Escaping Danger
The hand Bai Jingyan had resting on the table slowly clenched into a fist. When she lifted her head, her eyes were calm and clear.
As a mother, Lin Shin'an's mother had set her own life aside and struck the Dengwen Drum. And what did she ask for in return? Not an account of how much her son had suffered, how much he had agonized — no. The reason she had risked her life beating that drum was not to win the people's sympathy and clear her son's name. It was to spend her life's worth denouncing Bai Jingyan.
Know one thing, and you know a thousand.
From the moment Lin Shin'an, drunk on wine at Fanjuelou, began to smear Bai Jingyan's name, this whole affair had been aimed at her from the very start.
So why had Lin Shin'an said such things in a chaotic place like Fanjuelou? Taverns and gambling dens were where every sort of person gathered — the perfect soil for sowing news far and wide.
The only thing he had failed to anticipate was Lu Yuanfeng's appearance. The thrashing he received had surely been unexpected as well.
When he was beaten before the eyes of Chancellor Yu's eldest legitimate grandson, anyone else would have been terrified out of his wits. Yet Lin Shin'an, in an exhibition of pettiness at its absolute lowest, went so far as to threaten the Xunqui family — even demanding silver, declaring he would take his complaint all the way to the Chancellery of the current dynasty.
Lin Shin'an was a student of the Imperial Academy in Dadu. Had he decided to throw away his own future?
Or had he run wild believing some power stood behind him?
They say a man with nothing to lose fears nothing compared to a man with much — but Lin Shin'an was an Academy student. He was not a man with nothing to lose.
If this was aimed at her, then finding the hand behind it would not be difficult. Either Advisor Fang of the Crown Prince's household, or Li Mu and the Liang King's faction.
But the Liang King was still confined to his manor, and the matter had not yet been wrapped up. Physician Hong had called Lin Shin'an a man who chased profit and nothing else. If he had acted on the Liang King's orders to ruin her reputation, then the moment Lu Yuanfeng wrecked his scheme, he would never have allowed himself to be entangled with the Yu household again.
Advisor Fang, though — Advisor Fang, who could put Left Chancellor Li Mu and the Crown Prince at the front of it — that was a possibility.
Not that it mattered much whether it was Li Mu's doing or the Liang King's.
That night, the people of the Zhenguo Commandery Princess's residence tossed and turned until dawn, all because of what had been said to drag their lady's name through the mud.
Lady Dong could not sit still, sending servant after servant to ask whether the Academy students outside Wude Gate were still gathered there. Every time the answer came back yes, it was as if her heart sank a little deeper.
When Nanny Dong made her final report, she said the students had begged the Emperor to punish the murderer and hold Bai Jingyan accountable for slaughtering surrendered soldiers — to change the outside world's impression of Jin as a cruel and violent state.
Lady Dong sat by the warmed couch, twisting her handkerchief in her hands. The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like something that would not be resolved easily.
Knowing Lady Dong would not sleep, Bai Jingyan ordered Nanny Dong to prepare her mother's favorite sour plum soup, then came to her mother's courtyard, kept her company in conversation, and waited together for Wei Zhong's return.
Wei Zhong's competence went without saying. Before long, he was back.
The moment Wei Zhong stepped through the gate of her courtyard, the Grand Princess sent someone to summon Bai Jingyan.
By the time Bai Jingyan and Lady Dong, mother and daughter, passed through the gates of Changshou Garden, Wei Zhong had arrived as well.
He had uncovered everything. Both of the neighboring households had only learned that Lin Shin'an was dead on the very day his mother struck the Dengwen Drum.
When she rose early that morning, Lin Shin'an's mother had been brewing his medicine, they said.
Wei Zhong, being trained in the martial arts, had slipped quietly into the room where Lin Shin'an's body lay. Examining it closely, he found that Lin Shin'an had died of suffocation — by the Tiejiaguan, the suffocation execution, a method of murder that leaves no trace: wet layers of tough mulberry paper pressed over the face, one by one, until the victim can no longer breathe.
If Wei Zhong could identify it, no experienced coroner could possibly have missed it.
So the reason Lin Shin'an's mother was risking her life at the Dengwen Drum was never truly to kill Lu Yuanfeng. Looping back and around, the true aim was to mobilize the Academy students and bring about Bai Jingyan's downfall.
Bai Jingyan lowered her head, thinking for a moment.
"At the Academy, who was the first to volunteer to take the rod in Lin Shin'an's mother's place? Did you look into it?"
Wei Zhong had not. He started at the question.
"I'm afraid you'll have to go out once more. I need to know who led the students at the Academy — who they are, and what we can learn about them."
Wei Zhong looked at his unflappable, plain-spoken mistress, gave a single nod without a trace of hesitation, and withdrew from the chamber once more.
"Grandmother, Mother — there's no need to worry so. This time, the Crown Prince will protect me whether he wishes to or not."
Bai Jingyan said it lightly.
If it was Advisor Fang's scheme, the shape of it was obvious. At best, it would go like this: first smear Bai Jingyan's reputation, then have the Crown Prince come to her defense by whatever means, so that her gratitude toward him would swell and she would serve him with redoubled loyalty.
So whether this was Li Mu's doing or the suggestion of Advisor Fang at the Crown Prince's side, the Crown Prince would step forward to defend her — just as Advisor Fang, drunk on the delusion that he still controlled everything, intended.
This affair would pass without harm. For her, and for Lu Yuanfeng.
Which meant that tomorrow, she could set her mind at ease and go to Suyang.
At that same hour, a dark cloud had settled over the Yu household as well.
