After about ten days, Deng Ying was finally able to walk again.

On the thirtieth day of the first month, people from the Directorate of Ceremonial sent him to the quarters beside the Imperial Storehouse. This place was adjacent to the moat of the inner city and served as the residence for the Deputy Directors, Department Chiefs, and attendants of the Directorate of Ceremonial. As for the Seal-Holding Chief Eunuch He Yixian and several secretaries, they lived north of the Hall of Mental Cultivation’s gate. The quarters there were built in rows, close to the Longdao Pavilion. Further west was the kitchen. Because the quarters connected to the cooking fires, Deng Ying had planned to demolish them to install the “Fortune Vats.”

He Yixian hadn’t said anything about this, but several senior secretary eunuchs from the Directorate had been negotiating with the Ministry of Works, citing concerns that “night duties in the imperial presence might be delayed.” Now this project was temporarily suspended due to Deng Ying’s punishment, but this was a minor issue. What truly unsettled the Directorate was that along with this project, the increasingly troublesome construction of the Three Great Halls had also been put on hold.

Especially concerning was the Hall of Supreme Harmony among the three.

Seven years ago, when Zhang Chunzhan had just completed its construction, it was struck by lightning and burned to ruins. The court, unable to bear the financial burden, had left it abandoned for five years. This year marked the Emperor’s fiftieth birthday, and he had decided to receive court officials’ birthday wishes in the Hall of Supreme Harmony on his birthday. Thus, he ordered the Ministry of Works to expedite the reconstruction. Deng Ying had taken charge of the rebuilding last year, constantly working on methods to prevent fire spread. During his recovery, Xu Qi and the craftsmen didn’t dare to proceed with the original blueprints.

Xu Qi was the newly appointed construction supervisor, brought up by the local administration of the Ministry of Works.

From the beginning, the Ministry had told him that although he would lead the Ministry’s work on the Three Great Halls, everything had to defer to Deng Ying. Xu Qi was very unhappy about this. He had originally been banished to the provinces for offending Deng Yi’s faction, and now, though returned to the capital after being cleared, he had to work under Deng Ying. If Deng Ying were still a court official, it would have been acceptable, but now that he had become a servant, it felt increasingly unfair no matter how Xu Qi thought about it.

As Zheng Yuejia walked with Xu Qi along the moat, seeing him remain silent, he casually asked, “I noticed Lord Xu didn’t eat much at today’s feast after the Imperial Lecture.”

Xu Qi hurriedly replied, “I wouldn’t dare.”

Zheng Yuejia brushed aside some drooping branches already showing spring buds, “Actually, there’s no need to see Deng Ying right now.”

Xu Qi shook his head, “Isn’t Chief Zheng mocking me? Everyone’s intention, both superiors and subordinates, is for me to assist him. With the construction deadline so pressing, if I don’t go see him, should I wait for him to come see me instead?”

Zheng Yuejia smiled, “It’s only in this matter, regardless, that he can’t transcend his status. Since he’s entered the Directorate of Ceremonial, he’s a servant of the inner court. If Lord Xu thinks this way, he would be at fault.”

These words seemed belittling on the surface but carried a protective meaning underneath.

Xu Qi sneered, “I fear his crimes aren’t just this one.”

Zheng Yuejia stopped walking and turned around, holding his hands, “I’d like to hear more.”

Xu Qi looked aside and said coldly, “No need to ask Chief. Either way, I spoke out of turn. I shouldn’t have inquired about those matters when I was still in court.”

Though he spoke this way, Zheng Yuejia understood his implications.

At the end of this month, Zhang Luo had returned from Zhejiang.

Meanwhile, rumors of Yang Wan’s secret meeting with Deng Ying at the lakes spread throughout the capital. However, since this was merely hearsay, the Zhang family dared not file a formal complaint. If they privately broke off the engagement, it would be disrespectful to Consort Ning who had arranged the match. The Zhang family’s elderly matriarch was already gravely ill, and her condition had worsened. Gossipmongers throughout the capital spread the word that the old lady’s illness was caused by distress over her grandson’s affairs.

