A Legacy of Unyielding Bones
"I will tell Lady Hu the truth, exactly as it happened."
Bai Jindong spoke slowly, drawing out each word.
"The day my brother-in-law came to demand an explanation from his wife, my second elder sister told him this: the reason she did not strike back when Lady Hu's daughter struck her head with a stone was to give him a chance to leave the Hu estate. She said that if he lacked the courage to walk out of the Zhongyong Marquis Estate, then he was not a man worthy of a daughter of the Bai family, and he could not escape a letter of divorce. She swore that even if it came to both sides fighting until blood was spilled — even if it meant sending the divorce papers — she would never live with him!"
Madame Zhang and Mama Wu stared, eyes gone wide as saucers. So the delicate, fragile-looking Bai Jinxiu had harbored such a ruthless heart all along!
A divorce letter? What nonsense — a divorce letter, in a family of this standing!
Madame Zhang trembled so violently with rage that her hands shook. She was certain now that Bai Jinxiu, that vicious, venomous girl, was driving her toward her death.
Bai Jingyan swept a cold gaze over Mama Wu before speaking with a sneer.
"His Majesty has issued an imperial edict, and Her Majesty the Empress has offered her personal counsel. If Jin Lang's path forward were to be blocked in the name of filial duty, it would be no different from reproaching the Emperor and the Empress themselves. Jin Lang has made every preparation to leave the Hu estate, and now waits only for my sister's health to recover. Come to think of it — Lady Hu, was it not precisely for the sake of that heir's position that you spent so long committing unspeakable misdeeds behind closed doors? Jin Lang conceded so generously. Why, then, can you not accept it with dignity?"
A chill ran down Mama Wu's spine. Only moments ago, she had been the one wielding filial duty as her argument.
"Lady Dong, I was only trying to bring Bai Jinxiu into the Hu estate with the best of intentions!" she cried. "Where else in all of Dadu would you find a mother-in-law as generous-hearted as I am? And after coming all this way, I am to be trampled underfoot by two girls of the Zhenguo Duke Estate without even a cup of tea!"
Unable to restrain her fury any longer, Madame Zhang shouted at Lady Dong, calling her by name — and even as she spoke, she kept slamming her hand against the table.
"Call me a stepmother if you like, but Hu Ye, Jin Lang's own father, is still alive! Anyone knows that a household cannot be divided while the parents still live — and yet Bai Jinxiu no sooner completed the wedding rites than she set about coaxing my son to leave the estate! Not a speck of filial devotion in her. If word gets out, she will be flogged in the streets, mark my words."
Lady Dong calmly blew on her teacup. She could no longer be bothered with roundabout words.
"Did you really think I wouldn't see through your schemes? You assumed that since a daughter of the Bai family had married into the Hu estate, we would grovel to you as her mother-in-law for the sake of Jinxiu's future. Zhang Fengchun, our Bai family has inherited an unyielding spirit from its ancestors — we are not a house that anyone can bite just because they please. Go home and check whether your own teeth are still intact."
"Lady Dong!"
Madame Zhang slammed the table and shouted. Waving her handkerchief wildly through the air, she turned to leave.
"We shall see! The day you weep and wail is coming soon!"
Mama Wu pulled and tugged at her, barely managing to hold back the blazing Madame Zhang, all the while shooting her desperate, meaningful glances.
"Madame, the Grand Duchess has been injured — the wife of the heir apparent was merely venting her anger over it when she spoke so harshly. Please bear it a little longer! If you storm out like this, the misunderstanding between our two houses may never be mended for as long as we live!"
Lifting her head, Bai Jingyan watched the huffing, retreating figure of Madame Zhang and spoke slowly.
"Speaking of Jinxiu's injuries reminds me of something. Lady Hu — when my second sister lay unconscious after nearly drowning, to which human trafficker did you sell the maidservants assigned to attend her? Their parents are kneeling at the gates of the Duke's estate right now, demanding answers. I confess I am curious as well. What kind of trafficker with such power would dare take people away without their household registries? Those registries are in my sister's possession. Could it be that those five maids are staying comfortably in your residence, just like Mingyu?"
