Yang Wan knelt beside him, “How should I tie them?”
“To the shoulders, as high as possible.”
Seeing Deng Ying avoid his words, Bai Huan raised his voice slightly.
“Why won’t you listen?”
Deng Ying kept his eyes on the ground, still silent. After Yang Wan finished tying his sleeves, he rose to test the water temperature, “The water’s a bit cold, I’ll add some more.”
With that, he lifted the bucket and left the cell.
Bai Huan tried to stand but nearly fell due to his severely swollen legs.
Yang Wan looked at his ankles.
Though Deng Ying hadn’t put restraints on him, his ankles were still swollen to nearly twice their size.
Yang Wan helped Bai Huan sit down, bending to roll up his trouser legs.
Bai Huan said, “This isn’t proper. You serve His Highness.”
Yang Wan tucked her hair behind her ear and settled into a kneeling position, “Minister, I’ve never thought of myself as merely serving His Highness. Like everyone who protects him, I care for him because he’s a good child, and that’s why I want to take good care of him and protect him.”
She gently gripped Bai Huan’s calf, trying to massage it while continuing, “I’ve never cared much for rank and status.”
Bai Huan looked down at her, “If not rank and status, then what should we care for?”
Yang Wan paused, “Conscience.”
She looked up, “Like Deng Ying.”
Bai Huan looked at Yang Wan in silence for a while before finally showing a slight smile, “Miss Yang, do you write poetry?”
Yang Wan shook her head, “No when I occasionally write, it’s only to record people’s words that I find enlightening. But now, I rarely even do that. I want to do solid, practical things – take good care of His Highness, and you, Minister.”
Bai Huan asked, “You do this for Deng Ying?”
Yang Wan shook her head, “No, I don’t live merely to follow Deng Ying. However, he helped me understand how to heal oneself and find reason to live on when living in a world one cannot accept, to do what one still can do. I respected him first, then loved him. The people he respects, I want to respect; the principles he wants to uphold, I want to uphold.”
She paused her hands and smiled at Bai Huan, “I’ve brought some things for you – bedding, winter clothes, some medicine, and food. These aren’t from the palace, I bought them with my own money. Deng Ying has given all his money to the Chu Mountain and Lake Dan academies. Though he cares for you, there are things he can’t provide, so please don’t refuse these things from me.”
Just then, Deng Ying returned with hot water.
Yang Wan turned back, “Deng Ying, is the water hot?”
“Yes.”
“Good, we can use it for Minister’s compress.”
She stood up and, bearing the heat, wrung out a cloth to apply a hot compress to Bai Huan’s swollen legs, “Minister, does this feel better?”
Bai Huan nodded.
Yang Wan gently held her hand over the cloth and said to Bai Huan, “Minister, I’ll tell you, Deng Ying can barely take care of himself. When he said he’d been caring for you these past days, I was quite worried.”
Deng Ying knelt beside Yang Wan, “Wan Wan, when have I not taken good care of myself?”
Yang Wan smiled, “I won’t criticize you in front of Minister Bai. I’ll go prepare the bedding for the Minister.”
She stood up, supporting herself on her knees, and went to the straw pile by the wall, still smiling.
Deng Ying wrung out the cloth and silently lifted Bai Huan’s hand to clean his fingers.
Bai Huan drew his gaze from Yang Wan and asked in a deep voice, “I hadn’t finished what I was saying earlier when you avoided the subject.”
“I know you want me to conduct a public trial, let the spring examination students watch, let them see I haven’t tortured you.”
“Since you know, why won’t you do it?”
“I don’t want to.”
Deng Ying wrung the cloth again and continued quietly, “Though you’ve never acknowledged me as your student, I dare not fail to acknowledge you as my teacher. I cannot let you kneel in the courtroom.”
Bai Huan sighed, “Don’t you care at all about your reputation?”
Deng Ying looked up, “Minister, early next month, I will submit your and Liang Weiben’s case to His Majesty along with the Ministry of Punishment, to clear your false charges. But I don’t know how the Ceremonial Office will speak to His Majesty, nor how he will decide afterward. However, you are the Prime Minister, and His Majesty once told me he would execute me if I showed you disrespect. So if after the submission His Majesty still hesitates, the worse my reputation becomes, the greater your chance of pardon. After you’re cleared, let the Ministry of Punishment try my academy fields case. They can sentence me to death, but don’t torture me. As long as the Ministry doesn’t force me, the Ceremonial Office won’t move against you and Yang Lun again. As for the Ceremonial Office… you and Zi Xi can wait for the right moment.”
Hearing these words, Bai Huan’s throat tightened, “When I wrote to denounce you, I never imagined you would go this far. Deng Ying, you ask me to wait… how can I bear it?”
Deng Ying consoled him, “You needn’t feel this way. My only concern now is the students from Chu Mountain and Lake Dan academies who’ve come to the capital for the metropolitan examination. They hate me and have been incited by others, constantly making extreme statements. If they only cursed me, it wouldn’t matter, but when their words touch on His Majesty, they can easily be charged with capital crimes by the Northern Depot.”
Bai Huan asked, “How many?”
Yang Wan answered from the side, “Actually, there aren’t many from the two academies, just a few. But they’re now staying in the shelters below the Drum Tower, where there are over a hundred examination candidates. They’re all from distant places, unfamiliar with the capital’s situation. When that Zhou Muyi stirs them up, they easily become inflamed.”
Bai Huan sighed, “Our Great Ming’s examination system is meant to select talent for the nation. We cannot discourage the hearts of scholars across the land.”
Deng Ying lowered his head, “Minister, I know you want to save these candidates, but your position makes it inconvenient to intervene. Yang Lun’s seniority isn’t enough to control them. While I haven’t been convicted, I still have the power to negotiate with the Northern Depot, but I fear after my conviction, these people will become pawns in factional struggles.”
“They already are.”
Yang Wan said quietly, “These people are just like the Tongjia Academy back then. Unless His Majesty makes his position clear, the Northern Depot will immediately charge them with capital crimes. But Deng Ying, His Majesty may not want to discourage scholars across the land. There are still ways to handle this. Don’t be sad, either of you. You do what you can, and let me try to handle the rest.”
Bai Huan asked, “Miss Yang, what can you do?”
Yang Wan sat on the straw mat under the bedding, arms crossed, “I don’t know yet. I need to see how these students act next.”
She looked at Deng Ying, “But as long as Deng Ying doesn’t give up, I won’t give up.”
“Wan Wan…”
Yang Wan cut off Deng Ying and said to Bai Huan, “Minister Bai, I promise you I’ll do my best to protect these students. But I also ask one thing of you…”
“Speak.”
Yang Wan pressed her lips together and bowed, “Please accept him as your student.”
Deng Ying froze.
“Minister Bai, though he’s a bit stubborn and doesn’t always listen to you, he’s truly a good student. You’ve been so kind to my brother – couldn’t you not leave him outside?”