The day after the snow, the lake was bright with snow.
The guard covered his eyes and opened the door of the warehouse. People who had been feeling uncomfortable inside squeezed out. The guard was pushed into the snow before he could even finish yawning, and his nose was bleeding. He sat up and pressed his nose, cursing, "Damn it, everyone is in a hurry to reincarnate." Just as he was about to get up, his hand was hit by something in the snow. He picked it up in the snow and saw that it was a hibiscus jade pendant.
"Oh. These poor people are still hiding private files..."
After saying this, he quickly covered his mouth, hunched his back and subconsciously looked around. While the surroundings were in chaos and no one was watching, he quickly hid the jade pendant in his arms.
Before he could hide, he heard someone behind him ask, "What are you doing squatting?"
"Huh? I didn't do anything..."
The person who spoke was a junior eunuch under Li Shan. Seeing that he was sneaking around, he kicked him twice from behind without any mercy, raised his chin, and said, "Hurry up and get the person out. The people from the Imperial Household Department are coming here early this morning."
The guard stood up hurriedly, brushed off the snow on his body, and approached the eunuch to ask, "We are going to take him over now. Has Zhang Huzi returned to the lake?"
The young eunuch covered his mouth and nose and took a step back, "You are really rash, stay away from me."
After he stood up, wiping his clothes, he put down his hand and answered the question slowly, "I heard that Master Li caught him from the temple outside last night and sobered him up overnight."
After hearing this, the guard said happily, "Okay, I'll bring the person out right away. After I finish this job, we can celebrate the New Year tonight."
Just as he was about to walk inside, he was stopped from behind.
"Come back. What's that thing you have up your sleeve?"
"Hey, this..."
"Bring it here."
The guard had no choice but to hold up the piece of hibiscus jade and said with an apologetic smile: "The small one was picked up."
The young eunuch spread the jade in his hand and looked at it carefully. He saw that he was still standing in front of him. He shouted in a low voice: "Why are you still standing there? Take someone with you."
When the guard saw him chasing people away, he knew that his filial piety would be in vain. Although he was unhappy, he could only agree in a sullen manner and turned around to take the people away muttering.
**
He was in a bad mood and was very rude to Deng Ying.
Deng Ying had not eaten or drunk anything for three days because of the torture. Although he could not walk fast, he tried his best to maintain his walking posture.
The guard got impatient and pushed him from behind, shouting at him, "Hurry up, don't you think you have enough bad luck?"
After he finished speaking, he put his hands in his sleeves and cursed, "Everyone said you wouldn't live long in the lake and would commit suicide, but you managed to live for more than half a month. The Ministry of Justice and the Imperial Household Department kept asking us questions every day. I don't know whether they wanted you to die or live. Today you have your fate, so leave quickly. If you delay any longer, won't you still suffer? Are you scared now and want to run away? Forget it."
He had his jade stolen, so his words were particularly harsh.
Deng Ying lowered her head and silently endured every word he said. When she looked up again, she had already reached the door of the torture chamber.
The torture chamber was a veranda room with a cotton tent, with a charcoal fire burning and lamps lit inside. Facing south, two people from the Ministry of Justice and Zheng Yuejia, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, sat there. Four Jinyiwei were standing outside the door.
The guard knew that his job had come to an end in front of these gentlemen, so after carefully handing the person over, he walked away without even daring to raise his head.
Deng Ying walked into the torture room alone. The people inside were talking. When they saw him come in, they just looked up at him and did not stop intentionally.
"Yang Lun also came to Haizi early in the morning."
Zheng Yuejia nodded and said, "The Yang family is still looking for their third daughter."
"He's been missing for more than half a month. His third daughter is famous for her beauty. If we find a dead person, maybe it'll be a pile of innocent bones. But if we find a living person, well... what can it be?"
Zheng Yuejia was a eunuch and obviously had no curiosity about these things.
He waved at the person who was speaking, looked up at Deng Ying, motioned for him to close the doors and windows, took his hand back from the hand warmer, put it on his knees, and said to him in a raised voice: "You already know the grace of His Majesty."
"yes."
This was not the first time Zheng Yuejia had dealt with Deng Ying. Although she knew that Deng Ying had good manners in his previous dealings with others, she had never expected that he would still be able to maintain etiquette when meeting him in this situation.
"good."
