Mad Arrogance
"Clan Chief, we only came here to beg the Commandery Princess for her help. Why must you drive matters to such a pass?"
A clan elder broke in hurriedly, hoping to smooth the fraying atmosphere.
"Commandery Princess, the Clan Chief is a man of fiery temper — he spoke without meaning any of it. Our two branches of the Bai clan have always been on good terms, have we not? We believed that with a single word from you to the magistrate, the whole affair would be laid to rest, and so we came. Every other house of merit in this realm aids its own kin in just this way."
"When I went to Suyang, I laid all of this out plainly. Since the elders are gathered here today, allow me to say it once more."
Bai Jingyan's voice drifted through the hall, calm and unhurried.
"I swore an oath to the people of Suyang. Even for kin of the Bai clan — if anyone used the name of the Dadu Bai family to throw his weight about and torment the common people, and if it were proven true, I would ask the Clan Chief to cast that person out of the clan, and I would see the wronged people compensated. That is what I promised.
And if the Clan Chief would not consent to expel them, then the entire Dadu Bai family would withdraw from the clan, and from that day forward have nothing at all to do with the Suyang Bai."
Bai Jingyan swept her cold gaze over the elders, whose faces had frozen into shock.
"I have already given the magistrate my word as well. A debt is repaid in money, and a life taken is paid for with a life — that is what law exists for. Punishment will be dealt according to the statutes, and there will be no leniency. None."
"This... this is..."
The Clan Chief thrust out a trembling hand and leveled a shaking finger at Bai Jingyan.
With their own sons and grandsons languishing in prison besides, the elders could not contain themselves the moment the words left her mouth.
"Zhenguo Commandery Princess! Born a daughter of the Bai family, and instead of aiding your kin you drive them into a death trap! Have you thrown away your conscience entirely?!"
"Conscience, you say?"
Lady Dong's eyes went cold as frost.
"Pray look to your own consciences first. The Dadu Bai family has been nothing but generous to its kin — righteousness repaid in full. And how did the clan repay it? Their greed has no bottom; give them one thing and they hunger for ten. They propped themselves up on our name while trampling the common folk. They went so far as to defile my own child's festival — and now they stand here browbeating my daughter, demanding her help? In all my years I have never met people so utterly shameless and vile. Kin like this are a disgrace to the Dadu Bai family merely by existing!"
The moment Lady Dong finished, Nuo Ping strode in at the head of a rank of guards.
He halted at the entrance and offered a fist-palm salute, his face set like stone.
"Madam! Commandery Princess!"
"Mother, don't work yourself into a temper."
Bai Jingyan wrapped a steadying hand around Lady Dong's arm and looked at the elders.
"I have spoken plainly enough. On the first day of the fifth month, the Dadu Bai family returns to Suyang. If the Clan Chief will not cast out the kin who abuse their power and break the law, then I will confess my fault before our ancestors and proclaim it to heaven and earth: the Dadu Bai family will never again have anything to do with the Suyang Bai clan!"
There was not a flicker of wavering in Bai Jingyan's eyes — only stillness.
"And when that day comes... if the people rise to unburden their grievances and settle their scores, do not have the gall to come running to the Bai family."
With that, Bai Jingyan helped Lady Dong out of the hall. Outside, she smiled and murmured,
"Mother, this is nothing worth your anger."
"To think they could be so devoid of shame! They look down on us far too much!"
Lady Dong's breath came in ragged pulls. Crossing the threshold, she even let a few curses fly.
"A person who knows no shame is no person at all! Nuo Ping — throw them out. No courtesy, no face-saving, nothing. Out."
To dare besmirch Bai Jingyan's good name — to spread whispers that she and the Crown Prince had met in private, and on the back of that slander to wield such tyranny. This had touched a nerve that ran deeper than Lady Dong's own.
Thinking back on everything the clan kin had done of late, she was sorely tempted to order Nuo Ping to have those shameless old wretches cut down where they stood. Even throwing them out, she felt, was generosity enough.
"Outrageous! This is outrageous! Lady Dong, have your words not gone too far?! Do you think so little of us?!"
The Clan Chief hammered his cane against the bluestone floor, rage flooding his face crimson.
