Admitting Defeat
Li Zhijie gazed at Bai Jingyan with his deep, peach-blossom eyes, then lowered his head once more and spoke.
"I, Li Zhijie, swear upon the Heavenly God of Xiliang. I have never imprisoned the Bai family's second son, nor have I ever laid eyes on him. The ring sent to the Zhenguo Commandery Princess's estate was given by the dead Liu Chentuo! If I speak false, may my entire family die a miserable death."
At Li Zhijie's oath, Bai Jinchi's pupils trembled. It was as though someone had shattered the fragile hope she had barely been cradling; the strength drained from her whole body, and the hand that gripped her long sword fell limply to her side.
"So that's why…."
Bai Jingyan laid the intent behind this trap bare for all to see.
"Prince of Yan — is this the reason you deceived me with a single ring? To make me believe my brother was in your hands, so that I would deliver my fourth sister to you myself? To hold a weakness over me? So that when Xiliang next invaded Jin, you could use that leverage to keep me from ever daring to wage war against you?"
As Bai Jingyan spoke, the Crown Prince's pupils shook.
He had assumed that as long as Bai Jingyan did not marry into a foreign land, everything would be resolved. But now he saw that it was not only Bai Jingyan — not a single legitimate daughter of the Bai family could ever be sent to another country.
Bai Jingyan cherished her family above all else. If her younger sisters were married off abroad, they would surely become a lingering disaster.
"Bah! I would sooner marry a dog or a pig than ever marry a Xiliang cur like this! Even if it defies a sacred decree and costs me my head, I will never live alongside anyone as treacherous and small-minded as Li Zhijie!"
Bai Jinchi trembled from head to toe with fury, raising her sword and pointing it at Li Zhijie.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince, bear witness! If someone tries to kill me, tell them to beg His Majesty for permission to take my life instead. I, Bai Jinchi, will spill my blood and die on the spot before that happens!"
Li Zhijie had fallen into Liu Chentuo's trap. It was the classic case of the fox that failed even to steal the chicken — and lost a handful of rice into the bargain.
And who could have imagined that Bai Jingyan would announce this affair to the Crown Prince and to all the people of Jin?
He had assumed she would come quietly, alone and in secret, to save Bai Jingjing.
Come alone she had. But Bai Jingyan had already thought several moves ahead. Barely any time had passed after her arrival before the Crown Prince and Bai Jinchi appeared as well.
She had been playing him like a fiddle. He had no choice but to admit defeat.
"Your Highness."
Bai Jingyan bowed respectfully to the Crown Prince.
"I trust you, Your Highness. Please, find justice for the Bai family."
The Crown Prince nodded toward her.
"Fear nothing!"
Only after securing his firm promise did Bai Jingyan lead Bai Jinchi out of the post station.
At the entrance, beyond the gathered commoners, Bai Jinxiu had arrived by carriage as soon as word reached her.
When Bai Jingyan and Bai Jinchi walked out, Bai Jinxiu — the rims of her eyes reddened — hurriedly seized her moon-white skirts and climbed the steps at a quick half-run, her voice choking with tears.
"Eldest Sister! Is there news of Second Uncle?"
Bai Jingjing was Bai Jinxiu's own younger brother.
Bai Jingyan shook her head and returned the ring to Bai Jinxiu.
"Let's talk inside."
The moment Bai Jinxiu saw Bai Jingjing's ring, tears streamed down her face as she took it with trembling hands. Then her eyes went wide, and she looked up at Bai Jingyan.
"Eldest Sister…."
By the time the three sisters returned to the Bai Manor, Lady Dong and Second Madam Yu were waiting at the entrance. Lady Yu's heart had been in her throat the whole way. The moment she heard that her son was still alive, she wept with joy.
She had been unable to sit still and had tried to rush to the post station herself, but Lady Dong had held her back — and so the two of them had waited together at the entrance.
