“My Bai family helped Emperor Gaozu establish the nation and has already received the Duke title! After a hundred years, won’t this be enough to leave our names in history?! My father, uncles, and brothers are all enfeoffed as generals! Our titles cannot be increased further! Our glory cannot be higher! What kind of military achievements could be greater than my Bai family army’s prestige that has deterred Great Liang and the Rong barbarians from daring to invade for ten years?! What kind of military achievements would require my grandfather to fight until our entire family of men perished?! What harm would there be if my Bai family descendants simply rested on our ancestors’ accomplishments and enjoyed singing and dancing in this prosperous capital?”

Bai Qingyan pointed to the imperial bestowed plaque with golden characters on a black background above her head: “Live for the people, die for the nation! My Bai family only seeks to be worthy of these two characters ‘Duke hanging high above our heads! Only to protect our Great Jin people’s peaceful mountains and rivers without worry or fear—no regrets in life or death!”

“But in the end, in this prosperous and magnificent capital… those who compose poetry, drink wine, and enjoy themselves get to enjoy glory and wealth! Yet the heroic spirits of my Bai family who died in battles protecting the nation must bear the name of harming soldiers for military achievements! What kind of reasoning is this?!”

She turned sideways, fingers extended together, pointing toward the more than twenty coffins arranged inside Duke’s Mansion main gate: “You tell me… if my grandfather killed your sons, who killed my grandfather?! Who killed our Bai family men?! Even our Bai family’s ten-year-old children spilled blood on the frontiers! Which of your families had ten-year-old children rush to battlefields?! Which family’s ten-year-old children could ride horses, wield swords, and kill bandits?! Which family was willing to let their ten-year-old children die fighting for the nation?! Which family?!”

Her voice rose with each word, asking question after question, each word like a pearl, each sound like thunder, yet it also caused her heart and lungs to feel torn apart in excruciating pain, her whole body trembling and numb.

The people were also shaken by Bai Qingyan’s words until their hair stood on end and tears filled their eyes. Moved by the Bai family’s loyalty and righteousness, their hearts ached unbearably as they looked with righteous indignation at the petty troublemakers.

Qin Shangzhi, who was temporarily staying at Duke’s Mansion to recover from injuries, heard that soldiers’ families were causing trouble at the mansion gate and hurried over, intending to help the Bai family resolve the situation to repay their kindness in sheltering him.

Unexpectedly, when he arrived with his injuries, he heard Bai Qingyan’s soul-stirring, spirit-rousing questioning that made even his blood boil with tears, wishing he could immediately take up his sword to fight alongside the Bai family men on battlefields, serving the nation with hot blood.

Bai Jinxiu, with blood on her face, clutched tightly at her chest clothing, kneeling and looking up to heaven, crying in anguish: “Grandfather, open your eyes and see… these are the people our Bai family fought desperately to protect! Our Bai family sacrificed their lives and forgot death for all people… Elder Sister was severely injured while killing bandits! All the Bai family men died! Yet what we gained in return is disgrace! Grandfather… you taught us to sacrifice life and forget death for the people, to love and protect them! But who will protect our Bai family?”

Hearing Second Miss Bai Jinxiu’s anguished cries as she knelt, Bai Jinzhi bit her teeth hard, having endured for many days, finally crying out in pain.

The Bai family servants dressed in mourning clothes already had tears streaming down, some kneeling and crying out for the Duke, others gripping wooden sticks in their hands, wishing they could beat those troublemakers to death.

The people who had originally gathered around Duke’s Mansion to watch the commotion were now all in tears, moved by the Bai family’s noble character and their hearts that protected all people under heaven.

The people wiped tears with their sleeves, gnashing their teeth and angrily cursing the group of soldiers’ families causing trouble at Duke’s Mansion gate.

“That troublemaker just now is Wang Ergou’s stepmother, just a profit-seeking ingrate… Wang Ergou isn’t her biological son so of course she hopes Wang Ergou dies! Duke’s Mansion protected the home and Kingdom with all their men dead! She has such audacity to come and cause trouble at the mansion gate! Just wants to extort money! Heartless dog thing…” a commoner cursed angrily.

