Wise and Sagacious
Li Zhijie spoke in a low voice as he watched Bai Jingyan, dressed in riding garb, a quiver slung at her waist and the Sun-Shooting Bow held in her hand.
"Commandery Princess Zhenguo."
"Is my second younger brother in the Prince of Yan's hands?"
Bai Jingyan stood several paces away from Li Zhijie.
"When the Xiliang soldiers were clearing the battlefield, someone picked up a ring. It didn't seem like an ordinary trinket, so it was passed up the chain of command. Then word got around that the item belonged to the Bai family's second young master, and so it was sent to the Commandery Princess's estate."
Li Zhijie gave a light laugh.
Bai Jingyan drew an arrow with fluid grace and took calm aim at him.
"Did the Prince of Yan lure me here today with my second brother's ring, intending to kill me once I fell into his trap? Or is it a scheme to make the ruler and ministers of Jin suspect one another, so the Emperor discards me and never uses me again? Whichever it is, the Prince of Yan's schemes seem terribly shallow."
"Shallow or not, it hardly matters. As long as it works, it's a good stratagem."
Li Zhijie's lips curled into a smile.
"Of course, if the Commandery Princess kills me here and dies here herself today, then Jin will be powerless to touch Xiliang. They wouldn't even have the strength to wage war. Trading the life of a general of Jin for a idle prince like myself—hardly a losing bargain at all."
Li Zhijie was, for all his flippancy, a man with the gall to throw away his life for his country when the moment demanded it. But today was not that day.
Bai Jingyan drew the Sun-Shooting Bow taut.
"I will give you one more chance. Is my second younger brother in the Prince of Yan's hands?"
Li Zhijie drew his iron-ribbed fan from behind his back and rapped it against his palm. Hidden archers who had lain out of sight suddenly emerged and took aim at Bai Jingyan.
Li Zhijie burst out laughing.
"Eldest Miss Bai, if you kill me, aren't you afraid your second younger brother won't survive either?"
Bai Jingyan's expression remained composed.
"So the Prince of Yan's scheme was simply to slander me into death? Or does he wish to use my second brother as leverage and bargain with me?"
"You're as direct as ever, Commandery Princess. I hear the Emperor of Yan intends to wed his younger brother, Prince Ku of Great Yan, to the Gaoyi County Princess. But as it happens, on my journey to Dadu I too developed feelings for the County Princess. I intend to ask for her hand at His Highness's birthday banquet tomorrow. I would be grateful if the Commandery Princess granted my wish. Then I will send the Bai family's second young master back to you."
A brilliant smile played across Li Zhijie's peach-blossom eyes.
Bai Jingyan's lips curved upward.
Li Zhijie was trying to show the Emperor and the Crown Prince that he and Bai Jingyan were on very close terms—that they had even conducted some private transaction between themselves. The Emperor and Crown Prince would come to believe that Bai Jingyan had sent her younger sister to the Prince of Yan, Li Zhijie, in order to forge still stronger ties with him.
If that happened, Li Zhijie could not only take Jinchi away but hold her over Bai Jingyan's head at any moment. And it didn't end there. The Emperor and Crown Prince would begin to suspect her. It was a truly magnificent scheme.
But without warning, an arrow split the air, riding the wind straight toward Li Zhijie. His eyes went wide; startled, he stumbled back two paces and raised his iron-ribbed fan to block—but his speed was no match for the arrow. He failed not only to stop the sharp point hurtling toward him with such fury, but the arrowhead tore straight through the wound on his shoulder that had only just begun to heal.
The arrow punched through Li Zhijie's shoulder blade, and with that same force it knocked him off his feet, burying itself in the great tree behind him. The arrowhead trembled.
"Your Highness!"
"Don't move!"
By the time the men came to their senses, Bai Jingyan, bow still in hand, had planted her foot on Li Zhijie's chest and drawn the bowstring taut once more, aiming the arrowhead at him. If she released the string, Li Zhijie would die on the spot.
