Rebirth: The Journey of an Heiress-Chapter 77 - 76: The Return of the Hero_1
Chapter 77: Chapter 76: The Return of the Hero_1
“Eldest sister…” Nanny Qin approached her, and upon seeing her reddened eyes, instructed her to take good care of their mother, at which Nanny Qin’s tears immediately welled up. “Rest assured, eldest sister, the Princely Heir’s wife is strong. Just this morning, she told this old servant that as the mistress of the Duke’s family and your mother, she must hold on… If she can’t even support the Bai family, how can she protect her own daughter?”
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Hearing these words, Bai Qingyan’s palms clenched tightly, and her heart ached intensely.
She thought of her father.
She recalled the bloody battle where she once crushed the Shu Kingdom, surrounding and cutting off the head of Shu’s Great General Pang Pingguo after three days of pursuit, shattering the Shu Kingdom’s will to fight in one fell swoop.
After their victory, she was overjoyed, but her father scolded her for disobeying military orders to pursue Pang Pingguo and instructed her to take fifty lashes herself!
She protested, arguing with her father, and asked, “I have beheaded a great general of the Shu Kingdom and contributed to our victory; why does father punish me?”
...
Her father’s eyes were red with anger; he threw down the horsewhip in his hand, kicked away the silver spear in her hand, and yelled at her with splitting veins, “Because I am your father! No matter how ingenious and valiant you appear in others’ eyes, to me, you are the daughter I could not bear to lose even at the expense of my own life!”
The love of parents for their children… is to always want to bravely sacrifice themselves to protect their children at any time.
But afterwards, she no longer had a father! Nor a brother…
Her father had died in Fengcheng.
Her brother had died in the southern borders.
She nodded slightly, and in a hoarse voice, she said to Nanny Qin, “Nanny, don’t tell mother I was here.”
Nanny Qin tucked the shawl around Bai Qingyan, nodded with choked sobs, and said, “Rest well these few days, Eldest. When the Duke of Zhen and the Princely Heir return… you’ll have much to attend to.”
She nodded in agreement, leaned on Chun Tao’s hand, and slowly walked out of the courtyard against the harsh chill of the wind.
Watching the white lanterns swinging chaotically beneath the eaves as they were blown by the wind, she gripped Chun Tao’s hand tightly.
A storm was brewing; Dadu City was inevitably facing a change of seasons.
·
In the sixteenth year of Xuanjia, on the fifth day of the first lunar month, heavy snow fell.
At the first quarter of Yin time, the guards at Dadu City’s southern gate came out of the barracks, lantern in hand, ordering the city gates to be opened.
Turning around in the heavy snow, the guard saw people approaching from the bright lights at the far end of the street. As they came closer, he saw it wasn’t just two or three people and immediately went on guard, readying the sword at his waist.
The steward of Duke of Zhen’s family ran up ahead, bowed respectfully to the guard, and explained the situation, “Today, King Xin is returning with the funeral procession, and our family’s mistress along with the ladies have come to welcome them at the city gate.”
Seeing clearly that the visitors were indeed dressed in mourning clothes and wearing mourning headbands, the guard nodded and stepped aside.
As a fellow military man, even though he had not gone to the battlefield, he harbored a heart devoted to serving the country and its people.
That day, in front of Duke of Zhen’s mansion, some people who forgot their integrity for silver caused a disturbance at the Duke’s residence; the Bai family’s eldest daughter spoke out and ignited the fervently boiling blood of the men, whose eyes filled with tears as they wished they could join the Duke in battle to serve the country to their deaths.
Now that the Duke’s family and men of the Bai Mansion had returned wrapped in horsehides, it was only right for the widows of the Bai family to come out and welcome them.
The Princely Heir’s mother, Mrs. Dong, together with Mrs. Liu, Mrs. Li, Mrs. Wang, and the pregnant Mrs. Qi with her swollen belly, as well as the eldest daughter Bai Qingyan, second daughter Bai Jinxiu, third daughter Bai Jintong, and the fourth daughter Bai Jinzhi who, despite recently being punished, had stubbornly gotten back on her feet, along with second son-in-law Qin Lang, stood outside the southern gate of Dadu City accompanied by the Bai family’s guards and servants, silently awaiting the return of the heroes of the Bai family.
