Chapter 400 – Relocating to Chenzhou (Part Six)
“Oh—my precious Changsheng, come here for a hug from Daddy.”
After Wei Jingxian finished nursing the baby and getting a cute little burp out of her, Feng Jin reached out to take Changsheng, a look of pure affection on his face.
“Sigh, just half a day apart and Changsheng’s even cuter than before!”
Feng Jin couldn’t help but brag about his daughter’s adorableness like there was no draft in the room.
Changsheng seemed to particularly enjoy the fresh scent coming off him, instinctively drawing closer, her big, watery eyes sparkling as they exchanged glances. Occasionally, she would gurgle some strange little sounds and flash a toothless grin.
Seeing the father-daughter banter, Wei Jingxian couldn’t help but chuckle quietly, a light of happiness sparkling in her eyes.
After playing for a while, Changsheng began to drift off, prompting Feng Jin to gently place her back in her crib and pull out a book from his sleeve.
It was said that if children listened to enlightening stories from a young age, they would be more precocious, speaking much earlier than their peers.
With the principle of “my daughter is bound to be exceptional” and “I love reading, my daughter definitely will too,” Feng Jin naturally wanted to give his child a head start. Who knows, if she listened now, maybe by the time she could speak, she’d be spouting poetry!
Since Changsheng was in the crib, Wei Jingxian couldn’t see the book that Feng Jin had pulled out.
She ordered the maidservant to wipe her down a bit, feeling much better after that. She then lay back down, sleepiness washing over her.
Confinement after giving birth meant her days were filled with eating, drinking, and napping, making her feel as if her bones were going to freeze solid.
She thought she could fall asleep to her husband’s soothing voice, but to her surprise, the words he was reading were—
“…For any woman, first learn to stand upright. The way to stand upright is solely preserving purity. Purity leads to a clean body; honor leads to a glorious life… In all matters, men and women have different roles. Do not gaze upon the outer walls, nor step outside the inner courtyard. Men who are not close relatives must remain unnamed. Women who are not virtuous should not get close…”
Feng Jin finished this segment and couldn’t help but flip the pages back, feeling something was off.
But it was boldly written with the three big characters ‘The Woman’s Analects.’ Could this book be fake?
Wei Jingxian also sensed something was amiss. She slowly sat up, only to see Feng Jin flipping through the pages, mumbling.
“When women marry, their husband becomes family… Comparing husbands to Heaven is no small matter… If the husband gets angry, do not respond with anger. Step back and yield, swallow your temper… Women should remain indoors, seldom going out…”
Feng Jin was dumbfounded, immediately closing ‘The Woman’s Analects’ and picking up ‘The Woman’s Precepts’ to skim through.
“…A husband may remarry but a wife cannot have two suitors; thus, it is said that the husband is Heaven. One cannot escape Heaven, and the husband cannot be abandoned… For offenses against the divine, Heaven punishes; for lapses in etiquette, the husband punishes…”
The more he read, the more rigid his expression became.
By now, Wei Jingxian had picked up their daughter from the crib, covering her ears.
With a sarcastic tone, she said, “So it turns out, my dear husband enjoys having a wife who behaves just like a wooden puppet.”
Feng Jin, feeling utterly wronged: “…”
Before he could speak, Wei Jingxian continued, “If my husband prefers such a docile, wooden woman, he’s free to go find one. But Changsheng is the child I carried for ten months, and I wouldn’t want her to grow up into someone who allows other men to take advantage of her. I’m tired; do as you please, husband.”
Still dazed, Feng Jin: “…”
He sat there, stunned, unable to believe as he flipped through the other two books, finding the content remarkably similar—demanding women to be submissive and submissive, keeping their feet firmly within the household, as if they should remove their thoughts entirely, with no room for critical thinking.
This was not raising a daughter; it was raising a servant. What proper noble lady would be such a meek, lowly thing?
Feng Jin felt betrayed.
As a talented scholar, he expected his daughter to be equally exceptional—this fit the character he thought he played.
What about the ‘Four Books for Women’?
