The Wicked
"Well said!"
Someone among the onlookers could not hold back the shout, then hurriedly ducked their head. It would have been disastrous if anyone from the King Yang Estate spotted them.
In Bai Jingyan's words, the people saw the Bai family's honesty and uprightness. As the saying went, seeing a part revealed the whole. The men and women of the Duke of Zhenguo Estate were people of towering spirit. With hearts like these, ones that embraced the common folk, and with a righteous dukedom righting the wrongs of Great Jin, what would the people have to fear?
"Eldest Miss Bai, His Highness absolutely did not mean anything of the sort! That wench came here entirely of her own accord!"
The steward of the King Yang Estate bowed respectfully to Bai Jingyan in salute.
"Eldest Miss Bai, we must not allow relations between the Duke of Zhenguo Estate and the King Yang Estate to sour over a single maidservant."
"Then I must ask the King Yang Estate to please train its servants properly—so that they may never again come to our manor and cause an uproar. His Highness King Yang bears the station of an imperial prince, and so he ought, naturally, to stand as a model for all the people of the realm: conducting himself with decorum, cultivating his heart, and holding a righteous mind. Beyond handling affairs honorably, his is a position that demands sound judgment of what may and may not be done. He cannot be seen as a petty man who bribes the servants of another residence to pry into the private affairs of the women within their inner chambers. That would be staining the honor of the imperial house itself."
Bai Jingyan cast a single cold glance at Hongqiao, a sneer curling at her lips, before speaking again.
"Jinchi, let her go."
"She's lucky she gets off that easily!"
Bai Jinchi, seething with indignation, ground her teeth and shoved Hongqiao, who knelt crumpled on the ground. If her eldest sister had not held her back, she would have lashed that lowly slave a hundred times with her whip.
When the taciturn Go Seung saw Hongqiao reach for her fallen hairpin again to take her own life, he ordered someone to restrain her.
"Guard Go, please, just let me die! I know full well that His Highness holds feelings for Eldest Miss Bai. I thought that if she learned I had served His Highness, she would refuse to see him—but instead, I have only sown this misunderstanding between Miss Bai and His Highness! Eldest Miss Bai, His Highness never gave me any orders. I came here on my own. I beg you, do not misunderstand our prince!"
Hongqiao wept piteously.
"Whether you made this scene at the gates of the Duke of Zhenguo Estate on King Yang's orders or out of your own selfish desires makes no difference! One way or another, the one who bribed our household servants, sent the jade token, and sought a private meeting with our eldest sister was His Highness King Yang himself!"
Bai Jindong finished her icy words, saluted the King Yang steward with clasped hands, and spoke.
"I ask that you keep a close watch on the King Yang Estate's servants! If this racket continues any longer, my grandmother, the Grand Princess, will—"
"Yes, yes, of course!"
The steward of the King Yang Estate nodded hurriedly, then turned to Go Seung.
"Guard Go, drag that lowly slave away!"
Go Seung bowed his head in acknowledgment.
Bai Jingyan stood before the main gate of the Duke of Zhenguo Estate, watching Go Seung's retreating figure. Her eyes were sharp and cold.
Go Seung was King Yang's most formidable guard. Du Zimei was his most cunning strategist... Had it been Du Zimei who ordered Hongqiao's little performance?
If so, then I have overestimated Du Zimei.
"Let's go inside."
Bai Jingyan said to Bai Jindong and Bai Jinchi.
Watching the King Yang steward bow his way out, Bai Jinchi let her fury show plainly on her face, clutched her whip tight, and stalked inside.
As the last day of the twelfth month drew near, Bai Jingyan grew increasingly unsettled. More than once she had dreamed her past-life dream—the one in which the news arrived that every man of the Bai family had been put to death—and woken in a cold sweat in the dead of night.
On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month, past the hour of Yin, the world lay still. Every so often came the sound of the north wind outside the window, twisting snowflakes in its grip.