Mama Wu felt her heart hammering wildly. Only after Madame Zhang had dealt with those maids did she belatedly remember the household registries — and to this day, none of their registries had been found among Bai Jinxiu's wedding trousseau.
Then, in the midst of it all, word had come from the Zhenguo Duke Estate: someone had arrived bearing Mingyu's registry, and had forcibly bound and carried Mingyu away from Madame Zhang's residence. Which meant the registries for the remaining maids must surely be in the hands of the Duke's estate as well.
Just as Mama Wu opened her mouth, piecing it together, Madame Zhang — sensing something amiss — seized on the slip and erupted.
"Bai Jinxiu ignored filial duty the moment she crossed our threshold, and far from upholding a woman's virtues, used deceitful tricks to goad her husband into dividing the household — and now the Zhenguo Duke Estate demands to know where the maids went! Even if I, as her mother-in-law, had beaten Bai Jinxiu to death with my own hands, no one would dare call it a crime. Mama Wu, we are leaving!"
Sweat streaming down her face, Mama Wu hurried after Madame Zhang.
"Lady Hu, if you intend to carry that tale beyond this door — that my second sister goaded Jin Lang into leaving the Zhongyong Marquis Estate — and smear her with it, spare yourself the effort. The Duke's estate will never acknowledge it, and my mother will do everything in her power to clear my sister's name."
Bai Jingyan rose to her feet, a smile on her lips as she continued.
"His Majesty has praised my mother without reserve, calling her a model for all the married women of Dadu. Lady Hu, with rumors already swirling that you stood by while your own daughter was nearly killed, and that you laid hands on your daughter-in-law's wedding trousseau — wouldn't it be a lovely sight indeed, adding one more rumor on top: that you slandered your daughter-in-law's honor?"
If what Bai Jinxiu had said to Jin Lang ever leaked outside these walls, it would be devastating to Jinxiu's reputation.
Bai Jindong stood at Bai Jingyan's side and shook her head with exaggerated frustration.
The reason I told Lady Hu what my second elder sister said was to pile firewood onto her reputation and pour oil over it while it sat in the pit! Big sister, you are far too kind-hearted. Why would you go and remind her of that?
"Lady Dong — does the Zhenguo Duke Estate intend to see this through to the bitter end with our Zhongyong Marquis Estate?"
Madame Zhang glared, still wringing her handkerchief for no reason at all.
Lady Dong raised her head with unhurried composure.
"Your two daughters came within a hair's breadth of killing the second daughter of the Duke's estate. And now you expected courteous treatment from us?"
Bai Jindong stood with her hands clasped behind her back, the corners of her mouth curling coldly.
"I suppose the Hu estate's face must be made of city walls. Our Duke's estate has already made a public spectacle of bringing my second elder sister home, and still you think this matter is unfinished."
"Fine! Very well! Be as arrogant as you please!"
Madame Zhang trembled from head to toe with stifled rage, spitting out words with no regard for order.
"The day you all weep is coming soon. Come, Mama Wu!"
Bai Jingyan lifted her gaze, her deep eyes following Madame Zhang's retreating figure.
Mama Jin, who had been standing at the entrance, saw Madame Zhang sweeping out in a whirlwind of cold fury and stepped politely into her path with a courteous smile, escorting her toward the gate. Unable to swallow her anger, Madame Zhang took it out on Mama Jin.
"What? Must I be watched even as I leave the Zhenguo Duke Estate? Afraid I might steal something of theirs?"
The moment the Marchioness of Zhongyong was gone, Lady Dong flung down her teacup, her face twisted with disgust.
"That woman Zhang believes she is the cleverest creature in the world. No doubt she assumed we would be fools enough to fall into her treacherous little trap."
Bai Jingyan's betrothal had been decided back when Jin Lang's birthmother lay gravely ill, her life hanging by a thread. Before Jin Lang's mother had married, Old Taijun Dong and Lady Dong had saved her life from bandits, allowing her to narrowly survive to see the festival. Grateful beyond measure, she had grown close to the Dong family — and with Lady Dong in particular she had gotten along so well that the two were like sisters.
Then, learning that her illness had worsened and her days were numbered, she entrusted Jin Lang to Lady Dong. Kneeling, she had pleaded with her: should a legitimate daughter ever be born to her, she must send the girl to Jin Lang as his bride — and in doing so, Lady Dong would naturally become Jin Lang's mother in her stead.
