Yang Wan and Li Yu had been facing off outside the guardhouse by the city moat for two days.

Li Yu stood with his arms crossed, looking at Yang Wan who was squatting at the guardhouse door, and said disdainfully, “I heard my sister say there’s a maid in the Imperial Wardrobe Bureau who’s gone crazy over Assistant Director Deng. That’s you, isn’t it?”

Yang Wan sniffled, “Who’s your sister?”

“My sister is Maid Song Qingyun from your Imperial Wardrobe Bureau.”

Yang Wan stood up, “Song Qingyun is your sister? How come she’s surnamed Song and you’re surnamed Li?”

Li Yu lifted his chin and said loudly, “It’s because my godfather doted on me. The old man is a secretary in the Imperial Household Department, following his surname gives me a lot of face.”

Yang Wan looked at Li Yu’s proud and naive manner, thinking to herself that this person was naturally simple-minded, and it was good for Deng Ying to stay with him.

“Hey?”

“What?”

“How many days has Assistant Director Deng been gone?”

“About ten days or so. Though he did come back last night, unfortunately, you missed him. Early this morning he went off somewhere again. Oh right…”

He peered at Yang Wan’s arms, “I heard you have some good snacks.”

“Who told you that?”

Li Yu looked at Yang Wan seriously, “Deng Ying has a cabinet filled with jars and bottles under lock and key. Every time he comes back from outside, he takes something from those jars to eat, and he eats while looking at blueprints at night too. I asked him for some once, but he wouldn’t give me any. Later he even avoided me when eating. My sister said you used to bring jars to see him, so they must be from you.”

Though Li Yu was young, his description painted a vivid scene. Yang Wan immediately could picture Deng Ying sitting in his room eating nuts.

And he would even hide to eat them.

For some reason, she suddenly found this person quite endearing.

“Those are just some walnut kernels, peanuts, and some raisins. Mixed and tossed in your mouth, they’re indeed very tasty.”

Li Yu’s face fell upon hearing this, “Hah… just those? I thought they were some kind of dried meat…”

Yang Wan leaned against the doorframe and laughed at him.

As they were talking, they suddenly saw Deng Ying returning.

He wore a white-gray cross-collared inner garment with a matching robe over it, his hair loose down his back, the fabric on his shoulders somewhat damp.

Seeing Yang Wan, he was visibly startled and stood frozen in his tracks.

Li Yu turned to look him over and asked directly, “Did you go take a bath?”

“Mm.”

Though he was responding to Li Yu, he was looking at Yang Wan.

Then he hesitated, feeling that his current appearance might seem disrespectful in her eyes.

Since the fall of the Deng family, he had become solitary in his daily life. Although he maintained his former habits, he no longer received servants’ attendance. Things like eating, changing clothes, and bathing had lost their former ceremonial nature, gradually becoming mere necessities in an awkward existence.

“Didn’t you say you’d wait until tomorrow when I got the fragrance from my sister?”

Li Yu, not knowing what he was thinking, spoke even more explicitly.

Deng Ying adjusted his collar and said to Li Yu, “Oh, I saw there was still half a bar of soap left, so I went ahead.”

After speaking, he lowered his head and walked to Yang Wan’s side, reaching up to unlatch the door and gently pushing it open.

“You…”

“May I come in?”

She asked directly.

This made Deng Ying feel less awkward.

“I only returned yesterday and haven’t had time to tidy up.”

“It’s fine. If you let me in, I’ll go in. If you don’t let me in, I can stand here and talk to you just the same.”

Deng Ying glanced at Li Yu, who rolled his eyes directly at Deng Ying and laughed, “Don’t look at me, I know everything.”

Yang Wan turned and teased back, “You little brat, what do you know?”

“Hey! My brother-in-law told me!”

He jumped up anxiously.

“Li Yu!”

Deng Ying suddenly spoke sternly, and Li Yu quickly waved his hands, “Alright, alright, I’m leaving. I have to go on duty soon anyway.”

