Getting Close
Zhen Xiangzhi closed his eyes tightly for a long moment. The memory of himself bowing and scraping before Advisor Fang left a bitter taste of humiliation in his mouth.
Before long, six scholars of the Crown Prince's household filed out of the residence and split into two groups. One headed toward the Dong estate; the other made for the household of Liu Yafu's maternal grandfather.
The Liang King came calling. Reluctant as he was, Dong Qingping could hardly turn a prince away from his door.
The moment the Liang King stepped inside, he asked Dong Qingping to clear the room of attendants — and then dropped to his knees. Startled, Dong Qingping hastily knelt as well, bowing his head so low he dared not raise it.
"Lord Dong, my feelings for Zhengzhen are sincere."
The Liang King's voice broke almost as soon as he opened his mouth, and he barely choked back his tears before continuing. He repeated to Dong Qingping, word for word, the same speech he had given Dong Zhengzhen, playing the part of a wronged, pitiable man who could not live without her.
Dong Qingping could guess roughly what was going on. The Emperor, who could not stand the sight of Dong Qing'e and the Liang King in the same room, would never sanction the Liang King taking Zhengzhen as his primary consort. That must be why he had come all the way to the Dong estate himself.
Yet though he saw through the prince's schemes completely, Dong Qingping feigned ignorance and asked, "Your Highness, today His Majesty summoned Zhengzhen to the palace, and she had an audience with him as well. She came back and asked us to send a matchmaker to the Liang King's estate to raise the matter of marriage — but she begged that we never, under any circumstances, mention the item she had been carrying. So I must ask, Your Highness — why have you come to this humble place to speak of such things?"
The Liang King's mouth hung open, but no answer came. He simply could not bring himself to tell Dong Qingping that the Emperor refused.
If a mere minister forced his daughter into marriage with the Liang King over the Emperor's objection, it would amount to defying the throne itself. What minister would dare so reckless a move?
"Your Highness, please get up."
Still on his knees, Dong Qingping shuffled forward and helped the prince to his feet.
"Your Highness, night is falling — it would be best to return to your estate for now. That Your Highness should favor my daughter so is surely her good fortune. How could Zhengzhen refuse such a fine match? Send your matchmaker with an easy heart, Your Highness. Tomorrow I will send my wife to the Grand Preceptor Zhen's household to offer our apologies and gently decline the marriage, so you need have no worries on that account."
"Lord Dong, I will be honest with you. Father Emperor refused. That is why I had no choice but to come here myself!"
The Liang King's eyes had reddened at the rims.
The smile on Dong Qingping's face stiffened ever so slightly.
"But why? Did His Majesty not summon Zhengzhen today precisely to grant the marriage? Has some misunderstanding arisen? What did His Majesty say to you?"
"Father Emperor intends to give me the Grand Preceptor Zhen's granddaughter as my primary consort. But... I cannot want anyone but Zhengzhen! My consort must be Zhengzhen, and no one else. Lord Dong! I swear it to you — I will look upon her alone for the rest of my days, and I will never take a concubine!"
The Liang King spoke with solemn earnestness.
"Your Highness, please — do not do this. I am merely the Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial. How could I dare defy His Majesty's will?"
Dong Qingping answered with a look of helplessness.
When the Liang King tried to press on, Dong Qingping hurriedly cut in. "Your Highness, if it were possible, I would gladly send my daughter to you. But His Majesty's consent is paramount. Obedience to one's parents and the proper rites of a matchmaker — are these not our duty? Your Highness, your efforts would be better spent persuading His Majesty."
The Liang King bit back whatever he had been about to say and stared at Dong Qingping through reddened eyes.
Flustered, wearing an expression of utter helplessness, Dong Qingping spoke with careful caution. "Your Highness — surely you are not asking me to go and persuade His Majesty? If the Grand Preceptor Zhen learned of it, how could I ever show my face before him again?"
The Liang King's brow furrowed. He had come here for one reason: to win Dong Qingping over. If only Dong Zhengzhen and her father believed that his heart belonged to her alone, that would be enough. As long as Zhengzhen was not married off to some other man, he still had his chance.
And if things did not go his way in the end, so be it. He could take the Grand Preceptor's granddaughter as his primary consort first, and later make Dong Zhengzhen a willing concubine of the Liang King's estate.
