The Eldest Legitimate Daughter is Both Beautiful and Valiant (ELDBBV) - Chapter 64

“Aunty Jiang, escort Mother back to the Changshou Courtyard! Stewards in charge of each courtyard, help your mistresses stand up. The backbone of our Zhenguo Duke’s residence will never break, no matter the circumstance. If the sky falls, we will catch it standing! Second Madam, Third Madam, and Fourth Madam, come with me to Mother’s Changshou Courtyard to discuss the posthumous affairs of our Bai family’s men! Bai Qingyan and Bai Jintong, take care of your Fifth Aunt. Have someone take my visiting card to summon Imperial Physicians Huang, Zhong, and Liu immediately! Bai Jinxiu, Bai Jinzhì, and Qin Lang, look after your younger sisters. Lu Ping, send someone immediately on horseback to Shuoyang, our ancestral home, to report the Bai family’s deaths. Housekeeper Hao, oversee the household staff and prepare for the funeral arrangements. As for the guards, obey Housekeeper Hao’s commands. In these critical times for the Bai family, no one is to stir trouble. Anyone who does, be it concubines, maids, servants, or errand boys, Housekeeper Hao has my permission to beat them to death on the spot without reporting to me!”

Dong-shi’s voice was steady and swift, each order clear and precise.

The Bai family’s guards, servants, and maids responded in unison and quickly began their assigned tasks.

Having settled the affairs within the residence, Dong-shi turned to the aristocrats still standing at the gates of the Zhenguo Duke’s residence. Bowing solemnly, she said, “Everyone, I apologise deeply. You have stood here in the wind and snow alongside the women of my Bai family for so long, but given the gravity of the situation faced by my Bai family, I really am unable to invite you into the residence for a cup of hot tea! Please forgive me!”

Faced with such a calamity, the Bai family’s Madam Dong-shi still stood tall, handling everything in an organised and composed manner. This earned her admiration from everyone present.

Most of those gathered were younger individuals and they understood that the Bai family was in a state of despair. They would hardly be in any state to entertain them for tea. They quickly bowed in return.

“Eldest Madam, please accept our condolences!”

“Eldest Madam, accept our condolences!”

When Dong-shi raised her head again, tears were already streaming down her face.

“Younger Sister! Younger Brother and I will stay to help!” Dong Qingping said, his eyes red as he addressed Dong-shi, “What do you need us to do?”

Dong-shi forced herself to stand tall, but her voice was fraught with trembling sobs, “Today is New Year’s Eve, yet the men of my Bai family are returning to us dead… I don’t even know where to find enough coffins.”

Hearing this, Bai Qingyan felt as though her heart had been ripped apart.

Gazing at the aristocratic young heirs and citizens who still lingered at the gates of the Bai family residence, she knelt down and kowtowed. Suppressing the unbearable pain in her heart, she choked out, “My grandfather, the Duke of Zhenguo, had already prepared his coffin long ago! But we never expected that all the men of my Bai family would sacrifice themselves for the empire! Five days from now, Prince Xin will return the remains of the men of my Bai family to the capital. Yet, with the New Year upon us, there is no time to prepare coffins for my father, my uncles, and my brothers. If any of you have coffins that meet the proper specifications in your households, I, Bai Qingyan, humbly beg to borrow them! Let the men of my Bai family be laid to rest with dignity.”

After speaking, she kowtowed again respectfully. Bai Jinxiu, Bai Jintong, Bai Jinzhì, and the others followed her lead… They kneeled and kowtowed in succession.

The Bai family was loyal and brave and they had shed their blood for the country on the battlefield. How could the citizens of the Jin Kingdom let their heroes go without coffins for burial?!

That night, on New Year’s Eve, the capital city was filled with wails. The people mourned the fallen heroes, grieved for the loyal Bai family, and lamented for the Jin Kingdom that was now left without its pillar of protection.

At the Qingming Courtyard, where Bai Qingxuan was being held, the news shocked him. He did not even care about his injuries and grabbed his mother’s wrist tightly, demanding, “What?! All dead?! Grandfather, Father… They’re all dead?!”