With that, he took off running and disappeared in a flash.

Yang Wan watched his retreating figure and said with a laugh, “I think it’s good for you to be with this kid. He’s so simple-minded, makes people happy.”

As she spoke casually, the voice behind her was somewhat low.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know he would speak that way.”

Yang Wan turned around, “Didn’t you stop him with your shout? He didn’t say anything more.”

Deng Ying stood sideways to block the door for her, head lowered avoiding her gaze, and softly said, “Come in.”

Yang Wan entered the room.

Compared to her last visit, there were more furnishings in the room. Though they were all newly made of wood and hadn’t developed a patina yet, one could tell the craftsman who made these cabinets was highly skilled.

The bed was a simple elm frame with gray curtains, his two pairs of shoes placed underneath, and a dark blue quilt neatly spread on top. At the head of the bed stood a drawer cabinet, as Li Yu had mentioned, with a lock hanging on it.

Deng Ying walked to the cabinet almost habitually, opened the lock, and was about to take out a jar when he suddenly realized Yang Wan was right behind him, and quickly withdrew his hand.

“Go ahead and eat, it’s a good habit.”

“Not now, there’s not much left.”

“I’ll bring you more tomorrow.”

She stood by the door, her face bright with a clear smile, her delicate eyes sparkling.

Just as Yang Lun had said earlier, a woman like her could take her time choosing in the capital.

“These are all gifts from Consort Ning. Deng Ying dare not accept more.”

“No.”

She walked up to him and casually took out a jar, shaking it at him, “This is my kindness to you. The Consort is just the financial backer. When I save up my own money later, I’ll send them out to buy lots for us. Then when you’re reading, drawing blueprints, and I’m writing, we can all eat slowly.”

This was originally as simple a statement as could be, yet Deng Ying was almost wounded by it.

Yang Wan was truly too bright and straightforward.

It exceeded all the warmth his current circumstances could bear.

He admired Yang Wan’s goodness, but this admiration almost made him feel like a base person.

Like an ephemeral mayfly yearning for spring blossoms.

Wanting, yet knowing he shouldn’t, he even began to feel meaningless anxiety about losing her.

This wasn’t right.

How dare he?

“Why treat me this way?”

When Deng Ying blurted out these words, even he was startled.

He had asked Yang Lun the same question not long ago at the Ministry of Justice.

“You… know Deng Ying’s future is uncertain, I…”

“I give you a few jars of nuts, and you say all this to me?”

Yang Wan interrupted him with a laugh, “If you want to thank me, why not make me a cabinet? This one is really beautiful.”

After speaking, she put the jar back without a trace and walked to the chair. Just as she was about to sit, Deng Ying called out to stop her.

“Wait, put something down first, there’s a lot of dust here.”

After speaking, he walked to the wooden rack and took off his outer robe, folded it, and placed it on the chair surface, then said, “Now you can sit.”

Yang Wan looked down at his clothes, “I’m not that particular.”

“I know, but I don’t want my place to soil your skirt.”

After speaking, he poured a cup of water and placed it before Yang Wan. Turning to look at the drawer cabinet by the bed, he asked, “Do you like it?”

“Mm. I like it. It’s very delicate.”

“This was made and given to me by a craftsman from the Hall of Supreme Harmony. If you like it, I can ask him to make one for you.”

Yang Wan held the cup and took a sip, looking up to ask, “Can you make one?”

“I can.”

“Then make one for me.”

Deng Ying hesitated, “I’m not as good as they are at this.”

“That’s fine.”

Yang Wan held the cup in one hand and propped her chin with the other, “Hmm… I can draw you a design, but… I might draw it badly, and I don’t know if you’ll understand the… perspective?”

She used a term she wasn’t sure Deng Ying would understand, then asked:

“Do you understand ‘perspective’?”

Deng Ying shook his head, “If you draw it, I might understand.”

“That’s great.”

