A Loyal Plea
"Grand Aunt! I have always treated you with the utmost courtesy. I may not claim to have fulfilled every duty of a grand-nephew, but I have never once stopped thinking of you. So why would you seek to harm me?"
Liang King lifted his head and gazed at the Grand Princess with wounded, bewildered eyes—like a helpless lamb thrown into panic, like someone betrayed and hurt by the person closest to him.
The Grand Princess straightened her spine, met his gaze, and spoke with unshakable resolve.
"Your Highness, it is true that I am your grand aunt. But I am also the Grand Princess of Great Jin. The nation comes first, and family after! That is how I have treated the Bai family, and that is how I treat every person in this realm!"
A thread of sorrow wove through the aged Grand Princess's voice. Choking back tears, she continued.
"Your Majesty, I have grown old. When the full moon has passed, I will go to the imperial temple to offer prayers for the nation. I will have no more chances to look after the children of the Bai family. But those children are the surviving kin of loyal and valiant men.
"When the festival has passed and spring arrives, I will send every one of them back to our ancestral home in Suyang. The Bai family code is clean and upright; generation after generation, we have served with loyalty, and not a single one of us has ever clung to rank and idle comfort. Every man of the Bai family gave his life on the battlefield—there is no one left to inherit the title. So here, in this place, I surrender the Bai family's peerage. I ask only that Your Majesty allow our bereaved family to live out their days in peace!"
Yu Zhen, the Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, lifted his head and looked from the Grand Princess to the Bai eldest daughter, whose expression had remained composed and impassive from beginning to end. He had heard a rumor that the Bai family had found an heir through the collateral line—so why would they now give up their title of their own accord?
Bai Jingyan stepped forward to steady the Grand Princess and lowered her voice.
"Grandmother, doesn't that guard look very familiar to you? He resembles one of the guards who once attended the Second Prince..."
Bai Jingyan's voice was not loud—it sounded like nothing more than a granddaughter whispering to her grandmother. Yet it was pitched precisely so that the Emperor could catch every word.
Second Prince. Those three characters were a thorn lodged deep in the Emperor's chest. His head snapped up.
"Which guard do you speak of?"
He seemed to be asking Bai Jingyan, but his eyes had already turned to Gao Sheng. Then, as some thought struck him, the Emperor shot to his feet in alarm.
His heart was pounding. So that was why the man's face had nagged at him.
When the Second Prince had committed treason, Gao Yuan—the Prince's most capable general—had nearly severed the Emperor's head from his shoulders with a single stroke. Even now, he could not forget that heart-stopping moment: the sensation of a razor-sharp blade, smeared with blood, grazing across his scalp. Nor could he forget Gao Yuan's cold, sinister features.
"What is your relation to the traitor Gao Yuan?" the Emperor demanded in a great voice.
"Gao Yuan of the Second Prince's guard was my elder brother."
Gao Sheng stared straight at the Emperor without a flicker of fear, as if he wished for nothing more than to be cut down where he knelt.
"In the seventh year of the Xianjia era, my brother was felled by an arrow at Wude Gate. His entire household was exterminated. Only one person survived."
The Emperor turned startled eyes on Liang King. Liang King was staring at Gao Sheng with equal shock.
That astonishment was no performance. Liang King had never imagined Gao Sheng would reveal his identity of his own accord.
Now that things had come to this, Gao Sheng could never be allowed to live.
In that instant, a thousand thoughts raced through Liang King's mind. Then, boldly, he threw himself to the floor before the Emperor.
"Father Emperor! Your son... your son did not know Gao Sheng's identity!"
The Emperor clenched his fist. Only after forcing his heart to calm did he slowly seat himself again, silently gripping the arms of his chair until his knuckles went white.
Reading the Emperor's face, the Grand Princess offered a slow bow before speaking.
"Your Majesty, the people of Dadu already know everything about this affair. Outside Wude Gate at this very moment, they are crying out that Your Majesty is a wise and enlightened ruler. They believe firmly that Your Majesty will seek justice for the Bai family. Even the most exalted reputation means nothing unless one makes decisions worthy of it—that is how hearts are won! How you deal with Liang King rests entirely upon Your Majesty's wise judgment!"
