"If you know anything, just say yes."
Yang Wan picked up the noodles and walked inside.
Deng Ying smiled, caught up with her and said, "You can give it a try. You have always been more accurate in predicting His Majesty's thoughts than we are."
Yang Wan turned around and said sternly, "Deng Ying, do you dare to trust my feelings about this kind of thing?"
Deng Ying said: "It's not that I believe you, it's because this matter is within your Majesty's control. I can help Zheng Bingbi to save Concubine Ning before that, so if it's your method, I'm willing to give it a try."
Yang Wan pursed her lips and remained silent for a moment, and Deng Ying did not urge her.
The noodles in the bowl gradually cooled down and the smoke disappeared. Yang Wan finally opened her lips and looked up and said, "Your Majesty wants Your Highness to be worried about your father through the interrogation in recent days and the reprimand today. If you report back that Your Highness has become sick due to the interrogation in recent days, perhaps His Majesty will immediately pardon Your Highness. As long as Your Majesty intends to protect his son, then this case will not involve Yang Lun, and can only be closed on Huang Ran as soon as possible. But... today you are the one interrogating, if Your Majesty is guilty, this is another crime that the court officials will criticize, I don't know what will happen."
Deng Ying looked at Yang Wan, "Lord Yang once told me that no matter what I do, the court will no longer accept me. In fact, I know it in my heart without him telling me. For me, a clean political environment and a smooth implementation of the land clearing policy are what I want to see, and... I want you to be safe."
After he finished speaking, he picked up the bowl and took a mouthful of noodles. "It's almost cold. Bring it in quickly. I'll eat and leave soon."
Yang Wan actually really wanted to ask Deng Ying how this matter would end if she hadn't proposed this method.
But when this question rushed into her mind, she once again felt that she was not the only one who had escaped the net.
She took the bowl of noodles, sat beside Yi Lang's couch, and opened her notes.
The blank space of the transition that she couldn't write before seemed to be completed now, but she couldn't find a way to put her name on the notebook.
**
That night, Yi Lang, who was frightened and frightened, had a high fever. In the second half of the night, he was even a little confused. He pulled Yang Wan's sleeve and kept calling Concubine Ning. Yang Wan covered him with the quilt, turned around and knocked on the door of Wuying Hall. The Jinyiwei at the door stopped her and put the blade against her neck.
"Wait a moment."
Yang Wan looked in the direction of the voice.
She saw Zhang Luo raising his hand in the corridor, walking towards her while signaling the Jinyiwei to put down their knives and retreat.
He walked up to Yang Wan and looked her up and down.
She looked much more dishevelled than before, her skirt was stained with wood ash, her hair was loose, and she looked somewhat pitiful.
Zhang Luo retracted his gaze, holding the knife, and said, "Breaking the ban late at night is a crime punishable by immediate death. What do you want to do?"
Yang Wan bowed and said, "Your Highness has a high fever. Please send for the imperial physician."
Hearing this, Zhang Luo raised his chin to the guard at the door and said, "Go and check it out."
"yes."
Two people stepped past Yang Wan in response, bringing with them a gust of cold wind. After a while, they came out and reported, "Sir, His Highness is indeed suffering from a high fever."
Zhang Luo said, "Go to Huiji Gate and hand over my card, and ask the imperial physician on duty to come in."
After saying that, he used the handle of the knife to push Yang Wan against the palace door and said, "The man from the East Factory came here today. What do you want to do?"
Yang Wan pressed the handle of the knife and said, "Let go."
Zhang Luo tilted his head gloomily and pressed her even tighter, "If I knew you were using Your Highness to play with me, I would never let you go."
Yang Wan tried desperately to break free and accidentally grabbed Zhang Luo's fingers, who suddenly withdrew his hand.
Yang Wan squatted at the door, catching her breath, and without saying anything, she stood up, pressed her shoulders, and walked towards Hengshouzhai without looking back.
The imperial physician on duty at Huiji Gate was Imperial Physician Peng. After examining Yang Wan, he said, "The cold has entered the lungs. This is dangerous. I will report to the Yangxin Palace immediately."
Yang Wan stood up and said, "What can I do..."