Nuo Ping gripped the sword at his waist, led the guards into the main hall, and spoke with stern formality.
"Carry them out!"
"Yes, sir!"
The guards answered as one and poured into the hall.
The elders' eyes went round with alarm; they hunched in on themselves, bellowing at the tops of their lungs.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
The Clan Chief and the elders shrieked with all the strength they had left, but the Bai guards strode right out through the main gate of the Zhenguo Commandery Princess's residence, the old men hoisted clean off the ground.
"Unhand me this instant! I am the Clan Chief of the Bai clan!"
"Bai Jingyan! Mark my words, the day will come when you regret this. Sooner or later you'll come crawling to beg at my feet!"
"Lady Dong! How can you treat the elders of your own clan this way?! All the world will hear of it — that the Dadu Bai family abandoned its kin! How do you mean to go on living after this?!"
Bai Jingyan was helping Lady Dong — still trembling with fury — along the covered walkway when the kin's cursing reached her ears. She stopped mid-stride and turned her head.
"Nanny Dong."
Nanny Dong answered and came close.
"Tell Steward Yu: send people to spread word through Dadu of everything the Bai clan kin did in Suyang. And let it spread that the Suyang Bai ran rampant to the point of dragging my name and the Crown Prince's through the mud.
Then tell Steward Hao to egg the clan elders on from outside the gates — let them wail even louder. The bigger the uproar, the better. And spread far and wide that I said this: even at the cost of confessing fault before our ancestors and tearing the Dadu Bai family out of the clan, I will never once use a Commandery Princess's authority to crush the officials of Suyang. Spread word with it that I will never lift a finger for Bai kin who have oppressed the common people.
Even the Son of Heaven, were he to break the law, must suffer the same punishment as any commoner — what exception, then, could the Suyang Bai possibly claim? A debt is repaid in coin and a life is paid for with a life; that is plain human sense! Tell them this too: punishment will follow the law, and if the local officials fail to see the matter through, then I, Bai Jingyan, will submit a memorial to the throne myself if need be, to win justice back for the people."
Nanny Dong bowed low, her face resolute, and withdrew.
Chun Tao, too, seemed to draw strength from her young mistress's words; her fists were clenched tight, and the rims of her eyes had gone red.
"If this is the caliber of our kin, then severing them now, once and for all, may be no bad thing!"
Lady Dong said through gritted teeth,
"They insulted you with such filthy talk — why did you never breathe a word of it to me?"
"Because I knew exactly how angry you would be. That is why I said nothing."
Bai Jingyan smiled and laid a light hand on Lady Dong's arm.
"It is said that when Heaven intends to ruin a person, it first drives that person mad with arrogance. Perhaps the clan's fortunes have simply run their course. Please don't fret, Mother — I will see to this myself. If this business were to harm your health, the loss would be ours, not theirs."
"And as for the rumor that the Crown Prince and I keep private dealings — I need not pursue it at all. His Highness will hardly sit idle. If word ever reached the Emperor's ears, that suspicious sovereign would go so far as to wonder whether the Crown Prince was scheming to draw me to his side. His Highness will move if only to prove his own innocence. And once he does — so long as I, the Zhenguo Commandery Princess, refuse to stand behind the Bai clan — no one in the world will have any reason to shield the Suyang Bai."
Only after hearing her daughter out did Lady Dong's anger finally begin to ebb.
"I must tell your grandmother of this as well. She needs to know precisely where things stand. If we truly mean to cut the tie between the Dadu Bai family and the Suyang Bai clan, we will need her consent."
Lady Dong gripped her daughter's hand hard. Her mind, in truth, was already made up: she wanted nothing further to do with kin who had neither shame nor anything in them but greed.
Bai Jingyan nodded.
Bai Jinxiu was still waiting for her at Qinghui Garden. After parting from her mother, Bai Jingyan returned there with Chun Tao at her side.
On the way she caught sight of her seventh sister, Bai Jinse, walking toward her with Miss Nuo.
"I heard it from the maids and old servants of the estate — they say the Seventh Miss has been keeping very close company with Miss Nuo of late. The two of them seem to get along wonderfully."
