Standing Tall
The sound of hooves breaking through the morning sunlight drew steadily closer, and Lady Dong's hot tears finally spilled over. Her daughter's radiant, spirited figure blurred through the haze of weeping.
"You've come home! You've come home at last!"
Third Madam Li, watching her own daughter ride in behind Bai Jingyan, laughed and wept in equal measure, her heart in complete disarray. Pressing a handkerchief to her chest, she turned to her sisters-in-law and said, "They're finally back... Now I can finally breathe again!"
The fifth, sixth, and seventh young ladies of the Bai family tumbled down the steps, tears streaming down their faces as they waved wildly at Bai Jingyan and Bai Jinchi, every scrap of a noble daughter's decorum utterly forgotten as they shouted.
"Eldest sister!"
"Fourth sister!"
With every step the horses drew closer to the Bai Manor, a sharp, stinging emotion surged up with overwhelming force.
Never once in her life—not once—had she longed for home like this.
Seeing her younger sisters waving their arms without pause and Nuo Ping beaming from ear to ear, Bai Jingyan pulled hard on the reins and dismounted.
Bai Jinchi climbed down from her horse as well. Gazing at her mother, who stood covering her mouth with a handkerchief and weeping even as a smile crept into her eyes, she called out in a choked voice.
"Mother..."
Nuo Ping hurried forward to take Bai Jingyan's reins, his reddened eyes betraying him as he spoke. "Eldest Young Miss! Thank the heavens you've returned safe and sound. What a blessing—what a blessing indeed."
Bai Jingyan nodded and handed the Red-Tasseled Spear to Nuo Ping. Then, with Bai Jinchi beside her, she walked to the front gate, lifted her head to look up at Lady Dong and the elders of the Bai clan, and knelt with solemn formality, bowing deeply.
When she raised her head, her eyes rimmed with red, she spoke.
"Mother, honored aunts! I, Bai Jingyan, have brought no disgrace upon the name of the Bai family. We claimed victory in the Southern Border, and I have brought Jinchi home safely."
"I, Bai Jinchi, fourth daughter of the Bai family, have returned to the capital unharmed."
Bai Jinchi spoke through a flood of hot tears.
Seeing her daughter glowing in the morning light, Lady Dong's tears poured down unchecked.
"Yes! Yes!"
Would her husband, Bai Qishan, know that today their daughter had returned clutching victory in her hands, just as he once had?
Our daughter protected the border folk you were willing to die to defend! Are you not immeasurably proud of her?
Kneeling before the main gate of the Bai Manor, Bai Jingyan looked up at her mother and spoke.
"Mother, I have brought Father home! But with no knowing when the war would end, we laid him to rest at Tianmenguan—in the very place he guarded all his life!"
Lady Dong could hold back no longer. Clenching her teeth, tears streaming down her face, she nodded with all her strength.
The Southern Border—that was where Bai Qishan had kept his lifelong watch.
A separate tomb holding her husband's ceremonial robes already stood in Dadu. She had always believed that Bai Qishan would rather remain at Tianmenguan, guarding the people of the frontier, than return home—would rather stay there until the dream the Bai family had chased for generations, the unification of all under heaven, was finally realized.
"Who was it that said our Bai family could no longer stand tall in Dadu! The sons of the Bai family have all gone to the world beyond—but our daughters are still alive!"
Fifth Madam watched Bai Jingyan with a smiling face, though her eyes brimmed with tears. Clutching her handkerchief tight, she raised her voice.
"Our Bai family... will never, ever fall!"
Bai Jinxiu, who had been standing at Lady Liu's side, could bear it no longer. She rushed down the steps and all but fell to her knees as she threw her arms around Bai Jingyan.
"Eldest sister!"
Seeing Bai Jingyan in her armor, Jin Lang found himself remembering the day he had seen her off to war. Every woman of the Bai family carried herself with the same towering dignity.
The Bai family had no sons left, but Bai Jingyan lived. She was the one who could raise the family from its knees.
A woman as dignified and unyielding as Bai Jingyan was admirable indeed—but she was not the one for him.
