Finally, Together
"A chessboard is hardly the only battlefield in this world. The world itself is one vast board. Kings and princes, generals and ministers—they are all nothing more than stones tossed about on this storm-swept board."
Bai Jingyan picked up a black stone from the set Murong Yu held.
"But if the hand that grips that little stone loses control entirely and stirs up a raging wave, it can drown a kingdom just as easily as it can take a man's life."
She placed the black stone on the board.
In an instant, the entire game transformed. The position had clearly been one where the white stones were winning—yet in the blink of an eye, they were annihilated.
Bai Jingyan lifted her head and regarded Murong Yu with calm, unfathomable eyes, catching the flicker of surprise on his face. There was not a trace of timidity or fear in her expression; if anything, there was a faint edge of menace.
Murong Yu's heart pounded. He could not fathom why Bai Jingyan had suddenly turned hostile.
He glanced once at Bai Jinchi, who was busy cracking jokes, and in that moment everything became clear. The Commandery Princess had evidently taken it into her head that he harbored feelings he ought not to harbor toward Bai Jinchi.
Being an elder brother himself, Murong Yu understood her mood perfectly well. Instead of taking offense, he let out a quiet chuckle.
Perhaps it was because he was famous as a peerless beauty, but there was something singularly pleasing about him when he smiled—stunning would be the more fitting word.
Murong Yu lowered his voice.
"My lady, I fear you've misunderstood me. I harbor no idle desire toward your fourth sister. For one thing, I am far older than she, and my health is frail besides. It is only that among my family—"
"The daughters of the Bai family, if they do not marry, then so be it—but if they do marry, they will spend their lives with the one who holds their heart. If anyone dares to use my sister in pursuit of his own happiness for the remainder of his days, then I, Bai Jingyan, will gladly fight him to the death."
Bai Jingyan kept her voice pitched as low as she could. Her words were scarcely short of an open threat.
The truth was that Bai Jingyan feared Xiao Rongyan. Where her own affairs were concerned, she could retreat and yield. But where her siblings were concerned, she could not give ground—not even a single step.
Xiao Rongyan's ears twitched slightly. Unperturbed, he bowed his head and took a sip of tea.
"I am someone who speaks her mind, however unpleasant the words may be. So if Your Majesty feels I have overstepped, I ask for your generous understanding."
Bai Jingyan inclined her head lightly toward Murong Yu. Her bearing, however, was brazenly insolent.
"The reason I did not shed a drop of blood, and instead gave Great Yan the enlightenment needed to reclaim Southern Yan, was that I judged it would benefit the people of Southern Yan for Great Yan to take them back. Moreover, Great Yan reclaiming that land had no bearing on my interests whatsoever. But if Great Yan, in its presumption, tries to reach its hand into my sister's marriage as well—then I will gladly be the one to push Great Yan to the brink of ruin."
As he watched Bai Jingyan lay bare her ferocity, the warmth slowly drained from Murong Yu's smiling face.
Yan's power had indeed waned, but Murong Yu was still the sovereign of a nation. Where the security of Yan was concerned, he could not afford to take anything lightly.
Bai Jingyan had a weakness. It was her family. As the eldest sister, safeguarding her siblings' peaceful lives was a conviction carved into her very bones.
If the Emperor of Great Yan cast covetous eyes on her sister, then even if it meant clashing with Xiao Rongyan, she would not be afraid.
Family could be a person's weakness—and at times, a person's armor. Enough to make one forget even the fear of death.
"My lady, don't you think you've spoken rather... insolently?"
Murong Yu's face went cold.
Bai Jingyan curled the corners of her lips into a sneer, suppressing the fury that burned within her.
"Xiao Rongyan... no—Murong Yan. Does Your Majesty truly believe that Great Yan is playing games above everyone else's heads? Do you truly believe that the Ninth Prince's movements have been concealed so thoroughly that no one knows a thing?"
Murong Yu's hands clenched. A killing intent lay buried deep within his eyes.
"I have no interest in your country's affairs. I have even less intention of picking a quarrel with it. So I would ask that Your Majesty not reach your arm out too far. But if you and the Ninth Prince truly wish to fight me outright, then I, for one, am happy to oblige—I wouldn't dream of spoiling the mood."
At last, Murong Yu grasped her meaning. If the Emperor were to ask for a marriage alliance between his younger brother and Bai Jinchi, the eldest Bai daughter would genuinely fight to the death over it.
Had any other woman said such a thing, he would not have spared it a thought. But this was the eldest legitimate daughter of the Bai family of the Duke of Zhenguo Estate. Though every man of the Bai family had perished, the woman before him was different. Her victory in the Southern Border campaign, Xiao Rongyan's identity, the way she had flipped the entire game at will—all of it testified amply to her capability and her daring.
Great Yan was in a weakened position. The reason they had sent a hostage prince to Jin was to buy breathing room and slowly regain their strength. Murong Yu had no wish to invite trouble here.
Murong Yu was a man of extraordinary patience. Gazing at Bai Jingyan with her clean, painterly outline and exquisitely sculpted features, he asked in a low voice:
"Would the Commandery Princess be willing to ask what the fourth young lady herself wishes? You never know. Perhaps Bai Jinchi might want it?"
"And is Your Majesty unwilling to simply ask my sister? Can Great Yan—a nation cornered at every turn, its people starving in poverty—truly afford to wage war against me?"
Bai Jingyan let the words fall heavy with killing intent, then set down the white stone in her hand, rose to her feet, and offered Murong Yu a parting bow. Then she looked at Xiao Rongyan.
"Master Xiao, please dock the boat at the pier."
Bai Jinchi, who had been mid-joke, jumped in fright. Realizing that her eldest sister was angry, she turned to glare at where the Emperor of Yan sat.
