The Honor of a Hundred Years
This was Bai Jingyan speaking from her heart. Short of circumstances that left her truly no choice, she would never raise the banner of rebellion. The Bai family's loyalty had never once been for the sake of the imperial house—it was for the people of Great Jin, and for them alone!
The Grand Princess stared at Bai Jingyan with eyes that burned like fire. She still could not lay her doubts aside; she was terrified that the granddaughter she had cherished and raised with such care might be deceiving her.
Bai Jingyan took the Grand Princess's hand and opened her mouth slowly.
"In the year I turned five, I overheard Grandfather telling Father about two great scholars. Master Cui Shi'an and Master Guan Yongchong debated at the Wenxian Hall over whether the First Emperor was a wise ruler or a tyrant. And that was when I gave my answer: if a sovereign could feed the people until they were full and clothe them until they were warm, then he was a wise ruler—a sage among kings.
"In the year I turned eight, Grandfather overturned the old case of the Censor-in-Chief Jian Congwen. Consort Tong and her entire clan were thrown into prison for slandering a loyal official, and Censor Jian was finally cleared of an unjust charge. But the execution order had already been carried out—even the Censor's four-year-old grandson died at the block. The little boy, knowing nothing of what awaited him, thought his family was playing a game with him. Before the blade fell, he was still coaxing his mother, promising that once he came home in a little while, he would eat candy."
Bai Jingyan's voice trembled as she went on.
"On the day Censor-in-Chief Jian Congwen was vindicated, Grandfather asked me: 'A'yan, what kind of emperor do you now think a wise ruler must be?' And I answered him: 'One who governs the realm with a benevolent heart, and who ensures the people never suffer injustice.'
"In the year I turned thirteen, I returned from my first campaign at Grandfather's side, and he asked me once more what made a wise ruler. I had seen the mountains of bleached bones and the rivers running red with blood too many times to count on those battlefields. One in every ten people had been torn from their families. That was when I understood that 'peace under heaven' was something not even ten thousand pieces of gold could buy. So I answered…… that a wise ruler was an emperor who could return peace to the world.
Now the people of Great Jin can eat their fill and sleep soundly on warm beds. Except for the border folk who still suffer the ravages of war, I believe the nation enjoys a measure of stability and peace.
But if I were to commit treason out of some private grudge, what would become of the people? What of the loyalty and devotion the Bai family has preserved for generations? What of the teachings our ancestors handed down to us? What I want is not rebellion! I want nothing more than to find a path of righteousness for the Bai family! I simply…… I simply cannot bear to let those treacherous villains fling mud upon the loyal bones and honored spirits of our clan under some absurd pretext like 'her stubbornness drove a great army to its death.' All I want is for that suspicious emperor, if only for the sake of the Bai family's merits, to spare the ones we have left—leave them a way to live! Tell me—have I committed some great and terrible wrong?"
Unable to suppress the grief and despair tangling together inside her, Bai Jingyan's voice rose higher and higher. By the time the words left her, her face was soaked with tears.
The Grand Princess felt as though her heart were being torn apart. She pulled her eldest granddaughter into her arms and wept aloud, unable to say a single word.
Bai Jingyan had no wish to lie to her grandmother. But neither was there any need to tell her the whole of the truth.
It was true—Bai Jingyan had no intention of committing treason at this moment. But what was equally certain was that she was paving the road toward it.
I, Bai Jingyan, may refrain from treason—but the Bai family must grow strong. We must become a power capable of replacing the imperial house itself, one that makes the throne tremble with fear.
She longed for the era of peace her grandfather had yearned for, just as he had.
But she also craved the power he had never dared even to dream of—the strength that would make an emperor tremble.
The Bai family could bow low and offer its aid before the imperial authority of the Li clan—but there were things the imperial house needed to understand as well. That the Bai family watched where the hearts of the people turned. That the Bai family's virtue had spread far and wide, and could, if it came to it, stand in place of the Li imperial authority entirely!
