Chapter 1369 – The Ladies’ Tea Party (12)
Some people can communicate with words, but some beasts can only resort to sticks.
【Poor Dao sees your chrysanthemum is toxic】: My streamer’s so kind, he even thought about letting those beasts off the hook.
【Farmer Spring Water is a bit Suspicious】: Tsk tsk, how thick is your fan filter? The streamer? Kind and benevolent? Those scumbags were forced to “sell their bodies,” and ultimately, it’s still the streamer’s misleading influence. He’s just fishing for lawbreakers; we should sympathize with the scums!
【Genius Guo Fengxiao】: The crime of overstepping limits can be big or small, depending on whether the authorities want to show mercy or strike hard. The streamer should be tougher, let them see some blood; that way, they’ll learn their lesson and scare off others with dishonorable intentions.
【Stowaway Non-Money】: Right! In chaotic times, heavy penalties are essential! Kindness is useless now; it’s a tool for dealing with gentlemen, but for scoundrels, it’s indulgence. When you retaliate with poison, and repay in kind, only then will they truly fear you and listen.
The audience flooded the screen, and Jiang Pengji was calculating.
“This matter will be handled by Wen Zheng and Huai Yu; to deter the covert villains, a heavy-handed approach is necessary.”
Qi Guanrang and Feng Jin stepped up to take the command.
Sending those two to handle this was clearly denying any chance of a comeback for those miscreants.
Qi Guanrang was of humble origins, with a low-key and eccentric personality, rarely interacting with outsiders, practically impossible to win over. But Feng Jin? He’s the only one under Jiang Pengji who’s a complete “tall, rich, and handsome”; he wouldn’t go easy on lowly scoundrels.
Meeting these two meant basically no chance of rolling back up.
The common people in Wanzhou had been witnessing quite the spectacle these days.
Their favorite plot was one where evil gets what it deserves; watching those who favored concubines over wives, overstepped boundaries, and forced others into prostitution fall one by one, the people rejoiced, some even bought firecrackers to celebrate, venting the pent-up frustration from these past times.
Feng Jin and Qi Guanrang indeed showed no mercy; although those culprits weren’t sentenced to death, they faced public beatings of eighty to fifty strokes, fines of a thousand garnets for each household, confiscation of illegal properties, and entire families banished to their origin—with three generations barred from holding official positions—
Beyond that, the women who were forced into degradation were reinstated as honorable; each household had to compensate them with a hundred garnets as a living allowance.
After this round of beatings, while those who survived could count themselves lucky, they were essentially crippled.
This outcome was the result of discussions between Qi Guanrang and Feng Jin.
Admittedly, killing them would resolve it all, but the deterrent effect wouldn’t be sufficient.
Better they live in a state worse than death, seeing their entire families implicated, with no hope of rising again, ultimately stinking up future generations.
With Wei Ci’s public-relations tactics, this move by Jiang Pengji didn’t provoke backlash; instead, it garnered her a wave of devoted fans.
Those with dubious intentions but who hadn’t acted were secretly relieved—
Relieved they managed to control their urges, avoiding marrying concubines and not overstepping boundaries.
Certain individuals secretly keeping a few mistresses were also fearful, shelling out a hefty sum to send them away, settling down a bit.
Jiang Pengji seized the moment and had Han Yu lead a team to redraft marriage laws.
Yet, some viewers suggested she abolish the concubine system altogether, but after careful consideration, Jiang Pengji abandoned this idea.
Abolishing the concubine system, given the current societal standards, was unrealistic and would incite significant backlash.
Rather than a blanket abolition, it would be better to regulate the concubine system first; for instance, commoners could have one husband and one wife, while officials over forty without children could take a concubine, using this compromise to stabilize those itching to act out. No one understood better than Jiang Pengji that as society progresses, the concubine system would gradually be outdated and eliminated. There’s no need to rush for its abolishment.
Furthermore, where there are policies, there are countermeasures.
Men can’t flaunt “concubines” publicly; they still have other ways, like keeping singing girls or dancers, adopting so-called “foster daughters,”…
They can claim it’s temporary residency at their estate, but in reality, they’re bedding partners.
Of course, anyone who produces illegitimate offspring without the right to concubines would face severe punishment.
With Jiang Pengji’s intervention, Han Yu summarized the redrafted marriage laws into several major categories, like marriage, divorce, protections during marriage, and responsibilities and obligations within marriage… Each item detailed specific classifications and descriptions, such as the types of divorce—“divorce wife,” “cut off relations,” and “amicable separation”—and under what circumstances to choose each type… To draft these, Han Yu had perused no less than five thousand related documents over recent days, even making trips to several locations, which only made Mrs. Han’s expression increasingly gloomy.
What does this mean?
Is Han Yu planning to divorce?
Eldest son Han Run was also anxious, finally mustering the courage to ask Han Yu one day.
Han Yu first paused, then laughed, explaining himself.
Han Run asked, “Why would Lord Lan Ting assign this task to Father?”
He thought his father preferred strategizing on the battlefield; revising laws sounded so dull.
Han Run noticed his father’s study was nearly buried under decades of documents, there wasn’t even a place to stand; the work seemed too laborious.
Han Yu shook his head with a smile, “You’re still young, you don’t understand Fathers’ choice.”
Compared to the battlefield, he was better suited for this stage.
Jiang Pengji granted Han Yu sufficient authority, allowing him to choose personnel to form a dedicated team for revising legislation.
While no specific titles were given, the salary and responsibilities were almost equivalent to one of the nine ministers.
Naturally, Han Yu’s current task was just to revise and supplement the new laws.
Although the marriage laws were Han Yu’s revisions, the ultimate decision-makers were actually Jiang Pengji and 850,000 dried fish audience members.
Thanks to the previous references and experiences, the revision didn’t take long; the entire document was just over five thousand eight hundred words.
Jiang Pengji couldn’t help but boast about Han Yu to the dried fish audience.
She remarked, “Wen Bin is indeed a natural for this line of work.”
Classical Chinese is certainly concise, but it can easily be exploited in interpretations; Han Yu chose to learn from his teacher, Mr. Yuanjing, and Cheng Cheng, boldly adopting the vernacular that even common folks could understand, minimizing the chances for malice—this innovation was commendable.
This was excellent for spreading and promoting, though the only drawback was the excessive waste of paper.
In the live stream, there were all kinds of dried fish, and Jiang Pengji also discussed a few unreasonable points with some top lawyers, leading Han Yu to revise them. Of course, this didn’t mean a final draft was ready; in the end, everyone under her command needed to review it.
Once everyone was satisfied, then the matter could be considered concluded.
For Han Yu, revising the new marriage laws was merely warm-up. At least with marriage laws, they could rely on past experiences to patch things up—but the child protection laws assigned by the lord, he needed to develop from scratch, exploring and accumulating little by little.
After a month of incessant rain, spring’s arrival finally softened the tense atmosphere, and the ladies began to mingle.
Mrs. Han’s tea party remained the highest-profile event in their circle.