Jin Lang turned his gaze back to Bai Jinxiu. To have taken a woman like her as his wife, he thought, was the greatest of fortunes, and his eyes grew all the more tender as he watched her.
In all the months Bai Jingyan had been at the Southern Border, Bai Jinxiu had not known a single moment's ease. Now, seeing her eldest sister return safe and whole, she could no longer suppress her feelings, and her tears fell in long, unbroken streams.
"Sister, are you hurt anywhere?"
"Not a scratch. Not one. Jinchi looked after me."
Bai Jingyan wiped the tears from Bai Jinxiu's face.
Bai Jinxiu reached out and pulled Bai Jinchi into the embrace as well.
"You made it home! Well done—all of you!"
"Sister!"
"Eldest sister!"
"Eldest sister!"
The fifth, sixth, and seventh young ladies came running too.
They clung to one another in a tight knot, the youngest sisters sobbing so hard they could barely stand.
They were, without question, happier than they had ever been—and still, the tears would not stop.
"All right, that's enough of that! What will people think if you weep out here in front of the whole house? Get up, all of you. Your eldest sister and Jinchi need a good bath! And after that, we'll sit down and talk properly."
Second Madam Liu wiped her eyes with her handkerchief as she came down the steps, then helped steady Bai Jinxiu and Bai Jingyan.
The loyal servants and maids of the Bai Manor had packed themselves tightly into the entrance. At the sight of the eldest and fourth young ladies returned home, they were beside themselves with joy.
Bai Jingyan lifted her head and looked at her fourth aunt. In the span of barely two months, Fourth Madam Wang seemed to have aged ten years. The clear light that had once shone in her eyes was gone; her back was stooped, and prayer beads hung in her hand. She was as cold and detached as a person with no ties left to the mortal world—still and motionless, like water long stagnant.
Gentle-hearted as she was, Fourth Madam Wang had lost her husband and her son in a single stroke. If not for her young daughter, still alive, she would have followed them long ago.
Bai Jingyan intended to tell her fourth aunt the news—that Bai Qingjue still lived. Her only hope was that the news might give the woman the strength to go on.
"Come now! Let's go inside and talk!"
Lady Dong came down the steps and grasped her daughter's hand tightly. The moment her palm registered the thick calluses there, the rims of her eyes grew redder still.
"Let's go home!"
"Yes!"
Bai Jingyan nodded.
Yin Shuang, trailing after Bai Jinxiu, caught the eldest young miss looking at her—and beamed at Bai Jingyan as she fished out of her pocket the candies she had been hoarding for ages, holding them out.
"Eldest Miss, candy!"
"Oh, you silly child!"
Nanny Dong couldn't hold back her laughter; she gave Yin Shuang's head a gentle push with her finger.
Inside Qinghui Courtyard.
Nanny Dong was supervising the maids and servants as they swept the grounds.
"Hurry, now! The eldest young miss will be here any moment! She must find Qinghui Courtyard not a speck of dust out of place!"
In the kitchen, Chun Tao was simmering bird's nest soup for Bai Jingyan. Fanning the stove, she caught the sound of movement outside and stepped out to look—but when Bai Jingyan did not appear, she went back in, her heart growing anxious by the minute.
She isn't coming back wounded again... is she?
Every single time the eldest young miss had marched off to war, she had returned injured.
That year especially—even though she had come home with another great victory, she had been carried through the gates unconscious and borne straight into Qinghui Courtyard. Chun Tao had nearly lost her soul at the sight.
"Heavens above, please let the eldest young miss come home safe and sound, without a wound on her! Grant me this one wish, and I'll take ten years off my own life, I'll eat no meat for the rest of my days, I swear it..."
From the day Bai Jingyan had left for war until this very moment, Chun Tao had repeated those words countless times.
"Nanny Dong! The eldest young miss is back! She's come home, I tell you! She's already through the Shuihua Gate—she'll reach Qinghui Courtyard any minute!"
The maid Nanny Dong had sent out to scout for news came bounding into the courtyard, beaming from ear to ear, and shouted the words at the top of her lungs.
