No Time to Lose
Night was already falling as Bai Jingyan stepped out of the Dong residence.
The moment Bai Jinzhi caught sight of her sister approaching, she hurried out to meet her.
"Sister! The Crown Prince has gone back to the palace—don't worry! Advisor Fang gave him strict instructions. He told him that if the Liang King tries to take Zhengzhen as his consort, he absolutely must not stand by and watch. But what on earth happened with Sister Zhengzhen?"
"Don't worry. Zhengzhen will be all right."
Bai Jingyan patted Bai Jinzhi's head and passed beneath the newly hung plaque of the Zhenguo Commandery Princess Estate, walking through its gates.
Dong Zhengzhen's heart belonged wholly to the Liang King. Though Bai Jingyan's persuasion had planted a seed of doubt in her, even after Dong Qingping threatened to end things for good, Zhengzhen did nothing but weep, never once answering her father. She was clinging to some thread of desperate hope, no doubt.
The Liang King had come to matter more to her than her own family. It was proof of just how masterfully he could twist and play upon a person's heart.
And yet Bai Jingyan did not blame her. In her past life, she had fallen into the Liang King's snare in exactly the same way.
The incompetent, spineless Liang King had sworn he would do everything in his power to seize the throne for her sake—that he would clear the grievances of the Bai family, and of her grandfather.
Moonlight settled over Bai Jingyan's face as she walked slowly, lost in thought, the cold light sharpening her features all the more.
As she emerged from Kang'an Lane—the quiet quarter where the families of meritorious officials kept their residences—her eye fell on Xiao Rongyan, standing in the brilliantly lit street dressed in a plain white official's robe, a splendid jade belt cinched at his waist with a golden seal hanging from it.
Tall and elegant, he radiated a refined nobility that made him stand out all the more.
Bai Jinzhi smothered a laugh and stole a glance at her sister. Then she took the reins Bai Jingyan was holding and greeted him first.
"Oh! Why, it's Master Xiao. What a coincidence."
Laughter glimmering in his deep, dark eyes, Xiao Rongyan gazed at Bai Jingyan for a moment before raising his clasped hands in salute to both sisters.
Bai Jingyan returned the gesture lightly, and by the time she straightened, Xiao Rongyan was already walking toward her. Behind him came only Yue Shi and two guards.
"I have yet to offer my congratulations to the Eldest Miss of the Bai family, newly conferred as Commandery Princess, and to the Fourth Young Miss, now a Commandery Princess in her own right."
A faint joy lingered at the corners of Xiao Rongyan's eyes.
"Word was that the Zhenguo Commandery Princess would return to Suyang tomorrow, so I was on my way with Yue Shi to deliver congratulatory gifts to the estate. As it happens, we've crossed paths here instead."
Bai Jingyan's hands, clasped behind her back, curled into tight fists. When Yue Shi, arms laden with gift boxes, offered his congratulations, Bai Jinzhi shot him a pointed look and beckoned him over to her side.
Only then did Yue Shi hastily retreat behind Bai Jinzhi, understanding at last—so as not to interrupt the exchange between Bai Jingyan and Xiao Rongyan.
"Allow me to escort the Eldest Miss and Fourth Young Miss home."
Xiao Rongyan bowed with careful courtesy.
Bai Jingyan nodded. "Then I'll trouble you."
Walking side by side with Xiao Rongyan, Bai Jingyan noticed the crowd thronging before the gates of Yanque Tower up ahead, and the memory of the tower's poetry gatherings surfaced. She offered it up as a topic of conversation.
"I hear there's a poetry gathering at Yanque Tower tonight. They say all the young masters from the noble families of Dadu are attending. Why is a man of such learning as you not among them, Master Xiao?"
"One attends such gatherings to make a name for oneself, naturally. Thanks to the Eldest Miss's patronage, I've grown far more renowned than before—there's no longer any need for me to appear at one."
Xiao Rongyan turned his head slightly as he continued.
"Besides, I still had gifts to deliver to you and the Fourth Young Miss. There simply wasn't the time."
Even before the gathering had begun, the young ladies of illustrious houses had claimed the window seats, elegant and overlooking the street. Covering half their faces with their fans, they had edged toward the windows, ostensibly to admire the night scenery. But it was nothing more than an excuse—these daughters of Dadu, who had lived in the capital all their lives, could hardly have cared less about lantern-lit streets.
The young ladies peered down intently at the street below Yanque Tower, watching for the arrival of Zhen Cuilu, Ye Yuanjing, and Dong Zhangyuan.
If not for the examination fraud scandal, those three would have been crowned ziyuan, fang'an, and tanhua.
"Oh! Look—isn't that... Xiao Rongyan? Master Xiao?"
One sharp-eyed young lady was the first to recognize him.
"And beside Master Xiao... the Zhenguo Commandery Princess?"