Chun Tao dropped her voice as she told Bai Jingyan.
Miss Nuo, a gauze veil shading her face, halted her steps with composure at the sight of Bai Jingyan and offered a bow.
"Commandery Princess."
Bai Jinse came toward her with a wide, bright smile, though delight and a faint thread of nervousness mingled in her eyes.
"Big Sister..."
"Miss Nuo — are you on your way to Grandmother's?"
"Yes."
Miss Nuo offered a slight smile, cast one glance at the Seventh Miss, and said,
"Then this humble one will go on ahead to Longevity Garden."
Bai Jinse bowed to her in farewell.
The moment Miss Nuo was gone, Bai Jingyan looked at her sister standing there with her spine perfectly straight, and asked, smiling,
"What mischief have you been into, to be this tense at the mere sight of me?"
Bai Jinse's ears flooded scarlet. She quickened her pace until she stood before Bai Jingyan, then darted a look at Chun Tao — plainly hoping the maid would give them room.
Taking the hint, Chun Tao bowed to the Seventh Miss and withdrew a few steps to the side.
"Eldest Sister!"
Bai Jinse bent into a deep, formal bow.
"There is something I must ask of you."
"Something to do with Miss Nuo, is it?"
Bai Jingyan asked lightly, though the smile did not sit deep on her face.
It was true that, given the circumstances, they needed Miss Nuo. But if it turned out the woman harbored any scheme to make use of her little sister, Bai Jingyan resolved, she would never forgive her easily.
"Yes."
Bai Jinse answered honestly. Then she straightened her back once more, fixed her clear black-and-white eyes on Bai Jingyan, and spoke with all the gravity she could muster.
"Big Sister — I want to stay in Dadu and study medicine under Miss Nuo."
Bai Jingyan stepped close, took her sister's small hand in her own, and asked gently as they walked on.
"Why Miss Nuo? Once Physician Hong finishes his rounds and returns, it would serve you better to learn from him, wouldn't it?"
Bai Jinse lowered her head and watched the moon-white hem of her skirt swaying with each step.
"At first I meant to shadow Physician Hong and learn medicine at his elbow. But Mother wouldn't permit it."
So Bai Jinse had taken a step back and set her sights on Miss Nuo, who also knew the healer's art.
"You did want to go along with Physician Hong, then?"
Bai Jingyan started as the realization struck her all at once.
Bai Jinse shook her head — then gathered her courage and went on.
"Big Sister, I don't want to grow up useless. I don't want to be treated like an ignorant little child for the rest of my life. You are holding this whole family together through such hard times — I want to do something for my family too."
"Of course I know what you are worrying about, Eldest Sister. That I'm still young, and that Miss Nuo might turn me to her own use."
Bai Jingyan said nothing, only looked down at her young sister.
"Big Sister. I know perfectly well that Miss Nuo is one of the weapons Grandmother keeps clasped in her hand."
Bai Jinse was a child so clever it bordered on the uncanny for her years. And never once, in front of her eldest sister, had she thought to hide it.
"That weapon will one day be put to great use for the Bai family. And because I am still so young, no one's vigilance will stir over a child like me staying at Miss Nuo's side."
Bai Jingyan's heart dropped like a stone. She steered Jinse hurriedly toward the nearby pavilion and asked,
"So you laid the groundwork with your mother — begging to follow Physician Hong — so that she would give ground and allow you to stay in Dadu studying under Miss Nuo instead? But tell me, are you certain your mother will consent to leave a child as young as you behind in the capital?"
"At first I thought that since Grandmother is here in Dadu, Grandmother's consent alone would bring Mother around. But... it seems Grandmother will not consent either."
Bai Jinse's palms had grown slick with sweat.
For the first time in her life, Bai Jinse was turning her cleverness to the crafting of true strategy. Of course her nerves were strung tight.
"And so you came to your sister, and you're telling me all of it, just as it is?"
Having weathered such calamity with her family, Bai Jingyan found her heart growing tangled as she watched the youngest of them all be the first to grow up.
Bai Jinse nodded.
Bai Jingyan drew out her handkerchief and, one finger at a time, wiped the clammy, sweat-damp little hand dry.