The faint sounds of servants’ sobbing came from the crowd, yet the masters themselves appeared more resilient.
The heavy snow obscured visibility, and all Bai Qingyan could see beyond the thick falling flakes was darkness.
With the men of the Bai family all fallen, those within the great Dadu City who feared and resented the Bai family were probably too exhilarated to sleep.
Yet the road ahead was long and uncertain, who knew what the future held?
A cold glint suddenly flashed in Bai Qingyan’s eyes.
The viper lies dormant, hibernating until the spring hunt.
No rush, no rush…
Mrs. Dong, eyes red and teary, lowered her gaze and wrapped Bai Qingyan’s cloak tighter around her, her fingers trembling despite her efforts to control them, “I wanted you children to stay at the mansion, to accompany your grandmother and take care of your sister, but you wouldn’t listen…”
She gently grasped her mother’s icy hand, her own eyes reddening as she gripped it tightly, “We, the younger generation, are now able to share the burden with you, Aunties. We are no longer children.”
In a previous life, Bai Qingyan had fallen ill, leaving her mother to single-handedly support the Bai Mansion. This life would be different; she would not allow her mother to be left all alone again.
Mrs. Liu, the Second Lady, hugged her daughter Bai Jinxiu close, her tears flowing relentlessly. If not for the sake of her daughter, she would have wished to die and join her husband and sons. But her daughter had already lost her grandfather, father, and brothers—how could she bear to let her daughter lose her mother as well?
It was unknown who in Dadu City was the first to light a lantern. Upon hearing that the widows of the Duke’s mansion had gone to the South Gate early in the morning to receive the coffins, they hastily dressed and took their lanterns out into the snow, coincidentally meeting a neighbor who was doing the same.
“Did you also hear? The widows of the Bai family have gone to the South Gate!”
“Yes! The valiant members of the Duke’s mansion return today, and since they have protected us for generations, we should also go to welcome them.”
The two had barely exchanged a few words when the wooden door next door creaked open, and a man, followed by his elderly father, seeing the neighbors, also asked, “Are you going to the South Gate too?”
The guard at the South Gate stood atop the city wall and saw lantern after lantern emerge from somewhere within Dadu City. The warm soft glow within the lanterns converged from all directions, a sight grander even than New Year’s Eve.
The harsh winter snow had not yet given way to dawn.
The guard, moved by the scene, called out loudly, “Raise the wicks of the city gate’s lamps higher, to guide the loyal souls of Jin back home!”
Hearing this, the women of the Bai family couldn’t stop their eyes from reddening and stood with straight spines in the snow, waiting for those returning.
Court officials tended to flock to the powerful and avoid the weak, and since news from the southern borders had returned, the Emperor’s attitude seemed subtly hesitant to pardon the Bai family. Those who had received the news didn’t dare to rashly go to the South Gate as they had on New Year’s Eve.
This time, only a few noble court officials came, among them Dong Qingping and Dong Qingyue, who, upon learning that Mrs. Dong had led the Bai family widows to the South Gate, wiped their faces with handkerchiefs and hurried over on horseback.
Mrs. Dong, her eyes teeming with tears and heart filled with gratitude, couldn’t help but admonish, “Brother, Qingyue, you shouldn’t have come!”
Dong Qingping patted Mrs. Dong’s shoulder with a smile, “It’s all right.”
Unexpectedly for Bai Qingyan, Xiao Rongyan had also come to the South Gate, accompanied by Lu Yuanpeng and a group of dandies.
Lu Yuanpeng greeted the ladies of the Bai family with great respect, and Xiao Rongyan also nodded slightly, looking up at Bai Qingyan who was returning the courtesy with lowered eyes.
Bai Qingyan, dressed in mourning attire, her head covered with a mourning veil, her peerless beauty wrapped in serene poise.
