Our renovation project was finally delayed until the spring of the second year of Jinghe.
By that time, Deng Ying's health had improved a lot, and his stomach had also become stronger, so he could accompany me to eat slightly spicy food. However, his old ankle injury still flared up from time to time. When it was severe, walking became a problem.
After the beginning of spring this year, there was a lot of rain and the construction work at home was forced to stop.
Deng Ying's legs were uncomfortable again, but she still had time to spare and did some work here and there.
Fortunately, Yi Lang asked the palace to send out the best ointment.
I found a sunny day, asked Deng Ying to sit on the porch, and I squatted on the porch to help him apply the medicine.
Deng Ying looked down at me and smiled, "Are you worried that I won't be able to walk tomorrow?"
I raised my head and said, "Why don't you just not work tomorrow and just apply some medicine and lie in bed all day. It's just tamping the foundation of the pavilion. I..."
I pointed at myself and said, "I can do it."
Deng Ying reached out and touched my head.
I don't know why, but ever since the last time he pulled me out of the bathtub, he has particularly disliked touching my head.
"It's not as simple as you think."
I squatted on the ground as if I had given up and let his fingers caress my scalp.
When he saw that I didn't move, he couldn't stop pulling.
It was a sunny spring day, and many birds landed in the open space in the yard to look for insects. I picked up a branch to tease the birds, and Deng Ying happily "plucked" my head. The wind was clear and the flowers were fragrant, and time was wasted, so naturally I forgot about the business.
We played in the yard until dusk for some unknown reason.
Deng Ying put her hands on her knees and said in a stern voice, "Wanwan, I didn't do any work today."
I was still persistently teasing the green-feathered bird in front of me, and casually replied, "Then you'll go hungry for dinner."
Who would have thought that the person would actually say "yes" in response.
I pulled my hand back and looked up at him.
"Then what shall I do?"
Deng Ying said, "I'll cook for you, and then I'll go hungry for a meal."
You see, this is the person who lives with me, always listens to me and never lets me go hungry.
I smiled and was about to speak when someone at the gate suddenly spoke: "Excuse me, does Mr. Deng live here?"
"yes."
I turned around and saw a few people who looked like craftsmen standing at the door. When they saw Deng Ying, they bowed and greeted her.
"Fine, I found you here. This is..."
The man who spoke looked at me, then quickly looked away. "This is Miss Yang, right? Excuse me, we are the craftsmen who worked with Mr. Deng to build the Hall of Supreme Harmony. We just finished the job the day before yesterday. I heard that you and I were looking for people to renovate the house, so I thought I'd come and see if there's anything I can do to help."
I motioned Deng Ying to sit down, walked to the courtyard gate and opened it wide. "His foot injury is not good, and I am worried about not being able to do it anymore. Please come in first. I will move some stools and everyone can sit down and have some tea."
"Yeah, okay. Thanks, young lady."
A few people came in somewhat awkwardly, helped me move stools, and sat down in the yard.
They were a little uncomfortable at first because I was there. I simply washed my hands and went to the kitchen to make tea. When I came out, they were reminiscing about the past with Deng Ying.
"When we were repairing the temple, the master's foot was seriously injured. It has not healed after all these years."
Deng Ying straightened her clothes and said calmly, "I am also taking care of it, but it's not that easy after so many years."
"Why."
The person who was speaking looked at the half-tamped soil in the yard and said, "Sir, did you tamp the foundation soil yourself?"
Deng Ying replied, "No, I just filled some of them. Previously, most of the work was done by craftsmen, but it rained a lot these days, so the work was suspended for a few days. Yang Wan and I had nothing to do, so we filled a few more baskets."
The man said, "Why do you need to do it yourself?"
Deng Ying smiled and said, "I have to follow the rules."
The craftsmen were puzzled and asked, "What are the rules?"
Deng Ying didn't answer, but looked up at me and smiled quietly.
I put the tea on the porch and served it to them while smiling, "The rule in our family is that if you don't work, you don't eat."
"this… "
Several craftsmen were holding tea and wanted to say something in front of me but didn't dare to.
The person who had been talking boldly asked me, "Miss Wan, let's do some work for the master."
He looked around and said, "We are taking a break. We have taken over Mr. Deng's work."
I held back my laughter and said to Deng Ying, "Looks like I can't let you go hungry tonight."
Deng Ying sat on the corridor, looking up with a smile on her face.
I rolled up my sleeves and said, "You guys just sit and talk with the master. I'll wash the vegetables first, then call Yun Qing back to cook together."
"Wan Wan."
Deng Ying called me.
"What."
"Can I have a drink?"
I looked at the craftsmen present, and they were looking at me expectantly. I couldn't help but laugh and turned around and said, "Let's have a drink, okay."
**
With the help of these "professionals", Deng Ying and I's decoration project progressed rapidly.
I became the canteen sister of the construction team and cooked big pot meals for them.
Speaking of which, after such a long time, I finally saw Deng Ying again, taking off the robe that symbolized a scholar, wearing a short shirt, rolling up his trouser legs and sleeves, and immersing himself in earth, wood and stone materials together with the craftsmen.
That's fine.
Being a well-behaved scholar in the Ming Dynasty would easily lead to being beaten with a stick or beheaded. On the contrary, being a craftsman would allow one to be freer and happier.
No, as Yang Lun said, asking him to repair the house seemed like a waste of talent.
Fortunately, my drawing skills provided him with a challenge.