The imperial physician looked at Yi Lang's complexion and turned back to say, "Cover your Highness with a blanket and warm up the charcoal."
"good… "
After saying that, he patted his sore shoulders vigorously and squatted down to add more charcoal to the fire.
Imperial Physician Peng casually asked, "What happened to the maid's hand?"
Yang Wan said "Oh", "I just bumped into you."
As soon as she finished speaking, Yi Lang suddenly called out in confusion, "Aunt..."
Yang Wan wiped her hands and sat next to him, "Are you awake?"
"Well... Aunt, I dreamed about Master Huang and my uncle..."
"What happened to dreaming about them?"
Yi Lang said nothing, but he stretched out his hot hands to hug Yang Wan. Yang Wan simply wrapped him up and held him in her arms.
"When your highness sees His Majesty, he must not fight with His Majesty."
Yi Lang nodded, "Yi Lang knows, I will apologize to my father and not let my mother, aunt, and uncle worry."
"good."
It seemed that the child understood human nature, and he didn't seem to need Yang Wan to say much, as he understood most of it.
Yang Wan hugged Yi Lang's hot body and coaxed him softly to go back to sleep.
When the sky just got bright, the decree from the Yangxin Palace came down as expected. Emperor Zhenning ordered that Yi Lang be sent back to Chengqian Palace for recuperation. Concubine Ning personally came to pick him up with an umbrella. When Yi Lang saw Concubine Ning, he felt sad but did not cry.
After Concubine Ning settled Yi Lang in Chengqian Palace, she turned around and saw Yang Wan standing silently against the screen.
"Wan'er, thanks to you."
Yang Wan shook her head and stood up to look at Yi Lang, whose face was flushed with fever.
"I didn't take good care of him."
Concubine Ning followed her gaze and said, "It's a blessing to be able to come back like this."
Yang Wan said, "Your Majesty must be worried."
"Yes, but I dare not say it, for fear of angering His Majesty and causing the child to suffer more, and also for fear of implicating my brother."
Yang Wan comforted him, "Now... it should be fine."
Concubine Ning took Yang Wan's hand and sat down behind the screen. "I hope so. Wan'er,"
She hesitated for a while before speaking, and when she spoke again, her voice was a little hesitant: "Do you want to leave the palace?"
Yang Wan was startled, "Why would your Majesty ask that?"
Concubine Ning said, "When I first entered the palace, I was still a lively person, but after this year, I feel that I am not as carefree as before. If you are willing, you can let Deng Changchen buy a house outside the palace, away from the gossip in the palace, and live in peace. It would be good too."
Yang Wan blurted out: "If I leave, what will happen to Yi Lang?"
I was shocked after saying this.
When she said this, she had already acknowledged that Concubine Ning would not live long.
After hearing this, Concubine Ning patted her hands and said, "He has his life and will be safe."
After hearing these words, Yang Wan suddenly saw the shadow of a winter bird passing by the window.
It seemed to be in despair, wanting to break through the void. Yang Wan didn't intend to see it clearly, but subconsciously turned her back.
***
On the tenth day of the first lunar month in the thirteenth year of Zhenning, His Majesty went to Chengqian Palace in person to visit Yi Lang. Yang Wan and Song Yunqing stood outside Chengqian Gate together. Finally, at noon, they heard the content of the imperial decree—Huang Ran was sentenced to death by beheading, and the rest of the officials were sent to the Fasil Road for trial.
When the Ministry of Justice sent people to pick them up, each of them was as happy as if they had gone from hell to heaven.
After the Ministry of Justice took over the case, most of the trumped-up charges found in the imperial prison were overturned, and the cases were concluded one by one at a rapid pace.
There was also another decree that was sent to the inner court.
Dozens of imperial envoys who interrogated Yi Lang, including Deng Ying and Zhang Luo, were all punished with ten strokes of the cane.
Yang Wan saw Deng Ying again on the night of the fourteenth day of the first lunar month in the inner court of the Neidongchang.
The inner office of Neidongchang only has two rooms.
The outer room is the main hall, and the inner room is the duty room.
There was nothing furnished in the duty room except a low bed, three or four stools and a table crowded together.
