The Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Saucy
Chapter 76: the hero returns
Chapter 76 Return of the Hero
“Big sister…” Nanny Qin came forward. Seeing her red eyes, she told her to take good care of her mother. Nanny Qin burst into tears. “Don’t worry, big sister. The Crown Prince’s wife is strong. She told me this morning that she is the mistress of the Duke’s Mansion and your mother, and she must hold on… If she can’t even hold on to the Bai family, how can she protect her own daughter?”
Hearing this, Bai Qingyan clenched his palms tightly, feeling extremely bitter in his heart.
She thought of her father.
Recalling the bloody battle that had razed Shu Kingdom, she chased and blocked the enemy for three days and cut off the head of Shu general Pang Pingguo, thus crushing the Shu Kingdom’s fighting spirit in one fell swoop.
After the victory, she was overjoyed, but her father said that she went to chase Pang Pingguo without military orders and asked her to go and receive fifty lashes!
She was not convinced and argued with her father, twisting her neck and asking, “I have made great contributions by taking the head of the general of Shu Kingdom, why did you punish me?”
Daddy’s eyes were red, and he threw the whip in his hand in anger. He kicked the silver spear out of her hand, and shouted at her with his hair and bloodshot eyes: “Because I am your father! No matter how wise and brave you are in the eyes of others, to me you are just my daughter who I will not give up even if I die!”
The love that parents have for their children is that… they are willing to risk their lives to bravely protect their children at all times.
After that, she no longer had a father! Nor a brother…
Her father died in Fengcheng.
Her younger brother died in southern Xinjiang.
She nodded and said to Nanny Qin in a hoarse voice, “Nanny, don’t tell Mother that I was here.”
Nanny Qin gathered Bai Qingyan’s cloak, nodded, and choked up: “Sister, take a good rest these days. When the Duke and the Prince come back… they will come back, and you will be busy.”
She nodded, held Chuntao’s hand, and slowly walked out of the yard against the biting cold wind.
Looking at the white lanterns hanging high under the eaves swaying wildly in the wind, she clenched Chuntao’s hand.
The situation is turbulent and the capital city is finally going to change.
·
On the fifth day of the first lunar month in the sixteenth year of the Xuanjia reign, there was a heavy snowfall.
At one o’clock in the morning, the guard at the south gate of Dadu City came out of the barracks holding a lantern and ordered people to open the city gate.
Shouzheng turned around and saw someone walking towards him from a brightly lit area at the end of the long street through the heavy snow. As they got closer, Shouzheng saw that there were more than three or two of them. He immediately became alert and held the sword at his waist.
The steward of the Duke of Zhenguo’s Mansion trotted forward, bowed respectfully to Shouzheng, and explained his purpose: “Today, Prince Xin is carrying the coffin back, and our mistress has brought her female relatives to the city gate to welcome him.”
Seeing clearly that the person coming was indeed wearing mourning clothes and a mourning cloth on his head, Shouzheng nodded and stepped aside.
As a fellow soldier, although he was unable to go to the battlefield, he also had a heart for the country and the people.
That day, a greedy man took other people’s money and went to the Duke’s Mansion to make trouble. The words of the eldest daughter of the Bai family aroused the man’s blood boiling. With tears in his eyes, he wished he could die on the battlefield with the Duke and be loyal to his country.
Now that the Duke and the men of the Bai family have died on the battlefield, it is only natural for the widow of the Bai family to go out of the city to welcome them.
The wife of the Prince of Zhenguo, Mrs. Dong, with the second wife, Mrs. Liu, the third wife, Mrs. Li, the fourth wife, Mrs. Wang, and the pregnant fifth wife, Mrs. Qi, together with the eldest daughter, Bai Qingyan, the second daughter, Bai Jinxiu, the third daughter, Bai Jintong, and the fourth daughter, Bai Jinzhi, who had just been forced to get up after being punished by the family law the day before, together with the second brother-in-law, Qin Lang, stood outside the south gate of the capital city accompanied by the Bai family’s guards and servants, waiting for the return of the Bai family’s heroes.
