After the autumn imperial examinations concluded, rain fell in the capital for several consecutive days. However, the Shuntian Prefecture book market hadn’t quieted down with the end of examinations. As the weather cleared, candidates awaiting their results wandered the book market in small groups.

The East Street was bustling with carriages and horses, creating a lively atmosphere.

Yet the Qingbo House remained tightly sealed, its doors marked with official seals that drew crowds of onlookers and sparked discussions.

“Why was only Qingbo House sealed?” one candidate asked in surprise, staring at the seals on the door.

His companion replied, “I heard the Imperial Guards came to seal it themselves. They didn’t just close the shop—they took everyone inside away too.”

“Could this be another literary inquisition brewing?”

As they spoke, they walked together to a noodle stall at the entrance of East Public Street. Setting down their bundles, they poured two cups of tea. The warm steam moistened their noses as they held their cups and gazed at the frost on the ground. One suddenly asked, “There are still several days before the results are posted—did you bring enough cotton clothes?”

“I’m worried it won’t be enough. Even with sunlight, it’s cold.”

“Yes, and it’s dry. Who knows what this winter will bring?”

“Ah…” they sighed together.

One put down his teacup and said, “Even the annual allowance isn’t good anymore. All the academies in our region are struggling to stay open. Now even the capital’s bookhouses are being sealed without warning. Who knows where the money allocated for local education officials has gone—straight into some dogs’ mouths…”

“Shh!” his companion quickly cut him off. “Enough! Getting an official degree isn’t easy—watch out for loose talk that could bring trouble.”

They fell silent and each ordered a bowl of clear noodle soup from the vendor.

Qin Wende sat in the spot closest to the stove, finishing his noodles like a whirlwind. He turned to the vendor and said, “Another bowl, no toppings.”

The fresh noodles had just been dropped into the pot as other customers watched the vendor ladling out toppings.

The vendor glanced at Qin Wende while preparing to pick up noodles, “Captain Qin, this is your fourth bowl today.”

At this title, the two men who had been talking earlier grabbed their bundles and fled.

“Hey hey hey! What about your noodles?”

The vendor chased after them unsuccessfully and returned wiping his hands on his apron, “Just my luck.”

Qin Wende slapped some money on the table and said readily, “Give their two bowls to me.”

The vendor smiled helplessly, “I’m happy for your business, but don’t just sit here eating. Go patrol up ahead—at least look like you’re on duty.”

Qin Wende replied, “Come on, with my current position, I don’t need to patrol myself anymore.”

The vendor nodded with a smile and served two bowls of clear noodles without toppings, “Here you go, eat up.”

Just as Qin Wende was about to use his chopsticks, a shadow fell across his bowl. He looked up and scrambled to his feet, his chopsticks clattering to the ground.

“Oh my, Director!”

Deng Ying bent down to pick up the fallen chopsticks and placed them beside him: “Sit down.”

Seeing Deng Ying carrying a stack of books, Qin Wende wiped the oil from the table with his hand, “Director, you can put them here.”

“Alright.”

Deng Ying set down the books and rolled up his sleeves to pour a cup of tea.

Qin Wende asked, “Director, you bought quite a few books?”

“Mm, just picked them up along the way.”

As he spoke, he took a sip of tea. Qin Wende looked at the two bowls of noodles in front of him and quickly pushed one toward Deng Ying, “Please have a bowl.”

Deng Ying smiled, “Since it’s already served, you eat it.”

Qin Wende said, “Your subordinate has been keeping watch here and already ate four bowls.”

He punctuated this with a burp.

Deng Ying shook his head with a laugh and pulled the bowl toward himself, getting up to fetch chopsticks from another table.

The vendor came over with a large ladle of toppings, “Director, please eat—if it’s not enough, I’ll make more for you.”

Qin Wende suppressed a laugh as he slurped his noodles, lowering his voice to say, “Director, you’re so kind that even these people aren’t afraid of you.”

Deng Ying mixed the toppings into his noodles, “How’s the surveillance going?”

