Chapter 385 Women's Difficulties Old Lady Meng passed away in her sleep, and her face looked peaceful, as if she was asleep."Don't worry, I will take you back to Beijing. I will visit you when I am free. I will bring your favorite flowers and plants, as well as beautiful clothes." He Ran sat beside her and did not leave for a long time. Seven days later, the coffin of Old Lady Meng was temporarily placed in the temple, and the monks chanted sutras for her soul to be reborn for 49 days. Upon hearing the news, the people of Jinling came to the side hall where the coffin was placed, kneeling and kowtowing, partly because of the good deeds done by Lady Renyi during her lifetime, and partly because they wanted to get some of the blessings of the old lady. Some families even worshipped Lady Renyi at home, which later evolved into Lady Renyi. Legend has it that this old lady benefited the world during her lifetime and was ranked among the immortals after her death. Old Lady Meng was buried in the capital, and Young Master Jing and his wife accompanied her. He Ran issued an edict to divide Lady Renyi's mansion in Jinling into two. One half was used as Lady Renyi's Shrine, enshrining Lady Renyi's statue and displaying several of her belongings. Around it were hung more than a dozen pictures and texts describing Lady Renyi's life. These pictures and texts were written and drawn by He Yamin and Bai Yan. They describe the good deeds of Mrs. Renyi during her lifetime in the form of stories for people to commemorate and visit. The other half is Renyi Girls' Academy, a brand new academy. Young Master Jing donated all of Old Lady Meng's inheritance as the start-up capital for building the school. The subsequent expenses were taken over and managed by Jinghong Building. The first principal was Ji Shujun, the wife of Prime Minister Guo. In early February, the Jiangnan Spring Examination was held. This examination had no gender or age restrictions and was presided over by Feng Xieying himself. A total of 1,263 people from all over Jiangnan took part in the spring examination, including 13 women. He Ran collected and reported the names and personal information of these thirteen women.
She was shocked to find that among these thirteen women, there were two who were nearly forty years old and one who was only twelve years old. He Ran asked people to pay attention to the results of these thirteen people to avoid the situation where someone claimed the rankings falsely. When the spring examination results were announced, something unexpected happened. According to the regulations, the top ten candidates from each county will be designated as scholars and can participate in the autumn examination held in Jinling and Hangzhou this autumn. Those who pass the autumn examination will be designated as juren and can participate in the official examination held in the capital in April next year. From then on, the spring and autumn examinations were held on this date every year, while the official examinations were held every two years. Among them, the scholar system is based on the list-seeing system, that is, on the day of the announcement of the results, the candidates go to the local county government office to see the list. If they are on the list, they will take their household registration card to the county government office to register, that is, to confirm their identity, and receive the scholar certificate and a set of four treasures of the study. If there are students who want to study in famous academies, the county government will issue a letter of recommendation for them. If there are people from poor families, they can fill out a poverty application, and after verification, they can receive 20 taels of silver as a scholarship. But if one passes the imperial examination, the situation is different. The government will send someone to deliver the good news to one's residence. The incident happened in Jinglu County. Among the top ten in Jinglu County, the first one was named Xu Qiuli. She was one of the female candidates that He Ran attracted attention. The age Xu Qiuli wrote when he registered was thirty-six. The magistrate of Jinglu was named Zhu. He was an official who had passed the imperial examination and came from the capital. When he learned that Xu Qiuli was the first among the candidates for the Jinglu examination, he put on casual clothes, sat next to the clerk in charge of registering the names, and waited for Xu Qiuli to come over. The other nine candidates who made the list all came and happily received their certificates and prizes. Two of them even filled out poverty applications and left happily. But the only person missing was Xu Qiuli, who was the top student in high school. After waiting for a whole day, Xu Qiuli still didn't show up. The next day, there was no crowd outside the county government office, but Xu Qiuli still did not come. County Magistrate Zhu had a bad feeling. The boss was really good at predicting things. He was just about to ask someone to check which village Xu Qiuli was from when he saw a well-mannered middle-aged man walk in. As soon as the man entered the room, he bowed and thanked the examiner, claiming to be a student. He not only took out his admission card, but also the household registration certificate issued by the head of the village. I have to interject here. Although He Ran ordered the population of various places to be counted and implemented household registration cards, due to years of war and the fact that Ran's army recovered various places at different times, many areas have not even sent officials and are temporarily managed by neighboring counties. Therefore, to date, there are still some places that have not been fully counted, and Jinglu County is one of them. County Magistrate Zhu only took office a month ago. Currently, only the people in the county seat have obtained household registration cards. People without household registration cards must obtain certificates from the head of their village if they want to prove their identity. When he saw the household registration certificate that the man took out, County Magistrate Zhu almost wanted to curse.
