“With Your Highness protecting this servant, what should this servant fear?”

Consort Ning shook her head, “It’s your cleverness. If you hadn’t thought of entering the Department of Palace Affairs to prove your innocence, our Yang family would have been in trouble this time.”

Yang Wan fidgeted with the jade pendant hanging at her waist, lowering her head and saying softly, “It was this servant’s fault, to begin with, this servant is merely trying to save herself.”

Consort Ning took her hands and held them against her chest.

Yang Wan quickly stepped back, “Your Highness… no need, this servant isn’t cold.”

Consort Ning held onto her retreating hands, tilting her head to look into her eyes, “Don’t move. Let sister ask you, did you… like that person when you were at home before?”

Yang Wan was momentarily stunned.

Speaking of Yang Wan and Deng Ying’s matter, Consort Ning’s attitude was much more peaceful than Yang Lun’s, to the point where Yang Wan didn’t want to brush her off.

“Can’t say I liked him, this servant hasn’t liked anyone yet…”

Consort Ning squeezed her hand, “You’re already eighteen.”

Eighteen, how young, Yang Wan mused to herself.

To think that in modern times she had lived almost thirty years, her love life as pure as white snow, not a single word to write about it, an accomplished asexual, full-time research dog. If this were now, wouldn’t she deserve a memorial arch from the government? In modern times, how did she end up being condemned from all sides, feeling so worthless as if she were truly a scourge?

So what exactly happened in between?

How did the text come to be? How was the connotation interpreted?

Thinking this way, it seemed another deconstructionist research direction could be added to the field of women’s reputation damage history.

Her thoughts had wandered, and she hadn’t responded to Consort Ning.

Seeing her silence, Consort Ning took her arm and pulled her to her side, “Never mind. When sister entered the palace, you were just a little girl of a few years. After you grew up, your sister rarely got to see you, and couldn’t hear many of your words. It’s good that you’ve come in now. Zhang Luo was chosen by their father – back then sister was young, couldn’t see anything clearly, and couldn’t say anything either. Now that your sister has some power, you stay with your sister for a year or two, and let sister slowly choose for you. We’ll surely find someone good who suits your heart. But you must promise your sister to guard your reputation well. If you don’t truly like that person, don’t entangle with him anymore.”

Yang Wan lowered her eyes, “What if I do like him?”

Consort Ning was silent for a while before saying softly, “Don’t walk this path in the palace with someone like that, Wan’er. You won’t be happy in the end.”

For some reason, Yang Wan felt the woman saying these words didn’t seem very happy either.

Not wanting to make her feel worse, she looked up and smiled at her, “Don’t worry, this servant understands.”

Then she bent down to take Yi Lang’s hand, following Consort Ning into the palace.

The rainwater hadn’t dried from the ground, making mirror-breaking sounds when stepped on.

Looking at the deep black shadows on the ground, Yang Wan said softly, “Your Highness, sometimes this servant feels that purity and chastity were broken to begin with, no matter what we say it’s meaningless.”

Consort Ning turned to look at her, “How can you think this way? A young lady’s reputation is so important. Life is so long – if one has to live under others’ judgment forever, how unbearable would that be?”

Yang Wan shook her head, “Even the purest person will be judged. People don’t point fingers because we’ve made mistakes, but rather they point fingers at us so they can appear pure themselves.”

Hearing this, Consort Ning was stunned, stopping under a courtyard tree to study Yang Wan’s eyes.

“Since you’ve come to the palace this time, I’ve felt your words and actions are very different from what your brother and others described. These past few years…”

She paused, seeming to hesitate whether to ask.

“Hmm… these past few years at home, were you unhappy… or did mother and brother treat you poorly?”

Yang Wan hurriedly said, “No, Your Highness, they treated me very well.”

A flash of pain crossed Consort Ning’s eyes, “But why do your words seem like they contain snow? At first listen one doesn’t notice, but thinking carefully, they’re so cold – unlike words from a teenage girl.”

“…”

These words seemed to try to expose her but were very warm.

