Never Betray Me
Sitting beneath the old tree, Bai Jingyan suddenly caught the fragrance of osmanthus drifting past her nose.
The sky was clear, the breeze gentle, the sunshine warm. Gazing up at the white clouds drifting lazily overhead, she felt a rare moment of ease—the first in a long, long while.
Not a single day of such peace had come to her since she had resolved to leave her home and wander for the sake of the country. Even when she had sat at leisure among the privileged noble families who lived in splendor, her mind had never once been allowed to rest.
It was only because the affairs of the world were unfolding just as Xiao Rongyan desired, as Bai Jingyan had said, that they could draw breath like this, if only for a little while.
Of course, such leisure was fleeting. The State of Yan had to ring its own warning bell at every moment, remembering its weakness of days past and its people who had once gone hungry. It had to grow strong in secret, developing its military and agriculture on a grand scale, preparing for the days to come.
Recently, an agent Xiao Rongyan had planted in the Crown Prince's residence had brought him a report of the proposal Bai Jingyan had made to the Crown Prince. Upon learning that the Rongdi were in the throes of civil strife, she had urged the Crown Prince to send troops to aid them and to secure as many of the Rongdi's natural pastures as possible. But neither the Crown Prince nor the Emperor had listened to a word she said.
The trouble was that Bai Jingyan had no people of her own. Add men and soldiers to her resolve, her ambition, and her insight, and her path would be a highway of gold. And that was not all—she might well have the whole world within her grasp.
That a woman not yet twenty could possess such vision and such cunning was truly extraordinary.
A breeze swept past, and the lush-leaved osmanthus tree rustled. Through the dappled, trembling sunlight, osmanthus blossoms danced down and settled in Bai Jingyan's hair and on her shoulders. Suddenly, Xiao Rongyan felt an impulse to raise his hand and brush the petals from her.
"Someday, when an age of peace arrives, I think it would be a fine thing indeed if we could always sit beneath an osmanthus tree drinking tea together, as the Eldest Young Miss and I do now."
Xiao Rongyan said.
"You sound remarkably confident, Master Xiao."
Bai Jingyan tipped her teacup lightly, spilling out a petal that had fallen into it.
Smiling, Xiao Rongyan pressed his handkerchief against the teapot's handle once more and poured her a fresh cup.
"With the Eldest Young Miss lending her aid, how could I be anything but confident?"
Knowing that Xiao Rongyan was deliberately trying to draw her into the same boat as him, Bai Jingyan brought up the matter of the mines.
"It isn't aid. We are simply each taking what profits us."
When she refused to accept his framing, Xiao Rongyan decided the moment was not yet ripe—though he could not tell whether it was because she looked down on the strength of Yan, or because she intended to overturn the imperial authority of Jin and build a world ruled by the Bai clan.
Judging this an opportunity too rare to waste, Xiao Rongyan asked the one question he least wanted to ask.
"Do you, too, wish to hold the world in your embrace, Eldest Young Miss? Do you desire a world that bows to the name of Bai?"
"The world was never any one family's possession to begin with. Now every power in every corner of the realm is eying the highest seat, each clamoring to seize it first. In the end, only the capable will ascend. Whoever brings happiness to all the people under heaven will be remembered for ten thousand generations, while whoever treats the people as weeds—if they manage to swallow the world—will vanish as swiftly as the smoke of a fuse burning out."
Bai Jingyan gazed steadily at Xiao Rongyan.
"Even if the world is unified and you ascend to the supreme seat on the strength of some towering achievement, the road ahead for the one who sits upon it will be harder and more arduous still. Why do you think Qin, having unified the realm, perished after only two generations?"
Xiao Rongyan sat with a solemn, almost reverent stillness. In that instant, it was as though ghee had been poured over the crown of his head—his whole body went rigid, bracing. Only moments ago, he had been imagining that once the world was unified, he would at last live out his days in quiet comfort and ease.
Bai Jingyan's words struck him like a blow to the skull. He could not let down his guard.
Yan had barely managed to turn its fortunes around. How long had it been, and already he was dreaming of comfortable days? If Yan should one day unify the realm, would its court—would even the people of the whole world—sink into just such complacency?
Years ago, every soul in Yan had been bound together in a single heart, racing toward one goal and one goal only: reclaiming Southern Yan.
Since then, ambition had taken root in Yan's army. The ambition of unifying all under heaven.
That great enterprise might seem like a distant dream, but advance steadily, one step at a time, and the great work could be accomplished even ahead of schedule. Only by planning the path after unification could one avoid wandering lost once unification was achieved.
Survive the age of chaos, achieve unification—and then came the true task: governing the world.
Once the five kingdoms were joined into one, if the Supreme Empress's New Policies were introduced, the people would cheer.
But the noble clans of each nation, their interests tangled together like knotted rope, would oppose those New Policies with all their strength. And the opposition could not simply be stamped out one by one. How to strike the balance—how to deal with them—would become the greatest challenge after unification.
Xiao Rongyan could not contain his astonishment. Once again he thought: if Bai Jingyan were to enter the service of Yan and lend it her strength, it would be nothing less than adding wings to a tiger.
"I will carve it into my memory!"
The answer came straight from his heart.
"My grandfather used to say it when teaching my father. Whenever the topic of Qin's collapse after two generations came up, he would lament it bitterly and fall into long, deep debate with my father. Today, I simply found the chance to pass on to you, Master Xiao, the things I overheard in those days."
"The late Duke of Zhenguo was the true pillar of his state."
Xiao Rongyan could not hold back his admiration.
The Bai family had not stopped at conquering the world—they had sought to cradle the hearts of its people as well. It was, truly, worthy of respect.
Bai Jingyan gave him a small nod and went on.
