“First Miss…” Nanny Qin came forward to greet her. Seeing her red-rimmed eyes, she instructed to take good care of mother. Nanny Qin’s tears immediately welled up, “First Miss, rest assured. The Crown Prince’s wife is strong. This morning she even told this old servant that she is the mistress of the Duke’s mansion and First Miss’s mother – she must hold on… If she can’t even support the Bai family, how can she protect her daughter?”

Hearing these words, Bai Qingyan’s palms clenched tightly, her heart filled with bitter sweetness.

She thought of her father.

She remembered that bloody battle when they once swept through the Kingdom of Shu. She had pursued, intercepted, and besieged for three days before beheading the great general Pang Guoping of Shu, delivering a decisive blow that shattered Shu’s fighting spirit.

After their victory, she was overjoyed, but her father said she had acted without military orders by chasing after Pang Guoping on her own, and ordered her to receive fifty lashes!

She was indignant, craning her neck to argue with her father, asking: “I took the head of Shu’s great general and achieved merit. Why does my father punish me?”

Her father’s eyes turned red with anger. He threw down the horsewhip in his hand, kicked away the silver spear from her grasp, and roared at her with fury: “Because I am your father! No matter how peerless others think your wisdom and how brave you are in battle, to me, you are only the daughter I would never abandon, even at the cost of my life!”

A parent’s love for their child is… no matter when, they always want to courageously protect their child with their life.

But later, she no longer had a father! Nor any brothers…

Her father died in City Feng.

Her brother died in Nan Jiang.

She nodded, saying hoarsely to Nanny Qin: “Don’t tell mother that I came.”

Nanny Qin adjusted Bai Qingyan’s cloak for her, nodding with choked emotions: “First Miss should rest well these few days. When the Duke and Crown Prince return… they return, First Miss will still have much to be busy with.”

She nodded, supporting herself on Chun Tao’s hand, slowly walking out of the courtyard against the bone-piercing cold wind.

Looking at the white lanterns hanging high under the corridor eaves, swaying wildly in the wind, she gripped Chun Tao’s hand tightly.

When winds rise and clouds surge, the capital city would inevitably face upheaval.

Year sixteen of Xuanjia, the fifth day of the first month, heavy snow.

At the first quarter of the yin hour, the guard captain of the southern gate of the capital city came out of the barracks carrying a lantern, ordering someone to open the city gate.

The guard captain turned around. Through the vast snowfall, he saw someone approaching from the bright lights at the end of the long street. As they drew closer, the guard captain realized there was more than just two or three people. He immediately became alert and placed his hand on the sword at his waist.

The steward of Duke Zhenguo’s mansion ran ahead, respectfully bowing to the guard captain and explaining their purpose: “Today, Prince Xin returns escorting the coffin. Our mistress brings the women of the family to welcome them at the city gate.”

Seeing that the visitors were indeed wearing mourning clothes and mourning cloth, the guard captain nodded and stepped aside.

Being a fellow soldier, though he had not been able to go to the battlefield, he also had a heart for serving his Kingdom and people.

That day, when greedy and unscrupulous people took others’ silver to cause trouble at the Duke’s mansion, the eldest miss of the Bai family’s words had stirred the boiling blood of men’s hearts, bringing tears to their eyes and making them wish they could die in battle alongside the Duke for their Kingdom.

Now that the Duke and the men of the Bai mansion had died wrapped in horse leather, it was only proper for the Bai family widows to come out of the city to welcome them.

Duke Zhenguo’s Crown Prince’s wife Dong Shi, accompanied by Second Madam Liu Shi, Third Madam Li Shi, Fourth Madam Wang Shi, and Fifth Madam Qi Shi who was carrying a child, along with First Miss Bai Qingyan, Second Miss Bai Jinxiu, Third Miss Bai Jintong, and Fourth Miss Bai Jinzhi who had just endured family punishment and was forcing herself to stand, together with the Bai family’s Second Miss Qin Lang, followed by Bai family guards and servants, stood outside the southern gate of the capital city, quietly awaiting the return of the Bai family heroes.

