The shopkeeper listened, somewhat entranced.
Yang Wan lowered her hand, “Start working on it first. If it goes well, everyone will make money.”
The shopkeeper finally came to his senses, looking at Yang Wan’s expression, he couldn’t help saying, “You have a mind for business.”
Yang Wan sat back down by the window, “I’m thinking, maybe next year we can buy Kuanqin Hall.”
Hearing this, the shopkeeper couldn’t help calling out, “Proprietor.”
“Yes?”
“May I ask you something boldly?”
“Go ahead.”
The shopkeeper raised his head, “You’re the Superintendent’s person. What don’t you have? Why bother with all this?”
Yang Wan lowered her head and smiled, “No matter what others think of the Eastern Depot, we won’t forcibly take things. But business naturally needs to develop slowly. I’ve never done business before, just have some ideas. The rest depends on all of you. I don’t want to do other business, I just want to do publishing business, do it for a long time, accumulate some money, so when we’re old, we can live well.”
The shopkeeper stood up, “I understand your words, Proprietor. I’ll go down and give instructions now.”
“Thank you.”
Yang Wan gave him a lady’s bow, then turned back to look downstairs.
The voices were clamorous, mixed with Deng Ying’s official title and Bai Huan’s honorific. In this place near the Prefecture, young people gathered for a satisfying denunciation. Through verbal and written attacks, Deng Ying was stripped bare.
Yang Wan remembered the person lying beside her last night, exposed below the waist, and suddenly shuddered.
She didn’t know when it started, but she no longer wanted to persuade Deng Ying to let things go.
Whatever Deng Ying wanted to do, Yang Wan decided to stop questioning whether it was “worth it” or not.
Instead, she couldn’t let go. A battle of pen and ink wasn’t impossible. The modern Yang Wan had been a lone warrior in academic circles. What difference did it make being six hundred years in the past? She was still Yang Wan, the one who wrote “The Biography of Deng Ying.” Compared to the academic circles of the past, this bustling capital was even more lively and complex. If Deng Ying couldn’t speak, could the Great Ming’s voice speak for him?
Yang Wan closed her eyes. The wind from upstairs caressed her cheeks. The rain had stopped, and the crowd’s voices were clear and unified.
Yang Wan removed her swaying ornament and threw it at Zhou Muyi, who was speaking grandly at the hall entrance. Hit on the shoulder, he stopped his speech and shouted, “Who’s there!”
Yang Wan stood by the window and called out, “It’s me.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear, “Mr. Zhou, public opinion is fearsome, and writing deserves respect. You fear neither the former nor respect the latter, truly a shame to scholars.”
Zhou Muyi walked out from the crowd, “Who are you?”
Yang Wan looked down at him, “The woman you speak of who serves a eunuch.”
The crowd stirred, and someone looked up and shouted, “Only prostitutes would serve eunuchs. You’re shameless, showing your face before us and speaking wildly, even daring to harm someone of scholarly merit. We must report you to officials and have you displayed in the streets in stocks.”
“Go ahead.”
Yang Wan calmly spoke these two words.
The person who had just spoken was stunned.
Yang Wan tilted her head, “Anyone with a mouth can speak, but can you take responsibility for your words? Dare you to fulfill them? Even if I am a prostitute, so what? Don’t you also consider visiting courtesans’ refined entertainment? How are you more noble than eunuchs?”
“You…”
That person was almost choking with anger.
Yang Wan interrupted, “I know that what I’m saying now has no meaning in your eyes, but I still want to say it again.”
She fixed her gaze on Zhou Muyi, “Mr. Zhou, public opinion is fearsome, and writing deserves respect. When speaking or writing, please consider your position thrice. Not everyone wearing scholar’s robes is truly a scholar. Some wear the skin of a literati, but from eating too much dog meat, their head has become that of a dog.”
After speaking, she laughed to herself and turned to go behind the window.
The crowd below began discussing, “This woman… who is she?”
“Can’t you tell? It’s that Yang Wan, who was previously betrothed to the Zhang family’s son, Zhang Luo of the Northern Command, but later became the Eastern Depot Superintendent’s companion.”
At these words, there was a wave of sighs.
Then someone shouted, “Shameless, truly shameless! The Zhang family should take her back and lock her up!”
The crowd echoed in agreement.
Yang Wan leaned against the wall listening to the voices outside, lowered her head, and smiled, hugging herself as she muttered, “Little Ying, you really can endure.”
At this moment, Deng Ying was standing before the Bai residence, when suddenly a needle-like pain shot through his head. He had to raise his hand to press against it.
Seeing his pale face, Qin Wende hurriedly said, “I don’t think we need to wait anymore. This Bai residence has no intention of opening its doors!”
“Don’t rush.”
Qin Wende looked back at Deng Ying’s ankles, “Superintendent, you were already unsteady earlier. We’ve waited so long, we’ve done more than enough.”