Madam Ye's acceptance did not come with trumpets or tears.
It came with silence.
A month after the board's public support, the old woman summoned them both to the ancestral home. No bodyguards this time. No Lin Meiqi waiting in the wings.
Just the three of them in the traditional tea room, tatami mats under their knees, incense curling in the air.
Madam Ye was thinner. The illness had taken its toll, but her eyes were as sharp as ever.
She poured tea herself.
Slow.
Deliberate.
First for Wanyin.
Then for Ye Beichen.
Then for herself.
She did not speak until they had all taken the first sip.
"You have made your choice," she said in Mandarin, voice soft but steady.
Ye Beichen bowed his head slightly. "I have."
She looked at Wanyin.
"And you."
Wanyin met her gaze.
"I have."
Madam Ye set her cup down.
"I fought you. I sent Meiqi. I threatened the board. I used every weapon I had."
She paused.
"You did not break."
Wanyin's throat tightened.
"I thought you would. I thought you were like the others—ambition without root. Beauty without strength."
She looked at Ye Beichen.
"I was wrong."
He reached for Wanyin's hand under the table.
Madam Ye saw it.
Her eyes softened, just a fraction.
"My husband married for love once. Before the arranged marriage to me. She was poor. Brilliant. Died in childbirth. He never spoke of her again. Built the company to bury the pain."
She looked at them both.
"I thought love made him weak. I taught my son the same."
She turned to Ye Beichen.
"I was wrong."
He bowed deeper.
"Grandmother—"
She raised a hand.
"I am old. I will not live forever. The company will be yours. The legacy will be yours."
She looked at Wanyin.
"And yours."
Wanyin's breath caught.
Madam Ye continued.
"I have changed my will. You will inherit together. As equals. If one falls, the other carries on."
Ye Beichen's hand tightened on hers.
Madam Ye's voice grew quieter.
"I have one condition."
They waited.
"Children."
Wanyin felt her heart stop.
Madam Ye smiled, small and tired.
"Not for alliance. For love. For the future. For the parts of us that live on when we are gone."
She looked at Wanyin.
"You will be a good mother. Strong. Kind in the ways I never was."
Wanyin's eyes filled.
She bowed her head.
"I will try."
Madam Ye reached out, touched Wanyin's cheek with trembling fingers.
"You already are."
She turned to Ye Beichen.
"And you. You will be a better father than your grandfather. Because you know what it is to lose."
He bowed, forehead to the mat.
When he sat up, his eyes were wet.
Madam Ye closed her eyes.
"I am tired. Leave me now."
They stood.
At the door, she spoke once more.
"Be happy. It is the hardest thing. And the only thing that matters."
They left.
In the garden, under the old plum tree, Ye Beichen pulled Wanyin into his arms.
She held on.
Tight.
Like she was afraid to let go.
He whispered against her hair.
"She accepted you."
Wanyin's voice was thick.
"She accepted us."
He pulled back, cupped her face.
"Forever starts now."
She smiled through tears.
"Forever started the day you rigged that lottery."
He laughed, soft.
"Then forever is already winning."
They kissed under the plum tree.
Slow.
Deep.
Real.
Madam Ye watched from the window.
Smiled.
And closed her eyes.
Peace, at last.