Zhang Luo looked down at He Yixian.
This man entered the palace as a eunuch when he was seven years old. Now he has many children and grandchildren. The whole palace calls him "old ancestor", and even the female officials of Shangyi call him "godfather". He was in charge of the Silijian for twelve years. Although he was abused and criticized by the ministers, the emperor personally said to Zhang Luo: "If it weren't for this servant, if I wanted to reward someone in my family with something, would I have to go to the duty room of the cabinet to ask for it?"
There was no wit in these words, but Zhang Luo understood them very clearly at the time.
He disdained to have anything to do with these eunuchs, but they were dogs that could not be beaten.
He turned and walked toward the east gate, saying solemnly, "Since this is about His Majesty, let's go into the office and talk."
He Yixian followed Zhang Luo into the main hall.
Zhang Luo took off his sword and placed it on the table. He dragged a chair over and sat down. He looked up and said, "Go ahead."
He Yixian stood in front of Zhang Luo, half bent over, "Master Zhang showed mercy to Huang and Liu."
Zhang Luo said: "It is a favor from His Majesty."
"yes."
He Yixian laughed and sighed, "Your Majesty has done his utmost to be kind to these people, but they simply do not appreciate the grace of God."
Just as he finished speaking, a horrifying cry of pain suddenly came from the imperial prison in the back court. Zhang Luo turned around and asked, "Who's behind me?"
The captain replied, "It was Captain Qin. Those prisoners from Tongjia Academy were making noise in the cell today and making irresponsible remarks about Your Majesty. Captain Qin is currently dealing with Zhou Congshan."
Zhang Luo said: "Can't you see they are discussing something here? Shut him up!"
"yes."
The hundred households rushed to the back court.
He Yixian stood up and looked towards the back court.
"Is this Zhou Congshan the teacher at Tongjia Academy?"
The terrible screams of pain turned into shrill whimpers.
Zhang Luo frowned and said bluntly: "Master He, just speak frankly."
"yes."
He Yixian turned around and said, "It's been half a year since Deng Yi's case. These people, under the pretext of speaking up for Deng Ying, wrote a bunch of treasonous articles, but in fact they are still Donglin Party members, insulting the emperor and father, arrogant and insolent, they should have been executed long ago. Today they made irresponsible remarks about Your Majesty, they really deserve to be cut into pieces. Your Majesty has pity on the young officials of the Six Departments and the Metropolitan Procuratorate and is unwilling to use severe punishment, but there is no need for Lord Zhang to tolerate these people with serious crimes in the imperial prison."
Zhang Luo clenched his hands.
"Kill the people from Tongjia Academy?"
He Yixian responded, "These people were convicted because of the Deng case, and they should be executed. The Censorate dare not object to this. Lord Zhang just needs to let the ministers in the court see the consequences of insulting the emperor and father."
Zhang Luo stood up and walked a few steps to He Yixian. "Is this your Majesty's intention or yours?"
He Yixian cupped his hands and said, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty, even if you have this intention, you will not tell it."
After hearing this, Zhang Luo suddenly slapped He Yixian hard in the face with his backhand. He Yixian rolled under the table.
But he didn't shout. He raised his sleeve to press the corner of his mouth and said to Zhang Luo.
"If Your Majesty has to say everything and do everything, how can I, Your Majesty, get along?"
Zhang Luo looked down at him, "Don't confuse me with the likes of you."
"Yes, my Lord taught me that."
Zhang Luo took the knife from the table, put the sheath against the wound on He Yixian's face, tilted his head and said, "What do you mean?"
"I did it myself."
***
It was hot in June, and the Imperial Pharmacy was making cooling tea for the palaces. The twenty-four inner court offices and six bureaus each transferred some palace servants to the Imperial Pharmacy to help.
After Yang Wan got off work, she tied up her sleeves and squatted in front of the tea stove with Li Yu.
She had never had a good time with these fiery things, and soon she was beaten to a pulp.
Li Yu looked at her flustered appearance and was somewhat speechless, "Hey, is the tea so urgent that your Shangyi Bureau even transferred you here?"
Yang Wan fanned herself a few times, wiping her sweat and said, "What do you know, little kid?"
Just as she finished speaking, she saw the imperial physician coming out with a medicine box. Yang Wan wiped the dust off her face and stood up and said to Imperial Physician Peng, "Imperial Physician Peng, are you going to leave the palace now?"