At the name Bai Jingyan, the Third Young Miss of the Zhen family's eyes sparkled. She lifted her skirts and rushed to the window. There was Bai Jingyan, brimming with spirit, walking beside Xiao Rongyan. A handsome man and a beautiful woman—a truly pleasing sight.
"She's a Princess now, isn't she?"
Another young lady turned her head, face half-hidden behind her fan, to look out.
"It's just a shame about the merchant status! Commandery Princess or not—well, now she's a Princess—she ought to mind her propriety. Walking that closely with a man when they aren't even betrothed. Honestly..."
"And what of it? The Zhenguo Commandery Princess has fought men in battle and slept in the same camps as them! She's been around plenty of men—what's a little stroll side by side? As if this is anything to judge a woman's virtue by!"
Another young lady spoke with a trace of barely veiled jealousy.
"Well, she is a merchant's daughter. Any ordinary family wouldn't choose a woman like the Zhenguo Commandery Princess, even as a son-in-law's match."
"Quiet! What if someone hears you? You could get slapped for that!"
The fan-bearing young lady laughed and lightly tapped her friend with her fan, holding in the laughter that threatened to burst out of her.
"Say—don't you see the Gaoyi Commandery Princess? The one who loves swinging that whip of hers?"
The Third Young Miss of the Zhen family, daughter of Zhen Zeping, was none too pleased by the ladies' idle gossip.
"My father says the Zhenguo Commandery Princess and the Gaoyi Commandery Princess are truly remarkable women. Apart from Bai Xiaoqiu—the virtuous maiden who voluntarily entered Jiaozhou to cure the plague, carrying on the noble bearing of the late King Zhenguo—those two are the only ones who deserve the name 'heroines among women'!"
The chattering young ladies sneered at the Zhen family's Third Miss, then fell silent abruptly and dropped their handkerchiefs, pointedly looking back out the window. Bai Jingyan and Xiao Rongyan, with Bai Jinzhi and the guards trailing behind, were passing before Yanque Tower.
"Zhenguo Commandery Princess!"
Murong Li, the Fourth Prince of Yan, had come to the gathering alongside Ye Yuanjing and Zhen Cuilu. Catching sight of Bai Jingyan, he called out in delight, dismounted at once, and bowed to her in greeting.
"Fourth Prince, Young Master Ye, Young Master Zhen!"
Xiao Rongyan returned the greeting with a smile.
Zhen Cuilu and Ye Yuanjing held Xiao Rongyan's scholarship in the highest regard. Since he had made his name with Pingtian's Tales, writings attributed to him had surfaced from time to time, each one hailed as a masterpiece capable of moving the whole world. They too had come to respect him deeply, and so they treated Xiao Rongyan with humility.
"Master Xiao."
The two men inclined their heads in greeting.
"Commandery Princess, Gaoyi Commandery Princess, Master Xiao—would you care to join us in viewing the gathering at Yanque Tower?"
Zhen Cuilu, carrying the stately air of a scholarly lineage, invited them with an easy smile.
But Murong Li had no wish to see Xiao Rongyan and Bai Jingyan interrupted.
"Naturally, if you have other business, there's no need to force yourselves to attend."
Up in Yanque Tower, the young ladies watched the men's attention gravitate toward Bai Jingyan, and their tempers soured. Then, remembering the County Mistress of Nantao—Liu Yafu, whom the Fourth Prince of Yan had once mistaken for someone else—they began to snicker.
"They say County Mistress Liu Yafu of Nantao is coming to the gathering. Just imagine how it must sting her, seeing all of Dadu's finest young men circling the Zhenguo Commandery Princess like that!"
Back then, the Prince of Yan had mistaken Liu Yafu for Bai Jingyan—and having done so, the Kingdom of Yan had simply accepted it, deciding to take County Mistress Liu Yafu as the Fourth Prince's consort.
But once Liu Yafu married into Yan, she would have few chances to see her family again. So at her maternal grandfather's family's urging, she had remained in Dadu, and only the Han King returned to Nantao. Liu Yafu was expected at tonight's gathering.
"The Zhenguo Commandery Princess's charms must be truly extraordinary. All she has is a pretty face, and yet the young masters of Dadu bow and scrape willingly enough at her skirts."
The fourth illegitimate daughter of Chao Chongxing, Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, realized her words had gone somewhat too far, and turned the topic to the noble sons of Dadu with an awkward laugh.
"Anyway, thank goodness Lu Yuanfeng and his crowd aren't here. At the mere sound of the 'Zhenguo' in her title, they'd come sprinting over, wagging their tails like lapdogs!"
When that young lady compared Lu Yuanfeng to a dog, the Zhen family's Third Miss flared up in an instant. She glared at the women—then suddenly shouted down toward the street at the top of her lungs.
"Uncle Yuanjing! The Fourth Miss of Minister Chao's house just called Lu Yuanfeng a lapdog!"
"You—!"
The Fourth Miss of the Chao family clutched her fan tightly, her face burning red as an apple, and glared daggers at the Zhen family's Third Miss.
