Courage
Bai Jinch felt a vein throb at her temple. She had been repeating to herself, over and over, that she must hold her tongue — but the moment those words reached her ears, she could endure it no longer. She rose to her feet and shouted at the gate.
"You would have my grandmother, who suffered through losing her husband, her sons, and her grandsons while her body was already racked with illness, plead for your household's sake? Have you no shame at all?"
"So that is what shamelessness looks like. Today I finally understand."
Bai Jindong, dressed in mourning white, stood at the top of the steps with her hands clasped behind her back. She pulled Bai Jinch back behind her and descended slowly.
"When the two young ladies of the Zhongyong Marquis Estate tried to take our second sister's life, didn't the Marchioness simply kill second sister's maidservant on her own authority? Then she went on about filial piety and whatnot to keep second sister's mouth shut. It has been days since our family entered mourning, yet the Marquis has never once come to pay his respects. Is he afraid that guilt will bring our family's restless spirits to his door — or is his heart simply cold to the bone? And now that his household's crimes have come to light, a mere servant dares to invoke the ties between our families?"
Nanny Wu trembled from head to toe. Watching Bai Jindong descend the steps of the Zhenguo Duke Estate one at a time, she fell to her knees and shuffled backward.
Unable to contain her fury, Bai Jinch shouted down from the top of the steps.
"The Court of Judicial Review surrounded the Zhongyong Marquis Estate because of the army provisions the Marquis was charged with sending to the Southern Border! More than twenty coffins of the Bai family lie here in plain sight — and when they cut open my youngest brother's stomach, it was nothing but tree roots and dirt! And when the provisions your household sent finally reached the fortress, they had turned into buckwheat husks! The grain vanished before it ever reached the front lines! Where does this shameless woman get the nerve — what face does she think she has, asking my ailing grandmother to plead your cause!"
Jin Lang clenched his fists, too ashamed to lift his head. Whatever the truth of it, the Zhongyong Marquis was still his father.
Bai Jingyan had just changed into her mourning garments and come out. The instant she heard Nanny Wu's words in front of the coffin hall, killing intent bled into her eyes.
She advanced toward the crowd and spoke in a voice like ice.
"Is the Grand Princess of Jin a servant of your Zhongyong Marquis Estate, to be worked at your whim? Must she drag her sickbed-weakened body here to intercede for you? Your household has truly swallowed its own gall!"
The moment Nanny Wu laid eyes on the Eldest Miss of the Bai family, her chest constricted, and she bowed so low she nearly shattered her head against the ground.
"This servant — that is not what I meant. This servant would never dare think such a thing, never!"
The common folk who had come to pay their condolences at the Zhenguo Duke Estate heard the Marchioness's shameless maid's words and heaped curses upon Nanny Wu.
"That old dog hasn't a scrap of decency in her."
"Asking the Grand Princess to plead for them with her body wasting away! The Marquis didn't even come to the Bai family's coffin hall before he was dragged off — and now he remembers the Zhenguo Duke Estate exists?"
"Exactly. They say the army provisions turned entirely into buckwheat husks! Gone before they were ever transferred south. And the ten-year-old young general of the Bai family had nothing but roots and dirt in his belly. What face does the Zhongyong Marquis Estate have, asking the Grand Princess for mercy? Such thick skin!"
"Decency? That household doesn't even know how to write the word!"
One man slipped both hands into his sleeves.
"Didn't the Marchioness meddle in Second Miss's wedding trousseau back then? If the mistress is this kind of creature, imagine what the inside of the marquis's household must be like — nothing in it but curs destined to beg for their bread!"
His wife yanked at his sleeve at that, casting a meaningful glance toward Jin Lang, who still stood among them.
Only then did the man shrink back and hurry away after his wife.
"Jin Lang, come with me, and bring Jinsu. There is something we must discuss."
Bai Jingyan's face was carved from stone as she spoke.
Jin Lang nodded, then turned back to Nanny Wu, who knelt weeping on the ground.
"Go home and look after my younger siblings. The Grand Princess has taken to her bed with grief. As her granddaughter-in-law, I am already troubled that I cannot ease her worries — I cannot have her burdened with the affairs of the Zhongyong Marquis Estate as well."
