"You speak so eloquently, are you a scholar?" Doctor Gu asked.

"I am but a humble scholar, a mere xiucai (a scholar who has passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations)."

"Why didn't you take the exam to advance?"

"Oh well, bad luck."

"Bad luck?" Doctor Gu withdrew his hand, stood up, and sneered.

"With a brain like yours, you're incredibly lucky to have even passed the imperial examination."

After saying this, the old man turned and left. He didn't want to save this kind of person; burying him in this border town would be bad luck.

Huo Xiaolong stood behind the desk, holding a megaphone and shouting.

“All women come here to register and receive a bellyband. Take off your breast binders. I don’t care how you are in Jiangnan, but you have to listen to me here. If you want to settle down and build a career in Biancheng, you have to live the way Biancheng does. If you men are unhappy or don’t like what you do, and dare to beat you, come and talk to me directly.”

"I'll say it again: women in the border town can establish their own households, engage in commerce, study, and remarry. Moreover, the dowry for a remarried woman is the same as that for a first marriage. If a man commits violence against a woman, the matter should be reported to the government, which can intervene to arrange a divorce and divide the family property. However, the woman will be tattooed on the face."

The girl then turned the megaphone towards the man and shouted loudly.

"Anyone who disagrees, come and talk to me privately."

Huo Xiaolong lifted his leg and descended, crushing the boulder beneath his feet like a gust of wind.

Hou Xiangxiang was a little annoyed. She had searched for a long time before finding this stone that could hold the medicine, and she still had to look for more!

Women who grow up in such a high-pressure environment are oppressed and manipulated, but it's not without its advantages.

For example, right now, they fear their husbands and fathers at home. It is their fear of their power and authority that is present. Now, in this precarious situation, they also subconsciously fear Huo Xiaolong, the ruler who can send hundreds of arrows flying from the city walls with a wave of his hand.

She could feed them, give them a place to live, and even...

She can get them to take off the corsets they've worn since childhood.

It hurts a lot, especially for teenage girls during puberty; even a light touch on their chest hurts.

They obediently removed layers of dark, smelly silk cloth inside the tent, wiping their bodies with towels and warm water in a basin.

Then, the women put on brand-new breast protectors and bellybands that they were too embarrassed to show, and walked out of the tent.

It was already dark. They took a deep breath, the smoothest they had ever breathed since they were teenagers or even ten years old.

A pile of strips of cloth lay in front of the girls; it was a symbol of confinement and restraint.

Huo Xiaolong brought down the torch, igniting the pile of things. As the flames burst forth, the women couldn't help but cry out.

It was as if what was being burned was not only the tattered strips of the corset, but also the black cloth covering their eyes.