“Nanny Jiang, escort Mother back to Changshou Courtyard! The head servants from each courtyard help your mistresses stand up properly. No matter what happens, the Duke’s mansion must never break its spine. Even if the sky falls, we’ll stand and catch it! Second Madam, Third Madam, Fourth Madam, follow me to Mother’s Changshou Courtyard to discuss the funeral arrangements for our Bai family men! Bai Qingyan and Bai Jintong, go take care of your Fifth Aunt and have someone take my name card to summon Imperial Physician Huang, Imperial Physician Zhong, and Imperial Physician Liu! Bai Jinxiu, Bai Jinzhi, and Qin Lang, take good care of your younger sisters. Lu Ping immediately sent riders to gallop back to our ancestral home in Shouyang to report the Bai family’s tragic news. Butler Hao, you handle restraining the household servants and preparing funeral arrangements. The mansion guards shall follow Butler Hao’s orders. With the Bai family facing such great matters, no one is permitted to cause trouble. Anyone who does – whether concubine, servant woman, attendant, or page – Butler Hao may beat to death directly without needing to report!”

Dong Shi’s voice was both steady and quick, perfectly organized.

The Bai mansion guards, servants, maids, and attendants all responded in unison and quickly sprang into action.

After Dong Shi had arranged all the mansion’s affairs, she turned to look at the noble families still standing at the Duke’s mansion entrance, bowing respectfully: “Everyone, we apologize. Thank you all for standing with our Bai family women in this wind and snow for so long, but with the Bai family facing such grave matters, we truly cannot spare the attention to invite you in for hot tea! Please forgive us!”

The Bai family had suddenly encountered great disaster, yet the household matriarch, Dong Shi, straightened her spine and arranged the mansion’s various affairs with clear logic, earning everyone’s admiration.

Most present were juniors who understood that at this time, the Bai family was like heaven collapsing and earth splitting – how could they have the mood to invite them in for tea? They hurriedly bowed in return.

“We hope the heir’s wife will take care of herself in grief!”

“Heir’s wife, please take care of yourself in grief!”

When Dong Shi raised her eyes again, tears were streaming down her face.

“Sister! My brother and I will stay to help!” Dong Qingping said to Dong Shi with reddened eyes. “What do you need us to do?”

Dong Shi forced herself to keep her spine straight, her voice full of soft, powerless, choked sobs: “Today is already New Year’s Eve. All the Bai family men have died and will return home… I don’t even know where to find so many coffins.”

Hearing this, Bai Qingyan’s heart was already cut like by knife.

Looking at the noble family children and common people still guarding at the Bai family entrance without leaving, she knelt and performed a great ceremony of kowtowing, enduring the severe pain in her heart as she choked out: “My grandfather, the Duke’s coffin and burial materials were prepared long ago! But we never expected that all the Bai family men would sacrifice themselves for the Kingdom! In five days, Prince Xin will escort our Bai family men’s remains back to the city. Now it’s the New Year season, and we don’t have time to prepare coffins for my father, uncles, and brothers. If any of you have appropriately sized coffins at home, Bai Qingyan boldly requests to borrow them! Let our Bai family men be buried with dignity.”

After speaking, she kowtowed respectfully again. Bai Jinxiu, Bai Jintong, and Bai Jinzhi also followed Bai Qingyan in kneeling and bowing.

The Bai family was a household of loyal martyrs who had spilled their blood on the battlefield for the Kingdom. How could Great Jin’s people let heroes end up buried without coffins?!

That night, on New Year’s Eve, the entire capital was filled with crying for the departed heroes, for the Bai family’s loyalty and courage, and for the loss of the pillar protecting Great Jin’s territory.

Meanwhile, Bai Qingxuan, who was confined in Qingming Courtyard, started up in shock upon hearing the news. Not even caring about his injuries, he grabbed his mother’s wrist and demanded: “What?! They’re all dead?! Grandfather, father… all dead?!”

