If You Pretend, I'll Pretend
The surviving brothers sought nothing but wealth and glory, and even if one washed one's eyes searching for a man of any real ambition among them, there was not a single one to be found.
There was, however, one king of a different surname left — the King of Nando.
But the Emperor had no intention of trimming the vassal kings' power, and the King of Nando, already holding considerable authority among the royal princes, was believed to harbor no great grievance. Still, if the King of Nando ever nursed a larger ambition and tried to make use of King Yang for his own ends, that would be another matter entirely.
King Yang had sought a partner for his scheme on the sole condition that they bring down the Bai family and drag its illustrious name through the mud. That being so, it was hardly impossible that besides the King of Nando, some other king willing to join him might be one of a rival nation's princes.
After all, everyone could see that the most capable general in Jin today was Bai Jingyan. The rival states would want her eliminated as soon as possible.
Yan was a possibility. Liang went without saying. Wei had ample reason as well. And even Yan... though one could not be entirely certain, it would be foolish to rule it out completely.
A visible enemy was nothing to fear. But what if someone lurking in the shadows had set their sights on the Bai family? Worse, Bai Jinxiu was pregnant and residing in Dadu City — and Bai Jingyan was to return to Suyang tomorrow. If an arrow tipped with malice were ever to fly toward Bai Jinxiu... This was a matter that demanded caution, and then caution again.
"Take him away."
The Grand Princess gave the order to Wei Zhong.
Wei Zhong bowed his head and dragged the eunuch out.
Bai Jinxiu frowned, wringing her handkerchief in a tight knot.
"King Yang was raised under Consort Dong's care!"
"Then why didn't you bring Yin Shuang with you when you went out?"
Bai Jingyan looked at Bai Jinxiu and asked quite out of the blue.
"Sister, do you miss Yin Shuang? When we return to the city later, I'll send her to pay you a formal greeting."
Bai Jingyan shook her head.
"Whether King Yang sought collaboration from a prince of a rival state or from the King of Nando, I can't say for certain. But one thing is clear — King Yang is utterly determined to see the Bai family destroyed. You're with child and staying in Dadu City, so be careful at all times, and never go out without Yin Shuang at your side."
"Sister, don't worry. I can look after myself just fine!"
Bai Jinxiu nodded, then turned her gaze toward the Grand Princess and said with a smile.
"And besides, Grandmother is here. Grandmother will protect me."
Nanny Zhang nodded with a smile, looking thoroughly pleased by Bai Jinxiu's words.
It was true. Bai Jinxiu was the Grand Princess's granddaughter, and so she enjoyed the Grand Princess's protection.
Before long, Bai Jinchi returned from gathering osmanthus flowers with Bai Jinse, and drawing cautiously near Bai Jingyan, she spoke up.
"Sister, Master Xiao is outside holding a tea set. Looks to me like he's waiting for you."
Bai Jingyan gave Bai Jinchi's head a light rap, then followed Nanny Zhang to change out of her armor. Once dressed in her everyday clothes, she attended the Grand Princess until she fell asleep, and then strolled and talked with Bai Jinxiu through the grounds of the Qing'an Nunnery.
"There are three things we need to find out first. One — whether King Yang's estate ever purchased grain from the Third Prince's faction, from Shi Chao, or from Song Zhi. Two — what exactly ties King Yang's official residence to the Wang family of Gugu Lane."
"Should we look into the King of Nando too? Even ruling out one suspect would make this easier."
Bai Jinxiu was burning to know who had conspired with King Yang. If they investigated King Yang alone without knowing anything else, they might well lose the initiative.
"I'll handle that myself, so don't worry."
Bai Jingyan glanced once beyond the Qing'an enclosure. Xiao Rongyan had far more channels for gathering intelligence than the Bai family did.
"Go rest at Grandmother's quarters for now. I'll step out briefly and come back."
Bai Jingyan said to Bai Jinxiu.
Seeing that Xiao Rongyan had not yet departed, she was certain he was waiting for her.
Bai Jinxiu realized at once that her sister was going to meet Master Xiao. A man and woman meeting alone was a breach of propriety, of course — but her eldest sister was someone who kept to the proper lines, so Bai Jinxiu spared her any comment, offered only a respectful farewell, and went inside.
Bai Jingyan had been gone so long that her attending guards spread out a blue cloth patterned with spiraling designs beneath a osmanthus tree, and set a Go board atop a small agarwood table. On the table they also placed the white-jade tea set Xiao Rongyan favored, along with several delicately crafted plates of refreshments.
