He really listens to Yang Wan.
Initially, a guilty person felt ashamed of being a victim and hoped that Yang Wan's discipline would help him to relieve his inner guilt.
But Yang Wan never disciplined Deng Ying. She never rejected the "shame" that Deng Ying gave her. She then gently "tied" the hand he stretched out, allowing him to sit down calmly and talk to her.
She knew Deng Ying well enough that she never used the light of humanism to pierce through his outdated cultivation. Deng Ying, who was beside Yang Wan, still possessed a soul of the times as smooth as jade and flawless, exactly the same as what Yang Wan saw after six hundred years.
"What you have said cannot be violated."
"yes."
Yang Wan looked down at Deng Ying's hands on her knees.
"Put your hand out."
"Um?"
"Put your hand out, and let's make a pinky promise."
Deng Ying stood up and raised his hand towards Yang Wan. His sleeves dropped to reveal his wrists bound in shackles. Yang Wan supported the back of his hand with one hand and gently hooked his fingers with the other hand.
"Do you remember what I told you in Nanhaizi?"
Deng Ying nodded, "Remember, you said you would come to see me. Next time I see you, I will talk to you nicely."
Yang Wan smiled and tugged at Deng Ying's finger, "Deng Ying, I will still come to find you this time. But next time I see you, I will talk to you properly."
After she finished speaking, she took Deng Ying's hand. "Let's go. I'll take you there."
Qi Huaiyang signaled the officers to come forward and take Deng Ying away, and Yang Wan obediently let go of her hand.
Yang Lun glanced at Deng Ying, then turned to Yang Wan and said, "Do you have anything to say? There's a little time left."
Yang Wan shook her head. "No, you guys take him away. I'll follow behind and take you out of Donghua Gate."
After hearing what she said, Qi Huaiyang did not delay any longer and raised his hand to order.
Yang Wan and Yang Lun walked side by side behind Deng Ying. The dry snow powder on the ground was gradually treaded down by the people ahead, making a sound of sand and gravel friction. Deng Ying did not look back at Yang Wan. The wind blew up the snow powder at the city gate, passing over his body and rushing towards Yang Wan's face. Yang Wan turned sideways and held back the cough in her throat.
Yang Lun turned sideways to look at her and whispered, "Have you been sick recently?"
Yang Wan nodded, "A little bit."
Yang Lun turned around and raised his voice slightly, "Don't worry about him. Take care of yourself and His Highness."
"I know."
As they were talking, they had already reached the Donghua Gate. Deng Ying was taken to the prisoner's car. Yang Lun motioned Yang Wan to wait behind the door, and went forward to talk to Qi Huaiyang for a few words. The criminal department's group left, and Yang Lun turned around and walked to Yang Wan and said, "From today on, until the end of the three-court trial, you can't see him again."
Yang Wan nodded.
"but,"
Yang Lun paused and said, "The Ministry of Justice is different from the Imperial Prison. Family members outside are allowed to send some food and clothing to prisoners. He may not accept what I give him. But he dare not refuse what you give him. If you want to give him something, just point to someone and come to the cabinet duty room to tell me. I will buy it outside and give it to him."
Yang Wan smiled, "Brother."
"ah?"
Yang Wan raised her head and said, "You don't seem to blame me now."
Yang Lun was stunned, swallowed unconsciously, and then lightly scolded: "How can I control you?"
After he finished speaking, he turned his back and said after a while, "Live the way you want. If Deng Ying can come out this time, I will give you money. You can buy a house outside and live far away from me. Don't let your sister-in-law and others see you and get upset."
“We have a house.”
"You have a house?"
Yang Lun turned around and said, "Can you call that a house? Look at what has happened to it after being smashed by students from Chushan and Hudan academies."
"It's okay if it gets smashed. Deng Ying is a house repairman."
"What house repair?"
Yang Lun raised his voice and said, "What do you know? He was the one who built the imperial city. In the hundred years of our Ming Dynasty, there were only two people like him and Zhang Zhanchun. You asked him to repair the roof with you!"
Yang Wan looked at Yang Lun's red neck and couldn't help laughing. She lowered her eyes and said, "I'm sorry, brother. It's my fault. I won't let him fix it. I'll do it myself."
Yang Lun felt a little embarrassed when he heard her apology. He patted the back of his head, put his hands behind his back and walked forward a few steps, saying as he walked: "I still don't understand how to do this for the good of you two."
Yang Wan walked closer to Yang Lun, looked up and called him, "Brother."
Yang Lun pinched his fingers, said nothing and didn't look back.
Yang Wan changed the subject and said, "When will the cabinet draft a new edict?"
Yang Lun coughed and said, "Minister Bai and I have already drafted it. It will be issued after it is submitted to the cabinet for review."
After he finished speaking, he turned around, lowered his head and said to Yang Wanyue: "There is one thing you can prepare."
Yang Wan nodded, and without waiting for Yang Lun to explain, she said directly: "I'm already preparing."
Having said this, both of them fell silent.
The cold wind blew in from the city gate, making the shadows of the dead trees under the sun sway. Yang Wan pulled her clothes tighter, "Brother, I'm actually a little worried."
Yang Lun asked, "What are you worried about?"
"I'm worried that the queen won't want to return to Chengqian Palace."
