Dong Shi saw that her daughter, already weak and thin, had become even more emaciated, her chin sharper and facial features more pronounced. Looking at that originally fair little face, now completely devoid of color and as white as silk cloth, Dong Shi’s tears began falling drop by drop.

“Don’t move! The sedan chair hasn’t arrived yet, just lie down first. Where are you injured? Is it serious?” Dong Shi grasped Bai Qingyan’s hand tightly, feeling only how ice-cold her daughter’s small hands were. Her heart felt as if it were being carved with a knife. She wrapped her daughter’s hands in her own palms and tucked them against her chest, choking with difficulty: “What happened? How did you get injured so severely!”

“Mother…” Bai Qingyan gripped Dong Shi’s hands in return, lowering her voice to say, “This is an act for outsiders to see. Mother, don’t worry. Mother should understand—this time at the Wude Gate incident… your daughter’s achievements in quelling the rebellion were too prominent. Without doing this, I couldn’t return home safely.”

Dong Shi understood this logic, but she also knew her daughter must truly be injured—fake injuries couldn’t fool the Emperor and Crown Prince.

Dong Shi’s heart settled somewhat more than before as she held her daughter, looking her up and down: “Where are you injured?”

Bai Qingyan smiled gently at Dong Shi, her expression full of warmth: “Mother, I have good news to tell you. Don’t be anxious… come back to Boyun Courtyard with me. Mother will surely be delighted when she hears it!”

Before Bai Qingyan could speak further, before she could tell Mother that A’Yu was still alive, her eyes had already grown moist.

Dong Shi looked down at her daughter’s ice-cold fingers gripping hers forcefully, then looked up at her daughter’s face. Knowing Bai Qingyan never spoke without purpose, she forcibly suppressed the strange unease in her heart and nodded.

The Bai residence guards had already brought the sedan chair. Bai Jinzhi and Shen Qingzhu, who had changed clothes, both boarded the carriage and carefully helped Bai Qingyan down from the carriage to sit in the sedan chair.

Today, with Princess Zhenguo returning to Shouyang, the people of Shouyang all knew that Princess Zhenguo had greatly defeated the fierce Nanrong soldiers at Dengzhou, escorted the Crown Prince back to the capital, and became a hero who protected the Emperor at Wude Gate. Many citizens with light work had followed Princess Zhenguo’s carriage procession to the Bai residence gates.

Seeing the thin and frail Bai Qingyan being helped down from the carriage, she appeared seriously injured, as if a gust of wind could blow her over.

The people of Shouyang still remembered when Bai Qingyan returned from leading troops up the mountain to suppress bandits, riding high on her horse with heroic bearing, seeming capable of moving mountains and seas, invincible. But now she had become so gaunt—how could this not shock people?

In the crowd, someone began quietly mentioning that Princess Zhenguo had been pierced through the chest by an arrow while protecting the Crown Prince, and probably wouldn’t live much longer.

The people of Shouyang looked at this Princess Zhenguo who once possessed the威严 of autumn frost and summer thunder, suddenly feeling a sense of melancholy, thinking life truly unpredictable.

Since Princess Zhenguo’s return to Shouyang, she had dealt with the Bai clan’s oppression of the people, then trained troops and suppressed bandits for the people of Shouyang. The people of Shouyang were deeply grateful and naturally hoped Princess Zhenguo could recover and survive this calamity.

Moreover, the entire Bai family was loyal martyrs. The Bai family sons had all perished in Nan Jiang while protecting the border people—the Bai family couldn’t suffer another tragedy.

Subsequently, the elderly Physician Hong, carrying his medicine chest and supported by Lu Ping, also alighted from the carriage. After hastily paying respects to the various madams and misses of the Bai family, he walked briskly after the sedan chair, shouting: “Slower! Slower! The eldest miss can’t withstand such jostling!”

The discussions among the people outside the gates grew even quieter.

“Even the physician says Princess Zhenguo can’t be jostled. Looking at this injury… It’s truly serious.”

