Deng Ying hadn’t expected the Cabinet to still be at the Gate of Supreme Harmony at this hour.

Seeing Bai Huan slow his pace ahead, he also slowed his steps.

In the dim, rainy dusk, both men held umbrellas, creating a physical barrier between them. They shouldn’t have met like this.

“Teacher.”

The word was spoken under the umbrella, with rain pattering loudly above, and Bai Huan couldn’t hear it.

But he watched as Deng Ying lowered his umbrella and knelt in the rain, arranging his robes to pay respects.

The blue clothes spread on the ground, revealing the young man’s bearing, exactly as it had been when he paid respects at the Hanlin Academy years ago.

Bai Huan remained silent but stopped walking forward.

Bai Huan’s son, Bai Yuyang, seeing his father hadn’t continued, bid farewell to several Supervising Secretaries of the Six Offices and returned to his father’s side with an umbrella. He glanced at Deng Ying prostrated on the ground, then at his father silent under the umbrella, and carefully urged: “Father, there’s no need to acknowledge such a servant.”

Unexpectedly, Bai Huan thundered at him: “Insolent!”

Bai Yuyang was startled by the rebuke and quickly lowered his head: “Yes, I was insolent. But please hurry, Father. Today’s meeting has already delayed the palace gates’ closing by half an hour, and this is the third call from the Gate of Supreme Harmony.”

“Let them wait.”

“This…”

“Wait!”

Bai Huan raised his voice, and Bai Yuyang dared not persuade further, only returning to the Gate of Supreme Harmony.

Rainwater continuously poured down Deng Ying’s collar into his inner garments. While Bai Huan wouldn’t speak to him, he couldn’t speak either.

He wasn’t Zhang Zhanchun, after all.

Zhang Zhanchun had taught Deng Ying by word and example for many years; they were close enough to be both masters and disciples and friends despite their age difference.

Bai Huan was different from Zhang Zhanchun. He was a rigorous scholar of the Hanlin Academy who never showed favoritism and a practical man in politics. In Deng Ying’s heart, their teacher-student relationship had always carried a certain sharpness.

“Don’t call me teacher anymore.”

These words, heard in the heavy rain, were cold and heartless.

Deng Ying’s shoulders trembled as he knelt.

“Why?”

He couldn’t help but blurt out the question.

Bai Huan’s voice was unsteady: “I won’t let you disgrace my former best student.”

After saying this, he seemed unsteady on his feet and stumbled forward a few steps. Deng Ying quickly stood to support him but was shrugged off tremblingly by Bai Huan, who waved his hand refusing to let Deng Ying near.

“You’re now someone who serves the inner court. I don’t deserve such respect.”

He then called Bai Yuyang back loudly, and leaning on his son’s arm, walked unsteadily toward the Gate of Supreme Harmony without looking back.

Deng Ying stood with lowered hands in the rain but saw Bai Huan’s eyes redden as he turned away.

Bai Huan had often told many people that Deng Ying was his best student.

So these words – “Don’t disgrace my former best student” – not only wounded Deng Ying deeply but truly hurt Bai Huan’s heart as well.

Though unwilling, Bai Huan now had to sever ties with his former student.

As for Yang Lun, it must be the same.

Deng Ying said nothing more, stepping aside and bowing to see them off.

Rainwater flowed freely in the ground’s cracks. Though humble, grassroots and fallen leaves each had their place. Looking at the chaos before him, Deng Ying inexplicably felt somewhat better.

He waited until Bai Huan had passed through the Gate of Supreme Harmony before straightening up.

After the hour of you, lanterns began to be lit everywhere. When Deng Ying returned to his duty room, Zheng Yuejia had just left, leaving behind a set of books wrapped in blue cloth. Besides the books was also some medicine wrapped in oiled paper.

The eunuch Li Yu told Deng Ying that the medicine was obtained by Zheng Bingbi from the Imperial Dispensary, good for Deng Ying’s health. He advised him to be discreet and find a palace maid to brew it using the inner stoves of the imperial consorts’ palaces.

While the six palaces each had their stoves, the duty rooms by the moat did not.

