“Yes! Grandmother is right! We have indeed worn silk and eaten fine food since childhood, and lived better than common people! But Bai family descendants… once they reach ten years old, they must follow their elders to the battlefield, riding horses and wielding swords to fight bloody battles with enemy forces. Which ordinary family sends ten-year-old children to war?! We have enjoyed worldly riches and honors! Have I not repaid this with my flesh and blood?!” She raised her hand, pointing at the spirit tablets above in the mourning hall. “Have my younger brothers not used their lives… to repay the debt of gratitude for the people’s support?!”
The Grand Princess looked at her granddaughter, trembling all over from anger and hatred, pressing her lips tightly together.
“Grandmother wanting to kill Ji Tingyu—what difference is there from the emperor wanting to kill my grandfather… kill my father, kill my uncles and brothers?!” Tears filled her eyes. Mentioning the Bai family’s departed heroic spirits, her heart felt torn apart, nearly biting through her gums, each word bloody as she spoke: “Could it be that in this world, the more loyal and courageous those with righteous hearts are, the less they can survive?! Grandfather died from his upright honesty, unwilling to compromise his principles to curry favor with those in power! The Bai family men died because they held all people in their hearts, preferring to die in battle rather than abandon the people to flee and live in shame! Is Ji Tingyu to die because of his deep kindness and loyalty to the Bai family?! Is it that in this world, those with kind hearts, righteous hearts, those with principles, are destined not to die well?!”
Bai Qingyan’s words were like cutting to the heart and piercing to the bone, her voice ringing powerfully. Each word and phrase questioned the Grand Princess until her heart panicked and her fingers went numb.
The Grand Princess’s hands, hidden in her sleeves, kept trembling. Mentioning her husband, sons, and grandsons, her heart felt sliced by knives.
Yes… Every word A’Bao said was correct!
Bai Weiting died from his upright honesty, unwilling to kneel and compromise, unwilling to join the flow of those who curry favor with power.
The Bai family men died because they were unwilling to abandon the common people. Each of them died to protect the tens of thousands of people behind them!
Ji Tingyu… it was precisely because of his deep kindness and loyalty to the Bai family that the Grand Princess had no choice but to kill him! If he were just an ordinary loyal servant, the Grand Princess could suppress him with power and position, tempt him with fame and profit—why would he need to die?
Bai Qingyan’s eyes were bloodshot, and before this mourning hall, her hatred surged like towering waves.
What difference was there between this grandmother of hers and those people in the imperial family?!
That’s right, she was the Grand Princess…
Even though she had married into the Bai family and borne children with her grandfather, she was still ultimately the current dynasty’s Grand Princess!
The Grand Princess sighed deeply and asked wearily: “Do you truly want to kill Bai Qingxuan?!”
“Blood debt must be paid with blood, murder must be paid with life! This is only natural…” Bai Qingyan’s words were crisp and decisive.
The Grand Princess raised her head, tears streaming down her aged face: “But he is your younger brother! He bears the surname Bai!”
“Ji Tingyu is a loyal servant who sacrificed his life for the Bai family. His wife died from being tortured and humiliated by this beast! By law, by reason, by emotion, he deserves to die!” Her eyes were so deep they seemed bottomless. “This thing with character so base it’s worse than animals—grandmother must not insult the surname Bai or bring shame to grandfather, making him unable to rest in peace!”
Dong Shi, Second Madam Liu Shi, Third Madam Li Shi, as well as Bai Jinxiu, Bai Jintong, and Bai Jinzhi who had come upon hearing the news were all waiting anxiously outside.
Fifth Madam Qi Shi was supported by a maid. As soon as she arrived, she asked: “What’s happening?! I heard from the servants below… A’Bao is carrying a blade to kill someone?! Is she going to kill that illegitimate son?!”
Bai Jintong had been waiting here all along. Lu Ping and Nanny Jiang had already told her the complete cause and effect of the matter.
