Grace
Darkness deepened by degrees, and a thin mist settled over the liveliest quarter of Dadu's capital. Through that fog, the common folk and shopkeepers were voluntarily swapping their lanterns for white ones — mourning the spirits of the Duke of Zhenguo's fallen soldiers, men who had given their lives for the nation.
White lanterns hung beneath the eaves of the estate's covered corridor, swaying in the light wind.
Before long, the thick snow that had piled up crumbled like salt and drifted downward. The grains resting on the white lanterns crackled softly as they fell.
Lady Dong and Bai Jingyan sat in the main hall, discussing at length the matter of the pretext Xiao Rongyan had been granted.
"The Duke's estate owes you a debt, Master Xiao. I know it will be a burden, but we must ask you to see this performance through to the end, together with our household."
Lady Dong's voice drifted, unhurried and warm.
Xiao Rongyan set down his teacup and answered with deliberate courtesy.
"Crown Princess, you honor me far beyond my deserts. Dull as I may be, I am not so blind as to miss what is before me. Eldest Miss Bai discerned the purpose of my visit to Dadu, and it was she who granted me the chance to achieve it.
Of the four callings — scholar, farmer, craftsman, merchant — most who trade are of base character, yet your estate never looked down on my origins. Instead, you extended me your aid, and for that I can only be grateful. I ask nothing more than the chance, someday, to repay the Crown Princess and the eldest young lady in kind."
What the people of this world prize amounts to no more than three things: power, reputation, and wealth. And those three were bound in mutual reinforcement.
Grasp power, and riches and honor follow; achieve renown, and power and wealth can be won; wealth, in turn, opens the path to reputation and influence alike.
Of the three, money was the easiest to obtain, power the next. A good name was the hardest of all.
Xiao Rongyan had wandered the nations under the title "Foremost Merchant." To catch the eye of another country's nobility and royalty, he had needed to push his fame to its very summit. Once his reputation was established, he would never again have to strain to approach the powerful magnates of any court — a single calling card, and those who wished to see him would line up at his door.
And now he had forged ties with the Bai clan, the most honored family in the realm, renowned for loyalty and righteousness — a gilding upon his very name.
By standing on the Bai family's shoulders, Bai Jingyan had all but delivered into Xiao Rongyan's hands the opportunity to win a splendid reputation. It would serve him extraordinarily well when he sought closeness with the great houses and noble clans of every nation — and how could a mind as sharp as Xiao Rongyan's fail to grasp that?
Lady Dong studied the handsome, elegant man seated in the lamplight for a long while. His composed air, so carefully concealing his emotions, looked uniquely gentle in the wavering glow of the candles. Though a merchant, he carried no whiff of the coin-purse about him; rather, an overflowing refinement clung to him from head to toe. Every gesture bore a quiet, understated dignity, and his speech — soft, weighty, and at ease — left a fine impression.
Lady Dong held her hand warmer lightly and gave Xiao Rongyan a small, smiling nod.
Xiao Rongyan was perceptive, deeply thoughtful, with eyes dark and fathomless. She could not read what lay behind them, but she knew that at least in this moment, as he spoke, he hid nothing of his heart. He genuinely believed the Duke's estate had shown him grace.
Lady Dong did not expect him to hand over some reward later. It was simply that a bargain with a clever man required so little effort, and that pleased her.
"That you stopped King Xin then, and that you saved the survivors of our Bai family at the funeral hall today — we are deeply, deeply grateful."
She turned her gaze to the snow swirling beyond the window.
"The roads will be treacherous tonight, so please take care on your way home. In three days' time, the Duke's estate will return your four hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver in full. Jingyan — see Master Xiao out."
Xiao Rongyan rose and bowed respectfully to Lady Dong, then followed Bai Jingyan out of the hall.
"Take care on your way, Master Xiao."
Bai Jingyan performed a light bow.
Along the lamplit corridor, a maid bearing a lantern led the way. Xiao Rongyan and Bai Jingyan walked side by side, while Chun Tao, the other maids, and Xiao Rongyan's guards followed at no great distance behind the pair.
They walked the whole way in silence until, at last, Xiao Rongyan spoke first.
"Even if all the world turns its back on the Duke of Zhenguo's estate, the estate must never turn its back on the world. I imagine those words have already reached His Majesty's ears. By tomorrow at the latest — two days hence — the Emperor will pass judgment on King Xin."
Bai Jingyan kept her head lowered and said nothing.
The Bai estate had made its iron will abundantly clear to the Emperor: they would return to their ancestral seat in Suyang, come what may.
The Emperor had been told, plainly, that the pressure came from the ancestral clan in Suyang — precisely what he had wished to hear.
Anyone with a thought in his head, however cold his heart, must waver at least a little.
That day in the great hall, Bai Jingyan had fabricated her grandfather's remark that the Emperor was a man of great ambition, and so a flicker of guilt had taken root in him.
Now, once again, she had demonstrated before the Emperor the estate's loyalty — that even if the world abandoned them, they would never abandon the world. The Emperor would have no choice but to act.
