Zhang Yu smiled and went inside. Ahao closed the window and then turned back to touch his hands and face, which were cold to the touch. She said with pity, "You should have stayed. You've already caught a chill outside."
“Now I know…” Releasing Song Shuhao’s hand, Zhang Yu took off his cloak. Seeing the doubt in her eyes, he leaned closer and said, “What does it feel like to not want to be apart all night?”
Ah Hao remained silent.
·
The night before, Song Shuhao and Ling Xiao saw Zhang Yu and Prince Ning off. The next morning, Song Shuhao saw Zhang Yu, Prince Ning and Ling Xiao off. The four of them understood each other implicitly and found it unsurprising.
After breakfast, Song Shuhao asked the steward for a question and found out the exact location of the only girls' academy in Lin'an City. Then she prepared to go and chat with the female teacher in charge of the academy.
She set off in a carriage, accompanied by a maid. Upon arriving at the academy gate and alighting from the carriage, she was stopped by a servant from some unknown household. The servant said that his matriarch wished to speak with her and requested an audience. When asked which household she belonged to, the servant replied...
The old general's wife was undoubtedly the mother of Consort De and General Nie. Song Shuhao was puzzled as to why the old lady Nie had suddenly come to her, and she hesitated to answer. But the old lady Nie came in person, and out of politeness, she could not refuse.
After arriving at the private room of the teahouse in the city, Song Shuhao, wanting to be alone with the person in front of her, did not have the maid stand guard outside.
Madam Nie didn't rush to speak. She sized her up for a moment before finally saying, "So this is what our Empress of Daqi looks like now." Her tone was neither contemptuous nor condescending, yet it was inexplicably unpleasant.
As Madam Nie spoke, a smile appeared on her face. Aside from politeness, Song Shuhao had agreed to come to the teahouse with her because she saw how haggard Madam Nie looked. Since she had managed to find her directly, she must have gone to great lengths. However, the moment Madam Nie opened her mouth, Shuhao knew their conversation might not be pleasant.
Song Shuhao remained silent for a moment. Old Madam Nie sighed deeply, suddenly rose from her seat, and knelt before her. Old Madam Nie's sudden action startled Song Shuhao, who quickly stood up to help her up, but Song Shuhao stubbornly refused to get up.
At that moment, Madam Nie could only weep and say, "My husband died for the Great Qi Dynasty, and my only son has always risked his life for His Majesty. My only daughter entered the palace to serve His Majesty at the age of sixteen, and has been serving him for eight years now."
"Back then, when Shaoguang insisted on entering the palace, I shed tears every day, but I couldn't resist my love for my daughter and gave in to her wishes. Now, His Majesty has issued an imperial edict to send Shaoguang back to the Nie family. She has no appetite and is depressed all day long, growing thinner and thinner every day. She is my heart and soul, and I am also heartbroken and unable to eat or sleep."
"Your Majesty surely knows best why things have turned out this way. What did she do wrong to deserve this? His Majesty's affection for Your Majesty and the harmony between the Emperor and Empress are a blessing to the Great Qi Dynasty, and I am just as happy. But I wonder, who will show some compassion for my daughter?"
"I've heard that Your Highness ventured deep into enemy territory to assassinate traitors and rebels; you must be a woman of courage and fierce spirit. Now that I've seen it for myself, I don't think Your Highness is such a selfish person. I just don't know how Your Highness can bear to watch innocent people be implicated like this?"
Song Shuhao hadn't expected that Old Madam Nie would come to her to say these things. She squatted down, looked at Old Madam Nie, nodded, and asked, "So what do you want me to do? Or what do you want me to do?"
Consort De was sent back to the Nie family… Although Zhang Yu hadn’t explained these matters to her in detail, she didn’t think he would make such a decision so casually. She also had no reason to listen to outsiders and then criticize Zhang Yu. She also didn’t understand why Old Madam Nie had come to see her.
With her mind calmed down, Song Shuhao slowly said, "I can understand and sympathize with what you said, but I still want to ask, if Consort De were in my position, would you still have similar thoughts?"
“You may think I’m making malicious assumptions, or that I’m selfish, but I really can’t agree to anything you say. Whatever decision His Majesty makes is ultimately his own, and I have no way to influence it.”
“What you’re talking about today is something I’m hearing for the first time. I had no prior knowledge of it. Even if I did know, that’s all I know; I can’t ask His Majesty to retract the decree.”
Song Shuhao used her strength to help Old Madam Nie stand up again. Zhang Yuruo claimed to only love her, yet he was intimate with other women; she couldn't accept this, and she wouldn't be willing to compromise herself, even if she loved him. She had never had any expectations of Zhang Yuruo in the past.
As a result, Zhang Yu neglected others, and those who were neglected were undeniably pitiful. No matter how he plans to arrange things now, it won't change the fact that he once had many concubines in his harem. This is an inescapable problem that must be faced. Zhang Yu is doing this under immense pressure; she cannot back down voluntarily—that would be tantamount to standing against him and stabbing him in the back.
If this can be considered a contest, she was merely luckier than others and didn't become the loser. In fact, if she couldn't accept the current outcome, why did she even bother taking the gamble in the first place? Blaming her is ultimately pointless.
Seeing Madam Nie weeping, Song Shuhao remained silent for a long while before replying, "No matter what I say, it all feels somewhat irrelevant to me, so I feel indifferent. I don't know how to comfort you, nor can I express how innocent I am. But if what you said is true, then from the beginning, I probably already knew that the outcome might not be as expected."
If you've chosen this path, you should naturally bear the consequences, whether they're good or bad. You can't take everything for granted and blame others for not getting what you want.