Someone knocked at the garden gate of Qinghui Courtyard, and Bai Jingyan, sleeping shallowly, jerked awake at the sound. Outside the window there was nothing but the howl of the bitter north wind.
Though she had escaped the nightmare, her heart pounded wildly, and the fright had not yet settled. When she saw that Chun Tao, who kept watch at her side, was nowhere to be found, Bai Jingyan called for her in a low voice.
"Chun Tao."
Chun Tao, standing before the garden gate, had gone deathly pale. Hearing Bai Jingyan call her from inside the room, she glanced once toward the inner chamber and spoke to Nuo Ping, who stood at the entrance.
"The Eldest Miss is awake! Wait just a moment! I'll inform her!"
With no time to care for the snow and chill clinging to her body, Chun Tao hurried into the inner chamber at a quick pace.
Bai Jingyan was sitting up on the bed. Chun Tao bowed in salute and spoke.
"Eldest Miss, Miss Shen Qingzhu has sent Wu Zhe to deliver a letter to you. Wu Zhe's bleeding will not stop—he seems on the verge of drawing his last breath. Guard Nuo Ping says the matter is so urgent that he has come to find you in the dead of night."
Bai Jingyan's head throbbed. She sprang to her feet, her voice trembling.
"Bring my outer robe! Quickly!"
Throwing nothing but the outer robe over her white inner garments, Bai Jingyan stepped out the door and into the wind.
The frigid, knifelike wind swirled snow into her eyes, slapped her face, then seemed to bore straight through her body.
"Eldest Miss!"
Nuo Ping bowed low in salute.
Bai Jingyan hastily pulled him upright.
"Where is Wu Zhe? Take me to him at once!"
Seeing Bai Jingyan's ashen face, Nuo Ping did not delay. He lifted his lantern and led the way ahead. Bai Jingyan gripped Chun Tao's hand tightly. With every few steps forward, her feet slipped on the snow. She pushed through the falling snow, following Nuo Ping swiftly toward the side gate of the courtyard.
The fierce wind drove snow against her face and into her eyes. It cut like a blade, yet she felt no pain—only a heart tangled in dread.
By the time the three of them reached the side gate, Bai Jingyan, who had weathered the biting wind the entire way, was frozen stiff from head to toe, her face tinged blue.
Wu Zhe's guard, beside the bed, saw her and scrambled awkwardly to his feet.
"Eldest Miss!"
"El... Eldest Miss!"
Wu Zhe struggled to raise himself. With every syllable he forced out, blood welled from his mouth—a sight horrifying to behold.
Bai Jingyan's eyes reddened. Then, forgetting every taboo between man and woman, every courtesy, she hurried forward and supported Wu Zhe with her cold hands.
"I'm here..."
Nuo Ping hastily propped a cushion behind Wu Zhe's back.
After a moment to catch his breath, Wu Zhe pressed on urgently.
"We rode day and night for the Southern Border. When we reached Chongluan Ridge, we witnessed Fang Yan, battalion commander of the Bai army's Tiger Hawk Battalion, being hunted down. Cough, cough! We risked our lives, but in the end, all we could save were the bamboo slips on which the accompanying historian had recorded the events of the battle—slips that General Fang Yan had been protecting. General Fang Yan left behind only the words that traitors were moving against the Bai army... and then he breathed his last!
After that, those who meant to kill us pursued us without cease. Miss Shen, to protect the bamboo slips, drew the pursuers away together with Qi Zhengyu and Wei Gao. She commanded us that even if we died, we must carry the bamboo slips back to Dadu and place them in your hands!"
As he spoke, Wu Zhe bowed his head, his withered hands stained with dried blood trembling as he loosened his collar. Bound tight against his body were the bamboo slips, soaked crimson.
"Wu Zhe, you kept them safe!"
Chun Tao clapped a hand over her mouth. When she saw that the slips had been bound so tightly they had bitten through Wu Zhe's flesh, gooseflesh raced across her whole body.
"Now that I have delivered the bamboo slips my brothers guarded with their lives, I can finally go down below and face them! Cough, cough..."
