nashuaworldcup Chapter 283 Song Dynasty Dream
Chapter 283 Song Dynasty Dream
He felt a burning hatred when he thought of Zhu Yuanzhang's memorial archway for chastity!
So that very day, an order was issued to thoroughly investigate the matter of the chastity archway, and anyone who had coerced it should be severely punished!
His family for three generations is forbidden from taking the imperial examinations. If he continues to obstruct me, I will force him to remain chaste! I'll give him a small room with a tiny window! Damn it, he's forcing women to remain chaste!
The minister, equally furious, replied: "Understood!"
999 System (Old Xing flips his hand): Six more days to go, keep it up! I have high hopes for you!
……
The illusion continues.
Song Dynasty
Zhu Xi did not consider the status of women mentioned by Lin Ke, nor its subsequent developments. He believed that it was unrealistic to allow women to hold official positions.
Unexpectedly, the moment his head hit the pillow today, he was already in a dream world.
Zhu Xi awoke in the body of a married woman.
He searched through his memory, but all he ever heard was that they called him Tang Shi, and never her by her name.
Unlike others, this woman was well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics, and in terms of intelligence, she would surely pass the imperial examinations.
However, the foot binding caused her great pain, and at the same time, her so-called husband also wanted her to prepare for the imperial examination.
They said everything has been taken care of!?
What to do! Zhu Xi felt a little unwilling.
Why should he, a human being, be subservient to others?
What's infuriating is that this man both needs his abilities and suppresses him at the same time!
Later, he went to take the imperial examination, and the result was as expected, but Zhu Xi still wanted to compete.
So he revealed the truth about taking the exam for someone else, and also revealed that she was a woman!
Zhu Xi originally thought that at most he would just die.
But the person in charge of the scientific expedition told him that they already knew all about it!
Zhu Xi had never felt such despair. The official even told him to accept it with gratitude, saying that everything was thanks to the Emperor's wisdom.
Thus, everyone knew that her husband was incompetent, but behind the scenes, he handled government affairs for him and made him famous.
For many days, Zhu Xi sought help from his father, but his father only told him to abide by the rules of the "Three Obediences and Four Virtues".
Zhu Xi suddenly felt it was meaningless. Should women be deprived of even the opportunity to stand out?
For some reason, he suddenly felt a pang of regret; the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism had so deeply harmed women!
Zhu Xi endured such a numb existence for a full twenty years before finally getting rid of that man, but unexpectedly, the next moment his father asked him to remain chaste for him!
But why should I?!
Why should he have to make such a sacrifice?
All for a ridiculous chastity archway! Utterly absurd! That was something the Ming Dynasty came up with!
He even shares the same surname with him. If he didn't experience this, he would be furious!
Lin Ke: Yes, I have them all!
As dawn broke and Zhu Xi awoke from his dream, he was startled awake. What a terrible dream!
He's still a bit shaken and doesn't even like looking at men anymore!
Zhu Xi thought things would be fine after this, but he was pulled back into it as soon as his head hit the pillow.
This time, he woke up in the body of a little girl, and his father was wearing a rat-tail braid like those in the Qing Dynasty!
Miss Lin is right, she really is ugly!
From her memory, she learned that her father was among the first group of scholars to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, as Miss Lin had described when she said "sliding on his knees."
The man's expression was somewhat gloomy as he muttered, "You must remember that you are a citizen of the Ming Dynasty. Do you understand the duty to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming?"
"Therefore you must bind your feet, it's an old custom of the Ming Dynasty!..."
Zhu Xi was speechless when he heard this. He was following the old customs, so why was he shaving his head and changing his clothes?
Even so, Zhu Xi still felt it was better not to provoke him unnecessarily.
Not long after, her father brought an old woman to their house.
Zhu Xi knew that this person wanted his daughter's feet to be bound. Thinking of the pictures that Miss Lin had shown him before, he swallowed hard.
"This was established by Master Zhu, it's the word of a sage! We must listen to it, little girl, be a good girl!"
Zhu Xi: ?????
Then the old woman took a strip of cloth and tightly wrapped it around her foot, almost deforming it. Then, with a forceful pull, Zhu Xi felt as if her foot was being broken back and forth!
It felt like being burned alive, the pain was so intense it made me numb—this was torture! This was definitely torture!
