Those Drunk on Dreams
King Yang braced both hands against the table, but the fury still smoldering in his chest would not die down, and at last he brought his fist crashing down on the white jade paperweight that pinned the paper in place.
The reason Chunyan had refused to receive Gao Sheng was, in all likelihood, simply that the two of them had never had dealings before. If that was the case... then he should have sent Donggil. Donggil was a servant who attended him at his side—Chunyan would be certain to grant him an audience.
Having thought this through, King Yang turned toward the door and shouted with a darkened face.
"Summon Donggil!"
Before long, Donggil, who had been brewing the prince's medicine, came running.
"Your Highness, did you call for me?"
"Hand the letters over to Donggil," King Yang said.
Hearing this, Gao Sheng drew several sealed letters from within his robes and passed them to Donggil. Donggil accepted them with a bewildered look and glanced up at King Yang.
"Later, I was about to—"
King Yang began to speak, then stopped himself. Gao Sheng had already gone to see Chunyan today; if he now sent Donggil to her as well, it would draw eyes. He opened his mouth again.
"Tomorrow, when the Duke's estate sets out for the funeral procession, take these letters and go to Chunyan."
King Yang passed along the instructions he had prepared. As he listened to what he was being ordered to deliver, Donggil gripped the letters tightly, feeling that his master had been wronged.
"With the funeral tomorrow, the estate will be busy and in chaos. Tell Chunyan she absolutely must not let this opportunity slip by. If she misses it, there will be no such chance for at least the next half year. She must be certain to plant these letters in the Duke's study."
Seeing Donggil knit his brow, King Yang barked at him.
"Did you not hear me!"
"Your Highness! That Eldest Miss Bai called you a petty villain last time, and she swore that she would sooner marry anyone else than ever wed Your Highness. Why do you cling so stubbornly to such a woman? She has nothing to recommend her but a decent face. They say she cannot even bear children—I cannot fathom why you insist on this self-imposed torment. You are a prince of Great Jin, Your Highness. If you so desired, you could take any young lady in the realm into your household."
Donggil murmured his remonstrance in a low voice.
"Now you presume to meddle in my marriage?"
King Yang was already sour over the affair of Yu Huanzhang marching into Dadu as he pleased, and there was no hiding the razor edge in his tone.
"Your Highness!"
Donggil dropped to his knees on the spot.
"This humble Donggil would never dare! I only spoke because I could not bear to see you so aggrieved! You are a man of such exalted standing—how dare that Eldest Miss Bai behave so insolently before you! If you lower yourself this far to bring her in, I fear she will only grow more arrogant with time!"
King Yang looked down at Donggil, who had clung to his side since childhood, harboring his own venomous designs, and spoke.
"If you truly hold loyalty to me, then handle this matter properly. If you botch it... pack your things and leave! I have no reason to keep you in the King Yang Estate!"
The color drained from Donggil's face. He bit down hard on his lip. Tears welled in his eyes, but he could not so much as weep aloud, and the injustice of it choked him.
"Go!"
At the sight of Donggil's pitiful state, King Yang's voice softened somewhat.
Donggil hurriedly wiped his eyes with his sleeve and bowed deeply toward the prince. Then he said, voice trembling with sobs, "Since Your Highness holds Eldest Miss Bai in favor, I will be sure to tell Chunyan to see this matter through without fail. Your Highness... I have served at your side since I was a child. Please, do not cast me out. From now on I will be obedient and give you no trouble whatsoever."
King Yang's heart softened, and he spoke in a low voice. "Handle the matter well, and I will not cast you out."
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
Donggil tucked the letters carefully into his breast and withdrew with a respectful bow.
Donggil was useless for anything, yet King Yang kept him at his side still—all of it owed to the bonds of their childhood.
The reason King Yang labored so desperately to drag the Bai family down was to repay the grace of Noble Consort Dong and Prince Li. It was the same reason Gao Sheng served King Yang.
Gao Sheng glanced once at King Yang, then lowered his head again and spoke with deference. "Yu Huanzhang cannot be brought into the estate. To prevent him from stirring up any trouble, I will guard Yu Huanzhang personally."
"Go, then..."
King Yang, looking utterly spent, clutched at his chest and sank into his chair. His complexion had grown even worse than before.
Bai Jingyan rose after sleeping less than a single shichen.
Chun Tao drew back the bed curtains and, watching her mistress perch on the edge of the bed to put on her shoes, spoke with evident concern. "Eldest Miss, if you go on sleeping no more than two hours a night, your body will give out."
The maids who had been waiting beneath the eaves, carrying a basin of warm water, hand towels, a groaning-board, and mouth-rinsing water, filed in one after another to make ready for her ablutions. Chun Xing led in the maids bearing the tiered food boxes and laid out the morning meal, and by the time Bai Jingyan had changed her clothes and emerged from behind the folding screen, Chun Xing and the maids had withdrawn in orderly silence.
Chun Tao ladled out a bowl of millet congee simmered in chicken broth and set it before Bai Jingyan, then said in a low voice, "Not long after you fell asleep today, someone came looking for Chunyan. But Chunyan refused to receive him. The old woman keeping watch at the gate says he was a guard from the King Yang Estate, and that he paid quite generously—only, she says, his face was so cold that he frightened her."
It was exactly what she had expected, so Bai Jingyan was not particularly surprised.
She bowed her head, swallowed a mouthful of the clear congee, and gave her instructions. "Do not let Chunyan catch wind of it, and keep watch on her in secret. The moment anything stirs, report to me at once."
"Understood."
Chun Tao nodded, her face grave.
Chun Xing, waiting outside the door, caught sight of Bai Jinxiu approaching and hurried forward to greet her. "Second Miss."
"Is Eldest Sister awake?"
