Honest and Upright
"Big sister, when are you leaving for Suyang?"
Bai Jinxiu asked.
"Early tomorrow morning."
Bai Jingyan turned to Lady Dong.
"Mother, I'll be back before you know it."
"Then take Nanny Zhen with you."
Lady Dong couldn't quite set her mind at ease.
"I'll ride there and back—it's faster that way. Nanny Zhen needs to stay and look after you."
After a moment's thought, Bai Jingyan told her mother the truth of the matter.
"General Zhang Danyue has already led his troops toward Mount Chunmu. The Liang kingdom has positioned artillery on Mount Hongjue, watching us like a hawk for any opening. War could break out at the frontier at any moment, so I have to return quickly. A few days will be enough. Nanny Zhen is getting on in years—there's no reason for her to suffer the hardship of the road."
Lady Dong offered no further protest and simply nodded.
"Then I'll have a good horse readied for you. Come home safe."
With that said, Lady Dong turned to Bai Jinchi.
"Now that you're home, go have dinner with your grandmother and your mother before you leave."
"Yes, Great-Aunt. I'll do as you say."
Bai Jinchi answered with a smile.
When the Grand Princess learned that Bai Jinchi would be joining them for the meal, her mood brightened, and she gave orders to prepare extra dishes that the girl loved.
Lady Dong said nothing to the Grand Princess about the news Officer Yu had brought from Suyang. If her grandmother knew, it would only weigh on her mind.
Incident after suffocating incident kept piling up around the Bai household. Lady Dong only wanted her family to enjoy their meal together in peace.
Once the hour of You passed, the servants of the Bai Manor went about the corridors in hushed voices, lighting the lanterns that hung along the walkways. A dim, yellowish glow fell faintly across the window lattices and the bluestone floor. The spring night breeze blew soft and warm, setting the lanterns swaying gently.
Changshou Garden was lively today. With the whole family gathered under one roof, the air hummed with warmth and human presence. Even the candle flames seemed to burn brighter than usual, illuminating the folding screen embroidered with white cranes and phoenixes so vividly that the birds within it looked ready to take flight.
In the upper chamber, the younger children laughed and chattered, regaling the Grand Princess with stories about the eighth young miss, barely out of the cradle.
With the Grand Princess away at Qingyan and their eldest sister off to the Southern Border again, the house had felt rather lonely of late. Now that everyone was gathered, the children were beside themselves with excitement.
"If only Third Sister could have come with us..."
Bai Jinshao let out a sigh. She missed her third sister, Bai Jindong, terribly.
"Exactly! It would've been so much better with Third Sister here!"
Bai Jinhua lifted her head and looked toward the Grand Princess.
"Grandmother, do you think Third Sister will be well by the time we head back to Suyang? Do you think she'll come to see us off?"
The Grand Princess had not brought the third young miss back to the Bai Manor with her. To the outside world, she explained, the girl had caught a chill, and it wouldn't do to risk passing a cold to the newborn eighth young miss.
"They say that when you're ill, it feels like the mountains are crumbling around you, but once your health returns, your whole body feels lighter. Jindong's health matters more than anything. We'll see her soon enough."
Bai Jingyan smiled and stroked Bai Jinhua's hair as she spoke.
Behind Nanny Zhen, a dozen or more maids filed into the garden, each holding a black tiered food box, the last ones carrying hexagonalSheep-parchment lanterns to light their way.
Entering in single file, the maids carefully set down the bowls and plates, then withdrew at once.
The Grand Princess had long since given her orders: although the Bai family was still nominally in mourning, the children were at the height of their growing years, and no meal could be served without meat. So tonight's dinner included both fish and meat.
Nanny Zhen circled around the folding screen into the inner chamber, paid her respects to the Grand Princess and Lady Dong with a warm smile, and announced that dinner was ready to be served.
The family had not yet finished eating when Nanny Zhang entered and reported in a low voice to the Grand Princess.