Deng Ying sat by the window, flipping through Yang Lun's "Plan for Clearing the Fields". Two factory guards sat on the side, peeling peanuts. One of them said, "What are you reading, the governor? You've been reading for an hour."
Another whispered, "The Land Cleaning Strategy written by the Ministry of Revenue."
"The land in the south is being cleared, and my hometown's land is going to suffer."
"Does your family have much land?"
The man waved his hand and said, "Fortunately, there aren't many. The remaining people in my hometown don't really want to take care of them. If they can be sold, it would be fine."
"That depends on the price."
After he finished speaking, Deng Ying coughed a few times. The person who spoke stood up and asked, "Do you want some water, Governor?"
Deng Ying put down the proposal and tried to stand up. "I will fall down by myself."
The man came over and said, "Let me serve you. If you hadn't gone to Wuying Palace in person that day, I would have suffered the consequences."
"Sh ...
The factory guard next to him pulled his clothes and looked towards the door.
The man still didn't understand what was going on. "Don't pull me in. We all know that our Lord is good, not those evil spirits... this... this... Female Envoy Yang."
After saying that, he stood up with a bang, brushed off the peanut skins on his body, and pulled the person next to him to close the door and go out.
Yang Wan was wearing a water-green shirt with large sleeves today, a white cloud shoulder strap with a Ruyi pattern on her shoulders, loose hair and a flat bun, with a jade hairpin in her hair. It was somewhat different from her usual palace dress.
"Why are you here?"
Yang Wan supported Yu Zanzi and said, "Chen Hua asked me to ask you if you are feeling better. If you are, we will go to his place the day after tomorrow to get some food."
Deng Ying said: "Why doesn't he come himself?"
"Oh, he was afraid that if he came, it would seem like he was trying to curry favor with the Inner East Factory, so..."
"Will Song Zhangzan let him order you around?"
"… "
Yang Wan looked at Deng Ying sitting under the lamp, analyzing things seriously, and suddenly she had an urge to jump up and pinch his face.
"I asked him for this job, okay?"
Deng Ying seemed to understand the meaning of this sentence, but subconsciously said "Ah?"
"… "
Yang Wan sat next to Deng Ying, "Believe it or not..."
"Hiss..."
Yang Wan accidentally touched his half-healed wound, and he couldn't help but gasp.
Yang Wan stood up quickly, "It's over, where did I get bumped into?"
Deng Ying stiffened his neck and didn't say anything, but subconsciously picked up Yang Lun's "Cleaning the Fields" and put it against his legs. This action reminded Yang Wan of the first time she entered his room. Deng Ying sat on the bed, holding a book in the same stiff manner.
"Sit across from me, okay?"
He said, gently changing his sitting position, "Would you like some water?"
Yang Wan understood that he was changing the subject, so she took over and said, "Yes."
Deng Ying reached out and poured a cup of tea for Yang Wan, and also poured herself a cup.
"Is your highness feeling better?"
"Much better. Of all the people, your injury is the most difficult to recover from. I'm sorry, I gave you bad advice and hurt you. If you feel confused..."
She said, holding out a hand, "Do you want to fight back?"
Deng Ying shook her head and smiled, then placed a jade bead carved with a lotus on it into Yang Wan's palm, "Here you go."
Yang Wan was stunned, and then she heard him say, "I carved it during the past few days of recuperation. It is also a fixed bead. You can wear it on your other jade pendant. This is a bit of leftover jade left when the eyes of the beasts were replaced on the roof of the Zhongyi Palace. The jade is of good quality, but I am not very good at carving jade, so some parts are not carved well."
Yang Wan moved the bead under the lamp. The bead was not even half the size of a fingernail, but it was finely carved into the shape of the stamen and petals of a hibiscus flower. Although jade was warm and moist, it was more fragile and harder to carve than wood. When she was a child and studying "The Story of the Walnut Boat", she was simply amazed at the exquisite craftsmanship of the ancients. Now, holding such a finely crafted object in her hand, in addition to admiration, she also felt the joy of receiving a gift.
"The Ming Dynasty's craftsmanship is outstanding."