Chapter 80 Stealing Fire from Heaven: Some matters cannot be resolved by a mere prohibition...

It was time for annual performance reviews again. In Zezhou City, a thousand miles away from Luzhou Prefecture, the morning mist had not yet dissipated when several prefects gathered in front of the governor's mansion.

The vermilion gate was tightly shut, the stone lions stood silent, and only the bells on the eaves tinkled in the early autumn wind.

The group of people glanced at each other and were taken aback when they saw the dark circles under each other's eyes. Then they gave each other a knowing, bitter smile.

Among them, the relatively young Prefect Li straightened the collar of his official robe and lowered his voice: "Lord Zhang, is everything... peaceful on your end these days?"

Prefect Zhang rubbed his temples, forcing himself to look up: "Lord Li, that's a rather perplexing question... Could it be that something has happened to your household as well?"

Prefect Wang, who had been silent all along, sighed heavily, shook his head with his hands in his sleeves, and said, "We can't stop them, we can't stop them at all. I don't even know how to report to Lord Fang later."

The three looked at each other and saw deep weariness in each other's eyes.

Their superior, Prefect Fang, was a notoriously old-fashioned man in Zezhou.

When Princess Zhaoxin's edict to promote girls' education first arrived in Zezhou, Prefect Fang slammed his fist on the table in the council hall and cursed for half an hour, calling it "a hen crowing at dawn" and "the reversal of yin and yang."

Afterwards, he even kept several prefects behind and, with his hair standing on end, admonished them: "Your Highness is young and has been misled by some new schools of thought. She acts without regard for ancestral laws and the natural order. As local officials, we are paid by the emperor and have a duty to serve him. How can we condone her nonsense?"

Several prefects stood respectfully with their hands at their sides, repeatedly agreeing.

According to Governor Fang's opinion, Zezhou must not take the lead in establishing schools for women.

Anyway, the princess is far away in the northern border, and His Majesty doesn't seem to care much about this matter, so he'll just brush it off if he can.

He repeatedly warned the group: "You must strictly supervise your respective areas! No one is allowed to run schools without authorization! If you find any women gathering to study in the community, disperse them immediately, and the ringleaders will be severely punished!"

"What use is it for a woman to be literate? Her duty is to be a good wife and mother! Let's not let these unhealthy trends tarnish the pure and simple academic tradition of Zezhou that has lasted for over a hundred years!"

Upon hearing this, the prefects dared not be negligent.

Upon returning, they issued orders: setting up a school without government permission is a serious crime.

They were extremely picky and would find all sorts of reasons to reject applications from literate women who wanted to establish schools.

Although there was no explicit ban, it still cut off all possibilities of establishing girls' schools. After more than half a year of this, not a single decent girls' school was built in Zezhou.

But some things cannot be stopped by a mere ban.

Prefect Li was the first to notice something amiss.

About two months ago, he noticed something was wrong with his home.

His only daughter, Li Siyin, has been going out more frequently lately. When asked, she always says she's going to visit a certain close friend to admire flowers, drink tea, and discuss embroidery patterns.

At first, he didn't pay attention, until one day he accidentally stepped into his daughter's study and was shocked to find that most of the bookshelves were empty!

"Siyin, where did your 'Biographies of Exemplary Women' and the collection of poems I found for you go?" During dinner that evening, Prefect Li put down his chopsticks and asked casually.

Li Siyin paused slightly in her hand holding the spoon, and replied with her eyelashes lowered: "Father, a few days ago when I was cleaning out old things, some pages of books were torn and worm-eaten, so... I disposed of them."

"Disposed of?" Prefect Li's voice rose slightly. "That was a rare book that I, your father, specially sought out for you!"

“There are also some… my daughter has unfortunately lost them.” Li Siyin lowered her head even further, her voice barely audible.

That's blatant lying!

How could a young lady from an official family, raised in seclusion and never leaving her home, possibly "lose" dozens of books?

Prefect Li harbored many doubts, but he did not show them on his face. He simply said, "If that's the case, we need to be more careful in the future."

Privately, he sent two reliable old servants to keep watch on him.

After observing for seven or eight days, the report was indeed strange: every time the young lady went out, the apricot-colored brocade bundle she carried was always bulging, and its shape clearly indicated that it contained books.

The servants said she was going to the Zhao family mansion in the west of the city by sedan chair. Prefect Li nodded slightly, confirming that the Zhao family's young lady was indeed her close friend.

But the servants kept their heads lowered even further. The report said: They had only followed for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea when a gray-covered carriage drove out of the side gate of the Zhao residence and headed straight for the outskirts of the city.

suburbs?

Prefect Li felt a chill run down his spine.