"The Bai ancestors swore that if they ever ate so much as a single grain of the people's rice, they would protect those people for the rest of their lives. Should the power of the Qin imperial house one day be broken utterly, the Bai clan will take its place. And if, by some chance, I live to see that day come to pass—I want to compete with you, Master Xiao, to the very end. To see just which of us will win this rivers-and-mountains realm!"
At Bai Jingyan's words, Xiao Rongyan's blood surged hot in his chest. It was like the feeling of a master Go player who has finally met an opponent of equal skill and burns to prove his measure at the board.
He thought he understood now why she was sharing her grandfather's teachings with him.
The Bai clan was a family with the conviction of serving the people carved into its very marrow. Bai Jingyan wished that whoever held power in the end—whether the Bai clan unified the world or the State of Yan did—would always be thinking of what came next. Thinking, worrying, wrestling ceaselessly, so that the people who had endured the agony of war and finally believed their suffering was over would never be plunged into some greater upheaval still.
Unification of the world must be pursued for the sake of peace for all people under heaven! Whoever came to hold hegemony over the realm must never, ever forget it!
Xiao Rongyan looked at Bai Jingyan. He wanted to accept her proposal—but if he did, the distance between them would only widen, and the two of them would be forced to stand on opposing sides.
When Xiao Rongyan remained silent for a long while, Bai Jingyan rose first.
"I'll see you out."
Xiao Rongyan nodded and stood as well.
Watching them, Yue Shi stepped forward and gathered up the tea things.
"I have gifts from Wei that I would like to present to the Eldest Young Miss and the Fourth Young Miss, but I've just remembered I left them on my horse. If it isn't too much trouble, would the Eldest Young Miss accompany me?"
Fearing she might refuse, Xiao Rongyan hurried on.
"They're only small gifts. I thought that lively young miss might take a liking to them."
They were presents prepared out of gratitude to the Fourth Young Miss, who worked so hard to push the two of them together. She did occasionally ruin the moment—but her heart was a thankful one, all the same.
Bai Jingyan nodded and walked with him to the white stallion.
From a silk pouch draped over the saddle, Xiao Rongyan drew out a whip and a golden box. The whip was red—it could belong to no one but Bai Jinchi.
"Thank you for looking after Jinchi."
Bai Jingyan accepted the whip.
Smiling, Xiao Rongyan opened the golden box. Inside lay a hairpin of soft white jade—not an ornament of particularly fine workmanship.
Xiao Rongyan took the pin in his hand.
"While I was in Wei, I happened to come into some of the finest jade. This was the first pin I ever had made. The carver isn't yet practiced at his craft, but when he grows more skilled, I'll bring you something better."
With that, Xiao Rongyan stepped naturally toward Bai Jingyan, took hold of her shoulder so that she had no room to retreat, and carefully slid the jade pin into her black hair.
The heat of a man's presence washed over her at close range, and for an instant Bai Jingyan's mind went utterly blank. She tilted her chin up slightly, and caught sight of Xiao Rongyan's throat. Then came his voice, low and soft.
"I would like to make a wager with you, Eldest Young Miss."
Having finished fixing the pin, Xiao Rongyan gazed down at her pale face and her fine, delicate features. His eyes were deep and burning.
"If the State of Yan should at last win the world—do not cast me aside. Be my wife."
The hand holding the whip trembled faintly. Bai Jingyan clenched her other fist tight, where he could not see.
She kept her expression composed, but her ears had flushed scarlet. Seeing it, the look in Xiao Rongyan's eyes grew deeper still—more earnest, more tender.
"And if the Bai clan takes the world instead—then in the same way, do not cast me aside either... take me as your husband."
As her eyes met Xiao Rongyan's, Bai Jingyan's heart pounded as if it would burst from her chest, and her ears burned as though set aflame.
The large hand resting on her shoulder slid down her arm and, just as it had on that night in Suyang, closed over the back of her hand. His five fingers laced through hers and squeezed tight. It was as if he meant to summon that night back before her eyes—as if he meant to finish what had been left unfinished.
Xiao Rongyan bowed his head and slowly drew closer to her face. The sharp bridge of his nose brushed the tip of hers, and sensation flooded through her frozen body like blood prickling back into a numb limb—gooseflesh rising from head to toe. Startled, like a woman waking from a dream, Bai Jingyan stumbled back a step and tried to pull her hand free, but Xiao Rongyan tightened his grip on her wrist and drew her back, and she collided softly into his chest once more.
His arms wrapped around her slender, willow-thin waist, and with no intention whatsoever of letting go, he simply gazed down at her.
Bai Jingyan's heart hammered so hard she thought it would tear straight through her ribs; her hand was clutching fistfuls of the cloth at his chest.
Xiao Rongyan wrestled his ragged breathing under control and held her tightly against him. Then he bowed his head, drawing slowly nearer, his gaze drifting from her faintly trembling lashes down to her lips—and when he finally spoke, his voice was rough and low, as though scorched in his throat.
"Bai Jingyan—if you dare make this wager with me, then I, Murong Yan, swear upon my life... that I will never betray you. Not in this lifetime."
His true identity—Murong Yan!
Each time Xiao Rongyan spoke, the hot, shallow breath escaping his lips brushed against Bai Jingyan's mouth. Her own breathing grew ragged too, and swept up in some inexplicable, reckless urge, she found herself anticipating the moment when their lips would finally meet.
In both her lives, past and present, she had never been this intimate with a grown man.
There was no revulsion at all. In truth, she had known all along—she, too, had been longing for Xiao Rongyan this whole time. But from the moment she had confirmed what lay in his heart, she had been forced to crush these feelings down. She still had to protect the Bai family, to protect the Bai Family Army, to fulfill the ambition the Bai clan had carried through its generations and its generations still...