Beside the refreshments sat a wooden chopstick rest carved with plum blossoms, and resting upon it a pair of flower-shaped silver chopsticks. Beside the agarwood table, the fire of a small portable brazier flickered, and tea simmered over it.
Xiao Rongyan knelt beneath the osmanthus tree, holding a bamboo scroll in one hand and sipping tea with the other while playing Go against himself, looking altogether at ease.
The Imperial Qing'an Nunnery was ringed on all four sides by mountains, each planted with flowers of a different season, so that in every season one could gaze upon blossoming slopes. When the seasons turned, the gate facing the mountain in bloom was left open.
It was said that Emperor Mingzhao of Gao never once named an empress in his lifetime — because the woman he loved was undergoing spiritual training at Qing'an and refused to marry him. Emperor Mingzhao had sworn he would only take an empress if the woman he loved came to him of her own free will, and so even the Consort who served at his side for years was posthumously elevated to Empress only after her death.
To win the heart of the woman he loved, the Emperor had planted flowers across Qing'an's four mountains, each blooming to fullness in a different season. He poured his devotion into it so that his beloved could behold a landscape of blossoms whenever she wished.
Yue Shi, standing behind Xiao Rongyan with a sword clasped to his chest, suddenly twitched his ears. He turned his head and looked back into the nunnery.
Xiao Rongyan set down his Go stone and rose slowly. He brushed the fallen osmanthus petals from his robe, and looked into the nunnery with a smile.
When he saw Bai Jingyan walking toward them in her everyday clothes, Xiao Rongyan raised his hands in salute.
"Miss Bai."
Bai Jingyan's eyes drifted over the stone table before she spoke in an unhurried tone.
"Master Xiao, you look terribly at ease."
"You've only just returned from Beijiang, so I assumed your conversation with Her Highness the Grand Princess would be a long one. But there is a matter I must tell you promptly, so wait I must. That is why I've been keeping myself occupied with Go."
Xiao Rongyan answered in that same placid tone, standing with courteous bearing, his deep pool-like eyes fixed on Bai Jingyan.
"Miss Bai, please have a seat over here."
On the far side of the agarwood table lay a deep indigo cushion embroidered with clouds in gold thread. Seeing osmanthus petals scattered upon it, it was clear Xiao Rongyan had anticipated she would come sit here.
Yue Shi offered Bai Jingyan a formal greeting, then — perceptive as ever — withdrew with the other guards and took position thirty paces away.
Once Bai Jingyan had knelt into place across from him, Xiao Rongyan pressed a handkerchief against the teapot's handle with his finely-boned hand and poured tea for her.
"Master Xiao, what brings you here?"
Bai Jingyan asked.
Xiao Rongyan unhurriedly set the teapot back atop the brazier and looked at her.
"Miss Bai — you must be wary of King Yang."
Strength gathered in Bai Jingyan's hands, which had been resting lightly on her knees. The eunuch's words from earlier flashed through her mind. How a masked figure had met King Yang in secret, and how King Yang had addressed him as royal prince.
In an instant, Bai Jingyan understood everything, and despite herself, the corner of her mouth lifted.
"So then — the one King Yang went to see about this collaboration was you, Master Xiao?"
Xiao Rongyan's expression showed a flicker of surprise at her words, but he soon acknowledged the truth with a nod.
"To be precise, King Yang went to the Ninth Royal Prince of Yan to propose collaboration."
"So the Ninth Royal Prince of Yan came here in person and made an agreement with King Yang — and Master Xiao is, as ever, the Wei merchant Xiao Rongyan?"
Xiao Rongyan had not revealed his true identity to King Yang. And seeing him tell her everything honestly, it was clear he had no genuine intention of collaborating with King Yang — either he meant to use the man one-sidedly, or he had no intention of working with him at all.
Bai Jingyan was a wise woman. Whatever Xiao Rongyan said, she understood exactly what was real and what was pretense.
King Yang had captured the man Yan had sent to spread rumors in Yanwo, and claiming he wished to form an alliance with Yan, had demanded the man arrange a meeting with the Ninth Royal Prince.
At first, Xiao Rongyan paid King Yang no mind at all. Until the man said this:
'Bai Jingyan is a woman feared by all the rival states, and one day she will be the mighty enemy Yan must stand against. So join hands with Yan, and Bai Jingyan must die.'
