The Beauty Pot
By the time Bai Jingyan reached the door, the Emperor suddenly spoke.
"Bai Jingyan. If, on this journey to the Southern Border, you plot rebellion along the way……"
With her hand tucked inside her sleeve, Bai Jingyan clenched her fist tight. Before the Emperor could even finish his sentence, she turned and bowed to him, then spoke.
"On the campaign to the Southern Border, my grandfather served with the loyalty of a minister. I, Bai Jingyan, shall serve with the devotion of a child."
Loyalty. Filial piety.
Bai Weiting had shown the Emperor nothing but complete devotion. Just as Bai Jingyan said, Bai Weiting had led every man of the Bai family onto the battlefield, leaving no path of retreat for the sake of their house.
When the living carry guilt toward the dead, what lingers in memory is only the dead person's virtues.
Bai Weiting's overflowing loyalty tormented the Emperor.
His granddaughter seemed to have hardened her heart to avenge the men of the Bai family.
The Emperor's resolve wavered.
"You may go."
"Your servant takes her leave."
* * *
The Grand Princess stood beside a crimson-lacquered pillar at the entrance of the great hall, clutching her handkerchief in a tight fist. Her palms were slick with sweat, and her heart pounded so hard it felt ready to leap from her throat. She trembled with dread that Bai Jingyan might say something reckless to the Emperor—that he might, in his fury, put her granddaughter to death.
Lost in anxious thought, the Grand Princess turned her head toward the sealed doors of the hall. And then, almost without meaning to, she noticed Xiao Ruohai standing there, still stained head to toe with blood. Whether it was her own restlessness or simply that the man had a way of escaping notice, she only now registered his presence behind her.
"Did A-yan already know about what happened at the Yuhuan Banquet today?"
The Grand Princess asked.
Xiao Ruohai hastily bowed at the waist. He answered in the same gentle, composed tone he had used inside the hall.
"I must report to the Grand Princess—how could the Eldest Young Lady, who holds no official post, foresee an event that had not yet come to pass?"
Xiao Ruohai did not speak the whole truth. He knew that the Eldest Young Lady had turned her back on the Grand Princess ever since the day the latter had tried to have Qi Zhengyu killed for the sake of the Bai family's illegitimate son. He could not trust the Grand Princess. His loyalty belonged to one person and one person alone—the Eldest Young Lady.
Barely enough time had passed to finish a single cup of tea before the doors of the great hall opened. Bai Jingyan walked out unharmed, and at the sight of her, the Grand Princess could finally breathe easy again. She hurried over, seized her granddaughter's slender wrist, and demanded.
"What did His Majesty say to you?"
"He commanded me to win victory in the Southern Border. He said that if I am defeated, I am not to return."
Bai Jingyan's voice was calm, unhurried, utterly matter-of-fact—but the Grand Princess reeled as if struck, swaying on her feet.
"What?"
The Grand Princess understood exactly what the Emperor intended.
On the surface, it would appear that he was sending an envoy to negotiate peace. In secret, he was sending Bai Jingyan to launch a covert attack.
If the remaining troops had been vast, if the men of the Bai family and the Bai Family Army had all survived, then even the great allied host of Da Yan and Xiliang might have been worth facing in battle.
But now the generals were dead, and the surviving remnants of the army numbered pitifully few. How could they possibly stand against the great armies of Nanyan and Xiliang?
Every man of the Bai family lay buried in the Southern Border. Why would the Emperor not let Bai Jingyan go free either?
Unable to stop her body from trembling, the Grand Princess turned and strode back toward the great hall. She meant to confront the Emperor herself.
"I must speak to the Emperor—"
"Foreign enemies circle us like wolves, and with every general gone, the very foundations of the realm are shaking. I must go to the Southern Border."
The sky had darkened. Along the grand corridors of the palace, the attendants lit the great ru-yi palace lanterns one by one.
