A servant from Marquis Zhongyong’s mansion came galloping, squeezing through the crowd to the wedding steward’s side, whispering: “Steward, our wedding procession must take a detour. An incense stick’s century ago, Prince Liang was assassinated on Chang’an Street. The Magistrate of Jingzhao has sealed off Chang’an Street for a thorough investigation. The wedding procession will have to take a long detour to return to the mansion!”

The wedding steward’s heart also jumped with shock. Fortunately, Duke Zhenguo’s mansion’s eldest legitimate daughter had set up a chess game to block the door; otherwise, calculating that they had arrived half an hour early, they would have encountered Prince Liang’s assassination on their return journey.

Duke Zhenguo’s mansion naturally also received this news. After the stewards from both families consulted, Bai Qingyan’s mother, Dong Shi, immediately instructed her chief maid, Ting Zhu, to inform Bai Qingyan to let the wedding procession pass, lest they miss the auspicious time.

“Eldest Miss, Madam sent me to inform you that the steward from Marquis Zhongyong’s mansion says the wedding procession’s return will require a detour. The door-blocking time is about right now. If we delay further… we might miss the auspicious time!”

Upon hearing about the detour, Bai Qingyan’s heart settled down.

She nodded and had a maid go out to pass word to Bai Jinzhi: “Go tell Fourth Miss that Duke Zhenguo’s mansion has seen Heir Qin’s sincerity in seeking our Second Miss. We hope he will cherish our Second Miss and not let her heart be broken! This chess game… We’ll save it for when they return for the visit, then we’ll finish it.”

Bai Jinxiu looked at her eldest sister, her eyes completely red with tears.

The sound of firecrackers rang out as Qin Lang, surrounded by many wastrels from the capital, rushed into Duke Zhenguo’s mansion.

Bai Qingyan stood under the corridor wrapped in fox fur, watching as Qin Lang entered carrying the wild goose, performed the bowing ceremony in the hall, bowed again to present the goose, served tea, then joyfully led the bride out of the main hall, walking toward the entrance of Duke Zhenguo’s mansion.

The corners of her lips curved slightly upward as she said to Chun Tao behind her: “Let’s go!”

The entire Duke Zhenguo’s mansion was bustling with festive atmosphere. Qin Lang wore a face full of smiles, holding the red silk cord and returning courtesies to guests offering congratulations. From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a slender figure that flashed by at the corridor’s turn, and his steps faltered… he was stunned.

Originally, he was supposed to marry Bai Qingyan. Once, when Bai Qingyan had followed Duke Zhenguo on campaign, he had also gone to see her off.

He still remembered how Bai Qingyan’s features, not yet fully bloomed at that time, were as beautiful as if painted, wearing battle robes and armor with her hand gripping the sword at her waist – what magnificent bearing she had.

He had once thought himself extremely fortunate to be marrying such a young lady as his wife.

Unable to contain the stirring in his youthful heart, he had presented his family’s inherited jade pendant to Bai Qingyan before the departing army, bowing in salute and making a vow: “May you return safely, forget not the one who waits, when you return home, I shall perform the goose ceremony for you.”

Now he carried the goose to the door, but the one he sought to marry was not her.

In the end, it was he who had failed her.

“Congratulations to the heir!”

The sound of others’ congratulations reached him. Qin Lang snapped back to attention, smiling as he returned the courtesy to that person, leading the bride across the threshold of Duke Zhenguo’s mansion.

Hearing the firecrackers as Bai Jinxiu boarded the bridal sedan, Bai Qingyan’s steps paused as she looked toward the main gate of Duke Zhenguo’s mansion.

“Eldest Miss!” A cleaning maid from Qinghui Courtyard ran up to Bai Qingyan, curtsying as she said, “Guard Lu Ping has come to our Qinghui Courtyard, saying he has matters to report to Eldest Miss.”

Bai Qingyan nodded, taking the hand warmer from Chun Tao: “Let’s return!”