“Bah! Shameless thing! Duke’s Mansion protected us, Great Jin people. Their family has such tremendous grief, yet she still has the nerve to come and extort money! These people kneeling and causing trouble at Duke’s Mansion gate should all be thrown to the frontier, let their whole families suffer torture from Western Liang and Nanyan armies! Then they’d know Duke’s Mansion’s goodness!”

“All the young men of Duke’s Mansion died, now Western Liang and Nanyan allied forces have broken through Nan Jiang, Great Liang and Rong barbarians eye us like tigers—in the future… who can protect our Great Jin!”

“What’s to fear! The sons and daughters of Duke’s Mansion are all upstanding and excellent! There’s still the eldest, second, and third misses who went to the battlefields with the Duke! The eldest miss even personally killed Shu Kingdom’s General Pang Guoping and trampled the Shu Kingdom that insulted our Great Jin!”

After that person finished speaking, the people looked toward Bai Qingyan on the high steps, seeing her eyes filled with tears and face like frost, and the injured Bai Jinxiu clutching her heart, crying so hard that two maids had to support her to barely stand. The people’s hearts also felt unbearably heavy.

No matter how capable the eldest, second, and third misses of the Bai family were, they were still young women not yet of marriageable age…

“These dog things don’t even know what it means to respect the dead, coming to cause trouble at Duke’s Mansion gate at this time, aren’t they afraid of chilling the hearts of the Duke’s Mansion widows!”

Some people were already crying aloud, their emotions infecting each other, gradually building toward collective indignation as they glared fiercely at the group kneeling and causing trouble demanding justice at Duke’s Mansion gate. Those kneeling in the back had already quietly shifted backward, preparing to slip away when no one noticed.

That Wang Ergou stepmother who had caused the most trouble was anxious and trembling like a leaf.

Looking at those gazes that seemed to want to devour her alive, she looked left and right but found nowhere to hide, forcing herself to act tough: “Your Duke’s Mansion’s accomplishments are great! But who would complain about having too many accomplishments? Of course, the more the better!”

Bai Jintong, with tears in her eyes, stepped forward and said through gritted teeth: “You dare mention military achievements! What kind of military achievements would require my Bai family to suddenly have over twenty coffins that can’t even fit in the hall and must be wronged under broad daylight? You tell me what kind of military achievements! What achievements would make my elderly grandmother lose her husband, lose her sons and grandsons?! Since you came to cause a great disturbance at our Duke’s Mansion gate, then you tell me… what kind of military achievements did my grandfather want?!”

The people present were moved by Bai Jintong’s words and became even more emotional. Some strong men had already rolled up their sleeves, cursing, wishing they could tear the troublemakers apart alive.

“Damn it! Their whole family of men died for Kingdom and people, yet you’re still causing endless trouble here! Believe it or not, I’ll beat you to death!”

Lu Yuanpeng and Xiao Rongyan led a group of guards, escorting two bound and bloodied criminals tied with ropes, leading horses as they leisurely walked toward Duke’s Mansion.

The two were discussing how to speak to Duke’s Mansion about this matter when Lu Yuanpeng saw from afar that Duke’s Mansion’s gate was surrounded by crowds of people.

“Brother Xiao! I’ll go ahead to take a look! You bring the others and follow! Don’t steal my credit!” After Lu Yuanpeng finished speaking, he leaped onto his horse, clamped his legs against the horse’s belly, and galloped away.

Xiao Rongyan’s lips carried a faint smile, but his eyes were extremely sharp and deep. He had already noticed Bai Qingyan in mourning clothes standing at the Duke’s Mansion gate, and turned his head to instruct: “First, send two guards to escort those two over.”

“Yes!” Xiao Rongyan’s subordinate responded.

Thinking of the note incident, Xiao Rongyan’s darkly concealed gaze became even more unfathomably deep.