What about the enlightening reading materials for women?
He must have read a bootleg version, right?
Just as Jiang Pengji said, a man’s life isn’t just about being a father; he could very well be a father-in-law too.
Living according to the content of the ‘Four Books for Women,’ which woman wouldn’t end up a thoughtless wooden figure in the end?
Men might not mind marrying a thoughtless wooden figure as a wife because they could still choose from a bunch of little concubines, but they surely wouldn’t accept their daughters becoming that way, then being married off to be bullied… Especially a novice like Feng Jin couldn’t tolerate that.
Fuming, he tossed the ‘Four Books for Women’ out of the carriage, wishing he could confront Qi Guanrang right then and there.
That guy was so devious, what on earth had he given him that filthy thing for?
Deliberately stirring trouble, huh!
Before that, he thought it was necessary to clear his name; how could he be that kind of man?
“Jingxian, this is a misunderstanding! I’m simply not capable of loving little Changsheng enough; how could I…”
Before Feng Jin could finish, Wei Jingxian retorted, “If you truly cared, why would you read such shabby material to Changsheng?”
Feng Jin, feeling exceedingly wronged: “…”
If he had known the content was like that, he wouldn’t have just read it—he would have burned it to keep his daughter away from these ‘poisonous’ books.
“This was handed to me earlier by Wenzheng.” Feng Jin explained, recalling selling Qi Guanrang to stabilize the grape trellis in the backyard. “A while ago, while chatting with Jingxian, I mentioned the ‘Four Books for Women.’ I thought it was outstanding enlightening literature, and that’s why I got it from him…”
Now he felt thoroughly wronged himself.
Wei Jingxian wasn’t actually angry; she had just overreacted momentarily.
At this point, Changsheng was slightly awake, yawning and squeezing out a couple of tears, looking at her with innocent eyes.
“My husband doesn’t know, but nowadays, these four books have practically become a must-read for noble women in Zhong Zhao and are held in high regard. Before a woman marries, her husband’s family is required to gift her a copy.” Wei Jingxian sighed, her gaze towards Feng Jin filled with complexity. Suddenly, she mentioned someone, “Do you still remember the esteemed scholar Wan Chuangzhai from Zhong Zhao?”
Wan Chuangzhai?
Feng Jin recalled him clearly; he was well-acquainted with contemporary scholars.
“Wan Chuangzhai has a daughter, fifteen years old. Last year, she went to a temple to offer incense and accidentally dropped a napkin, which was picked up by a ruffian. When this incident spread, people assumed the woman had an illicit relationship with the ruffian, ruining her intended marriage, and her fiancé’s family shunned her as unclean. The clan elder was embarrassed and forcibly took the girl away to drown her.”
“Drown her?” Feng Jin gasped.
“Wan Chuangzhai hurried home, but his daughter was already dead. People not only thought this was lawless but furthermore deemed it a financial decision to preserve her honor. Because her virtue was tainted by that ruffian, the only way to prove her purity was through death…”
These stories had been told by her friends in the inner chambers, and the more she heard, the more uneasy Wei Jingxian became.
“Additionally, Wan Chuangzhai has a biological sister who had a disagreement with her husband early on and separated. The clan elder, fearing this woman might remarry and bring disgrace, also had her drowned. Despite Wan Chuangzhai’s prominent reputation, he couldn’t protect either his daughter or sister.”
As Wei Jingxian spoke, Feng Jin felt as if he was listening to a heavenly book.
She added fuel to the fire, saying, “I’ve heard that there’s a widow in Zhong Zhao… A widow is a woman whose husband has died before they married, but she, for the sake of preserving her honor, still must marry the man’s spirit tablet. The in-laws worry about their son’s departure and fear the daughter-in-law isn’t settled, refusing to allow her to commit indiscretions. To express her determination to maintain her purity, they force the woman to cut off her ten fingers…”
All of this, they said, stemmed from the ‘Four Books for Women.’
By the end, Wei Jingxian wore a slight smirk of sarcasm.