Qinghui Courtyard erupted like water dropped into sizzling oil—noise and motion everywhere in an instant.
"All of you, stop this racket!"
Forcing down her own joy, Nanny Dong put on a sternly composed face and delivered her instructions.
"Is the eldest young miss's bathwater ready? Chun Xing—and her change of clothes? Is that prepared?"
Chun Xing could only laugh, covering her mouth with her hand.
"Don't you worry, Nanny Dong! Everything's ready!"
Chun Tao called a maid over to keep an eye on the bird's nest soup, then hurried out of the kitchen.
"I'll go check the temperature of the bathwater myself."
A short while later, Lady Dong walked Bai Jingyan in her armor all the way to the gates of Qinghui Courtyard.
Nanny Dong had lined up the maids and servants of the courtyard in rows across the garden, and the moment Bai Jingyan stepped through, they bowed low in unison.
"Eldest Young Miss, congratulations on your triumphant and safe return."
At the sight of her armored mistress, Chun Tao's eyes went misty, and the tears fell one after another.
Bai Jingyan looked out over the garden full of familiar faces, and a smile bloomed across her own.
"While I was away, you and Nanny Dong worked hard to keep Qinghui Courtyard in order. Thank you."
Lady Dong dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief, her face brimming with smiles.
"Go on—inside with you, and get cleaned up."
Chun Tao hurried forward and took the Sun-Shooting Bow from Bai Jingyan's hands.
"Eldest Young Miss, the water is ready. This servant will attend to your bath."
Bai Jingyan clasped Chun Tao's hands tightly and nodded with a smile.
As she attended Bai Jingyan's bath, Chun Tao caught sight of the scars scattered across her mistress's body and could not stop the tears from coming again. But with Lady Dong seated just outside, she bit her lip hard and silently washed her in quiet, careful strokes.
Once the bath was done, Lady Dong combed and arranged Bai Jingyan's hair with her own hands, speaking in a low voice of court affairs.
"About the affair at the Southern Border—the killing of the hundred-odd thousand surrendered Liang soldiers. Your uncle tells me someone in court has submitted a memorial to the Emperor, demanding severe punishment. But the Emperor has only received the memorial and said nothing further. Now that you've returned, he may well call you to account, so your uncle sent someone ahead to warn us. Handle it with care."
"Don't worry, Mother. I have my own plans."
Bai Jingyan took her mother's hand and turned to look at Lady Dong.
"Your daughter has been unfilial—making you worry so."
Lady Dong, her eyes still rimmed red, smiled and drew her daughter into her arms.
"If your father could see that you protected the people of the border—how proud he would be! Your mother is so very proud of you."
Bai Jingyan's own eyes were red as she slipped an arm lightly around her mother's waist and leaned into her embrace like a child.
"I'm sorry, Mother. While I was at the Southern Border, I meant to bring Father home with me once we won the great victory. But Father spent his whole life worrying for the people of the frontier—so Jinchi and I, together with the generals of the Bai army, secretly laid him to rest at Tianmenguan."
Lady Dong nodded, as if she had known all along.
"I know. Your father would surely rather keep watch over the frontier and its people than lie buried in Dadu. I know it all...
Sleep well once your hair is dry. At noon, your mother will hold a banquet at Fanhua Pavilion to welcome you and Jinchi home."
Lady Dong smiled softly.
After her mother left, Bai Jingyan sat before the bronze mirror and spoke to Chun Tao, who was tidying the dressing table.
"Chun Tao, send word to Ping Shu to come here in half a shichen. I have something to ask him."
Chun Tao stopped what she was doing and turned around.
"Eldest Young Miss, you ought to be resting."
"I mean to pay a visit to Fourth Aunt first," Bai Jingyan replied.
Nanny Dong, still arranging her mistress's hair, studied Bai Jingyan's reflection in the mirror as she spoke.
"Eldest Young Miss, you've grown thinner and a touch sun-darkened, but your complexion looks better than before."
"It's true. Physician Hong even said his order for me to rest quietly seems to have been a mistake after all. Funny how life turns out—every cloud has its silver lining, as they say."
Bai Jingyan laughed lightly.