The difficulty of the entire decoration project probably all came from my pile of "weird" drawings.
I originally had an almost dreamlike design for the house for Deng Ying and I, but later I gradually became more independent.
The main reason is that my drawing skills are too abstract. Every picture must be studied by Deng Ying and then redrawn by him before the craftsmen can understand it.
However, even so, my "design" still amazed the craftsmen.
The most interesting thing is the "sun room" I designed in the courtyard.
From the outside, it looked like a wooden house, but I asked Deng Ying to build two "panoramic skylights" on the roof that could be fully opened. I wanted the furnishings inside to be simple, but there had to be a bed so that on a clear summer night, I could lie inside and look at the stars. So Deng Ying and the craftsmen built a platform with wood to separate the water. The platform was covered with mats, and the mats were used as mattresses and quilts.
In the summer, we spent many nights cooling off in this "sun room".
Deng Ying sat on the mattress and read a book, and I leaned on his legs and looked at the stars. When I was tired, I would just sleep next to him.
Sometimes, when Chen Hua and Yun Qing came to visit us, I would cool the dumplings in well water, cut them into small plates and bring them to the sun room. I would teach Song Yun Qing and Chen Hua how to play cards, and take Deng Ying with them to "gamble in groups."
I am ashamed to say that although I am from Sichuan, I am not interested in activities that require sitting in one place for more than three hours. Therefore, I cannot play Mahjong, but I can play Landlord. I drew the playing cards for Landlord myself, and the paper is relatively soft, so I have to draw a new one almost every time I play. Later, Deng Ying made a new set for me using thin bamboo strips, and the "big ghost" and "little ghost" are my portraits.
To be honest, Deng Ying's painting skills are amazing.
Every time Song Yunqing played cards with us, he would laugh at Deng Ying.
"Sir, you've spoiled Yang Wan too much. You even painted her like this. If she doesn't win our money, who else can?"
Deng Ying looked at my cards and said to Yun Qing, "You are going to lose again."
Song Yun frowned and looked at the cards in his hand and said, "Yang Wan, every time the master helps you read the cards, you always win, but when you are alone, you always lose. You might as well let the master play with us directly."
I turned my head and asked Deng Ying: "Do you want to fight?"
Deng Ying smiled and shook her head, "I won't fight."
Chen Hua said: "Go ahead and fight, let's fight Miss Wan together."
Deng Ying still shook her head, "I don't have any money."
"You're not hiding..."
Chen Hua let the cat out of the bag and slapped himself with the cards in his hand.
I held my chin and smiled: "You still have some."
Deng Ying said: "I don't have it anymore, so you interrogated me. How dare I do it again?"
Song Yun chuckled and said, "Don't let the master help you fight Yang Wan. If he gets the cards, you can just give the money we brought directly to Yang Wan."
That's true.
Anyway, Yun Qing and Chen Hua went back that day after losing all their money.
Deng Ying went to wash the cups and plates, and came back to see me sitting on the bed counting money. She squatted down in front of me, looked at my hands, and said nothing.
I lowered my head and smiled: "What's wrong with you?"
He responded in a gentle voice, "I have two books on construction methods that I want to buy."
I looked at his Chen Ken look and laughed.
Deng Ying looked at me and smiled. She reached out and touched my head and asked with a smile, "Can I, Wanwan?"
I laughed so hard that I couldn't speak, so he gently rubbed my hair and said, "Wan Wan, is this possible?"
I nodded with a smile, "I put the money at home in the cabinet, and it's not locked. If you want to buy something, just take it directly. You don't have to keep asking me."
Deng Ying placed her other hand on my knee and said softly, "I want to ask you, no matter what I do in the future, I want to ask you, I will do it only if you agree."
I stopped laughing a little: "What? There's no need for that."
Deng Ying shook her head. "Oh, I was wrong before."
"What's...wrong."
Deng Ying withdrew her hand from my head, looked up at me and said, "I never asked you about anything I did before, and I acted on my own for several years. I actually never listened to you, but you haven't punished me yet."
I was stunned.
So that's what he was thinking about.
I put down the silver and coins, put on my slippers, got out of bed, and pulled him up from the floor.
"Do you feel at ease being with me?"
Deng Ying nodded and said "hmm".
I took his hand and said to him, "Me too. So, don't think too much. Be with me and do what you want to do. If you have money, you can take me to eat delicious food. If I have money, I can take you to drink spicy drinks."
Don't blame me, the prophet.
Later, Deng Ying actually made a name for himself in the construction circle in the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
So we saved some money and planned to travel while we still had the strength. We went back to Sichuan, Suzhou and Hangzhou, and went to Saiyuan to see the snow. Finally, we returned to Beijing to live out our retirement peacefully.
I saw how Deng Ying was getting old.
Like I said before, he really is a peculiar and nasty old man with no temper and who fights to do chores.
Sometimes he would write poems for me and read them to me secretly when I was asleep.
I used to be a person who was not afraid of getting old.
But Deng Ying made me understand how difficult it is for a person to live a complete life.
It’s good to be “old”.
Deng Ying is old, and I win.
This is the end of my and Deng Ying’s daily life in the Ming Dynasty.
If you still feel unsatisfied, then you can read "My Modern Daily Life with Yang Wan" written by Deng Ying.
I heard he knew who I was, but I had forgotten him.
Come on, Deng Xiaoying, it’s time for you to pay back your debt.