Apart from a few scattered farms, there were only wastelands and dilapidated temples. In recent years, some refugees have also gathered there, making it far from a safe place.

What is my daughter doing there?

Could it be...?

The thing he least wanted to imagine finally came to mind.

For a girl of this age to frequently sneak out, always to remote suburbs, what other reason could there be besides secretly meeting her lover?

Prefect Li felt a rush of heat to his head, and he almost couldn't stand up straight.

He could almost see his daughter kneeling before him, leading a poorly dressed scholar, her face bearing a striking resemblance to her deceased mother's, as she resolutely declared, "Father, I will marry no one but him in this life! If you do not agree, I will kill myself right here on these steps!"

Just imagining that scene made his vision go black and his heart race.

"Prepare the carriage! To the outskirts of the city!" Prefect Li could no longer sit still. While hurriedly changing his clothes, he shouted in a low voice, "Don't make a sound! Just the two of you will come along!"

The carriage sped along, jolting him so much that it felt like his internal organs had shifted.

The scenery outside the window rushed past, from neat streets to sparse villages, until finally only vast fields of withered, unharvested crops and desolate woods in the distance remained.

The autumn wind, carrying dust, rushed in through the gaps in the curtains, bringing with it a desolate atmosphere.

Looking into the distance, at the edge of a withered forest, there was indeed a dilapidated mountain god temple, with mottled yellow walls, broken tiles, and a decaying door.

Prefect Li's heart sank to the bottom.

It's over.

Suburbs, dilapidated temples, wild forests—this is practically the standard setting for a talented scholar and a beautiful woman to pledge their love in a traditional folk tale!

He now fully understood why his daughter had stolen the book.

It must have been that poor, pedantic scholar who used his silver tongue to trick his daughter into supporting his studies and taking the imperial examinations, promising that the day she passed with flying colors would be the day he would marry her in a phoenix coronet and embroidered robes!

You bastard!

Prefect Li was trembling with rage, both furious at the shamelessness of the unknown "adulterer" and heartbroken at his daughter's foolishness.

Upon arriving at the temple, he ordered the coachman and servants to stop: "Wait here! No matter what noise you hear, do not come in!"

He couldn't bear the shame; he absolutely couldn't let his family's dirty laundry be made public.

As I approached the dilapidated temple alone, I could indeed hear faint voices in the wind. It wasn't a whispered conversation between a man and a woman, but rather... the sound of chanting?

Prefect Li suspected he had misheard, but his anger only intensified: What a hypocrite! He was pretending to be studying and striving for self-improvement, deceiving his daughter!

He could no longer contain himself and kicked open the broken wooden door: "You wretched creature! Get out of here now..."

The roar abruptly stopped.

The sight inside the temple left him completely stunned.

Dozens of eyes turned to look at them, some with surprise, some with fear, and some with curiosity.

They were all women!

The older ones were around thirty or forty years old, dressed in simple clothes; the younger ones were no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, with youthful, innocent features.

They sat or knelt on the prayer cushions, each with a book spread out in front of them.

The broken incense table inside the hall was cleared out and used as a platform for lecturing.

Standing behind the incense table was his daughter, Li Siyin.

Li Siyin was clearly startled by the sudden sound of the door being broken down. She was holding an open book in one hand and a charcoal stick hanging in mid-air in the other. Judging from her movements, she must have been teaching them to write.

She stared wide-eyed at her father, who was furious, his face drained of color.

Prefect Li was completely dumbfounded.

Where is the promised "adulterer"?

This room is full of women...

Judging from their clothes and appearance, they were clearly daughters and daughters-in-law from ordinary families in the city, and there were even two women who looked like farm women from nearby farms.

The silence lasted only a moment.

A woman in her early thirties sitting in the front row suddenly stood up, spread her arms to block Li Siyin, and said in a trembling voice, "Your Excellency! It has nothing to do with Miss Li! It was...it was we women who begged Miss to teach us a few words. Miss was kind-hearted, so...it was definitely not a private school! Please, Your Excellency, see the truth!"

"Yes, Your Excellency, we want to learn to read..."

"Please, Your Excellency, have mercy and do not punish the teacher..."

Seven or eight women stood up and spoke, their voices earnest despite their fear of the official's authority.

Many others watched him anxiously, clutching their books tightly as if afraid they would be taken away.

Li Siyin finally came to her senses.

She put down her book and charcoal sticks, and gave her father a very complex look, a look that was both pleading and apologetic.

Then she turned to the students and tried to keep her voice steady: "Everyone, please study hard first. My father and I are going out to talk for a few minutes."

The father and daughter walked silently, one after the other, to a patch of wasteland behind the temple.

In late autumn, the grass and trees withered and turned yellow, and on the bare tree next to it, a few yellow leaves still rustled in the wind.

