In the pavilion.
She turned around and lowered her voice to instruct Lu Ping: “The day after tomorrow, my mother will send people to transport the first batch of rarely used items… things that have been stored in our warehouses back to Shouyang. This time, you’ll personally escort them back. Quietly tell Ji Tingyu to have him transport the tea goods from the last raid… toward Songkong Mountain. Someone will be there to receive them – don’t ask too many questions, just deliver them.”
Lu Ping nodded: “Yes!”
She lowered her eyes, thought for a moment, then continued: “Also, ask Ji Tingyu what else he needs. When we send the second batch back to Shouyang on the twenty-sixth of this month, the mansion will prepare it for him so he can intercept it.”
“Eldest Miss, rest assured. Lu Ping will certainly handle it properly,” Lu Ping said solemnly.
Looking at Lu Ping, who already had dark circles under his eyes, she said: “After returning to Shouyang, Uncle Ping will probably be even busier, so I’m thinking Uncle Ping should start… selecting and training some among the loyal and brave who can be entrusted with important tasks, to avoid Uncle Ping being unable to manage everything when situations arise in the future.”
Now, sufficiently loyal and capable people were being gradually assigned elsewhere. If they didn’t start training usable people soon, not to mention that Bai Qingyan wouldn’t have enough people here, what if one day Ah Jue in the distant southern frontier needed people willing to die loyally? What if Third Sister Jintong, who was accumulating wealth for the Bai family, didn’t have enough manpower? Or what if… Second Sister Jinxiu in the capital needed reliable people who wouldn’t be detected by the court and others.
They needed to start making long-term plans for personnel deployment.
Bai Qingyan had originally intended to have Lu Ping send people to various places to recruit talented individuals from across the realm for future use.
However, recruiting talent from across the realm wasn’t something that could be accomplished overnight, and it required substantial financial support. Bai Qingyan had carefully calculated the Bai family’s resources – aside from what Bai Jintong had taken, there wasn’t much room for maneuvering. Although Bai Qingjue had several Bai family army generals helping him request resources from the court, they still needed their reserves.
Bai Qingyan inevitably thought of the Shouyang Bai clan.
Looking at it this way, Bai Qingyan couldn’t take the capital Bai family out of the clan, but should instead drive out the parasites, so that… the clan could be used by her.
After all, the capital Bai family, the legitimate direct line of the Bai clan, had been sending half their annual income back to the clan to support it. It was time for the clan to do something for the Bai family.
Recruiting talent could wait. Training their troops – this would be a good deed to restore the Shouyang Bai clan’s tarnished reputation among the people. It absolutely shouldn’t be something the capital Bai family shouldered alone; the clan needed to contribute properly.
Having made up her mind, she needed to start making arrangements.
She recalled what Xiao Rongyan had said today about Great Liang and Jin soon going to war. It seemed she needed to have Ji Tingyu cause a major disturbance before they returned to Shouyang. Presumably, the court would be unable to send people to suppress it.
Now that the Bai family was temporarily stable, whether Bai Jinxiu, Bai Jintong, or Bai Qingjue had clear paths forward.
Although Bai Qiyun’s future remained uncertain, since he had the intention to go to Panluo Mountain’s Sihai Pavilion to find Gu Yijian, his spirit and pride remained unbroken. Bai Qingyan believed her ninth brother was still that indomitable son of the Bai family.
On April 15th, Dong Changsheng got married.
Although the imperial examination fraud case had occurred this year and no honor roll was posted, preventing Dong Changsheng from achieving both academic and matrimonial success simultaneously, there would still be another chance to take the exam next February. Having real talent and learning, he wasn’t afraid of retaking it, his face full of the joy that comes with happy events, lifting one’s spirits.
Dong Shi and Bai Qingyan wore mourning clothes. Although they had passed the hundred days, the three-year mourning wasn’t complete yet.
Even though Bai Qingyan’s great-uncle Dong Qingping didn’t mind, going would likely make great-aunt Song Shi uncomfortable, so they sent gifts but didn’t attend in person.
