In her previous life, Yang Wan had never imagined she would be teaching the builder of the Forbidden City how to eat, 600 years in the past. Yet here he was, following her instructions earnestly, cupping the nuts she had given him in his hands and popping them into his mouth all at once. He lowered his head to chew slowly, the nuts crackling between his teeth like small duds during New Year’s firecrackers.
Yang Wan rested her chin in her hand, quite pleased with the metaphor that had suddenly sprung to mind.
She sat up straight, observing Deng Ying’s silhouette in the lamplight.
This rainy evening in the twelfth year of Zhenning suddenly felt very real, like those late nights she spent in the library with her thermos full of lemon and wolfberry tea, hand warmer beside her snack pack of nuts. The man before her, Deng Ying, had accompanied her through several complete winters, transformed into pages upon pages of sharp text.
“Hey.”
She couldn’t help calling out to him.
When Deng Ying heard Yang Wan’s voice and tried to respond, he unexpectedly choked. Yang Wan quickly poured a cup of water and handed it to him, “Here, take a sip to ease it down.”
Deng Ying swallowed a mouthful of water while suppressing his cough, then laughed at himself, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t like this before.”
“It’s fine, keep eating. I’ll stay quiet. When you eat, you don’t seem like yourself at all.”
“Then… what do I seem like?”
“Like the hamster, I used to keep.”
“Hamster?”
“It’s similar to a mouse.”
“Ah?”
Hearing this comparison, he couldn’t help but shake his head with a smile, covering his mouth and nose as he swallowed the remaining nuts.
Yang Wan propped her chin and asked him, “Are you like this with others too?”
“Like what?”
“Good-natured, never getting angry no matter what people say.”
“Hmm…”
Deng Ying held his teacup and paused for a moment, “I don’t associate with many people.”
“What about my brother?”
Hearing her question, Deng Ying seemed to hesitate.
“Your brother… is one of my few friends. Though now I can’t associate with him anymore.”
Yang Wan looked at the scars on the back of his hand and suddenly said, “The way he treats you now, don’t you think he’s shameless?”
Shameless?
Deng Ying had no expression at first, but after repeating these three words in his mind, he let out a laugh. He looked up at Yang Wan, “You always make me want to laugh.”
“That’s because I love speaking the truth.”
Yang Wan almost crossed her legs as she spoke, “Honestly, I used to think Yang Lun was pretty impressive, but now looking back, he was just average during the Zhenning years.”
She pursed her lips, “To his sister, yes, he’s good, but his methods are too clumsy. He doesn’t know what’s best, only knows how to be blindly protective. As for his teaching… it’s passable, just reading straight from the books – educated by Elder White. Hey, Deng Ying.”
Getting excited about the topic, she unconsciously grabbed the mattress beneath Deng Ying.
“When will you lecture at the Inner School?”
Deng Ying looked at Yang Wan’s hand, just three inches from his leg. Just as he was about to move away, she withdrew it at the right moment.
“You must teach better than Yang Lun.”
No matter what she said, Yang Wan always took Deng Ying’s side.
Even now, Deng Ying still didn’t understand why this woman he had never met before was willing to stand with him.
At South Lake, he thought it was a kind of misplaced affection, but now he wasn’t so sure.
But he didn’t want to ask.
“Does Miss want to hear Deng Ying’s lecture?”
“Yes.”
Yang Wan pulled out a string-bound notebook from her sleeve.
“Look, I’ve already prepared my lecture notes. Also, don’t call me Miss anymore. I have a name, as I told you – I’m Yang Wan. I also have a nickname, Wanwan. Though they say my personality later went astray and this nickname doesn’t suit me anymore, you can still use it if you want.”
“Not at all, Wanwan suits you very well.”
His gaze and voice were both very sincere. Hearing this, Yang Wan wanted to laugh, suddenly deciding to add a note to “The Biography of Deng Ying” – Deng Ying was also someone who could lie straight-faced to a young lady.
“You’re the first person to say that since I became an adult. Ah…”
She sighed, looking up toward the window, “But I’m worried that Yang Lun doesn’t seem to like how I am now.”
“Zi Xi…”
He blurted out Yang Lun’s courtesy name, then paused and corrected himself, “How is Master Yang these days?”
“Very well, what could be wrong with him?”
“And you?”
“Huh?”