“What now?”
“What are you doing?”
“I…”
To stop him from constantly calling me, I finally shuffled over in my slippers to find him. I brought a small stool and sat beside him. Seeing me sit behind him, he smiled. I crossed my arms and said: “You’ve been wanting to call me over here for a while, haven’t you?”
Deng Ying turned back to continue his work, responding softly: “No.”
I rested my chin in my hands, watching those hands of his at work. The wounds on his wrists were from wearing shackles for a long time, and although he had been recovering for a month, they still hadn’t fully healed. I heard that Chen Hua had privately advised him to tell me about hiring one or two servants for the house. But Deng Ying refused, saying: “Wan-wan won’t buy slaves.”
“Why?”
Deng Ying shook his head, not explaining to him.
“Can you manage everything by yourself?”
“Mm.”
Deng Ying made an affirmative sound, “Though she eats quite a lot, I can manage.”
In my view, all people are born equal, without differences in status or rank.
Deng Ying knew how I thought, and I was really happy about that.
But what did he mean by saying I eat quite a lot?
“You do eat quite a lot.”
One day in late March, Yang Lun came specifically to tease me, accompanied by Chen Hua and Yun Qing.
Chen Hua went to help Deng Ying stew the duck, while Yun Qing stood to the side laughing.
Doctor Li was checking my pulse, and seeing my flushed face, he smiled and said: “Eating a lot is a good thing. After being sick for so many days, your vital energy is depleted. How can you recover without eating more?”
After finishing, he removed the pulse pillow and said to me: “Madam, do you eat pork lung?”
I quickly asked: “Which is easier to cook, pork lung or duck?”
Doctor Li said: “Duck is simpler to prepare.”
I hurriedly waved my hands, “Then please don’t tell him that.”
Yun Qing laughed: “If Master Deng can’t make it, I can come over and stew it for you.”
“You just take good care of my shop, and I’ll be grateful enough.”
Yang Lun said: “Yang Wan, since I came in, I’ve seen him doing everything, front and back, taking care of you. His injuries aren’t fully healed either—how can one patient take care of another? I say let your sister-in-law select some servants for you.”
I smiled: “Once I’m better, I’ll be good at everything, inside and out. Cooking and laundry will be no problem.”
“That won’t do.”
Yang Lun interrupted: “You’re my sister, I won’t allow you to cook and do laundry for him. What would that make me look like in front of him?”
He finished speaking and looked outside, “What is he doing…”
“Probably plucking the duck’s feathers outside.”
Doctor Li picked up his medicine box and said: “That’s right, the old duck’s feathers need to be plucked clean for the soup to be tasty.”
Yang Lun flexed his hands, “Duck feathers? Why is it taking so long?”
I picked up my medicine bowl and laughed, “Why don’t you go try plucking them yourself and find out?”
“I won’t pluck them.”
Though he said this, before long, he couldn’t help but roll up his sleeves and walk out.
I propped myself up and leaned on the windowsill to watch the two men in the courtyard.
Deng Ying looked somewhat startled at Yang Lun’s sudden appearance: “What are you doing here?”
Yang Lun said directly: “Yang Wan told me to help you pluck feathers.”
As he spoke, he squatted down.
“Eh… Zi Xi.”
Deng Ying tried to stop him, “A gentleman stay away from the kitchen.”
Yang Lun looked up: “This is for stewing soup for my sister, what gentleman or not gentleman?”
I leaned on the windowsill, feeling the warm breeze, smiling as I watched the scene in the courtyard.
Song Yun Qing draped a garment over my shoulders and said softly: “Sometimes, I think you’re amazing.”
“What?”
Song Yun Qing looked at Yang Lun and said: “The people around you, though there are differences in status, as long as you’re here, everyone can interact very naturally.”
I pulled the clothes tighter around my shoulders and looked at the two men with rolled-up sleeves in the courtyard.
One was a “criminal” who had escaped death, and the other was about to become the First Grand Secretary of the Ming court.
In history, they had parted tragically in the early spring of the first year, but now they were here in this warm little courtyard, creating chaos while plucking duck feathers.
This scene, in my eyes, truly had a magical realist quality, but I was also grateful that history had become “absurd” and interesting through my participation, full of the flavor of ordinary life. Just as Song Yun Qing said, though the people around me had differences in status and rank, and I could never completely break through this feudal concept, as long as I was present, everyone could interact very naturally.