Headstrong
“Soulless wretches without a shred of loyalty or honor!”
Yu Yuanfeng lashed out furiously with the reins, pointing at the crowd kneeling before the Zhenguo Duke Estate—people who had sold their very souls for money.
“The Bai family of the Zhenguo Duke Estate defended the peace of this flourishing capital with their hot blood and their very lives, and yet instead of gratitude, you pour filth upon the bodies of the loyal and the martyred—all for money! Are you even human? And you over there!”
Yu Yuanfeng swung the reins toward the men who called themselves men of the jianghu.
“If the Bai family hadn't driven the foreign invaders back from the border, none of you would even be standing here prattling about the jianghu! Jianghu honor? There's a limit to how shameless a person can be! The men of the Bai family breathed their last on the battlefield for our Great Jin, and now, for a handful of silver, you mean to kill off the family they left behind as well?”
Emotions were already running high, and when Yu Yuanfeng said that, the crowd's anger boiled over. They rolled up their sleeves and began throwing punches.
“Bastards! Beat the loyalty-less wretches within an inch of their lives!”
The gate of the Duke Estate descended into chaos. Even Yu Yuanfeng swung his whip and joined the pummeling.
Only Xiao Rongyan stood upright, as though detached from the world around him. After a long while, he turned his head and spoke to his guard.
“Go protect those two. They must not die.”
The two men—families of soldiers who had caused an uproar at the Duke Estate's gate, and men who claimed to be 'jianghu men'—were dragged away to the Office of the Capital Magistrate, beaten by the crowd the entire way.
Hearing of the disastrous defeat at the Southern Border and the rumor that every man of the Duke Estate had perished, the Minister of the Capital had already resigned himself to the fact that this holiday would be no rest at all. But he had never imagined that barely past noon on the first day of the lunar new year, Yu Yuanfeng—the youngest grandson his superior cherished above all—would arrive with the people of Dadu bearing such an enormous holiday gift.
* * *
Bai Jindong, not wanting to disturb the Grand Princess and the elders who had only just managed to rest, dragged Bai Jinchi off to Bai Jingyan's Qinghui Courtyard.
Bai Jinchi knelt on the bluestone of Qinghui Courtyard, her neck held stiff and straight. She was not afraid of the rod—she simply refused to yield.
Nuo Ping stood beside her holding a military staff, but he could not bring himself to strike. The ones who had caused the riot at the Estate gate today were those people out there, and the Fourth Young Miss had laid hands on her own sister only to protect the Bai family's honor.
Bai Jindong, the Third Young Miss, stood with her hands clasped behind her back beside Bai Jingyan. Looking down at Bai Jinchi's brimming tears, she pleaded softly.
“Eldest Sister, Jinchi knows she did wrong. After all, the other side provoked us first.”
Bai Jindong glanced between Bai Jingyan, lips pressed firmly shut, and Bai Jinchi, eyes blazing—then hurriedly spoke again.
“Jinchi! Apologize to Eldest Sister!”
Bai Jinxiu, medicine applied to her forehead, hurried through the gates of Qinghui Courtyard supported by Qingse. Seeing Bai Jinchi kneeling in the courtyard, she rushed to Bai Jingyan's side, bowed deeply, and pleaded on her sister's behalf.
“Eldest Sister, what Jinchi did was wrong, but she had her reasons. She did it to protect our family.”
“Eldest Sister, if you must punish me, I'll accept it gladly. But I absolutely will not admit fault!”
Gritting her teeth and swallowing her tears, Bai Jinchi glared up at Bai Jingyan, who stood beneath the eaves.
“I only did it to protect the honor of the Duke Estate! I have done nothing wrong!”
Bai Jinchi shot a glare at Bai Jinxiu.
“And yet you, Second Sister—when men blinded by money were hurling insults at our estate, you just stood there and watched, doing nothing! You're a weak, gutless coward! I'm not ashamed of myself one bit!”
Looking at Bai Jinchi's obstinate expression, Bai Jingyan's heart ached—and despaired.
