Greed
Inside the swaying carriage, Bai Jingyan closed her eyes and sketched out a vision of the road the Bai family would have to walk from here on.
Withdraw, live in seclusion, and quietly gather strength.
Once Grandfather's funeral rites were concluded, she, Bai Jinxiu, and Bai Jindong would scatter to their separate posts.
The most pressing matter right now was to use the roster Zhen Xiangzhi had left behind — the list of names through which the military grain had passed — to drag the Liang King out of the shadows, where he crouched motionless. The Liang King was a creature like a venomous scorpion hiding in dark, cramped crevices between rocks, waiting for its chance. She had to deal with him before departing for the Southern Border. Only then could she leave with her mind at ease.
On the surface, Baron Zhongyong and the Liang King appeared to have no connection whatsoever, but Bai Jingyan, who had stood at the Liang King's side in her past life, knew perfectly well that Baron Zhongyong and You Huanzhang had both gone under him.
Baron Zhongyong, Zhen Dexiao, had been thrown into prison. Were the Liang King and Du Zimei beside themselves with anxiety right now?
When the carriage reached the side gate of the Bai Manor, Chun Tao helped Bai Jingyan down. Chen Gengsheng, having watched Xiao Ruohai drive the carriage away, stepped forward with a troubled expression.
"Eldest Young Miss, I was negligent in my duties. Because I failed to handle matters properly, you were caught in that man's snare. I will be far more careful in the future."
Chen Gengsheng was both clever and capable. If a single mistake could teach him greater prudence, that was enough. Bai Jingyan had worried he might overcorrect in his eagerness to make amends.
"It's fine. In any case, the man owes us a debt now. And a moment ago he did nothing more than thank me — I wasn't caught in anything."
Bai Jingyan was satisfied with how Chen Gengsheng had handled things.
"Your work on the roster was excellent."
"That was thanks to Mister Zhen's help. I hardly did anything myself," Chen Gengsheng replied modestly.
"From tomorrow, stay close to Third Young Miss and see to her affairs. I'll speak to Scholar Guan about assigning you a few capable subordinates. Work hard from here on — make sure you and Third Young Miss return as quickly as possible."
Bai Jingyan took Chun Tao's hand.
"That way Chun Tao can have a stable life of her own, too."
Chun Tao and Chen Gengsheng both flushed red.
Chun Tao shyly averted her gaze, then hastily spotted Nanny Dong hurrying toward them.
"Eldest Young Miss, Nanny Dong is coming."
"Go on ahead," Bai Jingyan said to Chen Gengsheng, and he bowed respectfully and withdrew.
Nanny Dong approached Bai Jingyan and greeted her.
"Eldest Young Miss, the nanny at Qingming Courtyard reported that those two packed up silver, precious metals, and the ornaments that had been displayed in their rooms. And according to Old Woman Wang in the kitchens, they also took the pickled meats and dried provisions. It appears they mean to flee."
Bai Jingxian and his mother were old hands at trimming their sails to the wind. No one in the capital was ignorant of how the Xin King had treated the Bai family upon his return — he was the Emperor's legitimate son, the man with the greatest claim to the throne. And today, the Grand Princess had led the Bai household to the palace gates to pressure the Emperor into executing him. Bai Jingxian was clever, but not that clever; flight would have been the first thought in his head. Perhaps it was only natural.
"Let them go. Tell them to leave as loudly as possible. Everyone else needs to know as well — that mother and son ran off at the very moment the Bai family received its great honor."
Bai Jingyan thought for a moment, then spoke again.
"Have my covert operatives handle this. They've only just arrived at the Ducal Office — they need to show what they can do if they're to secure their place here."
Nanny Dong grasped her meaning at once. Of the two Xiao brothers, one had learned his trade beside the great trousseau chests Lady Dong had brought as her dowry, and the other had learned the ways of the world from the steward of the farmland her dowry included. They had been specially raised so that when Bai Jingyan married, they could be sent along with her to serve her. The brothers had no real overlap with the rest of the Bai household.
