Women in official positions

The cooing of pigeons, like heavenly music, entered everyone's ears. Jiang Jin unwrapped the note wrapped around the pigeon's leg, "Approved, Chang Yi will assist."

Jiang Jin gasped and frowned. "Isn't Chang Yi the Commandant of the Vanguard? Why would His Majesty send him to do this?"

“He is now Princess Zhaoyang’s husband, and is one of His Majesty’s own people. Of course, it is safest for him to come here.”

Wei Shu's words struck Jiang Jin like a bolt from the blue. Although her heart was in turmoil, she remained calm and dared not show it on her face.

"Princess Zhaoyang's marriage has never been settled, so how come there's suddenly a consort?" Jiang Jin slowly twisted her shoulders to hide the trembling in her voice.

"I suppose this is the choice His Majesty made to balance the two factions, neither wanting the Dou family to get what they want nor wanting the Third Prince to become too powerful."

Wei Shu looked at Jiang Jin's actions with some guilt and said, "I'm sorry, did I lean on you for too long and make you uncomfortable?"

"It's nothing, just a little numb." Jiang Jin sat back down next to Wei Shu. "Although we've moved to a more secluded cave, we still can't escape if Wang Juesong insists on searching the mountain."

“So we can appear now, alive and well, right in front of Wang Juesong alone.” Wei Shu stood up and looked at Jiang Jin. “I’ll need you to write another note and have it delivered to Zhou Cong by pigeon.”

"Where did you agree to meet?" Jiang Jin was about to write it down but didn't know where the two agreed to meet. "There is a small temple ten miles east of the woods. We agreed to meet there at Hai hour (9-11 PM)."

"Can your body still hold out to walk ten miles to that little temple?" Jiang Jin rolled up the note and tied it to the leg of another pigeon, marveling, "You Imperial Guards really have a lot of pigeons."

"Don't worry, your bodyguard's medicine is very effective. I won't faint halfway there. As for the pigeons, it's just a precaution when traveling." The two left the cave, with Yi Er leading the way while Yi Yi remained hidden to protect them.

Having successfully bypassed the Imperial Guards and Wang Juesong's retainers who were searching through the mountain path, the group finally arrived at a flat path.

"Wei Shu, are you alright? Do you need to rest?" Jiang Jin walked ahead, turning her head every now and then to check Wei Shu's complexion.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Just focus on your journey." Wei Shu stretched his shoulder in front of Jiang Jin, a sharp pain shooting through him, but he endured it and put on an indifferent expression.

"That's true. How could a Grand General of the Imperial Guard faint over such a trivial matter? I was overthinking it. Let's go." Seeing that Wei Shu was alright, Jiang Jin naturally quickened his pace.

Yi Yi, hiding in the shadows, naturally didn't miss the moment when Jiang Jin turned around, and Wei Shu's face contorted in pain.

"Tsk, so Wei Shu can be stubborn too. The sun really has risen in the west." Yi Yi thought to himself, but he remained vigilant about his surroundings. After all, he had experienced the ruthlessness of the Wang family firsthand.

"Wife, there seems to be someone ahead!" Yi Er quickly turned back to Jiang Jin's side, while Yi Yi protected Jiang Jin. Under their protection, Wei Shu, who was alone with his sword drawn, looked somewhat lonely.

"Would you like to come closer to me?" Jiang Jin hesitated for a moment before extending her hand.

"Is it okay?" Wei Shu asked, but his hands didn't stop moving as he took Jiang Jin's hand.

"If I say no, will you let go of my hand?" Jiang Jin rolled her eyes at Wei Shu, who was staring intently ahead. A donkey cart drove up, and the person sitting on it looked very familiar.

"Brother Da Niu?" Jiang Jin peeked out from behind Yi Yi, but given their current situation, she didn't dare to speak. She only breathed a sigh of relief after he had disappeared into the distance.

"Don't worry, they're probably just people heading to Jiufang City. Let's hurry on our way." Yi Yi and Yi Er nodded and continued walking towards the small temple ten miles away, just as they had done before.

"Do you know the person from earlier?" Wei Shu didn't let go of Jiang Jin's hand, and Jiang Jin, mindful of his injuries, didn't say anything more.

"Yes, thanks to him for bringing me to the countryside, I was able to buy a horse." Jiang Jin led Wei Shu by the hand and walked forward.

"You were afraid we'd implicate him, so you didn't tell him." For a moment, Wei Shu seemed to have touched a soft spot in Jiang Jin's heart.

“If you and I die, His Majesty will remember us, the entire court will remember us, and His Majesty may even avenge us. But it’s different for the common people; they can only blame their bad luck.”

Jiang Jin gave a bitter smile, "Only by standing very, very high in this world can life have some meaning."

"Jiang Jin, so what are you trying to achieve by doing all this?" Wei Shu couldn't understand why a woman from an official family would choose such a thorny path.

"I simply wanted to speak up for women and ordinary people." Jiang Jin glanced at Wei Shu.