"Why not?" Yang Lun asked back.
"When the eldest prince ascends the throne, the queen should be taken care of in the palace. Is she willing to live in the banana garden for the rest of her life?"
Yang Wan shook her head and said nothing.
The year Zheng Yuejia died tragically in the Heju case, Yang Lun also narrowly escaped death while presiding over the clearing of fields in the south.
Being sick on the river for a long time, he had no idea what was happening in the inner court thousands of miles away.
When he came back, Zheng Yuejia was dead, Concubine Ning was imprisoned in Jiaoyuan, Yang Wan was sentenced to death in the imperial prison, and Deng Ying was charged with the crime of occupying school land.
Yang Lun only knew that these people were trying to protect him and the land clearing project that the imperial court had finally started in the south. However, there were some overly obscure and delicate human relationships involved, and since the people involved refused to talk about it, he had no way of knowing.
"What happened?"
Yang Wan sighed and did not tell Yang Lun the secret story. She only said, "I guessed it, but I was afraid that the queen would be too hurt."
After saying that, he avoided the topic and asked, "Will the successor monarch issue a decree to welcome the queen back to the palace?"
Yang Lun said: "This matter is still uncertain. After all, the late emperor imprisoned the queen on the grounds of madness. The queen's future position will be discussed together with the great ceremony of the Empress."
"good."
Yang Wan pursed her lips and said, "After the new decree is issued, I will go to the banana garden to see the queen first."
After she finished speaking, she pinched her sleeve and paused. When she spoke again, her voice was much deeper than before.
"Brother, I want to leave the palace once everything is stable in the inner court."
"Leaving the palace?"
Yang Lun lowered his voice and asked, "Why do you suddenly want to leave the palace at this time?"
Yang Wan raised her head and looked towards the Donghua Gate. "I don't like the life in the inner court, and I don't want to be a slave in the inner court anymore. In the past few years, I have guarded His Highness and have taken a lot of punishment. My health is not as good as before. Living outside to recuperate may help me feel better."
After she finished speaking, she took a few steps forward, walked in front of Yang Lun, looked up at him and said, "When His Highness was young and His Majesty was not around, I was really worried. Now His Highness has grown up, and I have helped you to select the people who take care of him after meeting them over the past few years. They are not very smart, but at least they are all kind-hearted people. You can rest assured."
"Yang Wan."
"Um?"
Yang Lun lowered his head and stared at her face. "I haven't asked about your affairs in the past few years. Have you been wronged in the palace?"
"No, there is Deng Ying."
"He can't even protect himself."
"Too."
Yang Wan nodded and smiled, "But we support each other and live a very enjoyable life."
"I failed to protect you."
Yang Lun was silent for a long time before he said this.
"How about this, when the inner court is settled, I will take you home and let you recuperate at home for a while."
Yang Wan shook her head, "I'm not going home."
Hearing her say this, Yang Lun could not help but anxiously said, "Even if you want to be with Deng Ying, you have to wait until he comes out safely. During this time when he is away, where are you going to live in peace as a girl if you don't go home?"
"Who said I can't live in peace?"
She smiled brightly at Yang Lun, "We have Qingbo Hall and Kuanqin Hall."
"you… "
In the whole capital, only Kuanqintang and Qingboguan were the largest private bookstores. Kuanqintang was even larger than many government-run bookstores in the past, but now it has been quietly transferred to Yang Wan's name. Yang Lun was stunned and asked, "When did you take over Kuanqintang?"
"After the Autumn Examination."
"Where do you get the money?"
Yang Wan replied, "Don't worry, I didn't do anything I shouldn't have done. At that time, in order to stop Kuanqintang from printing and distributing the articles of Zhou Muyi and other students, I bought out all the ink from Kuanqintang. I also took advantage of the situation during the spring and autumn examinations this year to do some book business in front of the door of several big inns in Changhe, and I made quite a lot of money. Later, Kuanqintang had to retreat to the capital because of the "counter-case" of the academy, so I secretly took over his business in the capital."
Yang Lun said, "You said 'counter-case'. Yang Wan, I want to ask you, can Qingbo Hall escape responsibility? Who was the boss who hid the students at that time?"
"I hid it, but who can blame me for being the vegetable farmer's daughter of an official of the Eastern Depot?"
"OK… "
Yang Lun raised his finger and pointed at her, "You are really good."
Yang Wan smiled and said, "In fact, I should thank Deputy Envoy Zhang. He released my horse. Otherwise, it would be difficult to save Qingbo Pavilion, not to mention taking over Kuanqin Hall."
Yang Lun asked, "What do you want these two bookstores for? Do you want to be a female businessman?"
Yang Wan shook her head and said, "No, I want to be a scholar. Writing and books are the things I am most familiar with. I feel at peace when I read them."
After she finished speaking, she gently held her wrist, "Brother, what I need is never protection. No one can give me what I need, so I can only give it to myself. You and Deng Ying are both scholars. Deng Ying made a vow with a literary heart and remained faithful to it for life. You hold the pen in your hand like a knife hanging on your heart, which is equally respectable. If you can do it, then so can I, but I want to walk a different path from you."
"what are you up to."
"Observe, record, and then put on a winter coat for the sake of cold and barrenness."
"What's the meaning."
"For those who have been wronged, shout 'I don't accept it'."