Deng Ying raised his head.
Through the doorway, the snowy wind carried the lingering smell of meat and wine, a pungent mixture that seemed at odds with the woman wrapped in soft silks before him.
“This servant will remember Your Highness’s words,” he said.
Consort Ning shook her head. “Don’t call yourself a servant before me. You and Zheng Binbi are both like jade beneath the dust. Though I cannot match Wan’er and become a duster to polish you, I hope that as an Imperial Consort, my respect for you both can ease your suffering somewhat.”
After hearing these words, Deng Ying finally dared to look at Consort Ning.
“Your Highness’s words today, Deng Ying will never be forgotten.” He finished with a deep bow.
Consort Ning acknowledged his bow with a nod and replied evenly, “Then promise me you won’t make Wan’er cry anymore.”
Since crying before Consort Ning, Yang Wan had been in a daze for several days.
As the year drew to a close, besides preparing for the New Year festivities, the palace was also preparing for another major event—Concubine Jiang’s impending delivery.
The Emperor was even considering declaring a general amnesty for this occasion.
Meanwhile, due to the Emperor’s attitude toward this child whose gender was yet unknown, the court had begun the final great debate of Zhenning’s twelfth year—the establishment of an heir apparent.
Yang Wan remembered that Emperor Zhenning had never designated an heir during his reign. After his death, the court and inner palace had split into two factions. One faction, led by Yang Lun and Zhang Cong, supported the elder prince. The other faction, led by the Grand Empress Dowager’s clan and the head eunuch of the Ceremonial Office, supported the younger prince.
Both sides’ intentions were obvious.
Yang Lun and Zhang Cong were imperial tutors. Yi Lang was their strictly trained student who embodied all of the Ming civil officials’ dreams of an enlightened ruler. They were unwilling to establish a child whose potential they couldn’t even gauge as the new emperor.
The Ceremonial Office’s thinking was even more straightforward.
Yi Lang, educated in ancestral law, viewed eunuchs as servants and maintained a strict attitude toward the Ceremonial Office, showing no favoritism. However, his younger brother Yi Jue was quite close to the eunuchs, having been raised in their arms.
As for the imperial clan at the time, due to Emperor Zhenning’s previous indulgence, they had continuously annexed land and depleted the Ministry of Revenue’s coffers, becoming an intractable problem. To protect their vested interests, they naturally didn’t want Yi Lang, who had been educated by reformists, to ascend the throne. Therefore, they encouraged the Grand Empress Dowager to oppose the cabinet.
Although it seemed complicated this power struggle was very brief.
The reason was that Yi Jue suddenly died shortly after Emperor Zhenning’s death.
Historical scholars have long debated the cause of Yi Jue’s death.
The initial mainstream view held that Yi Jue must have died from political assassination.
However, the evidence refuting this view was also straightforward. Yang Lun, Zhang Cong, and other civil officials had no power to carry out assassinations. To suggest they borrowed the power of jianghu sects would be turning history into fiction.
Therefore, another view emerged later: Yi Jue died at Deng Ying’s hands.
The initial reasoning for this view was simple. After Yi Jue’s death, Yi Lang naturally inherited the throne, and his first act was to have He Yixian beaten a hundred times with the rod and banished to the Nanjing Imperial Tombs. As for the later head eunuch of the Ceremonial Office, Hu Xiang, because Yi Lang didn’t trust him, the position became essentially powerless, while Deng Ying became the de facto leader of the Ceremonial Office.
Supporting evidence for this view appeared in the “Hundred Crimes Record” written by Yi Lang for Deng Ying’s death by Lingchi.
This article wasn’t long, but it listed a hundred crimes of Deng Ying, written by the Emperor’s hand and proclaimed to the world.
One of the crimes was “harming imperial relatives.”
This crime had no corresponding historical evidence against Deng Ying, so some historians believed this must refer to the prince’s case from that year.
Of course, this was still far in the future from Yang Wan’s current time, so what concerned her more now was Yi Lang and Consort Ning’s situation in this political debate that would yield no results.
And… how to face Deng Ying.
However, with two major events coinciding, the Six Offices and Twenty-four Inner Palace Departments were so busy there was barely any breathing room.
Yang Wan had almost no free time to organize her notes and thoughts.
She was naturally an efficient and meticulous person. When she couldn’t sort out her emotional problems, she simply buried herself in work, to the point that even Song Yunqing became worried seeing her like this.
This day, just after the fifth watch, Song Yunqing carried a candle into the main hall of the Ceremonial Office and saw lights on in the archives. Yang Wan was alone on a wooden ladder, searching for official documents on the shelves.
“Haven’t you gone back yet?” she asked, putting down her candle and holding the ladder steady. “Why bother? Wait for the gate staff to come on duty, let them climb up.”
Yang Wan looked down, “My mind’s been in chaos these past few days. It’s better to stay busy.”
Song Yunqing said, “What are you looking for? Come down, I’ll search for it. Go get some sleep, how can you go on like this?”
Hearing this, Yang Wan leaned against the ladder and rubbed her eyes.
“I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.”
Song Yunqing said, “Li Yu says you fought with Secretary Deng.”
“What? He’s talking nonsense.”
“I thought so too. How could someone like Secretary Deng fight with you? But speaking of which, why haven’t you gone to see him for so long?”
“Oh.” Yang Wan lowered her head to hide her expression. “Her Highness hasn’t been feeling well these past few days. And we’re so busy here.”
Song Yunqing sighed, “That Concubine Jiang, hmph… she’s nearly turned the Six Offices upside down. If she bears a prince, I imagine she won’t even acknowledge the Empress. I don’t understand why His Majesty would favor such a woman. No wonder the officials outside are petitioning to establish a crown prince.”
Yang Wan nodded silently.
Song Yunqing continued with another sigh: “I heard… Her Highness was punished to kneel in the Hall of Mental Cultivation the other day.”
Yang Wan didn’t deny it.
“Mm.”
“Ai.”
Song Yunqing sighed. His Majesty wouldn’t even give face anymore; yesterday the entire palace knew about it. The palace servants from Yanxi Palace were saying all sorts of nasty things in private.