Destiny
Dong Gil's face had gone deathly pale. His Highness had clearly said it was a love letter — so how had it suddenly become a letter of treason? That letter had never left his breast pocket, and he had handed it directly to Chunyan himself.
"It wasn't our Highness! That letter... that's not his letter! You're framing our Highness, that's what this is!"
Dong Gil flailed wildly as he shouted.
"His Highness clearly said it was a love letter!"
"I've never seen such shameless audacity in my life! Did we go to the King Yang Estate? Did we threaten the King of Yang into sending a letter to the Court of the National Guard? Weren't you the one who snuck up to our estate's side gate to meet our maids in secret? And now you'd claim we even foresaw this and wrote up a letter to slander our Bai family name in advance!"
Bai Jinchi's temper boiled over. If she'd had her whip in hand, she would have thrashed the King of Yang's dog soundly on the spot!
Bai Jingyan looked at Dong Gil and spoke in a voice like ice.
"Then let us go to the Court of Judicial Review together and hand this matter over to them."
When she finished speaking, Bai Jingyan bowed toward the crowd of commoners who had not yet dispersed.
"Everyone, would any of you be willing to serve as witnesses? Anyone who can attest that our Bai family's servant never altered this letter, please come with me to the Court of Judicial Review, strike the drum, and accuse the King of Yang."
Bai Jingyan was not the least bit afraid of making the affair larger. True, she had laid the stage herself — but the letter had come from the King Yang Estate. Once investigated, his true nature was bound to come to light.
"I will vouch for the Bai family's innocence!"
someone answered in a loud voice.
"The fourth young lady tore the letter open right in front of everyone! We all saw it! I'll be a witness too!"
a woman replied.
"I saw this nanny dragging someone out of the estate to seize a servant and a maid. And from the moment she dragged them here, the letter never left that maid's hands. No one changed it — I'll prove it!"
"I can testify as well! That heartless King of Yang — while every son of the Bai family fell in battle, he plots yet another treachery! The way I see it, it's the King of Yang who colluded with an enemy state to murder the Duke of Zhenguo and his men!"
"We have been under the Bai family's protection. If the Bai family can be cleared of this false charge, we will stand as witnesses. A hundred strokes of the rod, a thousand — it doesn't matter! We cannot stand by while the Bai family's loyalty and valor are sullied and their bereaved kin wronged!"
Among the seething crowd, Bai Jingyan narrowed her eyes as she watched someone slip quietly away.
* * *
With the affair blown up this large, the King of Yang's people would certainly hurry back to report it.
In her past life, the King of Yang had used those very letters to bring down the Bai family alongside Yu Huanzhang. With physical evidence in hand, the Bai family had had no choice but to bear that infamy in full.
This time, Bai Jingyan had dangled the list of names tied to the Southern Border grain affair as bait to lure the snake out of its den. The King of Yang, impatient, had seized the moment while the Bai family was in chaos and instructed Chunyan to plant the letters in the Bai estate — in her grandfather's study, no less.
That single fact confirmed for Bai Jingyan that Yu Huanzhang was not in the Southern Border but in the King of Yang's hands, here in the capital of Dadu.
If Yu Huanzhang had not come forward claiming the old Duke had sold out the country, the Emperor would have had no pretext at all to order the Imperial Guards to surround the Bai estate. Nor would the letters ever have seen the light of day.
This was exactly why she had told Nanny Dong that if she captured Chunyan, she was to make a spectacle of it before the crowd. She wanted the news to reach the King of Yang's ears.
Judging by the temperaments of the King of Yang and Du Zhimei, the moment they learned of it they would spin up a web of schemes in short order and do everything in their power to sever the King of Yang from the affair entirely.
But the letters had been carried in by the King of Yang's own servant. The only way to cut him loose was to insist the letters had nothing to do with him — that the King of Yang had sent a love letter, pure and simple, and it was a love letter even when handed to Dong Gil. The King of Yang would claim he'd sent it only to bring the fourth young lady of the Bai family to him, and that he had no idea why his servant had brought such a letter instead. He would draw a clean line under the whole matter.
And Dong Gil, of course, would play the fool and profess total ignorance.
Failing that, it would mean the King of Yang's servant had colluded with Yu Huanzhang — and if the affair spread in that direction, the King of Yang would be entangled beyond any hope of escape.
So the perfect scapegoat, naturally, was Yu Huanzhang and no one else.
Faced with such a stratagem — whether by threat or by enticement — the King of Yang would have no choice but to move. Whether he went himself or sent someone, he would inevitably seek out Yu Huanzhang to confer.
Which meant that if Bai Jingyan simply posted men at the King Yang Estate, they could track down Yu Huanzhang — and seize him in one stroke, before the enemy had time to prepare their countermeasures.
The truth was, Bai Jingyan had gambled.
She had once said this to Bai Jinxiu: in Dadu, a city where people snapped and tore at one another and laid traps without end, only those who showed no opening and could read the hearts of men would emerge victorious.
To die on a battlefield to blade and spear — that would be destiny, a matter beyond human will.
But to be defeated in Dadu by intrigue and schemes was to be a fool, to suffer an undeserved death.
Moreover, in this life she held one advantage: she knew the natures of the King of Yang and Du Zhimei. If she still could not defeat them, it would be as good as betraying the will of the heaven that had granted her rebirth. Her vow before her grandfather's spirit tablet to protect the Bai family would turn to shame.
Bai Jingyan turned her head and looked at Xiao Ruohai. Buried in the crowd, he too was watching the man who had left in such haste a moment ago.