The Third Miss of the Zhen family arched her brows, then strolled downstairs as though it were nothing at all.
"Is it because she comes from a military family? Not a shred of manners in her!"
Unable to quell her fury, the Fourth Miss of the Chao family's eyes went red. But fear had taken hold of her—she dared not even glance at Ye Yuanjing. Covering her face with her fan, she retreated inside.
Ye Yuanjing was nothing like Lu Yuanfeng. Calm and expressionless, he seemed to take no notice of anything—yet anyone who earned Ye Yuanjing's displeasure invariably paid the price. Most of them vanished without a sound or a trace. He was a man who held his grudges very well indeed.
The Zhen family's Third Miss descended the stairs and greeted Bai Jingyan and Bai Jinzhi with a bright face.
"Princess, Commandery Princess. My congratulations."
"Thank you, Third Miss."
"Thank you, Third Miss."
"You're both here for the gathering, then?" the Third Miss asked.
"We return to Suyang tomorrow and have preparations to make, so I'm afraid we can't attend tonight. Fourth Prince, Young Master Zhen, Young Master Ye, Third Miss—we'll take our leave first."
Bai Jingyan raised her clasped fists in a formal salute.
Bai Jinzhi followed her sister's lead and saluted as well.
"I have matters to attend to as well, so I won't be joining you."
Xiao Rongyan bowed and departed.
For a long while, the Zhen family's Third Miss gazed blankly at Bai Jingyan's striking retreating figure.
"I'm so envious! I want to march to the battlefield too, just like the Zhenguo Commandery Princess and the Gaoyi Commandery Princess!"
Outside Yanque Tower, the lantern light was brilliant. The red glow washed softly over the Zhen family's Third Miss's small face—she looked utterly lovely.
Ye Yuanjing glanced up once at the gossiping young ladies above, then asked the Third Miss, "Did the daughter of Chao Chongxing, Minister of Revenue, mock our Yuanfeng?"
Jolted back to her senses, the Third Miss nodded vigorously. "The Chao family's Fourth Miss!"
Ye Yuanjing gave a slight nod, and entered Yanque Tower with a hardened face, alongside Zhen Cuilu and Murong Li.
Stupid though Lu Yuanfeng might be, he was still his own younger brother. Ye Yuanjing himself might scold his sibling—but no one else would ever be permitted to so much as speak of it.
Xiao Rongyan escorted Bai Jingyan and Bai Jinzhi all the way to the entrance of the Bai estate, where the plaque of the Zhenguo Commandery Princess Estate hung high, then bade Yue Shi hand over the gifts and raised his hands in salute.
The two of them had sworn to confess their feelings only after achieving the unification of the realm. But a vow was only a vow—who could so easily govern an affection that flowed between them all the same?
"I won't see you further, then."
Standing beneath the lanterns of the Zhenguo Commandery Princess Estate, Bai Jingyan bade him farewell.
"Once the Eldest Miss and Fourth Young Miss are inside, I'll be on my way."
Xiao Rongyan answered with a gentle smile.
Bai Jinzhi covered her mouth to keep from laughing, then cleared her throat. "Well then, we're going in. Master Xiao."
With the tips of her ears faintly red, Bai Jingyan gave Xiao Rongyan a light bow and entered the estate.
"Go on in."
Xiao Rongyan answered, smiling.
Hardly had Bai Jingyan returned to Qinghui Courtyard and changed her clothes when word came from the Eastern Palace.
After returning to his residence, Dong Qingping had repeated to Dong Zhengzhen everything he had said to the Emperor—that he had begged the Emperor to grant permission should the Liang King send matchmakers to the Dong household, and that, for the sake of his other daughters' futures as well, he had asked that no marriage proposal ever again be raised in connection with Zhengzhen's name.
Dong Zhengzhen had knelt and kowtowed, thanking her father for his permission—then declared with utter confidence that the Liang King would never do any such thing.
Dong Qingping thundered at his daughter that once she married into the Liang King's house, she need never set foot in the Dong residence again—and that from this day forward, he and his wife, Lady Song, would live as though a daughter named Dong Zhengzhen had never existed in this world.
At those words, Dong Zhengzhen wept and wailed—but neither Dong Qingping nor Lady Song so much as stirred at the sight.
Moonlight spilled across the bluestone floor beneath the eaves. Sitting on a stone bench in white practice clothes, cleaning her Sun-Shooting Bow, Bai Jingyan thought of Dong Zhengzhen's plight—and it called her past self to mind.
She pitied the girl, and at the same time burned with anger at her refusal to come to her senses. She was afraid that for the Liang King's sake, Zhengzhen might cast aside everything. Even after her uncle had flung such venomous words at her, Dong Zhengzhen had not once said she would give up the Liang King.
If she ever learned, later on, that she had fallen for the Liang King's lies—that she had been nothing more than a tool he exploited for his own gain—how much regret and pain would Dong Zhengzhen carry for the rest of her life?