When great calamity had befallen the Bai family, the brothers had been hastily summoned. As Bai Jingyan's covert men, the servants and bondservants of the Bai estate would show them deference — but without a single accomplishment to their names, they would never truly fit in among the Bai people.
As Nanny Dong steadied Bai Jingyan, she touched her hand and frowned at how cold it was.
"Eldest Young Miss, did you go out without your hand warmer? Why are your hands so cold?"
With that, Nanny Dong wrapped both her hands around Bai Jingyan's and shot Chun Tao a reproachful look.
"Chun Tao, what is the matter with you? You're usually so calm and meticulous — but with the Eldest Young Miss's exterior illness, how could you…"
"Nanny."
Before Nanny Dong could finish, Bai Jingyan took her hand and cut her off as they climbed the steps of the covered corridor.
I told Chun Tao not to bring it. Having this illness doesn't mean everyone should treat me as an invalid at every turn. I trained through the bitter depths of winter and the punishing heat of the dog days without yielding. And now I'm even wearing my armor. One missing hand warmer won't bring disaster. You worry far too much, Nanny."
Chun Tao hurriedly added her piece.
"Nanny, our Eldest Young Miss can now stand for a full hour with her horse stance. She practices her calligraphy with sandbags strapped to her arms. Her strength is coming back. I used to worry just as much as you do, but her health keeps improving, and Physician Hong says her color is better than last winter — that's why we follow her wishes now."
Only then did Nanny Dong nod. But even as she did, her hands kept rubbing Bai Jingyan's, warming them back to life.
On the way back, Nanny Dong kept talking. Two concubine-born elders from the Suyang main estate had come to see Lady Dong to bid their farewells, saying that they would now be departing.
It was no surprise. Today, before the Wude Gate, the Bai family had pressured the Emperor to execute the Xin King. If the Emperor flew into a rage over it, the sparks would inevitably land on them.
"But before those two concubine-born elders even departed, the legitimate heir of the Suyang clan chief came to call. The moment he entered, he said this to the Young Madam: that the Old Duke had promised, before his campaign, to purchase farmland for the Suyang main estate after the festival, and to renovate the ancestral hall, the ancestors' tombs, and the clan school — that a matter already discussed with the Old Duke had been relayed by someone sent from the Suyang main house to the Ducal Office before he marched. And that's not all. He also promised to send a great scholar to teach the clan children their letters."
Bai Jingyan flinched. Whatever the Suyang main house wanted, Grandfather had granted as far as he was able. But nothing of this had ever been mentioned before his departure for the Southern Border.
Seeing Bai Jingyan lost in thought, Nanny Dong pressed on.
"According to those elders, this was originally to be handled when the Ducal Office sent its festival gifts to Suyang. But then the Ducal Office was suddenly struck by mourning… and the clan chief decided that in these circumstances he could hardly burden the Office, so he sent his legitimate son with the ledgers to seek out the Young Madam. Everything tallied, it comes to roughly four or five hundred thousand taels of silver! He said it made no difference whether it was paid in silver notes or coin, but that it must all be prepared before we leave tomorrow. And he repeated, again and again, that this was the clan chief's express wish."
Nanny Dong laid particular weight on the word express. It sounded as though she were underscoring the Suyang clansmen's scheme — to strike hard at a Ducal Office left without men.
Chun Tao's eyes went round.
"Is this begging, or robbery? The Bai family has suffered a catastrophe of this magnitude, and all they sent was two concubine-born elders — who, mind you, meant to leave before the funeral was even finished — and now they've sent a legitimate heir demanding we hand over silver!"
Chun Tao was calm by nature, but circumstances being what they were, she could not contain her fury.
Bai Jingyan, by contrast, bowed her head and thought it through carefully.