“Nuo Ping. Wait outside the courtyard.”
Only the four sisters remained in the vast expanse of Qinghui Courtyard.
“Your Second Sister is a coward? Jinxiu went to save your third uncle and kept attacking the enemy even after she nearly lost an arm. From the time you were little, every time you committed a wrong, she took the punishment in your place—at the very least two hundred strokes of the rod on your behalf. And still she's a coward!
If your Second Sister hadn't wept at exactly the right moment before the main gate of the Duke Estate, do you think the people would have forgotten that you swung your whip and stepped forward for the Bai family? It was the same at the Zhongyong Marquis Estate, at the Jin family's. If your Second Sister does nothing, that's one thing—but when she acts, she is the one who ensures Jin Lang has no choice but to leave the Zhongyong Marquis Estate! And still your Second Sister is a coward? Then what does that make you—striking people at the drop of a hat, throwing your weight around, posturing about your strength? A hero?”
Bai Jinchi jerked her head away. She still would not submit.
“Your Second Sister tried to stop you, and what did she say? She said the people swarming around our Duke Estate's gate have their own designs, and that we must never act on impulse.”
Bai Jingyan raised her voice sharply.
“And you—swinging your whip at the Estate gate, spitting out threats to beat people to death with every other word! How very impressive! Did it ever once occur to you what would have happened if Yu Yuanfeng hadn't caught those men and proved that everything was a scheme, a slander?”
Bai Jinchi remembered what Yu Yuanfeng had said. Those two men had spoken of killing the soldiers' families and pinning the crime on the Duke Estate. Her heart plummeted—but even so, she stubbornly refused to admit her fault.
Bai Jingyan pointed toward the main gate of the Estate.
“If those people had gone back and been killed, the Office of the Capital Magistrate would have come for you first—straight to the Duke Estate!”
When she thought of how the Bai family's hard-won honor and the people's goodwill could have crumbled in an instant because of this incident, cold sweat broke out across Bai Jingyan's skin. The people's morale and goodwill were now the only weapons the Bai family had left to lean on.
“If I stand upright, I needn't fear a crooked shadow! Let them arrest me if they want! I'm not afraid. Worst case, I go to prison and suffer a bit. The Magistrate will investigate properly and clear my name!”
Bai Jinchi wore the defiant attitude of one who feared not even death.
Bai Jingyan's eyes blazed like torches as she watched her stubborn, unyielding younger sister, and she could not contain her fury.
“How naive can you be! This is a trap someone laid with great care. Do you truly believe that once you're inside the Office of the Capital Magistrate, they'll clear your name? Only by pinning a false charge on you can they snuff out the people's goodwill toward the Bai family! They could topple the very position that shields our house! And yet you—your Second Sister pleaded with you and you wouldn't listen, you threw your tantrum to the bitter end. You even laid hands on your own sister!
If Yu Yuanfeng hadn't dragged those men here, what would have happened when the soldiers' families were killed? That single charge alone—that the Bai family, unable to contain its fury, murdered the soldiers' kin—could have destroyed centuries of merit our house built up in a single morning! Do you still not understand the principle that a hundred good deeds cannot wash away a single evil one? The moment you were imprisoned, the mastermind behind this scheme would ride the momentum, spreading rumors far and wide—and if the Bai family were branded with that infamy, our entire clan could face extermination. Every man of the Bai family has fallen on the battlefield, and there is not one soul at court to protect us—we are already in a desperate position. If we lose the people's goodwill on top of that, the Bai family will never rise again! And that is precisely the ending for our house that the one pulling the strings desires!”
Bai Jinchi clutched her clothes tightly. Cold sweat ran down her body. Gritting her teeth, head bowed, she could not bring herself to meet Bai Jingyan's clear, steady eyes.
Bai Jingyan's voice grew louder with her frustration.
“It's the same with human relationships as it is with handling affairs. It's good to have conviction and stand your ground—but only if you have the ability and the certainty to control the situation yourself! And what did you do? You were busy comparing strength and viciousness with a shrewish woman! You thought all you needed was the ability to fight men blinded by greed! You must learn to see further ahead! If you swing your whip to vent your petty, personal anger, chasing a moment's satisfaction—what will you do afterward?”