In the previous life, at the end of the fifteenth year of Xuanjia, the Bai family’s Second Miss died tragically under an assassin’s blade while protecting Prince Liang on her wedding day. Subsequently, battle reports arrived… all the sons of the century-old noble family, Duke Zhenguo’s mansion, had died on the battlefield.

When Bai Qingyan’s grandmother, the current dynasty’s Grand Princess, received this news, she was overcome with grief and fell ill, passing away not long after.

In the second month of Xuanjia’s sixteenth year, Bai Qingyan’s mother Dong Shi received advance warning that Left Chancellor Li Mao, in league with Prince Liang, would frame Duke Zhenguo Bai Weiting for colluding with Nanyan, leading to the devastating defeat that buried tens of thousands of soldiers in the southern frontier. Evidence would arrive in the capital within two months.

Bai Qingyan’s mother, Dong Shi, acted decisively, having loyal servants take Bai Qingyan and Bai Jintong out of the pass to investigate and verify. She privately instructed the loyal servants that if the capital changed, they should raise Bai Qingyan and Bai Jintong as their daughters, changing their names and hiding their identities to preserve their lives. She also had the Bai family’s shadow guards split into two groups to escort the Fifth Madam Qi Shi, who was about to give birth, and the Bai family’s Fifth Miss and other underage children out of the capital to safety.

In the third month of Xuanjia’s sixteenth year, the late Duke Zhenguo Bai Weiting’s deputy general Liu Huanzhang entered the capital to testify that Duke Zhenguo Bai Weiting had committed treason.

Liu Huanzhang claimed he had spared no effort to eliminate the traitorous Bai clan, but he had also been severely wounded and rescued by farmers. After recovering from his injuries, he returned to expose Duke Zhenguo.

That day, the Imperial Guards surrounded Duke Zhenguo’s mansion and confiscated correspondence between Duke Zhenguo and the Prince of Nanyan from Duke Zhenguo’s study – the evidence was irrefutable.

The Bai clan had no remaining male members. To display his benevolence, Emperor Xuanjia sentenced the Bai family to confiscation and exile, ordering the capture of remaining Bai family members.

On the night the Bai family women were imprisoned, Bai Qingyan’s mother, Dong Shi, led all the aunts to hang themselves, leaving behind a “Letter Questioning the Emperor” that recounted the Bai family’s generations of merit and loyalty that could be witnessed by heaven! It painfully accused the emperor of indulging treacherous officials in framing loyal ministers, making the court’s atmosphere bizarre, with those in high positions all being flattering sycophants seeking favor. It angrily questioned the current emperor… why the current court no longer showed the clear and bright attitude of civil officials dying for remonstrance and military generals dying in battle, as in the previous emperor’s time. Every word was resounding and deafening.

This letter shocked the court and the public, spreading throughout the capital like wildfire.

The Fifth Madam Qi Shi, who had already given birth to a daughter, was overcome with grief and rage upon receiving the news. Under the protection of loyal servants and common people, carrying the Bai family’s ancestral tablets and a thin coffin, dressed in mourning clothes, she committed suicide by sword at the palace gates in the heavy rain, using her life to force the emperor to restore justice to the Bai family, her blood splattering three feet.

She gazed at the snow falling from the sky, pulling tight the white fox cloak around her body, walking toward the inner courtyard with slow but increasingly determined steps.

In her previous life, before her grandmother died, she had entrusted her mother and herself to protect the Bai family and all the Bai family widows. She and her mother had failed to do so and were powerless to reverse the Bai family’s fate. Even though their grief and rage burned through their very core, with poisonous hatred boiling in their blood and bones, they couldn’t shake those people in the slightest, so they had lost all hope and only sought quick death.

Bai Qingyan wiped away the fine tears at the corners of her eyes, the corners of her lips curving upward as her gaze became cold and sharp.