"Big sister—"
Xiao Rongyan rose to his feet and said with a smile:
"Feeling stifled, my lady? Then shall I invite you up top to sit for a while? Somewhere a little more comfortable?"
Murong Yu, who had been gazing down at the chessboard, turned a shade of green once more. He steadied his startled heart, then rose to his feet with his smile restored, and bowed to Bai Jingyan, suppressing his fury.
"If I have misspoken, my lady, I beg your generous forgiveness."
Dong Zhangsheng shot to his feet in alarm. The Emperor of Yan, bowing in apology to Bai Jingyan—there was not a shred of imperial dignity left in the man.
Bai Jingyan had already flung harsh words at the Emperor of Great Yan and made her displeasure plain; she judged it no great loss if relations soured further. What she wanted was simply to crush, root and branch, any thought of meddling in Bai Jinchi's marriage.
Those with nothing to lose do not fear those with much. Behind the Emperor of Yan stood an entire nation—and that fact alone meant the Emperor could not afford a single misstep.
Bai Jingyan looked at Xiao Rongyan with a smile.
"Surely Master Xiao's boat isn't the kind you can only board, never leave?"
Feng Yao, the old eunuch standing at Murong Yu's side, lifted his head to look at Bai Jingyan—a woman who held the dignity of the Emperor of Yan as less than nothing—and clenched his fist tight. He studied the displeasure brimming in her eyes, then turned his gaze back to Murong Yu, as if awaiting his command.
"Or failing that..."
Bai Jingyan met Feng Yao's gaze squarely, then turned her eyes back to Murong Yu.
"Is the Emperor of Yan intending to kill the Commandery Princess and the Gaoyi County Princess here in the Jin capital?"
Xiao Rongyan could feel the fury blazing in Bai Jingyan's chest.
It was his brother's first meeting with her—he had never imagined the two of them would take such an instant dislike to one another.
Murong Yu, hands clasped behind his back, tightened his fists. It seemed that if he begged her to take his younger brother as a son-in-law, the eldest Bai daughter really would fight him with her life on the line.
"The— the Emperor of Yan?"
Dong Zhengzhen's eyes went round as saucers as she stared at Murong Yu.
She looked at Bai Jingyan with anxious eyes. She had never seen her sister like this before.
"Sister?"
"Jingyan."
Dong Zhangsheng rose hastily, trying to defuse the tension.
"Jingyan, don't be angry. Master Xiao, do please dock the boat."
Bai Jinchi, catching up late to what was happening, hurried to Bai Jingyan's side and eyed Murong Yu warily. Then she clamped her hand tight around the dagger at her waist.
Murong Yu watched Bai Jinchi moving to shield Bai Jingyan. Not wishing to put Xiao Rongyan in an awkward position, he spoke up.
"Master Xiao, dock the boat. If I have misspoken today, I ask for your generous understanding."
Xiao Rongyan stepped forward and bowed.
"Commandery Princess, might I have a word with you in private?"
Bai Jingyan did not oblige.
"It would hardly be proper. I have nothing that cannot be said before others, so if you have something to tell me, say it now."
"Uncle, our boat's here!"
Dong Zhengzhen tugged at Dong Zhangsheng's sleeve.
"Sister?"
Bai Jinchi looked at Bai Jingyan as if asking what they should do.
Bai Jingyan answered, her face frozen hard.
"It seems Master Xiao has no intention of docking the boat. In that case, we have no choice but to wait for the Dong family's pleasure boat. We'll be going ahead."
"My lady—if only for the sake of the fact that I rescued the Fourth Madam of your Bai estate, I beg you to spare me a moment of your time. I ask this of you."
Xiao Rongyan lowered himself as far as he could.
It was hardly only the Fourth Aunt whom Xiao Rongyan had saved—he had saved Bai Qingjue as well.
When Bai Jingyan did not refuse, Xiao Rongyan bowed at the waist and extended his hand to escort her.
She had vented her anger enough; the Emperor of Yan understood her temperament clearly now. And he had surely grasped as well that the Bai family were not people to be trifled with.
Bai Jingyan calmed herself, returned Xiao Rongyan's bow with a light one of her own, and answered, the storm in her bearing subsiding.
"The debt Master Xiao has shown the Bai family is one I, Bai Jingyan, will never forget. There is no need to say more."
With that, she turned to Murong Yu once more and bowed.
"If I have overstepped, I ask that Your Majesty forgive me just as generously."
Murong Yu's smile deepened.
"There is no Emperor of Yan here today. So you needn't speak that way either, my lady. I too have overstepped—let us call it water under the bridge on both sides."
Before the mood aboard the pleasure boat could fully ease, Yue Shi entered and offered a respectful fist salute.
"My lord, a pleasure boat is drawing near. They say it belongs to the Dong family."
"Then I'll go ahead, after all."
Bai Jingyan gave a parting bow and spoke to Dong Zhangsheng.
"Uncle."
Dong Zhangsheng could only smile awkwardly. Things had come to such a pass that leaving quickly was the wisest course. He offered a fist salute to the Emperor of Yan and Xiao Rongyan.
"Then we'll be going ahead."
Murong Yu's expression darkened slightly. He gave a nod, then took Murong Li with him and went up to the upper deck.
Dong Zhengzhen saw the Emperor of Yan off with a nod of farewell, made her younger sisters from the Xu household bow in turn, and only then walked toward the outer side of the boat. Bai Jinchi pressed her lips together, gave Xiao Rongyan a fist salute, and followed her out.
Dong Zhangsheng boarded the Dong family's pleasure boat first, then reached out his hand to help his nieces cross over.