“Yes! What are we going to do now?!” The woman panicked, wringing her hands, “Hundreds of thousands of troops died in Nanjiang. The Emperor will definitely blame them! If I’d known this would happen we shouldn’t have come back! If we get implicated and the entire family is executed? No… We must think of a way to escape!”

Bai Qingxuan, initially stunned, suddenly had a sinister gleam in his eyes. Tightening his grip on his mother’s wrist, he spoke in an eerily hushed tone, “Mother! Say… All the men of the Bai family are dead! Doesn’t that mean the title of the Zhenguo Duke will fall to me?!”

The woman’s eyelid twitched and her throat bobbed as she swallowed. Wild joy surged momentarily before fear pressed it back down, “But, I heard… that it was the Zhenguo Duke’s stubborn misuse of troops that led to the annihilation of the entire army. If the Emperor lays blame, it will be a heinous crime. What if the whole family is implicated? What matters more, our lives or the title? Let’s escape first!”

“Then what if the Emperor doesn’t blame anyone?” Bai Qingxuan’s lips curled into a smile. “Mother! Fortune is found in danger! Just think about it… If the Emperor doesn’t punish us, this vast Zhenguo Duke’s residence would belong to the two of us!”

The woman was tempted by Bai Qingxuan’s words. She was reluctant to give up the immense wealth and prestige of the Zhenguo Duke’s residence, yet she was terrified of dying and hesitated.

The first day of the first lunar month.

After two days shrouded in gloom and despair, the Zhenguo Duke’s residence began to stir with activity under the leadership of its matron, Dong-shi. Servants and maids busied themselves with funeral preparations, coming and going hurriedly through the side gates.

Before dawn, Housekeeper Hao, who had been busy all night, arrived at the Princess Dowager’s room. Apart from the Princess Dowager, who had been persuaded to rest since she was unable to withstand it any longer, Eldest Madam Dong-shi, as well as Second Madam Liu-shi, Third Madam Li-shi, and Fourth Madam Wang-shi of the Zhenguo Duke’s residence were all present.

The 17 young sons of the Bai family, along with the Duke of Zhenguo and his five sons meant a total of 23 coffins. They would not fit in the Bai family’s main hall.

“Build a canopy…” Dong-shi tried to hold on and calmly instructed Housekeeper Hao who was at a loss for what to do, “Place them in the courtyard… Leave the gates wide open! Let the citizens of the capital and the ministers in high positions witness the extent of my Bai family’s tragic sacrifice for the Great Jin Kingdom.”

“Eldest Madam, Second Madam, Third Madam, and Fourth Madam, the gatekeepers report… Many people have come to deliver coffins outside the residence!”

Dong-shi’s throat tightened. She stood and said, “I will go and take a look. My sisters-in-law, you have all been toiling through the night. Please go back and rest! After recovering your energy, on the fifth day… We shall welcome our husbands and sons home.”

Fourth Madam burst into tears again, shaking her head as she gasped for air.

Bai Qingyan, having heard the news, arrived at the gates nearly at the same time as Dong-shi.

By now, the red lanterns of the Bai residence had been replaced with white ones, and the courtyard’s red silk decorations had been changed to black and white fabric, casting a sombre atmosphere.

Outside the wide-open gates, citizens stood in the snow, some with ox carts or horse carts, bringing their family’s best coffins and crowding around the gate. Others were messengers from aristocratic households sent to deliver coffins.

An elderly man, grey-haired and frail, stepped forward with his ox cart. He cupped his fists to Dong-shi and Bai Qingyan, and said, “Eldest Madam, Eldest Miss… This old man has brought fine coffins! I do not know if they meet the required standards, and if they could be used for Eldest Young Master… For the generals, or the young masters?”

“Mine are the finest coffins! Truly the best! Eldest Madam… Eldest Miss! Please my coffins!”

“Mine are good! Mine are good too! These are genuine pinewood coffins! They’re very sturdy!”

“Eldest Madam, my family owns a coffin shop! These are coffins that aristocratic families had ordered before the New Year, I’ve brought them all! They’re all made of giant redwood! Although not the highest-grade giant redwood, they are certainly worthy of the young masters of the Bai family…”

Dong-shi and Bai Qingyan stood at the gates, tears streaming down their faces as they bowed deeply to the citizens who had come to deliver coffins.