After standing there a long while with a vacant look, the Liang King bowed to Dong Qingping. "Lord Dong, do not worry. For Zhengzhen's sake, I will never give up. Tomorrow at dawn I will enter the palace and beg Father Emperor! And I will never breathe a word to anyone that Zhengzhen passed her peace lock to me! His Majesty intends to send Duke Gonggong to return Zhengzhen's peace lock to you as well!"
Dong Qingping let out a breath of relief, offered his thanks, and saw the prince to the gate.
But the moment he watched the Liang King climb into his carriage and turned back, Dong Qingping's face had hardened like stone. He resolved to settle Zhengzhen's marriage as quickly as possible.
Lady Song, having heard that the Liang King had come to the inner quarters, had been waiting there since early evening. The instant the prince departed, she emerged from behind the folding screen and said, "The Emperor refused this marriage — so we must hurry and settle Zhengzhen's match ourselves. That Zhen Cuilu seemed like quite a fine young man!"
"The Zhen family marked Zhengzhen as a daughter-in-law because they trust the Dong family's upbringing. When the Bai family fell into crisis, Wanjun refused to abandon them and steadied the household from within. The Zhen family saw a household whose pillar did not snap even under sudden calamity — that is why they chose us. Otherwise, why would they ever have sought to join a man as fine as Zhen Cuilu to our Zhengzhen?"
Dong Qingping was startlingly composed.
"And if the Liang King, out of spite, spreads word that he holds Zhengzhen's peace lock, the Zhen family will not merely withdraw from the marriage talks — they will doubt the upbringing and the character of our entire Dong household. And above all, just look at the state Zhengzhen is in. She insists she will marry the Liang King no matter what. Even if he keeps silent, the match with the Zhen family will be all but impossible now."
Lady Song felt as though her chest would burst. On the verge of tears, she sank weakly into a chair and clutched its armrest. "Where on earth did that little catastrophe come from!"
"Tomorrow you will go to Old Madam Zhen yourself and tell her... that the item Zhengzhen carried was stolen by a maid, and that we have no idea how it found its way into the Liang King's hands. Tell her that when Zhengzhen learned of it, she was so distressed she took to her bed — and that for the time being, we cannot discuss marriage with the Zhen family."
Lady Song clutched her handkerchief tight and nodded. "I will. Don't worry."
Bai Jingyan had sent Bai Jinchi to the Crown Prince's residence with such confidence for one reason: Advisor Fang, a foe not to be underestimated, was stationed there.
She was to return to Suyang with Bai Jinchi the next day, and she was determined to do whatever it took to ensure the Liang King could never lay a hand on Dong Zhengzhen. And then reports had come in, one after another, from both the Crown Prince's residence and the Liang King's estate.
Standing beneath the moonlight of Qinghui Garden, Bai Jingyan sank into a long meditation.
The Liang King's purpose in visiting the Dong estate was obvious. The Emperor had refused the marriage with Dong Zhengzhen, so he had gone to her uncle to weep and wail about how sincere his feelings were — all, of course, for that foolish girl Zhengzhen to see.
The men the Crown Prince's residence had sent out to spread rumors that the Liang King possessed Dong Zhengzhen's keepsake had been dealt with cleanly — Nuo Ping had led his guards after them.
Not long after, six more had emerged from the Crown Prince's residence: three had headed for the family of Commandery Mistress Nantao, Liu Yafu; three were hiding somewhere near the Dong estate.
The treetops piercing the western sky over Qinghui Garden rustled in the wind. Lost in thought, Bai Jingyan lifted her head and clenched her fist. It was as though shattered pieces were clicking into place.
The Emperor was a suspicious man. He would forgive a son who violated the will of heaven, but he could never tolerate a prince drawing close to any minister who held military power.
The memory of the Second Prince raising troops and storming the palace had planted a dark, deep shadow in the Emperor's heart. If any prince so much as brushed against military authority, the Emperor would regard his own son with wariness.
After hearing that the Liang King had deceived Dong Zhengzhen and meant to take her as his consort, Bai Jingyan had moved to draw in the Han King. She had Bai Jinchi drop a casual remark before the Crown Prince about how close the Liang King and the Han King of Nantao had grown — and hearing it, the Crown Prince would have wanted nothing more than to make the Emperor suspicious of the Liang King.