The lamps blazed bright in the study of the Chancellor's residence.
Lu Yuanfeng's mother, Third Madam Lu, was kneeling outside Yu Xiang's study, weeping as though her heart would split in two, begging him with all her strength to save her son.
Trouble had broken out, and the men were inside the study laying plans — and here was a woman who could offer no help whatsoever, wailing outside like someone grievously wronged, raising all manner of racket. What kind of behavior was this!
Yu Xiang's brow twitched and throbbed. Suddenly he slammed his teacup down, and suppressing his fury, spoke to his third son, who was pacing and peering anxiously out the door.
"Wailing! Wailing! Is wailing all you people know how to do? I'm talking about your wife! If she intends to carry on like that, she can go back to her father's house and wail there!"
Yu Xiang's third son knew his father was thoroughly enraged. He hurriedly bowed and apologized, then all but ran outside and dragged Third Madam Lu back to the rear garden.
At first she refused to get up. But when she was told that all this shrieking would only hinder her father-in-law as he tried to think of how to save Lu Yuanfeng — and that Yuanfeng would be lost because of it — she went white-faced and let the maids support her back to the inner court.
Only then did the study grow quiet. Yu Xiang drained two cups of tea in a row, and his heart seemed to settle a little.
"Father, the more I think on it, the more things don't add up. And not just one or two of them."
Yu Xiang's eldest son sat beneath the glass lamplight, leaning against the back of his chair, gripping the hem of his robe tightly as he went on.
"When you ordered me to resolve this matter, I thought it a trifling affair and sent a steward with silver to settle it quietly. But the Lin mother and son, working hand in glove with a physician from Ping'an Hall, tried to squeeze out even more silver. Had I only looked into it properly instead of rushing to be done with it — but no, I simply handed over the money!"
Yu Xiang narrowed his eyes and spoke.
"It's because the household has lived in peace too long that you've all forgotten my admonitions. Even in easy times, I told you, one must think of perilous days and prepare for them. Whatever the matter, think it through to its depths."
Yu Xiang's eldest son rose and bowed in apology.
"It is this son's failing."
"The officials presiding over the examinations were all summoned by His Majesty and are in the palace reviewing the test papers, so the students have nothing to do — that must be why they've gone and stirred up this mess."
Third Master Lu's chest felt tight with frustration. He despised the Academy students beyond words.
"What wrong have we ever done them, that they would do this to our family!"
"Consider it an alarm bell for the household. From now on, keep a closer eye on everything!"
Yu Xiang gazed at the Sparrow's Tongue leaves drifting in his teacup.
"The neighbors say they only learned the son was dead when the Lin mother beat the drum. What kind of mother is this? Her son dies, and she neither cries out in shock nor weeps in grief — she coolly, calmly seeks out the Academy students and asks them to draft a complaint? Does that even make sense? Then she persuades the students into striking the Dengwen Drum with her..."
The Yu household had begun looking into the man called Lin Shin'an ever since Lu Yuanfeng had beaten him at Fanjuelou. Lin Shin'an was from Seiling Commandery, and his father had been a county magistrate.
When Lin Shin'an was still young, his mother had secretly taken bribes, and his father had nearly lost his post over it. Enraged by the affair, the man had driven his wife out and taken a new one.
The stepmother had neither tormented Lin Shin'an nor mistreated him — but neither had she shown him any particular care. Later, Lin Shin'an entered the Imperial Academy, and his mother came to Dadu, found a house, and supported him so he could pursue his studies.
Lin Shin'an's mother had only the one son. Her only child had met with disaster, and yet she handled it all with such chilling composure. She was no ordinary woman.
Yu Xiang recalled the reason Lu Yuanfeng had beaten the man, and then thought over the words Lin Shin'an's mother had hurled out as she struck the drum — and his eyes narrowed to slits.
"This affair... it isn't aimed at Yuanfeng. It's aimed at that child of the Bai family."
The moment Yu Xiang's words fell, the man he had sent to examine Lin Shin'an's body returned.
Yu Xiang frowned and set down his cup.
"Send him in."
The retainer reported exactly what Wei Zhong had. Lin Shin'an had died by the Tiejiaguan.
"It really was aimed at the Zhenguo Commandery Princess, just as you said!"
Yu Xiang's eldest son lowered his head and pondered for a moment.
"But... whose will is behind it?"
"Whosever it is, so long as Yuanfeng isn't caught up in it, that's all that matters!"
Third Master Lu asked Yu Xiang,
"We can bring Yuanfeng home right away, can't we?"
Yu Xiang gave his talentless third son a single look, then handed the matter over to his eldest.
"Send men to look into it. I can't promise we'll bring Yuanfeng home cleanly. Come to think of it... it might be no bad thing to let that scatterbrained boy suffer a while in prison, as a lesson for once."
Having said his piece, Yu Xiang glared at Third Master Lu.
"When that cursed boy returns, you discipline him properly! If he stirs up trouble again, you'll be kneeling beside him in the ancestral hall!"
Third Master Lu shot to his feet and nodded hurriedly.
After Third Master Lu had gone, Eldest Master Lu spoke to Yu Xiang once more.
"Father — one of the students who stepped forward first is said to be from a great, prestigious family of Seiling Commandery. He is Consort Shin's cousin's son on her mother's side. Could there be a connection to Consort Shin in the palace?"
"Consort Shin has no sons and no grudge against the Zhenguo Commandery Princess. She has no motive. Find out whom Lin Shin'an met with while he lived, and investigate every one of those who took the lead. And find out as well what sort of reputation Lin Shin'an had at the Academy."
"Understood."
Eldest Master Lu bowed his head.