How can such inhumane rules still be passed down!
Zhu Xi fainted from the pain. When he woke up, his foot was deformed and tightly wrapped with cloth, but he still felt great pain every moment!
His only thought was that his injuries would heal quickly, and that the pain would subside by then! Otherwise, how would those women survive?!
Little did he expect that instead of the pain subsiding, a new round of "torture" awaited him...
Only then did he realize why it was described as a life-altering injury to the woman, given how badly her foot had ended up!
Later, he gradually became numb and seemed to get used to bound feet.
My father always used the Three Obediences and Four Virtues to restrain me, forbidding me from going out, from having relations with other men, and so on—too many to count!
Zhu Xi swore he had never hated Zhu Yuanzhang so much!
No wonder all the records Miss Lin mentioned were so bizarre!
Later, his father married him off as a concubine to a wealthy Manchu merchant. It turned out that in his eyes, there was no difference between Han Chinese and Manchus!
Later on, he didn't know how long he stayed in that small house. The woman's life was too tragic!
This time, upon waking from the dream, Zhu Xi did not feel slightly heavy-hearted as he had before. He had never known that the constraints and rules bound a woman's entire life.
It is terrible!
……
On the other side, Cheng Yi also fell into a dream.
When Cheng Yi opened his eyes, he found himself in an unfamiliar room. He didn't know if it was a dream or reality.
However, judging from their clothing, it is somewhat similar to the attire of the Ming Dynasty.
Wait! How did he turn into a woman?!
Could this all be the work of Miss Lin?!
Cheng Yi watched calmly, and soon a nanny appeared.
He went through the body's memories. Although he was a bit old-fashioned, he wasn't this twisted!
The Ming Dynasty is truly ruthless!
This old woman actually said that it was forbidden to force young widows to remarry.
They were left with a lot of work, and they were busy working from morning till night, so they never thought about remarrying!
The crucial point is that the clan actually believed these words and acted upon them!
Is the Ming Dynasty really so intolerant of widows remarrying?!
At this moment, he had no idea what was going to happen to him!
Cheng Yi then heard another piece of bad news.
He had assumed that women from prominent families would always have the opportunity to read and write, or at least learn to read and write like his niece.
But unexpectedly, the elders in the family were so outrageous that they demanded that the girl only know a few hundred characters used in daily life, saying that too many were not good, and that a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent!
Is he insane, or has the world gone mad?!
Cheng Yi silently grumbled to himself, but the old woman continued her incessant chatter.
In addition, she also required that women not show their faces.
A woman who does not manage the household, does not enter the kitchen, and does not do housework is considered incapable of managing a household.
A wife who is out doing business or engaging in public activities is unfit to be a wife, especially one who is literate; such a wife is like a hen crowing at dawn.
At home, a woman must obey her father and elder brother; after marriage, she must obey her husband and sons. Otherwise, she is considered unfilial and disobedient.
Cheng Yiguang felt suffocated by these regulations; he had heard Miss Lin talk about how lowly women were during the Ming and Qing dynasties!
But I didn't expect it to be this low, it's insane!
Not long after, Cheng Yi was locked in a small building and subjected to this nagging instruction. He was required to learn all sorts of needlework and other skills, and was also ordered to follow the three obediences and four virtues!
Cheng Yi was unaware of the passage of time outside; all he knew was that the more he resented being constrained like this, the less he could resist!
Gradually, he suddenly thought of his niece. Although he hadn't formally taught her, she was exceptionally intelligent and self-taught.
If he had known this would happen, he should have taught him to read. If women's lives are so oppressive, then why shouldn't they be taught to read?
But he couldn't agree with the family's parenting style!
Not long after, Cheng Yi was asked to marry into a family. Her husband was quite amiable, and she had some freedom.
Not long after, the sister-in-law harbored resentment and spread unfounded rumors. Cheng Yi's husband became increasingly suspicious and eventually locked her in a small courtyard.
In the end, Cheng Yi could no longer bear it and committed suicide.
When Cheng Yi woke up, he gasped for breath, feeling that it had been a nightmare!
Was this woman from the Ming Dynasty truly transformed because of the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism?!
Wouldn't he be causing immense harm to others?!
He should really think about how to change things!
……