Zhang Luo gave a cold laugh. “You think speaking like this will make me go easy on you?”

Yang Wan shook her head. “You won’t… I never expected you to.”

Zhang Luo stood up. “I can’t hear what you’re saying.”

“Then let me recover for a few days… before questioning me again. It hurts too much…”

After saying this, she had no strength left. The wounds from the whipping continued to seep blood and water, dripping into the cracks in the floor.

Zhang Luo looked down at the cracks beneath Yang Wan.

It had been thirty years since the former emperor established this prison. Every brick, every instrument of torture, every person here—including Zhang Luo himself—had become numb to human wounds; when wounds bled, they simply let them bleed. If there was too much, they’d bring a bucket of water to wash it away. It was never anything beautiful, just filth to be released to keep people conscious before prying open their mouths.

Zhang Luo had never minded the stench before, and could even drink tea amid the smell of blood.

But now when she said it hurt too much, he found himself unconsciously looking at her wounds.

But it was just a glance, and he immediately pulled his spirit back together, once again scrutinizing the person on the ground and her words with sharp eyes.

Was that the truth spoken from extreme pain, or another round of her subtle maneuvering?

Zhang Luo couldn’t be certain, but precisely because of this, he wouldn’t let her off so easily.

“Pull her up.”

“Yes.”

Zhang Luo’s voice was cold, so the officers showed no mercy to Yang Wan, grabbing her arms and forcing her upper body upright.

Yang Wan’s consciousness was already half gone, and now she felt her eyelids heavy, wanting to open them but unable to.

“Wake her.”

The ladle of cold water Zhang Luo ordered for her helped bring her consciousness back together. She gently licked the water from her lips, the water mixing with saliva to wet her mouth, finally allowing her to swallow twice. “Are you… still going to question me?”

“Yes.”

Zhang Luo looked down at her. “You haven’t answered a single question.”

“Why are you… so willing to be used by the Ceremonial Office?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“Zhang Luo…”

Yang Wan crawled forward on her knees one step. “I want to know…”

She tried to break free from the officers’ restraints, speaking brokenly: “I want to… know what… what you’re thinking?”

“I can tell you.”

Zhang Luo’s voice now showed almost no emotion.

“But after I tell you, you’ll still wish you were dead.”

He crouched down and stared into Yang Wan’s eyes. “His Majesty is the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming. As Commander of the Northern Suppression Bureau, I must uphold only heaven’s authority. Between heaven’s authority and human life, the latter means nothing to me, even if that life is my own.”

Yang Wan was speechless.

Zhang Luo continued: “If Consort Ning truly had an affair with Zheng Yuejia, I would report it to His Majesty. You remind me of my current situation, merely hoping I’ll give up torturing you and Zheng Yuejia, to help Consort Ning escape punishment. But I ask you if Consort Ning escapes punishment, who will pay for the deception of His Majesty? If no one pays, where is heaven’s authority?”

These words exploded like thunder beside Yang Wan’s ears.

Yang Wan gave a coughing laugh. “I understand.”

“What do you understand?”

Yang Wan nodded while laughing bitterly. “I understand how you think now. Fine…”

She stretched out both hands. “If you want to continue questioning, then bind me tight with iron chains, leave me no room to struggle. Zhang Luo, I might babble nonsense if I can’t bear the torture, but I tell you, as long as I’m alive, I won’t confess—unless you kill me.”

Zhang Luo looked at her hands stretched before him and said coldly: “In my hands, death is the hardest thing to achieve.”

Just as he was about to stand, the officer behind him reported: “Sir, people from the Eastern Depot are here.”

Zhang Luo’s hand paused on his knee. “What for?”

“They say they have imperial orders to take this female official away.”

“What imperial orders!”

Zhang Luo suddenly pushed himself up and strode straight out of the torture chamber.

With his departure, the spirit Yang Wan had been desperately maintaining suddenly completely deflated.

She gasped for air in great gulps, her shoulders trembling, her limbs convulsing. The officers had to release her, letting her collapse to the ground sobbing. Soon, the sobbing turned to crying, sounding particularly miserable in the pin-drop silence of the torture chamber.

Seeing her cry so pitifully, the two officers exchanged glances, and one couldn’t help saying: “Should we lock her up and take her to a cell first?”

“Is that okay? The commander might want to continue questioning when he returns.”

They spoke while looking at her wounds again.

The one who spoke first said: “Let’s lock her up first. Maybe when the commander returns and sees she’s already locked up, he might show some mercy. This crying is too… ah, it’s truly pitiful, she is a female official from the Palace Ceremonial Department after all.”

Outside the torture chamber, Qin Wende, the Thousand Households Commander of the Eastern Depot’s disciplinary division, bowed to Zhang Luo.

He used to be with the Northern Suppression Bureau, but he was straightforward and frank, often offending people by saying the wrong things. He was later transferred to the Imperial Guard, and after a few years, returned to the Imperial Guards, but at his age, he found no success anywhere. However, when Deng Ying reformed the Eastern Depot, he was the first name chosen. Since then, his relationship with Zhang Luo has become adversarial.

“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.