Zhang Luo’s father, Chief Grand Secretary Zhang Jingshen, had also taken three days of sick leave because of this.

But the more lively things got outside, the more tightly the Yang family closed their gates.

Yang Lun confined Yang Wan to the ancestral hall, allowing only her maid Yin’er to attend to her, not even letting Madam Chen see her.

Yang Wan’s knees were nearly broken from kneeling in the ancestral hall. She wanted to get up and move around, but Yin’er stood behind her like a door god.

“Yin’er…”

“Miss, please don’t think about it. Today I dare only listen to Master and Madam.”

Yang Wan pressed her temples, “So by listening to Master, you mean to keep me locked up here until I die?”

“I dare not think that way.”

Yang Wan pointed at her knees, “Can I get up and sit for a while?”

“No, Miss, you’d better keep kneeling. Madam said Master will question you when he returns from the Ministry today. You need to think carefully about your mistakes, otherwise if Master resorts to family punishment, even Madam won’t be able to stop him.”

Yang Wan couldn’t help but roll her eyes, “Then can you at least tell the Old Madam?”

“Old Madam took her medicine today and has already retired. Miss, please, I’m begging you, stay put. This time… ah, it’s truly a difficult hurdle to overcome.”

Yang Wan looked at Yin’er’s prematurely mature manner and blurted out, “How old are you to be speaking such words?”

Yin’er urgently replied, “What does age have to do with it? Miss, you’ve been different since you returned, like a completely different person. You used to be so considerate of Madam and Old Madam, and when any sister in the household fell ill, you were incredibly concerned and took thorough care of them. We all said privately that in the household, Miss was always the most thoughtful person no matter what. But since returning this time, even I hardly recognize you anymore.”

“I…”

Yang Wan hadn’t expected that while she was constantly criticized in modern times, here in the Ming Dynasty hundreds of years ago, she would still be criticized. It was somewhat ironic, yet pointed. Thinking about it, she nodded unconsciously and resigned herself to kneeling back down.

Yin’er hadn’t finished speaking, and seeing her fall silent, her voice grew even louder.

“Don’t you know that if the Zhang family’s Old Madam doesn’t survive this ordeal, how much criticism our Master will face outside? Moreover, even if you won’t think of Master, you should think of yourself. You’ve been betrothed to the Zhang family since childhood. If they break off the engagement this time, what will become of you?”

“Can’t one live alone?”

Yang Wan had just mumbled these words, but unexpectedly Yin’er heard them clearly and became immediately agitated.

“What are you saying? If Old Madam heard such words, wouldn’t she cry again over Miss?”

Yang Wan made a helpless gesture of surrender toward her.

She suddenly felt somewhat dazed. Though these words came from the mouth of a young girl in the twelfth year of Zhenning, steeped in feudal thinking, upon careful consideration, except for the antiquated terminology, they weren’t fundamentally different from how her modern friends had criticized her. Hundreds of years passed from Ming to Qing, and then the Qing dynasty also ended. Through the changing seasons, this “cultural” inheritance meant women still carried the shackles of fear about their place in society.

Even so, the girl’s earlier words made sense.

Madam Chen treated her like her own daughter, truly protecting her, and though Yang Lun was strict and stubborn, he was also protective of his own. Even Yang Lun’s wife Xiao Wen was the same – standing from the Yang family’s perspective, her words and actions toward Yang Wan were all sincere. Yang Wan felt she truly shouldn’t have caused this mishap that entrapped the entire Yang household.

Thinking this, she lowered her head and rubbed her knees, finally relaxing her legs and sitting cross-legged.

“Miss, you…”

“Bring me something to eat.”

“You dare to eat at a time like this?”

Yang Wan looked up, “How can I think of solutions without eating?”

Yin’er crouched down, “In this situation when even Madam and the others can’t think of a solution, what solution could you possibly come up with?”

Yang Wan fell silent, massaging her wrists one by one as she tried to calmly sort through her situation.

