Justice
The moment the three of them left the room, Lady Dong asked with anxious urgency.
“Ayan, what on earth are you planning?”
There would have been nothing wrong with the Zhenguo Duke Estate producing several hundred thousand taels of silver at once. It was the blatant, shameless attitude of the clan elders she could not bring herself to accept.
“Mother.”
Bai Jingyan wrapped an arm around Lady Dong's and began walking toward the mourning hall as she spoke.
“If we must return to our ancestral home in Suyang sooner or later anyway, it is far better to sell off every visible asset in one stroke than to suffer endless harassment and extortion at the clan's hands for years to come. Grandfather's coffin is set up outside the courtyard, so if I have Jinchu and Jindong make a great show of this affair, both the clan and the world will come to know two things — that we yielded only under duress, and that we sold everything we owned. Once they walk away with their silver this time, the fear of public opinion will keep them from ever coming back to demand more. That is the first reason.”
“And the second... is to show the Emperor that we intend to withdraw from the capital, and thereby set his mind at ease?”
Lady Dong asked. Bai Jingyan nodded, and her mother, heart aching, gently patted the back of her daughter's hand. If Grandfather, Father, and all the brothers were still alive, what burden of the family's future would ever have weighed on Bai Jingyan's shoulders?
Bai Jingyan smiled and clasped her mother's hand tightly.
“You saw through everything, Mother. I truly cannot hide anything from you.”
“But can this merchant prince of the Wei Kingdom, Xiao Rongyan, really buy up all those shops, estates, and farmland at once?”
Lady Dong turned the figures over carefully in her mind, still holding her daughter's hand.
“It is no small sum.”
“That is precisely what I came to tell you about. I have already sent Chen Gengsheng, and we agreed to borrow only Xiao Rongyan's name for the matter while the silver comes from our own estate's coffers. By this method, to the outside world the Duke Estate will appear to have sold off every shop and field — yet in truth those assets remain firmly in your hands.”
Bai Jingyan looked at her mother.
“Though I'm not entirely certain our estate can produce four hundred fifty thousand taels in one go.”
At those words, Lady Dong stopped mid-stride. Dong Qing'e's words to her from the day before came flooding back.
He had said that the reason King Xin's carriage wheel had broken was thanks to that master guard at Xiao Rongyan's side. And today Xiao Rongyan had come to the estate and bowed before the mourning hall — and again, that guard of his had saved the fourth daughter-in-law just as she was about to dash her head against the coffin.
Lady Dong took her daughter's hand.
“Have you met with Xiao Rongyan privately? Is there... comings and goings between you two? Tell your mother the truth.”
Question after question poured out of her. The more she thought about it, the more certain her suspicion seemed.
True, among the scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants of the world, merchants stood at the bottom — but Great Jin did not hold them in such contempt. And this Xiao Rongyan was a remarkably fine specimen of a man: handsome, elegant in bearing, and possessed of even the refined grace of a scholar. Her daughter's beauty went without saying. Had some bond of affection sprung up between the two? How else could Bai Jingyan be so certain that Xiao Rongyan would come to the Duke Estate's aid?
If such a bond truly existed, she would have to plan differently. The method she had once discussed with Old Taijun Dong could not be used.
Her daughter's peace was, of course, important. But a life of quiet comfort in which the girl obtained what her heart desired was precious beyond measure as well.
The people of Dadu stood behind the Bai family now, so the Emperor would not dare push the Duke Estate into a corner for some time. If her daughter truly had feelings for this merchant, she needed to investigate now. Only if Xiao Rongyan's character proved sound could she entrust her daughter to him.
Why, though, had a man of such refined bearing been born into a merchant house? If her daughter followed him, it would be more than mere misalliance. In the eyes of the world, it would amount to casting down her own rank and debasing herself to common stock.
Besides, daughters of families with official rank were almost never married into merchant households — and the Zhenguo Duke Estate, a distinguished house whose century of glory was known to every kingdom, least of all.
In the span of a few breaths, ten thousand thoughts churned through Lady Dong's mind, leaving her at a loss.
Bai Jingyan studied her mother's constantly shifting expression, then spoke with perfect composure.
“I went to the Jueju Pavilion outside the city walls today to see someone off, and happened upon Xiao Rongyan by chance. We exchanged a few words, nothing more. But the reason I sent Chen Gengsheng to him today to discuss this matter is not simply that we've crossed paths a handful of times. A few polite remarks would hardly move him to grant such a request.”
Supporting her mother by the arm as they walked forward, Bai Jingyan explained in a low voice.
“Have you considered, Mother, where Xiao Rongyan has been spending so lavishly since he entered Dadu? What he wants is to make his name in this capital — no, to make his name throughout all of Jin. He wishes to trade the title of 'greatest merchant of the Wei Kingdom' for 'greatest merchant under heaven.' He wants the world to remember the name Xiao Rongyan.
“And as it happens, the Zhenguo Duke Estate is presently sheltered by the people's unwavering support. There is no faster way for him to achieve his ambition than buying up every shop, estate, and field of the Duke Estate in a single stroke.”
Standing beneath the eaves a short while ago, Bai Jingyan had already planned everything. Xiao Rongyan had said at the palace banquet that he would depart once the Lantern Festival passed. Why? Because he intended to attend the festival, flaunt his wealth before the gathered scholars of the realm in Dadu, and proclaim far and wide the title of greatest merchant under heaven.