Xu Qiuli’s name was clearly written on the household registration certificate! Xu Qiuli, 36 years old, is from Baiquan Village. As for the reference brand, there are certain requirements. After registering, candidates can receive a sign and enter the examination room with this sign. These signs come in pairs, one side is made of wood and the other side is made of paper. The names of the candidates are written on the paper and the county government's seal is stamped on it. The runners outside the examination hall will collect one of the badges, and the candidate will keep the other badge himself. If he passes the exam, he must use this badge when registering. The man in front of him had the household registration certificate stamped with the seal of the village head, and the reference card he brought also had the red seal of the government office. It's all true. But it’s all fake. Magistrate Zhu stared at the man in front of him and shouted, "How dare you impersonate someone else for such an important event as the Spring Examination? Come on, arrest him!" Two ferocious-looking bailiffs stepped forward and held the man down. The magistrate shouted: "Beat him, beat him hard!" As soon as the bailiff raised the board, the man was so frightened that he pissed himself and confessed everything. This man's name is Xu Wen, and he is also from Baiquan Village. His father is the village head. It turned out that Xu Qiuli's nameplate was bought by this man with money. As for the household registration certificate, it was written by his father himself. The person who sold the brand to him was none other than Xu Qiuli's husband Xu Daya. According to Xu Wen's confession, Xu Qiuli was sold to their village by traffickers, but not long ago, she suddenly ran away. Xu Daya searched for her for ten days and finally heard from someone that someone saw Xu Qiuli running towards the county town. Xu Daya found the village head and asked him to help look for it. The head of the village personally brought more than 20 people to the county town. Coincidentally, that day was the day when the spring examination ended. Xu Qiuli was arrested as soon as he left the examination room. He was beaten half to death when he returned to the village and is still locked in the house. Xu Wen also took part in the spring exam, but his name was not on the list. Yesterday, he came to look at the list and saw his name at the top of the list at a glance. Xu Qiuli? In the entire Jinglu County, he couldn't remember any village with the surname Xu. Just like their Baiquan Village, everyone had the surname Xu. There was no one with a different surname in the entire village, everyone had the same surname. Could it be that this Xu Qiuli is from another place? When Xu Wen returned to the village, he told the village head about this. The village head slapped his thigh and said, "Xu Qiuli, isn't she the wife bought by Xu Daya?" At that time, he said that people from the same family should be married. One of them was surnamed Xu and the other was surnamed Xu. They deserved to be sold to their village as wives. After the father and son discussed it, they felt that it would be a waste if the scholar didn't want it. They couldn't let the bought woman get it for free. Besides, she was a woman, so there was no use for her to have it. As for the "female" that Xu Qiuli filled in when registering, it doesn't matter. Just say it was written wrong. Besides, because there are still many people who cannot return to their homeland due to the war, there is no requirement for household registration when registering for the spring exam. After passing the exam, you can even settle in the local area and ask the head of the village where you live to issue a household registration certificate. There is a lot of room for maneuver here. So the father and son called Xu Daya over and gave him ten taels of silver. Xu Daya went back happily. It was a good thing that he did not throw away the broken sign. He did not expect that he could sell it for ten taels of silver. This was the fact. County Magistrate Zhu was so angry that he was shaking. He immediately sent people to arrest Xu Lizheng, Xu Wen and Xu Dayia and put them in jail. However, County Magistrate Zhu did not expect that rescuing Xu Qiuli would be even more difficult than capturing Xu Lizheng. There was no trace of Xu Qiuli in the village at all. Xu Daya refused to say anything. Finally, it was Xu Daya's son who told the truth: his stepmother was in the cave, locked with an iron chain.