The emperor feared the Bai family's achievements. Was he not terrified that the Bai clan would climb above his head and seize control of the court? Then let them seize it—and show him! Let him shake with dread!
Bai Jingyan would replace the imperial authority with her own hands…… and whether that happened would be for the Bai family to decide—and for the people of the world to decide!
"A'yan, you are right! This old woman was wrong! I wasn't doubting you—not truly! Grandmother was wrong……"
Standing outside the door, Nanny Zhang watched the two of them finally pour out their hearts, dispel the misunderstandings between them, and weep together, and she did not know whether to grieve or rejoice. She dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief, torn between tears and a smile.
The Grand Princess was old; after one great storm of weeping, her strength gave out and she was utterly spent. Bai Jingyan and Nanny Zhang attended to her until she fell asleep.
The moment Bai Jingyan stepped out of Changshou Courtyard, Xue Guansi, dressed in white mourning robes, hurried forward and spoke.
"Eldest Miss, people claiming to be the parents of Bai family soldiers have come to the gates of the estate, wailing and cursing, raising an uproar. They say the Duke's stubbornness in leading the army himself got tens of thousands of Bai family soldiers killed in the Southern Border. They've lost their sons, so they're demanding the Bai family hand over the Duke—thrashing about in a fury right now!"
Bai Jingyan's footsteps halted. True, a great crowd of common folk had gathered outside the Duke's estate last night waiting for news from the Southern Border—but there was no way the soldiers' families could already have confirmed that their sons had died there. Someone was working behind the scenes. Otherwise, how could people who had only heard the news last night be rioting at the gates of the Zhenguo Duke Estate the very next day?
"We couldn't decide what to do with the soldiers' parents, so I came to find you, Eldest Miss. Madam Crown Prince only just fell asleep, and Nanny Jin couldn't bear to wake her."
Xue Guansi frowned.
People said the tongues of the crowd were a frightening thing—but harnessed properly and steered well, that crowd could become a power to lean upon, a blade to wield.
And now, someone was doing exactly what she would have done—using the mouths of the people to try to bring the Bai family down. It was a masterful maneuver.
But she already held the marching records in her grasp.
Bai Jingyan's eyes darkened. As a spark of insight flashed across her mind, she seized the thread all at once, understanding blooming in a single instant.
When Wu Che had risked his life to bring back the marching records, someone had tried to kill Fang Yan, captain of the Tiger Hawk Battalion, while he escorted the bamboo scrolls. Only by sheer luck had Shen Qingzhu and her party rescued Fang Yan in time, and the records had been preserved.
King Xin's incompetent underlings must have been quietly frantic ever since they failed to find the five sets of marching records—and so they had resorted to this, probing at the Bai family with a blade. They were likely even hoping the Bai family would produce the records today of its own accord and prove its innocence.
Whoever was scheming in the shadows had surely already prepared his next move. If the Bai family publicly announced that it held the marching records, the emperor would immediately press them to surrender the scrolls—and in doing so, steal away any chance of those records ever coming to light.
Bai Jingyan closed her eyes. If I were King Xin's strategist, what move would I make?
She would likely gather a crowd to make a commotion at the gates of the Duke's estate, sound out whether the Bai family held the marching records, and smear the filth of a hundred years of Bai honor into the dust.
And if she were a crueller sort of creature, she would gather that crowd at the gates—and then quietly kill one or two of the troublemakers herself. Then she would spread rumors far and wide, slandering the Zhenguo Duke Estate for murdering the families of fallen heroes! She would cry that the Zhenguo Duke Estate allowed only talk of its merits while silencing any mention of its faults, and drive the estate into a pit of fire. Only that way—even if the Bai family did hold the marching records—would the people's fury fail to rise when King Xin returned to the capital bearing his father's coffin!