"The man young Master Yu struck at Fanjuelou on the twenty-fifth of the third month—he'd been confined to his sickbed ever since, but they couldn't save him. He passed away this morning."
Bai Jingyan's hand tightened around her chopsticks, and she raised her head.
Nanny Dong, too, stared at Bai Jingyan with disbelief in her eyes.
He's dead? How does that make any sense?
When Bai Jingyan had first heard the rumors—that Lu Yuanfeng had defended her honor, started a brawl at Fanjuelou, and left the man seriously injured—she had worried he might be dragged into a murder case, and so had specially dispatched Physician Hong.
Moreover, the Yu household itself had called in physicians from Ping'an Hall, said to employ the finest doctors in Dadu.
She could accept the Ping'an Hall physicians being fooled—but not this. Physician Hong might not be the miracle worker the rumors claimed, but distinguishing a serious injury from a minor one was well within his ability.
Invited under the pretext of a visit from the Yu household, Physician Hong had examined the injured man's body thoroughly and taken his pulse. Upon returning, he had reported to Bai Jingyan that every wound was superficial—nothing worse than scrapes—and that the patient was deliberately taking to his sickbed to squeeze more silver out of the Yu household.
Mother and son had already accepted the Yu family's silver, and yet they'd had the gall to demand that Physician Hong examine the patient anyway. Throughout the entire examination, they had spewed abuse at his side. They grumbled that the Yu household's silver had been grudgingly given, that sending a physician was just another insult—that a family with nothing to lose or gain would keep this up until they dragged the Yu household to the magistrate if they had to.
At the murmurs of death rippling through the room, Third Madame Wang pressed her hands together and breathed an urgent "Amitabha."
Third Madame Li, visibly startled as well, clutched a handkerchief to her chest.
"Then... the Yu household has been entangled in a murder case?"
"It would seem so, madam."
Nanny Zhang thought the youngest young master of the Yu family was mischievous but good at heart. Above all, he had thrown those punches to defend Bai Jingyan's honor, and there was hardly a soul in Dadu who didn't know it.
Bai Jingyan set down her chopsticks and dabbed her mouth with a napkin. Then, with a slight frown, she asked,
"If word has traveled as far as Nanny Zhang, then the matter must have already blown up."
"Eldest young miss, it's spread far and wide! The man young Master Yu killed is said to be an academy student named Lin Xin'an from the Guozijian. At midday today, Lin Xin'an's mother—who had traveled up to Dadu with him from Xiling Commandery and cannot read a word herself—had a fellow student write out a formal complaint for her and lodged it with the authorities. The officials knew the case involved the Yu household, so they held off on making any arrests. And so the Guozijian students marched with Lin's mother to strike the Dengwen Drum, declaring they would die gladly if only justice could be found for the boy's honor."
What a household of endless troubles the Yu family is.
Bai Jinxiu set down her silver chopsticks as well.
"Has Lu Yuanfeng been arrested?"
Nanny Zhang nodded.
"The Yu family's youngest son had gone to watch the commotion at Wude Gate when the students in Guozijian robes suddenly appeared with a woman in tow and began beating the drum. The students stopped the officer who was about to raise his rod, insisting they would each take a beating in the woman's place.
Young Master Yu had been merely watching the spectacle—and then, out of nowhere, disaster fell on his head. When the woman declared she would bring charges against him, he lost all control, seized her horse-whip, and lashed out wildly. The Crown Prince ordered him seized on the spot."
Nanny Zhang did not repeat the filthy curses the woman had hurled while beating the drum. The woman had even spat words aimed directly at Bai Jingyan, and Nanny Zhang had no wish for such filth to reach the eldest young miss's ears.
Bai Jinchi looked at her.
"Big sister, Lu Yuanfeng... he's in real trouble this time, isn't he?"