Yet the eunuchs had to prepare their meals.

In such circumstances, setting up stoves outside was troublesome, and busy servants often couldn’t attend to meals. So out of necessity, some eunuchs would find a palace maid somewhere in the six palaces to share meals with.

The palace maids had no reason to take on extra work for nothing, but they couldn’t resist these people’s eagerness.

In the lonely depths of the palace, all were servants who had to measure every word and deed carefully. When they found kindred spirits, it could sometimes be warmer than romance. Over time, this practice of sharing meals became common in the palace, and eunuchs with some status all planned to save money to find such a kitchen mistress.

After conveying Zheng Yuejia’s message, Li Yu couldn’t help but tease: “If you’re looking for a mistress, I think only the ladies of the Department of Ceremonial Rites would be worthy.”

Deng Ying didn’t respond to such talk, putting the medicine in his cabinet, closing the door, and lighting a lamp. Then he removed his rain-soaked robes and socks. Though his body was dry, he felt colder than when he had been in the rain.

Li Yu asked from outside the door, “Do you still have charcoal inside? I was thinking, since it’s not fully dark yet, I might try my luck at the Fuel Conservation Office to see if I can still get an allocation.”

Deng Ying went to the door and replied: “It’s the second month already. Does the Fuel Conservation Office still supply charcoal?”

“I have connections! The seal-keeper at the Fuel Conservation Office is my sister’s meal-sharing gentleman. He dotes on my sister so much, she can grab his ear and scold him. If I go speak to him, how dare he not give me any? Besides, we all eat palace food. Taking a bit of His Majesty’s leftover embers isn’t any great matter.”

Deng Ying smiled at this. “You go ahead. I won’t need much.”

Li Yu rubbed his hands at the door. “All right then. If you feel cold, just let me know.”

With that, he splashed through the rain puddles and ran off.

Deng Ying sat on the bed, lowered his head to undo the side ties, and changed into fresh inner clothes.

It wasn’t too late yet, and he didn’t want to sleep so early, so he randomly pulled out one of the books Zheng Yuejia had brought and opened it on his knee. It was the “Thousand Character Classic.”

This was a primer used in the Inner Study Hall to teach castrated boys to recognize and parse characters.

Since the Zhenning years, there had been a large volume of official documents in the court, and the number of literate eunuchs fell short of the needs of the twenty-four departments of the inner court.

So the Inner Study Room had been trying to supplement instructors from the Hanlin Academy.

But this was ultimately a rather twisted teacher-student relationship, and most of the orthodox scholars in the Hanlin Academy didn’t want to become entangled with the inner court. Only after Bai Huan received the imperial order and personally entered the Inner Study Hall to teach the castrated boys, bringing Yang Lun with him, did the phenomenon of no one answering the imperial summons gradually improve.

This copy in Deng Ying’s hands was used by Bai Huan when teaching in the Inner Study Hall. Though the annotations weren’t numerous, each was very detailed. The handwriting resembled Bai Huan’s personality – clearly taking great effort, though extremely small, the strokes were precise without being messy.

Deng Ying moved the lamp closer, propped his chin on his bent arm, and turned the pages one by one.

Outside, the rain had lessened, but the water in the moat had risen very high, its flow becoming increasingly turbulent.

When the lamp oil was running low, there was suddenly a knock at the door.

Deng Ying thought Li Yu had returned and raised his head toward the door saying “The door isn’t barred.”

Standing at the door, Yang Wan’s arms were full of things. Even though Deng Ying said the door wasn’t barred, she couldn’t free a hand to open it, so she simply turned around and bumped it with her bottom. Unexpectedly, the door slammed against the wall with a “bang.”

“What kind of door is this?”

Yang Wan startled herself and couldn’t help complaining.

While speaking, she backed in, found an empty spot, and put down all her bottles and jars. Only then did she notice Deng Ying sitting stiffly on the bed, clutching the mattress beneath him.

Though his inner clothes were properly fastened, he wore a loose padded robe over them, with bedding covering most of his lower body, but a section of sweat towel was visible at his waist.

Deng Ying recognized Yang Wan’s face and sat stunned for a moment before coming to his senses.

