Bai Zheng's words set Bai Nianyin's blood boiling.
He recalled when he was a child, his grandfather Bai Qiying holding him on a horse, galloping across the vast and flat ridges in the southern border.
It was his first time on a horse. He was so scared that he tightly shut his eyes.
Bai Qiying laughed heartily and shouted, "Nianyin, don't be afraid! Open your eyes and look. This is all the territory of our Great Zhou. Isn't it beautiful!"
Bai Nianyin managed to open his eyes a crack. A lush expanse of greenery came into view. The wheat ears were starting to grow, bending under their weight and swaying in the wind.
Many border villagers in coarse cotton clothes were working in the fields. When they saw Bai Qiying, they would show their white teeth in a smile and respectfully shout, "General!"
Bai Qiying replied with a smile, "It snowed at the beginning of the year. There will surely be a good harvest this year."
"Yes, there will surely be a good harvest!" The villagers replied with simple smiles.
Bai Qiying lowered his head and whispered in Bai Nianyin's ear, "Nianyin, remember. The mission of our Bai family's sons for generations is to protect these villagers well and ensure they have a good harvest every year!"
"Grandpa, Nianyin remembers!" The young Bai Nianyin replied loudly.
Once he thought of Bai Qiying, Bai Nianyin's face turned pale and then red.
He turned his head and looked at the carriage parked not far away.
What was he doing? Nianjin was also his grandfather's grandson and a son of the Bai family.
As the eldest brother, how could he do something like harming his own flesh and blood!
Seeing his expression soften, Bai Zheng secretly let out a sigh of relief. She quickly seized the opportunity and said, "Brother, if elder sister is really unhappy because of the matters of the General's Mansion and insists that someone from our Bai family should take the blame, then let me, Bai Zheng, take it. Nianjin is still young and doesn't understand anything. This matter really has nothing to do with him."
How could Bai Nianyin not understand the truth Bai Zheng was saying?
If Bai Yizhang hadn't been telling him for the past few days that Bai Zheng was extremely cunning, and if Bai Sheng hadn't repeatedly emphasized to him not to confront Bai Zheng directly but just bring Bai Nianjin back.
How would he have bypassed Bai Zheng and taken the innocent Bai Nianjin onto the carriage?
Thinking of this, Bai Nianyin frowned deeply. After all, he had also promised Bai Di and Bai Sheng in person that he would bring someone back from the Bai Mansion. If he let Bai Nianjin go now, wouldn't he be going back on his word?
"Zheng'er is overthinking. Nianjin is just going to the General's Mansion to take care of the sick," Bai Nianyin forced a smile and said.
"Just taking care of the sick?" Bai Zheng looked at Bai Nianyin coldly, and a cold smile also appeared on her lips. "Brother always says he doesn't recognize the current Zheng'er. But has brother really gotten to know his two younger sisters in the family?
Back then, second elder sister colluded with bandits and tried to kill me on the mountain path. Elder sister even used formations just to take my life!
If Nianjin goes to the General's Mansion and falls into the hands of these two ruthless sisters, will he still have a way out?
Brother, you would even risk your life to protect unrelated villagers. Why are you so determined to push your own blood relative into a dead end now!"
"What are you talking about? Sheng'er and Di'er are not such people!" Bai Nianyin's face suddenly changed. His eyes immediately turned cold, and he shouted.
"Qingshao!" Bai Zheng didn't want to argue with him. She directly called out to Qingshao.
Qingshao, who was guarding the carriage and confronting the coachman, immediately understood when she heard Bai Zheng's call. She took the blue cloth bag she had prepared before leaving from her back and neatly threw it to Bai Zheng.
Bai Zheng caught the cloth bag and untied it, revealing a stack of white papers mixed with silk cloth inside. They were densely filled with words.
"Brother, take a look for yourself," she said as she handed the stack of things to Bai Nianyin.
Bai Nianyin hesitated for a moment and then took the papers and started reading.
The more he read, the paler his face became, and the hand holding the papers began to tremble violently.
Bai Zheng sighed. It seemed that the evidence of all the crimes committed by Bai Sheng and Bai Di that Princess Yunxi had collected back then was finally useful again.
If she hadn't understood Bai Nianyin's character and known that he was different from the others in the General's Mansion, Bai Zheng wouldn't have been willing to take a gamble and bring these things here. She wanted to see which one Bai Nianyin would choose between justice and family affection.
Bai Nianyin flipped through the evidence faster and faster. He read through each page, and a layer of scarlet climbed into his eyes. "Where did this come from!"
Bai Zheng looked at Bai Nianyin calmly, even a little pityingly. "Where it came from is not important. What's important is the content on it."
"Impossible! Sheng'er and Di'er are not such people!"
Bai Nianyin felt like he was about to collapse! He had been hit with too many shocks in the past few days.
His father, whom he had always respected, was doing secret things like betraying the country, abandoning his lord, and harming his brothers. His beloved younger sister had become a promiscuous woman who seduced her brother-in-law.
Now, his two younger sisters, who had always shown themselves as gentle and timid in front of him, had actually done a series of scheming and ruthless things behind his back!
Were these still his relatives? Was this still the General's Mansion he was familiar with?
Bai Nianyin angrily threw the papers on the ground. His eyes darted around, and his face was full of disbelief.
Bai Zheng sneered. She felt a bit contemptuous of Bai Nianyin's refusal to accept the truth. "Didn't brother also think before that Zheng'er was not such a person? Well, now that brother can calmly accept Zheng'er's changes, why can't he accept the changes in elder sister and second elder sister? Is it just because elder sister and second elder sister are your own sisters, while Zheng'er is just a cousin?"
Bai Nianyin was left speechless by these words. Just as he didn't know how to reply, he heard Bai Zheng continue, "If just now, brother took Nianjin away because he didn't understand the true nature of elder sister and second elder sister and was deceived by them.
But now, the evidence is right in front of brother. If you still insist on taking Nianjin away, then it's premeditated murder!
If even a single hair on Nianjin's head is harmed in the General's Mansion, Zheng'er will submit a petition to the emperor and expose all this evidence, along with the fact that brother is harming his own brother, to the whole world!"
Bai Zheng straightened her back. Her originally thin body now exuded great momentum. Her words were so powerful that Bai Nianyin's face turned completely pale. "You dare!"
"Why wouldn't I dare?" Bai Zheng looked at Bai Nianyin contemptuously and didn't back down at all. "In this General's Mansion, I, Bai Zheng, originally recognized you as my elder brother from the bottom of my heart, thinking that you were different from uncle and the others. But now it seems that brother's actions are really disappointing to me!"
"I..." Bai Nianyin stared blankly at Bai Zheng, who looked "angry at his incompetence." He opened his mouth but couldn't say a word for a long time.
Looking at Bai Nianyin like this, Bai Zheng's emotions gradually calmed down. She took a deep breath, bent down to pick up the evidence scattered on the ground, and put them back into the cloth bag. Then she said slowly, "Brother, I know the nature of those people in the General's Mansion. They are vengeful. I'm afraid they've already planned many ways to take revenge on our Bai Mansion by now, right?"