"Hold still!"
Li Zhijie clenched his teeth and gestured sharply to his archers, warning them against any rash movement. Pressing a hand hard over his wound, he looked up at Bai Jingyan with a light smile.
"So the Commandery Princess means to kill the Prince of Yan of Xiliang here in Jin? No thought of saving your second younger brother at all—just a desire to see our two nations keep waging war?"
"If my second younger brother is already dead, then I'd simply be a dupe who sent you my fourth younger sister—my own weakness—out of blind trust."
Bai Jingyan gazed down at Li Zhijie with cold derision.
"But if he's still alive, the moment he learns I traded him for our fourth sister, he would never choose to go on living in this world! The very idea of trading my second younger brother for my fourth younger sister is wrong. The Prince of Yan doesn't understand the Bai family in the slightest—and because he doesn't, he's devised this doomed strategy."
Li Zhijie's peach-blossom eyes contracted sharply.
"Then let me tell you the truth. The gift the Prince of Yan sent to Bu County is already in the Crown Prince's hands! My fourth younger sister will make sure everyone knows that the Prince of Yan held my second brother's belongings. When the peace talks come, the truth that he never mentioned holding a member of the Bai family—and that once the peace treaty was signed he tried to use my brother to lure me into a meeting—will all come to light. So even if I kill you here and now, no one could blame me, could they? And that's not all. Xiliang will owe Jin a proper explanation!"
Li Zhijie's face darkened slightly, though he forced out a smile.
"And you think people will believe it was I who sent that gift, Eldest Miss? Won't they conclude instead that you resented me for setting a trap at Chuishanguan and driving a wedge between the Crown Prince and you, and that you've framed me—and now mean to kill me for it?"
Bai Jingyan's lips curved upward. Her eyes brimmed with killing intent.
"Then let's find out, shall we? Will the Crown Prince believe a prince of an enemy state, or a Commandery Princess who has served Jin with unwavering loyalty?"
As Bai Jingyan drew the bow even tighter, Li Zhijie's pupils trembled faintly.
"You mean to kill my second younger brother?"
"Swear it on the Heavenly God of Xiliang. That if my second brother is still in the Prince of Yan's hands—and still alive—"
A solemn, murderous aura blazed from Bai Jingyan's eyes, enough to chill the blood.
At the words Heavenly God, the Xiliang archers all bowed their heads—then lifted them again, eyes burning with fury as they glared at Bai Jingyan.
Li Zhijie clenched his teeth and met her gaze.
The people of Xiliang had worshipped the Heavenly God since childhood. Their veneration and faith in it was carved into their very bones, and to swear falsely by the Heavenly God was blasphemy of the highest order. The people of Xiliang would sooner die than profane it.
Li Zhijie could not swear the oath back at Youhua Ferry, and he could not swear it now.
"As I thought..."
Though his chest felt as though it were being scraped raw, Bai Jingyan's eyes were as still as water.
"Li Zhijie, Prince of Yan of Xiliang, you cursed wretch! Hand over my second older brother!"
Bai Jinchi's rage-filled voice rang out from outside.
Civilians had surrounded the post station's gates, faces flushed with anger. The Bai family guards Bai Jinchi had brought with her and Li Zhijie's own escort had drawn their swords and stood locked in a standoff.
The crowd shouted for Li Zhijie to return the Bai family's second young master, Bai Jingjing, to Jin—or else they would kneel and beg the Emperor to send troops against Xiliang.
"Our Commandery Princess may have walked into a trap! The Xiliang dogs are as treacherous as they come. They're using news of the Bai family's second young master to lure her here and kill her!"
"That must be it. It was the Commandery Princess who defeated Yun Paxing and won us the great victory over Xiliang. Without her, Xiliang would have no reason to fear Jin any longer! Fourth Young Miss, you must take your men inside and rescue the Commandery Princess at once!"
"Those venomous Xiliang devils!"
Bai Jingyan now understood—the Crown Prince had arrived.