Nanny Wu tried to press her plea further, but Jin Lang could not stand by and watch her drag the marquis's name through the mud any longer. He flicked his sleeve and barked at her.
"My siblings are merely barred from leaving the estate freely — their lives are not in danger! As for the provisions case, His Majesty will render a just verdict. It is a matter of state; it is not ours to meddle in. Go home, now!"
With that, Jin Lang climbed the steps of the Zhenguo Duke Estate. He had no wish to say another word to Nanny Wu. Supporting Bai Jinsu, he followed Bai Jingyan inside.
"Young Master! Young Master, I beg you — save the Second Master and the young ladies! They are your own blood brothers and sisters! Young Master, how can you be so heartless!"
Nanny Wu wailed and carried on like a madwoman.
Bai Jindong looked at the guard standing motionless nearby.
"What are you all standing around for? Drag that old creature away. Or do you mean to cause such an uproar that you startle our grandmother — and bring the matter to the Emperor's ears?"
The escort who had followed from the Zhongyong Marquis Estate started, and with no time to spare for propriety between men and women, offered Bai Jindong a cupped-fist salute and his apologies before hauling the still-weeping Nanny Wu back toward the marquis's residence.
Gao Sheng, hidden among the crowd, watched Jin Lang enter alongside Bai Jingyan — and thought of that roster he had seen before the cells of the Court of Judicial Review. His head throbbed, and he hurried back to the King Yang Estate.
Bai Jingyan led Bai Jinsu and Jin Lang to the pavilion behind the rockery in the courtyard, then instructed Nanny Dong to hand the roster to Jin Lang.
Jin Lang skimmed through it, and the moment he understood that every name written on the roster was dead, he grasped the situation at once.
"These are the names of the officials connected with the army provisions that were to be transported to the Southern Border before the festival?"
"Yes. Every official who had a hand in those provisions has, by a remarkable coincidence, died in accidents within the past two months."
Bai Jingyan tapped the stone table with her finger.
Xiao Ruogang offered Jin Lang a cupped-fist salute before speaking.
"The Eldest Miss and I visited the cells of the Court of Judicial Review half a shichen ago. Master Hou gave us this roster."
Jin Lang felt as though waves were crashing in his chest. His father had known all along that something would go wrong with the provisions — and worse, this could well have been his father's own doing!
No longer able to sit still, Jin Lang sprang to his feet and began pacing back and forth.
"Eldest Miss, is there... is there any way I might see my father?"
At those words, Xiao Ruogang lowered his head before answering.
"For the sake of the Zhongyong Marquis's own safety, it would be better not to meet him."
Jin Lang's eyes went wide.
"You mean to say there is someone behind my father? Who? The Crown Prince? No — the Crown Prince is a benevolent man. He is locked in a struggle for the throne with the Xin King, but he would never do such a thing. Then the Xin King?"
Bai Jingyan lowered her gaze. Yes — it had been someone no one could have anticipated. That the power behind the Zhongyong Marquis was King Yang, a man famed for being the very picture of spinelessness, was the last thing anyone had imagined.
"The Marquis did not say who it was. And it is not something one ought to ask."
Bai Jingyan slowly raised her head and looked at Jin Lang, whose face had gone deathly pale.
"You were raised from childhood as the heir of the Zhongyong Marquis, and you are an intelligent man — so you understand full well that an heir must place the honor of his house above his own life, above his own glory and disgrace. The Marquis entrusted this roster to you because he hopes you will take up the heavy burden of protecting your family."
Whatever else was true, the Zhongyong Marquis was Jin Lang's father. Frankly, it was a fact that her trust in Jin Lang was not yet firm. She did not expect him to cast aside even his own father for the sake of the Bai family's honor.
He was the father who had merely watched his son be tormented by a stepmother. He was the father who had treated him as though he did not exist. And yet.
"Eldest Miss."
Jin Lang's throat bobbed as he asked,
"Did my father say anything more?"
