The Eldest Legitimate Daughter is Both Beautiful and Valiant (ELDBBV) - Chapter 78

Under a sky filled with fluttering funeral money and the anguished cries of the civilians, four coffins, three large and one small, moved forward and entered the city.

Perhaps because they had been waiting too long since early morning in the freezing cold, one of the family servants carrying the coffin of the Zhenguo Duke slipped. With a dull thud, the coffin hit the ground. In the ensuing chaos, the remaining three coffins also fell, thump—thump—thump.

The thin coffin boards, as thin as cardboard, cracked. The hemp rope on the smallest coffin snapped, causing it to tilt violently. Its corner struck the ground, shattering the entire coffin. The body of a young child in broken armour rolled out. His severed head, cut off by the enemy, tumbled straight into a snowdrift, completely exposed!

“Little Seventeenth!” Bai Jintong cried out through her tears, rushing forward and clutching Little Seventeenth’s head. Looking at her younger brother’s lifeless, tender little face was like a silver spear piercing straight through her chest. She held his head tightly and finally broke down, crying out in gut-wrenching grief, “Little Seventeenth!”

“Little Seventeenth!” Bai Jinzhi also cried in alarm.

Bai Jinxiu’s eyes widened in shock, “Little Seventeenth!”

Bai Qingyan turned around, staring at the severed head that had rolled from the coffin. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her heart and soul shattered. It was as if a fierce wind roared through her chest, making her hair stand on end with rage. Her mind rang with a shrill, piercing howl, and she wanted to draw her sword and slay Prince Xin on the spot. “Uncle Ping! Stop Prince Xin’s carriage for me!”

“Ahhh…” Fourth Madam Wang-shi let out a scream and staggered to her knees, grabbing her son’s head. Like a madwoman, she shrieked and crawled back to her child’s body, already marred with bruises and livor mortis, and clutched it tightly as she wailed in utter despair.

Gentle and meek by nature, Fourth Madam Wang-shi now had bloodshot eyes like a demon from hell. She cursed incoherently and hysterically at the imperial family, at Prince Xin, the emperor’s most precious son, “Prince Xin, you damned murderer! My son… You let my child die like this, his body and head separated! You didn’t even give him a clean set of clothes! He was only ten years old! Ten! You bastard! Do you even have a heart?!”

Fourth Madam Wang-shi let out a soul-tearing cry and pressed her face to her son’s body, murmuring softly as if lulling him to sleep, “Little Seventeenth, don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid… Mother is here! Mother is with you! Mother will… Mother will keep you warm! We’re not afraid! Not afraid…”

Lu Ping, seeing the boy who had once been so lively and adorable now in such a horrific state, saw red and a murderous intent boiled within him. Before he could order men to pursue, Dong Qingping had already mounted his horse in a flash… and rode straight into the city, reining in to block Prince Xin’s carriage just ten metres past the gate.

