Chapter 15: The Bai Family

Bai Shi continued to witness her son being beaten, as if it were a cruel torture upon her heart!

Every strike of the board or whip upon Gu Tingye seemed to cut her heart with a knife, each one piercing her soul.

Time and again, she tried to throw herself upon her son to shield him, but the blows passed straight through her, landing harshly upon her son.

Her son Gu Tingye appeared to have wept himself dry, biting his lip in silence; beside him, his personal servant Zhi Que knelt at Gu Yan Kai’s side, speaking urgently.

“Stop beating him!”

“Gu Yan Kai, you beast!”

“He is your son!”

“Your own flesh and blood!”

“How can you bear to beat him like this!?”

Bai Shi screamed silently, but they heard nothing.

Only the flickering lanterns remained.

The events continued: Bai Shi saw her most trusted Chang Mama humiliated, and unable to bear the shame, she stormed out of the Gu household; meanwhile, Gu Tingye was lured by the city’s rouges into brothels and entertainment quarters.

Dazed, amidst a blur of dazzling colors.

Two women spoke amid swirling incense smoke.

The walls around them hung with numerous plaques.

Among them, one read: “Three Generations Honored.”

“This Maitreya Buddha is the Future Buddha; our Marquis worships him, praying to reunite with my sister in the next life! Hahaha!”

Amidst the shimmering, colorful haze,

Figures clad in luxurious robes, their faces indistinct, discussed Gu Tingye, saying:

Born into a merchant's lowly status—no wonder he's a base breed!

“Poor, gentle Lady Qin Er, what terrible luck!”

“This rebellious son is still the first to rush into every debauched scene!”

“He’s barely grown and already keeps a concubine outside—clearly the spawn of a low woman!”

At these last words, Gu Tingye wrestled with the speaker.

After what felt like an eternity, she again saw her son Gu Tingye surrounded by a pack of tiger- and wolf-like demons; Gu Yan Kai lay flat on his bed, white cloth covering his eyes.

The demons tore off Gu Tingye’s precious gold and jade ornaments.

They gnawed at him until he was drenched in blood.

The once-proud Gu Tingye, now a beggar, stood beside a tall cypress tree—but soon he left it behind, wandering the world like a broken man, enduring countless hardships.

Seeing her son thus, Bai Shi wept all the tears of her lifetime.

“My Ye’er, Ye’er, it’s Mother who doomed you.”

Finally, Bai Shi saw her son ambushed in some unknown place—a long blade poised to plunge into Gu Tingye’s belly—when she suddenly jolted awake.

“No! Don’t!” Her scream startled everyone in the courtyard.

Bai Shi sat bolt upright, tears in her eyes, heart aching.

Startled, Gu Yan Kai opened his eyes, sat up, and glared irritably at his wife.

“What’s wrong, Madam?” The serving maid hurried to ask.

Lamps were quickly lit, and the room brightened.

The personal maids arrived outside the curtain.

“Where is Ye’er?”

“He’s asleep.”

“Bring him here. Tonight, I’ll sleep with him.”

Gu Yan Kai, beside her, frowned impatiently: “What are you doing?”

The dream had been too real; Bai Shi had watched her son’s suffering as an outsider, and the memory still clung to her—she now saw Gu Yan Kai as her enemy and ignored him.

“Go quickly,” Bai Shi said.

Gu Yan Kai said nothing more; soon, Gu Tingye was carried in.

Half-asleep, Gu Tingye did not cry; sensing his mother’s scent, he naturally curled into her arms.

“Mother, I wanted you to hold me—I’ve missed it so long, Mother,” Gu Tingye mumbled.

Hearing this, Bai Shi’s eyes filled with tears, her heart brimming with guilt.

“Ye’er, sleep now. Mother’s here.”

These days, she had devoted herself entirely to her daughter, and indeed had neglected Gu Tingye.

Beside her, Gu Yan Kai muttered: “Hmph. That’s no way for a man to behave.”

Bai Shi paid him no heed.

Listening to the breathing of Gu Tingye and Gu Yan Kai, the room fell back into dim light—but Bai Shi could not sleep.

She thought carefully about the dream, vaguely recalling that before her dream of hemorrhage, she had been strolling in the Marquis’s garden.

As she pondered, Bai Shi drifted into deep sleep.

In a daze, Bai Shi sensed Gu Yan Kai rising early to attend court.

Still angry, she paid him no mind.

When she woke again, Gu Tingye lay curled beside her like a little pig, his pale face and long eyebrows making him look especially adorable.

“Ye’er, I will not let you suffer as you did in my dream,” Bai Shi silently vowed.

It seemed father and daughter were bound by heart.

While Bai Shi endured her nightmare,

Bai Wanshu had retired early, exhausted from days of travel, and slept deeply—when the lord of the Bai family faintly heard a woman’s voice:

“You all deceived me so cruelly!”