The drum of the Dengwen Drum had sounded often this year. Even counting back to the Gaozu Emperor, it had never rung so frequently as it had under the current reign.
The Grand Princess took up her bowl and drank a couple of sips. The more she thought about it, the more something felt off.
A woman who couldn't read a single character had gone to strike the Dengwen Drum. And in a matter of hours, she had rallied all those Guozijian students and put them at the front of her cause.
Someone was scheming behind the scenes. Someone had put the woman up to it.
There was nothing particularly astonishing about a woman striking the drum. But if droves of Guozijian students had followed her out to kneel beyond the gates of Wude Gate, there was far more to it than met the eye.
Bai Jingyan's mind drifted back to her past life. When her mother had left behind the Letter of Emperor Wen, and when her fifth aunt had bled at the palace gates demanding justice, it had been these very students who rallied the scholars of the realm to demand vindication for the Bai family.
The hearts of scholars were the most honest and upright of all. It was precisely when they set out to right the world's wrongs on behalf of the common people that their actions turned most radical.
"The examination-fraud scandal blew up so large that someone may have incited the Guozijian students. To divert attention."
Bai Jingyan pressed her lips together, then went on.
"To ordinary folk, a powerful family bullying the people, crushing them with force, and committing murder stokes far greater fury than examination fraud ever could. Once the people's eyes turn elsewhere, even if those implicated in the fraud receive only light punishments, far fewer will be paying attention."
Bai Jinchi had come across the old stratagem of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao" in her military texts—the tale of how Qi, rather than marching to Zhao's aid directly, had attacked Wei's own heartland to lift the siege of Handan.
Lady Dong nodded.
"Nanny Dong, look into everything about Lin Xin'an's family. And question the neighbors—find out exactly when they learned of Lin Xin'an's death."
Before Bai Jingyan's words had even finished falling, the Grand Princess set down her own spoon and spoke up.
"Have Nanny Zhang send for Wei Zhong. He'll be faster!"
Nanny Zhang answered and hurried out to summon him.
Bai Jinxiu was an astute observer.
"You want to establish when Lin Xin'an died, so we'll know whether this is the work of men—or the will of heaven?"
"If Lin Xin'an died at midday or in the afternoon, then his death was a tool serving the mastermind behind this scheme."
Bai Jingyan spoke without sending the younger children away from the table.
"But if Lin Xin'an truly died this morning—then at that point, the failed students had not yet struck the drum."
"Then it would be heaven's will?"
Third Madame Li pressed her handkerchief to her chest as she asked.
Bai Jingyan shook her head.
"Even so, there would be yet another purpose behind it."
Nanny Dong lifted her hands in blessing as she addressed the assembled family.
"Grand Princess, madam—after the chancellor's youngest grandson fought to defend the eldest young miss's honor, she disguised Physician Hong as a physician sent by the Yu household and had him visit the injured man's home. He confirmed the man's particulars and even took his pulse.
Physician Hong was certain the man had suffered only minor injuries, and said that both mother and son were blinded by greed. Every word out of their mouths suggested they meant to wring a fortune from the Yu household, and though they professed deep displeasure that the Yu family had sent a physician at all, they showed not the slightest fear of being found out—as if they knew perfectly well the physician would find nothing wrong."
Beneath a flickering glass lantern, Nanny Zhang lifted her head again as the faint pops of the flame crackled in her ears.
"I did not finish all my report just now, my lady. While beating the drum, the woman denounced the powerful families—then abruptly brought up how the eldest young miss had killed surrendered soldiers, and went on at great length. She declared that killing men who had laid down their arms was a crime against heaven itself, hurling one vicious slur after another to defame the eldest young miss. And then she asked... why her son should not be permitted to rebuke such a tyrant."
The words that followed were impossible for Nanny Zhang to speak aloud. She broke off, clenched her fists, and forced herself to continue.
"She said... that a woman as savage as the eldest young miss could never be fit to rule."