Yang Wan stood up, “Do you have paper and brushes?”

“Yes.”

He moved aside toward the writing desk, “Come over here.”

Yang Wan liked Deng Ying’s writing desk – just a table surface, a black stone brush holder, an unmarked ink stick, a plain stone inkstone, and a stack of blueprints about a foot high. There were also two books from his teaching at the Inner School. Like Deng Ying himself, clean to the point of having nothing but dust, skin, and flesh.

She didn’t want to mess with Deng Ying’s things carelessly, feeling somewhat nervous as she laid out the paper and ground the ink.

“You don’t know how to grind ink?”

“Ah?”

Yang Wan looked at her technique – it wasn’t that she didn’t know how to grind ink. Her doctoral advisor had been a calligraphy master, and though there were plenty of senior students attending to the brushes and ink, never getting to her, the perpetually disfavored rebellious disciple, Yang Wan had watched many times. After coming here, she had fumbled around trying to recall the techniques she had observed before, never minding the quality as long as the liquid was black.

“Is this wrong?”

Deng Ying rolled up his sleeves to his elbows, “Here, you put it down.”

“Alright.”

Yang Wan obediently put down the ink stick and moved aside a step. Deng Ying walked to her side, a faint soap fragrance drifting over. Yang Wan couldn’t help but turn her head to look at him.

He hadn’t tied his hair yet, and a strand fell loose, hanging over the back of his hand. Yang Wan once again saw that crescent-shaped old scar. She couldn’t help but ask, “When did you get this scar?”

Deng Ying continued grinding the ink, and hearing her question, looked down briefly and replied, “Seven or eight years ago, I think it was while repairing the Hall of Imperial Longevity. I’ve forgotten.”

“The things from before… do you forget them quite quickly now?”

Deng Ying’s hand pressed down heavily.

“Why do you say that?”

Yang Wan took a fine brush, held down the paper, and dipped it in the ink Deng Ying had ground, “Just feel that you speak more and more vaguely about them. I don’t know if this is good or bad for you…”

She shook her head as she spoke, lowering her head to begin drawing.

“You haven’t changed at all. Look, your handwriting is still just as beautiful, and your life is still just as pure and clear. And you know everything – you take care of me, make cabinets for me, protect my brother and your teacher, and you even care about those eunuchs who only attended a few of your classes.”

At this point she raised her head, poking her chin with the brush handle as she looked at Deng Ying, “Right? You can still do the things you want to do. See how wonderful you are.”

Because she was right in front of him, Deng Ying couldn’t carefully consider what she had said, but he sincerely wanted to smile at her.

Yang Wan held the brush, tugging at her ear, looking at her drawing, and beginning to worry.

“What on earth have I drawn?”

Hearing her complaint, Deng Ying put down the ink stone and gently pulled the paper toward himself an inch.

“I can understand it.”

“No way, you can understand even this?”

“Mm. More or less. Some parts need thinking about. Haven’t seen this style before.”

Encouraged by his words, Yang Wan suddenly felt confident.

“This is called a ‘rouge and powder storage… cabinet'”

After saying it she felt it sounded too childish, and quickly explained in a more level voice: “Anyway, it’s for storing rouge and powder. Just make it however you like. Don’t worry too much about it, I just got interested. And I drew it so badly…”

“Yes.”

Deng Ying looked at the paper, “I don’t know when I can make it. I…”

“Will the Ministry of Justice take you away again?”

In an instant, she precisely cut to the heart of the matter.

Deng Ying lowered his head and responded with a sound: “Mm. They let me return because the main beam of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is being rebuilt these days.”

“They haven’t tortured you, have they?”

“No.”

Yang Wan let out a sigh of relief.

“I told Yang Lun about it. I don’t know how much Yang Daniu understood, but I bet he still has some conscience. If he acts stupid with those people, I’ll have His Highness scold him to death next time.”

Deng Ying couldn’t help himself and turned away laughing.