When the people from the county government found Xu Qiuli, she was covered with bruises and was dying. When she was sent to the clinic, it was discovered that she had had a miscarriage. She was already pregnant when she escaped, but she herself did not realize it. After being caught, she was beaten to death by Xu Dayia and the child was gone. County Magistrate Zhu was so angry that he was shaking. He had seen Xu Qiuli's paper and knew that this woman's talent and learning were far superior to his. Who would have thought that such a talented woman would be sold to an old widower in the village. When Xu Qiuli regained consciousness and was finally able to speak, County Magistrate Zhu learned that Xu Qiuli came from a famous family in Shu. Her husband had died and she had no children, so she adopted her nephew at the request of her parents-in-law. But she didn't expect that her concession did not bring her peace. She was framed by her sister-in-law, who drugged her and sold her to a kidnapper. Because she was old and childless, it was believed that she could not give birth to a child, so it was not easy to sell her. The kidnapper accepted bribes from her in-laws and asked them to sell her as far away as possible, preferably so that she could never return to Shu in this lifetime. Therefore, she was passed from one kidnapper to another, and then changed hands several times, until she was finally sold to Baiquan Village last year. She knew that she could not return to Shu, and even if she did, her parents' home and her in-laws' home would not accept her. One day, she heard Xu Daya's son and several other children talking in the yard. One of the children was Xu Wen's son. That child was already studying in the county town and knew more. He said that his father was going to take part in the spring examination in the county, and added that women were in power now, so even women could take the examination. Xu Qiuli was moved. She had a feeling that this was her only chance to change her fate. So she pretended to be well-behaved and obedient, so that Xu Daya would relax his vigilance towards her. When there was a wedding in the village and the men went out to drink, she quietly escaped and stole the money that Xu Daya had hidden in his pillow. She walked dozens of miles to the county town, not only registered herself but also took part in the spring examination. Unfortunately, she was arrested as soon as she walked out of the examination room. She knew she had done well in the exam, so she had been trying to escape again these days, and as a result she was subjected to even more brutal atrocities, to the point that she lost her child. Xu Qiuli smiled bitterly. She and her late husband had been married for many years without having any children. Everyone thought that it was because she was infertile. She thought so too. Therefore, she did not stop her late husband from taking a concubine or a maid. When the concubine did not get pregnant, her mother-in-law said that it was her mother-in-law who had done something behind the scenes and that she was a jealous woman who would not allow others to have children even though she herself did. It was not until now that she realized that she was actually able to give birth, but unfortunately, the child came at the wrong time. County Magistrate Zhu wrote a letter to report Xu Qiuli's affairs to He Ran. When He Ran saw the letter, she was packing her bags and preparing to return to the capital. She thought about it, and asked Xiaoli to write a reply to County Magistrate Zhu, asking him to send someone to send Xu Qiuli to Jinling and settle her in Renyi Women's Academy, where she could teach while preparing for the autumn examination in Jinling. For this reason, He Ran stayed for a few more days, as she wanted to meet Xu Qiuli. Xu Qiuli's injury had not yet healed, and his face was pale due to the long journey. He Ran called Ji Shujun and Yao Linlang over and asked Xu Qiuli a few questions. Ji Shujun tested Xu Qiuli's knowledge on the spot and nodded with satisfaction. Xu Lizheng and his sons and Xu Daya were arrested. More than a hundred people from Baiquan Village ran to the county government office to make trouble, demanding that the county magistrate release them and hand over the women they had bought with their own money. County Magistrate Zhu borrowed the garrison outside the city to disperse those people. Therefore, Xu Qiuli thought that County Magistrate Zhu sent her out of Jinglu for her safety. Before leaving, she kowtowed three times to County Magistrate Zhu. But she never expected that not only would she come to Jinling, but she would also meet the legendary Mr. He. She also never thought that there would be a women's academy in Jinling, and that she could even teach in it.
Xu Qiuli's eyes were filled with tears, and He Ran smiled: "Xu Qiuli, I look forward to your shining, I will wait for you in Beijing." After meeting Xu Qiuli, He Ran set out on the journey back to the capital. Young Master Jing and his wife also escorted Old Lady Meng's coffin back to the capital. He Ran has already asked someone to find a Feng Shui treasure land near the capital. Old Madam Meng no longer remembers Jing Dashan, but He Ran still remembers that Jing Dashan was forced to give up the idea of divorcing his wife and remarrying due to the power of He Jinghong, but he did not sever his relationship with that woman, and he never treated Old Madam Meng well again. Although Old Madam Meng was ill, Jing Dashan was still flirting with that woman in the outer house. He Jinghong brought the doctor to visit the patient. Old Lady Meng held her hand and said to her, "Boss, if I die first and Jing Dashan dies later, you must not let him be buried with me. I will annoy him." He Ran remembered that she advised him at that time: "Nonsense, Jing Dashan's body has been hollowed out by alcohol and sex, he will definitely not live longer than you, and he will die first." A smile appeared on Old Lady Meng's pale face: "Then please ask for an imperial decree for me to not be buried in the Jing family's ancestral tomb after a hundred years, and not be buried with Jing Dashan." Jing Dashan was a duke, and if his wife did not want to be buried with him, it would definitely not be possible without an imperial decree. At that time, He Jinghong knew clearly that Zhou Chi would definitely not issue such an imperial decree. She thought then that she would just refuse to let Old Lady Meng and Jing Dashan be buried together, and see who dared to force her. At worst, she would just make a big fuss and sacrifice her reputation. At that time, she promised Old Lady Meng that she would watch and kill anyone who dared to bury Old Lady Meng in the Jing family's ancestral tomb. Unexpectedly, this promise lasted for decades. He Ran smiled bitterly. Just to decide where to bury an old lady after her death, she had to overcome all obstacles and stand at the highest position. She had to have enough say to implement it openly. This world was too difficult for women. And she is still on the way.