The Eldest Legitimate Daughter is Both Beautiful and Valiant (ELDBBV) - Chapter 109

When Bai Qingyan, Bai Jinxiu, Bai Jintong, and Bai Jinzhi stepped out of the main room of Changshou Courtyard, snow as heavy as goose feathers was already falling outside.

Maids holding lanterns and umbrellas accompanied them as they walked slowly.

“Eldest Sister had Third Sister and I make such a scene today. Although the clan won’t dare to trouble us again when we return to Shuoyang, handing over 450,000 taels of silver… really feels unfair!” Bai Jinzhi was furious, “With the way those bloodsucking parasites in the clan behave, I’d rather spend the 450,000 taels of silver in setting up soup kitchens to help the poor than give it to them.”

“There are only women left in the Zhenguo Duke’s residence now. Thinking of it as spending money to buy peace!” Bai Jinxiu smiled, patting Bai Jinzhi’s head.

“But Mr Xiao truly is a man of honour!” Bai Jinzhi said, admiration glinting in her eyes as she mentioned Xiao Rongyan. “He really has the bearing of one as radiant and elegant as the moon after rain, entirely unlike those money-grubbing merchants I’ve met before! He’s more like a young master from a noble family.”

Xiao Rongyan was not really a merchant to begin with, so naturally, he was free of the stench of profit-before-everything mentality.

Just as they stepped out of Changshou Courtyard, they saw a young maid holding an umbrella and supporting Liu-shi’s housekeeper nanny, Aunty Luo, hurrying toward them. Aunty Luo said that Liu-shi had sent her to fetch Bai Jinxiu.

“Eldest Sister, Third Sister, Fourth Sister, I’ll go to Mother first, and then to the mourning hall…”

Bai Qingyan nodded.

After bowing, Bai Jinxiu hurried away with Aunty Luo, repeatedly asking anxiously whether her mother Liu-shi was feeling unwell.

The cold wind whistled. Bai Qingyan turned to her two younger sisters and said, “I’ll go and see Ji Tingyu. You two go to the mourning hall first.”

“Then I’ll go with Eldest Sister! Little Fourth… You go ahead to the mourning hall. They cannot do without someone there.” Bai Jintong was sending Bai Jinzhi away because she did not want her younger sister to see Ji Tingyu’s gruesomely injured state again.

“Okay…” Bai Jinzhi nodded.

When Bai Jintong accompanied Bai Qingyan to Ji Tingyu’s room, he had already fallen asleep. Physician Hong said Ji Tingyu had woken from pain earlier, taken his medicine, and gone back to sleep again.

“It’s good that he can sleep!” said Physician Hong, stroking his goatee as he sat by the square table. “Sleeping dulls the pain.”

Looking at Ji Tingyu’s face that was as pale as paper while he laid on the bed, Bai Qingyan’s eyes reddened. She stepped out of the inner room and asked Lu Ping, “Has Ji Tingyu’s family been informed?”

“Ji Tingyu just returned today. Housekeeper Hao already sent someone to the village to inform Ji Tingyu’s elder sister,” Lu Ping nodded, lifting the curtain for Bai Qingyan and Bai Jintong to exit.

“Did no one go to inform Ji Tingyu’s parents, wife, and children?” Bai Jintong asked.

Lu Ping stood in the corridor and spoke slowly, “During the bandit unrest in Zhangzhou, Ji Tingyu’s father passed away, and his mother passed away five years ago. At the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, Ji Tingyu had just married but his bride is still very young… Housekeeper Hao worried there were no elders at the Ji household, and the new wife might not be able to handle such news, so he went instead to the brother-in-law’s home to tell his elder sister.”

Bai Qingyan nodded and fell silent for a moment. Then she turned to Lu Ping and said, “Uncle Ping, there’s something else I need you to handle discreetly.”

“Please instruct this servant, Eldest Miss,” Lu Ping said with a clasped fist.

“I estimate that early tomorrow morning, my clan elder Bai Qiyun will set off for Shuoyang with the money,” she said slowly with eyes lowered as she gently stroked the hand warmer. “Choose ten men who are loyal, capable, skilled in martial arts and tight-lipped. Have them follow him quietly. When they reach the borders of Shuoyang, they are to disguise themselves as bandits and rob Bai Qiyun.”