She had given Consort Jin's attendants instructions to post people at the entrance of the post station. When the Crown Prince reached the entrance, they were to tell him that the Xiliang delegation had used the Bai family's second young master to deceive the Commandery Princess, and that there might be a trap laid within the station even now. They were to say that the Xiliang men meant to kill the Commandery Princess, and that if she died, Xiliang would no longer fear Jin at all.
And of course, she had stationed others to shout it loud for all to hear—that the Crown Prince was a wise and sagacious sovereign, and surely had some way to save the Commandery Princess.
The bigger a scene Jinchi and the people Consort Jin sent made, the better.
"His Highness the Crown Prince is wise and magnificent—surely he can save our Commandery Princess!"
Li Zhijie too could hear the commotion outside.
"It appears the Crown Prince has arrived. Have you thought carefully about how you'll explain this to him?"
The moment Bai Jingyan finished speaking, Li Zhijie's pupils contracted sharply. Bai Jingyan, whose instincts were uniquely sharp for danger, felt a chill at her back and spun around, loosing an arrow.
Liu Chentuo, who had appeared out of the shadows, held a long sword in his hand. His ambush had nearly succeeded—but Bai Jingyan had detected him, and now it was he who nearly took her arrow instead.
"Liu Chentuo!"
Li Zhijie roared through clenched teeth.
He had never planned to kill Bai Jingyan today. If she died here, it would hand Jin a perfect pretext to attack Xiliang. Worse, the Bai Family Army would march all the way to Yunjing to avenge her.
Xiliang could not afford to fall into chaos again. No—Xiliang could not withstand chaos!
Li Zhijie feared Bai Jingyan's command of war, but in truth he feared the Bai Family Army of Jin far more.
Fewer than ten thousand Bai soldiers remained, but one had only to look at the men of the Bai family to understand—how fierce and formidable the Bai Family Army and the Bai clan truly were.
If Yunjing wavered, all of Xiliang would waver with it. And if Jin then invited the great powers to punish Xiliang, to destroy it, to carve it up among themselves, Xiliang would vanish from this world in the space of a heartbeat.
Li Zhijie watched as Liu Chentuo dodged Bai Jingyan's arrow, stepped onto the white marble balustrade beside the fish pond, and raised his glinting blade once more, moving with terrifying speed to attack her.
Li Zhijie's eyes darkened. Without a moment's thought for his wounded shoulder, he darted in front of Bai Jingyan and flung open his iron-ribbed fan. Twenty-three iron fan-bones shot toward Liu Chentuo.
Liu Chentuo tumbled desperately aside to evade them, but one iron rib stabbed into his knee. Agony flooded through him in an instant, and he dropped to one knee, bracing himself on his sword.
"Liu Chentuo! Stop!"
Li Zhijie's face went rigid. Half of Liu Chentuo's torso was soaked in red blood—a horrifying sight.
Bai Jingyan narrowed her eyes. She couldn't make sense of it. Li Zhijie's own man had tried to kill her, and yet Li Zhijie was shielding her?
Liu Chentuo gritted his teeth and raised his head.
He had been castrated, entered the Xiliang imperial palace as a eunuch, and endured every humiliation to live those cowardly years—all for one reason alone. To avenge his adoptive father.
The man who had beheaded his adoptive father stood right here before his eyes. The sword in his hand was coated with poison. He had to kill Bai Jingyan today and take his revenge in his father's stead. If he let today slip, there would be no other chance.
"Your Highness! Forgive me! Today I must kill Bai Jingyan. The profound kindness you have shown me—I will have to repay it in the next life!"
With those words, Liu Chentuo glared at Bai Jingyan with eyes as sharp as whips. Then he raised his sword and charged, mad and unhesitating, straight toward where she and Li Zhijie stood.
Bai Jingyan nimbly raised her bow and took aim at him. Not a trace of fear on her face.
Li Zhijie instinctively shielded Bai Jingyan behind him and shouted.
"What are you all doing? Stop him—now!"