Deng Ying lifted up her robe and sat down in front of Yang Wan again, the book still on her lap.
Yang Wan sometimes wonders, in this world, when a man and a woman have sex for the first time, is it the woman who leads the man, or the man who guides the woman? Or, to put it another way, in an era when civilization did not impose "shame" and "love" on sex/love, which side of the sex enjoyed this purely physical pleasure more
As she thought about it, she couldn't help but look at Deng Ying.
Deng Ying obviously couldn't answer a question that was difficult to trace in history and sociology. He sat in front of Yang Wan in silence, and the shadow of the chair outside the window fell on him. At this moment, Yang Wan saw the conceptual "purity" in him. She asked unconsciously.
"Deng Ying."
"Um."
"Who do you think is happier when a man or a woman is together?"
Deng Ying clenched her fingers on her knees.
"What you mean by together is..."
"Clouds and rain."
Deng Ying hesitated for a while, looked down at her hands clasped on her knees, and replied, "Man."
"Why."
"Because men don't feel pain."
When he said this, his brows frowned slightly.
Yang Wan's heart skipped a beat, "Deng Ying..."
Deng Ying did not respond.
Yang Wan raised her voice again and called him, and he then looked up at Yang Wan.
"What's wrong."
"Deng Ying, will it hurt?"
"What?"
"Does it hurt?"
Deng Ying looked at Yang Wan in surprise. She sat on the couch with her knees hugged, her head half tilted and her brows furrowed, waiting for his answer.
"meeting."
After he uttered this word, he lowered his head subconsciously.
The pain was caused by the scar left by the wound, where the scar flesh proliferated, breeding pleasure (harmony) and at the same time, also adding an abnormally sharp pain. No normal man would experience this kind of needle-like pain during sex (harmony). Deng Ying recalled her feelings and quietly dropped her hands from her knees.
Yang Wan looked at Deng Ying's lowered hands and her throat tightened.
He answered the question which was difficult to trace in Yang Wan's eyes simply and directly, but he did not belong to either gender.
Yang Wan thought that she had made some breakthroughs in her research on Deng Ying based on the work of her predecessors. But now, she has found another way to get started from the understanding of this person's body.
The source of his self-pity, self-sin and self-destruction lies in the destruction of his gender.
"Come and lie down."
She said, moving inside.
Deng Ying took off her shoes as she was told and lay down on her back next to Yang Wan.
Yang Wan looked at the damp marks on the beam above her head and gently grabbed Deng Ying's arm.
Deng Ying turned her head to look at Yang Wan, and obediently stretched out her arm towards her, "Wan Wan, let me go wash my hands..."
"Don't go."
Yang Wan held Deng Ying's hand and said, "I don't want to do anything else. I just want to lie with you for a while."
Deng Ying did not disobey Yang Wan. She stretched out her legs and lay quietly.
Yang Wan leaned on Deng Ying's shoulder and closed her eyes silently.
The wind swayed the shadows of the dead trees on the window, filling the room with autumn shadows, and the sound of leaves rustling could be heard on the window lattices.
"Asleep."
"Don't you want to eat something? Li Yu gave me an egg."
“No.”
Yang Wan turned over and huddled under the quilt, "Deng Ying."
"exist."
“I won’t read that book anymore.”
"Why."
Yang Wan curled up, "That book can teach you how to do it, but it can't teach me."
Deng Ying looked at Yang Wan's exposed hair and whispered, "You don't have to do anything."
He turned over and faced Yang Wan's back, "I will serve..."
Before she could say the word "you", Yang Wan pinched the back of her hand hard. Deng Ying frowned and swallowed the next word.
"Don't talk when you sleep."
After she finished speaking, she let go of her hands and curled herself up into a ball.
Deng Ying moved most of the quilt to Yang Wan and said softly, "Okay."
**
Deng Ying took control of the East Factory again, and the Cabinet immediately handed over a memorial drafted by the lecturer of Wenhua Palace and signed by the cabinet, requesting the establishment of the Crown Prince.
In the main hall of the Imperial Household Department, He Yixian and several eunuchs were approving documents on behalf of the emperor.
Emperor Zhenning was often confused due to his illness, and almost all government affairs fell into the hands of the Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department.
Since the seal of the Yangxin Palace was no longer needed, He Yixian directly took the imperial seal to the Silijian.
That day, Hu Xiang stood in front of the secretary, dipped his finger in water and handed over the memorial, waiting for He Yixian to use the seal.
He Yixian brushed his waist, put down the seal for a moment and said with a smile: "Old."
Hu Xiang smiled and said, "The old ancestor needs to be strong, otherwise who can bear these major events?"
As he was saying this, the door was suddenly pushed open and Li Bingbi walked in hurriedly.
Hu Xiang raised his head and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you so embarrassed?"
. "
Li Bingbi straightened his hat and said to He Yixian, "Grandfather, the memorials from the Ministry of War cannot be kept here any longer."
He Yixian stopped and straightened up, "I told you to talk to the Minister of War, did you tell him?"
"Yes."
Li Bingbi walked up to He Yixian, took the tea brought by the eunuch and took a sip. "The Minister of War Liu Xian and the Vice Minister Song Ge are both Bai Huan's disciples. It is not easy for our ancestor to ask them to delete their own signatures from the memorial to establish the crown prince."
He Yixian laughed and motioned Hu Xiang to turn the fold, "Then continue to stay in the middle."
"Grandfather, listen to your son, you can't keep me here!"
Li Bingbi was a little anxious, and he knelt down in front of He Yixian with a plop, "You stay here, I'm afraid the people in the Northern Frontier will kill those of us who are left in the army."
