Others aside, his son, grandson, and his younger brother had been too unrestrained over the years. If their crimes were punished according to family law with multiple offenses combined, they would probably be beaten to death!

Seeing the clan leader still hesitating, Bai Qingyan turned her head and added fuel to his fire: “Xiao Si, prepare the military rods and long whips!”

The clan leader’s heart tightened at Bai Qingyan’s words, and he closed his eyes to force himself to be ruthless.

“Such evildoers are unworthy of being Bai descendants. How about… after expelling them from the clan, we hand them over to Magistrate Zhou for disposal? What does Your Highness think?” the clan leader asked tentatively.

As long as family law wasn’t enforced, as long as people were still alive, at worst after Bai Qingyan left, he could find ways… spend some silver to protect his grandson and son, and if there was still a way, naturally he would also want to protect his younger brother’s family.

“Father!” Bai Qiyun knelt before the clan leader, “Father, I am your son, the future clan leader! Father, you cannot expel me from the clan!”

“Elder Brother! Are you mad!” Fifth Master was so shocked his eyes widened, “I’m your blood brother!”

“Clan Leader, you cannot! You cannot expel us from the clan!”

Half the clan members knelt on the ground crying and begging, but the clan leader remained unmoved: “When you were committing evil deeds, why didn’t you think of today?”

Bai Qingping stood there coldly watching the clan members now kneeling and begging for mercy, looking up at his father Bai Qihe who was barely perceptibly shaking his head.

Father had long warned about such an outcome for the clan, but every time Father spoke up, Grandfather would punish Father, so later Father stopped speaking and just hid in his square courtyard, devoted to studying rare copies of ancient bamboo slip books.

Separated by the six large doors of the Bai ancestral hall, inside were the endless cries of Bai clan members, while outside the Shouyang people were full of excitement.

The clan leader looked at his son’s shocked and pleading expression, hardened his heart, pushed away his son’s hands clutching at his robe hem, and spoke righteously: “I am the clan leader of the Bai clan. If I didn’t know about these things, that would be one matter! But knowing about them, I absolutely cannot allow you to continue using the Bai family’s prestige to harm the people! To tarnish the Bai family’s century-old reputation!”

Seeing that the clan leader would even abandon his son, the clan members’ hearts turned cold.

“Stop begging! The clan leader is now single-mindedly trying to please the Duchess of Zhenguo – why would he care about the lives of us clan members? He’s even expelling his son and blood brother from the clan, how could he care about us?!”

Among the clan members kneeling and crying, someone said this.

Those clan members about to be expelled had been suppressing grief and indignation in their hearts, and finally found an outlet. Fifth Master was even more vicious toward his elder brother – they were born of the same mother, yet he didn’t care about his life or death, and wanted to expel him from the clan too.

Fifth Master was helped to his feet by his son, glaring at the clan leader with bloodshot eyes, shouting: “Back then we… all learned from Qiyun’s example. You didn’t say we were wrong then, but instead indulged us. Now you want to expel us from the clan! You’re truly a good clan leader! A good brother!”

The clan leader glared at his ungrateful younger brother with gloomy eyes. The root cause of all these troubles was entirely because the Fifth Master had occupied the ancestral residence. Otherwise, would the clan have had so many problems?!

Moreover, given what he had done, if punished according to family law and clan rules, he probably wouldn’t even have his life left.

As clan leader, he couldn’t say this directly, but these fools didn’t think back carefully – if they were truly dealt with according to family law and clan rules, they wouldn’t have their lives! These ungrateful creatures still dared to resent him!

“Since the clan leader has made his decision, let’s handle it quickly!”

Bai Qiyun crawled forward on his knees to continue pleading, but heard Bai Qingyan say, “Have someone stop them. Those expelled by the clan leader… I’ll trouble Eunuch Quan Yu to send people to assist Magistrate Zhou in escorting them to prison to await Magistrate Zhou’s disposition.”

Quan Yu quickly agreed.

Magistrate Zhou also hurriedly said: “Your Highness, rest assured, this official will handle matters impartially.”

The clan leader took up his brush and, amid his son’s hysterical crying and shouting, crossed out these clan members’ names. For each one the clan leader crossed out, the Crown Prince’s guards and bailiffs took one away. Those not in the ancestral hall courtyard were arrested at their homes.

Soon, the large courtyard of the ancestral hall, originally packed with clan members, became much emptier.

Only four clan elders remained with their descendants, standing straight-backed, apparently having done nothing wrong and fearing no ghosts knocking at their door. They even felt somewhat satisfied and fortunate, glad they hadn’t indulged their descendants in bullying the people.

Bai Qingping’s gaze swept over the small portion of clan members remaining in the courtyard, looking at Bai Qingyan with eyes full of admiration.

Only such thunderous methods, removing the clan’s parasites while deterring other clan members, could make the clan thoroughly clean…

Actually, as the Duchess of Zhenguo, Bai Qingyan didn’t need to go to such trouble. Simply leaving the clan would be the cleanest and most efficient, time and effort-saving approach.

But Bai Qingyan hadn’t done so. From the bottom of his heart, Bai Qingping was grateful that Bai Qingyan hadn’t abandoned the clan.

The clan leader put down his brush with trembling hands, unable to suppress his anger, and asked Bai Qingyan: “Your Highness, are you satisfied now?”

Bai Qingyan didn’t answer the clan leader’s question, only turned her head to ask the Bai family guard beside her: “Has Old Gu arrived?”

Not only the clan leader, but even the remaining clan elders felt weak in the knees and panicked. Wasn’t it over yet? Was it going to continue?

“Reporting to Your Highness, Old Gu has been waiting outside for quite some time,” a Bai family guard stepped forward to report.

“Let Old Gu come in!” Bai Qingyan picked up her teacup and spoke calmly.

Soon, the elderly Old Gu entered, supporting himself with a walking stick in one hand and holding bamboo slip account books in the other, followed by the clan steward who managed the clan’s accounts. The steward followed behind Old Gu timidly, trembling all over.

When the clan leader saw clan steward Bai Yong appear here together with Old Gu, his spine immediately turned cold, and he vaguely sensed danger.

“First Miss, Fourth Miss…” After Old Gu paid his respects to Bai Qingyan and Bai Jinzhi, he said, “This old slave has already worked with steward Bai Yong, who manages the ancestral properties, and brought people to check all the silver our Great Capital Bai family sent back to the capital over the years, the rewards received, and the clan fields and shops purchased for the clan, going through all income and expenditure details.”

The clan leader, already exhausted from supporting himself all day, swayed unsteadily due to his inner panic and staggered back a step.

“Grandfather!” Bai Qingping reached out to support the clan leader, nearly falling to the ground with him.

The clan leader gripped his grandson’s hand tightly, knowing that Bai Qingyan was coming for him.

“The account books in this old slave’s hands record the silver that didn’t appear in the ancestral properties and vanished without a trace, along with the imperial gifts sent back from the capital. Even the clan fields and shops purchased for the clan don’t match the numbers originally reported to our Great Capital Bai family! Moreover, the income and expenditure from these charitable fields and shops are also wrong! Every year, the clan leader would cry poverty to Duke Zhenguo, saying how many clan families could no longer make ends meet. Duke Zhenguo, feeling sorry for the clan members’ suffering, would have this old slave allocate silver to the clan! This silver has never appeared in the clan’s account books either!”