The Suyang clansmen's shamelessness did not stem solely from the absence of men in the Ducal Office. It was that Grandfather had been so generous to them for so long that they now took his favor entirely for granted.
Give a man rice by the peck and he's grateful; give it to him by the bushel and he considers it his due. I warned Grandfather and Father about this long ago.
But men often failed to consider the fine details as thoroughly as women did.
Grandfather had always said that in this world, the bonds of blood were the one thing that could not be measured in silver. Besides, the Bai family's ancestral hall stood in Suyang, tended by the clansmen. The clan chief was a great-uncle still within the five degrees of mourning kinship.
Father had always put it this way: what a martial house like the Ducal Office possessed in greatest abundance was precisely material wealth. If such things could secure the clansmen's livelihoods, then the whole Bai line would flourish — there was nothing lost in giving freely.
Grandfather and Father had been generous of heart. But the so-called clansmen of the Suyang main house had long since lost all gratitude, treating the Ducal Office as a money purse and straining to wring from it one coin more.
In this world there were many men of honor like Zhen Xiangzhi, who knew the meaning of a kindness and strove to repay it. But there were just as many, past counting, who were as ungrateful as the Bai clansmen.
Bai Jingyan stopped in her tracks and asked,
"What did Mother say?"
"We don't know yet. The clan chief's legitimate heir and the two concubine-born elders are in the Old Madam's quarters right now, reading out the ledgers item by item and insisting that even this sum of silver falls short…"
Bai Jingyan stood in the covered corridor, head lowered in thought for a moment, then lifted her chin.
"I'm going to see this for myself."
When Bai Jingyan arrived beneath the eaves of the main hall, a maid started to announce her, but she hushed the girl with a gesture. Standing in the shadow of the eaves, she gazed at the lanterns swaying in the wind and quietly listened to the voices within.
Lady Dong folded the ledger shut, tossed it aside, and let out a cold laugh.
"Whether it's the ancestral hall, the family tombs, or the clan school — for each household to pitch in might well be considered only proper. Except that neither the Old Duke nor my son ever gave any such instruction before they left. And my cousin-by-marriage came all the way to the Ducal Office without offering so much as a stick of incense or a single bow before demanding silver outright! It took everything to get him to burn incense at last, and now they say I must produce four hundred and fifty thousand taels by tomorrow. Four hundred and fifty thousand taels is no trifling sum — does the Ducal Office look like a silver exchange to them?"
The late father-in-law and her husband had been so generous to the Suyang main house over the years that they had only cultivated this brazenness. As if asking the Office for one thing after another weren't enough, now they came swaggering in with their demands — and the Bai family owed them nothing.
Bai Qiyun, the legitimate heir of the Suyang clan chief, stiffened at Lady Dong's words. He ground his teeth.
"I came on my father's orders. You keep insisting the Old Duke never gave such instructions — are you saying the clansmen lied so they could swindle the Ducal Office?"
When the legitimate heir hurled such coarse words, the older concubine-born elder hurriedly wiped his brow and moved to defuse the rising tension.
"Now, now, no need for anger. Your cousin came on orders too — he was merely anxious, I expect. The war in the Southern Border has gone poorly, and the price of Kunlun jade has doubled. But one cannot use inferior materials where the ancestral tablets are enshrined. One careless choice, and would the resting places of our ancestors not be left unsettled? Am I not right? Before meeting you just now, your cousin told me that the clan chief gave him special instructions before he came. But given the Ducal Office's present circumstances, it would hardly be fair to demand the Office bear every last expense. If the Office could contribute a portion, the clansmen will manage to raise the rest themselves."
"The Old Duke and your husband are gone. If the mistress of the Ducal Office cannot render a decision, then I will take these ledgers to the Grand Princess myself!"
Bai Qiyun declared, flicking his sleeves.
"By all means, do!"
Lady Dong hid her smiling face behind her handkerchief and lifted her teacup.
"Go and see for yourself! Exactly as you wish."