Welcoming the Bride
Before the sky had even brightened, cooking smoke rose in gentle curls from the kitchens of the Zhenguo Duke Estate, where snow lay thick and a pale mist hung over the courtyards.
Red lanterns and crimson silk had been hung along the estate's main gate, and the great doors stood wide open. The residence hummed with bustling preparations, while servants came and went in orderly fashion through the side gates.
In Qingzhu Pavilion, the courtyard of the second daughter Bai Jinxiu at the rear of the estate, matrons and maids scurried about in a lively commotion — yet the other courtyards remained as quiet as ever.
In Qinghui Courtyard, an old woman in a dark blue padded cloak carried charcoal in a dustpan and fed it to the warming flues beneath the floors, and before long the lamp in Bai Jingyan's chamber glowed alight.
By the hour of Chen — seven to nine in the morning — Bai Jingyan had finished breakfast. She draped herself in a cloak trimmed with thick fur, took up a hand warmer, and made her way along the covered corridor toward Bai Jinxiu's chambers, with Chun Tao, Chunyan, and the other maids trailing close behind, attending her every step with careful solicitude.
By the time Bai Jingyan reached the door of Bai Jinxiu's chambers, Jinxiu had already changed into her wedding finery and was preparing to have her makeup done. From the outer room came the chorus of maids paying their respects to the second daughter, but Bai Jinxiu pushed aside the matron's powder-laden hand, gathered up her skirt, and rose to greet her guest, her eyes brimming with astonishment and joy.
"Eldest Sister! Why on earth have you come out in such heavy snow? What if you catch a chill!"
Two braziers blazed cheerfully in Bai Jinxiu's room, filling it with warmth. A red carpet woven with the Five Blessings lay across the floor; longans and peanuts were scattered about for luck; colorful hangings draped every corner — the whole room exuded festivity.
Bai Jingyan handed her hand warmer to Chun Tao and removed her cloak, then took Bai Jinxiu by the hand and led her into the inner chamber, seating her on a small stool before the vanity.
"I've come to see you off. Chun Tao — bring it here."
Chun Tao took a long brocade box from the maid waiting outside the door and carried it in. She bowed in salute to Bai Jinxiu and opened the lid.
At the sight of the precious sword in its white sheath, engraved with the emblem of the Bai Family Army, Bai Jinxiu sprang to her feet and hurried forward, lifting the blade from its case with trembling care. Her heart seemed to be racing.
"The Qingfeng Sword?"
It was a treasured blade that had been passed down through the Bai family for generations.
It must have been left to Bai Jingyan by their grandfather. She had returned from the battlefield wounded, and when her betrothal to the Zhongyong Marquis Estate collapsed, the old duke had worried that she might stubbornly vow never to marry at all. He had feared, too, that if she did eventually wed, a mother-in-law or sisters-in-law might never truly accept her. And so he had bequeathed the sword to her.
Bai Jingyan gently tucked a stray lock of Bai Jinxiu's hair behind her ear and spoke in a soft, unhurried voice.
"The Marquis's wife is the Crown Prince's stepmother, so discord will be unavoidable no matter what. Listen to me well — the Zhenguo Duke Estate stands behind you. Never spend your life swallowing injustice."
In her past life, Bai Jinxiu had died on the very day of her wedding and never entered the Zhongyong Marquis Estate at all. Later, its heir, Jin Lang, had married the legitimate second daughter of a soft-willed Minister of Personnel — a girl so tormented by her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law that she perished before she reached thirty.
Anxious as she was about marrying into an unfamiliar household, Bai Jinxiu was so comforted by Bai Jingyan's heartfelt words that tears spilled down her cheeks.
Bai Jingyan drew out her handkerchief to wipe them away — but at that moment Bai Jinxiu suddenly seized her hand, drew a step closer, and said in a low, grave voice:
"Prince Liang carries you deep in his heart. He will surely cherish and protect you, so don't let a good match slip away, Sister. Not for anything."
At the memory of how, in her past life, Bai Jinxiu had begged with her dying breath for the Liang King to protect Bai Jingyan all her days, a tide of feeling surged through her and her eyes reddened. She smiled brightly at her sister instead.
"Now hurry and finish getting ready."
At the hour of Si — nine to eleven in the morning — the crack of firecrackers rang out from the main gate.
Bai Jingyan glanced once beyond the partition, then merely toyed with her teacup, turning it between her fingers.
"Oh dear, whatever shall we do! The makeup isn't even finished yet!"
"Isn't the Zhongyong heir terribly impatient? Arriving half a shichen ahead of the appointed hour!"
"Ah! My earring — it's gone!"
"And the veil? I can't find the veil either!"
The maids and matrons in the bridal chamber whirled about in a daze, jostling one another as they searched for the missing things.
Just as in her past life, the bridal procession from the Zhongyong Marquis Estate had arrived half a shichen early — and the few cousins whom the elders had meant to send as gatekeepers were at this very moment holed up in some out-of-the-way corner, gambling.
No matter. Bai Jingyan had already instructed the fourth daughter, Bai Jinchi, to set a go board at the main gate and stand ready. She would never allow the past life to repeat itself — never again let Bai Jinxiu, with no gatekeeper to hold the door, step out of the estate a full shichen ahead of time and lose her life for it.
By then the groom, Jin Lang, heir of the Zhongyong Marquis Estate, had dismounted and stood before the main gate of the Zhenguo Duke Estate. He was a fine-looking boy, still young in years, carrying himself with remarkable bearing, his face flushed with the joy of the day.
With one household giving away a daughter and another welcoming a bride, this was the grandest, most talked-of celebration in all of Dadu as the year drew to a close. The young gentlemen of the capital's noble houses had come clamoring after Jin Lang to join the bridal procession.
