Elder Sister
Bai Jingping sat there with a faint look of anxiety on his face. Bai Jingyan had summoned him to come alone, and he could not begin to guess why. Perhaps, he thought, it was because his kindness toward Anang had caught her eye — that he had looked a little more decent than the rest of the Bai clan kin.
But surely that was nothing worthy of praise. He had only done what anyone ought to do.
It was precisely because he knew that duty so well that his unease deepened. How bitterly disappointed must Bai Jingyan be with the Bai clan?
When Bai Jingyan, immaculately and neatly dressed, stepped over the threshold, Bai Jingping froze for a moment before hurriedly rising to bow.
"I pay my respects to the Commandery Princess."
Today's Bai Jingyan was different from the woman he had seen before. Last time, she had arrived in a carriage reserved for a Commandery Princess, draped in splendid robes, walking with maidservants supporting her arms like any treasured daughter of the great houses of Dadu. Yet perhaps because she so often took the field, an uncontainable heroic spirit and a chilling edge of bloodshed radiated from her — enough to make one shiver at a mere glance. Bai Jingping had thought that look was the true Bai Jingyan.
But now Bai Jingyan wore clean, unremarkable clothes. And Bai Jingping came to understand what true ferocity was. Her expression was gentle and mild, yet the dignity and commanding presence she exuded still struck fear into the heart.
"Spare me the formalities. Sit."
Bai Jingyan walked to the seat of honor and settled into it. Only then did Bai Jingping clutch his collar nervously and take his seat with care.
"Raising troops to root out the bandits is something the Emperor and the Crown Prince both already know. They will soon issue orders for the local officials to aid the Bai family as well. So tell me — what do you think about recruiting soldiers?"
A maidservant carried in tea on a black tray with practiced caution, then withdrew in quick, hushed steps.
"Commandery Princess, the Bai clan has agreed to proceed once you returned. For now, we are simply awaiting your instructions."
Bai Jingping answered, visibly tense.
"I did not ask for the clan's opinion. I asked for yours."
Bai Jingping lifted his head. Bai Jingyan was looking at him with eyes deep and still as midnight water.
"You mean to entrust this to me? But I am still young... I might well do it badly..."
"A ten-year-old boy of the Bai family in Dadu went to war. And you still think yourself too young?"
Bai Jingyan asked in an unhurried tone.
Her voice was not cold enough to make an answer impossible, but perhaps because the clan had committed so many wrongs, Bai Jingping could not meet her eyes as they spoke.
"I am sorry."
"There is no need to apologize. And it is not that you did anything wrong. If you had been born to an ordinary household, then yes — your youth would be reason enough. But we are not the sons of some common family. We are the sons of the Bai clan."
Bai Jingyan spoke in a low voice as she looked at her young kinsman, still seated with his head bowed deep.
"No one in this world is born able to do everything well. But by trying, little by little, one can find the right answer. Do not decide from the start that you cannot. That is not the spirit of our Bai family — the Bai have always carried their confidence with them. If something turns out poorly, or is done badly, then find the reason and correct it. That is all there is to it."
Watching Bai Jingyan instruct him with such calm attentiveness, Bai Jingping felt his eyes grow hot.
From childhood, his grandfather and grandmother, and his mother, had always scolded him for meddling in the affairs of their elders. Not once had anyone spoken with him like this.
"Will you try?"
Bai Jingyan asked gently.
Bai Jingping pressed his lips together, then rose and bowed to her with full formality.
"Elder Sister, please tell me what I must do."
At the word elder sister, Bai Jingyan's hand trembled slightly. Her little brother came to mind — Ayou.
Her eyes wavered as she gazed at the handsome boy before her. Then she surfaced from her thoughts, and her voice grew softer still.
"Our clan holds a fair amount of clan land, so begin by recruiting tenant farmers. Find out how many able-bodied young men live in the tenants' households, how much rent the clan can afford to waive, and how much silver the Bai kin can contribute. Someone will step forward. Every beginning is the hardest part — but once you've started, everything becomes far easier."
Bai Jingping listened intently and nodded. And beyond tenant farmers, there were many other ways.
"Since you've entrusted this to me, Elder Sister, I will do my utmost. If anything displeases you, or if I go astray, please correct me at once."
Bai Jingping answered.
"You need only concern yourself with recruitment. The training of the soldiers will be handled by Bai Jinchi and Nuo Ping, who will begin with the Bai household guards. If the silver the clan manages to scrape together falls short, tell me. I will think of a way."
"Understood!"
After Bai Jingping took his leave, Bai Jingyan sat where she was for a long while, unmoving.
Dusk deepened by degrees, and the maidservants filed out in a line to light the lamps. Moving along the ebony pillars draped with curtains on either side of the great hall, they carefully kindled the lamps — sixteen in all, each as tall as a person, wrought in the shape of gilded lotus blossoms.
As the hall grew steadily brighter, Chun Tao approached and murmured softly into Bai Jingyan's ear.
"Young Miss, your mother has sent Old Nurse Zhen. She wishes to dine with you."
Bai Jingyan stirred from her reverie, took Chun Tao's hand, and rose slowly.
