The day after the snow, Nanhaizi was brilliantly white.
The guard shielded his eyes as he opened the storehouse door, and the people inside, long uncomfortable from confinement, rushed out. Before the guard could finish yawning, he was pushed into the snow, his nose bleeding from the impact. He floundered up, holding his nose while cursing, “Damn it, everyone’s in such a hurry to be reborn.” Just as he was about to get up, something in the snow cut into his hand. Squinting against the snow’s glare, he picked it up and found it was a lotus jade pendant.
“Well… these penniless wretches still have hidden treasures…”
He quickly covered his mouth, hunching as he instinctively looked around. Taking advantage of the chaos with no one watching, he hurriedly tucked the jade into his clothes.
Before he could properly hide it, a voice behind him asked, “What are you crouching for?”
“Ah? Nothing…”
The speaker was a junior supervisor under Li Shan, who, seeing his suspicious behavior, unhesitatingly kicked him twice from behind and jerked his chin up, “Quickly get up and bring the person out, the Sili Jian people are coming early today.”
The guard hurriedly stood up, hastily brushing snow from himself, and moved closer to ask the supervisor, “They’re taking him now? Has Zhang the Bearded returned to Nanhaizi?”
The supervisor covered his nose and mouth, stepping back, “You’re so agitated—keep your distance.”
After wiping his clothes and standing properly, he lowered his hand and leisurely answered the earlier question: “I heard Master Li caught him at the temple last night and sobered him up overnight.”
The guard heard this and happily exclaimed, “Ah, good! I’ll bring the person out right away. Once this task is done, we can properly celebrate the New Year tonight.”
Just as he was about to go inside, he was called back.
“Come back. What are you hiding in your sleeve?”
“Oh, this…”
“Hand it over.”
The guard had no choice but to present the lotus jade, smiling apologetically, “Your humble servant just found it.”
The supervisor examined the jade in his hand, and seeing the guard still standing before him, barked quietly, “What are you still standing here for? Go get the person!”
The guard, seeing him being dismissed, knew the jade would be taken without compensation. Though unhappy inside, he could only respond sullenly and went back, muttering as he went to fetch the person.
His bad mood made him particularly rough with Deng Ying.
Deng Ying hadn’t eaten or drunk for three days in preparation for his punishment, and though he couldn’t walk quickly, he was trying his best to maintain proper bearing while walking.
The guard grew impatient watching this and shoved him from behind, shouting, “Hurry up, haven’t you brought enough bad luck?”
Tucking his hands into his sleeves, he continued cursing, “They said you wouldn’t last long in Nanhaizi before killing yourself, but you’ve stubbornly lived for over half a month. The Ministry of Justice and Sili Jian question us about you daily—who knows if they want you dead or alive. Today you’ll get your result, so walk faster. Why drag it out? You’ll suffer that fate anyway. Don’t tell me you’re scared now and want to run. Save your energy.”
Having lost the jade, his words were especially harsh.
Deng Ying lowered his head and silently bore every word. When he raised his head again, they had reached the punishment chamber door.
The chamber was a side hall hung with cotton curtains, charcoal burning inside, lamps lit, with two people from the Ministry of Justice and Zheng Yuejia, the recording eunuch from Sili Jian, sitting facing south. Four Imperial Guards stood outside.
The guard knew his duty ended before these officials, and after carefully handing over his charge, he left without daring to raise his head.
Deng Ying walked into the chamber alone. The people inside were conversing and merely glanced at him when he entered, not particularly pausing their discussion.
“Yang Lun came to Nanhaizi early today.”
Zheng Yuejia nodded with an “mm,” adding, “The Yang family is still searching for their third daughter.”
“She’s been missing for over half a month now. Their third daughter was famously beautiful. If they find a corpse, it might at least be clean white bones, but if they find her alive… tsk… what state would she be in?”
Zheng Yuejia, being a eunuch, clearly had no curiosity about such matters.
He waved off the speaker and looked up at Deng Ying, signaling for someone to close the doors and windows. Withdrawing his hands from the hand warmer and placing them on his knees, he raised his voice slightly to address him: “You’re aware of His Majesty’s grace, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
This wasn’t Zheng Yuejia’s first interaction with Deng Ying, and though he knew of his previously good conduct and demeanor, he hadn’t expected that even in his current circumstances, he would still maintain such proper etiquette.
“Good.”
Emotions couldn’t be given too freely—too much would become gossip fodder. Zheng Yuejia raised his hand, “Remove his shackles.”
During the interval, he continued conversing with the Justice Ministry official.
“So when you came today, you met Lord Yang?”
“Oh, yes. We entered Nanhaizi together—he took people to the western slope, though I doubt they’ll find anything. This year’s harvest was poor in Nanhaizi, and not even a blade of grass grows on that western slope.”
Zheng Yuejia smiled, “Lord Yang cares for his little sister.”
“Indeed, I see the Zhang family has given up, but he’s still searching. Not just searching, but fiercely defending his sister’s honor too. Today I carelessly suggested he ask the sea households with adult males if they had any news. Guess what, Chief Zheng? If someone hadn’t held him back, I think he would have struck me.”
Zheng Yuejia didn’t engage with this, “My Lord should be more mindful of karma.”
The man laughed, “I’m just talking with you, knowing how your superior has always been at odds with Yang Lun. These people from the Six Offices, spend all day cursing the ministries, the courts, the Sili Jian, and the Twenty-four Bureaus. What’s the point? These days, who in the court has it easy? The karma from Yang Lun’s sharp tongue couldn’t fall on him, so didn’t it have to fall on his family?”
Zheng Yuejia smiled without speaking, looking up at Deng Ying, who was raising his hands to cooperate with those removing his shackles.
The shackles and chains clattered as they were removed, piling at his feet.
The Justice Ministry official, feeling his earlier words had gone too far and seeing the task completed, supported himself on his knee to stand, “Well then, Chief Zheng, from today on, the Ministry of Justice will no longer oversee this person—he’s completely in Sili Jian’s hands now.”
Zheng Yuejia also stood, “Thank you for your trouble.”
The official glanced at Deng Ying in his thin clothes and suddenly sighed, “Ah, this year’s been unfortunate, watching that whole Deng faction die off.”
Shaking his head, he led his people out.
Only after they left did Zheng Yuejia walk towards Deng Ying with his hands behind his back.