"Under pressure from the imperial clan, the estate sells off its assets; aid is granted so that I may accomplish my purpose; the Emperor is nudged toward his decision; and a defensive wall is raised in advance so that the estate, returning to Suyang, will not suffer the clan's harassment."
Handling the Jade Cicada, Xiao Rongyan could not suppress his inward astonishment. Then he asked in a low voice:
"Was the imperial clan's intimidation, too, something you arranged, Eldest Miss Bai?"
Every move this eldest daughter of the Bai clan made startled him. And to see her spin one scheme into another until everything fell into place as if all along connected — he could not help but marvel.
"The imperial clan's greed knew no bounds, so I merely leaned on that momentum and laid a little strategy. It was simply a matter of survival."
Before a mind as extraordinary as Xiao Rongyan's, denying one's true intent would only drive him to talk it all out of her in the end — so it was better to lay everything bare.
"Whatever the case — you aided me, Eldest Miss Bai, and I will never forget the debt."
"We each simply wanted something, and each took our own gain. No one can say who helped whom. We fulfilled each other's purposes, that is all. Besides, did I not tell you at the funeral hall today? If ever hardship finds you, the Bai family will help you as far as our strength allows."
As they spoke, the two reached the side gate. Bai Jingyan straightened her mourning robes and turned to look at the man standing beneath the side gate's lantern.
"If your heart is still uneasy, Master Xiao, then think of it as the Bai family's thanks — for the two times you came to our aid."
The estate's servant brought Xiao Rongyan's horse right up to the gate. Catching sight of Xiao Rongyan, the beast snorted and pawed, straining to come closer.
"Master Xiao, please, go in."
"I shall."
Xiao Rongyan bowed to Bai Jingyan, stepped outside, and mounted the horse in one fluid motion.
One hand on the reins, he accepted the knuckle-strap whip the servant handed up to him. Seated in the saddle, he looked back at Bai Jingyan, standing within the gate.
Beneath the white lantern swaying in the wind, a woman in mourning clothes offered him a light bow. A sickly pallor lay upon her face, and snowflakes broke apart and drifted down before her — yet nothing could veil her surpassing beauty or the noble grace that flowed from her even in stillness.
Cool and serene, calm yet wise, a resolute soul with depths that could not be fathomed.
Xiao Rongyan marveled inwardly.
He gazed at her for a long moment with eyes as deep as a well — and at last, he cracked the whip and rode away.
"What a long day this has been."
Chun Tao supported Bai Jingyan by the arm and let out a low sigh.
"Eldest Miss, you must be exhausted."
Bai Jingyan nodded.
"Let us go back. First we must pay our respects to Grandmother, and then I must go see Qi Zhengyu."
In the kitchen of the estate's rear courtyard, two old servants came hurrying out beneath the eaves, carrying wicker baskets. They brushed the snow from their clothes, lifted their heads to gaze up at the mist-choked sky, and sighed.
"Strange weather we're having. Fog thick as this, and yet the snow keeps falling in sheets."
The other servant glanced about, confirmed no one was near, and leaned close to his companion's ear, murmuring.
"That troublemaking second-son of the Second Household — you hear? Word is his mother just hired a carriage, packed up bundle after bundle, and fled out the back gate. If she runs too, what has the estate done to anger the gods? First the Suyang main house blackmails the Crown Princess into surrendering the estate's assets, and now with the second son gone, there'll be no one left to carry on the family name at all."
"So there's nothing left for them to do in this residence, I suppose."
The nanny who served at the Grand Princess's side stood just within the kitchen doorway, hands folded neatly before her. Merely standing there, she radiated authority.
The two servants jumped, hastily bowed and greeted her, then stood to the side, not daring even to lift their heads.
The nanny in deep azure robes cast the two servants a single sweeping glance, cool as frost, and proceeded into the busy kitchen. Behind her, a line of maids filed out carrying black-lacquered dishes heaped with food. They passed along the bright corridor and walked toward the Grand Princess's garden.
In the longevity garden, a brazier blazed merrily. Attending maids reverently presented the dishes. The old woman tending the fire slipped several pieces of fine silver charcoal in with her long copper-tipped tongs, then covered the brazier with its copper lid.
Standing beneath the eaves with Bai Jingyan and Bai Jinxiu as they waited upon the Grand Princess's meal, Nanny Zhang quietly listened as the residence nanny reported that Bai Jingxian and his mother had fled — then gave a small wave of her hand, signaling the woman to withdraw.
The residence nanny bowed her head, offered a respectful farewell, and stepped back.
"I already knew."
Bai Jingyan said.
"The nanny of Qingming Garden told me long ago that the second son was preparing to flee. I made no move to stop him."
"Better to tell him to go, I say!"
Bai Jinxiu's brow furrowed, and an expression of disgust — rare on her composed face — rose plainly upon it.
"That woman, and that second son…… How could my father have……"
Only a blind man could have kept such a woman in his heart.
They say a child must not speak of a parent's failings. Bai Jinxiu felt a surge of fury welling up from within, but she shut her eyes tightly and said nothing more.