Yang Wan and Li Yu had been facing off outside the guardhouse by the city moat for two days.
Li Yu stood with his arms crossed, looking at Yang Wan who was squatting at the guardhouse door, and said disdainfully, “I heard my sister say there’s a maid in the Imperial Wardrobe Bureau who’s gone crazy over Assistant Director Deng. That’s you, isn’t it?”
Yang Wan sniffled, “Who’s your sister?”
“My sister is Maid Song Qingyun from your Imperial Wardrobe Bureau.”
Yang Wan stood up, “Song Qingyun is your sister? How come she’s surnamed Song and you’re surnamed Li?”
Li Yu lifted his chin and said loudly, “It’s because my godfather doted on me. The old man is a secretary in the Imperial Household Department, following his surname gives me a lot of face.”
Yang Wan looked at Li Yu’s proud and naive manner, thinking to herself that this person was naturally simple-minded, and it was good for Deng Ying to stay with him.
“Hey?”
“What?”
“How many days has Assistant Director Deng been gone?”
“About ten days or so. Though he did come back last night, unfortunately, you missed him. Early this morning he went off somewhere again. Oh right…”
He peered at Yang Wan’s arms, “I heard you have some good snacks.”
“Who told you that?”
Li Yu looked at Yang Wan seriously, “Deng Ying has a cabinet filled with jars and bottles under lock and key. Every time he comes back from outside, he takes something from those jars to eat, and he eats while looking at blueprints at night too. I asked him for some once, but he wouldn’t give me any. Later he even avoided me when eating. My sister said you used to bring jars to see him, so they must be from you.”
Though Li Yu was young, his description painted a vivid scene. Yang Wan immediately could picture Deng Ying sitting in his room eating nuts.
And he would even hide to eat them.
For some reason, she suddenly found this person quite endearing.
“Those are just some walnut kernels, peanuts, and some raisins. Mixed and tossed in your mouth, they’re indeed very tasty.”
Li Yu’s face fell upon hearing this, “Hah… just those? I thought they were some kind of dried meat…”
Yang Wan leaned against the doorframe and laughed at him.
As they were talking, they suddenly saw Deng Ying returning.
He wore a white-gray cross-collared inner garment with a matching robe over it, his hair loose down his back, the fabric on his shoulders somewhat damp.
Seeing Yang Wan, he was visibly startled and stood frozen in his tracks.
Li Yu turned to look him over and asked directly, “Did you go take a bath?”
“Mm.”
Though he was responding to Li Yu, he was looking at Yang Wan.
Then he hesitated, feeling that his current appearance might seem disrespectful in her eyes.
Since the fall of the Deng family, he had become solitary in his daily life. Although he maintained his former habits, he no longer received servants’ attendance. Things like eating, changing clothes, and bathing had lost their former ceremonial nature, gradually becoming mere necessities in an awkward existence.
“Didn’t you say you’d wait until tomorrow when I got the fragrance from my sister?”
Li Yu, not knowing what he was thinking, spoke even more explicitly.
Deng Ying adjusted his collar and said to Li Yu, “Oh, I saw there was still half a bar of soap left, so I went ahead.”
After speaking, he lowered his head and walked to Yang Wan’s side, reaching up to unlatch the door and gently pushing it open.
“You…”
“May I come in?”
She asked directly.
This made Deng Ying feel less awkward.
“I only returned yesterday and haven’t had time to tidy up.”
“It’s fine. If you let me in, I’ll go in. If you don’t let me in, I can stand here and talk to you just the same.”
Deng Ying glanced at Li Yu, who rolled his eyes directly at Deng Ying and laughed, “Don’t look at me, I know everything.”
Yang Wan turned and teased back, “You little brat, what do you know?”
“Hey! My brother-in-law told me!”
He jumped up anxiously.
“Li Yu!”
Deng Ying suddenly spoke sternly, and Li Yu quickly waved his hands, “Alright, alright, I’m leaving. I have to go on duty soon anyway.”
With that, he took off running and disappeared in a flash.
Yang Wan watched his retreating figure and said with a laugh, “I think it’s good for you to be with this kid. He’s so simple-minded, makes people happy.”
As she spoke casually, the voice behind her was somewhat low.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know he would speak that way.”
Yang Wan turned around, “Didn’t you stop him with your shout? He didn’t say anything more.”
Deng Ying stood sideways to block the door for her, head lowered avoiding her gaze, and softly said, “Come in.”