"All seventeen young masters of the Bai family have marched off to the Southern Border battlefield — so our Jin Erlang here gets to take a bride without lifting a finger!"
Lu Yuanfeng, the youngest legitimate grandson of the Right Chancellor's Lu family, shouted in high spirits.
The Duke of Zhenguo, Bai Jingyan's grandfather, and her grandmother the Grand Princess were both still living — and since the Grand Princess dwelt at the Zhenguo Estate itself rather than her princess's residence, no son of the Bai family had ever divided off a household of his own, citing their filial duty. That was how the phrase "seventeen young masters" had come to describe the Bai clan's grandsons.
Lu Yuanfeng was on such intimate terms with the Bai young masters that he could tease them without the slightest reserve.
"Everyone! Everyone! Do they not say the Bai Family Army is invincible — free to come and go through enemy territory as they please? Well then, we've come today to welcome the bride, so let us all savor what it feels like to 'come and go as we please'! Everyone! CHARGE! Let us seize the bride!"
Outside the Zhenguo Duke Estate, the crowd dissolved into peals of laughter, and one by one the young gentlemen made to follow Lu Yuanfeng inside.
But at that moment the maids of the estate filed out and lined up before the main gate with the disciplined bearing of soldiers drawn up in formation. The young gentlemen froze.
"The Zhenguo Duke Estate sends out mere maidservants to block our way?"
Lu Yuanfeng stared blankly at the formation before him, the words falling out of his mouth.
A moment later, a young woman in dashing riding attire came forward from behind a line of retainers, the reins of her horse in hand. With her hands clasped behind her back she looked small and delicate, yet she radiated an unyielding, iron-boned spirit.
"Hear the commands of the Zhenguo Duke Estate!"
Fourth Miss Bai Jinchi raised her whip high.
"We heed the Fourth Miss's command!"
The servants and household guards of the estate answered as one, so orderly it was like an army on parade — enough to startle every noble son who had come with the bridal procession.
"This is Eldest Sister's order: show no mercy to any who dare barge into the Zhenguo Duke Estate uninvited! Just because our household lacks men does not mean we will stand to be bullied!"
Crack!
Bai Jinchi snapped her whip through the air, and the noble sons who had been pressing forward recoiled in fright. The hiss of the whip cleaving the air carried a strangely solemn power.
So the Zhenguo Duke Estate truly is the pillar of the realm. Even its women carry such upright, unbreakable spirit — valorous in bearing, formidable in presence!
Jin Lang, heir of the Zhongyong Marquis Estate, stepped forward and bowed in salute to Fourth Miss Bai Jinchi.
"Fourth Miss, I beg you, a misunderstanding. The Duke of Zhenguo is the pillar that shields our realm. The peace we enjoy in Dadu is owed to the blood the men of this estate have shed at the frontier. Rascals though we may be, we would never dream of tormenting a household simply because it has no men at home! I ask only that you be magnanimous and grant us entry!"
"Very well!"
Bai Jinchi drew back her whip with a haughty toss of her head.
"Someone — bring out the go board!"
The servants of the estate carried out a go board with great ceremony and set it down at the entrance beside a small stool.
Fourth Miss Bai Jinchi's voice rang out.
"Such is Eldest Sister's will. The Bai family has produced generals for generations, and a go board is a battlefield like any other. Only if the heir's bridal procession can break this position will you earn the right to take my second sister away!"
While Bai Jinchi was holding the gate outside with overwhelming force, inside the bridal chamber Bai Jingyan bent down to fasten Bai Jinxiu's earring for her.
"Don't worry. Even without Grandfather and Second Uncle here, the Zhongyong Marquis Estate will never dare look down on our Bai family for lacking men."
"Eldest Sister! Eldest Sister!"
Bai Jinchi came rushing in at that moment, breathing hard, and set a single go stone down on the board. Then she fanned herself briskly with her hand and went on.
"Eldest Sister — Jin Lang placed his stone here. Everyone's crowing about what a brilliant move it was. Did it break the position?"
By Bai Jingyan's calculations, the hour of the Liang King's assassination had not yet arrived. She passed her teacup to Bai Jinchi, dabbed the girl's brow with her handkerchief, and rose to stand before the board, searching out the spot where Jin Lang had placed his white stone.
Bai Jinchi gulped down her tea, then craned her neck to press in beside Bai Jingyan, straining to see where her eldest sister would place her black stone.
Jin Lang had not merely skirted the many traps scattered across the board — he had placed his white stone at a point that held the advantage while lending strength to a grand-scale campaign. At a glance, the position seemed to hold no move for black that could stave off defeat.
After a moment's thought, Bai Jingyan gathered her sleeve with her left hand, bent slightly, picked a single black stone from the bowl, and set it down upon the board.
Having marked the spot, Bai Jinchi sprinted back to the entrance and laid a black stone on the exact same point.
Outside, the crowd erupted into shouts of astonishment — for the moment the black stone fell, the whole complexion of the game reversed. The black stones' fierce momentum, like cavalry descending from the heavens, threatened in a single stroke to devour half the white territory on the board.
"Magnificent!"
Lu Yuanfeng cried out in amazement.
"That black stone is as cunning as cavalry swooping down from the sky! The game has turned on its head in an instant — savage and relentless all at once! Might I presume to ask — who of the Zhenguo Duke Estate is holding the black stones?"
"My eldest sister."
Bai Jinchi answered, her face glowing with pride.
The crowd thought at once of that figure of the Zhenguo Duke Estate — a woman, and yet the only daughter ever given a name in the men's "Jing" generation.
Jin Lang stood dumbstruck at the news that it was Bai Jingyan who had placed the black stone.