Thinking that his son would become the Duke in the future, Bai Qiyun was overjoyed and couldn’t contain his surging excitement. His mind was filled with thoughts of his son becoming the Duke! The glory of the Duke’s title went without saying, and the Duke’s mansion had accumulated great wealth through years of warfare—all of it would belong to their family in the future. This was an incredibly fortunate turn of events.
Because of this, Bai Qiyun was so excited he couldn’t sleep for nights.
Who would have known that just after departing from Shouyang, he heard along the way that the Second Master of the Duke’s mansion had an illegitimate son outside. This illegitimate son had just been brought back to the Duke’s mansion when he was thoroughly beaten on the main street by the legitimate eldest daughter, Bai Qingyan, for treating common people as lowly. Everyone said the Duke’s title would fall to this child, and all sighed with regret.
Upon hearing this, Bai Qiyun became so angry that he fell ill on the road, holding great resentment in his heart. The servants from the Duke’s mansion who had returned to Shouyang to announce the deaths had never mentioned that the Second Master had an illegitimate son outside.
Originally, Bai Qiyun had prepared to turn around and return home, but was stopped by Steward Wu beside him. Steward Wu said that since they had already set out, they should at least go offer incense to the Duke—perhaps there might be some turn of events, but if they didn’t go, there would be no chance at all.
Bai Qiyun reluctantly agreed, and Steward Wu sent someone ahead to the Duke’s mansion to investigate the situation with that illegitimate son.
This afternoon, when Bai Qiyun and Steward Wu arrived at the Capital City, it was precisely when Grand Princess was leading her granddaughters to force Prince Xin’s death at Wude Gate.
Upon hearing this news, Bai Qiyun immediately shuddered, fearing that the Bai family had angered the emperor and brought down a catastrophic disaster that might implicate them. He immediately sent orders for his two illegitimate younger cousins to take their leave at once.
Just as the person he sent to deliver orders to his cousins had left, the person Steward Wu had sent to gather information in the capital returned, saying that the Second Master’s illegitimate son had already packed his belongings and was ready to flee at any moment.
Steward Wu’s mind turned, and he gave Bai Qiyun another idea.
Steward Wu said that the Bai family’s forcing the emperor’s legitimate son to death would certainly not end well in the future, but for now, with the Duke’s mansion having popular support, they should be temporarily safe. Now that this illegitimate son had detected danger early and fled, their Shouyang Bai family naturally couldn’t be foolish enough to adopt a son into the Duke’s mansion fire pit.
However, with this illegitimate son gone, the Duke’s mansion would have no male heirs. If the clan refused to adopt a son for the Duke’s mansion, the womenfolk would most likely have to return to the Shouyang ancestral home to depend on the clan.
Whether the Duke’s mansion would return to the ancestral home in the future or seek the clan to adopt a son, in any case, it would be the Duke’s mansion begging the clan. They could take this opportunity to use the excuse of purchasing property for the clan, rebuilding the ancestral hall, ancestral temple, graves, school, and hiring great scholars to teach as a pretext to demand a sum of money.
Dong Shi, the main wife of the Duke’s mansion, was a clever person. If she knew she would need to rely on the clan’s protection in the future, she would certainly not dare refuse to give.
Before Bai Qiyun came to the Duke’s mansion, Steward Wu had specifically instructed him to maintain a high posture when speaking, since the Duke’s mansion’s womenfolk might need to depend on the clan in the future. The clan must take advantage of the Duke’s mansion’s orphans and widows who were still in the capital to first establish dominance, so that later, when they returned to Shouyang, it would be easier for clan members to seek benefits from Dong Shi.
Bai Qiyun felt Steward Wu’s words made sense, and combined with his inner anger, his speech inevitably became overbearing.