"Master Hou apologized to the Bai family. Beyond that, he said nothing. But on the way back, I gave it careful thought, and I don't believe my visit to him today can stay hidden. The people on this roster were likely those Master Hou sent men to kill — and if so, there is bound to be some thread to pull. If you wish to protect the honor of the Zhongyong Marquis Estate, then consider what personnel changes took place in the household before these men died, question the matter properly in your capacity as the estate's heir, and then take this roster to the Court of Judicial Review as quickly as you can."
Pale-faced, Jin Lang forced himself to remain composed as he sank deep into thought.
Go to the Court of Judicial Review and expose my own father? Then what becomes of him?
The Bai sons who had handled the provisions bound for the warfront had not only all died in battle in the Southern Border because of it — hundreds of thousands of soldiers had perished alongside them.
And furthermore, Yu Huanzhang had deceived the Xin King and the Zhenguo Duke with his granaries.
The army provisions...
Jin Lang's breath caught in his throat and he swayed on his feet. Had he not been gripping the stone table, his legs would have given out beneath him entirely.
Yu Huanzhang had sold out his country. That was a crime punishable by the extermination of his entire clan.
"It seems you've already realized that your father is connected to Yu Huanzhang."
Bai Jingyan's expression turned cold.
"That, too, is why I went to the cells of the Court of Judicial Review today to see your father. Whatever else may be true, my second sister is married to you — and if disaster strikes the Jin family, my sister cannot escape the flames. So even though the provisions failed, even though I despise the Zhongyong Marquis down to my marrow, I went there because I had to, for my sister's sake. My grandmother's words were right. The dead are already dead; it is the living who matter most."
Only then did Jin Lang collect himself, and with a face white as ash, he raised his clasped hands in a long salute toward Bai Jingyan.
"Eldest Miss, thank you. The debt of what your family has done to save mine — I will repay it for the rest of my life. I will never forget it."
Jin Lang rose and looked at Bai Jinsu, seated on the cushioned stone chair, and steeled himself.
"Perhaps it would be better to draw up a letter of severance and leave it with you. Jinsu could keep it, and if something truly should happen to the Jin family, then..."
"Jin Lang, how can you say such a thing?"
Bai Jinsu's eyes reddened.
"Husband and wife are one body — do we scatter to the four winds the moment calamity comes? Only days ago the whole of Dadu was buzzing with rumors that our Bai family was about to fall, and you did not hand me a letter of severance then. Why now?"
Seeing that Jin Lang held both loyalty and genuine affection for Bai Jinsu, Bai Jingyan felt somewhat relieved.
"Given your marriage to Jinsu, even if this matter erupts in full, the Emperor will, at the very least for the sake of my grandmother and the Bai family's sacrifices, not punish the Zhongyong Marquis Estate too harshly. Are you aware of that?"
"I am."
Jin Lang nodded and looked at Bai Jinsu.
"Jinsu, the debts I owe you are beyond counting. I simply cannot bear to see you dragged into this."
Jin Lang's eyes reddened as well.
"Because of my father, the Bai family has lost... I cannot even bear to look the Bai family in the face."
"We are husband and wife — what nonsense is this about being dragged in or not? The man who committed those crimes is my father-in-law, not you, Jin Lang. I held my wedding rites with you and live my life with you — not with my father-in-law. You left the Zhongyong Marquis Estate for my sake, so how could I possibly abandon you in your hour of need? The sons and daughters of the Bai family were raised on loyalty and righteousness. Danger has come to my husband, and I am to discard him? I could never do such a thing. And out of the love between husband and wife alone, I never could!"
Bai Jinsu's voice was resolute.
"The time has come for you to bear the weight of the Zhongyong Marquis Estate. The Marquis will not escape death — but the glory of the estate itself may yet endure."
Bai Jingyan lifted her hand warmer and spoke with calm deliberation.
"If you move quickly enough, word can reach the Emperor before the man behind the Zhongyong Marquis takes his life. If His Majesty takes note of this affair and orders the Marquis examined, then the Marquis may live a few days longer — and be granted a chance to atone."
Jin Lang gritted his teeth and nodded.
"Understood. Eldest Miss, thank you for opening my eyes. I will return to the Zhongyong Marquis Estate at once."
Bai Jingyan nodded.