Opening the Grave
When Bai Jingyan had returned to Suyang, the local Prefect and the Commandery Governor had gone out beyond the city gates to welcome her. Now, the moment Bai Jingyan set out, the two men appeared again beyond the gates, as if by prior arrangement, to see her off.
Thinking to himself that the Prefect had heard the news before he did, the Commandery Governor put on a pleasant face and ducked into the bamboo-supported travel canopy, offering his greeting.
"It rained all night, and the ground outside the city is nothing but mud, yet Your Excellency has come all this way. The Commandery Princess is expected to return to Dadu before departing again—surely such a strenuous farewell was unnecessary."
The Prefect sat composedly, sipping his tea.
"And I suppose you have the leisure to be here, Governor, with all the cases you must settle and the memorial of penitence you still have to write?"
The Commandery Governor made no effort to hide his embarrassment before the Prefect.
"Your Excellency, I prepared a modest gift with the hope that Eunuch Zhan Yu, who attends upon the Commandery Princess and the Crown Prince, might speak a word on my behalf before His Highness."
The Prefect gave the teacup on the table a slight rattle.
"My advice to you is to keep that gift tucked away. Handle the matter of the Commandery Princess cleanly, and there will be plenty of opportunities ahead."
Though the Prefect never spelled out his reasons, the Commandery Governor trusted him. His superior might occasionally fawn upon those above him, but in all his years since attaining his rank, the Prefect had never once schemed to drag anyone down. The Governor deliberated long and seriously, and in the end resolved not to present the gift at all.
As the convoy led by Shen Qingzhu rolled slowly out of the city gates, the Prefect and the Governor rose and walked toward the mouth of the gate.
Seeing the two officials approach, Bai Jinchi raised a hand and halted the procession. The two men hurriedly bowed toward Bai Jingyan's carriage.
"Commandery Princess, County Princess. Travel safely, and may you watch your road well."
Bai Jingyan lifted the curtain of the carriage with a slender white hand and gazed at the Prefect and the Governor.
"Governor, see that the matter of the Bai clan's kin is brought to a proper close."
"Commandery Princess, your words humble me entirely! It is my duty, and nothing more! All this time, under threats of coercion, I was unable to help the people, and it weighed upon me endlessly. I felt nothing but shame."
The Governor replied in a trembling, guilt-laden voice.
"A fault acknowledged and swiftly mended is a fault well ended."
With an expression that was neither quite a smile nor not one, Bai Jingyan turned her gaze upon the Prefect.
"You seem to have much leisure on your hands, Prefect."
The Prefect answered with exaggerated deference.
"Not leisure, Commandery Princess—I merely wondered whether there might be anything I could do to be of service to you."
Bai Jingyan studied the man's excessively respectful bearing for a long moment, then smiled.
"I intend to reside in Suyang for quite some time. So I imagine there will be no small amount of labor falling on your shoulders, Prefect."
With that, Bai Jingyan lowered the curtain.
The carriage wheels began to turn, slowly, and the vast procession set forth once more.
Standing to one side, bowing low to the very limit of their bent spines, the Prefect and the Governor saw Bai Jingyan and Bai Jinchi off. When Eunuch Zhan Yu's carriage passed by, the Commandery Governor willingly bent at the waist and offered his parting respects.
"Eunuch Zhan Yu, travel safely."
The Prefect arched a brow, watching with an unreadable smile as the Governor remained bowed in farewell until the very last carriage had passed—and then simply walked away first.
On the twenty-sixth of April, Nuo Ping set out for Suyang, leading a convoy laden with the second load of belongings.
The second convoy was even more lavish than the first. Nearly a hundred carriages groaned under their cargo, each load wrapped carefully in cloth and lashed tight with rope until not a breath of wind could reach it. Watching the spectacle, the people of Dadu muttered that the Bai family was carrying off even the ladies' wedding trousseaus to Suyang—that perhaps the Bai clan meant never to return at all.
After all, when the wives of the Bai family had wed into the household, their dowries had stretched for ten li of crimson splendor, taking a full day to transport.
