Countless dead leaves had piled up on the city moat.
Yang Lun followed Deng Ying to the riverbank. When the river wind blew, he couldn’t help but cough several times. Hearing the sound behind him, Deng Ying stopped walking forward and turned to Yang Lun, saying: “Your health…”
“Don’t ask about such things.”
Yang Lun cut him off sharply.
Deng Ying nodded awkwardly, “Ask what you want to ask me.”
Yang Lun composed himself, “When did the output from the school fields of Chu Mountain Academy and Hu Dan Academy become your private property?”
Deng Ying responded: “Before you went to Hangzhou.”
“Who gave you those fields?”
Deng Ying remained silent.
“Speak!”
Yang Lun stepped closer, “If you don’t tell the truth, I cannot rest easy!”
Deng Ying raised his head and asked: “What troubles you so?”
“Heh…”
Yang Lun laughed coldly, pointing at Deng Ying’s nose: “You think I’m not clearing the school fields because I fear harming the academy students? Director Deng, Chu Mountain Academy, and Hu Dan Academy together have over seven thousand mu of school fields, yet since the fourth year of Zhenning, they’ve been relying on support from several returned Donglin scholars. In such dire straits, having these fields or not hardly matters! I’ve already written a memorial impeaching you, but I still want to ask you in person – why?”
Deng Ying quietly endured Yang Lun’s emotional outburst and asked in return: “Did you write a memorial impeaching me?”
“…”
Yang Lun was speechless.
Deng Ying turned his back to the river wind and bowed deeply to Yang Lun, “Thank you, Zixi, for saving my life.”
Yang Lun stared at his bent back, his fists clenched, almost wanting to strike this man’s back directly.
He had indeed saved Deng Ying, even going so far as to fabricate lies and argue with Bai Yu Yang on the spot. He also knew that after knowing each other for over ten years, Deng Ying could surely see what he was doing. Simply put, this was just an ordinary game between cabinet ministers and eunuchs amid political strife. However, when Deng Ying called him Zixi and thanked him for saving his life, it gave Yang Lun a sudden sense of time flowing backward, of looking back through the years.
But he couldn’t return the scholarly greeting as he had in the past – once he returned the greeting, he would be aligning himself with this man.
“Since you won’t speak, I’ll let Bai Yu Yang continue interrogating Fu Bainian. I have nothing more to say to you.”
He turned to leave after speaking, but a voice followed from behind: “Zixi, let me live a few more years.”
Yang Lun turned back, “I come from official academies, but I deeply understand the difficulties of private schools. How many people today truly teach for their students’ sake? Most who maintain academies after establishing them have emptied themselves. If I tolerate corruption in education, how dare I keep my scholarly reputation?”
His emotions were intense, his fists almost clenched.
Deng Ying didn’t respond immediately, waiting until his emotions had somewhat subsided before asking in return: “If you won’t abandon your scholarly reputation, what about your own life?”
Yang Lun froze.
Deng Ying’s tone remained calm, “Someone in Hangzhou territory already tried to kill you. Do you know whose hand ordered it?”
“Who?”
A chill ran up Yang Lun’s spine.
“He Yixian.”
Yang Lun was stunned, and by connecting Deng Ying’s words, he suddenly understood something.
“What did you say earlier – when did those school fields’ production come under your name?”
“Early in the sixth month.”
Yang Lun pursued further:
“Under whose name were they before – He Yixian’s?”
“You first…”
“So you took responsibility for those seven thousand mu of private fields for him?”
Yang Lun didn’t let him finish, interrupting Deng Ying and grabbing his collar, “Going south to do such things – who value their life? Even those teenage students at the Imperial Academy dare to write death pledges. In your eyes, Deng Ying, am I such a coward that I need you to bear the infamy to save me?”
Deng Ying pressed on his wrist, “Let go.”