However, Dong Shi was still an aunt, and even if she didn’t go in person, she still worried about Dong Changsheng’s wedding. She sent Nanny Qin to observe the ceremony, waiting for her to return and tell her about Dong Changyuan’s new bride.
Bai Jinxiu was now a member of the Qin family and, having to observe mourning for Qin Dezhao, couldn’t attend the wedding banquet either, but she also sent generous gifts.
No one in the Bai family descendants would forget the Dong family’s noble assistance when the Bai family suddenly faced great mourning.
Near the Wei hour, a fast horse galloped straight to the Pacifying Princess’s mansion gate. A heroic, upright woman in black clothing leaped down from a brown-red steed and rushed directly into the mansion.
Under the blazing sun, Bai Qingyan, with sandbags wrapped around her body, had closed the main gate of Qinghui Courtyard and was practicing with her red-tasseled silver spear in the courtyard.
Her long hair, bound high, was somewhat disheveled, strands stuck to her flushed, burning cheeks and neck with sweat, her entire body nearly soaked through.
Her taut arms trembled uncontrollably, heavy as if filled with lead. It was almost purely through willpower exceeding her limits that she made the silver spear in her hands dance with fierce, cutting wind, her movements bold and resilient, the silver spear’s cold light creating layers of shadows.
Chun Tao, standing to the side holding tea, although she saw Bai Qingyan in this completely soaked state daily, still couldn’t get used to it, feeling her heart clench with worry.
“Knock knock knock—”
Hearing someone knocking on Qinghui Courtyard’s gate, the gatekeeper hurriedly took small steps along the corridor to the gate, asking in a low voice: “Who is it?”
“It’s me! Please inform the eldest miss – Shen Qingzhu… has returned!”
Shen Qingzhu’s steady, crisp voice came through. Chun Tao’s eyes widened as she looked toward Bai Qingyan: “Eldest Miss! Miss Shen has returned!”
Her heart tightened. She halted her thrusting momentum, holding the silver spear, turning to stand upright. The cold, imposing spear tip didn’t stop in time and carved an extremely deep mark across the bluestone floor.
Qinghui Courtyard’s main gate slowly opened.
Shen Qingzhu looked up and immediately saw the tall, slender figure standing in the courtyard.
Bai Qingyan held the long spear, her plain white thin garments soaked with sweat, clinging tightly to outline her lean, upright form. Sweat trickled down her jaw and neck, disappearing into her plain collar.
Under the brilliant sunlight, the perspiring Bai Qingyan seemed to radiate light throughout her entire being.
With her rapid breathing, the hair strands stuck by sweat to her pale neck were all tinged with fine, scattered golden light. Her fierce, pressing aura of killing intent made people dare not look directly at her.
Shen Qingzhu inexplicably felt her eyes grow moist.
How long had it been since she’d seen Bai Qingyan holding a spear and bow? She couldn’t remember anymore.
Shen Qingzhu had thought that because of her mistake, Little General Bai, who had once been invincible and unmatched on the battlefield, would never return.
To see Bai Qingyan take up the Shooting Sun Bow again in this lifetime, to see her pick up the red-tasseled spear again – how could Shen Qingzhu not have tears in her eyes, how could her blood not surge with excitement?
She couldn’t forget the time at Qiushan Pass when rescuing people, Bai Qingyan alone on horseback, her person wrapped in frost and killing intent, her horse’s neighing splitting the nine heavens.
She seemed to see the highly esteemed Little General Bai of the Bai family army return with the momentum of flying horses treading blood and thunderous force, wielding the majesty of autumn frost and summer thunder, possessing the power to move mountains and cross seas, able to lead them to easily defeat enemies and achieve victory.
Others might not know what the three words “Little General Bai” meant to the Bai family army, but Shen Qingzhu, who had fought alongside Bai Qingyan through blood and battle in the Bai family army, knew!
After the deaths of Pacifying Prince Bai Weiting and the various Bai family generals, Little General Bai became like the Bai family army’s black banner with white python flag – she could boost the Bai family army’s morale and strengthen their prestige.