She already knew that the illegitimate son had attempted to rape Ji Tingyu’s newlywed wife, and Ji Tingyu’s wife had killed herself by hitting her head against a door post. That beast Bai Qingxuan, who deserved to be cut into a thousand pieces, had defiled the corpse, leaving her without even an intact body! No wonder when he came to the mourning hall today, there were scratch marks on his face!
Bai Jintong was so angry that her entire body trembled!
The day Ji Tingyu returned, Bai Jintong followed her elder sister throughout. She knew what Ji Tingyu had done for the Bai family. Ji Tingyu had risked his very life to fight for justice for the Bai family! But grandmother… wanted to kill Ji Tingyu to cover up for that illegitimate son who had driven Ji Tingyu’s new bride to death!
She turned her head, tears already streaming down her face. If she felt such grief and indignation in her heart, elder sister, who had always been close to grandmother… who knew how much her heart was hurting!
After a long silence in the mourning hall, the Grand Princess finally took a step back: “A’Bao, if you are willing to trust grandmother, leave this matter to grandmother to handle. After the Bai family’s great affairs are concluded, the grandmother will give Ji Tingyu justice! Is this acceptable?”
Setting aside the blinding grandmother-granddaughter affection, how could she trust someone who wanted to poison Ji Tingyu to give Ji Tingyu justice?! She didn’t believe it!
She bit her teeth tightly, her entire being as gloomy as if covered by a layer of cold mist: “If grandmother were willing to trust me, she wouldn’t have hidden that illegitimate son at the estate, letting him harm Ji Tingyu’s newlywed wife.”
The Grand Princess closed her eyes. Her eldest granddaughter’s words meant she was unwilling to trust her…
“Grandmother can either hand over that illegitimate son now, and I’ll drag him to Ji Tingyu’s bedside and kill him with one stroke! Or… grandmother can hide him well, otherwise… once I find him, I will make him wish he were dead, make him regret coming into this world! I was raised by my grandmother’s own hands—my grandmother should understand that I always keep my word!”
She stared at the Grand Princess, showing her full age, her eyes burning with blazing fury, filled with grief and indignation.
“Or perhaps, for the sake of that illegitimate son, grandmother can abandon even me! You can have the secret guards kill me right now!” Her eyes were frighteningly red, but filled with determination and defiance. “Today, before the heroic spirits of the Bai family, I swear that between me and that illegitimate son… only one of us can exist in this world! If he doesn’t die! May I not die well!”
“A’Bao!” The Grand Princess’s eyes nearly split with rage.
Outside the door, Dong Shi heard her daughter’s oath and nearly rushed in from fright, but forcibly restrained herself, tears like cotton threads.
She looked at her grandmother, who had once doted on her, loved her, who, when she had a high fever that wouldn’t break, was willing to give up ten years of her own life in exchange for her safety. The blood in her heart seemed frozen by the cold temperature of this winter day.
She knelt and kowtowed deeply to the Grand Princess: “Grandfather once said, ‘When one should act decisively but doesn’t, one will surely suffer the chaos that follows.’ Today… thank you, grandmother, for allowing me to completely sever this tie!”
The Grand Princess felt as if pierced through the heart by a long sword, her form swaying and nearly unable to stand: “A’Bao, are you severing the grandmother-granddaughter bond between us?!”
She bit her teeth tightly and said nothing, kowtowed three times with loud sounds, then rose and walked toward the exit of the mourning hall.
“A’Bao! A’Bao…”
The Grand Princess urgently called Bai Qingyan’s name, but she never looked back.
Coming out of the mourning hall and seeing her mother, aunts, and younger sisters all there, the cold wind struck, and hot tears could no longer be held back.
Finally, she had reached this point with her grandmother!
“A’Bao…” Dong Shi walked up the steps and gently grasped her daughter’s ice-cold hands.
“Mother, I’m fine.” Her voice was choked and hoarse. “I want to go… see Ji Tingyu.”
Dong Shi nodded: “Go ahead! Mother is here!”
Not wanting to let mother, aunts, and younger sisters see her weak and wretched appearance, she lowered her eyes, bowed, and walked toward the rear courtyard.