The Liang King, so eager to wed Dong Zhengzhen, was also entangled with Liu Yafu, who was betrothed to the Fourth Prince of Liang. Once the Emperor learned of it, he — the man who uniquely feared and shunned any proximity to military power — would suspect that the Liang King was using marriage as a pretext to court the support of the Han King, who held an army, and of Dong Qing'e.
Suspicion alone would be enough to end the Liang King's good days.
What was more, Jin and Liang were on the verge of peace talks. He might balk at sending Liu Yafu as a bride into enemy territory — but there was no reason to hand the Kingdom of Liang a pretext by spreading ugly rumors.
It was a move that gained the Liang King nothing and instead fed him a fatal blow.
What a magnificent scheme!
Bai Jingyan had been preparing to drag the Liang King's violation of the ban on alchemy — his refining of the forbidden elixir — into the open, yet the Crown Prince's residence was already moving, improvising countermeasure after countermeasure with unseemly haste.
She turned to the two shadow guards kneeling in the courtyard, delivering their reports, and gave her orders. "Have the rest keep tailing the men sent from the Crown Prince's residence. Report the situation each time one of them moves. If anything stirs, come tell me at once."
"Yes, Commander!"
The shadow guards melted from the courtyard in an instant. Bai Jingyan deliberated a moment, then summoned Nuo Ping.
Since returning from dealing with the ones who meant to spread rumors of the Liang King and Dong Zhengzhen, Nuo Ping had been awaiting her orders. The moment she sent for him, he came racing to Qinghui Garden.
"Pingshu, I think you must go to the Dong estate right now and see my uncle. Tell him that if he consents, I would like to take Zhengzhen back to Suyang with me tomorrow. Say that it would be no bad thing for her to spend some time with my mother, and that leaving this place of heartache behind would do much to calm her spirit. And tell him that if he and my aunt agree, I will come to the Dong estate to fetch her before we depart tomorrow."
Bai Jingyan looked at Nuo Ping as she spoke.
"I'll leave at once!"
Nuo Ping saluted with cupped fists and hurried out.
The hour of Zi — eleven o'clock at night to one in the morning — had arrived, and several more watches remained before the hour of Chen, seven to nine in the morning. There was ample time to prepare.
Bai Jingyan sat on the stone bench in the courtyard, running her fingers along its weathered edge. If the Crown Prince's residence meant to bind the Liang King to Liu Yafu, she intended to help the Crown Prince's people carry the affair off without a hitch.
It would be even better if that foolish girl Zhengzhen could see the Liang King for what he truly is.
She tapped the stone table lightly with her fingertip.
The reason the Liang King refused to let go of Dong Zhengzhen was the Dong family's military power. True or not, the alliance between the Liang King and the Han King could never become an ironclad bond without terms sufficient to bind each to the other.
With the marriage to the Dong family out of reach for now, if the Liang King — caught in the Crown Prince's snare — ended up bound to Liu Yafu against all his plans... he would go ahead and wed her, the Han King's only daughter.
From the Han King's standpoint, too, becoming the imperial father-in-law of Jin held far more appeal than sending his daughter off to distant Liang.
The problem was the Liang King's capability. His strength was still so slight it could not bear comparison with the Crown Prince's. If the Crown Prince truly resolved to shove him into the abyss, the Liang King could not even resist.
At present, there were two strategies for dealing with him.
First, stand aside and let the Crown Prince do as he pleased, quietly watching him crush the Liang King once and for all. The Emperor, of course, would abandon the Liang King too.
Second, help the Liang King take Liu Yafu as his consort. To keep his own position from being threatened, the Crown Prince would have to keep checking the Liang King, and the two would be desperate to devour each other without being able to, their bloodletting endless. And naturally, the Emperor could only despise a son grown close to military power. At that point, Bai Jingyan could return to Suyang, watch the tigers fight, and quietly build her strength in the shadows.
Only when the two evenly matched factions warred within the court would no one have a moment's attention to spare for the Bai family of Suyang. If the Crown Prince's power grew one-sidedly vast, then the day came when he must decide something against the Bai family's interests, they would not even have the strength to flail.
Let the Bai Family Army and the Bai clan grow wings and take flight — then she could finish off the Liang King for good.
The mere thought of him set her teeth on edge, the grudge carved into the marrow of her bones — but for the sake of the Bai family's future, Bai Jingyan chose the second path.
Tomorrow she would meet the Liang King — and help him. Only then would the Crown Prince suspect that the Liang King had done away with the men sent from his residence.