Throughout history, when generals died in battle and their remains were brought back to the city, if the body was dismembered… unless the limbs were truly beyond recovery, the funeral escort would always have someone sew the body back together and dress it in clean clothing and armour, to ensure a proper burial with an intact body.
Though the common people had long understood the cruelty of war, nothing could compare to the shock of witnessing with their own eyes the corpse of a ten-year-old child, hacked to death, exposed in such a state.
Seated high on his horse, Dong Qingyue’s eyes were red as he glared at Prince Xin’s personal guards, who had already drawn their blades. The Zhenguo Duke’s household guards had also unsheathed their swords. The two sides stood in a tense standoff, ready to erupt at any moment!
At this moment, the guards of the Duke’s household, enraged by the sight of the young boy’s body rolling out, were seething with fury, and they wanted to fight with Prince Xin right now.
“Prince Xin! From the Duke himself to the sons of the household, the Zhenguo Duke’s family are loyal souls and heroic spirits who died for this kingdom. Why, when returning with their coffins, did you not have them bathed and dressed? Why have you allowed them to suffer such a fate, decapitated and disgraced?! Killing people is not enough. Prince Xin, how dare you dishonour the dead like this!” Dong Qingyue’s eyes burned with fury as he pointed his riding whip at the luxurious four-horse carriage, showing not the slightest hint of respect, only an overwhelming killing intent.
Lu Yuanpeng, a typical pampered playboy, had never witnessed such a tragic scene. His bl00d and rage surged so fiercely that it felt like magma boiling in his chest, ready to burst forth. He could barely hold himself back from charging forward and tearing into Prince Xin on the spot.
Perhaps even the heavens could not bear to watch. Suddenly, the axle of Prince Xin’s carriage snapped. The wheel flew off, flinging two of the guards by its side to the ground. The carriage overturned, and the brazier inside instantly ignited the green drapes. Screams erupted from within as Prince Xin and the beauty beside him scrambled out of the burning carriage.
One of Xiao Rongyan’s guards silently returned to Xiao Rongyan’s side and said in a low voice, “Master, this subordinate was incompetent. When this subordinate made a move just now, the head guard from the Duke’s household and the lord on horseback may have noticed.”
Xiao Rongyan remained calm and indifferent, “It does not matter.”
The guard gave a slight nod and fell silent, standing with downcast eyes as though nothing had happened.
The commoners stared amazed at the supposedly “gravely wounded” Prince Xin, who now leapt and flailed about freely, flapping at the flames on his robes, with a trembling beauty clinging to him and glancing nervously around.
“His Royal Highness Prince Xin is so gravely wounded!” Bai Qingyan’s eyes were bloodshot, her entire being radiating a murderous aura like a roaring gale. “So gravely injured… that he had the strength to enjoy the company of a beauty in his carriage, but could not spare a single bit of energy to send someone to sew up and properly dress the body of my brother, who gave his life for his country at ten years of age!”
Prince Xin’s eyelid twitched heavily. He had never thought that the entire city would witness him standing there, completely unharmed. His fists clenched tightly at his sides. Since he had already been exposed, he no longer feared taking things to the extreme.

He looked towards Bai Qingyan, who stood just outside the encirclement of his personal guards, and said coldly, “It was out of consideration for the Bai family’s reputation that I claimed to be gravely wounded. Does your Bai family really want this prince to tell you in front of so many people… of how Bai Weiting defied my orders and caused tens of thousands of the Great Jin Kingdom’s soldiers to perish in Nanjiang?!”

“On the battlefield in military campaigns, Grandfather was the commanding general, and the veteran of countless battles. Why should he listen to the orders of an inexperienced, yellow-mouthed child like you who had never experienced bloodshed in this prosperous imperial capital?!” Bai Qingyan’s tears streamed down, her fury suffocating and her grief like knives through her heart, consuming all reason. Her voice trembled with furious indignation, “Even if my grandfather’s actions were improper, what of the sons of the Bai family… who fought and bled for the people, who gave their lives for this kingdom?! Must they suffer such humiliation in death, with their bodies torn apart?! What twisted logic is this?! My brother was only ten years old! He was just ten! At ten years of age, he dared step onto the battlefield! He died for Great Jin Kingdom as a young hero! How dare you disgrace him so?!”

Prince Xin was left speechless, stifled by rage, his teeth clenched tight as he was utterly cornered by a woman’s words.

“Even if my brother was a mere commoner, you, Prince Xin, as a royal son of the imperial house, still ought to have treated the body of a child with care and decency! But where is your sense of compassion?! You are worse than a monster! The finest warriors of the nation died for the people, for the kingdom! And you… you’re indulging in debauchery with a prostitute in your gilded carriage! Are you worthy of being a prince?! Worthy of being supported by the taxes of the people?! With your cruelty, your lack of virtue, your shameless pursuit of pleasure, if a monster like you were to one day become Crown Prince, would the people of Great Jin be better off as cattle or horses?! You’re not only unworthy of being a member of the imperial family, you’re not even worthy of being called a human being!”