But the Bai family's funeral had surely reduced that hope to ashes.
Then all she had to do was deliver this opportunity right to his doorstep. No man so shrewd would let slip a chance to display his fortune before the whole world. Better still, this affair would put Xiao Rongyan in the Duke Estate's debt.
Gazing into her daughter's eyes, Lady Dong clasped those cold hands in her own and asked carefully.
“Young Master Xiao seemed extraordinarily precious to look upon — in face and in bearing alike. Could it be that you, to him...”
For a moment Bai Jingyan did not grasp her mother's meaning. When she finally understood, several beats later, she was struck speechless with disbelief.
“Mother, just how far has your imagination run? No one knows my own heart better than I do. It seems this life I'll simply stay at your side forever. And with the estate in such dire straits, where would I find the leisure to entertain the idle fancies of people with nothing better to do?”
Before Lady Dong could open her mouth, Bai Jingyan pressed on.
“Mother — every matter can wait until Grandfather's, Father's, our uncles' and brothers' funerals are seen to.”
Eyes rimmed red, Lady Dong nodded through her tears.
“Madam Crown Princess. Eldest Young Miss.”
Old Steward Gu, leaning on a servant's arm, came hurrying over, paid her respects, and asked urgently.
“The clan elders — have they gone?”
Old Steward Gu was a loyal servant of the Duke Estate, her family having served it faithfully generation after generation since the reign of Gaozu. She could truly be said to have given her whole body and blood to the house.
For years she had managed the estate's most important storeroom. Every matter involving the passage of money had to pass through her hands, and so she was honored and respected everywhere — within the estate itself and back at the ancestral home in Suyang alike.
When Bai Qiyun had come storming in to find Lady Dong earlier, Chun Mama had quietly dispatched someone to summon Old Steward Gu. But against all expectation, Bai Jingyan had settled the matter in the span of a few moments, and the old steward had arrived one step too late.
“Mother accepted the clan's demands a short while ago. The Duke Estate will sell all of its shops, estates, and farmland to raise the silver, and the deputy head of the main family will offer incense and inform Grandfather and Father of this fact.”
Bai Jingyan spoke to the old woman with utmost courtesy.
“Then I will go and look into it myself.”
Leaning hard on her cane, Old Steward Gu walked off at a hurried, tottering pace.
“Old Steward Gu—”
When Lady Dong moved to call her back, Bai Jingyan gently stayed her. For a long moment she watched the old woman's retreating figure with deep, unfathomable eyes, then turned back to her mother and spoke with calm deliberation.
“Mother, having Old Steward Gu fan the flames is no bad thing.”
The sun had sunk behind the western hills, and the last thread of sunset glow had faded from the sky.
Candle flames flickered before the coffins of all seven of the dead, and Bai Qiyun bowed before the mourning hall.
Kneeling on the cushion, he spoke.
“Elder Brother, the younger ones have gone on to the world beyond, but the Madam Crown Princess has honored our agreement. She has consented to fulfill the promise Elder Brother once made — to repair the ancestral shrine, the graveyard, the tombs, and the clan school for the sake of the family elders.”
At those words, Bai Jinchu, exactly as she and Bai Jingyan had rehearsed beforehand, flew into a fury and cried out.
“What? Great Aunt agreed to this?”
“Jinchu!”
Bai Jindong moved as if to restrain her.
Bai Jinchu shook off her sister's hand and demanded, quivering with rage.
“Why would Great Aunt bow to the blackmail of such a despicable man? Our entire estate would have to be stripped bare just to scrape together four hundred fifty thousand taels! Why did she accept? If we hand over everything we own, how are the survivors of this house supposed to live?”
“Jinchu!”
Weeping, Bai Jinxiu tried to pull her back.
But Bai Jinchu only grew more heated.
“And if this promise is real, why did Grandfather never once speak of it? The moment the deputy head of the main family arrived, he didn't even offer incense at the hall before declaring that the widows and orphans of the Duke Estate must accept the clan's 'protection,' that we must buy our safety with silver — what is that but banditry!
“Great Aunt, who has always been so unyielding — why have you grown so soft? Why should our family hand over that silver at all! How many tens of thousands has the main family extracted from the Duke Estate over the years? Grandfather's body and my father's and uncles' and brothers' bodies are not yet cold in their coffins, and these clan parasites are already pressuring us widows and orphans to buy our peace with silver! How are they any different from the thugs and rabble of the countryside?”
Bai Jinchu had always had a thunderous voice, and years of martial training gave it all the more force. The moment she raised it, every mourner in the courtyard and every commoner gathered outside turned their eyes toward the hall.
All of the men of the Bai family had given their lives in the Southern Border campaign, and only that morning a loyal servant had risked his life to bring back the military campaign records. Then there was the affair before the Wude Gate of the palace, where the people themselves had risen in an uproar.
Every soul in Dadu was anxious for the Bai family now. Not one of them wished to see any further injustice visited upon the Duke Estate.
And everyone — commoners and mourners alike — had watched the clan elders just now stride straight into the inner courtyard without offering so much as a stick of incense.
Everyone had wondered what business drove them to such haste. To think they had marched in to threaten the Bai widows and orphans — demanding silver as the price of being left in peace!