"Yes. The Eldest Miss is taking her meal now. I will go in and announce you."
Before Chun Xing could lift the curtain, Chun Tao came out. "The Eldest Miss asked us to bring you in, Second Miss. Chun Xing, send someone ahead to set out a spoon and bowl for her."
"Right."
Chun Xing answered and went off.
Bai Jinxiu handed the hand warmer she carried to Qing Shu and told her to wait outside, then entered the room alone. Chun Tao ladled out a bowl of millet congee for Bai Jinxiu as well, then withdrew so the sisters could take their meal in peace.
Seeing Bai Jinxiu holding her spoon without eating, her face full of worry, Bai Jingyan asked, "Worried about Jin Lang?"
"Eldest Sister, Chief Minister Yu Zhen of the Court of Judicial Review has never had the slightest dealings with our Bai family. And there are no more men left in the Bai household. Yu Zhen's reputation is good, it's true, but no one can know what lies beneath a man's surface... Will he truly help Jin Lang?"
Bai Jinxiu turned her head, brow furrowed, and looked at Bai Jingyan.
"We have always lived apart from the court, so it's only natural you should know little of its affairs—it's no wonder you're worried."
Bai Jingyan set down her chopsticks and dabbed her mouth with a handkerchief. Then, in a gentle voice, she laid out the situation for Bai Jinxiu.
"For some time now, the court's ministers have been splitting into camps over who should succeed to the heir's position. The largest faction backed King Xin, the Empress's own son. King Xin's power was immense. If not for the Southern Border incident, the way things stood before would have all but seated him on that throne already.
The court's ministers, those old hands at trimming their sails to the wind, all flocked to King Xin—yet Yu Zhen of the Court of Judicial Review maintained strict neutrality throughout and never once joined in. What's more, when King Xin's men landed in his hands time and again, he dealt with every case coolly and by the letter of the law. There are four possibilities behind the way he conducts himself.
First, that he carries a sense of justice in his heart. Second, that he serves some hidden master. Third, that he believes only the path of the purely loyal minister will secure a man's place in the world of officialdom. And fourth, that he has no ambition to climb any higher."
Bai Jinxiu set down her chopsticks and nodded. "If he had no desire to rise higher, how could he have become Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review in just a few short years?"
Bai Jingyan nodded. "Take the first possibility—if Yu Zhen is truly a man of strong conscience, then out of respect for the loyalty of the Bai men who died defending their country and their people, he would seek to protect the Bai family's son-in-law. In the second case, Yu Zhen holds another master in his heart—and if that is so, then he is a man of vast ambition, or he means to attach himself to whoever will become Emperor. If he is nothing but a petty schemer chasing desire and advantage, then knowing that our grandmother is the Grand Princess, he will surely try to make the Duke's estate owe him its gratitude. If not even that, then he is simply a man who despises King Xin's character—and such a man would certainly be one of uncommon backbone.
And if he is the sort who believes that survival in officialdom lies in devoted service, he will not wade into factional strife, nor take part in the scramble for the heir's position. King Xin has been reduced to commoner status, but the advisors still lingering at his residence have no wish to sink deep into the water along with him, do they? Those men are desperate, by any means, to use the military provisions incident as leverage to return King Xin to his former place. Now—if Yu Zhen is truly a man of devoted loyalty, would he willingly become a blade gripped in King Xin's hand?"
Bai Jinxiu listened intently as Bai Jingyan laid everything out piece by piece in such detail, and only then did her face clear with understanding, wonder welling up inside her despite herself.
"Eldest Sister, to read the hearts of men down to such fine detail..."
The white lanterns hanging along the corridor swayed violently in the wind. Inside the room, the charcoal fire blazed brightly in the bronze brazier engraved with flowers, and all else lay still as death.
Bai Jingyan took firm hold of Bai Jinxiu's hand and spoke in a low voice. "Dadu, decked out in all its splendor, is no different from the battlefields of the Southern Border. There, men fight with blades and spears they can see, with the strength of their own flesh. In a place where blades and arrows fly from every direction, the reckless fool who charges without fear dies. But the man with courage and cunning can win.
It is the same in Dadu. Here men snap and tear at one another, lay traps and fall into them, endlessly. Those who are dazzled by the glitter and drunk on dreams are bound to die. But if you never show your weakness, and read the hearts of men well, you can win. Jinxiu—you must remain in Dadu. You will fight a far harder battle than I or Jindong ever will."
Only after her grandfather and father, her uncles and brothers had all fallen in the Southern Border did Bai Jinxiu understand, for the first time, with perfect clarity: from now on, there would be no one left to shield them. That no one would remain to cherish and treasure them.
Had her brothers still lived, would Eldest Sister ever have needed to wrack her brains like this, reading the hearts of men?
Not a single word of Eldest Sister's counsel had been wrong, and yet Jinxiu knew full well where her own failing lay.
When Eldest Sister had rebuked Jinchi that day, she had said the Bai family stood at the edge of an abyss in the darkness. Even hearing those words, she had failed to feel, bone-deep, the truth of their situation.
So it had not been Eldest Sister calculating everything to the finest degree—it had been her own thinking that was too shallow.
It was no longer only Jinchi's willfulness she could not tolerate. She could no longer tolerate her own laziness either. All this time, whenever Jinxiu confronted a matter, she had refused to think it through deeply, brushing past it with a shrug—surely it would work out somehow.
Eldest Sister was still here in Dadu for now, but the day would come when she would be left to face it all alone.
Bai Jinxiu felt as though she were biting into a sour apricot. She rose, bowed to Bai Jingyan, and said, "Today I thought too shallowly. It will not happen again, so please don't worry over me."
"Good. Now—let's eat."
Bai Jingyan reached out her hand and guided Bai Jinxiu back to her seat.