Hearing these words, Bai Jinse held the heavy redwood box in her hands and walked to kneel before Tuoba Yao. She lowered her eyes and opened the redwood box again, pointing with her fingers at the various medicines while instructing Tuoba Yao: “These are all medicines prepared by Physician Hong. These are antidotes, and these are for external application to injuries! You’re far away in Dongyi, and you’re all alone. You’ll inevitably encounter dangers. Having these medicines might come in handy and save you in times of crisis, but… I also hope you’ll never need to use these medicines! Just… in case!”
“I…” Tuoba Yao looked at the redwood box Bai Jinse had opened, picked up the bottle of antidote that Bai Jinse had mentioned, and didn’t dare to look up at Bai Jinse. He only said: “I will protect myself well. After three years… I must return alive to stay by your side. I will keep my oath.”
Bai Jinse looked at how tightly Tuoba Yao gripped the medicine bottle and reached out to pat his head: “You and I have gone through life and death together. I’ve long considered you my own younger brother. It should be the elder sister protecting the younger brother!”
Hearing Bai Jinse’s words, Tuoba Yao was startled. He looked up at Bai Jinse and saw her reddened eyes filled with gentle, sweet smiles. He hastily lowered his gaze again, gripping the porcelain bottle even tighter: “Seventh Miss has saved my life. I…”
He didn’t just want to be Bai Jinse’s younger brother. It was true that he was young… but those of royal blood were all precocious. Although he had never experienced it himself, he had observed. His father had once told him about his father and mother’s story. His father said that marital love was different from the natural blood kinship between relatives – two people with no blood relation who were willing to protect each other for life, that was marital love.
Tuoba Yao truly wanted to… protect Bai Jinse.
“Yu Sheng… Yu Sheng, what’s wrong with you?” Bai Jinse saw that Tuoba Yao’s knuckles had turned white from gripping the medicine bottle and asked nervously in a low voice: “Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
Bai Qingyan noticed that Tuoba Yao seemed to have unusual feelings for their Little Seven. Seeing that Bai Jinse was about to reach out to touch Tuoba Yao’s head, she spoke up: “Little Seven, it’s about time. We should go. Tuoba Yao has Xingchen looking after him here, so nothing will happen. Don’t worry.”
“I’m fine… don’t worry!” Tuoba Yao looked up at Bai Jinse: “Go back with His Majesty!”
“But you…”
“I’m fine!” Tuoba Yao smiled at Bai Jinse: “Go back!”
“Let’s go, Little Seven.” Bai Qingyan glanced at Tuoba Yao, stood up, and walked toward the hall entrance with her hands behind her back.
Bai Jinse looked back at her elder sister, who had already stood up, then turned back to see Tuoba Yao’s poor complexion. Thinking he felt guilty about not having been honest with his true identity before, she said: “No matter who you used to be, since you’ve always wanted to hide it, it means you also want a new beginning. Yu Sheng… to me, you are Bai Yu Sheng. Three years isn’t long. You can go do everything that Tuoba Yao wants to do. I’ll wait for Bai Yu Sheng to return!”
Tuoba Yao looked up at Bai Jinse, the corners of his mouth curving up as he nodded: “I understand. Don’t worry…”
Seeing from the corner of her eye that her elder sister had stopped to wait for her, Bai Jinse quickly stood up and hurried to Bai Qingyan’s side, leaving together with her.
After Tuoba Yao stood up and bowed deeply to see off Bai Qingyan and Bai Jinse, he wanted to pack up the medicine box but noticed there was a bag of snacks in the medicine box. He took it out and opened it – inside were the plum strips that Tuoba Yao loved most.
Tuoba Yao remembered that the first time he ate these plum strips was when Bai Jinse gave them to him. It was the first time he had tasted something so delicious. Previously, his grandmother had controlled him strictly and never allowed him to eat such snacks, saying that snacks were for children, and he was no longer a child.
The corners of his mouth revealed a smile. He took out a strip from the small bag containing the plum strips and tasted it. The smile in his eyes deepened, feeling that the plum strips in his hand had the most delicious taste he had ever experienced.
On the twenty-seventh day of the tenth month in the second year of Yuanhe, the Emperor of Great Zhou and the Regent of Yan simultaneously departed from Dongyi to return to their respective countries.
Bai Jinzhi, Bai Jinse, Bai Qingjue, and Bai Qingyan stood at the bow of the ship, looking cheerfully at the boundless sea, eager to return home.
“This battle was won far too easily. I want to fight Yan again!” Bai Jinzhi’s palms itched. She turned to look at Yan’s large ship carrying the five thousand soldiers they were forced to take back, which was growing more distant from them, and said: “Fighting with Yan’s soldiers – that would truly be called warfare!”
If not considering personal relationships and speaking only of state affairs, in Bai Jinzhi’s view, since Yan dared to secretly deploy troops as a backup plan against Great Zhou’s vassal state, Great Zhou should have directly destroyed those five thousand troops. Not only would this have damaged Yan’s already limited military strength, but it could have further intimidated Yan’s emperor, Murong Li.
Although from the bottom of her heart, Bai Jinzhi still quite liked this Murong Li, even though when their Yan fought against Nanyan and Great Wei, their methods were brutal and treacherous, Bai Jinzhi still sincerely admired this Great Yan that had previously been Jin’s vassal state. She felt that her brother-in-law and Murong Li were quite formidable. After all, the winners and losers – their Nanyan and Great Wei’s court ministers were inferior in strategy, and being destroyed was only natural.
But whether it was their family’s eldest brother-in-law or the Murong Li she had once admired – that legitimate son who dared to come to the capital as a hostage in place of his half-brother – when they used the same methods they had once used against enemy countries on Great Zhou, Bai Jinzhi was still very angry and indignant. Their Great Zhou… her elder sister would never use underhanded methods against Yan first. Every time, it was Yan who made the first move, then their elder sister would respond and guide the situation accordingly.
So Bai Jinzhi understood why Bai Yu Sheng hated Yan so much. If she were in his position, she would probably have already taken a blade and killed her way into Yan’s capital to take the lives of this Regent of Yan and the young emperor.
But my elder sister had also said that one cannot expect… that just because you treat others a certain way, others must treat you the same way. The fact that we don’t use underhanded conspiracies against others is our own choice of character and conduct, but we cannot force others to do the same.
It was the same between countries. Now Great Zhou and Yan were inherently adversaries. If Yan couldn’t compete with Great Zhou using open strategies like Great Zhou did, they would simply respond accordingly. But Bai Jinzhi felt that Yan’s behavior made them inferior, so in this matter of the national wager, Great Zhou would inevitably be the final victor – otherwise, where would heavenly justice be?
The national wager between Great Zhou and Yan had progressed to this point, and even someone impulsive and unwilling to think like Bai Jinzhi could see that Yan was already at the end of their rope, and Great Zhou’s victory was unstoppable, just like this moment of riding the wind and breaking through the waves – the time was right!
Regarding the national wager, there were too many people in this world saying that the Great Zhou clearly had all the advantages of favorable timing, geographical position, and popular support, yet still wanted to wager with Yan, calling it naive or foolish! Let them say what they will! Their Great Zhou would advance with the most steady steps, exploring and moving forward through hardships and tribulations, never stopping, striving to achieve the Bai family’s generations-long goal of unifying the realm with the smallest possible cost, so they could implement the most beneficial national policies for the people without any obstacles.