Yang Wan quickly crouched beside Deng Ying.
Deng Ying shrugged his shoulder to one side and looked up toward the window.
Seven or eight people wearing felt cloaks approached carrying wind lamps, with Li Shan, the managing eunuch of the Imperial Garden Bureau, leading the way.
The weather was too dry and cold for even refined people to avoid chapped hands. Li Shan removed his hand warmer, scooped some hand cream, and applied it while asking the guard at the door, “Why isn’t the door locked?”
“Master Li, we left it open so they could relieve themselves at night.”
Li Shan rubbed his wrist, “Where is that person?”
“Oh, that one? He’s been without food for two days now, probably too weak to even move at this point.”
Li Shan nodded, “Has he said anything?”
“No, since the Ministry of Justice brought him here under our watch, he hasn’t opened his mouth once. Master Li, are you worried he might harm himself?”
Li Shan laughed, “It would be better if he did harm himself, then the ancestors wouldn’t have to take on this matter. Does he look like someone seeking death to you? If he wanted to die, he would have followed Jiang Ming and Guo Ding’s example of starving himself to death when he first arrived.”
Hearing this, Yang Wan couldn’t help but turn to ask Deng Ying, “You never went on a hunger strike?”
Naturally, she was met with silence.
But Yang Wan wasn’t discouraged. She released her grip and sat beside Deng Ying, pulling out a small notebook from her bosom. She casually plucked a wheat stalk from the ground and thoughtfully poked her chin, muttering to herself, “The people who compiled the ‘Ming History’ really had it in for you, writing that you went on hunger strikes in Nanhaizi but didn’t follow through, later begging for food like a dog wagging its tail. They weren’t satisfied until they completely ruined your reputation.”
She finished speaking and gently bit the wheat stalk, “Hmm… this part should be revised.”
Deng Ying lowered his head to look at the notebook spread across her knees, filled with neat rows of writing he couldn’t understand.
For these past ten-odd days, she would occasionally poke and mark things in it.
As she had said, she had suddenly appeared in Nanhaizi half a month ago. No one knew who she was. Initially, people noticed her wearing finely embroidered silk clothes of considerable value and suspected she came from an important background, mostly avoiding conversation with her for fear of trouble. However, after crawling and tumbling around Nanhaizi for over ten days, her clothes no longer showed their original quality, hanging in tatters and tangled with her loose hair. Her appearance now resembled the other suffering souls in Nanhaizi, and these eunuchs finally let down their guard around her.
Moreover, they gradually discovered that this young woman’s attention was always focused on that severely punished man.
Unfortunately, Deng Ying wouldn’t let her get close.
Neither wife nor concubine, yet eagerly trying to show kindness to a condemned man who would soon be without descendants.
The criminal’s excessive coldness and aloofness only made the young woman seem more pitiful.
Just as some were sighing in sympathy for her, footsteps suddenly approached the door. Yang Wan quickly tucked away her notebook and nimbly ducked behind a pile of hay.
Li Shan and several eunuchs entered the storehouse, continuing their earlier conversation as they walked.
“How many more days should we keep him without food and water?”
A eunuch behind him responded, “Two more days.”
Li Shan stopped in front of Deng Ying, looking at him with disgust, “Fine, one more day, then we’ll proceed with the torture.”
He pressed his neck and continued, “Let’s finish this quickly, hand him over to the Sili Jian before the new year, and we won’t have such a troublesome matter anymore. In this cold weather, carrying such an icy burden in our hearts is quite unpleasant. Go tell Zhang the Bearded to prepare the blade—since this is Sili Jian’s business, tell him not to drink these next few days.”
The person who responded showed difficulty, “Zhang the Bearded is currently fooling around in the temple outside, the other day I even saw him looking for someone to give him a back scrub by the lake entrance.”
“Pah!”
Li Shan spat, “Damn him, showing off that he still has a soft worm down there! Quickly get him back to prepare the blade!”
These words struck a nerve with everyone present except Deng Ying.
Li Shan himself felt uncomfortable and changed the subject: “Also, regarding his shackles, we can’t handle them here. Tomorrow morning, go get an opinion from the Ministry of Justice, see whether he should wear them during the torture or if they should be removed.”
The person responding made a long face, “Master Li, do we need to get the Ministry’s opinion even for this?”
“Ah.”
Li Shan responded impatiently, looking at Deng Ying with a cold sneer through his nose.
“Minister Deng’s entire family has been executed, leaving only this person. His matter is quite complicated.”