“Princess Zhenguo must not come to harm. During the last Northern border battle… General Zhang Duanrui died there. If Princess Zhenguo hadn’t rushed over day and night without rest, who knows what state the Northern border would be in now?”

A scholar from Shouyang nodded in agreement: “Exactly. Nowadays, most of those noble families are unwilling to have their sons join the military, fearing the battlefield’s swords and spears might harm their sons’ lives! When I went to the capital for the spring examinations, I heard someone say… the reason Duke Zhenguo Bai Weiting made the Bai family descendants undergo battlefield training from age ten was because other distinguished families no longer allowed their sons to enlist! Duke Zhenguo Bai Weiting was worried that our Jin Kingdom would have no successor generals to deter Great Liang, the Rong and Di tribes, and Xi Liang, so he brought all the family’s men along. Who would have thought… none could return!”

The scholar’s colleague sighed: “I also heard Princess Zhenguo’s passionate speech at the Duke Zhenguo residence plaque. I had thought Duke Zhenguo brought the Bai family sons to the battlefield for training and hardship to make them abandon thoughts of relying on ancestral protection and idling away in the capital, to understand what it means to consume the people’s grain and protect the people for life!”

“What a pity, all the Bai family sons are gone. If they were still here… what a sight our Jin Kingdom would be!”

“By the way, have you heard? That contemporary great scholar, Master Min Qianqiu, traveled thousands of li from the Wei Kingdom to Shouyang just to write a biography for the Bai family! That’s Master Min Qianqiu! I heard that when the old emperor of the Wei Kingdom wanted to invite Master Min Qianqiu to write his biography, the old master only said this to the Wei Kingdom’s old emperor… ‘Your Majesty heard the Way in childhood but achieved nothing in old age—what is there to record!’ Such upright character should be a model for our generation.”

That Min Qianqiu, a scholar of such upright character, wanted to write a biography for the Bai family, showing that the Bai family’s loyalty was admired even by Wei Kingdom scholars.

Following her elder sister’s instructions, Bai Jinzhi bathed, changed clothes, observed proper etiquette, and went with Bai Qingping to the inn to pay respects to the great scholar Min Qianqiu.

Who would have thought Bai Jinzhi and Bai Qingping would come up empty? When they reached the inn, the servant beside the great scholar Min Qianqiu said the old master had gone up the mountain early to admire the autumn scenery and probably wouldn’t return until evening.

Master Min Qianqiu had already anticipated that as soon as Bai Qingyan arrived in Shouyang, she would surely send someone to invite him. He had his servant relay to Bai Jinse to have Bai Qingyan rest and recuperate well for a day or two, and after five days, he would certainly visit, requesting that Princess Zhenguo make time for a meeting.

Bai Jinzhi quickly said she dared not presume so much, left the gifts they had brought for Master Min Qianqiu, and departed with Bai Qingping.

Leaving the inn, Bai Jinzhi walked with her hands behind her back, casually swinging her horsewhip, somewhat reluctant to return to the Bai residence. Earlier, because she had her elder sister’s orders, her mother Li Shi couldn’t detain and scold her, but returning now, her mother would surely deal with her!

Seeing that people were still coming and going from the inn, and noticing Bai Jinzhi’s frowning, thoughtful expression, Bai Qingping couldn’t help asking: “Princess, do you think… should we clear out the idle people from the inn?”

When Bai Qingyan wasn’t in Shouyang, Bai Qingping had made it a habit to ask Bai Jinzhi about everything.

“Master Min hasn’t mentioned it, so we shouldn’t take unnecessary action lest we displease Master Min,” Bai Jinzhi said.

These great scholars had strange quirks that Bai Jinzhi couldn’t understand, but since her elder sister told her to respect and honor them, she kept this in mind.

Moreover, Bai Jinzhi had also heard that Master Min was extremely rigorous in writing biographies, always investigating and verifying evidence before putting brush to paper.