Bai Jingyan, slender and upright, stood in the wavering glow of the lantern light with her back perfectly straight. She looked unyielding and composed—a person who feared nothing in this world.
The Grand Princess stared into her granddaughter's ink-black eyes. Within them burned a light both fierce and cold. They seemed resolute and unbending, and yet in that stillness of gaze lay hidden an ambition vast beyond measure. In her bearing, one could even glimpse the majesty of a general.
The Grand Princess felt a chill of unease. But she steadied herself, recalling her granddaughter's words—that the Bai family had shielded the common people for generation upon generation, and so could never commit treason.
Still, like a beast bound fast in chains, the Grand Princess remained caught between the nation and her family, struggling without a way out.
* * *
Bai Jingxian was locked in the woodshed, bound hand and foot. He was frantic with dread.
Darkness had fallen, and no one had brought him so much as a drop of water or a bowl of rice. The guards posted outside were silent as the dead.
After pacing the shed for what felt like an eternity, Bai Jingxian came to stand at the door and hurled curses through the wood.
"Let me warn you now—you had best untie me this instant! I am the only man left of the Bai family! The sole heir! Keep raging about like fools who know nothing, and the moment I walk out of here, I'll have every last one of you killed! And as for you, Bai Jingyan—just you wait!"
The mourning-clad guard outside the door stood in perfect silence, as if not a single word had reached his ears.
Bai Jingxian grew more restless by the moment. The Grand Princess's attitude today made it plain—she was prepared to cast aside the title altogether. And if that were so, might she simply have him killed?
Startled by his own thought, he broke out in a cold sweat.
No—that can't be. I'm the last son the Bai family has left.
He was still sunk in these dark musings when he heard footsteps, and Bai Jingxian shot to his feet.
The door of the woodshed swung open, and Bai Jinxiu and Bai Jindong surged in with their guards. Bai Jingyan remained standing outside and did not enter.
Bai Jinxiu had originally intended to deal with this illegitimate whelp herself, alone. He was the karmic debt her father had left behind.
But her grandmother had summoned the family to gather at the Garden of Longevity, and on the way there she had met her eldest sister and her third sister.
She had been about to ask her eldest sister and Jindong to wait for her a moment, but Bai Jindong had dragged their eldest sister straight here.
With his hands lashed tightly behind his back, Bai Jingxian stumbled two steps backward.
"What do you think you're doing? I am the only man of the Duke's estate! How dare you think of killing me!"
Everything this creature had done, from the moment they first crossed paths at Mangjiang Tower, had gone far beyond anything Bai Jingyan could have tolerated. He was the man who had bashed Qi-Liu-shi's head against a wall until she died, and then ordered her corpse carved up and fed to the dogs.
He was still Bai family blood, and so she had meant to give him a clean, swift death…… but now she could no longer allow him to die so easily.
A beast this venomous and depraved deserved to be tormented in exactly the manner he had tormented others, and only then to die.
Bai Jingyan's face was like carved stone. She stood at the entrance holding a hand warmer, refusing to set foot inside the shed.
"Simply killing you would be letting you off far too easily."
A savage chill gathered in Bai Jinxiu's eyes.
"I hear you're quite fond of beauty pots. Very well, then—I'll make you into one."
Every trace of color drained from Bai Jingxian's face. He screamed with all the strength he had left.
"You wouldn't dare!"
Bai Jindong, her expression gone dark, spoke up.
"They say quite a few gentry sons in Dadu share this particular taste. I'll send you to a young master who is a true connoisseur of the craft. He'll paint your lips with rouge every day, tend to you with the utmost care, and turn you into the prettiest, most exquisite beauty pot in the land—a delight for all eyes to behold."
"Are you insane? I'm the last son of the Bai family! The last son! I'm the one who's meant to inherit the title of Duke of Zhenguo!"
Bai Jingyan's face turned to ice. She could not even be bothered to give this bastard her contempt. Gazing at him as one might regard something filthy and verminous, she calmly brushed the snow from her sleeve and let her unfocused gaze drift toward the corridor.