“Oh.” Qin Wende quickly put down his chopsticks and replied seriously, “That Pang Ling—yesterday he only left the palace once, didn’t go anywhere else, just came to Qingbo House. Watching the Northern Guard arrest people and seal the shop, he was scared witless, and nearly fell off his horse. Today at chen hour he came to look again, hiding in the crowd, not daring to approach the front. Director, the Northern Guard has Qingbo House sealed up tight as a drum—what’s in there?”

Deng Ying said softly, “Just keep watching Pang Ling, don’t interact with the Northern Guard about the Qingbo House matter.”

Qin Wende said, “By rights, our Eastern Depot should be monitoring them. This time with sealing Qingbo House, you told us to avoid them, and those Guard fellows are taking it as us being afraid of them—acting all proud about it.”

Deng Ying smiled, “Finish your noodles and head back to the depot.”

Qin Wende stirred his noodles and said, “You’re in such a hurry to get back? We’ve moved the furniture into your residence—won’t you go take a look while it’s still early?”

Deng Ying glanced at the sky.

“It’s getting late today.”

Qin Wende couldn’t have guessed that Deng Ying was rushing back to the palace to fix Yang Wan’s roof.

At Chengqian Palace, just past noon, though cold, the sun was bright.

He Yu stood under the tree canopy, shading her eyes to look up at the rigid roof ridge.

Deng Ying wore a gray short coat with tied sleeves and was speaking with the tile workers.

A palace servant returning with charcoal saw He Yu standing in the courtyard looking up and following her gaze.

“Tsk… Jade sister, is that… Director Deng?”

He Yu’s neck was already stiff, and she nodded wordlessly, still staring upward.

The servant put down his charcoal basket and whispered in He Yu’s ear, “I heard the court eunuchs in the Ceremonial Office don’t dare act up in front of the Director anymore. Our Lady Wan got the Director to come to fix our roof?”

He Yu continued nodding.

She had been surprised when Deng Ying first arrived with the Palace Construction Office workers, but since Yang Wan had gone to pick up Yi Lang from his studies, she couldn’t say anything and could only watch from the courtyard. Who knew they would climb up to the roof and not come down—she had been standing there for half an hour.

“My goodness, we truly have a golden Buddha watching over us.”

He even chanted “Amitabha” after saying this.

“Jade sister, you don’t know—when I went to the Fuel Conservation Office today, even the seal keeper there was polite to us.”

He Yu finally spoke, “Don’t talk nonsense. Lady Wan doesn’t like hearing such things, and besides, Keeper Chen has always been kind, never playing favorites.”

“Who’s playing favorites?”

The people in the courtyard started and turned to bow.

Yi Lang led Yang Wan by the hand into the courtyard, glanced up at the side hall’s roof ridge, then turned to Yang Wan saying, “Aunt, I’m going to change clothes.”

“Alright.”

Yang Wan gestured for He Yu and the others to follow him, while she walked to the corridor pillar and looked up at Deng Ying, “Too high up to bow now, aren’t you?”

“It’s proper protocol not to bow while working with tiles and wood.”

The wind was strong at that height. Deng Ying hadn’t worn his official headpiece that day, only binding his hair with a gray cloth band. Standing between the tower buildings, he appeared graceful and light.

Yang Wan loved this scene, and couldn’t help saying sincerely, “You should always be like this, looking down at us from above.”

Having heard this, Deng Ying bent to steady the ladder resting against the bracket arms.

“Want to come up and see?”

“Won’t I fall?”

Though she asked this, she was already eagerly climbing up.

“Slowly, step carefully.”

The workers also came to hold the ladder.

Reaching the last rung, Yang Wan found herself without a handhold and hesitated, “It’s… quite high, can I make it up?”

Deng Ying knelt on one knee and extended his hand to Yang Wan, “Raise your arm, I’ll hold it—try to push yourself up slowly.”

Like his gentle nature, Deng Ying often told Yang Wan to “go slowly.”

Little did he know, she was the one who most wanted to “go slowly.”

“Come. Step up.”

Yang Wan gripped Deng Ying’s arm with one hand and pushed against the tiled roof with the other, finally climbing onto the ridge.