“Father,” Li Siyin spoke first, apologizing, “Your daughter is unfilial for deceiving you and taking the books without permission. Please punish me.”

Prefect Li looked at his daughter, whose head was bowed and whose black hair was adorned with only a plain silver hairpin. She was no different from the women in the temple, and there was no trace of the arrogance of a prefect's daughter.

He felt a mix of emotions; his anger had not completely subsided, but a strange sense of relief arose within him.

Thankfully, it wasn't an elopement.

"You..." He opened his mouth, momentarily at a loss for words, "What are you doing? And who are these women? You are the daughter of a prefect, how can you mingle with such people, and even... teach them?"

He ultimately couldn't bring himself to say the words "schoolteacher," finding it too absurd.

Li Siyin raised her head, her eyes clear and firm: "Father, I am teaching them to read."

"Nonsense! What use is their literacy? And why would you do such a thing?"

"I hired a tutor to teach you poetry, literature, and etiquette, hoping you would become virtuous and well-mannered, marry into a good family, support your husband, raise your children, and live a peaceful life! I didn't send you to this desolate place to do something so unbecoming and contrary to propriety!" Prefect Li became increasingly angry as he spoke, but even more so, he was filled with lingering fear. "Do you know what will happen to your reputation if this gets out? If Governor Fang finds out, how will I explain it to him?"

Faced with her father's accusations, Li Siyin did not back down.

She waited quietly for her father to finish speaking before softly saying, "Father, please calm down. May I ask if you have seen the booklet that has been circulating among the people recently, called 'Literacy Book'?"

Prefect Li frowned. He had vaguely heard his subordinates mention it, but he hadn't paid it any mind.

Miscellaneous books written by ordinary people are not worth mentioning.

As soon as she finished speaking, Li Siyin took out a palm-sized booklet from her bosom and presented it with both hands.

The booklet cover was rough, with the words "Literacy Book" written in ink, though the characters were written in a fairly neat hand.

Prefect Li took it and casually flipped through a few pages.

It does contain some very basic words and phrases, accompanied by simple yet vivid illustrations of the sun, moon, mountains, rivers, clothing, food, housing, and transportation, with phonetic annotations and simple explanations next to them.

The paper is rough and the printing is not particularly exquisite, but it is simple and straightforward.

"What's so special about this book?" Prefect Li asked, puzzled.

“Father, this booklet is now widely circulated in the streets and alleys, and in the fields of Zezhou and many other prefectures.”

Li Siyin explained in detail: "It is not a classic text of sages, nor does it pretend to be profound; the price is extremely cheap, and an ordinary peasant woman can buy a copy by saving up her vegetable money for a few days."

"It is not afraid of getting dirty and can be placed by the stove or in the sewing basket for easy viewing at any time; the reason is very simple, even someone who is completely illiterate can guess seven or eight parts of the meaning from the picture. If there is a word that you don't know, you can ask a literate neighbor and you will most likely get the answer."

She looked back in the direction she had come from, her gaze softening slightly: "For many of my sisters and aunts, this book may be the only 'teacher' they will ever encounter in their lives. Their initial understanding of the principles of the world and the names of all things comes from here."

Prefect Li looked at the booklet in his hand and remained silent.

"I am fortunate to have received your love and care, to have been taught by tutors, and to have learned to understand principles through reading. You have lit a lamp for me, allowing me to see the vast world within books." Li Siyin looked at her father again, her eyes gleaming. "I just feel that since I am so fortunate to have this light, I can't help but wonder if I could share this light with those who are still groping in the dark?"

"Chen, a woman living in the temple, lost her husband early and raised her two children alone. She wanted to understand the lease agreement and didn't want to be deceived by the village head anymore."

"The Zhao family's younger sister has been betrothed since childhood, but she wants to know the character of her future husband before marriage, rather than completely obeying the words of her parents and matchmakers."

"And those aunties from the farm, they want to understand the simplest farming time formulas and learn how to record their own harvest..."

"All they ask for is a little more control over their own destiny."

Prefect Li didn't know what to say.

Finally, he just sighed deeply: "How many people can you help? There are countless people suffering in the world. Are you going to lend a helping hand to every single one of them?"

“Father,” Li Siyin smiled softly, her eyes holding a light that Prefect Li could no longer understand.

"Perhaps in the beginning all was a long night of ignorance, and everyone walked in darkness, and the lamp in their hand could only illuminate their own feet."

"But if everyone is willing to pass on the light in their hands, little by little... I believe that one day, the sun will rise."

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Author's note: More and more people are starting to stand up!

Hi everyone, I'm back from my exams and updating! I'll be wrapping things up gradually from now on. Thank you all for waiting, sob sob [please]