Realizing his attire was improper but not daring to move much, he hesitated for a long while before stiffly moving the book from his knees to his waist, temporarily covering the embarrassing area.

Looking at Deng Ying’s manner, Yang Wan suddenly felt like a shameless old lecher.

“This…”

She wanted to explain but unconsciously swallowed, and worse, with her swallow, Deng Ying also coughed several times.

That settled it – the old lecher image was confirmed, no need for explanation now.

Yang Wan patted her face and hurriedly crouched down to arrange the things on the ground, covering her embarrassment: “Were you already sleeping so early?”

The voice from behind was equally disordered.

“I hadn’t slept yet.”

Taking advantage of Yang Wan’s crouched position, he fastened his robe ties and tucked the bedding under his legs more securely.

If Deng Ying’s previous refusal of intimacy with others was to maintain propriety, now his rejection of intimacy was fear of humiliation.

Above their clothes, there was an unspoken understanding – neither willing to lose face first.

But beneath the clothes, some were passionate and bold, while he was cold and broken. From now on, every match would be lost.

He wanted to cover this inevitable defeat.

But he seemed unable to refuse Yang Wan.

Or to put it another way, she always managed to find him when his clothes were loose and his defenses relaxed.

“You…”

“You should lie down, you’re not fully recovered.”

“I’m fine now. The ground is damp from the rain, don’t keep crouching.”

Yang Wan turned to look at Deng Ying, saw him sitting thoroughly covered on the bed, and unconsciously rubbed her fingers. “I’m sorry, I didn’t expect this when I came in. I also feel… a bit awkward.”

Deng Ying shook his head. “It’s nothing. But why is the young lady…”

“Why am I in the palace, right?”

Speaking of this topic, Yang Wan showed a genuine smile. “I said I would come find you again, see? I didn’t break my word.”

Indeed, she hadn’t broken her word – she had come to find him.

Since Yang Lun had taken her away, Deng Ying hadn’t dared to hope he would see Yang Wan again.

After all, she was Zhang Luo’s fiancée. That time in the Nanhaizi prison chamber was almost like heaven’s loan to him, for which he didn’t know how much karmic retribution he would have to pay in the future.

But she had come to find him.

How difficult this process had been, Deng Ying didn’t know, but he saw no worry on Yang Wan’s face now.

After speaking, she even turned a circle in front of Deng Ying’s bed. “Does it look good?”

The dark green jacket and skirt spread like butterfly wings – the palace clothes of a lady of the Department of Ceremonial Rites.

“It looks good.”

“I think so too.”

Speaking, she brought over a stool and sat before Deng Ying. “I entered the palace the day before yesterday and now write some palace correspondence at the Department of Ceremonial Rites. Yesterday I went to the Inner Study Room to find you. Unfortunately, you weren’t there, only my brother was. Since I’d never heard him lecture before, I stayed in the Inner Study Room for two hours listening to him talk. When I returned to the department, there was much work to do, and getting busy I forgot the time, so I didn’t have a chance to go to the Hall of Supreme Harmony later. Oh right, these things were bestowed by Consort Ning. I didn’t bring you everything else, just packed some nuts in small jars for you to eat when you’re free. They’re not warming foods, but they’re good for health.”

Deng Ying looked at the jars she had arranged on the ground, each with a label indicating the nuts inside.

Arranged in neat rows in the corner, they somehow gave him an inexplicable feeling of comfort.

“I hope you won’t refuse me, or misunderstand that I have some purpose. I just like eating this way and want you to try it too. Let me teach you.”

She stood up to open the jars, grabbing handfuls from several of them.

“Look here, you can take some walnuts every day, then some peanuts and preserved fruits, eat them mixed like this – it’s neither too astringent nor too sour.”

She held them out to Deng Ying.

“Hold out your hand.”

For some reason, Deng Ying found himself naturally doing whatever Yang Wan told him to do. Even if he didn’t quite understand, he didn’t want any hesitation on his part to make her unhappy.

He reached out to take the mixed nuts from Yang Wan’s hands and couldn’t help asking: “What way of eating is this?”

“The daily nuts way of eating.”