Ever since all the Bai family men perished in Nan Jiang, conspiracies and disasters had arisen one after another. The Bai family was as precarious as an egg hanging by a thread, uncertain from morning to evening, having long reached the critical moment of survival or extinction.
If not for her daughter’s painstaking efforts and careful management, whether the Bai family would even exist now was questionable. She didn’t expect the clan to share their fortunes and misfortunes, but she absolutely couldn’t let these greedy, insatiable creatures drag her daughter down and tarnish her daughter’s reputation.
The clan leader stood up in shock: “Qiyun’s wife! What do you mean by this?! Do you still want to return to Shouyang?! Do you still acknowledge the clan?!”
“Such a clan need not be acknowledged!” Bai Qingyan’s voice was measured as she stood up and smoothed the wrinkles in her dress, adopting a posture of departure.
“You stop right there!” The clan leader trembled with rage. “The clan only needs you to say one word to help, and you put on this attitude. Since you’ve already sworn never to remarry, after a hundred years, won’t you also refuse the clan’s incense offerings?”
“Incense offerings? When my grandfather and father dared not accept such incense, how would I dare?” Bai Qingyan turned around, her cold, serene eyes gazing deeply at the clan leader. “The clan leader must remember that I am not an ordinary young lady from a boudoir. I am a descendant of Duke Bai of the capital’s Bai family. Inheriting my grandfather’s will, when the Kingdom faces war and the people face hardship, I lead from the front, sacrificing myself to protect the people. In life, I am sustained by the people’s taxes; in death, I receive the people’s incense! What need is there for the clan?”
The clan elders looked at each other, gazing at Bai Qingyan’s proud bearing, their throats constricting. The County Princess had rank and salary, and Bai Qingyan was also a person capable of warfare. During the campaign to destroy Shu, she had gained tremendous acclaim among the people.
“Clan leader, we came to ask the County Princess for help. How can we make things so ugly?” One clan elder wanted to play peacemaker, hurriedly saying, “County Princess, the clan leader just has this temperament. The clan leader doesn’t mean it that way. The Bai clan has always been united. We thought… It’s just a matter of the County Princess greeting Magistrate Zhou. Other noble families would help their clans this way, too!”
“In Shouyang, I thought I had made things clear. Since all the esteemed clan elders are here today, let me say it once more.” Bai Qingyan’s voice was calm and steady. “I have already sworn to the people of Shouyang that no matter which person from the Shouyang Bai clan is discovered to have used the capital Bai family’s influence to bully the people, once verified, I will certainly ask the clan leader to expel them from the clan and compensate the bullied people. If the clan leader refuses to remove those unworthy of being Bai family descendants from the clan registry, our capital Bai family will remove itself from the clan entirely and henceforth have no connection with the Shouyang Bai clan!”
Bai Qingyan’s cold gaze swept over the clan elders, whose faces showed terror: “I have also already spoken with Magistrate Zhou—debts must be repaid, murders must be paid for with life! Judgments according to law, with no tolerance!”
“You… you…” The clan leader pointed at Bai Qingyan with a trembling finger.
The clan elders all had descendants imprisoned, and hearing these words, they flew into rage.
“County Princess, as a Bai family descendant, instead of helping the clan, you harm the clan like this! Do you have no conscience?!”
“Conscience?!” Dong Shi’s eyes were cold and stern. “You should first ask whether the clan has any conscience! The capital Bai family has been utterly benevolent and righteous to the clan, yet the clan remains greedy and insatiable, pushing for more! You used the capital Bai family’s influence to bully the people and tarnish my daughter’s reputation, and now, when you want my daughter’s help, you still speak maliciously! I have never in my life seen such shameless, despicable, and filthy people! Having such a clan… is simply the shame of our capital Bai family!”
As soon as Dong Shi finished speaking, Lu Ping arrived with the imposing guard soldiers.
Lu Ping stood at the door, his face stern as he cupped his fists: “Madam! County Princess!”
“Mother, don’t be angry.” Bai Qingyan took Dong Shi’s arm and spoke to the clan elders: “I have laid out my words here. On the first day of the fifth month, when the capital Bai family returns to Shouyang, if the clan leader has not expelled those who committed crimes and violated laws from the clan, I will confess my sins to our ancestors and announce to heaven and earth… that the capital Bai family henceforth has no connection with the Shouyang clan!”
Bai Qingyan’s gaze was calm and unruffled: “At that time… if common people want to seek revenge, the clan must never humiliate themselves again by coming before my Bai family to beg.”
After speaking, Bai Qingyan supported Dong Shi as they walked out, her voice extremely low with a faint smile: “Mother, getting angry at yourself isn’t worth it.”
“Too shameless! Simply outrageous!” Dong Shi’s chest heaved violently. Even as she stepped over the threshold, she didn’t forget to curse: “Without a sense of shame, they are not human! Lu Ping, throw them out! No need to preserve their dignity.”
Daring to smear Bai Qingyan’s reputation and falsely claiming Bai Qingyan had private relations with the Crown Prince to justify their wrongdoing, this more than touched Dong Shi’s deepest nerve.
Thinking further about what the clan had done over the years, Dong Shi, not having Lu Ping hack these shameless old fools to pieces already, showed her excellent restraint.
“Outrageous! Outrageous! This Dong Shi goes too far! Goes too far!” The clan leader’s walking stick struck the stone floor repeatedly, his face flushed red with anger.
Lu Ping gripped the saber at his waist and led a team of guard soldiers into the main hall, his face stern as he spoke: “Carry them out!”
“Yes!” The guard soldiers shouted in unison, filing into the room in formation.
Several clan elders were startled, their eyes widening as they huddled together, roaring: “What do you want to do?!”
Amid the shocked cries of the clan leader and several elders, the Bai family guards actually lifted the elders into the air and carried them toward the main gate of Duke’s mansion in several strides.
“What are you doing! I am the Bai clan’s leader!”
“Bai Qingyan, you leave yourself no retreat at all. Aren’t you afraid that someday you’ll have to come begging to us?!”
“Dong Shi! You dare treat clan elders this way. Aren’t you afraid of being spurned by the world?!”
“By giving the clan no face like this, everyone in the capital and the entire realm will know you’re petty people who betray your clan! How will you face people in the future?!”
Bai Qingyan was accompanying the trembling-with-rage Dong Shi as they walked back along the covered corridor. Hearing the curses from the clan members, her steps paused momentarily. She turned her head and called: “Nanny Tong.”
Nanny Tong immediately stepped forward in response.
“Please trouble Nanny Tong to tell Steward Liu to quickly send people to spread word throughout the capital about what the Bai clan did in Shouyang, including how the Shouyang Bai clan tarnished the reputations of me and His Highness the Crown Prince to justify their wrongdoing.”
“Also, tell Steward Hao to find a way to make the Shouyang clan elders create a disturbance outside the gate—the bigger the better! Say that I, Bai Qingyan, declared that I would rather confess my sins to our ancestors and lead the Bai family women to leave the clan than use my dignity as County Princess to pressure Shouyang’s local officials into releasing Bai clan descendants who brought disaster to the people!”
“Even if the Son of Heaven breaks the law, he is guilty like any commoner. By what exception should the Shouyang Bai clan be treated? Debts must be repaid, murders paid for with life! Judgment according to law—if local officials show tolerance, I, Bai Qingyan, will certainly petition the throne and ensure justice for the people!”