Standing under the corridor, Bai Qingyan lowered her gaze and pondered for a moment, then gently turned her head to Chun Tao: “Go to the front and call Third Miss and Fourth Miss over! Don’t let Second Miss know…”
Chun Tao nodded and was about to leave when Bai Qingyan pulled her back, whispering in her ear: “Also, have your cousin ride quickly to the Xiao mansion to meet with Xiao Rongyan face to face. Tell Xiao Rongyan that I want to borrow his reputation as the foremost wealthy merchant to conduct a business deal. It will not harm him in the slightest, and if he can help, I, Bai Qingyan, would be eternally grateful.”
“Alright!” Chun Tao responded and hurriedly ran toward the front mourning hall.
The reason she had Chen Qingsheng seek out Xiao Rongyan was simply because Chen Qingsheng had originally delivered the message to Xiao Rongyan. Bai Qingyan hoped Xiao Rongyan might, for the sake of that message delivery, lend her his reputation to use.
Nanny Tong, being such a wise person, immediately understood when Bai Qingyan said not to call Second Miss that Bai Qingyan had some plan that might damage their reputation. She furrowed her brow with some worry: “Miss, whatever you need done, just leave it to this old servant! You, Third Miss, and Fourth Miss are still unmarried young ladies—some matters are better left untouched…”
“I’ve already done something like forcing Prince Xin’s death—what reputation am I still worried about?” She smiled at Nanny Tong and said quietly, “Nanny needn’t worry. I know my limits.”
Inside the main hall, Bai Qiyun slammed the table and stood up angrily: “Grand Princess is in the Duke’s mansion’s rear courtyard, and you… you won’t have servants lead me there. How can I possibly see Grand Princess?!”
Dong Shi set her tea cup down heavily on the table, her sharp eyes looking toward Bai Qiyun with a cold laugh: “So you still know this is the Duke’s mansion! You still know I am the Duke’s mansion’s main wife! Today, I’ll put my words here—if you, Shouyang Bai family members, are here to pay respects and offer condolences, my Duke’s mansion welcomes you. If you’re here to demand silver, then properly wait until my Bai family’s great affairs are concluded before discussing this matter! If you can’t wait, you can leave now and return to Shouyang, or stand before the Duke’s mansion gates and have the common people judge! Let all under heaven see what unrighteous and base thoughts the Shouyang clan harbors at the time of my Bai family’s great mourning.”
“You!” Bai Qiyun was so angry his face turned completely red as he stood and pointed at Dong Shi.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the hall became extremely tense.
Nanny Qin, standing beside Dong Shi, slightly raised her chin and spoke with a smiling, very kind manner: “This master, I advise you to withdraw your pointing finger. Our heir’s wife holds an imperial first-rank noble title. Your disrespect toward the madam could land you in prison! Moreover, our Duke’s mansion is a hereditary military family with hot-blooded servants. Seeing you point at our family’s main wife like this, if they act impulsively, I’m afraid you won’t be able to keep that finger.”
Intimidated by Nanny Qin’s words, Bai Qiyun’s originally rigid finger pointing at Dong Shi slightly bent, then he flicked his sleeve and put his hands behind his back. Looking down at Dong Shi from his high position with great arrogance: “Dong Shi, you’d better think clearly! Second Master’s illegitimate son has already packed his belongings and is preparing to flee! With no one to inherit the Duke’s title, won’t you womenfolk still have to return to the Shouyang ancestral home to seek clan protection! Your current evasiveness regarding clan matters is cutting off your escape route!”
Upon hearing Chun Tao’s message, Bai Jintong and Bai Jinzhi had quietly found excuses to slip away from the mourning hall. Before the two could speak with Bai Qingyan, they heard Bai Qiyun’s overbearing voice coming from inside.
Bai Jinzhi instantly flared with anger and lifted her foot to charge inside, but after taking two steps, she stopped, desperately restraining her fury and gritting her teeth as she turned around.
Seeing her eldest sister and third sister watching her, she realized she had nearly lost her composure and caused trouble again. Her ears reddened as she walked back and asked: “Eldest sister, what do you need Third Sister and me to do?!”