The Fifth Madam, Lady Ji, had been the youngest daughter, raised in the palm of Old Madam Ji's hand—treasured so deeply that nothing hurt more than losing her. Though her trousseau could not exceed that of the Crown Princess's mother Lady Dong, lest custom be breached, Old Madam Ji had quietly transferred a sizable estate and several shops within her own household to Lady Ji's name, fearing her daughter might otherwise suffer slights living among the Bais.
Watching the Bai family's carriages roll past in an unbroken line, the crowds lining both sides of the road let out long sighs. They lamented that the Bai family of Dadu, which had flourished since the days of the dynasty's founding, should come to this—leaving the capital behind after the death of Zhenguo King Bai Weiting and the fall of the estate's men on the battlefield.
The people of Dadu were always swifter with news than anyone else. It had hardly been any time since General Zhang Danyue returned from the Southern Border, yet word had already spread through the capital that he had taken up troops once more and set out for Mount Chunmu.
For ten years, Liang had not dared so much as stir, held fast by the Bai family of the Zhenguo Duke Estate guarding the realm. Yet no sooner had Zhenguo King Bai Weiting passed from the world than Liang began to writhe and flex. Zhenguo Commandery Princess Bai Jingyan stood watch over Jin now—but perhaps they scorned her as a woman, for Liang seemed to pay her existence little heed.
Perhaps it was understandable. She had returned from the Southern Border with a great victory in hand, and still the Emperor had shown no intention of entrusting her with real power. That must be it, people murmured—because she was a woman—and left it at that.
But now Bai Jingyan herself had gone back to Suyang, and would take the field no more. If a foreign enemy invaded in these days, which general would rise to guard the realm and shield its people? Was there another house left in all the land capable of bearing the name Zhenguo—a Pillar of the State?
The Bai convoy departed in all its clamor, and the streets that had been chattering with noise only moments before fell silent in an instant. The Bai family's people had not all left Dadu yet, but as the carriages heaped with their possessions rolled out of the capital, a strange feeling crept over the city—that Dadu's prosperity was dimming, and would only wither further.
At last the long train of carriages vanished from sight, and the bright laughter of children darting about in small gangs drifted in to fill the emptiness. That laughter soothed the worry that had coiled around everyone's chest. When the cries of hawkers followed, the onlookers finally exchanged a few last words of talk and made their separate ways home.
Standing by the balustrade of a room in Yanque Tower, Jin Lang heard the capital's noble scions chattering idly within, and felt a heaviness settle upon his heart that he could not name.
His hands, clasped behind his back, tightened hard. For generations upon generations, the Zhenguo Duke Estate had guarded Jin from Dadu itself, and had won every war it ever fought—never once had they feared the incursion of a foreign power. Even when word came that the front lines stood in crisis, Dadu had remained as peaceful and comfortable as ever.
But now the Zhenguo Duke Estate was gone. And soon, the people who had lived within it would leave the capital as well. A nameless unease crept into Jin Lang's chest, filling it little by little.
Noon, the twenty-seventh of April. The carriage of the Zhenguo Commandery Princess arrived at the walls of Dadu.
It was nothing like her departure from the city. She had left Dadu in silence and stillness, but the grandeur of her return was magnificent. Shen Qingzhu rode at the very head of the column, leading the Bai guards and clearing the road, while behind them followed a full hundred riders of the Crown Prince's household guard on horseback. It was a majestic sight.
At first, the citizens believed the envoy of some foreign kingdom had come to Dadu.
The steward of the Zhenguo Commandery Princess's residence had been waiting outside the city gates with the guards for some time. Bai Jingyan's carriage drew to a slow halt. Eunuch Zhan Yu of the Crown Prince's household stepped down and stood beside her carriage, exchanging his farewell with her—and at that sight, Steward Xue hastened forward with his people to meet her.
Bai Jingyan raised the curtain and smiled.
"You have labored hard, Zhan Yu. Tomorrow I shall call at the Crown Prince's residence myself, to offer my thanks in person."
After bowing to Bai Jingyan, Steward Xue turned to Zhan Yu with a genial face.
"Eunuch Zhan Yu, our gratitude for your efforts. The residence has prepared a small token of thanks on the Commandery Princess's behalf. We heard that you have a fondness for tea implements of exquisite craftsmanship, and our lady prepared them especially for you—please, do not refuse."
