Emergency Summons
Bai Jinchi ambled lazily through the moon-washed streets of Wanping City with a whistle clamped between her teeth and a lantern swinging in her hand. At a glance she looked like some idle loafer with nothing better to do, but every so often she would give the whistle a toot, which made her seem like nothing so much as a careless child.
The owner of a tavern, halfway through shutting his shutters and barring the door, caught sight of the young girl sauntering down the street and shouted out at her.
"Hey, you there! Hurry home! Wanping City isn't what it used to be — wander the streets like that and some scoundrel will carry you off!"
Bai Jinchi rolled her eyes, then put on a docile, obedient face and bowed politely, fishing for news.
Before long she came out of the tavern with a jug of wine in hand. She took a sip the moment she stepped out, stuck her tongue out at how sharp it was, and went on her way.
Resting the wine jug on her shoulder, she tooted her whistle and strolled back at her leisure.
Then, mid-stride, she caught a short, sharp blast from a whistle. Her throat tightened — but she did not stop walking. She answered with a call of her own.
"Is the Haoying Battalion present?"
The answer came back in whistle-code, just as expected.
"Yes!"
Bai Jinchi asked,
"How many men remain?"
"Ninety-two."
Light flashed in her eyes. With a light whistle she sent back only the signal to stand by, then walked on, the sound of the haphazard whistling drifting away with her.
In high spirits, Bai Jinchi happened on her way back to cross paths with Xiao Rongyan, who was returning from a game of Go with the Crown Prince at the governor's office.
Watching him dismount from his carriage with such dashing elegance, her mood lifted further. She pulled the whistle from her mouth and called out,
"Master Xiao!"
Xiao Rongyan turned his head to look at Bai Jinchi as she came running up to him, a soft smile forming at the corner of his eyes.
She dashed up to him and asked, grinning,
"Master Xiao, are you coming back from the Crown Prince's place?"
"I am."
As he answered, Xiao Rongyan turned and held out a hand to his guard.
The guard placed a black lacquered food container into Xiao Rongyan's palm, and Xiao Rongyan passed it on to Bai Jinchi.
"A snack bestowed by the Crown Prince. It's a little sweet — I thought you might like it."
When Bai Jinchi hesitated, Xiao Rongyan added,
"Don't worry, go ahead. It's made with plant oil, not lard."
The Bai family was still in mourning, he meant by it — and he said as much, one word more.
Bai Jinchi had opened her mouth to refuse, but she swallowed the protest back down. Master Xiao was going to be her brother-in-law before long, after all. It wasn't as though she could turn down a snack from her own future brother-in-law.
Accepting the container without further ceremony, she walked alongside Xiao Rongyan toward the residence and opened the lid as they went.
"Wow! Plum-blossom pastries — the kind you only get in the palace! Thank you, Master Xiao!"
She popped one of the pastries into her mouth and her eyes lit up.
"Mmm... this is the work of the imperial kitchen, isn't it? And they taste like they came straight out of the oven! Does His Highness travel with his own cook, even on campaign?"
Xiao Rongyan only smiled.
Bai Jinchi didn't care for that sort of reticence. After a moment's thought, she held out the wine jug she was carrying.
"As they say, courtesy demands a gift returned for a gift received. This wine is for you, Master."
The guard trailing behind Xiao Rongyan hastily caught the jug as it came.
"Then I'll gratefully accept."
Xiao Rongyan's voice was gentle yet weighty, pleasant to the ear.
"Master Xiao, feel free to call me just Azhi!"
Bai Jinchi glanced sideways at Xiao Rongyan's guard, then drew close to Xiao Rongyan and lowered her voice.
"Master Xiao — my eldest sister doesn't care for sweets. You'd better remember that!"
Xiao Rongyan stared at Bai Jinchi with a startled look, and she blinked back at him. Wearing the mischievous expression of someone who knew everything, she tucked the container under her arm and ran off.
Xiao Rongyan stopped in his tracks. He watched the girl's retreating figure for a long while before he came back to himself, then pressed his lips together and, lowering his gaze slightly, let out a small, quiet laugh.
The guard who had been walking behind him glanced once in the direction Bai Jinchi had vanished, seemingly a little taken aback — and then could not contain his astonishment.
So our master likes lively, outspoken young ladies like the Bai family's fourth daughter! No wonder he never so much as drew near the famed beauties of Great Yan — the ones famed for both beauty and brilliance!
Hoisting the wine jug, the guard stepped forward and asked,
"Master, since you've taken your leave of the Crown Prince — what hour tomorrow do you intend to depart?"
"As soon as the city gates open. Tell our people to have everything ready by tonight."
Xiao Rongyan replied. The Crown Prince had already dropped a word in the Wanping governor's ear; even if Xiao Rongyan left the city tomorrow, no one would be able to stop him. It was a far faster schedule than he had anticipated. Even so, just in case, he planned to skirt around Pingyang City on his way back to Great Yan.
If only I could arrive in time to save more of the people.
With his departure set for tomorrow, Xiao Rongyan found himself deciding, for some reason, that he ought to pay his respects to Bai Jingyan first.
Deep into the night, a light was still burning in Bai Jingyan's room. At the sound of fingers tapping on her window, she gathered up the map spread across the table.
"Who is it?"
"It's me."