When a friend as dear as a sister knelt and begged with her dying breath, the young Lady Dong had softened and promised, half in innocence, that it would be so. She had even given her beloved token — the object she carried always on her person — as a gift to Jin Lang's mother, and settled the great matter entirely on her own.
Jin Lang's mother had loved her child desperately. Under the pretext of entrusting her lonely, widowed son, she had used a friend who loved her like a sister. She knew full well that the marital affection between her husband, Zhongyong Marquis Jin Dexiao, was shallow — and that once a stepmother entered the Zhongyong Marquis Estate, Jin Lang's position as heir would be in danger. It was to secure her son's claim to the heir's seat that she had made that fateful decision.
It was a time when Jin Lang's maternal family's influence was waning by the day, and his mother already knew that Lady Dong had caught the eye of the Grand Princess of the Zhenguo Duke Estate — that once Lady Dong's grandfather's three-year mourning period ended, the Duke's estate would come calling with a marriage proposal. Knowing everything, she had knelt before a girl not yet even married, clutching at the rope of the Dong family as though her son's life depended on it, and begged for the betrothal.
Then Jin Lang's mother passed from the world, and the Zhongyong Marquis took Madame Zhang as his second wife. Lady Dong knew exactly what kind of woman Zhang was, and from the day Bai Jingyan was born she had fretted over the matter without cease.
But no one could have foreseen that Bai Jingyan would suffer an injury to her abdomen that made it difficult for her to bear children — and that the Duke would move to dissolve the betrothal between the two estates. The Zhongyong Marquis had then come to plead at length, asking that the bride be changed to Bai Jinxiu. The Duke had refused at first, but after the Marquis spoke with him privately, he eventually accepted the proposal after all.
As the daughter-in-law, Lady Dong had found herself in an impossible position. If she argued too vigorously against it, Second Madam Yu might mistake her for someone who resented having the bride changed to Bai Jinxiu. And so, after a few halfhearted words of dissuasion went unheeded, she had held her tongue.
Years later, when Bai Jinxiu at last completed the wedding rites — she had returned home in the midst of a catastrophe like this one.
If only I had known, I would have opposed it far more forcefully back then!
"Mother, please don't be angry."
Bai Jingyan comforted her.
"Before going up against the Hu estate, I thought the Marchioness must be some formidable figure — but now that I've seen her, she's nothing special. Jin Lang's departure from the Zhongyong Marquis Estate is already a settled matter, so you and Second Aunt should simply choose strong, capable mama-servants and attendants to send to Jinxiu. So long as she is free of a persecuting mother-in-law, Jinxiu will live well enough."
Lady Dong sighed and nodded. Thankfully, the Emperor had issued his edict, and the Empress had spoken as well. However much Madame Zhang maneuvered, nothing would change.
Recalling Bai Jingyan's question about the whereabouts of the five maids, Lady Dong hesitated a moment before telling her daughter the truth.
"Yesterday, your second aunt asked me to help find Jinxiu's remaining maids — she wanted to investigate the circumstances of the incident. I sent people this morning to question the traffickers within the city, but I'm afraid those girls will never return alive. Your second aunt is far too quick-tempered and naive for her own good; it never occurred to her that Zhang could be such a savage creature. She couldn't have imagined the maids were dead — and now I don't know how to tell her."
Those five maids had, whatever anyone said, left the Zhenguo Duke Estate's service. As the saying goes, even if you strike a dog in the street, you must answer to its owner. However brazen a trafficker might be, no one would dare abduct people who had come from the Duke's estate — not without their household registries. Only someone like Second Madam Yu would believe such a story.
"Mother, there's no need to struggle over how to break it to Second Aunt. If the Duke's estate cannot find the maids itself, then simply report it to the authorities and let them do the searching."
Bai Jingyan's words were the answer.
At a loss until now, Lady Dong lifted her head, saw the calm, composed face of her daughter, and broke into a broad smile.
"Of course. You're right — your mother must have gone briefly stupid. A servant has vanished, so naturally one reports it to the officials. I must have the stewards gather the maids' household registries and bring their parents to the government office to file the report."