sbdcsierra Chapter 500 Heaven Sent Me a Pillow
Chapter 500 Heaven Sent Me a Pillow
Lu Yangyang quickly held her down.
"You should have a good rest first."
Hongdou, however, remained beaming, looking at her with excitement and eagerness, then at Jiang Zhiyi who was walking over.
Jiang Zhiyi looked at her and said, "But learning the law is a very tedious and difficult thing. Before you can learn the law, you have to learn a lot of other things to understand it. Are you sure you want to learn it?"
Hongdou nodded with unwavering determination: "I want to learn! I want to learn! My father is a gambler. He was swindled out of the entire family fortune, which drove my mother to her death. My brother was a good student and had the potential to pass the imperial examination, but he was forced to drop out of school and was conscripted into labor. Several times before, my father almost sold me to pay off his gambling debts, but my brother stopped him. After my brother's death, my father was going to sell me, but before he could find a buyer, the labor was assigned to him. Our village chief was unwilling to exchange girls for a quota, but my father took the initiative to send me there. When my brother was studying at the city school, he told me that His Highness the Crown Prince had issued an edict prohibiting the arbitrary sale of children. I want to know if this is true. I just don't understand why I can be sold so easily. Everyone says that it's only natural for parents to sell their children. Is that true? Is it really only natural? But I don't want to be sold! Why doesn't anyone care?"
She looked at Jiang Zhiyi with confusion, as if she wanted to get an answer from her, but the huge confusion and unwillingness bound her tightly. Why?
Lu Yangyang didn't know much about the law, and upon hearing this, she also looked at Jiang Zhiyi.
Jiang Zhiyi took Hongdou's hand and gently comforted her: "His Highness the Crown Prince did indeed issue such an edict, prohibiting the buying and selling of children. Local officials can punish such cases as appropriate. However, such matters are usually not investigated unless the people complain, so there are not many such cases. But with such a law, there will definitely be someone to stand up for you."
"Please teach me, I'll learn, no matter how difficult it is!" Hongdou looked at her earnestly.
Jiang Zhiyi nodded: "Okay, you should rest well. I'll teach you when you're better."
"Yes!" Hongdou nodded excitedly, tears falling uncontrollably. She stubbornly raised her hand to wipe them away, but they only flowed more and more fiercely. It seemed that her long-standing feelings of resentment, which she could not understand, finally had an outlet. Yet she was also very happy, happy that her struggle to stay afloat had finally found a piece of driftwood to take her to shore.
Jiang Zhiyi left someone to take care of her before leaving the room with Lu Yangyang.
Lu Yangyang looked thoughtful.
Jiang Zhiyi asked her, "What are you thinking about?"
Lu Yangyang thought for a moment and replied, "When I went to rescue them, I found that the most difficult thing was not whether I could rescue them, but how they would live after I rescued them. They were originally just ordinary farm girls who probably didn't even have the opportunity to learn to read, let alone the ability to survive. Even if they had homes, they couldn't go back home. Wandering outside, they had nowhere to go. Once their lives were disrupted, they would have no place to stay at all. That was the most desperate situation."
"Some girls aren't lacking in courage, nor do they not want to live, but how can they survive? There's nowhere that can accept them. Lord Ling is a good man, but there's only so much he can do; he can't accommodate all these girls. There are only a little over a hundred of them, and we can still accommodate them, but what if there were more? If we encounter more in the future, how many more can we accommodate? This is what we've encountered; what about those we haven't? How many girls in Dazhao have suffered injustice, had nowhere to turn, and were driven to suicide by gossip? They may not not want to live, but they have no way to live. Even the option of a life of quiet contemplation is only available to girls from wealthy families; what about all those girls who can't choose? What will they do?"
"When will they be given a chance to support themselves? They have hands and feet and can work. They can survive if they work hard, but why don't they have a place to live?"
"Men can earn money by doing hard labor, but women don't even have that. They can be sold off by their parents, relatives, or husbands at will. Why should women be sold off?"
Hearing her words, Jiang Zhiyi also fell into confusion and said softly, "Perhaps this is how the world has been for thousands of years?"
"Is something that has been like this for thousands of years necessarily correct?" Lu Yangyang asked, puzzled.
Jiang Zhiyi shook her head: "If you ask me to answer, I think I'm wrong. I used to think, like most people, that this was how it should be. But I also had times when I felt resentful. Even though my studies were better than my eldest brother's and my cousins', they only thought that I would be a sensible and virtuous wife and matriarch. If my life had gone smoothly, I might have been a qualified matriarch, but once I encountered calamity, it was these established rules that drove me to my death. I was extremely fortunate to have read many books, to have loving parents, and to have enough dowry to support me for the rest of my life. But if you hadn't enlightened me and helped me out of my predicament, I would have only ever had one path to choose from. Because the glory I enjoyed also came at a price. I had to die cleanly to preserve the family's reputation."
"How could I be content with this?"
Jiang Zhiyi smiled. "So when I see these girls, I look at them and think about myself. I wish the rules for women in this world weren't so harsh. We could eventually find a way to live instead of having to choose death. So, in my opinion, these things that have been around for thousands of years are wrong. But as long as someone keeps trying, there's always a way to make changes, don't you think?"
“Yes.” Lu Yangyang nodded: “Just like the Lady of Huaguo and the late Empress, they did many things in their lives and changed many things. If we can also do many things, then perhaps we can also change a little bit. In the future, perhaps in the very distant future, even if the world is still harsh on women, it will definitely give us the opportunity to support ourselves and give women in this world a path of life that they can bravely choose.”
Jiang Zhiyi smiled and said, "So I plan to open a few more workshops and shops in Yingzhou and Yuzhou. By taking advantage of Yingzhou's maritime trade, we can also expand our business overseas."
Lu Yangyang wanted nothing more than to hug her and kiss her, "Zhiyi, you're truly a godsend sent to deliver a pillow to my head!"
Jiang Zhiyi smiled sweetly: "This humble woman would gladly accept it."
Lu Yangyang blinked: "This humble woman thanks you?"
The two burst into laughter.