Imperial Physician Peng looked at Yang Wan and said with a smile, "Miss, you have been on duty here these few days. You must be very tired. Come in and wipe your hands."
"Okay, I also have something to ask the imperial physician."
Imperial Physician Peng invited Yang Wan into the pharmacy, ordered the eunuch to fetch some water, put down the medicine box, and motioned for Yang Wan to sit down with him.
"Miss Yang, what do you have to say? Please tell me."
Yang Wan wiped her face with the water brought by the eunuch, clasped her hands on her knees, and said softly with some embarrassment: "Actually, I don't dare to speak up. I know that the imperial doctors never treat eunuchs. But Young Eunuch Deng's leg injury has been very painful this month. Even if he can get some medicine, it doesn't seem to have any effect. I don't know what to do, so I can only try to ask you."
Imperial Physician Peng smiled and said, "So that's what happened. Miss Yang, how did Junior Supervisor Deng get his leg injured?"
Seeing that he did not refuse immediately, Yang Wan quickly responded, "Last year, he was in the prison of the Ministry of Justice and wore heavy shackles for too long, which hurt his bones. It rained a lot this spring and summer, and he got caught in the rain at the beginning of last month. I saw that he seemed to be in pain all the time."
Imperial Physician Peng nodded after hearing this. He opened the medicine box and took out a bottle of medicine for injuries. Just as he was about to hand it to Yang Wan, he suddenly paused, turned around and put the medicine back, then turned back and said, "Well, ask him to come over and I'll take a look at him."
Yang Wan couldn't help but stand up, "Are you serious?"
"Yes. I've been injured for more than half a year. I need to see a doctor to know how to treat it seriously. Otherwise, no matter how many medicines I take, they will only treat the symptoms and not the root cause."
Yang Wan asked hurriedly, "Are you leaving the palace now?"
Imperial Doctor Peng looked at the sky and said, "It's still early."
"Then I'll ask Li Yu to go find him."
After she finished speaking, she happily walked outside the pharmacy and snatched Li Yu's palm-leaf fan.
Li Yu stood up and asked, "What are you doing?"
"I'll help you watch over it, you go find Deng Ying."
Li Yu said, "You don't want him to help you light the fire, do you? He has been either in the inner study or in the Hall of Supreme Harmony these days, and he is very busy."
Yang Wan hit Li Yu on the head with the fan.
"Who said I asked him to light the fire? Go find him right away, or I'll tell your sister that you didn't listen to me."
"you…"
Li Yu stamped his feet and turned around, "Okay, I'll go find him."
"Wait, you haven't asked me what I want him to do. What if he doesn't come later?"
Li Yu rolled his eyes.
"You asked him to do it, but he didn't even ask. I'm leaving now. Don't tell my sister."
Yang Wan squatted down behind Li Yu with a smile and bent over to tend to the fire in the stove.
Towards the autumn of the twelfth year of Zhenning, she had been tossing and turning in nightmares for a whole month, unable to sleep well.
She didn't dare let Concubine Ning and the people from the Shangyi Bureau know, and she still passed letters between the inner court offices every day, but when she saw Concubine Ning and Yi Lang, she spoke obviously less.
The blanks in her notes were filled in before the Tongjia Massacre. From Zhang Zhanchun to the two censors Huang and Liu, every word and sentence, although it seemed concise and calm, was in line with her usual writing style, but it was full of blood and tears.
Today, she finally had something that made her happy.
She thought about this while fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan and looking towards the door.
The golden sun is in sight.
It was dusk when Deng Ying came over.
He seemed to have come directly from the Hall of Supreme Harmony. He was wearing a gray shirt with dust on the cuffs. He rolled up his sleeves as he walked and squatted beside Yang Wan. "Did you get punished?"
Yang Wan folded her hands on her knees and said, "I guess so."
Deng Ying reached out to take her fan, "Let me do it."
Yang Wan shook her head and said, "I was just kidding. I'm fine."
After saying that, he waved to Li Yu who was behind him, "Come here."
Li Yu took the palm-leaf fan with a confident look, "Alright, Deng Ying, hurry up and take her away. She is in front of the fire, and even the fire is afraid of her."
Yang Wan couldn't help laughing and tapped his head: "Thank you for your hard work."
After saying that, he stood up and said to Deng Ying, "Come on, follow me in."