Yang Wan couldn’t explain, but fortunately, at this moment, Consort Ning’s palace maid He Yu came from the hall to ask, “Your Highness, will Miss Wan rest in our palace again today?”

Consort Ning turned and nodded, “Yes. Where is His Majesty now?”

He Yu replied, “He went to see Her Majesty the Empress.”

“Very well, I understand.”

Consort Ning responded, then turned back to pat Yang Wan’s hand, “Stay with sister tonight.”

Yang Wan nodded, “Yes, but tomorrow, this servant should return to Senior Lady Jiang at the South Bureau. Staying too long in Your Highness’s palace isn’t good for you.”

“No need. Since sister has asked Her Majesty the Empress for the favor of letting you stay in my palace for a few days, you should stay at ease. Yi Lang is happy when he sees you – sister is also happy when you can play with him more.”

Yang Wan was about to speak when she saw the little one at her feet tugging at her sleeve again.

“Auntie, auntie, make little people appear again!”

Though Yang Wan had never thought about having children, she had no resistance to soft, sweet children.

Seeing him bouncing around her like a little dumpling, she crouched down to hold his waist and picked him up.

“My little prince, you’re making this servant dizzy with all your shaking!”

Consort Ning quickly reached out to help support Yi Lang’s arm, asking her,

“Can Wan’er hold him? I heard your neck was injured quite badly, and this child has grown quite heavy lately.”

Yang Wan adjusted Yi Lang’s collar, “It’s fine now, Your Highness. Come, let’s go in, this servant will make little people appear for you to see.”

That night, the ground’s dampness was still particularly strong.

Palace maids were burning mugwort in the inner hall to fumigate the beds.

Yang Wan held Yi Lang on her knee, entertaining him with small magic tricks until he giggled for quite a while.

The wet nurse came to call him several times, but he was unwilling to leave her and eventually fell asleep in Yang Wan’s arms.

Consort Ning sat nearby peeling chestnuts for Yang Wan, saying she noticed Yang Wan liked nuts, so she had ordered several more jars for her today.

Yang Wan ate one of the chestnuts Consort Ning had peeled, and seeing her push over another large handful, didn’t say anything more. She took the child from her arms and walked behind the screen.

Yang Wan looked at the chestnuts before her, trying to recall Consort Ning’s life story.

The details of Consort Ning’s life were unclear, and there was no definite record of which year she died, only that she was the mother of Emperor Jinghe Zhu Yi Lang, and later seemed to have made some mistake and was rejected by the emperor. After Emperor Jinghe ascended the throne, he didn’t even grant her a posthumous title.

Yang Wan opened her notebook, resting her chin in thought for a while, before finally turning to a new page and adding Consort Ning’s name – Yang Shu.

After writing, she sat quietly in the lamplight for a while, propping her chin.

She recalled Consort Ning saying, “Wan’er, don’t walk this path in the palace with someone like that, you won’t be happy in the end.”

After careful thought and considering her appearance and temperament, she suddenly found it difficult to write.

If she had a passionate spectator’s attitude toward men’s conquests, then for these women in history who were like herself, she felt compassion born of shared fate.

So she simply stopped writing without adding anything more, closed her notebook, and looked out the window.

Beyond the green gauze, the clouds had scattered and stars had emerged, making it quite clear and bright.

Time passed quickly to the fourth month of the twelfth year of Zhenning.

In late spring, the apricot blossoms had just fallen, covering the ground. When the rain washed them away, they flowed into every corner of the imperial city.

The reconstruction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony had entered the roofing stage, but the Liuli Factory in the suburbs couldn’t deliver the tiles. When the Ministry of Works went to investigate, they discovered a eunuch named Wang Shunchang at the Liuli Factory. Though it wasn’t an especially big case at first, the final investigation shocked the entire Ming court. This man had supervised the Liuli Factory for ten years and had embezzled over two million taels of silver – equivalent to a year’s revenue for the court during the Zhenning era.