Only then did Xiao Rongyan decide he could not simply leave King Yang alone.
Then, during the aftermath of the disaster in Yanwo, a militia uprising broke out. Xiao Rongyan sent men to observe the situation in Dadu City. And he instructed them: if King Yang, hauled to Dadu City under escort, escaped the Emperor's punishment, they were to approach him disguised as Murong Yan, the Ninth Royal Prince of Yan — to find out what the man was truly plotting.
And if King Yang was punished, they were simply to stand down and do nothing.
But to his surprise, King Yang really had escaped the Emperor's wrath. Watching him bask in the Emperor's favor more and more with each passing day, Xiao Rongyan finally gave the order: meet with King Yang.
"Thank you for telling me."
Bai Jingyan straightened her back and bowed her head respectfully to Xiao Rongyan.
"Then — may I ask how King Yang intended to collaborate with the Ninth Royal Prince of Yan?"
In the eyes of Xiao Rongyan as he looked at hers, a faint glimmer of amusement lingered. He spoke lightly.
"Military support. But beyond a verbal promise, King Yang had no collateral of any substance to offer Yan. And even had he truly offered something — to Yan, that man's life... is not particularly precious."
"The Ninth Royal Prince proposed that King Yang return to negotiate once he had secured proper conditions of his own. Of course — as a show of good faith, to demonstrate that Yan was willing to wait for him, he told King Yang to come to the Shangmo Library should he need anything, and said that Yan would gladly help, so long as the request was not excessive."
In other words, Xiao Rongyan considered the feebly-acting King Yang beneath his notice entirely.
Xiao Rongyan had not sent anyone to shadow King Yang separately. Instead, by appearing eager for the collaboration while stepping back one pace, he kept King Yang's movements under observation. Only then would King Yang refrain from seeking a partnership with yet another nation.
And only by offering this much courtesy would King Yang believe that Yan was genuinely sincere about the alliance.
Even so, Bai Jingyan could not simply relax.
With her head slightly bowed, Bai Jingyan sank quietly into thought. Xiao Rongyan, watching her as she hid nothing of her expression before him, gently slid a porcelain plate of begonia pastries toward her.
"I specially asked for them to be made lightly seasoned. With vegetable oil again this time, of course. Try one."
At the words that broke the silence, Bai Jingyan lifted her head, and her eyes met his — those quiet, black eyes. They were as still as the night over Suyang.
"You weren't hurt in Beijiang, were you?"
Xiao Rongyan's warm voice, curling gently, echoed by her ear.
"Thank you for worrying. I wasn't hurt anywhere."
Bai Jingyan turned her gaze to the Go board, then lifted her teacup. Looking at Xiao Rongyan's crisp, composed figure, she raised the cup again.
"My congratulations are late in coming. The great powers of the realm... seem to be moving just as you wished, Master Xiao."
Xiao Rongyan lifted the teacup placed before him as well.
"And it seems to me that Miss Bai's plans are coming along splendidly too. My congratulations. In a few years' time, all the realm of Jin will surely move according to the Bai family's will."
Both Xiao Rongyan and Bai Jingyan were walking on thin ice, precariously clinging to life at the edge of a dead end. Each had trudged a hard road to get here. Beyond the feelings they could never show and had buried deep in their hearts, there also existed between them something else — a mutual understanding, and a quiet tenderness for one another.
"Come to think of it, I owe you a proper debt of gratitude, Miss Bai. My elder brother sent word — after receiving Physician Hong's treatment, his health is gradually improving. Physician Hong is on his way back to Dadu City. He should... arrive within three days."
Xiao Rongyan set down his teacup and said in a low voice.
At that news, Bai Jingyan's heart grew considerably lighter.
"I was meaning to ask about that anyway."
Bai Jinxiu's due date was drawing nearer by the day. Though Lu Ninghua was standing by, only with Physician Hong present could Bai Jingyan truly rest easy. She felt guilty toward him — a man of his advanced years, forced to travel such long distances back and forth.
"Physician Hong has prescribed a course of treatment for my brother. If he takes his medicine on schedule and rests properly for a few years, though he will never be as he once was, he can at least be spared the agony of the poison's seizures."
Xiao Rongyan was deeply grateful to Bai Jingyan, who had even sent a physician from Bu Prefecture to help treat his brother's illness.