Yang Lun was furious and didn’t hear his words, forcing Deng Ying back several steps to a weeping willow. Deng Ying braced himself against the tree trunk with one hand, looking up at Yang Lun’s almost blazing gaze.
“Yang Zixi, what do you want to do to me? I’ve already taken responsibility!”
Yang Lun’s fist struck the tree trunk.
Deng Ying closed his eyes at the force of the blow, countless leaves falling from above.
He resigned himself to not arguing with Yang Lun, suppressing his emotions to say: “Your ‘Field Clearing Strategy’ – I’ve read it more than ten times, word by word, from beginning to end. You wrote about returning fields to the people, not just as empty theory, but with specific measurement methods, and timeframes for return, trying to truly eliminate abuses and restrict the monopolization of land by royal clan members and noble households. You wrote so well, I felt ashamed reading it. Ah, Yang Zixi, if I were still a person, I too could write a death pledge, and stake my life to contend with today’s court. But I can no longer be counted as a person – I’m not qualified to do what you can do. All I can do is prevent you and those who went south with you from having to write death pledges. Zixi… I beg you, let me walk this path.”
After hearing these words, Yang Lun’s shoulders trembled.
More unbearable than his humble gratitude was the debt owed to this man – not just his debt to Deng Ying, but the debt of the entire clamorous, unseeing political arena, the murky, factional, constantly grinding bureaucracy’s debt to this eunuch.
This “debt” couldn’t be placed on any clean table – no one would acknowledge it. Even Yang Lun himself couldn’t speak the word “thanks.”
“You trust so much that I’ll let you live a few more years?”
“I…”
“He doesn’t trust you.”
Yang Wan’s voice came from behind, followed by an ice-cold hand gripping Yang Lun’s tiger mouth point, mercilessly pinching until Yang Lun released Deng Ying in pain.
Yang Wan extended a hand to Deng Ying, “Come here.”
Deng Ying glanced at Yang Lun, somewhat hesitant. Yang Wan simply took his hand and pulled him behind her.
“You go first. I have some words to say to my brother.”
Yang Lun had to suppress his anger before Yang Wan.
Back in Zhejiang, he had heard that Zhang Luo had tortured Yang Wan in the imperial prison. Now, seeing her standing before him with a pale face, he felt both shame and hatred. He adjusted his tone, trying to make his voice as gentle as possible.
“Are… your injuries healed?”
“They healed long ago. They weren’t serious to begin with.”
Yang Wan’s voice was faint, and her demeanor seemed to have grown quieter.
After bringing her back from Nanhai, Yang Lun felt she had become a different person – cold and hard. However, after several months without seeing her, she seemed to show again a layer of childhood fragility.
“I’m no longer a lady official in the Shangyi Bureau now, but a palace servant by the young prince’s side. It will be harder to see you in the future, so I want to tell you some things today.”
Yang Lun nodded, “Speak, brother is listening.”
“Thank you for being willing to save Deng Ying.”
Yang Lun smiled bitterly at her words, “Is this all you wanted to say? Don’t you know, this is what your brother least wants to hear from you?”
“I know.”
Yang Wan raised her hand to hold down her hair that the river wind threatened to scatter, “Regarding the Hejü case, I don’t know how much you’ve heard, and I don’t want to speak more of it. Sister is alone in Jiao Garden now, and Yi Lang dwells alone in Chengqian Palace. I, and my sister, almost lost our lives to protect your students. As for Deng Ying, to protect you all, his reputation is already in tatters. I hope you can also cherish this, not abandon Yi Lang, and not fail us.”
Speaking of Consort Ning, Yang Lun couldn’t help but choke up.
“How… how is Her Highness?”
“I don’t know. I can’t see her, and neither can Yi Lang. Perhaps you could submit a memorial to ask, but I know you won’t.”
“What nonsense are you talking?”
Yang Wan smiled slightly, “Brother, only now am I slowly understanding what kind of person you are.”
She was about to pass judgment on Yang Lun.