Deng Ying also stood up and looked towards the pharmacy. "This is not a place I can enter privately."
"No problem."
Imperial Physician Peng walked to the door and said, "Today, for the sake of Miss Yang and the Shang Yi Bureau, I can make an exception."
After saying that, he stepped aside and said, "Come in."
Deng Ying and Yang Wan walked into the pharmacy together.
Imperial Physician Peng pointed to an armchair and said, "Sit here."
Deng Ying stood still, "Deng Ying dare not, please speak if you have anything to say, sir."
Imperial Physician Peng said, "Your injury is on your ankle. How can I see you if you stand still?"
Deng Ying was stunned, "How can I let you treat my injuries?"
Yang Wan pulled his sleeve and led him to the armchair. "I have begged you for a long time. Please stop talking. If you don't show me, I will die of anger in front of you."
Deng Ying felt a little awkward as she pressed her down on the chair, but she didn't say anything more.
Imperial Physician Peng glanced at Yang Wan and said with a smile, "You don't have to be angry with him."
After that, he said to Deng Ying: "Take off your shoes and socks, let me take a look first."
"Sir, no!"
Seeing that he almost subconsciously moved his legs to the side, Yang Wan released her hand that was holding Deng Ying and took two steps back towards the door.
"I feel a little hot, I want to go out for some fresh air, you are not allowed to make Master Peng angry, do you hear me?"
After saying this, without waiting for Deng Ying's response, he turned around, walked outside and closed the door.
Li Yu, who was outside the door, saw her coming out and asked, "Why did you come out alone?"
Yang Wan sat down on the steps, "You don't understand that patients have privacy."
"What the hell... I don't understand."
Yang Wan held her chin and smiled: "You are just a little brat."
"I'm going to tell my sister that you scolded me."
Yang Wan reached out and touched his head, "Go, little brat."
Deng Ying listened to the joyful voices outside and stood up and bowed to Imperial Physician Peng.
"Deng Ying is a humble person, and I really cannot offend you. Besides, this injury on my ankle was caused when I was in prison. It is a punishment and a warning, and does not need to be treated."
Imperial Physician Peng motioned for him to sit down.
"I am a doctor and do not care much about the judiciary. Although I am in the palace, the principle is the same. Practicing medicine is also a way to establish a relationship. Even if you are really a criminal slave, as long as the crime is not punishable by death, I am willing to treat you. You just refused to take off your shoes and socks. You don't want to be disrespectful in front of Miss Yang."
An outsider pointed it out.
But he felt uncomfortable with shame.
Yang Wan was the person closest to him, so close that she had seen him naked, with only a piece of cloth covering his body.
He should have lost all his courtesy in front of this woman, and it would be impossible for him to get it back.
Liking her is already a big mistake.
He replied with a "yes" almost as if he was confessing his guilt.
Imperial Physician Peng said, "She's not here right now. Please take it off and let me see. I see you have been enduring the pain since you came in. If you continue like this, the consequences will be very serious. You don't want to be disabled at such a young age, do you?"
After hearing what he said, Deng Ying stopped insisting, bent down and rolled up his trouser legs. His ankle had been badly swollen ever since he came back from Guangji Temple, and it was excruciatingly painful every time he put on his shoes. He endured it and didn't tell anyone, and he didn't know how Yang Wan saw it.
"It hurts just like this, doesn't it?"
Imperial Doctor Peng squatted down and checked the affected area. "You have been walking a lot these days."
"In the Hall of Supreme Harmony, it is inevitable that you will walk more."
“No wonder.”
He stood up and said, "The source of the pain is in the bones. It is difficult to cure the injury, but it can still be treated. Don't mention it, although Miss Yang is not familiar with medical theory, she is quite accurate. How old is she this year?"
Deng Ying put down her trouser legs and lowered her head to tidy up her shoes and socks. "Eighteen."
Imperial Physician Peng stood by the window washing his hands. He glanced at the steps and said nothing more. He just smiled and said, "It's not easy for someone of your age to have such a thing."
After he finished speaking, he suddenly heard a quarrel coming from the cabinet duty room.
Imperial Physician Peng simply opened the window wide.
"What's going on in the Cabinet today?"
Deng Ying stood up and walked to the window. "Today is a meeting, what's the matter?"
Yang Wan also stood up and saw Deng Ying hurried over to the window and said, "I heard Yang Lun's voice, it sounded like he was arguing."