Bai Jintong was stunned, “Eldest Sister?!”

“Yes!” Lu Ping answered.

“Uncle Ping, please go select the men now. Once you have done so, come to Yifeng Pavilion to tell me.”

Lu Ping clasped his fist again and hurried off.

“I thought Eldest Sister had Little Fourth and I act out that scene only to appear righteous before the world, to gain some moral high ground, and that you would really give the silver to the clan. Little Fourth is still so upset about it,” Bai Jintong’s eyes sparkled with amusement. This act of robbery suited Little Fourth’s temperament perfectly.

Just imagining Bai Qiyun’s wailing face after being robbed made Bai Jintong feel a surge of satisfaction.

“We must have both righteousness and dignity, but we must also gain real benefit. Otherwise, it would waste the effort you and Little Fourth spent,” Bai Qingyan said to Bai Jintong, watching Lu Ping’s figure disappear into the snow. “They say a poor family brings a rich future, but if you can gain an extra 450,000 taels, you must remember to thank our dear clan elder Bai Qiyun…”

“Eldest Sister is right.”

As she looked at the snow blanketing the ground, Bai Qingyan turned and asked Bai Jintong solemnly, “You’re… planning to go to sea?”

Since returning from the New Year’s Eve banquet at the palace, Bai Jintong had been thinking of this matter daily.

If the emperor had not asked her eldest sister that question in the palace and if all the Bai men had not perished in Nanjiang, she would have gladly followed the path Grandmother had arranged, slowly accumulating hidden wealth for the Bai family.

But that day, when she saw the richest merchant of Great Wei, Xiao Rongyan, seated behind Prince Qi, she realised that wealth… could move heaven itself.

Bai Jintong did not know exactly what plans Eldest Sister had for the Bai family’s future, but from the few hints Eldest Sister let slip, she could sense her intention was to intimidate the imperial family.

Otherwise, why would Eldest Sister stir such waves in the capital, using public sentiment and outrage to pressure the emperor, and why did she always only speak of the Zhenguo Duke’s residence’s loyalty to the people… and loyalty to the noble purpose of protecting the nation? Eldest Sister… had never once mentioned loyalty to the Lin imperial family from the beginning to the end.

So, Bai Jintong guessed that Eldest Sister would never willingly hand over the Bai family’s military power.

When the Bai family held both military might and wealth that could rival a nation’s! Then what would become of the Bai family in the Great Jin, and indeed in the world? Bai Jintong longed to see that day.

That day in Qinghui Courtyard, Eldest Sister had told her that how far she could go depended on her own talent and fortune, and that this would also be the Bai family’s fortune. Therefore, she must spare no effort in seeking vast wealth and prosperity… to lay a solid foundation for the future.

There were some words Bai Qingyan never said outright to Bai Jintong, but as intelligent and perceptive as she was, she already understood the Bai family’s future path well.

“Wealth and honour are sought through risk, nothing in this world can be gained for free.” Standing with her hands behind her back, Bai Jintong’s expression carried a valiant edge, “The sea is extremely perilous, but the profits are far too tempting! To tell the truth, Eldest Sister, I’ve already sent most of the people Grandmother assigned me to the coast to buy ships and hire men. After the Lantern Festival is over, I’ll personally lead a team to procure goods. As long as our ships never sail empty, and the heavens favour us, within five years at most… I dare not claim to be the richest in the world, but I’m confident I can become the wealthiest merchant in Great Jin.”

Looking at her third sister, Bai Qingyan felt a deep surge of emotion.

How fortunate they were to have been born into the Bai family of the Zhenguo Duke’s residence. Grandfather and Father had never looked down on them for being female. They had learned just as much as the males, and thus lacked the fragility and timidity most women bore toward the world. Instead, they carried a will strong enough to challenge heaven and earth.

“My father once had an aide surnamed Liu, whose ancestors made their living by the sea. He possesses a remarkable ancestral skill for predicting weather patterns. I’ll ask him to come out of seclusion to assist you,” Bai Qingyan said, taking Bai Jintong’s hand as they descended the steps together.