Watching Bai Jinchi shed nothing but tears under Bai Jingyan's stern discipline, Bai Jinxiu's heart ached. She stepped in quietly to mediate.
“Eldest Sister, Jinchi is still young and set in her ways. She acted rashly to protect the Duke Estate's honor—if she admits her wrong, there should be no need for physical punishment.”
Bai Jingyan drew a ragged breath, staring at Bai Jinchi, whose body remained rigid on her knees, still refusing to admit fault to the very end.
“Reckless action without thought for the consequences is the ignorant recourse of fools with no other way out! Grandfather, Father, our uncles and brothers have all lost their lives at the Southern Border, and the corrupt officials at court are watching our Bai family like hawks waiting for their chance. The Bai family has been driven to the edge of a cliff with nowhere to turn—a night as dark as the abyss itself. Do you think we have the luxury to indulge and tolerate that child's recklessness?”
The moment Bai Jingyan's impassioned voice fell, the atmosphere in Qinghui Courtyard grew heavy. The four sisters kept their lips pressed shut, and no one dared speak first.
All except Bai Jinchi—Bai Jingyan, Bai Jinxiu, and Bai Jindong had seen the bamboo slips recording the army's march logs. How could they not know how perilous the Bai family's situation truly was?
Bai Jinxiu turned away, her eyes stinging, and wiped her tears.
Bai Jindong bowed her head, fists clenched tight, and let her tears fall.
The cold midwinter wind swept through in a sudden gust. The sunlight was brilliant, yet colder than falling snow.
Her eyes had already grown weary, and the strong sun reflected off the white snow made it impossible for Bai Jingyan to keep them open. After a moment of quelling her seething emotions, she asked in a low voice.
“The year you turned ten, you begged Grandfather to take you to the battlefield. He refused. Do you know why?”
Bai Jinchi's defiance and stubbornness softened a little. She clutched the hem of her clothes tightly.
“No.”
“Grandfather called your Second Sister gentle on the outside with great stratagem held within—soft-seeming, but harboring remarkable means in her heart. He said your Third Sister was the cleverest and quickest of you all, ambitious and brilliant in her schemes. And he said you were the one among us sisters with the greatest natural aptitude and talent for the martial arts! He said you were the one who most resembled him in his youth. A temperament that could never bow to anyone, one who never let even the pettiest grudge pass without retribution, and who never once thought of what came after. You have a wildness in your very bones that can never be tamed. Grandfather feared that if blood were added to your already restless nature, you would become beyond all control—and so he had you stay in Dadu and study the classics of the sages under your teachers for a few more years.”
At Bai Jingyan's words, Bai Jinchi's face drained white, and her back stiffened as though turned to stone.
Bai Jingyan opened her eyes and looked at her. Her voice was full of pity.
“Horsemanship, swordsmanship, the spear, tactics, the whip! You learned faster than anyone, and more solidly than anyone. You're barely fifteen—do you think there are many in all of Dadu City who could beat you? That is exactly why you should have learned restraint, learned to look far ahead and think deeply, learned to plan before you moved! You should have filled that decisive exterior of yours to the brim with composure beneath. You should have aimed to make your name at the frontier like Grandfather, to become a general whom later generations would look up to with reverence! To become the most radiant woman not only of our Duke Estate, but of all Great Jin! Not to let sheer competitiveness drive you into reckless impulses that could keep you and the Bai family from ever rising again!”
Bai Jinchi's rigidly straight back seemed to sag ever so slightly. Her expression was graver than it had ever been, and her tightly clenched fists trembled faintly.
Bai Jingyan found it hard to master her emotions. Then she spoke, her voice drained of strength.
“If you understand your wrong, go to Nuo Ping yourself and take fifty strokes of the rod. But if you still don't know what you did wrong—then just go back.”
What use was a beating to one who did not know her fault?