Bai Jingyan clenched her jaw and turned her gaze to the bamboo slips. Her chest was so full of air it felt as though it would tear apart. Then she looked again at Wu Zhe, a faint smile still on his lips.
"Eldest Miss, I do not fear death. I only pray that you and Her Highness the Grand Princess will never let the traitors who murdered our Bai army go unpunished."
Bai Jingyan bit down hard on her lip. Tears fell without end. Struggling to master her emotions, she patted Wu Zhe's shoulder with a trembling hand and said, voice choked with sobs,
"On behalf of the tens of thousands of the Bai army—I want to thank you. You must recover. I want you to see with your own eyes the wicked brought to account!"
Wu Zhe smiled faintly.
"Eldest Miss, in the next life, Wu Zhe will... serve the Bai family again!"
With those final words, he coughed up another mouthful of blood.
She supported Wu Zhe, felt his head begin to stiffen, and cried out.
"Nuo Ping! Bring Physician Hong, quickly! Quickly!"
Wu Zhe leaned against Bai Jingyan's embrace. Through a dimming gaze he looked at her white outer robe, blotched with his blood, and tried to offer an apology. But in the end, without a word, his breath failed.
"Eldest Miss... Wu Zhe is already gone!"
Nuo Ping sank to one knee, lifted his head to look at Bai Jingyan, and spoke through his tears.
Chun Tao covered her mouth and wept aloud.
Bai Jingyan gripped Wu Zhe's shoulders. Blood-fury surged up into her chest, as though it would rend and wring her heart from within. She wanted to tear the monsters who had conspired against the Bai family limb from limb.
She squeezed her eyes shut, but the tears would not stop flowing. The pain left her unable to open them; she wanted to scream, but no sound came. Rage seemed about to climb to the very heavens, and despair came crashing in.
Half a cup of tea's time later, Chun Tao, her own eyes bloodshot, hugged close the bamboo slips Wu Zhe had guarded with his life and followed the stricken Bai Jingyan back.
Light reflecting off the glazed tiles of the Duke of Zhenguo Estate mingled with the white snow, glimmering. The brilliant glow of lanterns cast a chill, desolate air into the hushed darkness.
Bai Jingyan staggered along the corridor, awash in the red lantern light. Chun Tao longed to steady her, but fearing the slips might fall from her arms, she could only stretch out her hand and let her tears fall drop by drop.
"Eldest Miss..."
Bai Jingyan's white outer robe was stained with blood of a hideous, glaring red. Back in Qinghui Courtyard, she told Chun Tao in a low voice to set the bamboo slips upon the desk.
Chun Tao looked at Bai Jingyan—her whole body frozen with cold, even her face gone bluish—and spoke.
"Eldest Miss, let me help you change out of those bloodstained clothes first. Please warm yourself at least!"
Bai Jingyan clenched her teeth and waved Chun Tao away. Then, staring blankly at the bamboo slips in the soft glow of the flickering candlelight, she told Chun Tao not to come in, but to wait outside.
In the warmly heated upper room, the faint crackle of sparks sounded from within the bronze brazier, its sides pierced with carved blossoms, where silver-white charcoal glowed. Only then did Bai Jingyan come back to herself. She was so cold it felt as though she stood in a cavern of ice, her whole body numb.
Seated beside the table with a face full of grief and fury, Bai Jingyan's eyes were rimmed red. She stared at the bamboo slips with such intensity it seemed she might bore holes through them. Her throat was so tightly choked that not a single word could pass. The taste of blood lingered in her mouth, and it would not fade for a long while.
These bamboo slips held the record of everything the men of the Bai family endured in the Southern Border—their battles, and their final ones before death. In her past life she had searched for these slips with a burning heart, all for the sake of the Bai family's vindication—yet now that they lay before her, she found she could hardly bear to look at them.
Before certain news arrived, she had still been able to hold on to hope. But the moment she saw these bamboo slips, there was nothing left to look forward to. Bai Jingyan closed her eyes.