Hearing Xiao Rongyan's footsteps draw near the door, Bai Jingyan picked up her lantern and opened it — only to find him already standing right there. Neither of them had expected her to open the door so quickly, and the distance between them shrank to something just short of improper.
"Lady Bai."
Xiao Rongyan inclined his head in greeting.
Bai Jingyan stayed inside the threshold, not stepping out, and asked,
"Master Xiao, what business brings you at this hour?"
The candle inside the lantern swayed violently in the wind. Faint, soft light lit up the space between the two of them, then tilted away and left them in darkness again. The wind was so strong that the lantern guttered out entirely, and only the clear moonlight hanging in the sky traced the sharp lines of the man's features.
"After you withdrew, Your Highness the Crown Prince summoned three of his advisors to deliberate. A man called Master Zhen argued with reasons and evidence that troops must be dispatched tonight. But the other two claimed that the strategy you put forward rests on nothing but baseless conjecture on your part, and cannot be trusted."
"When Master Zhen found he could not press his case, he made a compromise proposal in the end — that they first send scouts along the winding road of Jiuqu Peak to determine whether an ambush lies at the Jiuqu Peak exit of Wengshan Canyon."
Bai Jingyan knew Zhen Xiangzhi's abilities well. That he had argued the matter with sound reasoning and persuaded toward mobilization was hardly surprising; that the Crown Prince refused to heed him was even less so.
In her past life, Zhen Xiangzhi had served beneath the Crown Prince in just this way, never once given an opportunity, never once allowed to fulfill his ambitions.
As Bai Jingyan held her silence, Xiao Rongyan gazed at her face — pale and startlingly lovely — with calm, deep, unwavering eyes. His gaze drifted to her lips, then rose again to her eyes.
"I leave tomorrow."
His voice was deep and level — the kind of voice that set a person's heart stirring.
Every time their eyes met, Bai Jingyan felt uneasy. Clutching the dead lantern tightly, she spoke.
"Master Xiao. Travel safely, and return in peace."
A strange silence flowed quietly between them.
Was it the night that was so bewitching? When Bai Jingyan's ears began to flush red, Xiao Rongyan — a man whose self-restraint had never once failed him — could no longer suppress the feeling surging up in his chest, and stepped one pace closer to her.
Xiao Rongyan was not a man without patience. But when he recalled that she had sent him a letter before the palace banquet, and that she had known his true identity and never once exposed him...
At the banquet, the moment he had left his seat, her whole body had gone rigid with tension — and when he returned unharmed, the strain knotted in her shoulders had melted away into calm.
It was the same this time. When the great army marched for the Southern Border, Xiao Rongyan had used her as his mouth to carry word to the Crown Prince. Bai Jingyan had surely understood his intent perfectly — and surely known, too, that there was some other meaning in his traveling alongside the army. And yet she had still raised the matter with the Crown Prince in exactly the direction he had wished.
All of these things kept circling in Xiao Rongyan's mind. And through them all, he could feel it plainly — Bai Jingyan was mindful of him, too.
Setting their stations aside, and looking only at the matter of a man and a woman — was it these gestures of hers, this attention she paid him so far beyond what he was owed, that had given rise to his fondness, that had let feeling take root?
The moment the thought formed, Xiao Rongyan began, carefully, to test her heart.
The man's heavy, profound presence drew near, and his tall frame blotted out the moonlight completely, burying Bai Jingyan in his vast shadow.
Xiao Rongyan closed half a step more. A single fist's distance now lay between them.
The hot rush of his breath brushed across her brow. The hand gripping the dead lantern went taut. Her lashes trembled faintly, and her heart began to beat faster.
Xiao Rongyan bowed his head and studied her expression. Then he moved no further — he simply looked at her with those deep, dark eyes.
Bai Jingyan parted her lips to speak, but nothing came out, as though something were pressed tight against her throat. Because she thought she understood, just a little, what words lay hidden in his gaze — the ones he would not let past his lips.
But the distance between their stations was that of heaven and earth. And the Bai family had not yet escaped danger. Bai Jingyan had no leisure to let something so private as affection scatter her focus.
She had sworn never to marry in this lifetime. She wanted to spend what years remained her guarding the Bai family's peace, and seeing her grandfather's dying wishes fulfilled.
"Master Xiao. Rest well."
Bai Jingyan lowered her head and stepped back.
The blaze in Xiao Rongyan's eyes faltered, then dimmed. Only after a long moment did he slowly withdraw, straighten himself once more, and smile with a calm face.
"Rest well yourself, Lady Bai. I'll take my leave."
Xiao Rongyan turned away. The smile that had lingered on his face vanished utterly, leaving nothing behind but a rueful, self-mocking laugh.
In the last watch of the hour of the Tiger, a scout came galloping furiously on horseback.
Bai Jingyan was practicing archery on the training ground, as she always did at that hour. She could not afford to slacken for even a moment.
Before long, the lamps in the barracks blazed alight, and the Crown Prince came striding out as he dressed, ordering the generals to assemble.
Drenched in sweat, Bai Jingyan loosed the final arrow of her quiver. A messenger came running to her.
"Young Master Bai! An urgent summons from His Highness the Crown Prince!"
Xiao Ruohai, holding a whip in each hand, felt his heart drop with a thud. The meeting with the Bai Family Army that Bai Jingyan had been waiting for was on the very verge of coming to pass. He handed her a handkerchief.
"Young Master!"