In this life, she had already protected Second Sister Bai Jinxiu – the future held promise. She would not let any member of the Bai family die unjustly again. She would guard the Bai family’s honor and glory, keeping it standing tall and unshakeable, no matter what conspiracies or schemes, poisonous or base methods she had to use – by any means necessary!

She walked along the corridor, turning the corner when she nearly collided with a man wearing blue-gray robes and a gray squirrel fur cloak. Her hand warmer rolled outside the corridor, but fortunately, the other person was quick to steady Bai Qingyan.

She looked up to meet a pair of deep, water-like eyes. Though his gaze was gentle and calm, it seemed to see through hearts and perceive everything with an unfathomable depth.

Meeting this old acquaintance again… she couldn’t control her heart that wanted to burst from her chest.

This was Great Yan’s Ninth Prince, born of the same mother as Great Yan’s emperor, and future regent of Great Yan.

He had changed his name to Xiao Rongyan and traveled between nations under the identity of the world’s wealthiest merchant, with trading houses throughout various countries gathering intelligence for Great Yan.

Everyone said the richest merchant Xiao Rongyan was refined and steady, gentle in temperament, but she knew how deep Xiao Rongyan’s schemes ran and how ruthless his methods were. He manipulated hearts like playthings, moving with ease among the nobility and gentry of various nations. He had particularly deep friendships with the princes of Great Jin, and most of the wastrels in the capital looked to Xiao Rongyan as their leader.

In the previous life, before Prince Liang’s rebellion and coronation, before Great Yan’s iron cavalry entered the capital, Xiao Rongyan, moved by the Bai family women’s sacrifice, had given her his personal jade cicada and told her to escape and save her life.

The north wind carried snowflakes into the corridor. Bai Qingyan felt the cold on the back of her hand and quickly stepped back, curtsying: “Thank you.”

Xiao Rongyan had a straight nose and thin lips, with high, broad eye sockets, extremely handsome features, and an overall aura of restrained, gentle refinement that had shed all traces of arrogance.

He withdrew the large hand that had just steadied Bai Qingyan, unconsciously caressing the white jade cicada in his hand. His features showed a gentle, warm smile, his voice mature and low, steady and composed: “No matter.”

The attendant following Xiao Rongyan had already picked up Bai Qingyan’s dropped hand warmer, appropriately returning it to Chun Tao’s hands. Chun Tao snapped back to attention and hurriedly curtsied in thanks.

With her heart beating like a drum, Bai Qingyan lowered her head and walked around Xiao Rongyan’s tall, lean figure, taking Chun Tao with her as she quickly headed toward the inner courtyard.

Xiao Rongyan took two steps forward, then turned back to look at Bai Qingyan’s hurried departing figure…

A few years ago, he had seen her in the Shu Kingdom’s imperial palace.

At that time, the Shu Kingdom had been defeated in battle, and he was trapped in the Shu Kingdom’s palace with the sounds of killing shaking the heavens.

To stop the slaughter, Duke Zhenguo had ordered Bai Qingyan to single-handedly carry the head of Shu Kingdom’s Grand General Pang Pingguo, clad in armor, riding like the wind through layer upon layer of palace gates.

The scene of that young lady in a bright red cloak flowing in the wind, galloping straight to the high steps of Shu Kingdom’s main hall, holding high Pang Pingguo’s head and shouting “Pang Pingguo is dead, those who surrender their weapons will not be killed!” was still before his eyes.

“Brother Xiao! Brother Xiao, why are you still here?” Lu Yuanpeng ran up to Xiao Rongyan, craning his neck to look in the direction Xiao Rongyan had been gazing, but saw nothing. “What are you looking at?”

Xiao Rongyan’s features carried an extremely faint smile, displaying steady dignity within his refined elegance: “Nothing…”

Lu Yuanpeng didn’t investigate further, pulling Xiao Rongyan’s wrist as he walked outside: “Brother Xiao, why did you take so long in the privy? Qin Lang has already taken the bride away! Let’s hurry to Marquis Zhongyong’s mansion for the festivities!”