Among the crowd came the faint sobbing sounds of servants, making the masters appear even more resolute.

In the vast snowfall that obscured vision, all Bai Qingyan could see beyond the goose-feather snow was pitch darkness.

With all the Bai family men dead, those within this splendid capital who feared the Bai family and resented them were probably too excited to sleep!

But the road ahead was long – who knew what the future would bring?

A cold light flashed in Bai Qingyan’s eyes.

Like a venomous snake lying dormant, hibernating in winter to hunt in spring.

No rush, no rush…

Dong Shi, with red-rimmed eyes, lowered her gaze and reached over to adjust Bai Qingyan’s cloak, her trembling fingers barely controlled: “I told you children to stay in the mansion to accompany your grandmother and take care of your sister, but you wouldn’t listen…”

She gently grasped her mother’s ice-cold hand, her eyes inevitably reddening as she gripped tightly: “We younger generation can already share mother’s and the aunts’ burdens. We are no longer children.”

In her previous life, when she fell ill, she had left her mother to struggle alone to maintain the Bai mansion’s reputation. In this life, she would not let her mother face it alone and helpless.

Second Madam Liu Shi held her daughter Bai Jinxiu in her arms, tears immediately streaming down. If not for her daughter, she would have wished to dash her head against something and die to follow her husband and son. But having already lost her grandfather, father, and brothers, how could she bear to let her daughter lose her mother as well?

In the capital city, someone’s house lit up first. Hearing from the back window that the widows of the Duke’s mansion had gone to the southern gate early in the morning to welcome the coffins, they hurriedly got up, dressed, and went out with lanterns. By coincidence, they met neighbors who were also carrying lanterns and trudging through the snow.

“Did you hear that too? The Bai family widows have all gone to the southern gate!”

“Yes! The Duke’s mansion has been a home of heroes for generations, and they return today. We who have been protected by the Duke’s mansion for generations should also go to welcome them!”

Just as the two finished speaking, they heard the creak of a wooden door next door. A man coming out with his elderly father also asked upon seeing the neighbors: “Are you also going to the southern gate?”

The guard captain of the southern gate stood atop the city wall, seeing lanterns emerging from somewhere within the capital city. The warm, gentle light was enclosed within the lanterns, densely packed and coming from all directions. Looking closer, it was groups of common people holding umbrellas and carrying lanterns. The scene was even more magnificent than that of New Year’s Eve.

In the depths of winter with heavy snow, before dawn had even broken.

The southern gate guard captain, seeing this scene, felt his emotions surge. He shouted loudly: “Raise the wicks of the great city gate lanterns higher! Light the way for the loyal souls of our Great Jin!”

Hearing this cry, the Bai family women could not help but redden their eyes, straightening their backs to wait for the returning ones in this wind and snow.

The court ministers sought profit and avoided harm. After news from Nan Jiang had returned, the emperor’s attitude was subtle, seemingly not intending to pardon the Bai family. Having received this news, they dared not rashly come to the southern gate as they had on New Year’s Eve.

This time, among the nobility and court officials, very few came. Dong Qingping and Dong Qingyue, learning that Dong Shi had taken the Bai family widows to the southern gate, got up, wiped their faces with handkerchiefs, and rode over.

Dong Shi’s eyes were filled with tears, deeply moved, yet she could not help but advise: “Brother, Qingyue, you shouldn’t have come!”

Dong Qingping patted Dong Shi’s shoulder, smiling: “It’s fine.”

Beyond Bai Qingyan’s expectations, Xiao Rongyan had come to the southern gate with Lu Yuanpeng and other dissolute young men.

Lu Yuanpeng respectfully bowed to the various madams of the Bai family. Xiao Rongyan also nodded slightly, raising his head to look at Bai Qingyan, who was lowering her brows in return courtesy.

Bai Qingyan wore mourning clothes and mourning cloth, her exceptional beauty wrapped in austere purity.