"What His Majesty desires are loyal ministers, and ideally, they should also be talented and capable, but it doesn't matter if they aren't. So even if a good official who is capable of serving the country and the people gets caught up in factional strife and has a stain on his record, His Majesty will replace him without hesitation."

“Jiang Jin, the court isn’t all black and white. If everyone favors the powerful families, then the common people will have no chance of advancement,” Wei Shu explained to Jiang Jin, enduring the stinging pain in his shoulder.

"I know Your Majesty is also helpless. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Your Majesty is determined to eliminate the powerful families, but what about the Crown Prince and the Third Prince? Do they think the same way?"

Jiang Jin's words silenced Wei Shu. He understood the implication behind Jiang Jin's words, but it was beyond their control.

“Wei Shu, there’s actually another type of person who might be able to change this situation.” Jiang Jin, unusually silent under Wei Shu’s curious gaze, continued…

"But I need to think about it some more. Let's go to the small temple first." Jiang Jin hesitated. The group walked in silence to the small temple. The sky was pitch black with only a few stars hanging in the sky.

“I understand what you mean. You mean the daughters of noble families.” Wei Shu stood behind Jiang Jin and looked at her gazing at the sky. “Perhaps I should be more precise. They are the daughters of noble families who do not want to be confined to their chambers and do not want to be pawns.”

"I didn't say anything; it's just your own conjecture." Jiang Jin looked at the sky and thought of that summer when His Highness looked at the sky in the same way. She wondered why she was scolded even though her studies were better than her brother's, and why she could never be as good as her brother in their father's eyes.

Perhaps His Highness was thinking of something but dared not speak it, but at that time Jiang Jin was still young and spoke without restraint.

"Why must women be confined to the backyard forever? Why must they always pave the way for the men of their families? Why can't we go out and be like the men? We are human beings too, aren't we also subjects of the Great Yan?"

Later, the two young women hit it off immediately. The princess said she didn't want to be recorded in history with just a short sentence about who Princess Zhaoyang married and when she died; she wanted to be remembered in history.

Jiang Jin still finds it insane when she thinks about it now; how could two young girls dare to make such a crazy decision under the immense pressure of patriarchal authority?

“Jiang Jin, it is extremely rare for a woman to enter the court and become an official, let alone those daughters of noble families. They are pampered and will never give up the honor that their families have given them. They are happy to become pawns of their families. Those one in a million who do not want to be confined to their boudoirs are not enough to become pawns against noble families.”

“Wei Shu, who is to blame for all this? They willingly confined themselves to the cage, but they were not born willingly confined to the cage. They have never experienced the joy of holding power. All they have is the minuscule power that their husbands transfer to them, which can only be exercised in the inner quarters.”

Jiang Jin held back her tears, "Women are also human beings, not objects, not pawns, and certainly not things that should be sold off or sacrificed at will by their fathers or husbands."

"Jiang Jin, calm down. Even His Majesty would not agree to a woman entering the court, let alone those old-fashioned people."

Wei Shu ignored Jiang Jin's tears, saying, "There are many injustices in this world. Neither you nor I can eliminate all injustices, let alone things that have been deeply rooted for thousands of years."

“Wei Shu, aren’t aristocratic families something that has been deeply rooted for thousands of years?” Jiang Jin wiped away the tears on her cheeks. “I’ve said before that only when people stand very high do they have the right to speak.”

"Jiang Jin, aren't you afraid that the higher you stand, the harder you'll fall? Even if you set a precedent, those who are determined to protect the old ways will not let you off the hook."

Wei Shu sighed. He had long known that Jiang Jin was no ordinary woman, but he never expected her to dare to challenge the most deeply ingrained principles of the past.

"General, aren't you also trying to eliminate the aristocratic families? My goals don't conflict with yours. If all the daughters of aristocratic families don't want to marry into other families, then those families will lose one of the most important ways to stabilize their lineage." Jiang Jin finally spoke her mind to Wei Shu, feeling much lighter afterward.

"I have said that as long as you do not harm the Great Yan and His Majesty, I will not stop you anymore. But if one day your plans harm the Great Yan and His Majesty, I will never let you go."

Wei Shu glanced at Jiang Jin and said, "You can try it first. If your method is effective, I will intervene on your behalf with His Majesty."

“Wei Shu, I thought you would say I’m heretical, or that I’m a monster. No one has ever said to you that they want women to be officials.” Jiang Jin smiled and sighed. “It’s already difficult enough for women to just live.”

"You and I are about the same level of unconventionality, so what right do I have to say anything to you? Besides, everyone has their own path, and you don't seem like the type to abandon your own path because of what others say." Wei Shu glanced at Jiang Jin imperceptibly, feeling that she was completely different from the person she had been just moments before, seemingly more vibrant now.

"Thank you. Although what others say is insignificant to me, if we are friends who would risk our lives for each other, and if you strongly object or become overly emotional, then I..."

This was the first time Wei Shu had seen such obvious murderous intent in Jiang Jin's eyes. "You're going to kill me?"

"Don't worry, I said I wouldn't let you die, and that still stands." Jiang Jin turned and went into the small temple, but that glance was still etched into Wei Shu's heart.