Free Web NovelChapter 199: SIMPLY BECAUSE FORTUNE FAVORED YOU
Xue Mingzhan looked at Deyong for a long time before he finally spoke.
"You ask me for an explanation," he said.
His voice was quiet.
"Very well," he continued. "I will give you one."
He folded his hands behind his back and said, "In the course of thirty years, you met your younger brother, ShangYan, only three times. The first time, ShangYan was ten years old. The second time, he was twenty. The third time, he was thirty. And on every single occasion, you met him with discrimination."
His eyes never left Deyong’s face as he said, "I was the one who made the mistake. I was the one who gave ShangYan a birth the world would look down upon. I was the one who failed him before he ever had the chance to fail himself. So tell me, Deyong... what excuse did you have?"
He paused before continuing. "You were the elder brother. You had every privilege that this family could provide. You had status, wealth, education, and opportunity from the day you were born. What excuse did you have for treating ShangYan the way you did? You never once acted like an elder brother. Never once acted like a man with responsibility."
His gaze swept across the room before returning to Deyong. "You lived your entire life without meaningful competition. You accepted whatever your mother told you. Whatever your wife told you. You never learned to think beyond yourself. And over the years I watched something tragic happen. You became complacent, idle, arrogant. And eventually... you became foolish."
His words landed with painful calm rather than anger. "Do you believe life is measured by the family into which one is born? That being born with a silver spoon excuses cruelty? Or that wealth excuses prejudice? Does status excuses a lack of character?"
He slowly shook his head and said, "ShangYan became an established man without receiving even half the opportunities that you did. He built his own reputation. He earned the respect of others. He endured humiliation that should never have been his to bear. And despite all of that... he did not become bitter. He did not become cruel. He did not become arrogant. I watched both of my sons, and I learned which one possessed true strength."
His eyes moved through the hall, stopping on one face after another. "I have watched all of you. I have watched my sons. I have watched my grandchildren. And today I tell you plainly... you received exactly what you deserved."
His expression hardened. "You complain about inheritances. You complain about fairness. But some of you once pushed your own younger brother down a flight of stairs. You watched the weak being bullied and looked away. You hid behind your status. You hid behind your pride. You hid behind your alpha ego. And you mistook those things for virtue."
He looked back at Deyong and said, "You are my son. But in the qualities that truly matter... you are nothing like ShangYan."
A silence settled over the hall. "I say that not with hatred," he said. "I say it with profound disappointment."
Then his attention shifted to the rest of the family. "And the rest of you disappoint me no less. Regardless of how we enter this world, family should be met with love. Family should be met with respect. Instead, you met ShangYan with prejudice. And years later, you met Guiying with the very same prejudice. The circumstances of ShangYan’s birth were my fault. The circumstances of Guiying’s birth were never his fault. And yet many of you looked down on him as though he had committed some unforgivable crime. You mocked him. You ganged up to ridicule him. You spoke cruelly about him behind his back and to his face."
His eyes were filled not with anger but with sadness. "Even today... my grandson celebrated his marriage. And some of you could not bring yourselves to offer him a single sincere word of congratulations. You found it easier to whisper, to sneer, and to mock than to bless him. A family that cannot show kindness to its own blood has already lost something far more valuable than money."
Only then did he look towards ShangYan again. "So when you ask me why I chose ShangYan... it is not because he was born to the right woman. It is not because I love him more. It is because, after watching all of you for so many years, I came to understand a very simple truth." He paused.
The tension in the room, sharp enough to cut.
"Blood may determine who belongs to a family. But character determines who is worthy of leading one. I have seen ShangYan’s character. I have seen yours and this is my final decision."
Xue Mingzhan looked at Deyong for a long while.
When he finally spoke again, the severity that had coloured his voice moments earlier had faded into something far quieter.
"Deyong."
"You are my son."
"And despite everything I have said today, I love you."
No one spoke.
"I have loved you since the day you were born, and nothing that has happened here will change that."
He let out a slow breath.
"As your father, I always wanted to give you the things I never had. I wanted your path to be easier than mine. If you wanted something and I could provide it, I did. If there was an obstacle in your way, I tried to remove it before you ever reached it."
For the first time that evening, he smiled, though there was more weariness than amusement in it.
"Looking back now, I sometimes wonder if I made your life too easy."
His eyes remained on Deyong.
"I gave you comfort because I wanted to protect you, but perhaps comfort also kept you from becoming the man you might have been."
The words were spoken without anger.
"There is still time to change that."
"There is no disgrace in recognising your faults. Every human being has them. The disgrace is seeing them clearly and refusing to grow beyond them."
His expression softened.
"You still have years ahead of you. Use them well. Become a better brother than you have been. Become a better father than you have been. More importantly, become the sort of man you yourself would be proud to stand beside."
Only then did he turn to everyone else gathered in the hall.
"My words are not meant for Deyong alone."
"I have watched this family for many years, and lately I have found myself asking a question that troubles me greatly."
"When did wealth become more important than kindness?"
"When did status become more valuable than character?"
"When did so many intelligent people become so willing to look down on others simply because fortune happened to favour them?"
