A Heart of Compassion
Zhen Xiangzhi held his silence.
It was an undeniable truth. If Bai Jingyan intended to serve the Crown Prince, she would have to win his trust more carefully than anyone — because she was one of the Bai.
In that instant, he remembered the words she had once spoken to him, urging that they join hands to make Great Jin strong. Bai Jingyan's magnanimity and ambition were as great as those of the late Duke of Zhenguo, who had already departed this world.
Very well. Whatever means she employed, it would all be in service of one day aiding the sovereign of Great Jin. So long as it did not harm Jin's interests, what could possibly be wrong with it?
Zhen Xiangzhi could no longer bear to watch Advisor Fang cut down every measure of genius that Bai Jingyan laid before the Crown Prince.
If a future emperor of Great Jin could make proper use of a woman like Bai Jingyan, how powerful and prosperous might the nation become?
He saw a day yet to come unfold before his eyes — a picture of Bai Jingyan commanding the military power of Jin in the emperor's stead, while he himself crafted the strategies of civil governance. In such an age, Great Jin would surely achieve the unification of all under heaven through merit alone.
When Bai Jingyan returned, Ji Nanghua was waiting at her door, rubbing her eyes with a medicine box in hand. The moment Bai Jingyan appeared, Ji Nanghua bowed in salute.
"Xiao Baixiu."
"You stayed up too late. Go rest — you can apply the medicine tomorrow."
Perhaps because she was the woman Bai Jingming had saved with his life, Bai Jingyan couldn't help feeling that there was something a little special about her.
"A day's work must be finished within the day. I won't be able to sleep with my mind at ease unless I dress that wound myself."
Humble yet respectful, Ji Nanghua followed Bai Jingyan into the room and closed the door behind her. Then she washed her hands thoroughly and applied the salve.
Just as she was tying the white bandage around Bai Jingyan's arm, a low rumble sounded from Bai Jingyan's stomach.
She had stopped by the Crown Prince's quarters the moment she returned, and had not yet eaten a bite.
Ji Nanghua washed her hands again, carried the medicine box out, and in less time than it takes to brew two cups of tea, she was knocking at Bai Jingyan's door once more.
This time she entered bearing a black-lacquered tray, on which sat two bowls of noodles. She offered a bow from the doorway.
"I borrowed the station's kitchen and cooked two bowls of noodles with vegetables. Please share them with the Fourth Young Miss."
Ji Nanghua knew as well that Bai Jingyan and Bai Jinchi had held a memorial rite that day for the deputy marshal of the Bai Family Army.
Since the two sisters were in mourning, Ji Nanghua had prepared a simple vegetable dish.
A boiled egg rested atop each bowl of noodles, alongside thin slices of pickled pepper and pickled greens. She had drizzled a little sesame oil over them, and the nutty fragrance stung the nose and whetted the appetite.
"Thank you. Now get some rest."
The moment Bai Jingyan took the tray, Bai Jinchi arrived carrying two bundles of snacks.
Between the two of them, the noodles vanished without a trace. Warmth spread from the tops of their heads down to the tips of their toes. Bai Jinchi drank the broth down to the last drop, then declared it delicious.
"What time do we leave tomorrow?"
"Before first light."
Bai Jingyan stroked Bai Jinchi's hair. The face that had always been thin had grown even more sallow and haggard over the course of the campaign, and her frame had wasted away. It ached Bai Jingyan's heart to see it.
"I'm so happy I'll get to see Father tomorrow!"
Bai Jinchi held her bowl in both hands, the rims of her eyes red as she spoke. Her joy was utterly sincere.
"I only pray Father is safe and whole……"
At the thought of Bai Qingyun's legs — bones warped out of shape, flesh a mangled ruin — Bai Jingyan's eyes darkened.
"Off to bed with you now."
She could only pray that Physician Hong would be able to treat her ninth brother's legs. If that proud, upright man lost them, he would surely spend the rest of his life crushed by despair. That was why she was willing to run such risks to see her brother before she departed.