“Yes! What are we going to do now?” the woman said in panic. “Hundreds of thousands of troops all died in Nan Jiang. The emperor will surely blame us! We should never have come back! What if we’re implicated and the entire family is executed? No… I must think of a solution. We need to escape!”

After Bai Qingxuan’s initial shock, a strange gleam suddenly burst forth in his eyes. He gripped the woman’s wrist tightly, his voice strangely soft: “Mother! You said… all the Bai family men are dead! Wouldn’t the Duke’s title fall to me?!”

The woman’s eyelids twitched, her throat constricted, and her wild joy was forcefully suppressed by fear: “But I heard… it was because the Duke was stubborn in military command that the entire army was wiped out. What if the emperor blames us? That would be a tremendous crime. What if it implicates the entire family? Is life more important, or is this title more important? We should escape first!”

“But what if the emperor doesn’t blame us?!” Bai Qingxuan’s lips curved into a smile. “Mother! Fortune favors the bold! Think about it… If the emperor doesn’t blame us, this vast Duke’s mansion would belong to us, mother and son!”

The woman was moved by Bai Qingxuan’s words. Reluctant to give up the tremendous wealth of the Duke’s mansion yet afraid of death, she hesitated indecisively.

The first day of the new year.

The Duke’s mansion, which had been shrouded in gloom and depression for two days, became busy with the household matriarch Dong Shi’s recovery of spirit. Servants preparing funeral arrangements hurried in and out through the side gates.

Before dawn, Butler Hao, who had been busy all night, came to the Grand Princess’s main room. Except for the Grand Princess who couldn’t hold on and was persuaded to rest, the Duke mansion’s heir’s wife Dong Shi, Second Madam Liu, Third Madam Li, and Fourth Madam Wang were all there.

The Bai family had seventeen young men, plus the Duke and his five sons – twenty-three coffins that the Bai family’s main hall simply couldn’t accommodate.

“Set up a canopy…” Dong Shi forced herself to maintain her spirit, calmly telling the bewildered Butler Hao, “Place them in the courtyard… keep the mansion gates wide open! Let the common people of the capital and the high court officials all see what tragic lengths the Bai family has gone to for Great Jin.”

“Reporting to the heir’s wife, Second Madam, Third Madam, Fourth Madam – the gatekeepers report that many people outside the mansion gates have brought coffins!”

Dong Shi’s throat constricted. She stood up and said, “I’ll go take a look. You three sisters-in-law have been tired all night – go back and rest! Gather your strength for the fifth day… to welcome our husbands and sons home.”

Fourth Madam began crying again, so distressed she couldn’t catch her breath and kept shaking her head.

Bai Qingyan, who had heard the news, arrived at the entrance almost simultaneously with Dong Shi.

At this time, the Bai mansion’s red lanterns had already been replaced with white ones, and the red silk in the courtyards had all been changed to black and white cloth, creating a somber atmosphere.

Outside the wide-open mansion gates, common people stood in the snow, leading ox-carts and horse-drawn carriages, bringing their families’ finest coffins in a dense crowd blocking the entrance. Noble families had also sent people to deliver coffins.

An elderly man of sixty, leading an ox-cart, cupped his hands toward Dong Shi and Bai Qingyan: “Heir’s wife, eldest miss… this old man has good coffin wood! I don’t know if it meets regulations, but could it be used for the mansion’s heir… the generals or the young masters?”

“Mine is the finest coffin wood! The very best! Heir’s wife… eldest miss! Use my coffin!”

“Mine is good! Mine is good! This is genuine pine coffin wood! Very sturdy!”

“Heir’s wife, my family runs a coffin shop! These several coffins I’ve brought were ordered by wealthy families before the New Year, but I’ve brought them all! They’re all made of camphor wood! Though not the finest camphor wood, they’re worthy of the Bai mansion’s young masters…”

Dong Shi and Bai Qingyan stood tearfully at the entrance, bowing to the common people competing to donate coffins.