When Bai Jinxiu returned in the carriage, Lady Yu gathered her skirts and hurried down the steps. Seeing Bai Jingyan, she demanded,
"A'yan! Is A'jing still alive? Are those Xiliang dogs holding him? What conditions are they laying before Jin? What threats have they made?"
Faced with Lady Yu's hope-filled eyes, Bai Jingyan could not bring herself to speak for a long moment. What could be crueler than handing hope to someone on the edge of despair, only to shatter it again?
"Mother, let's go inside and talk!"
Bai Jinxiu stepped down from the carriage and gripped Lady Yu's hand tightly.
Lady Yu, tears brimming in her eyes, nodded under the weight of hope and dread alike.
"Yes — yes, of course! We'll talk inside! Come, let's go in!"
Bai Jingyan looked at Lady Dong, who was watching her with that same hopeful light in her eyes, and gave her mother a small shake of the head. Lady Dong could not hold back her tears.
Only moments ago, her second sister-in-law had been clinging to such hope. If that joy were shattered once more, it would be yet another torment for her.
Bai Jinxiu closed her hand tight around her brother's ring. She resolved to leave her mother at least a sliver of hope, then turned her head and gave Eldest Sister a small, deliberate nod.
Bai Jingyan nodded back. It seemed a request that she keep her words vague — so that Second Aunt might go on living with at least a thread of hope to hold.
A mother would pray with all her heart that her child still lived. No matter how vaguely Bai Jingyan worded it, Lady Yu would mine her sentences for any hint that Bai Jingjing was alive.
So she told Second Aunt only this: that Bai Jingjing's ring had been given by Li Zhijie, the Prince of Yan of Xiliang; that his subordinate — the adopted son of Fang Pingguo — had used the ring to set a trap meant to kill her, and had instead been slain by her hand; and that even the Prince of Yan did not know where Bai Jingjing was now.
Hearing this, Lady Yu fell into a long silence. At last, clutching her handkerchief, she spoke.
"A'jing… he may have already escaped. That must be why they had no choice but to set a trap with the ring. The worst thing would be for Xiliang to refuse to hand him over, saving him to scheme with later. But it's all right. As long as A'jing is alive, that's enough…."
Bai Jinxiu gripped her mother's hand tight and nodded.
"Heaven will watch over Second Brother! He's clever and brave — I'm certain he escaped. And the mood in the capital is dangerous right now, so he must be staying somewhere else. As long as Second Brother lives, we'll see him again one day."
"Yes… you're right."
Second Madam Yu dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief.
The post station.
Li Tianfu was smashing every object in the room like a madwoman — and then, abruptly, the chamber fell into an eerie silence.
When her palace maid entered with a prepared meal, she discovered Li Tianfu with a cord knotted around her neck. The maid was so terrified she nearly lost her mind.
Fortunately, Li Zhijie appeared at once and saved her. But around Li Tianfu's throat, a mark had bloomed — red deepening into violet.
"Her Highness the Princess has awakened, yet she will not speak a word. She kneels at the head of her bed, clutching the earrings Liu Chentuo gave her. She neither weeps nor eats nor drinks — like a soul that has fled her body. She seems determined to starve herself to death. It is as though she intends to follow Liu Chentuo to the grave."
Li Tianfu's personal maid knelt trembling on the floor, reporting her mistress's state to Li Zhijie.
Dawn was nearly upon them, and the banquet for the Jin Emperor's birthday was about to begin. In this state, how could Li Tianfu possibly perform her dance?
Li Zhijie's temples throbbed. It felt as though his wound might tear open again. He closed his eyes and pressed down hard on the injury.
His mistake had been keeping Liu Chentuo at his side even after learning his true identity. He had trusted him completely — had even granted him power. And Liu Chentuo, before dying, had dealt him a devastating blow from behind.
The Empress Dowager had warned him long ago — that he must break his habit of judging men by their looks. Li Zhijie had always let those words pass in one ear and out the other. And now Liu Chentuo had thoroughly taught him his lesson.
Li Zhijie let out a long sigh. But Liu Chentuo was already dead. No amount of resentment or blame would change that.