The next day, darkness still clung to the sky. Stars glittered overhead, and the moon had yet to set.
With her bundle slung over her arm, Ji Nanghua was about to board the carriage when she paused to watch Bai Jingyan and Bai Jinchi mount their horses. The sight of Bai Jingyan's back — spine straight as a drawn blade — brought General Bai Jingming to mind in an instant. Having heard that the sisters were traveling to Fengxian to hold a memorial for him, Ji Nanghua bowed in farewell with reddened eyes before climbing into the carriage.
At the window, Zhen Xiangzhi watched the two ride off, then turned to the Crown Prince, who was taking his morning meal.
"Your Highness, the Eldest Young Miss and the Fourth Young Miss of the Bai family have departed."
The Crown Prince dabbed his mouth with a handkerchief and spoke, his gaze gone cold.
"Order Zhang Danyue to send men after them personally — and send plenty! If they are truly going only to hold a memorial, they will return and report to me. But if they go anywhere other than Fengxian, or do anything beyond the rites — or if they so much as meet with anyone — seize them at once. Say it is by my command. If they resist, they may be killed. Master Zhen is a careful man, and he handled this matter admirably. I trust he will continue to look after it."
Zhen Xiangzhi's brows twitched, his heart pounding. Last night, before their conversation ended, Bai Jingyan had told him that had he not come to her, she would have sought him out herself before departing for Fengxian.
Which meant Bai Jingyan had already made every arrangement in advance.
Though she had never said so plainly, the fact that she had told him to conceal nothing from the Crown Prince made it clear she knew he would assign men to follow her. And truthfully, having announced she was leaving the column to hold her father's memorial in Fengxian, it was only natural that the Crown Prince would attach watchers to her.
Folding the worry away, Zhen Xiangzhi clenched his teeth. What was happening to him? He was the Crown Prince's strategist — yet he could not understand why he was worrying over Bai Jingyan.
Nothing enraged the Crown Prince more than the sense of being toyed with. If all those strategists were truly Bai Jingyan's people — if it had truly been one of Bai Jingyan's subordinates who drove a blade into Li Zhijie, Prince of Yan of Xiliang——
The Crown Prince's temples throbbed. What on earth did Bai Jingyan want?
He could not even summon Advisor Fang to discuss it, out of sheer embarrassment. He had stood before the man and boasted of how he had brought Bai Jingyan to heel——
And Advisor Fang was a fool besides. To actually believe Bai Jingyan had yielded wholly to the Crown Prince's authority!
"If those strategists are all Bai Jingyan's people, why would she stage such a thing? If she means to wage war on and grow the Bai Family Army, why in the world did she hand the military tally over to me?"
The Crown Prince's voice rose higher and higher. When he lifted his head, his eyes were frozen solid with cold.
On the verge of exploding with fury, the Crown Prince let out a sneer — and his voice climbed louder still.
"I'd nearly forgotten. Why would I need a military tally to move the Bai Family Army? One word of command, and they would lay down their very lives!"
At that moment, the anxious voice of Zhan Yu drifted in from beyond the door.
"Your Highness — the man sent to Yuhe Road last night has returned!"
"Show him in!"
The Crown Prince stiffened his face and stepped aside.
Before long, two guards dressed in commoners' clothing entered and bowed to the Crown Prince.
"Your Highness. Last night, while bearing your orders toward Yuhe Road, we encountered a courier carrying dispatches to Your Highness before we had reached the Jinghe River."
The courier knelt and kowtowed before speaking.
"Your Highness — Lord Lu commands me to report: Xiao Ruogang, who was recuperating at Yuhe Road, has vanished!"
The Crown Prince's face hardened. The sensation of having been played for a fool closed in on him, thick and suffocating.
"Excellent! Very well done indeed!"
He had even submitted a memorial to His Majesty on Bai Jingyan's behalf. He had gone so far as to request she be elevated to commandery princess, claiming he was fully capable of keeping her in check!
