“Reporting to Eldest Miss, the clan leader personally brought people here. It’s estimated that he heard Eldest Miss summoned the Prefect and Lord Zhou to our mansion, so he was urged by the Bai clan members to come!”

When Steward Hao received the report from the gatekeepers earlier and went out to look, he saw that the sedan chair bearers were sweating profusely in this weather, standing aside, wiping their faces with sweat towels. This showed how urgently they had rushed here, and even so… there were still people muttering complaints that the clan leader had delayed time by changing clothes.

“Accept the gifts and send them directly to Bai Qingping. Let Bai Qingping use them for training troops and suppressing bandits. This can be considered… the Bai clan’s contribution to training troops and suppressing bandits.” Bai Qingyan set down her teacup, raised her hand to gently cover her chest, and stood up with Chun Tao’s support. “Tell them to go back. Say that I’m seriously injured… and not suitable for receiving guests.”

“Yes!” Steward Hao responded and withdrew from the main hall to personally go outside and relay the message.

Bai Qihe, the clan leader of the Bai clan, waited outside anxiously.

Early this morning, clan members had gathered at the clan leader’s doorstep, demanding that he lead them to present birthday gifts to Princess Zhenguo. Bai Qihe originally didn’t want to come, saying that Princess Zhenguo was seriously injured, and for her health’s sake, they should just send someone to deliver the gifts to the Bai mansion to show their regard.

Who knew the clan members would crowd at the clan leader’s house, all competing to represent the Bai clan in delivering gifts to the Bai mansion. None would yield to the others, and the group started arguing at Bai Qihe’s place.

They all thought that since Bai Qingyan had saved the Crown Prince’s life this time, her status with the Crown Prince would be even more exceptional. If Bai Qingyan were willing to promote the younger generation from their clan, the Bai clan could continue its glory in the future.

Or rather… they hoped Bai Qingyan would promote their descendants, so their families could also enjoy the same honor as the former Duke Zhenguo’s mansion once had.

Later, someone’s servant came in to report that Princess Zhenguo’s mansion had sent people to invite the Prefect and County Magistrate Zhou to the Bai mansion. The clan members then swarmed over like a nest of bees. Bai Qihe tried to stop them all the way but couldn’t, so he had to follow… to prevent these clan members from offending Princess Zhenguo.

Perhaps it was because Bai Qihe, the former clan leader’s legitimate second son, had never participated in clan affairs, large or small, later became completely devoted to restoring ancient books and paintings, had no great achievements within the clan, and had never established authority within the clan. Therefore, although Bai Qihe bore the title of clan leader, most clan members weren’t afraid of him.

Soon, Steward Hao came out of the Bai mansion. Facing Bai Qihe, he bowed deeply before saying, “Clan Leader, please forgive us. Our Eldest Miss is seriously injured and not suitable for receiving guests. Eldest Miss has ordered… that the congratulatory gifts from all clan families be sent directly to the military camp for use in training troops and suppressing bandits. Here I thank everyone on behalf of our Eldest Miss.”

Hearing this, a clan member quickly pushed forward and said loudly: “Princess Zhenguo just met with the Prefect and Lord Zhou, so how is it that when it comes to her clan members, she’s too seriously injured to see anyone? Could it be that because we clan members are all commoners without much use, Princess Zhenguo is putting on airs in front of her clan members?!”

This person appeared to be in his fifties, leaning on a walking stick. When he spoke, his heart was filled with indignation, his chest rising and falling violently.

Hearing this, Steward Hao sneered coldly and didn’t even want to respond. He simply bowed deeply to Bai Qihe and turned to go back inside.

But that clan elder wouldn’t let it go, relying on his age to say, “No matter what, most of the people who came are elders within the clan. Hearing that Princess Zhenguo had already met with Prefect Shen and Lord Zhou, we old folks dragged our half-buried bodies to the Bai mansion gates just to present birthday gifts and congratulate Princess Zhenguo on her birthday. But the gifts are accepted while the person can’t be seen – where in the world is there such reasoning?”

“Exactly… She already met with the Prefect and Lord Zhou, so does she not have the strength to see clan members even once? Who would believe this if word got out!”

Steward Hao looked coldly at those two clan elders who were shouting toward the inside of the Bai mansion gates, and said with a mocking smile: “Then let this clan elder consider that our Eldest Miss simply doesn’t want to see you! Just as this clan elder said, you’re all commoners who only have the qualification to visit because you share the same ancestry and clan as our Eldest Miss. But our Eldest Miss is honored as a Princess. When she’s unwell, must she still condescend to see you? Ridiculous…”

After speaking, Steward Hao flicked his sleeves and turned toward the Bai mansion gates, deliberately saying loudly: “Pass down the order – if anyone dares to make a disturbance at the Bai mansion gates and disturb our Eldest Miss’s peaceful recovery, directly go request County Magistrate Zhou to arrest them. Whether Princess Zhenguo can recover peacefully depends entirely on how County Magistrate Zhou handles this!”

“Even if Princess Zhenguo is now high and mighty, are we not still of the same ancestry and clan?” The old man wanted to say more, but was pulled back by his son.

Once, how Princess Zhenguo had dealt with the former clan leader’s younger brother and the current clan leader’s elder brother, Bai Qiyun’s family at the Bai ancestral hall – those scenes were vivid in memory. Now they were the ones eagerly seeking Princess Zhenguo, not Princess Zhenguo seeking them. How could they be so arrogant?

Moreover, the incident where the clan had forced the current Grand Princess to vomit blood in the capital had already spread throughout the Jin Kingdom. Many people were saying the Bai clan members didn’t know what was good for them.

Now, if they caused a disturbance at the Bai mansion gates while Princess Zhenguo was recovering, even if they were arrested by Lord Zhou, no one would sympathize with the clan. People would only say the clan members were pushing their luck.

The old man saw his son’s expression and probably thought of what had happened outside the Bai ancestral hall. His expression became timid as he shrank his neck, leaning on his walking stick as he turned to leave: “We’ll go find the old clan leader!”

Other Bai clan members looked at each other. Some followed that old man as he left, while others looked toward the clan leader Bai Qihe.

“Clan Leader, what should we do now?” A clan member spoke frankly to Bai Qihe: “We all thought we would see Princess Zhenguo today, so we bankrupted ourselves sending expensive gifts, hoping to ask Princess Zhenguo to at least help the children in our clan. We can’t let there be no one from our Bai clan in the court after Princess Zhenguo’s generation!”

Bai Qihe turned to look at these clan members with anxious expressions, about to speak when he heard someone else say…

“Now Princess Zhenguo is seriously injured from saving the Crown Prince. You see, the Crown Prince is sending cartloads of treasures to the Bai mansion. If we could get Princess Zhenguo to say a good word for clan members at this time, it would be more effective than any other time! Besides, Princess Zhenguo is a daughter, and it’s inconvenient for her to be in court. If we had our clan members in court, it would be good for Princess Zhenguo, too!”

“Exactly, the reason a clan is a clan is because we are of the same ancestry and surname should support each other. Our clan prospers together, so we should all contribute our efforts to bring glory to the clan!”