After this incident, Fang Ruotang was no longer in the mood to go to the teahouse to learn about the local people's lives. But no matter how bad she was in the mood, things still had to be done, so everyone went anyway. When the waiter served tea, she specifically asked about the situation.

As soon as the waiter saw the silver, he readily explained the reason.

“In our area, the preference for sons over daughters is very serious. Daughters are drowned when they are born. When the sons grow up and want to marry, they find that there are no suitable families around. Even if there are, the bride's family asks for a lot of dowry. So there are a lot of bachelors here. In order to continue the lineage, they think of selling their wives to have children. This practice has been going on for decades.”

With Gu Yanjin absent, Fang Ruotang rolled her eyes at Ye Wuxia.

"Look at the kind of lives women lead under your rule. This is so close to the capital, and it's like this. Wouldn't it be even more difficult in other places?"

Ye Wuxia wanted to protest his innocence, since he didn't care about this land.

Furthermore, as the saying goes, "If the people don't complain, the officials won't investigate."

The imperial court had a strict order forbidding the sale of wives; violators would be punished with eighty strokes of the cane for the husband and sixty strokes for the seller. This beating could very well be fatal, demonstrating the court's strong protection of the legal wife.

But... not all women receive a good education. They grow up in such an environment, surrounded by such people, and they don't even think there's anything wrong with it.

To these people, the atmosphere here is disgusting and suffocating, but to the locals, it is probably a perfectly normal thing.

That's all the common people know.

It's even possible that their next actions will be met with incomprehension and resistance from the locals.

After returning home, Fang Ruotang told her friends what had happened. They were all indignant and wished they could rush out and hack those men to pieces.

The most furious among them was Cao Yuedi, after all, she was a victim. If Fang Ruotang hadn't given her a Marrow Cleansing Pill and hadn't caught up with the good times of cultivating immortality, she would never have survived.

After learning about her situation, she didn't even have time to feel self-loathing. That very night, she was summoned to the palace by the emperor. She was very uneasy at the time, but the memory is still vivid.

To this day, she still remembers the emperor's envious and jealous gaze.

The emperor himself was actually envious and jealous of her. At that moment, she didn't know how to describe it; it was as if the shackles on her body had become lighter.

Then, starting from the second day, suitors came one after another, all wanting to have a smart child with her. These people wanted to take advantage of her, but they made her realize one thing: all the messes that had happened to her before were nothing in the face of absolute profit.

After a period of silence, she came to a realization. She used to really want children, but now she didn't. Fortunately, although she wasn't very talented, Fang Ruotang was willing to help her. Every time she saw her, Fang Ruotang would call her "Sister Cao" and helped her a lot. This time, Fang Ruotang even took her with him when they went out.

The next day, Fang Ruotang decided to stay another day to resolve the issue of the refuge. She wanted to go to the yamen to see how things were going, but when she arrived there, she saw a group of women crying and begging the magistrate to release their men.

At this moment, Fang Ruotang's heart turned cold.

She wasn't blaming these women for being ungrateful; Fang Ruotang herself had differences in perception, and she understood that it was difficult for people to do things beyond their own understanding.

"How can these women be so ungrateful? We're saving them, and they still want to save these devils!" Wenren Ya's round, apple-shaped face turned red with anger.

Jin Wuyou frowned slightly, glanced at Fang Ruotang with concern, and then whispered to Wenren Ya.

“It is very difficult to change people’s minds. These people even think that this is a business. They will use the number of sons they have as capital to negotiate high prices with buyers. I used to go out to do business with my father and encountered this. And it’s not just in one place. There are many places with this bad habit.”

In patriarchal societies, women have a low status.

It was because of Fang Ruotang that the women around her rose in status day by day, but she was ultimately just one person, and in places far from the emperor's reach, she couldn't take care of them.

How could a tradition spanning thousands of years be completely changed by Fang Ruotang in less than a year? But Jin Wuyou felt that things were actually quite good at the moment, at least overall they were moving in a positive direction.

Women's status is steadily improving; some are officials, some are businesspeople, and most importantly, they have the right to inherit property, which is a significant leap forward.

Fang Ruotang stared coldly for a while before returning directly to her temporary residence. Her delicate face was tense, and her demeanor was terrifying when she calmed down. She thought about many things along the way.

Finally, she revealed the decision she had made.

“The men in this place are rotten to the core. I don’t want to save them. The few lashes the yamen gave them are too lenient. I want them to experience the hardships of being a woman.” Fang Ruotang said with a stern face.

On her way back, she had already asked Xiao Jingzi. She was currently planning to use the Dream Entry Talisman to cover the entire county, which would cause some damage to her soul, but it wasn't a big problem and she didn't care. She just wanted these people to get their comeuppance.

Seeing that Fang Ruotang's eyes were red with anger, Ye Wuxia and the other four felt sorry for her because she was about to do something that would harm her health, but they did not try to stop her.

The little mirror took out many blessed magical artifacts and taught Fang Ruotang how to arrange them. It also placed a dream-entering talisman in her mind. Fang Ruotang studied very seriously and practiced it many times in her mind. Only when she had a certain degree of confidence did she begin.

Fang Ruotang will not let go of the old hag who drowned and killed the baby girl. All those who are malicious towards women, regardless of gender, will be punished.

The range of this formation includes many nearby villages, which is almost the limit of Fang Ruotang's strength. The Dream Entry Talisman is much easier to use than the Guardian Formation. If it is only aimed at a single individual, Fang Ruotang would not even need to lift a finger.

Unfortunately, this county is not small, with a population of 30,000 to 50,000.

Fang Ruotang finished the last stroke, the talisman took effect, and she felt as if all her energy had been drained away, and she fainted.

"Sixth grade."

A group of people surrounded Fang Ruotang, and several of them hugged her at the same time.

Fang Shengtang's eyes reddened, and he choked up as he said, "Xiao Liu has never suffered like this before. Why does she always have to encounter such things?"

Ye Wuxia suppressed the complex emotions in her eyes and said in a low voice, "Everyone protected her too well before. This world is inherently not a good place. Now that she has come out... I'm afraid we will soon see scenes of people eating each other."

That night, Xiao Jingzi explained Fang Ruotang's situation to Ye Wuxia and the others.

But no one can sleep until they see Fang Ruotang wake up.

Fang Shengtang said he would stay with Fang Ruotang, so Ye Wuxia and the others had no choice but to stay in the side room next door.

In the middle of the night, Fang Ruotang suddenly opened her eyes. Under Fang Shengtang's surprised gaze, she walked barefoot to the window, looked at the sky, and said in a deep voice, "Something's wrong with the weather."

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