When their eyes met, Bai Jingyan gave him a small nod.
Xiao Ruohai led a dozen or so servants and scattered in pursuit of the fleeing man. His destination was the King Yang Estate.
The commoners, their fury overflowing, clamored over one another to testify for the Bai family, vowing to prove the innocence of the Duke of Zhenguo and his estate. The gates of the National Guard's residence grew raucous once more.
Lady Dong, moved by the sincerity of the people, felt her throat tighten and her eyes grow red. Her chest swelled so full that she could scarcely master her emotions.
The sons of the Bai family had gladly laid down their lives for the people — and now the people vowed to prove the Bai family's innocence in return.
A household to which the hearts of the people turned — in all of Dadu, the National Guard's estate must be the only one.
"Jingyan, leave this letter to me. I am going straight into the palace to beg His Majesty to restore the Bai family's honors."
The Grand Princess clutched the letter in her hand as she spoke, trembling with fury. Her knuckles, white around the walnut she was gripping, had gone bloodless from the strain.
"Nanny Zhang, we enter the palace!"
Lady Dong bowed respectfully to the Grand Princess before speaking.
"I will go with Mother."
The Bai family's funeral rites had been properly concluded; there was no longer any need for her to keep watch over the estate. When it came to restoring the Bai family's honor, how could she stand idly by?
"I will accompany the Grand Princess and my sister as well!"
Dong Qing'e spoke up.
"I'm going too!"
Bai Jinchi said loudly.
"I'm going with Grandmother!"
Lady Yu, née Ji, stood on the steps cradling her belly, supported by a nanny. Though her eyes were rimmed with red, she spoke with firm resolve.
"I will go with my mother as well. We have only just laid the heroic spirits of the Bai family to rest — I cannot simply stand by and watch these ruthless, shameless traitors slander our house! Even if it costs me my life, I will never allow our loyal dead to be dishonored!"
Though on the verge of tears, the heavily pregnant Lady Yu spoke with a resolute voice, and her vow to reclaim honor for the Bai family's fallen spirits stirred everyone present.
"Yes! We cannot let the Bai family's loyal dead suffer such injustice!"
someone cried out loudly.
"Not all of you may come."
The Grand Princess lightly patted Lady Dong's hand, checking them.
"We go to ask for His Majesty's aid, not to hold him under duress. You will all wait at home until I return."
"Since Grandmother says we cannot all come together, then we shall wait outside the Wude Gate.
Bai Jingyan's delicate face turned grave. Her dark eyes were like crystals frozen in the bitter depths of winter — too brilliant to look upon directly.
She continued.
"If His Majesty should desire a formal confrontation, then I ask all of you to give testimony on our Bai family's behalf!"
The Grand Princess gripped her walnut tightly and gazed at her eldest granddaughter with deep, unreadable eyes.
Jingyan no longer trusts me. Her heart has turned away from me.
Bai Jingyan had already made her decision. She meant to shield the Bai family with the hearts of the people. Even if it came to a point where the Emperor was pressed by force of circumstance, she would not lean on her grandmother. She would trust commoners who owed her nothing — but she would never again trust the Grand Princess.
The Grand Princess swayed slightly. It felt as though her heart were plunging endlessly toward the ground.
The grief of having sent off her husband, her sons, and her grandsons — and now the pain of losing her granddaughter's heart as well — left the Grand Princess staggering.
But with so many eyes upon them, she could not speak of her rift with her granddaughter. Now was not the time.
Before the Grand Princess could open her mouth, Bai Jinchi raised a fist salute to the crowd, then bowed low with cupped hands.
"Righteous people, please wait with us outside the Wude Gate. If His Majesty desires a confrontation, give testimony for our Bai family!"
"Fourth Young Miss, there's no need to ask! Even before you spoke, we meant to go to the Wude Gate with the Bai family's bereaved kin!"
"Yes! Exactly so! We will go with them! If His Majesty shields his own son, we will strike the Dengwen Drum for the Bai family! We will never tolerate the Bai family's honored dead bearing a false charge! Let's go!"
Before the Bai family could even move, the crowd stirred noisily to life and began drifting in twos and threes toward the Wude Gate.
"Eldest Sister! We're going too!"
Bai Jinchi looked at Bai Jingyan, eyes blazing like kindled fire.
"Grandmother will travel by carriage, so she'll move faster than we will. We'll wait outside the Wude Gate for her to bring us good news."
Bai Jingyan gave the Grand Princess a light obeisance — but her voice was cold as frost.
"Jingyan..."
the Grand Princess called to her.
"If you believe I would take the King of Yang's side, then come into the palace with me."
To cry injustice before the Wude Gate would be to recreate, exactly, the scene of a few nights past when she had struck the Dengwen Drum to pressure the Emperor.
Bai Jingyan could not be allowed to lead the people to the Wude Gate a second time. Last time, the Emperor had punished the Xin King only grudgingly, because Bai Jingyan had brought the crowd with her to strike the drum — and he had nursed a grudge against her for it ever since.
If the people were allowed to follow her again, then even though it would be no doing of Bai Jingyan's, the Emperor would surely believe the crowd had gathered at the Wude Gate on her account.
The authority of the throne and the prestige of the imperial army were not things to be provoked.
Officially, the Emperor would render no judgment unfavorable to Bai Jingyan on account of public sentiment — but in secret, with no one the wiser, he could very well have her killed. The Grand Princess was worried for Bai Jingyan.