Yang Ruxin turned and walked into the main hall, speaking as she moved, "Gu Qingheng, are you up yet?"
"I am." Gu Qingheng himself maneuvered his wheelchair out from the room.
"Are you familiar with the laws of our dynasty?" Yang Ruxin hurried over to help him into the courtyard. At this time, although the rooms in rural houses were quite spacious, they were all papered over with window paper, which was poor in letting light through; thus, even during the daytime, they seemed quite dark, not as comfortable as the courtyard.
"I am familiar," nodded Gu Qingheng, "Why? Have you gotten into legal trouble?" At just ten years old, he had been able to recite all the law books of the dynasty from memory.
"What trouble could I possibly cause?" Yang Ruxin burst into a smile upon hearing this. "I want to ask you, like with my family’s situation, if I were to become wealthy in the future, would those people from the Yang Family have any right to come and demand money?"
The corners of Gu Qingheng’s mouth lifted slightly. That girl sure thought ahead, but it also proved that she wasn’t foolish. In fact, even if she hadn’t come to ask, he had been planning to remind her these few days. Now that she had taken the initiative to ask, he could just as well remind her, to avoid future problems.
The laws of the dynasty were actually quite harsh on women. Of course, it wasn’t only in this dynasty; women had never been treated leniently throughout history.
According to the laws of our dynasty, it was clearly stipulated that a woman should abide by her father before marriage, her husband after marriage, her brothers (or younger) if her father died, her sons if her husband died, her grandsons if her sons died... In other words, a woman basically had no fixed property of her own; if her father and brothers were bad, her husband incompetent, her sons and grandsons unworthy, then that woman’s entire life would be doomed.
Yang Ruxin suddenly felt deflated: "Women really have no status at all." No wonder Xun Hui had only been able to endure all these years.
"Actually, compared to previous dynasties, our dynasty’s laws are more lenient towards women," Gu Qingheng smiled, "This can be credited to the previous dynasty’s Princess Nishang..."
"What happened?" Yang Ruxin’s eyes immediately widened with interest, sensing a fascinating story.
"I’m not too clear on the specifics, but I have a general understanding," Gu Qingheng smiled.
In the previous dynasty, during Emperor Han Zheng’s reign, there was a General Yong who made illustrious military contributions to the establishment of the Great Han Dynasty. Later, for saving Emperor Han Zheng’s life, he lost a leg. He had only one daughter, named Yong Nishang, whom Emperor Han Zheng made Princess Nishang. This princess was a woman of courage and a heroine who dared to love and hate. She eventually married the Champion, Zhou Minren, but after Zhou received support from the Yong Family and rose rapidly in status, he began taking concubines and mistresses, as this was common practice and he didn’t see any issue with it, since many noblewomen who married into these families would choose to tolerate it.
But Princess Nishang was different—she went straight to the Empress Dowager to file a complaint, accusing Zhou Minren of betrayal and asking for a divorce.
At that time, there was no concept of mutually agreed separation, let alone divorce, which immediately caused an uproar. But Princess Nishang was resolute. She argued that if men demanded loyalty from women, why then, could men not stay loyal themselves? If they could not, then she had no need for such a husband...
"This princess is formidable," Yang Ruxin’s eyes sparkled with admiration, "I’m starting to worship her..." She even wondered to herself if that princess could also be a time-traveling predecessor?
Gu Qingheng smiled and continued, "Originally, many ministers in the court thought the princess was brash and reckless, yet unexpectedly, her actions garnered the response of many women, mainly the noble women from the capital..."