As they left the great hall, hexagonal palace lanterns hung from flowing eaves cast their warm glow over the bluestone floor and the vermilion-lacquered pillars. The delicately hung fragrant-feather bamboo blinds, half-hidden among the willows, kept the moths chasing the lamplight from straying beyond the corridor.
Bai Jingyan walked along the flowing eaves toward her mother's courtyard. The clear chime of wind-bells carried endlessly on the breeze — like a longing for Ayou that could not be severed.
Ayou — she had promised to bring him the most beautiful bloodstone in all the world.
Bai Jingyan had always harbored a single thread of hope. That Ayou might still be alive — like Ajue and Aun. That he was merely delayed somewhere, unable to come. That someone kind had saved him.
Her mother must miss Ayou terribly too. But neither mother nor daughter spoke of it first — each fearing the grief it would stir in the other, the ache it would reopen.
Lady Dong had instructed Old Nurse Zhen to prepare Bai Jingyan's favorite dishes. A banquet was planned for the sixth day of the fifth month to receive guests, and Lady Dong wished to discuss it with her daughter.
"Lady Fang, the clan leader's wife, sent someone over. She said that since we've only just arrived in Suyang, we couldn't possibly know the local people well — and that we should call on her whenever we need anything."
Lady Dong placed a slice of honey-steamed Yunnan ham on Bai Jingyan's plate, took a sip of chicken congee, and continued.
"That woman Fang is no pushover, I could tell. She's trying to use the Bai family of Dadu to polish her own standing."
Lady Dong spoke with utter composure, in the tone of someone who did not consider Lady Fang worth a second glance. When Bai Jingyan finished the ham, Lady Dong added a helping of Suyang's signature pickled vegetables to her plate.
"If I summoned her to ask about the relationships among the local families, she'd take it as license to start playing hostess, shamelessly insinuating herself into the entertaining at the main estate."
Lady Dong scooped up a spoonful of congee and went on with a faint smile.
From the look of her, she'd charge in without any sense of her place if given half a chance. For all she knew, Lady Fang might take it upon herself to write the banquet invitations, claiming we don't know the situation in Suyang. Arguing against it would only be wasted breath — it's plain as day what she'd do.
When it came to managing the inner household, Lady Dong was a master among masters. No matter what manner of schemer came coiling around, she would not so much as sway.
"I don't know what sort of person Lady Fang is, but her son seemed rather decent."
Bai Jingyan said, sipping her congee.
"So the clan leadership was passed not to Bai Jingping's father, but to Bai Jingping himself?"
Lady Dong gazed at her daughter with a smiling face.
"Now that the Bai family of Dadu has come, the clan leader's ability hardly matters. What matters is simply that he obeys."
Bai Jingyan did not wish to push matters to an absolute extreme. She wanted the former clan leader to understand that although he had been driven from his seat, his son might yet inherit it. Only then would the situation keep from spiraling into the worst possible outcome.
"Pay Lady Fang no mind. There's no need to send a separate reply — silence will tell her everything. If she understands that her husband's seat as clan leader is not permanent but merely temporary, she won't dare cause any trouble."
After being entrusted with the recruitment of soldiers, Bai Jingping discussed the matter with his father that very day.
Bai Qihua, who had once been content to lose himself in old books and ancient texts, began pondering in earnest how his son might recruit men well on Bai Jingyan's behalf.
"The Bai kin who have reached their fourteenth year should go along as well. We must set an example for the people of Suyang. Only then will they believe the Bai clan truly repents — only then will they believe we hold our ancestral discipline in our hearts."
Bai Qihua said.
In the past, Bai Qihua had had no choice but to obey his own father. But now, holding the clan leader's seat even temporarily, he found himself wanting to give the people some measure of recompense, by any means he could. Not that he coveted the position.
Now that Zhenguo Commandery Princess Bai Jingyan had returned and set the Bai clan to rights, he could only hope that the kinsmen too would recognize their wrongs and repent in sincerity.
"You are right, Father."
Bai Jingping nodded.
Bai Qihua turned his gaze to his dependable son. It was said that by rights the eldest son should shoulder the family's heavy burdens while the second son knew nothing but idle pleasure — yet his own elder brother Bai Qiyun had ruined his life under his parents' misguided doting, and his eldest son, raised beneath those same parents, had gone down the wrong path. Thankfully, his second son had grown up straight and true, carrying the very bone and bearing of the Bai lineage.
Bai Qihua smiled as he looked at him.
"You are the second son, yet you are steadier than your elder brother. My heart feels lighter for it. The Commandery Princess intends to place weight upon you, so serve well under her. The Bai clan has no one left to lean on but the Zhenguo Commandery Princess now.
That said... I don't mean for you to curry her favor. Only know this: whatever the Bai family regains, it regains through her grace. So join your strength with hers and carry on the glory of our house. Never, ever blind yourself to the profit before your eyes and lose the vision to see far ahead — as your grandfather did."
A true illustrious house must stand united as one heart. Bai Qihua knew this better than anyone, and he did not hesitate even to hold up his own father's failings as a warning to his son.
With his father's oppressive hand lifted from him, and suddenly seated in the clan leader's chair besides, Bai Qihua had spent several nights sleepless — and in those sleepless hours, a great resolve had taken root in him: the honor of the Bai clan would be restored.
"Rest your heart, Father. I understand well enough."
Bai Jingping answered with quiet respect.