The officials of the Six Ministries who were still waiting for court relief grain nearly stoned Wang Shunchang to death on his way to the imperial prison. However, the internal palace maintained strict silence about this matter, with managers everywhere gathering their subordinates to sternly order that no one was to privately discuss Wang Shunchang’s corruption case.

On this day, as the Inner School was about to dismiss, Deng Ying sat at the lecturer’s seat clarifying doubts about a young eunuch.

Yang Wan sat at a window seat, head down and writing furiously.

Deng Ying took advantage of a break to glance at her. She wasn’t on duty today, so she wasn’t wearing the palace service uniform.

She wore a lotus-colored dress with a moon-white short coat over it, her hair adorned only with a silver pearl tassel hairpin. Under her arm was the little notebook she often wrote in, her wrist hanging loose as her brush tip moved swiftly. Occasionally she would pause, tapping her chin with a bent finger, and after figuring something out, her brush would flow smoothly again.

It was a fine spring day, and a kingfisher preening its feathers perched on a branch outside the window.

After setting down her brush, Yang Wan picked up her cup for a drink of water, then leaned on the window, feeding nuts wrapped in silk to the bird.

When she noticed Deng Ying watching her, she smiled, resting her face in her hand.

“Keep going with your discussion, I’ve finished what I needed to write today.”

The eunuch was only seven or eight years old, too young to misunderstand their relationship.

He turned and bowed to Yang Wan: “This servant can’t understand what the lady official writes.”

Then he looked at Deng Ying, “Can the teacher understand it?”

Deng Ying shook his head with a smile.

“These are just my scribbles, you shouldn’t learn from them. Study well with your teacher, what he teaches is true wisdom.”

Hearing this, the eunuch nodded at Yang Wan, then said, “Teacher, my mother says all eunuchs are unfortunate people. My family is poor – if they hadn’t sold me to the palace, my younger brothers wouldn’t have survived. No one in my family can read, let alone study. Teacher, you’re like us, so how did you become so learned?”

Hearing him finish, Yang Wan stood and walked over to the eunuch, gently pinching his nose.

“Hey, you little one, you don’t even know how to compliment people properly.”

The child squirmed, “Don’t pinch my nose! They say all the lady officials from the Department of Palace Affairs are the most courteous, how could you…”

“What did you say?”

Yang Wan was caught between letting go and not letting go.

Deng Ying closed his book with a smile, “So you do have times when you’re at a loss for words.”

Yang Wan let go and stood with her arms crossed, looking down at Deng Ying, “He’s young, I won’t take it seriously, and you shouldn’t either.”

Deng Ying handed a handful of nuts to the eunuch, smiling as he answered the earlier question, “Teacher used to be a scholar.”

The child received the nuts joyfully, hiding them in his sleeve, then looked up to ask, “Why would a scholar become a palace servant like us?”

“Because the teacher made a mistake.”

“Oh…”

The eunuch’s eyes suddenly dimmed.

Deng Ying raised his arm and pushed the book to him, “Go now, remember to review tomorrow’s lessons.”

“Yes, teacher.”

Yang Wan watched the nuts the child inadvertently dropped as he left, pressing her lips together.

“Why did you tell him the truth?”

Deng Ying walked to the door, bending down to pick up the fallen nuts one by one.

The pale green palace robes touched the ground, and that scarred hand appeared before Yang Wan’s eyes once again.

After picking them up, he stood and looked in the direction the child had run off to, saying casually, “They will find out eventually.”

“After they know, they won’t see you as one of their own anymore.”

“Why?”

“…”

This was a study about the opposing identity stances between the Ming Dynasty’s eunuch group and the scholar-official group.

Being in the midst of it, Deng Ying couldn’t possibly step outside to understand this issue. Yang Wan felt that telling him directly would be like mental torture.

So she pressed her lips together without saying more, walking to the window to sit down again.

Unexpectedly, just as she sat down, she heard the muffled sound of beating from the courtyard outside the Inner Study.

She was about to push open the window to look when she heard Deng Ying say to her: “Come here, Yang Wan.”