A servant standing behind Steward Xue stepped forward and opened a brocade chest. Inside lay jade tea implements, brimming with the cool breath of water, wrought with a delicacy rarely seen. Anyone could see at a glance that these were no ordinary goods.
When Zhan Yu flustered and tried to decline, Bai Jingyan spoke.
"Take them, Zhan Yu. The fortunes of the Bai family of Dadu have fallen so low that even our own clansmen were raging unchecked over the heads of our women—and the Crown Prince lent us great aid in that matter, and you, Zhan Yu, lent me your strength before them all. I know it full well. It was thanks to your careful attentiveness that the business with the clan was resolved so smoothly."
"But this is far too extravagant a gift. Serving you with all my strength is something I did gladly, of my own will."
Zhan Yu spoke with a grave face.
Zhan Yu truly respected Bai Jingyan, and truly wished to help her. He acknowledged that he was a petty man who chased advantage. And yet there was in him a pure and clean heart all the same. He did not wish to remain as someone who merely traded favors with Bai Jingyan. Nor did he wish to see that pure heart reduced to a transaction.
Bai Jingyan gazed into Zhan Yu's earnest eyes with deep, quiet ones, and nodded.
"Then I shall not press you. Still, know that I will not forget how great a help you have been, Zhan Yu."
Hearing this, Steward Xue told the servant to put the things away.
Zhan Yu bowed hastily to Bai Jingyan.
"I did only what was right and proper—how could I dare accept such words?"
As he watched Bai Jingyan's carriage disappear within the walls, a soft smile spread across Zhan Yu's face. He turned slowly and led his own convoy back toward the Crown Prince's residence.
Walking alongside Bai Jingyan's carriage, Steward Xue lowered his voice and recounted what had happened the night before.
"In the dead of night, a guard keeping watch at the graveyard caught a woman. She was trying to dig open the Sixth Young Master's grave, so he struck out at her—and perhaps his hand was too heavy, for she was half-dead when he brought her down. The moment the gates opened early this morning, we had her carried to our residence.
The lady asked her why she had done it, but she refused to answer, not once—so in a fit of anger, the lady ordered her taken to the magistrate's office. She instructed us, of course, to say nothing to the Third Madam. She was handed over to the authorities, but since she had only attempted it and never actually opened the grave, the magistrate gave her nothing more than a warning and let her go."
Bai Jingyan lifted the curtain and fixed Steward Xue with a cold gaze.
"Go on."
"But then, right in front of the magistrate's office, she began shrieking and raising an uproar. She claimed she carried an elixir that could raise the dead—that she had dug at the grave to save the Sixth Young Master, who had once shown her kindness! The magistrate decided the woman was out of her right mind and drove her off, and from there she came straight to our residence, knelt at the gate, and cried out that she must see the Eldest Young Miss. She says she can save the Sixth Young Master. She is kneeling before our gates still!"
Steward Xue lifted his head and looked up at Bai Jingyan, who sat lost in thought.
"A great crowd has gathered to watch. It is only this servant's guess, but... it seems deliberate—as though she means to borrow the renown of the Zhenguo Commandery Princess's residence to make a name for herself."
Caught attempting to desecrate a grave; refusing to give the lady of the residence any answer as to why the Commandery Princess's own mother should wish to open it—only to arrive at the magistrate's office and suddenly proclaim she held an elixir that could revive the dead.
And then, kneeling before the residence of the Zhenguo Commandery Princess, begging to meet Bai Jingyan herself. To any eye, it was a carefully woven scheme designed to spawn rumors.
"Is she perhaps scarred about the face, and is her name... Ji Nanghua?"
Bai Jingyan asked.
Steward Xue started, nodding again and again.
"Yes, Eldest Young Miss! How did you know?"
So it was her, after all.
When Bai Jingyan had heard of a woman indebted to the Sixth Young Master, Ji Nanghua had been the first name that surfaced in her mind. She simply hadn't imagined the woman would truly come.
Bai Jingyan had spent time in Ji Nanghua's company once. She did not seem the sort to fabricate tales merely to make a name for herself.
Bai Jingyan lowered the curtain and, head bowed, turned the matter over carefully in her mind.