Don't give too much emotion, or it will become a topic of conversation. Zheng Yuejia raised her hand and gestured, "Take off the torture device."
Taking advantage of the free time, he continued to talk with the officials from the Ministry of Justice.
"So when you came here today, did you meet Master Yang?"
"Oh, yes. We followed him into the lake, and he took people to the west slope, but I don't think they could find anything. There is no harvest in the lake this year, and there is not even a blade of grass growing on the west slope."
Zheng Yuejia smiled, "Lord Yang really loves his little sister."
"That's right. I think the Zhang family has given up, but he is still looking. Not only that, but he is also very protective of his sister. I said something a little too much today and asked him to ask those sea households with adult men to see if there is any news. Eunuch Zheng, guess what, if someone hadn't held him back, I think he would have come up and started a fight."
Zheng Yuejia ignored him and said, "Your Excellency is not a man of good words."
The man laughed and said, "I'm just telling you something. I know that your ancestor has always been at odds with Yang Lun. These people from the Six Departments curse the Ministry, the Office, the Imperial Household Department and the Twenty-Four Bureaus every day. Why bother? These days, no one in the court has an easy life. The evil that Yang Lun has done with his tongue may not come back to him, but it will definitely come back to his family."
Zheng Yuejia smiled without saying anything and looked up at Deng Ying, who was raising his hands to cooperate with the person who was removing the torture instruments for him.
The shackles and chains were shattered off and piled at his feet.
The official from the Ministry of Justice felt that he had said something a bit too much. Seeing that the task here was completed, he propped up his knees and stood up, "Okay, Eunuch Zheng, from today on, our Ministry of Justice will not ask about this person anymore, and will completely hand him over to your Imperial Household Department."
Zheng Yuejia also stood up and said, "Excuse me."
The official from the Ministry of Justice took one look at the thinly dressed Deng Ying and suddenly sighed, "Ah, this year is really a bad year. I saw that all the people in Deng's party died."
After saying that, he shook his head and walked out with his men.
Zheng Yuejia waited until the man walked out before walking towards Deng Ying with his hands behind his back.
Deng Ying looked at him silently with her hands hanging down. There was no change in her eyes, but she looked much thinner than the last time they met.
Zheng Yuejia couldn't help but sigh, and reached out to gently pat Deng Ying's shoulder.
"Are you feeling alright
"fine."
"All right, all right."
He withdrew his hand and straightened his voice.
"The ancestor wants you to enter the inner school. Although you are a eunuch, you can still teach in our inner school like Yang Lun and his people. When you have time, you can talk about poetry and prose to the descendants of the inner school. If you can find some good young talents, you can give some advice on engineering and Yixue. In addition, there is the matter of the three major halls in the imperial city. The construction project there is still in your hands. The Ministry of Works will assign an official to assist you. Of course, this will have to wait until you recover."
"yes."
Deng Ying deserves peace.
Seeing that he had no intention of saying more, Zheng Yuejia also kept silent. After a while, he suddenly asked, "Don't you have anything else to say? I can make decisions that Li Shan can't make."
Deng Ying raised her head and said something that surprised Zheng Yuejia.
"Please tell Lord Yang Lun on behalf of Deng Ying that there is a woman in the lake, maybe she is his younger sister."
Zheng Yuejia was stunned, "How do you know?"
Deng Ying shook her head.
"Deng Ying is a criminal, so I can't go into details."
Zheng Yuejia nodded and didn't ask any further questions.
"Where is she now?"
"I don't know yet. She is injured. Maybe she fell down a slope before. She has been staying outside the warehouse where I am imprisoned for the past ten days."
Zheng Yuejia frowned, "That's probably not right. For the past half month, Haizi has been looking for her outside, making a lot of noise. It makes no sense for her not to know. Why doesn't she ask Li Shan for help?"
This was also the question in Deng Ying's mind. If he had not heard the conversation between Zheng Yuejia and the officials of the Ministry of Justice here, he would have found it hard to believe that Yang Lun's sister, the woman who was already betrothed to the son of a cabinet minister, would say on the eve of her execution that she would live for him all her life.
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Zheng Yuejia continued to ask, "How do you know she is Yang Lun's sister?"
Deng Ying lowered her eyes, "She has two hibiscus jade pendants on her body."
The Yang family worships jade, and all members, both men and women, love to wear jade.