He Yixian motioned Hu Xiang to continue passing the folded paper over, and said calmly: "Are you worried about your grandson?"
"Ancestor..."
He Yixian raised his other hand to stop Li Bingbi from moving forward, raised his seal, and said, "I feel sorry for them. For so many years, they have been guarding the yellow sand field and listening to news from the north for me. They have little money and have suffered a lot, but..."
He leaned over and approached Li Bingbi, "If we old bones can't be saved, how can we save our grandchildren outside?"
Li Bingbi's throat choked and he clenched his fists on the ground.
He Yixian sighed, "I have seen how well you have been treating the children under you in the past few years, and they are also filial to you. But you have forgotten our situation as you see your life going smoothly."
"I am ashamed..."
He Yixian shook his head. "Once the eldest son ascends the throne, we will immediately have to take off our crowns and robes and be dragged to the execution ground by Yang Lun and his men. It would be a minor thing to lose our heads. The worst thing is that we will be reduced to a pile of minced meat and our bodies will not be collected."
After he said this, even Hu Xiang, who was standing beside him, trembled.
Li Bingbi said: "Your Majesty would not treat our ancestors like this."
"Who can say for sure?"
He Yixian laughed, "How can the master feel sorry for us? This world is also his family. If we want to live, we can only please the master. But if the master hates us in the future, ten thousand pardon orders will be useless."
Li Bingbi said: "But, ancestor, the succession is ultimately up to your majesty's will. How can we..."
"Why are you panicking? Why hasn't the master discussed appointing a crown prince? The cabinet only knows how to talk about the great principles in front of the emperor. When has it ever been considerate of the master's heart? How can the master not hate them? You can see clearly, we are trying to get our lives between these civil officials and the master. As long as the crown prince is not decided, our road will not be dead yet."
Li Bingbi lowered his head and said, "Grandfather, why can't we find a way out like Deng Changchen did?"
"A way to survive?"
He Yixian forced a laugh from between his teeth, then gradually let out a laugh, and his face became somewhat ferocious.
"You thought he was walking on a path of survival, but he actually died. He lost two ounces of meat, but he wanted to stand with those people. What will be the end? Yang Lun, Bai Yuyang, which one of them is not afraid of being involved in his scandal?"
As the sound of the sounded, all life in the room died.
He Yixian rubbed his waist and said to Hu Xiang, "Keep turning."
**
The setting sun gradually disappeared, and the charcoal in the cabinet duty room was added one after another.
Yang Lun walked in from outside, taking off his robe as he said, "I went to see Liu Xian from the Ministry of War and temporarily suppressed him."
Bai Huan looked at the sparks that kept bursting out of the charcoal basin and asked, "How many days has their folding stone been here?"
Yang Lun said: "It's been seven days. If it drags on, the Gu and Qian armies in the north will run out of food."
Bai Yuyang slapped his knees and said, "Not to mention Liu Xian's anxiety, my heart is burning like charcoal. Although the affairs of the six ministries have not been stagnant, the Imperial Household Department is holding back the soldiers, the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Revenue are at a critical juncture, and our petition for the establishment of a crown prince is not being delivered. Sooner or later, there will be unrest."
Yang Lun said, "What they want is unrest. Liu Xian almost broke into the Yangxin Palace yesterday. His Majesty is seriously ill, and he was charged with disturbing the emperor. The Imperial Household Department can detain him at will, and the Northern Pacification Department is waiting under the platform to arrest him. Can the people of the six ministries withstand such a loss? Minister Bai, we have been dealing with the Imperial Household Department until today, and we have learned enough lessons. In front of His Majesty, a single move can affect the whole body. Huang Ran and Zhou Congshan are all lessons from the past. If it is for personal gain, it is fine to die, but if we die because of you, and hand over this bright and clear world to the eunuch party, I, Yang Lun, will not be willing to accept it!"
Bai Yuyang said nothing and threw the teacup away.
Porcelain chips were scattered everywhere.
Yang Lun glanced at the messy ground, sighed secretly, stood up and said, "Teacher, I'm going to see Deng Ying."
As he spoke, he walked out. Just as he reached the door, he heard the eunuch at the door say, "Sir, the factory official is outside and has been standing there for a while."
Yang Lun raised his head and saw Deng Ying standing in front of the gate.
Yang Lun breathed a sigh of relief without realizing it and walked towards him.
"You know about the Ministry of War."
"knew."
His voice was not loud, but steady. "Keep the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue stable. I will deliver the memorial."
After listening to this, Yang Lun nodded subconsciously, and then asked, "How do you deliver it?"
Deng Ying raised his head and said, "Use the name of the eunuch in charge of the East Factory to investigate the Silijian and retrieve the delayed memorials."
Yang Lun asked, "Are you going to use the East Factory to fight the Imperial Household Department in the inner court?"
"right."
Deng Ying lowered her eyelids and said calmly, "Xiao Xi, once these memorials are submitted, there will be two consequences. One is that the Queen will punish me for disturbing Your Majesty's recuperation, and the other is that Your Majesty will punish He Yixian for delaying state affairs. Punishment for me is inevitable, but it only involves palace rules and will not hurt the root cause. However, the punishment for He Yixian..."
Yang Lun continued: "Your Majesty may not punish him at all."
Deng Ying took a deep breath and said, "No, His Majesty will definitely punish him. But if He Yixian is not sentenced to death this time, then, this battle for the crown prince will be bloody."
"What do you mean… "
Deng Ying asked, "Do you still remember the 'Red Pill Case' (1) from the previous day?"