The faint sobbing of servants could be heard from the crowd, and their masters seemed less strong than them.
The vast snow blocked people’s vision. As far as Bai Qingyan could see, there was nothing but heavy snow and darkness.
All the men of the Bai family are dead. Those who feared and hated the Bai family in Jinxiu City must be so happy that they can’t sleep!
But the road ahead is long, who knows what the future will be like?
A cold light flashed in Bai Qingyan’s eyes.
Vipers hibernate in winter and hunt in spring.
No rush, no rush…
Dong, with red eyes, lowered her eyes and leaned over to gather Bai Qingyan’s cloak. Her fingers couldn’t stop shaking. “I told you kids to stay in the mansion with your grandmother to take care of your sister, but you just wouldn’t listen…”
She gently held her mother’s cold hand, her eyes reddened, and she held it tightly: “We, the younger generation, can already share the burden for A Niang and the aunts. We are no longer children.”
In her previous life, she fell ill and left her mother to support the Bai family. In this life, she will not let her mother be alone and helpless.
Second Madam Liu hugged her daughter Bai Jinxiu in her arms and tears immediately stopped. If it weren’t for her daughter, she would have wanted to rush into battle and follow her husband and son. But her daughter had already lost her grandfather, father, brother and younger brother. How could she bear to let her daughter lose her mother as well?
I don’t know whose house in the capital city turned on the lights first, but I heard someone at the back window say that the widow of the Duke’s mansion had gone to the south gate to welcome the coffin early in the morning. I hurriedly got up, put on my clothes, and went out with a lantern. Coincidentally, I met my neighbor who was also going out with a lantern in the snow.
“You heard about it too? The widow of the Bai family has gone to the South Gate!”
“Yes! A heroic man from the Duke’s Mansion has returned today. We have been protected by the Duke’s Mansion for generations, so we should go and welcome him together!”
The two had just exchanged a few words when they heard the wooden door next door creak. The man who had gone out with his elderly father saw his neighbor and asked, “Are you going to the South Gate too?”
The guard at the South Gate was standing on the city wall. He saw lanterns appearing from nowhere in the capital city. The warm light was enveloped in the lanterns. They came from all directions. Upon closer inspection, they were actually groups of people holding umbrellas and lanterns. The scene was even more spectacular than that on New Year’s Eve.
It was snowing heavily in the middle of winter and it was still dark.
The South Gate Guard was watching this scene, his heart filled with emotions, and he shouted loudly: “Raise the wick of the city gate lantern higher, so that the loyal souls of the Great Jin Dynasty can be guided by the bright light!”
When the women of the Bai family heard this, their eyes couldn’t help but turn red, and they straightened their backs in the wind and snow, waiting for their lover to return.
The officials in the court were seeking profit and avoiding harm. After the news from southern Xinjiang came back, the emperor’s attitude was subtle and it seemed that he did not intend to forgive the Bai family. After receiving the news, they did not dare to rashly go to the South Gate as they did on New Year’s Eve.
Only a few nobles and court officials were able to come this time. When Dong Qingping and Dong Qingyue learned that Dong had taken Bai’s widow to the South Gate, they stood up, wiped their faces with a handkerchief, and rode over on horseback.
Dong’s eyes were filled with tears, and she felt deeply moved, but she couldn’t help but persuade him, “Brother, Qingyue, you shouldn’t have come!”
Dong Qingping raised his hand and patted Dong’s shoulder, smiling and said, “It’s okay.”
To Bai Qingyan’s surprise, Xiao Rongyan actually came to the south gate with Lu Yuanpeng and a group of other playboys.
Lu Yuanpeng respectfully bowed to all the ladies of the Bai family. Xiao Rongyan also nodded slightly and looked up at Bai Qingyan who was lowering his eyebrows to return the greeting.
Bai Qingyan was dressed in mourning clothes and a mourning cloth on his head, and his outstanding appearance was wrapped in a simple and elegant outfit.
Xiao Rongyan: Lu Yuanpeng has more opportunities to get close to my wife than I do!
Bai Jinzhi: My brother-in-law is Mo Fang, watch me whip him to death!