There was no rule in the Great Qi Dynasty that women could not remarry. Unofficial histories also record instances of concubines being sent out of the palace to remarry. Whether true or not, it was nothing short of sarcastic talk coming from her mouth.
Madam Nie wiped away her tears and remained silent for a moment. After crying for a while, she slowly spoke for a long time. Song Shuhao listened attentively and tried to comfort her, even though the scene seemed somewhat eerie. After seeing Madam Nie off, she took a carriage to the academy and was not stopped by anyone.
·
As the New Year approached, there were no students in class at the academy. Several young children were playing in the courtyard. When they saw someone coming, they enthusiastically went up to ask questions. Song Shu saw that although they were dressed simply, they were all poised and polite, and she became even more curious about the female teacher.
The steward told her that this female teacher was an exceptionally good person who had adopted many orphans. She never refused children from poor families who wanted to study and learn to read, and sometimes even waived tuition fees, only requiring higher grades. She also never turned away older children or even women who came to audit classes at the academy.
"Our teacher is in the study." Hearing that Song Shuhao had come to see her female teacher, a little girl with a round face said with a smile, "If you want to see her, you'll have to wait a while. Our teacher will be out in about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea." She invited Song Shuhao to sit down, poured her a cup of tea, and then told her to wait as she pleased.
Song Shuhao quietly surveyed the academy's environment. It wasn't particularly good; some of the walls were already peeling. Judging from the manager's words, it wasn't hard to imagine that, given this female teacher's style, her income was meager compared to her expenses, so it wasn't surprising that she didn't have enough money.
She knew that Zhang Yu wanted to allow women to hold official positions, and that Ling Xiao was the first person to do so. Although Ling Xiao was in the rear and not at the forefront of the battle, it was because of Ling Xiao and the group of soldiers she had trained who were responsible for rescuing the wounded that the number of casualties in this war was nearly 20% less than in the past.
This is already quite remarkable; no one can deny this fact. Moreover, she later learned that Ling Xiao's strategy in setting up an ambush in Fengcheng did indeed play a significant role, making this another major achievement.
Zhang Yu had his eye on Ling Xiao, granting her the authority to participate in the campaign against Dayuan, giving her the opportunity to make contributions, and waiting for this very moment. The reason he had Ling Xiao lead a group of women was also to maintain his stance and largely avoid the possibility of people saying that Ling Xiao was just an exception.
The experience of working for Ling Xiao made Song Shuhao realize that she was more useful than she had thought, and that she was not merely someone who served, cared for, or pleased others. Seeing the fearless demeanor of those older women and young women, she also came to a deeper understanding that when women stepped out of the inner quarters to do things beyond being a wife and mother, they were just as capable.
Besides this, the most important point is that Zhang Yu shares the same view. Song Shuhao doesn't know when Zhang Yu came up with this idea, and there seems to have been no indication of it before. But it's clear that he started considering it much earlier, but putting extraordinary ideas into practice is by no means easy.
Achieving success overnight is unlikely, but taking it slowly is not without hope. For those from humble backgrounds, the only path to a better future is through education; for women seeking official positions, this is also the only way. Thus, having the opportunity to study is a fundamental prerequisite.
In wealthy families, tutors would typically be hired to teach at the household level. While the imperial academy might select children of high-ranking officials as companions for study, it was essentially unrelated to ordinary families. She had this in mind and wanted to learn more about this only girls' academy in Lin'an that connected with ordinary households.
As Song Shuhao was thinking, the female tutor came out of the study. She looked to be around thirty years old, dressed in a simple robe, without makeup, and with her hair tied up with a ribbon. Her features were not particularly delicate, but she was elegant and refined, with a natural and otherworldly air about her.
After exchanging greetings, the female teacher sat down next to Song Shuhao first, and then invited her to sit down as well, before asking in a respectful manner, "May I ask what brings you to the academy, Madam?"
Song Shuhao smiled and said, "I've heard about your deeds, Master, and wanted to ask you some questions, so I came here." She paused for a moment before slowly beginning to speak with the female teacher. At first, Song Shuhao did most of the talking, but the female teacher gradually became interested in what she was saying and started to talk, and the two of them began to have a deeper conversation.
Song Shuhao didn't rush to mention many things to her female tutor, but instead mostly talked about matters related to the young girl's reading and writing. Even so, before she knew it, most of the day had passed.
Song Shuhao and the female teacher got along very well, but they talked for too long and had to stop for the time being, leaving the discussion for later. After saying goodbye, the female teacher escorted Song Shuhao all the way to the academy gate, and finally a slight smile appeared on her face. As they were about to part, Song Shuhao learned her name and nodded with a smile, remembering it.
Once inside the carriage, upon seeing the person sitting there, Song Shuhao didn't hesitate to scoot over and sweetly call out, "Your Majesty." She then asked, "Why have you come?" Feeling tired as she relaxed, she closed her eyes and leaned against Zhang Yu's shoulder, but the smile on her face never faded.
Seeing that she wasn't in a bad mood, Zhang Yu's initial concern that she might overthink things after learning that Old Madam Nie had approached her was relieved. He extended his arm for Song Shuhao to lie down and lean against his lap, saying only, "I've come to pick you up." Without thinking, Song Shuhao responded, and smelling the familiar pine-cypress scent on Zhang Yu, she drifted off to sleep.
·
Ling Xiao was appointed by Zhang Yu to be in charge of selecting female officials. By the New Year, the gates of the Marquis's mansion were practically broken down by visitors. People wanted to use connections, make friends, get close to him, offer bribes... and even brought up the complicated family history between their two families.
Every morning when Song Shuhao woke up and saw Ling Xiao, she couldn't help but laugh and tease her, "Lord Ling, have you seen any new relatives today?" Ling Xiao would grit her teeth in annoyance and pounce on her to give her a good tickling treatment.