The Grand Princess turned to leave with Bai Jingyan at her side. She was about to announce their withdrawal when Dongji burst out, weeping.
"The only reason everyone in Dadu knows of this is because the Bai family made such a spectacle of it! If Bai Eldest Daughter hadn't read that letter aloud in front of everyone, if she hadn't begged the people to testify on the Bais' behalf, why would the crowds have gathered outside Wude Gate at all?"
At those words, the fury Bai Jingyan had been holding back for so long finally erupted.
"So what you're saying is that even after Liang King tried to smear filth upon the loyal dead—men who gave their lives for our family and for Great Jin—the Bai family should have received that filth on bended knee? Liang King wove lie upon lie and tried to force a betrothal upon me in my grandfather's name. And yet my younger sister was supposed to place that letter, with a joyful heart, into my grandfather's own study!"
Dongji's mouth opened and closed, his face twisting in helplessness.
"If my sister had not unfurled that letter before the crowd, this letter in Liang King's own hand would never have seen the light of day. And none of us would have known that Liang King—my own contemporary—was so ruthless, so daring, so utterly thorough in his scheming! And I certainly would never have known that His Highness Liang King possessed such extraordinary talent for the theater. My sincerest admiration, truly!"
Bai Jingyan smiled coldly.
She had seen shameless people before—but never one who was shameless and so brazenly proud of it.
Liang King's fists clenched tight. Still, he kept up his act—the fool, the coward.
"Father Emperor! Your son has been wronged!"
The Emperor studied Liang King, recalling the fierce menace his son had worn only moments ago when he'd ordered Dongji to shut his mouth. And then he remembered the dream—the white tiger killing him.
Liang King was the same age as Bai Jingyan! Born, like her, in the Year of the Tiger!
At last, the Emperor's gaze swung back to Gao Sheng, and his hand tightened into a vice.
It struck him that his own son, Liang King, was far more likely to covet the throne than a mere woman like Bai Jingyan ever could be.
"All this while—has Liang King kept you at his estate?"
The Emperor leaned back against his pillows and asked calmly.
"Yes," Gao Sheng answered. "But His Highness Liang King does not know my identity."
"Then why reveal it today?"
"His Highness took me in when I had nothing. I could not repay kindness with betrayal."
Gao Sheng was unflinching.
Xiao Ruohai had never imagined Gao Sheng carried such a lineage. Privately, he thought it a waste—such a man could never be allowed at the eldest daughter's side. If only he could, how much safer her journey to the Southern Border would be.
Yu Zhen knelt beside Gao Sheng and, studying the guardsman lost deep in thought, asked, "Anything to say?"
The guard looked at Liang King, who seemed on the verge of convulsing with his feigned sobbing, and shut his eyes tightly.
"Nothing."
"Father Emperor! Father Emperor, you must believe your son!"
Liang King showed no sign of ceasing his wailing.
"Yu Zhen! I entrust this Gao Sheng, that guard, and Liang King's servant all to you! By any means necessary, interrogate them until the truth is laid bare!"
The Emperor raised his head and fixed Liang King with a dark stare.
"Confine Liang King to the Court of Judicial Review for now! Once those three have been interrogated, punishment will follow according to the law."
Liang King's pupils contracted sharply and his whole body went rigid. By any means necessary—those words permitted any torture, any punishment at all.
"Father Emperor! Father Emperor! Your son's wounds have not yet healed! Father Emperor, at least let Dongji follow me! Confine me if you must—but surely you will leave me one person to attend to my needs!"
In his frantic desperation, Liang King pressed his forehead to the floor, begging.
"Your Highness!"
Tears streaming down his face, Dongji appealed to the Emperor.
"Your Majesty, please allow this servant to attend His Highness! Or send someone, anyone, to look after him!"
"What are you waiting for? Take him away!"
The Emperor roared through gritted teeth.
Guards entered from outside the great hall, took their orders, and dragged Gao Sheng and the guardsman out.
"Eldest Daughter! Spare me, I beg you!"
Chunyan shrieked. Watching her being hauled off by the guards, Dongji hurriedly crawled on his knees to Liang King's side.
"Your Highness! Your Highness, even without me, you must take your medicine on time! You must look after your health!"