"Still dreaming, are you?"
A sneer crept into Bai Jindong's eyes.
"Grandmother has already given up the title. The imperial edict will come down by tomorrow at the latest! And as for tonight—we intend to announce to the world that the illegitimate son who drove the Bai family's benefactor to her death could not endure his mourning duties and perished."
Bai Jinxiu felt bile rise in her throat at the mere sight of the son her father had fathered. She turned her head away and gave her order with cold ruthlessness.
"Force the medicine down him!"
The two guards entered with the drug in hand, and Bai Jingxian shrank back before he could stop himself.
"Have you lost your minds? I'm the only man of the Duke's estate—Grandmother would never leave me to be killed! You madwomen—how dare you try to murder me behind her back!"
One guard bore down on the struggling man, while the other seized his jaw and wrenched it open. Then he poured the muting drug into Bai Jingxian's mouth and forced his jaw shut again.
Bai Jingxian's legs gave out and he dropped to his knees, coughing violently, jamming his fingers into his mouth and trying to vomit up the bitter medicine he had just swallowed. But it was no use, no matter how he thrashed. His throat burned as though set aflame.
Rolling on the floor in agony, Bai Jingxian screamed for someone—anyone—to save him. But his voice grew thinner and thinner, until at last he could make no sound at all.
"Sever both his arms and both his legs, and stop the bleeding. Do not touch his face under any circumstances. Then dump him in Gugu Lane. Young Master Wang is said to be terribly fond of a handsome man's face. I'm sure he'll be treated very well!"
Having said her piece, Bai Jingyan lingered not a moment longer and left the place at once.
Wang Shao-yeh of Gugu Lane had a peculiar fondness for bodies missing their limbs. And among those, he favored nothing so much as a handsome young boy—over the years, quite a few boys of the meanest registries had died at Wang Shao-yeh's hands. Once Bai Jingxian fell into that man's clutches, he would live a life more wretched than death itself.
Bai Jindong stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly at Bai Jingxian as he thrashed in agony. Watching her, Bai Jinxiu turned and called out.
"Jindong?"
Bai Jindong's eyes went cold as frost. She stepped out of the shed and spoke to the guard posted at the entrance.
"This bastard ordered Qi-Liu-shi's corpse carved up and fed to the dogs. So do the same to him—cut off his limbs, and make him watch with his own eyes as pieces of his own body go into the dogs' mouths."
The guard flinched at first—then, remembering what the bastard had done to Qi Zhengyu's young widow, he clenched his teeth and answered.
"Third Young Lady, it will be done!"
Bai Jindong gave a nod, then hurried after her two elder sisters, who were already walking down the corridor beneath the swaying white lanterns.
Bai Jingyan had turned her head slightly and was speaking to Bai Jinxiu.
"Yin Shuang may be a bit slow on the uptake, but she's strong and loyal, and she has a particular fondness for snacks. I'll have Nanny Dong teach her proper etiquette first, and then set her in your service. It's not that your martial skills are poor. But with Yin Shuang at your side, you'll be that much safer. That way I can leave you alone in Dadu with some peace of mind. The Southern Border is treacherous country—I couldn't keep her with me there regardless."
Bai Jinxiu nodded.
"Don't worry, Elder Sister. I'll take good care of Yin Shuang. And I'll always bring her with me whenever I go out."
"Keep her by your side for now, and in the meantime, start cultivating a few people worth relying on."
"Elder Sister, take Jinchí with you to the Southern Border!"
Bai Jindong said, walking at Bai Jingyan's side. She was worried that her eldest sister would have no one reliable to use on the campaign.
"Today Jinchí took out the silver spear Grandfather gave her as a gift. If you don't give her permission, she'll sneak after you anyway—that girl's audacity knows no bounds!"
Bai Jingyan paused for a beat, then answered after a moment's thought.
"I'll consider it."