Deng Ying pointed this out, and Zheng Yuejia couldn't help but sigh, "Maybe you really got it right."
After that, he said to the outside: "Let Li Shan come to find me."
After that, he crossed his arms and asked Deng Ying, "Besides this matter, do you have anything else to say?"
"No."
His voice was very calm and distant. Zheng Yuejia understood his intention and nodded.
"Okay, I'm leaving now."
When words become cold, their meaning becomes dull.
After Zheng Yuejia left, the door of the veranda was locked tightly, leaving a not very warm charcoal stove inside. Sparks sporadically jumped to Deng Ying's feet. Deng Ying squatted down, leaned against the stove, slowly took off her shoes and socks, and sat quietly for a long time.
Zhang Huzi hasn't arrived yet, and I don't know if it's Zheng Yuejia's arrangement. She wants to give him more time.
If so, it's really a bit redundant.
The charcoal fire gradually burned out.
Deng Ying finally stood up, turned around and half-knelt on the wooden couch, using her fingers to lift the window paper a little bit.
He had no other purpose, he just wanted to take a look at the people or things outside.
He had never wanted to rely on anyone before, including his father, brother and close friend, but now he wanted physical contact, even through prison clothes, and if possible, it would be best if the person was a little warmer than him.
Is there anyone outside at this time
Yes, there is.
Yang Wan sat on the stone steps behind the torture chamber, holding the booklet.
She was skiing on the roof, and occasionally a handful of snow would fall down and hit her feet.
She was not frightened, but she looked cold. She hugged her legs unconsciously, put her chin on her knees, and silently picked at the corner of the booklet. Her eyelids were heavy, but she was not sleepy.
She slept in front of Deng Ying last night and didn't sleep well.
I woke up in the middle of the night and opened my eyes to find Deng Ying looking up at the snow shadows on the window, as if she had not slept yet.
There was no light at night, but there was a sparkling spring in his eyes. Even though he was wearing thin clothes and looked stiff with cold, the calmness of being able to sit in the corner on the eve of his execution made Yang Wan feel a little warm.
When you enter the human world, you will not be jealous even if you are seriously hurt.
This kind of humanity of Deng Ying can heal many people for most of their lives in the 21st century.
In order to find out what happened before and after Deng Ying was tortured, Yang Wan had searched almost every library in Beijing, but could not find any reliable relevant documents.
However, there is a lot of messy information scattered in the private collections of literati in the late Ming and Qing dynasties.
For example, a not-so-serious scholar in the Qing Dynasty fabricated such a passage in his own private collection.
He said that after being tortured, Deng Ying hid his "treasure" in a small pottery jar and always carried it with him. Later, when he became the governor of the East Factory and bought a mansion in the city, he buried the pottery jar under the roots of an elm tree in front of the main hall of the outer house and ordered people to water the wine jar every day. It is said that this is called "planting roots". When planting roots, if you are pious, maybe you can avoid the inner palace brushing and it will grow underneath. Unfortunately, Deng Ying was later convicted and executed, and the angry Donglin Party youths dug out the wine jar, smashed it, took out the rotten things inside and burned it into charcoal.
When Yang Wan saw this, she decisively discarded all the information about the Qing Dynasty scholar.
When doing historical research, let alone having a stance, it is best not to even have a personality.
How twisted must that person be to make up such a brainless story about Deng Ying "planting roots".
Yang Wan's digging of Deng Ying to the end was completely unacceptable to any Ming history researcher who, for any purpose, humiliated Deng Ying personally. The best thing to counter these messy accounts is the real first-hand information.
Is there any more direct information than being there and seeing it with your own eyes
Yang Wan understood everything in her heart, but how to say it
The person in the document is a dead person, with no boundaries between them and the living. They have no privacy, and their extinguished lives are for future generations to peek into. But the Deng Ying who lives in front of Yang Wan is different.
He is not a pile of charcoal that cannot be burned and does not need to be reignited.
Yang Wan felt that, at least in this time and space, in addition to being her research subject, he was also a living person.
They are equal.
never mind.
She finally decided not to take this first-hand information, and stood up to brush off the snow foam on her hair. However, she was still a little unwilling, and turned back to look at the wall covered with black moss.
never mind.
She repeated the two words silently again.
Let’s wait until he gets better. Anyway, this part… is not very important.