The voice trembled, laced with sorrow.

Yet he felt no fear—for it was the voice of his only daughter!

When Bai Wanshu awoke, he found his cheek cool; he touched it and realized a small patch of his pillow was wet.

Remembering the voice in the dream, his eyes grew sharp with pain.

Lying on his bed, staring at the canopy, he murmured after a long while:

“This isn’t a dream. No—it isn’t! My daughter is well; she has a daughter—I have a granddaughter.”

Daylight flooded the world; the Marquis’s household awoke, and Bai Laoyezi came to the back courtyard to see his daughter.

The Gu household servant summoned to Bai Wanshu’s room also went early to the Bai family’s residence in Kaifeng.

A Bai family servant was dispatched with a letter to Yangzhou.

Bai Shi had always deeply revered her father; after last night’s events, she naturally poured out everything to Bai Laoyezi.

Bai Wanshu’s expression remained unchanged, but a flash of sharpness lit his eyes.

He had never told his daughter why he had come to Kaifeng—everyone assumed he had merely come early out of concern for her.

Yet his daughter’s dream matched almost exactly what the mystic had foretold.

“Nothing to worry about. You simply thought too much by day, dreamed too much by night,” Bai Wanshu said, his tone unchanged.

“Father, please ask Uncle Yuan to cast a divination for me. Last night’s nightmare was too real—I can’t bear the ache in my heart.”

“Yes, yes, of course. I’ll send Master Yuan to Kaifeng to put your mind at ease.”

“Thank you, Father.”

Bai Wanshu smiled, pleased, and continued gazing at his granddaughter. His eyes flickered as he recalled what Chang Mama had mentioned last night—he said nothing, merely paced the room holding Gu Tingyi.

Some days later, the Xu family of the Yongyi Marquis arrived at the Ningyuan Marquis’s estate.

A thousand li from Kaifeng, in Quanzhou Prefecture, Nan’an County, Fujian Road. (Original novel: Quanzhou; TV adaptation: Lingzhou; here, the county magistrate of Fujian Road’s prefecture, later promoted to Quanzhou Assistant Prefect, then to wealthy Yangzhou, then back to the capital.)

In a courtyard of green-tiled, blue-brick architecture, a middle-aged noblewoman nearing fifty leisurely ate lunch, attended by a middle-aged maid.

She was the mother-in-law of the local County Magistrate—Madam Sheng.

Food must be refined, delicacies finely prepared.

The dishes included local fare as well as famed Kaifeng specialties.

Madam Sheng’s attire was not overly ornate, yet every gesture carried an indescribable air of nobility—clearly born into wealth and rank.

A hurried step entered—the figure a woman no older than twenty, her face tense with urgency.

“Ru’an, what’s wrong?” Madam Sheng looked up.

“My lady, Lady Lin and Hong’er have been carrying on secretly—Lady Wang caught them. Lady Wang now plans to take Hua Jie and Bai’er back to her family.”

Madam Sheng froze mid-bite, her chopsticks halting; she snapped:

“What did you say!?”

The meal was abandoned; Madam Sheng led the group out to the main courtyard.

The main room’s door stood open; County Magistrate Sheng Hong sat inside, face in hands; his wife, Lady Wang, clutched her two children, eyes brimming with tears, face flushed with fury.

In the courtyard knelt a beautiful, pale-skinned woman in red, her figure alluring, weeping bitterly.

“Lady Wang, it’s all my fault—I shouldn’t have let my longing take hold! I beg you, treat me like a dog or a cat.”

“I admire Honglang’s literary talent—I only wish to stay by his side, even as a servant or nurse—I’d be content, Lady Wang.”

The woman continued sobbing, pitiful and tender.

“Lady Wang, if you leave Honglang, kill me—I cannot live without him.”

As she spoke, the red-clad woman collapsed, fainting to the ground.

Seeing this scene, the elderly Madame Sheng’s hand inside her sleeve trembled with rage.

The woman who had fainted was surnamed Lin, named Qinshuang; she had been an official’s wife from Bianjing, and during the family’s confiscation, her relatives had sent her to Jiying Alley.

She had come with them to Fujian Road.

Originally, Elder Madame Sheng had already instructed her county magistrate son to find a scholarly candidate from a wealthy household in town to arrange a marriage for the kneeling woman, Lin Qinshuang.

If this match came to pass, it would bring matters to a proper conclusion.

Although the Lin family’s lady, whom she had known only by a few fleeting encounters in the palace, had been the one whose family was confiscated.

Yet she had secretly become intimate with her own illegitimate son.

Elder Madame Sheng had heard not a whisper of this matter.

“Seducing the local magistrate, plotting treason—seize her! Drag her to the side courtyard and beat her to death!”

“All others unrelated, get out of this courtyard!”

(End of Chapter)