The two guards dragged Dongji out without a shred of sympathy.
"Your Highness! Take care of yourself!"
Listening to Dongji's trembling, terrified cries—listening even now to his insistence that Liang King remember his medicine—Liang King could not lift his head. He drove his forehead hard against the blue stone slab.
"Father Emperor! Dongji has been frail since childhood, just as your son was. He will never survive a punishment. Father Emperor, I beg you—release Dongji!"
"Even to prove your own innocence, those three must be punished. They are mere servants. There is nothing to discuss."
The Emperor lowered his head and looked at Liang King, still pounding his skull against the floor. What little remained of a father's affection for his son seemed to drain away, slowly, with every memory of that dream.
Liang King clenched his outstretched fists with all his strength, the tendons standing out on the backs of his hands. In the polished blue stone—so clean it was nearly transparent—was reflected his monstrous visage, jaws clenched, his face twisted with barely contained hatred.
"Take him away!"
The Emperor's words crackled with force.
Gao Demu gave his horsetail whisk a single flick, and the guards hastily dragged Liang King out as well. Yu Zhen bowed, withdrew from the great hall, and departed for the Court of Judicial Review to begin the interrogations.
The moment Liang King, who had been shrieking of his innocence, was hauled from the hall, the light drained from his eyes. Thin red veins flooded them from corner to corner.
The Emperor looked at the Grand Princess and Bai Jingyan, and only after a long silence did he slowly release a sigh.
"My son's failings have brought trouble even upon your grace, Aunt."
The Grand Princess shook her head.
"Your Majesty, I thank you for seeking justice for the Bai family. Now that this matter has been settled, I will take my granddaughter and return home."
"Aunt, go out ahead of us and wait a moment outside the hall. I have words for the Bai eldest daughter."
The Grand Princess held her silence for a moment, then bowed and turned to go. Xiao Ruohai hurried to support her.
Once she had gone, Bai Jingyan stepped forward and knelt with proper form at the center of the great hall, head bowed, the very picture of a subject awaiting instruction.
"Since the Grand Princess has declared she will undertake her devotions at the imperial temple, you will escort her there, and then proceed to the Southern Border with the envoys."
The Emperor toyed with his jade ring.
"The peace envoys have already departed. The three kingdoms are negotiating terms of accord as we speak. There will likely be no war in the interim. On your way south, think carefully: this campaign admits of victory alone—defeat is not to be countenanced. If you are defeated, there is no need for you to return at all! Do you understand my meaning?"
"Your Majesty—then if this servant returns in victory, would Your Majesty grant her one request?"
Bai Jingyan bowed with perfect courtesy.
The Emperor narrowed his eyes.
"Speak."
"If we are victorious, I ask that Your Majesty confer upon my second sister—Bai Jinxiu, wife of Jin Lang—the title of First-Rank Dame. The Bai survivors are all to return to Suyang, but my second sister, having married into the Jin household, cannot go back with us. Moreover, with the recent calamity that has befallen the Duke of Zhongyong's estate, my second aunt cannot depart in peace of mind if she must leave behind my second sister, whose nature is gentle and yielding. And so, shamelessly, I make bold to petition Your Majesty. For the sake of the loyal and valiant men of the Bai family, I beg Your Majesty to grant my second sister this honor."
Watching the woman kneeling at the center of the hall—her expression calm and composed, as though victory were already clasped in her hand—the Emperor slowly nodded.
"So it shall be."
Bai Jingyan bowed once more and continued.
"Once I have secured victory in the Southern Border, this servant will return straightaway to Suyang. Therefore I will speak my counsel here and now, before this assembly. Your Majesty—even if for no other reason than the long view, you must raise up new and capable soldiers."
The Emperor's slightly clouded pupils grew suddenly unreadable. It was as if he were watching Bai Weiting plead with him all those years ago.
Generation upon generation, the Bai family had served the throne with unbroken loyalty.
The Emperor remembered the conversation they had shared in the palace that year. When he recalled the vow he had made never to doubt Bai Weiting, his chest tightened.
The Emperor waved his hand and dismissed Bai Jingyan. It seemed the resolve to kill her had softened, at least a little.