Jiu Zhang Ji: The Daily Life of the Reborn Daughter

Chapter 198 The So-called Separation of Men and Women

Chapter 198: The So-called Separation Between Men and Women

Five days before the Autumn Examination, there was a grand court meeting. At this meeting, the emperor issued an edict that all women in the capital, regardless of whether they were from noble or commoner families, could participate in a joint examination held at the same time as the Autumn Examination as long as their family background was clean.

Those who pass the exam can work under the Crown Princess.

Like a cup of cold water dropped into a hot oil pan, the court suddenly became boiling. These ministers who were usually calm and unmoved no longer cared about the constraints and could not wait to communicate with the people around them.

In fact, since that generation of empress who made great achievements, there have been no female officials in the court.

For some unknown reason, there is no historical record of the empress's glory in the past. Those decades of extremely brilliant history seem to have been cut off by life, forming a time cliff. People's understanding of the empress is also through word of mouth or family history records.

All I know is that the entire continent was a superpower at that time. Under the leadership of the empress, people had enough food and clothing, their doors were left unlocked at night, no one picked up things on the road, the young were taken care of, the elderly were taken care of, the sick had medicine... Children, both boys and girls, could go to school, and as long as they had the ability, both boys and girls could become officials. People's faces were filled with smiles of happiness and satisfaction. It was an unparalleled prosperous era.

However, for some unknown reason, the empress fell, the huge empire collapsed, people's beliefs collapsed, etiquette broke down, and after countless sunrises and moonsets, the status of women became unprecedentedly low, people took pleasure in oppressing women, disasters occurred frequently, and people were living in misery.

It took many years of recuperation for a country with a profound cultural heritage like Dayan to recover to its current social environment, where men are responsible for the outside world and women are responsible for the inside world. There is more tolerance for women, and families with better conditions also attach importance to women's education, because people have realized that educated mothers are more likely to educate smart children.

However, no woman was able to leave her home. Even extraordinary women like Concubine Yun and Wen Xi were unable to carve out a world for themselves.

It must be said that the emperor's decree paved a smooth path for women to leave their homes and the inner courtyard.

The court officials looked at the Crown Princess who was sitting behind the Emperor and felt that the Crown Princess's position seemed to have moved forward today. She was actually just a little behind the Emperor's side.

The Crown Princess attends court, and women can serve as officials in the court. Is Dayan going to have an empress?

The ministers' support for the emperor's decree was only 50-50. Those ministers who had outstanding daughters at home and who did not look down on the identity of women were eager for such an imperial decree, so that their carefully taught sisters, daughters, and granddaughters could go out of the house and not waste their lives in the deep courtyards of the mansion. Instead, they could walk among the people, shine brightly, and obtain the glory that should belong to them.

But how could there not be old-fashioned people among the court officials? Those who have always looked down on women, and would say that only women and villains are difficult to raise when they open their mouths, and would say that women are the sting of hornets when they close their mouths. They are the ones with the most vicious hearts. They were already filled with resentment when they saw the Crown Princess sitting next to the dragon throne, and now that this decree has come, they can't wait to jump out and oppose it.

The girls in their families were brought up with the idea that a girl's virtue lies in her lack of talent. They could only recognize a few words and understand "The Virtues of a Woman", "The Admonitions for Women" and "The Instructions for Women". They just did needlework at home. They were short-sighted and timid. This decree was worse off for them than not having it. They could not benefit from it themselves, and no one else could benefit from it either. So they had to oppose it.

"Your Majesty is wise. Once this woman becomes an official in the court, how should we maintain strict separation between men and women?" Kneeling on the ground was Tian Haogeng, the white-haired and bearded Minister of Rites.

The emperor squinted his eyes and looked down. Oh, how could he have forgotten this old thing? His concubine daughter called "Adding Bane" was not a good thing. She had caused trouble for Lili. Oh, and what was the name of Lili's friend? She pushed her into the water. In the emperor's case, almost falling into the water was no different from pushing someone into the water. If it wasn't for Concubine Yun saying not to bring rivals to Lili, Lili would have found a chance to solve her own problems. He would have gone to her as a parent. He was the emperor, but he was also a father.

He glanced at the civil officials and saw Su Junwang, the Grand Secretary. If he remembered correctly, Lili girl's friend was the old guy's daughter. What's the matter, are you a Ninja Turtle, old guy? It's not convenient for me to take action, and you have endured for so long.

Su Junwang was happy for his restless little girl at home. With this imperial edict, his little girl would definitely take the exam. Everyone knew that his sons were well-read and one of them was a top scholar. However, few people knew that the talents of his sons were not as good as his little girl. However, as a woman, she was not brave enough and could only write storybooks to pass the time every day.

Suddenly, he felt a gaze of pressure from the emperor. He gathered his thoughts and found Tian Haogeng kneeling on the ground. He was just enjoying himself and was distracted. He didn't know what Tian Haogeng said, but since he was kneeling, he must be against the emperor's order. His daughter was a good-for-nothing. If other people's daughters could enter the court in the future, it would highlight his daughter's recklessness. It would be strange if he didn't object.

Just when he was thinking about how to counterattack on a large scale, his son, who had won the third place in the imperial examination, whispered to him what Tian Haogeng had just said.

Su Junwang quickly knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, please understand clearly that men and women should be careful about their relationship. In the court, they discuss state affairs with moderation and politeness. This is a public place, among a crowd, and it is not a private transaction. What is so dirty about it? What suspicion can be avoided?"

“Only those who are dirty at heart see everything as dirty.”

"If, as you said, men and women appearing in the same place together means that they do not care about the separation of men and women, then men and women cannot coexist. Because, when you breathe, the air flows, no matter how far or near, from your mouth to her mouth, which also loses the separation of men and women."

What Su Daxueshi said was very sharp. No matter where you are, the breath you breathe may be the breath breathed by another woman. Only by killing all the women can we achieve the goal of separating men and women. If there were no women in the world, there would be no men.

What Su Daxueshi meant was that if we were too particular about the separation between men and women, it would lead to the destruction of the world.

"Besides, when the empress was in power, nearly half of the court officials were women, but the court was clean and honest, and no dirty things had ever happened. Therefore, the most important thing to guard against between men and women is to guard against one's own heart, not the environment."

In other words, the defense between men and women depends on oneself. As long as one's moral character is upright, one will be innocent.

"Tian Haogeng, as a Minister of Rites, you should be familiar with all the laws and regulations of our dynasty. Let me ask you, since the emperor ascended the throne, our dynasty has set an example by never selecting concubines, advocating monogamy, and stipulating that concubines should not exceed three. I wonder how many wives and concubines does Minister Tian have at home?"

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