And now he had no face left to show his father. If the Emperor learned of this, the abuse would come pouring down on him without mercy.
The Crown Prince swept the dishes from the table. Exquisite porcelain crashed together and shattered against the floor, and the eunuchs beyond the door dropped to their knees in a frightened rush.
"Your Highness, if word reaches the Prince of Yan of Xiliang, it will be disastrous! And besides — once General Bai returns, you may question her directly about the matter yourself. If she cannot give a proper account, punish her and vent your anger then; it will be no great loss. Is all of this not merely our speculation at this point? Is it not possible that General Bai declined to burn the bodies of Jin's strategists out of nothing more than simple pity for her countrymen?"
"This is a woman who burned a hundred thousand surrendered soldiers alive. And now you tell me she has feelings of compassion?"
The Crown Prince rose and hurled his handkerchief violently onto the black table.
Zhen Xiangzhi flinched.
"Your Highness, at the Battle of Wengshan, the enemy's numbers were overwhelming while our own forces were dangerously short. Had the surrendered troops been released unharmed and Xiliang mounted a counterattack, could Great Jin have returned in the triumph we now enjoy? Your Highness personally led soldiers on the Southern Border campaign — you know how desperate the situation was at the time. Speak such words, and you will chill General Bai's heart."
"She is a general who holds no place for me in her heart. So what do I care whether it grows cold or not!"
The Crown Prince wore the expression of a man who had heard something utterly absurd. Perhaps he was simply furious — his clenched fists and his eyes, brimming over with reluctant emotion, said as much.
After a moment of silence, the Crown Prince spoke abruptly.
"Summon Zhang Danyue! It seems I must go after them myself! I will see with my own eyes what Bai Jingyan is truly about!"
Zhen Xiangzhi echoed back in disbelief.
"Your Highness — do you intend to hold the entire army at Tianmenguan today?"
"The army marches as planned. Order Zhang Danyue to attach plenty of men to us!"
the Crown Prince replied.
"Your Highness, it is dangerous!"
Zhen Xiangzhi could not allow the Crown Prince to court death.
"It is the soil of Jin itself. Who would dare lay a hand on me?"
The Crown Prince's voice was unyielding.
Looking at the Crown Prince's face, where his eyebrows seemed ready to fly off his brow, Zhen Xiangzhi understood how deeply enraged he was and pressed the matter no further. Instead, he gazed out the window, a shadow of worry on his face.
Fengxian had weathered the same scourge of war as Fengcheng, and its condition was little different. Fortunately, the people of Fengxian still had strength in them — even small children had joined the county's reconstruction effort. The children were too young for heavy labor, so they carried tea and water for the adults.
Bai Jingyan and Bai Jinchi had shed their armor and changed into plain men's clothing so they could move about freely.
Still, the sight of two riders entering the city drew no small amount of attention.
When the garrison soldiers learned that Xiao Baixiu of the Bai Family Army had come to Fengxian to hold memorial rites for her fallen kin, they hurriedly fetched the garrison commander. Commander Zhou of the garrison treated Bai Jingyan and Bai Jinchi with the utmost deference. He had originally intended to accompany the sisters to the rites himself, but on hearing they had already burned paper money outside the city, he invited them to a meal at his quarters instead.
Bai Jingyan declined. Then, turning her head to watch Ji Nanghua step down from the carriage, she spoke to Commander Zhou.
"That young miss tended the wounded at the front lines throughout this campaign. She has endured a great deal — I ask you to look after her going forward."
Commander Zhou was a man of good sense; he assured her there was nothing to worry about, and that he would do exactly as she asked.
Bai Jingyan gave a slight nod as she watched Ji Nanghua bow to her in salute. Then she noticed the figures who had trailed behind them the entire way, all the way to the city gates in their commoners' dress.
Without delay, Bai Jingyan offered Commander Zhou a fist-and-palm salute.
"I mean to look around Fengxian a while, so go attend to your duties, Commander. There is no need to follow."
Commander Zhou bowed his head.
"As you command."