Zhang Luo controlled the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s prison system. Historical opinions of this man were polarized – some scholars who studied him believed he was an upright and unyielding official who effectively suppressed the eunuch troubles of the Eastern Depot during the later Jinghe years, making him essentially Deng Ying’s mortal enemy. Another group believed he was excessively cruel, leading to rampant abuse in the prison system during the Jinghe years. When Yang Wan was researching Deng Ying, she had also read much historical material about Zhang Luo, and her opinion leaned toward the latter view.

So Yin’er wasn’t wrong – if the Yang family didn’t handle this properly, Yang Lun’s reformist faction would face obstacles in officialdom far beyond just those from the conservative officials.

Yang Wan slowly gripped her wrist.

What method could separate her from Young Miss Yang’s previous social relationships without causing a great feud between the Zhang and Yang families?

She tried to broaden her perspective.

The Zhang family’s only concern now was the inner court.

The Directorate of Ceremonial where Deng Ying resided could serve as a shelter at this time.

But in the Ming Dynasty, was there a place where women could find refuge where the Zhang family wouldn’t dare touch them, where they wouldn’t need to be bound by marriage in the future, and where they could seek a way to live?

She suddenly thought of Yang Jin.

Yang Wan’s sister, Consort Ning.

The advantage of a god’s-eye view was that she could indeed temporarily step back from the complex web of interpersonal relationships and directly grasp the essence of various social mechanisms in this era.

“Yin’er, go see if brother has returned from the Ministry.”

Yin’er refused to move, repeatedly saying she dared not.

Just as Yang Wan was about to stand up herself, the ancestral hall door suddenly opened from outside, and Yang Lun strode in, still in his official robes and covered in wind-blown snow.

“Who told you to get up? Kneel.”

His voice wasn’t loud, but anger simmered in his lungs.

Xiao Wen hurriedly followed in from behind, grabbing Yang Lun and saying, “I’ve had her kneeling for a whole day, let it be for now.”

Yang Lun’s eyes were red, and he hadn’t heard what Xiao Wen said at all.

“Kneel.”

“Fine, I’ll kneel.”

Yang Wan struggled to move back and kneel again, “The Zhang family’s Old Madam…”

“You still have the face to ask!”

“Alright, I have no face to ask.”

“…”

Yang Wan ducked her head.

Over these past few days, she had gradually found the rhythm for speaking with Yang Lun.

Taking advantage of Yang Lun’s momentary speechlessness, Xiao Wen crouched down and sheltered Yang Wan behind her, “You promised me that no matter what happened outside today when you returned you wouldn’t get angry and would talk properly with Wan’er.”

Yang Lun gritted his teeth, “Zhang Luo is in the main hall right now, how can I possibly talk properly with her?”

“What?”

Zhang Luo had come personally – this truly surprised Yang Wan, and she couldn’t help but exclaim.

Xiao Wen looked back at Yang Wan, her voice also becoming timid, “Why has he come?”

Yang Lun heaved a deep sigh, walked to the side, and said with a suppressed temper: “The Zhang family’s Old Madam passed away early this morning.”

Xiao Wen froze.

“What…”

Yang Lun looked at Yang Wan, “The news of her death reached the court at the Chen hour. Now even I don’t know what to do to protect you.”

Xiao Wen quickly pulled Yang Wan further behind her and said, “The Zhang family’s Old Madam had been bedridden since April, and by the end of last year, she was probably too ill to recognize people. Her passing now is simply fate – how could it be Wan’er’s fault?”

“Then what can I do!”

Yang Lun demanded of Xiao Wen, “I am a court official. In matters of marriage and propriety, if we follow the word ‘propriety,’ how could such things happen? Now, I’m also trapped in this situation and can barely think about Ministry affairs. Moreover, this isn’t even a matter of finance, military, or state affairs, yet it has caused such enmity between the Yang and Zhang families. I’m not afraid of damage to my official career, I’m afraid that this Northern Judicial Commissioner will let private hatred spill into public matters. If he gets the chance to catch me, you, Mother, and this foolish girl who doesn’t know life from death – we’ll all be trampled into the mud by others for the rest of our lives.”