Pressing at the wound on his shoulder, Li Zhijie spoke in a low voice.
"Prepare a bowl of bird's nest porridge for Her Highness. I will bring it to her myself."
"At once!"
The maid rose hastily and withdrew.
When Li Zhijie carried the porridge inside, Li Tianfu fixed him with a glare from eyes brimming with hatred. She looked like some small beast driven to the edge of despair.
Li Zhijie sent everyone guarding Li Tianfu out, then slowly approached the head of her bed. He looked at the mark settled around her throat. She had not been feigning death. She had truly meant to die.
He spoke in a quiet voice.
"A'Tuo is dead. I know full well how much you suffer now, Your Highness. That is why you tried to follow him. But A'Tuo died with his vengeance unfulfilled — even in death, he cannot close his eyes in peace."
Li Tianfu opened her mouth, but her throat was injured too, and no voice came. Instead, in a flare of rage, she swept her arm across the porridge Li Zhijie had set down, spilling it across the floor.
Li Zhijie showed no anger. Calmly, he brushed the porridge from his robe.
"You may not know A'Tuo's true identity, Your Highness."
Seeing the tears fall one by one from Li Tianfu's glaring eyes, Li Zhijie drew a handkerchief from his sleeve and offered it to her.
"A'Tuo was the adopted son of Fang Pingguo, Grand General of Shu. The reason he entered the Xiliang palace — even at the cost of castration — was to avenge his adoptive father. Nothing in his life mattered more to him than that vengeance."
Li Tianfu flinched. Even the tears pooled in her eyes stopped falling.
"I imagine, Your Highness, that you were the one thing in that man's life he never anticipated."
Li Zhijie's eyes seemed to darken, deeper and deeper.
"He used everyone. He used even me. But he never used you.
If he had meant to use you, he would have goaded you to approach the Jin Emperor and become a favored imperial consort. He would have had you whisper at the Emperor's pillow, so that the Jin Emperor's own hand struck down Bai Jingyan — and then he would have sought to exterminate the entire Bai clan. You obeyed his every word, so that path would have been the easier one for him. But A'Tuo did not take it."
Liu Chentuo had used Li Zhijie — so now Li Zhijie would use Liu Chentuo to persuade Li Tianfu.
"He meant to borrow my hand — to lure Bai Jingyan here and kill her. But Your Highness, I am the Prince of Yan of Xiliang. I could not stand by and watch Bai Jingyan die in this post station. Our Xiliang cannot endure another war."
When Li Tianfu refused to take his handkerchief, Li Zhijie reached out and wiped the tears from her face himself.
"If A'Tuo's departure has stolen your will to live, Your Highness, then would it not be better to grant his dying wish instead? If you become the favored consort of the Jin Emperor — or of the man who will one day be Emperor — and kill Bai Jingyan and every last one of her clan, you will have avenged A'Tuo, will you not? As a favored consort, it would be an easy thing indeed."
Li Tianfu clenched the earrings tight in her fist, bit her lower lip, and looked up at Li Zhijie.
"Your Highness — do you believe I am deceiving you? Does it seem as though I am forcing you to gamble your life for Xiliang's sake?"
Li Zhijie sighed.
"I, Li Zhijie, swear upon the Heavenly God of Xiliang. Not a single word of what concerns A'Tuo is false. And if you become the favored consort of the Jin Emperor or the Emperor to come — yes, it is true. It would benefit Xiliang. But it is our duty as people of Xiliang to seize advantage for our nation. That is no contradiction whatsoever with avenging A'Tuo."
Li Zhijie's voice came soft as silk.
"Think carefully on my words, Your Highness. If it is your wish, then change into your dancing robes and conquer the Jin imperial house with your dance at the palace banquet. But if you do not wish it, I will never force you. Not ever."
With that, Li Zhijie bowed deeply to Li Tianfu and withdrew from her side, ordering that the spilled bird's nest porridge be cleaned away.