Before she spoke the words to follow, Yang Lun felt unexpectedly nervous.
“Before sister became an imperial consort, you still treated her as a sister, but after she became a consort, you treated her as an outsider. Similarly, if Zhang Luo had attacked me outside the imperial prison, I believe you would have rushed to fight him, but when he tortured me inside the prison, you could have done nothing. You place great importance on laws and principles, keeping yourself clean, and never involving yourself in private feelings or interests, but you throw yourself into fighting for the common people’s suffering. You deserve to be recorded in history but as people…”
Her tone changed, even carrying a hint of choking up, “We’re not bad people either.”
As she spoke, she walked a few steps toward the riverbank, “I asked Chen Hua privately – Deng Ying is borrowing silver from him to buy that single-entrance courtyard beside Guangji Temple. An Eastern Depot Director, a Ceremonial Court’s Chief Eunuch – if as you just said, he has thousands of mu of good fields, he couldn’t afford a courtyard? Do you know where his money went?”
Yang Lun remained silent.
Yang Wan pressed her lips together, “You can ask Qin Wende – this year, he didn’t take a single grain from those two Hangzhou academies’ school fields. He returned everything to the academies, even adding his annual salary. Brother, you want your scholarly reputation – if you let him be imprisoned and tried, you’ll be known as one who cleansed the Southern educational system. But he was once a scholar too. Now he has no scholarly reputation, and those who benefit from his kindness don’t know who he is. In hundreds of years, while you’re praised by thousands, he’ll still be on the list of criminals, enduring generation after generation’s contempt for his name… By then I’ll be dead too – who can save him?”
Yang Lun coughed once, “Why didn’t he tell me about this?”
Yang Wan said: “If he had told you, how could you face him?”
Yang Lun was once again speechless.
Yang Wan had struck at the core of what he was unwilling to face.
How to face Deng Ying?
Yang Lun had been struggling with this for almost two years, still unable to untangle the boundaries.
Yang Wan looked at Yang Lun and continued: “The Eastern Depot is a frightening place in many people’s eyes. By the young prince’s side, I’ve heard more than once his teachers telling him that to cleanse political terror, the sovereign must be cautious in using prisons beyond the Three Judicial Offices. But now, the Eastern Depot has torture rights and is even permitted to build internal prisons like the Northern Pacification Office. From your and the prince’s political perspective, can Deng Ying meet a good end?”
Yang Lun said softly: “He could still withdraw – it’s not too late.”
“But he told me that if he retreats again, you and the young prince will face deeper persecution.”
“…”
Yang Lun was speechless.
Yang Wan pursued: “The new policies are difficult – you’ve already taken the first step in the south, and all the achievements are yours. Sister, Deng Ying, and I are all happy for you, praying for peace for the suffering common people in the south. As for the political clarity you hope for, it’s not impossible when a wise ruler comes. For a better era, even as a nameless person, I will do everything I can to protect the child you value. Like Deng Ying, I absolutely will not retreat again.”
Yang Lun sighed out a burning breath, “Wan’er, brother only hoped you would marry into a good family. Brother didn’t want you to get involved in this.”
“But I’m already involved. If I hadn’t saved myself, I would have been one of those three hundred palace women beaten to death.”
Yang Lun’s heart twisted in pain, “I’m sorry, Wan’er, brother…”
Yang Wan cut off his words, “You don’t need to say sorry.”
As she spoke, she unconsciously lifted her neck, “I’m the only one left in Chengqian Palace who is Yi Lang’s family. But it’s alright – there’s still Deng Ying in the imperial city. If Deng Ying is willing to wade into partisan struggles, I’m not afraid to fall into inner palace conflicts.”
“Wan’er…”
“I’m not doing this just for Deng Ying – I’m doing it for myself too. I want to be a brave girl, living earnestly here. I want to see and remember everything from the Zhenning era. If you won’t leave a single word for us, then I’ll write it myself, speak it myself.”