Deng Ying bent to brush the dust from her knees, “Getting down might be even harder.”

Yang Wan tried crouching down, “Did you climb up by yourself?”

Deng Ying smiled, “What else?”

“You’re so good at climbing heights.”

Deng Ying laughed at this comment, glancing somewhat meaningfully at the nearby workers.

“Let me help you sit down.”

“Mm.”

Yang Wan sat by the sloping ridge and said to Deng Ying, “Yesterday when it was leaking, I thought I was dreaming—how could a palace building leak?”

Deng Ying replied, “Up until I left, there were over a thousand rooms in the imperial city. Not every place could be built as perfectly as when we constructed the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Take the glazed roof tiles—the three main halls mostly use tiles fired in the imperial kiln near the capital, but the tiles on this side hall of Chengqian Palace…”

He bent down to pick up a broken piece from the debris and handed it to Yang Wan.

Looking down, Yang Wan saw written on it: “Produced by Wu Kiln of Pingzhou, First Year of Zhening Reign.”

“So this tile kiln was owned by the Wu family.”

“Yes, I only learned that today. This is the royal residence, an extremely complex project that took a very long time. I only participated for ten years. Even Master, while overseeing repairs to various palace buildings, gradually learned where the original bricks and tiles came from, and what the craftsmen were thinking.”

Yang Wan hugged her knees and closed her eyes against the high wind.

“So even bricks and wood can teach people—is that what you mean?”

“Mm, Master said similar things to me.”

Yang Wan nodded, “Master Zhang was wonderful. If he were still here, I would serve him well. Ask him to feel at ease entrusting his good student to me.”

As she finished speaking, she patted her somewhat sore knees, making the jade pendants at her waist clink delicately together.

She said she would ask Zhang Zhanchun to entrust Deng Ying to her.

Following her words, Deng Ying suddenly remembered the jade pendant carved with floating green lotus that Bai Huan had given him at Guangji Temple.

After Zhang Zhanchun’s death, he had never dared to look at that jade pendant. It represented Zhang Zhanchun’s hopes for him, but he dared not accept them.

“Deng Ying.”

“Mm?”

“Did you think of Master Zhang as your father?”

“Yes.”

“Mm, good.”

As she spoke, Yang Wan’s eyes curved in a smile, her lips pressed together.

Deng Ying couldn’t help asking, “What’s good about it?”

Yang Wan said, “No matter what, you’ll have to take me to pay respects to him in the future.”

As they were talking, they suddenly heard He Yu calling from below, “Lady Wan, how did you get up there too?”

“Oh…”

Yang Wan poked her head over the edge, “I came up for some fresh air.”

He Yu waved up at her somewhat helplessly, “Please come down, the meal is ready.”

Yang Wan stood up shakily, “You serve His Highness first.”

“His Highness refuses, he’s waiting to eat with you.”

“Oh, then I’ll come right down.”

Deng Ying quickly steadied Yang Wan and asked softly, “His Highness allows you to dine with him?”

Yang Wan stood at the eave’s edge thinking for a moment, “It wasn’t allowed before, but later… somehow it became allowed.”

Deng Ying nodded with a smile but said nothing more.

Yang Wan wiped some dust from Deng Ying’s nose, “Little Ying, don’t overthink things up here on my roof.”

“I’m not thinking anything.”

“Impossible, you don’t look happy at all.”

Deng Ying lowered his head to avoid Yang Wan’s gaze, “Wan Wan, you will be a very noble lady in the future.”

“Then I will still honor you.”

Having said this, she didn’t give him time to ponder her words, raising her voice to say, “Stay and eat here today, don’t go back to the Ceremonial Office to make a fuss.”

“Wait… Wan Wan, I had noodles for lunch…”

After saying this, worried Yang Wan would misunderstand, he quickly added, “But I still want to eat noodles.”

Seeing his expression, Yang Wan turned away covering her mouth, unable to stop laughing.

Deng Ying felt somewhat at a loss.

“Wan Wan…”

Yang Wan turned back waving her hand, “Don’t worry, no noodles. Go sit in my room and wait a bit, I’ll have the kitchen make some porridge.”