Yang Wan entered the room.
Compared to her last visit, there were more furnishings in the room. Though they were all newly made of wood and hadn’t developed a patina yet, one could tell the craftsman who made these cabinets was highly skilled.
The bed was a simple elm frame with gray curtains, his two pairs of shoes placed underneath, and a dark blue quilt neatly spread on top. At the head of the bed stood a drawer cabinet, as Li Yu had mentioned, with a lock hanging on it.
Deng Ying walked to the cabinet almost habitually, opened the lock, and was about to take out a jar when he suddenly realized Yang Wan was right behind him, and quickly withdrew his hand.
“Go ahead and eat, it’s a good habit.”
“Not now, there’s not much left.”
“I’ll bring you more tomorrow.”
She stood by the door, her face bright with a clear smile, her delicate eyes sparkling.
Just as Yang Lun had said earlier, a woman like her could take her time choosing in the capital.
“These are all gifts from Consort Ning. Deng Ying dare not accept more.”
“No.”
She walked up to him and casually took out a jar, shaking it at him, “This is my kindness to you. The Consort is just the financial backer. When I save up my own money later, I’ll send them out to buy lots for us. Then when you’re reading, drawing blueprints, and I’m writing, we can all eat slowly.”
This was originally as simple a statement as could be, yet Deng Ying was almost wounded by it.
Yang Wan was truly too bright and straightforward.
It exceeded all the warmth his current circumstances could bear.
He admired Yang Wan’s goodness, but this admiration almost made him feel like a base person.
Like an ephemeral mayfly yearning for spring blossoms.
Wanting, yet knowing he shouldn’t, he even began to feel meaningless anxiety about losing her.
This wasn’t right.
How dare he?
“Why treat me this way?”
When Deng Ying blurted out these words, even he was startled.
He had asked Yang Lun the same question not long ago at the Ministry of Justice.
“You… know Deng Ying’s future is uncertain, I…”
“I give you a few jars of nuts, and you say all this to me?”
Yang Wan interrupted him with a laugh, “If you want to thank me, why not make me a cabinet? This one is really beautiful.”
After speaking, she put the jar back without a trace and walked to the chair. Just as she was about to sit, Deng Ying called out to stop her.
“Wait, put something down first, there’s a lot of dust here.”
After speaking, he walked to the wooden rack and took off his outer robe, folded it, and placed it on the chair surface, then said, “Now you can sit.”
Yang Wan looked down at his clothes, “I’m not that particular.”
“I know, but I don’t want my place to soil your skirt.”
After speaking, he poured a cup of water and placed it before Yang Wan. Turning to look at the drawer cabinet by the bed, he asked, “Do you like it?”
“Mm. I like it. It’s very delicate.”
“This was made and given to me by a craftsman from the Hall of Supreme Harmony. If you like it, I can ask him to make one for you.”
Yang Wan held the cup and took a sip, looking up to ask, “Can you make one?”
“I can.”
“Then make one for me.”
Deng Ying hesitated, “I’m not as good as they are at this.”
“That’s fine.”
Yang Wan held the cup in one hand and propped her chin with the other, “Hmm… I can draw you a design, but… I might draw it badly, and I don’t know if you’ll understand the… perspective?”
She used a term she wasn’t sure Deng Ying would understand, then asked:
“Do you understand ‘perspective’?”
Deng Ying shook his head, “If you draw it, I might understand.”
“That’s great.”
Yang Wan stood up, “Do you have paper and brushes?”
“Yes.”
He moved aside toward the writing desk, “Come over here.”
Yang Wan liked Deng Ying’s writing desk – just a table surface, a black stone brush holder, an unmarked ink stick, a plain stone inkstone, and a stack of blueprints about a foot high. There were also two books from his teaching at the Inner School. Like Deng Ying himself, clean to the point of having nothing but dust, skin, and flesh.
She didn’t want to mess with Deng Ying’s things carelessly, feeling somewhat nervous as she laid out the paper and ground the ink.
“You don’t know how to grind ink?”