The Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet in the tenth year of Zhenning allowed Yang Wan to witness with her own eyes the extravagant style of royal banquets during the Zhenning period of the Ming Dynasty.
If the deficit of the Ministry of Revenue in history was just a single number, then the delicacies, pomp, and utensils laid out in front of Yang Wan were all specific annotations. She was in it and finally felt the contradiction and despair of Yang Lun and Bai Huan.
Because the stalemate between the civil officials and the emperor had lasted too long, it was only a regular banquet with three cups (1). Even so, the six departments of the inner court and the fourteen government offices were busy as hell. Yang Wan was recuperating in Chengqian Palace and had given up the matter. Song Yunqing was so busy that she almost cried at Wang Sile's place.
She and Yang Wan were both "clerks" in the Shangyi Bureau. If one person was missing, they would have to write one more document. For today's banquet, the Music Department and the Etiquette Department were constantly distributing items and personnel. The official documents coming in and out were like snowflakes, piling up on Song Yunqing's desk. Even so, people were still being sent from outside to urge her to do her job.
Song Qingyun couldn't help but cursed: "We are not a makeshift troupe that will leave after performing a few performances. I have already been assigned to a place today and I haven't even had a bite of food or water. What else do you want from outside? I can't grow another pair of hands for nothing."
Just as he finished speaking, he heard someone at the door say, "He's so angry."
Song Yun raised his head while holding the pen lightly. Yang Wan came in with a food tray and finally smiled: "Why are you here? Are you feeling better?"
Yang Wan put down the food tray and rolled up her sleeves as she walked, "It's almost done. Give me some land."
Song Yun pointed to the opposite side and said, "Please move out of here. I'm dizzy."
Yang Wan lowered her head and sorted out the documents in front of her. "I heard you complaining outside."
Song Yun paused and said, "But don't force yourself. If you don't take good care of yourself after catching a cold, it will stay with you for the rest of your life."
Yang Wan smiled, "I do have a cough, but I can't hold it in any longer. Go and have a rest. At least finish your meal. I'll take care of it."
Song Yunqing rested his hands and sat aside, picking up the chopsticks on the plate, "What are you cooking?"
Yang Wan lowered her head to dip the ink in the ink and replied casually, "Yangchun noodles, you can have some."
Song Yun picked up the noodles and took a bite. "I heard Li Yu and Chen Hua say it once. You cooked this noodles for Deng Shaojian."
Yang Wan said as she wrote: "You are the one who taught me that. We can't do other things, but isn't it easy to eat?"
Song Yun chuckled and said, "You're done, right? That's easy. Last time I got angry, I almost scared Master Shang Yi to death."
Yang Wan smiled but said nothing.
She wrote very quickly, and in a short while she had several books on hand. She looked up and said, "Ask the maid from the music department to come in and pass some of them out. The rest are not related to the current payment, so ask them to wait for a while."
Song Yunqing looked at her calm expression and said with a smile: "If you ask me, you are really a capable person. It is very difficult for me to sort out these things. When you came, not only did you sort them out, but you also made the order and priority clear to me."
Yang Wan smiled and said, "You're praising me to death."
"No, I really think you're good. We've also said privately that looking at everyone in the palace, it seems that only Young Master Deng is worthy of you."
She sighed as she spoke, "He was a man as cold as frost and snow. Tsk... It would have been great if he hadn't been convicted and stabbed."
Yang Wan glanced at her sideways and said with a smile, "Does Master Chen know that you think this way?"
Song Yunqing hurriedly shook his head: "I'm not, I'm thinking for you, you are the sister of Concubine Ning, if you want to leave the palace in the future, you can ask for grace and leave. I'm different, my family is broken up, my brother is also a eunuch, I have no one to make the decision if I leave, fortunately Chen Hua is willing to let me make the decision for him, I feel that nothing is important now, the important thing is to have someone to accompany me, to know my feelings, which is better than anything else."
After she finished speaking, she quickly ate a few mouthfuls of noodles, stood up to wash her hands, and said, "Tonight, Chen Hua, Li Yu and I are having a fish pot together. Would you like to come and ask Deng Shaojian to come with us?"
Yang Wan kept working, "I don't dare to disturb you, hurry up and finish these things so you can leave early."
"become."
Song Yunqing held the pen again, his face slightly gloomy, "I and Chen Hua are busy, and I didn't want to force it together, but after a month or two, I heard about some things outside. Oh, it's too tragic... A living person, suddenly became like that, and I can't see him again. I think I should take advantage of the good life, eat and drink, and be happy every day."
Yang Wan stopped writing and looked up and said, "You said it very well. I will remember it and tell Deng Ying about it later."
Song Yunqing said: "He is different. He is the one who builds the imperial city. If he is blocked, hundreds of palaces and thousands of buildings will not be built."
Hundreds of palaces and thousands of towers cannot be built.
Song Yunqing did not think deeply about the words he said unintentionally, but Yang Wan was stunned by the meaning behind these words.
Although later generations have a more scientific worldview and methodology, and can analyze the lifespan of dynasties and the fate of old people, their comments on old people are always based on the limitations of history and are high-handed. They are far less sincere and honest than Song Yunqing's words, "Hundreds of palaces and thousands of towers cannot be built."
Yang Wan remained silent, and Song Yunqing also stopped talking. The two women each held one of their own and kept writing.
At the time of Shen, the group walked out of the Shangyi Bureau together.
When Yang Wan returned to Chengqian Palace, everything was quiet.
