Four or five apples and seven or eight tangerines lay quietly in the bundle.
After Yang Lun left, Deng Ying sat cross-legged on his rush mat. With no water in the cell, he wiped his hands on his prison garment and slowly peeled a tangerine. The tangerines Yang Lun bought were still green, thick-skinned with small segments. Deng Ying put one segment in his mouth, and as the sour juice flowed down his throat into his stomach, he quickly closed his eyes, holding back the acid rising in his mouth.
But he didn’t put it down, still eating one segment at a time, quietly swallowing it all.
Afterward, he picked up an apple and took a bite.
One sour, one sweet, symbolizing a “draw.”
With this bag of fruit, Yang Wan was telling him from outside his deep prison, with characteristic grace, that he hadn’t lost.
Deng Ying placed his apple-holding hand on his knee, slowly chewing the sweet flesh. The pleasure and satisfaction from the food, like Yang Wan herself, brought him peace. For years, he had refused to rely on writing, dared not take shelter in scholarly circles, wouldn’t live in fine rooms or eat rich food, using this to discipline himself, to avoid being corrupted like the Imperial Household Department.
But he was willing to follow Yang Wan, willing to listen to her words, eat things good for his health, sleep wrapped in warm blankets, wear thicker clothes when cold, sit down for a while after standing too long…
She had once been in his quarters, removed his robes, seen with her own eyes his cold and broken body, touched his self-loathed scars, and thereby unraveled his entire life. This broken period of his life that he never wanted to expose to others was held in Yang Wan’s hands. She didn’t try to piece it back together, she let his years remain poor, and his humble room remains cold. She only sheltered his heart which had lost all worldly hope and naturally inserted herself into his daily life.
She seemed to have seen through his life in advance, and could even write out his lifespan and ending in one breath.
But she gave up these grand perspectives, instead focusing only on daily life, writing with composure and deep feeling.
Deng Ying finished the apple in his hand bite by bite, wrapped his ankles in his padded clothes, tucked in his bedding, and lay down on his side.
The candlelight outside the cell occasionally made the sound of sparks popping, and as Deng Ying listened, he gradually grew sleepy. He pulled his hands back under the covers, warmth spreading from his hands and feet throughout his body.
Indeed, listening to her words meant not suffering so much.
The eighth day of the twelfth month, the fourteenth year of Zhenning.
Though it hadn’t snowed, the dry cold wind blew the snow on the ground like sand.
Chen Hua led people from the Firewood Office to deliver charcoal to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, arriving to find palace servants hurriedly sweeping snow.
Dawn hadn’t fully broken, and officials everywhere carried lanterns, the hall’s furnishings flickering in and out of the lamplight.
Lady of Ceremony Jiang Min stood in the doorway, overseeing palace servants setting up new seats behind the imperial throne.
Chen Hua went over and bowed, “Lady Jiang.”
Jiang Min turned around, “Oh, it’s Director Chen.”
She stepped aside, calling into the hall: “Stop for a moment, let the Firewood Office start the charcoal first.”
“Thank you, Lady of Ceremony.”
Chen Hua gestured for the servants behind him to carry in the charcoal.
As the charcoal baskets moved in, the servants inside all stopped their work, retreating to the doorway, leaving only two servants with dusters sweeping dust from the new seats.
Chen Hua looked at the two new seats behind the imperial throne, and couldn’t help asking: “Wasn’t it said… the Second Prince was gravely ill, with Her Majesty the Empress attending day and night, weakening her health too? Why are two seats being set up today?”
Jiang Min said: “The Second Prince’s grave illness is true, but when has Her Majesty the Empress ever been weakened?”
Chen Hua said: “She hasn’t attended a single memorial ceremony since the grand burial.”
Jiang Min coughed once, not answering.
Though officials like Yang Lun didn’t know what happened in the Hall of Supreme Harmony during the Jintai Great Discussion, Jiang Min had seen it all clearly from inside the hall. That day, the Empress Dowager had publicly rebuked the Empress three times, leading to the imperial edict being abolished, He Yixian being beaten on the spot, and the Imperial Household Department being imprisoned for investigation. The Empress dared not argue further, and after losing the support of the Imperial Household Department, had been avoiding public appearance in the palace.
“Lady of Ceremony?”
Chen Hua called to her.
Jiang Min pressed her lips together, saying coldly: “Don’t ask too much.”
Chen Hua rubbed his hands together and said nothing more.
Soon the Firewood Office servants came out to report. Chen Hua responded briefly, turning to bid farewell to Jiang Min when he suddenly heard her say: “Director, wait a moment.”
Chen Hua stopped, somewhat anxiously.
Jiang Min didn’t turn around, still looking into the hall, saying evenly: “Do you know where the Imperial Household Department people are waiting for questioning today?”
Chen Hua glanced up at the Gate of Supreme Harmony, “They should have opened two board houses at the Left and Right Spring Offices for them. At this hour, people should have been taken there already. Lady of Ceremony…”
Chen Hua hesitated for a while, but finally spoke: “You’re still thinking of that ‘old ancestor’?”
Jiang Min didn’t respond.
Chen Hua said: “I won’t remember those false favors anymore, they were all fake.”
Jiang Min said heavily: “That’s you.”
“Not just me.”
Chen Hua suddenly straightened his back, looking directly at Jiang Min, saying seriously: “Lady of Ceremony shouldn’t remember either. All that talk of descendants and grandchildren was nonsense. Once the root is cut, there’s no point thinking about family ties. They deceived those below so bitterly, but when real trouble came, they rushed to throw their sons and grandsons out to die. I see now, from now on I won’t believe them, and I won’t fear them either.”
Jiang Min was silent for a while before saying: “The matter of Li Yu and Yun Qing…”
Chen Hua interrupted: “I don’t understand what exactly happened, and being cowardly, I dare not ask, dare not cry injustice for Li Yu. But I know if it weren’t for the Superintendent and Miss Wan, Yun Qing would now be lying on the ground just like Li Yu.”
After hearing these words, Jiang Min opened her mouth silently, her throat even somewhat choked.
She looked up toward the Gate of Supreme Harmony.
The guard was changing at the gate.
The sky was whitening, the morning sun gradually emerging, its warm light illuminating the snow, making the ground brilliant.