to send me because even then, The Jiang family was wealthy and prestigious. I stepped into the family and from my first day itself, I saw my mother-in-law crying and sobbing with injuries on her body. And that terrified me…"

Her hands began to shiver.

The Old Madam continued. "I realized that I wasn't ready for this, after all. I only hoped that my husband might be different. A tiny hope that never came fruitful. I became the same as my mother-in-law. We had to be cautious about what we spoke or if they got angry, they would hit us hard. Two years passed by just like that and by then, I just became an empty shell. This was supposed to be what I thought my life was. Maybe I would just die one day out of extreme injuries and pain given by my husband. This was how every woman lived. But I was proved wrong."

Amidst the sadness in her eyes, there lit a flicker of warmth in them.

"One day, a new servant came to work in the Jiang family. Zhao...Weisheng."

Lihua froze.

She slowly lifted her head, her heart drumming loudly in her chest. She stared at her aghast as something struck her hard as if lightning zapped her.

The Old Madam faintly smiled. "I think you have realized it. You are right. Weizhe, Weiyuan and Xiurang…they are my children from him."

There was such a sharp silence that even Lihua felt it difficult to breathe. It was the most shocking revelation until now that she had ever heard.

The Old Madam smiled. "Zhao Weisheng was the sun in my dark and desolate life. He was the one who showed me that not all men are the same. Not all men treat women like garbage. He was the man with the kindest soul in this whole world. He was an extremely beautiful man. But more than his outward appearance, his heart was the most beautiful of all. His smile was as dazzling as a bright star that always took my breath away."

Remembering that man brought tears to her eyes. "Zhao Weisheng showed me that a woman can live a happy life. No...A woman has the right to live a happy life. He worked as a butler in the family and soon he came to know about the ugly truth of how all women were treated. Every time my husband would beat me, Weisheng would come to treat my injuries. In that era of patriarchal society, he was extremely forward-thinking. He believed that women should be treated with respect. How could any man bear to hit them because of whom they came into this world?"

Lihua's lips trembled into a faint smile.

"He was agitated to see my condition. But he couldn't do anything to help me because he was just a butler. He was an orphan. He was powerless. Before him stood the pillars of the Underworld. If he spoke as much as a word against this treatment, my husband would throw him out in no time or even worse... kill him."