He Yu and other older palace maids followed Concubine Ning to the Mid-Autumn Festival Palace Banquet, while the younger palace maids were free to eat and enjoy the moon. Yang Wan took moon cakes from the kitchen and went to the duty room of the Imperial Household Department. When she arrived at Deng Ying's residence, she saw that there was no light inside. The sound of water on the moat was cold and clear. Apart from the boundless moonlight, she could not hear a single human voice.
Yang Wan held the mooncake in her hand, feeling somewhat helpless, and had to find a place sheltered from the wind to stand.
She probably guessed that Deng Ying should be in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. In the past month, Yang Lun and Bai Huan had almost sacrificed their dignity as officials and subjects to save the people of Tongjia Academy, but Deng Ying never asked about it and focused on the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The construction schedule was getting faster and faster. It was originally planned to be completed in October, but at this time, the colored beams had already been painted.
Yang Wan remembered that in the autumn after the frost of the tenth year of Zhenning, Zhou Congshan was tragically killed in the Meridian Gate. There were countless roadside sacrifices in the streets and alleys of the capital, and the whole city was filled with grief and sobbing.
Emperor Zhenning felt that the Jinyiwei's power was too expanded, so he set up the East Factory in the Silijian to monitor the prison of the Northern Pacification Division headed by Zhang Luo, in order to check and balance the Jinyiwei. Yang Wan felt that Deng Ying seemed to have sensed this subtle political change at this time, but he had not told anyone yet.
As Yang Wan thought about it, her eyes became a little heavy.
She had not recovered yet, and now she had been standing by the moat for a long time in the cold wind, so her hands and feet felt cold and her throat was itchy. She pulled her jacket closer, and without caring about her appearance, she squatted down holding the mooncake in her arms.
Just when Yang Wan was beginning to feel unable to bear the cold, Deng Ying finally came back.
He was still wearing his plain blue-gray shirt with his sleeves half-rolled up. He was about to fetch some water to wash his face when he vaguely saw a person squatting in front of his house.
He walked forward quickly and saw Yang Wan huddled behind a broom in front of the door, shivering with cold.
Deng Ying squatted down to block the wind from behind her, "How long have you been waiting here?"
Yang Wan coughed a few times, "It's been an hour or so. If you don't come back, I'll freeze to death."
Deng Ying was somewhat at a loss, "I didn't know you were here, I..."
Yang Wan raised her head. "I wanted to go to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to find you, but I didn't want to delay your business. I thought that today is Mid-Autumn Festival, and you would come back early. Who knew I was wrong."
After she finished speaking, she coughed several times and her face turned pale.
"Open the door and let me in."
Deng Ying finally reacted and quickly got up and opened the door.
Yang Wan moved into Deng Ying's room trembling.
The room was dark. Deng Ying was looking for a candle on the desk when he heard Yang Wan standing by the door, coughing uncontrollably. He quickly closed the doors and windows, annoyed that his home was so shabby that it didn't even have extra candles.
"Deng Ying."
Yang Wan called him from behind, and he quickly turned around and replied, "I'm here."
Yang Wan's eyes were red. She felt as if she was really blown by the wind. Her face, which had just been cold, was actually a little hot, but her body was still cold and stiff.
She couldn't help but sniff and hummed, "Deng Ying, I'm still a little cold."
Deng Ying looked around at the walls. Apart from a few unwashed clothes, there was only a quilt. He looked at Yang Wan and felt hesitant.
He didn't want his personal belongings to get on her body, but he had nothing else to keep her warm.
Yang Wan coughed again, shrugged her shoulders and sniffed uncomfortably.
Deng Ying really didn't care about anything else. She lit a candle and walked to her bed.
"Come and stay on my couch for a while."
As he spoke, he bent down and spread out his quilt, "Come."
Yang Wan squatted beside the bed, took off her shoes, hugged her knees and curled up in Deng Ying's quilt.
His quilt was not softer than the silk quilt in Chengqian Palace, but it had a faint scent of soapberry.
Deng Ying stood behind her, put her pillow behind her, turned around and said to him, "I'll go boil a pot of hot water."
Yang Wan shook her head and grabbed the corner of his clothes, "No, I'll just cover it for a while, you sit down."
Deng Ying sat down along the edge of the bed, bent down to pick up Yang Wan's shoes and put them aside, but didn't say anything after she stood up.
Yang Wan gathered the quilt and sat closer to him.
"What’s wrong with you."
Deng Ying put on Yang Wan's darkly embroidered paper shoes and said, "This place is too cramped."
"No, the quilt is very warm. I just covered myself with it for a while and I feel much better than before."
After she finished speaking, she hid her head in the quilt.
"When I was sick as a kid, I liked to hide under the covers like this."
Deng Ying looked at her red face and asked, "Are you having a fever?"
As he spoke, he subconsciously raised his hand, wanting to touch her forehead, but as soon as he raised it, he stopped.
Unexpectedly, Yang Wan raised her hand and gently pressed it on his forehead. She touched her own forehead with her other hand and said in annoyance, "It's over."
After saying that, he let go of her hand and wrapped himself up again, "Deng Ying."
"Um?"
"Let's eat mooncakes."
She said, raising her chin forward, "I left it on the table."
Deng Ying turned around, holding the oil-paper bag but did not move.
Yang Wan said helplessly: "You are silent again."
"I have no idea… "
He squeezed his hands gently on his knees, "How can I deserve you to treat me like this?"