“Commander Zhang.”
He showed courtesy before force, only explaining his purpose after completing his bow.
“We come with imperial orders to take Palace Ceremonial Department Record Keeper Yang Wan back to the Eastern Depot for questioning.”
Zhang Luo said coldly: “Where is your Depot Commander?”
Qin Wende straightened up. “The Commander is on duty as Imperial Secretary today, naturally attending to His Majesty. Taking a prisoner is something I can handle well enough.”
Zhang Luo asked directly: “When did His Majesty give the Eastern Depot authority to conduct interrogations?”
“In reply to Commander Zhang, it was given today. If Commander Zhang doesn’t believe it, you can seek an audience with His Majesty yourself. We’ll simply wait a while longer.”
He deliberately spoke the last words with a strange tone, his gaze falling on the officer behind Zhang Luo who had arrested Yang Wan, showing clear antagonism. The officer couldn’t bear it and stepped forward, shouting: “What right does your Eastern Depot have? Weren’t you all originally Imperial Guards? You haven’t even changed your skin before becoming the eunuch dog. Now you dare bark in front of our commander? Utterly shameless!”
Qin Wende replied: “What do you mean by eunuchs’ dogs? Our Eastern Depot is just like your Northern Suppression Bureau, both directly under His Majesty’s control. Your words deserve having your tongue cut out.”
“Qin Wende, you—”
“What about me? Hurry and release the person. If you delay us from carrying out His Majesty’s orders, how many heads do you have? How many heads does your whole family have?”
“Silence, all of you!”
Qin Wende finally stopped and bowed to Zhang Luo. “I meant no offense, sir. Please quickly hand over the person so we can return to report to His Majesty.”
Zhang Luo asked: “Tell me, why did His Majesty suddenly order this person to be handed over to the Eastern Depot?”
Qin Wende lowered his hands. “I don’t know the reason, but our Commander has a message for you, sir.”
He lowered his voice. “The Commander said that matters of the inner court should be investigated within the inner court, but this isn’t his idea—it’s His Majesty’s. He hopes Commander Zhang will think about these words when questioning Zheng Bibi.”
After hearing these words, Zhang Luo fell silent with his hands behind his back.
Seeing no response from him, Qin Wende simply raised his hand to the Depot guards behind him: “Bring Record Keeper Yang out.”
Seeing that Zhang Luo hadn’t spoken, the officers dared not obstruct them. Soon, Yang Wan was carried out by two Depot guards. Qin Wende, seeing the horrifying wounds on her body and her tattered prison clothes, almost cursed.
“First… ah! First, go outside and call in Secretary Song!”
Song Yunqing had come at Deng Ying’s request with the Eastern Depot people. She knew entering the prison meant suffering, but she hadn’t expected it to be this brutal. Seeing Yang Wan’s torn clothes, she quickly took off her outer garment to wrap around Yang Wan. “Don’t touch her, I’ll help her out.”
Yang Wan opened her eyes to look at Song Yunqing and said weakly: “Why did you come too?”
Song Yunqing said: “Commander Deng sent me. Don’t talk now… you…”
As she spoke, she began crying herself.
Yang Wan said softly: “Don’t cry.”
Song Yunqing sobbed: “You’re crying too.”
“I’m crying from pain, why are you crying…”
“I… I’ve never seen someone from the Palace Ceremonial Department beaten like this. If I’m like this just seeing it, when Commander Deng and Consort Ning see… who knows how they’ll react.”
Yang Wan coughed once. “Where is Deng Ying… where is he?”
Song Yunqing wiped away her tears.
“He’s on duty before His Majesty today. After you were taken away, neither Madam Jiang nor I knew what to do. Madam went to beg Her Majesty the Empress, but Her Majesty said since the case was already given to the Northern Suppression Bureau to investigate, she couldn’t show mercy either. I could only wait outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, fortunately until Commander Deng came out to get the Cabinet’s drafts. I don’t know what he said to His Majesty, but when the Eastern Depot guards came to find me, they said they were coming to get you back. In such a short time…”
Her voice trembled with tears. “To be tortured like this.”
Yang Wan patted the back of her hand, temporarily calming her, and looked up to ask Qin Wende: “Commander Qin, where are you taking me now?”
Qin Wende said: “We’re taking you back to the Inner Eastern Depot, but there are no detention facilities there. The Commander said to place you in the duty room on the west side of the Inner Eastern Depot, but you can’t move around freely, because His Majesty might want to question you personally.”
After speaking, he bent down, personally serving as a footstool for Yang Wan to board the carriage.
Seeing this, Yang Wan was reluctant to step forward.
Qin Wende said: “We receive many favors from the Commander daily. The Commander values you, so we value you too. We dare not offend you, serving as a footstool is the least we can do. Step up, Secretary Song, hold her steady.”
Only then did Yang Wan painfully climb into the carriage, with Song Yunqing placing a blanket beneath her so she could lie down.
Qin Wende drove the carriage himself, going slower than usual to avoid causing Yang Wan more suffering.
The sights of the Great Ming capital passed by the carriage curtains.
Yang Wan was grateful that Qin Wende had given her this quiet moment, allowing her to carefully acknowledge the wounds on her body.
When she first came to this era, she wasn’t used to this body that belonged to someone else, falling while walking at South Lake, even despising the frailty of Ming Dynasty women. But now, this whipping had tightly bound this body’s senses with her spirit. She was afraid, she hurt so much she wanted to die, she couldn’t help but beg for mercy from someone who had been merely a paper character to her before.
If while taking notes, she had maintained a modern person’s sense of boundaries, separating herself from this era’s suffering, now she found she couldn’t do that anymore.
The things she wanted, the people she wanted to see, were now all concrete.
She wanted to return to a quiet, clean room, take off these humiliating prison clothes, clean her wounds, apply medicine properly, then sleep, take medicine, and heal.
She wanted to see Deng Ying; even if they just sat on the same bed, she wouldn’t need to show him formal respect anymore.
Because at this moment, she wanted this person’s gentleness and compassion.