Xue Guansi watched Bai Jingyan, whose eyes remained shut for a long while, as though her soul had left her body, and called to her in a low voice.
"Eldest Miss……"
"Send men to watch among the onlookers for anyone behaving strangely. If there is anyone suspicious, seize them on the spot and interrogate them!"
Eldest Miss Bai's words meant someone had bribed soldiers' families and sent them to raise havoc at the Duke's estate. Xue Guansi grasped it at once—someone was trying to frame the estate.
His eyes brimmed with wariness.
"Do not worry, Eldest Miss."
"Let us go."
"One moment, Eldest Miss. Let me summon Nuo Ping as well—just in case."
Xue Guansi said cautiously, and Bai Jingyan nodded.
By the time Bai Jingyan arrived at the front gates with Xue Guansi and Nuo Ping in tow, the sound of the Fourth Miss Bai Jinchi screaming herself hoarse with fury was already carrying from beyond the entrance.
"The late Emperor himself declared that there wasn't a single useless soul in the entire Bai clan—every one of us was born with a general's talent! Grandfather despised above all things those who greedily snatched at credit they hadn't earned! But she led soldiers into war out of stubbornness? What kind of utter nonsense is that?! You ignorant, witless villains—if you spout that filth in front of our gates one more time, I'll whip you straight into the afterlife!"
Eyes rimmed red, Bai Jinchi gripped the whip at her waist with all her strength. Her rage was boiling over; she wanted nothing more than to beat every last fool raising a ruckus at the gates to death.
When she saw the common folk who had gathered to watch packing the grounds of the Zhenguo Duke Estate inside and out, Bai Jinxiu, standing at Bai Jinchi's side, felt her heart hammering wildly.
"Jinchi! Stop!"
Bai Jinxiu hurriedly seized Bai Jinchi's hand.
"These people are stirring up trouble at the gates of the estate on purpose. They're trying to frame us. So you absolutely cannot act on impulse!"
"You said there were no useless souls in the Bai family? No doubt the Bai family has won countless victories on the battlefield. But every one of those unbroken victories was bought with the lives of ordinary people's sons!"
One woman broke down in loud, racking sobs.
"Behind every general's glorious deeds lie the miserable deaths of countless soldiers! On a single order from their commander, our sons had to hurl themselves onto blades without a thought for what lay ahead or behind! The ones who lost their lives weren't you, were they? So of course you can't understand what it feels like to have your chest torn open! All the Duke of Zhenguo ever wanted was glory—isn't that so? You traded our sons' lives for your place in history!"
"My poor boy! My poor, poor boy!"
Another woman wailed and shrieked until her voice split.
"Has the Duke of Zhenguo no shame at all? No wonder every man of the Bai family died in the Southern Border! The Bai family killed my son!"
"Say it one more time. Go on—say it!"
Bai Jinchi flung Bai Jinxiu off with brute strength and lashed the whip across the woman. Then, her reason consumed by fury, she spewed abuse without restraint.
"You deserve to die! So I'm going to kill you right here and now!"
"Bai Jinchi!"
Bai Jinxiu threw herself into stopping her with the last of her strength, and the wound on her forehead tore open again, red blood trickling down her brow.
"My elder sister might be a fool who just takes whatever's thrown at her—but I'm not!"
Eyes blazing crimson, Bai Jinchi screamed at Bai Jinxiu and shoved her away.
The whip split the air with a vicious crack, and the woman's shriek pierced the ears of everyone present.
"Jinchi! No!"
Injured, and with her head slammed against the wall by Bai Jinchi's shove, Bai Jinxiu's skull felt as though it would split open.
Qingshu stamped her feet in helpless panic.
"Fourth Miss, how could you lay hands on the Second Miss! Second Miss, are you all right?"
Bai Jingyan strode forward at a rapid pace, gathered the hem of her robes, and climbed the steps. Bai Jinchi, her eyes gone bloodshot with lost reason, was beating the woman with all her might as if to kill her.