Upon hearing this, the old man touched his nose guiltily.
As it turned out, he had underestimated his wife's abilities. She really could adapt to the capital city; while not quite thriving, she certainly did quite well.
However, even now, he has not given up the idea of leaving the capital. Unfortunately, his wife is determined to do things her own way and will not listen to his advice at all. No matter how much she nags him every day, it is useless.
As they were talking, Huang Xiaosan came over. "Grandma, Master, what's up? I'm busy paying wages."
"Are the husbands' families of those female workers causing trouble again?"
“After the ringleaders were dealt with, the others became much more obedient. However,” Huang Xiaosan frowned and said dejectedly, “when I arrived, many of the female workers’ husbands’ families were clamoring for their wages. I was dealing with this matter when you called me back.”
Huang Xiaosan had always known that life was not easy for women in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Their honor and disgrace depended entirely on their husbands' families, which is why there was a saying that marriage was a woman's second reincarnation.
However, I never imagined that there were so many shameless men in the world, whose despicable nature would truly shock people.
It's not so bad to embezzle dowry and beat or scold people; what's worse is that some men are just freeloaders, good-for-nothings who don't treat their wives like human beings at all, and shamelessly spend the money she worked so hard to earn on their own pleasure.
He used to think that whether life was good or bad was just his own fate. But after getting to know more people, he realized that it wasn't that women were unlucky, but that some men were inhuman.
"This is really troublesome," Grandma Jiang said with a headache. "If it's not handled properly, it could easily cause a lot of trouble."
“What’s the trouble?” Huang Xiaosan asked, puzzled. “Just stipulate that the female workers collect it themselves, and no one else should come on their behalf.”
“You’re still too young,” the old woman couldn’t help but shake her head. “They can manage on their own, whether life is good or bad, but what about their children? If shameless people threaten them with their children, what can the female workers do?”
Upon hearing this, Huang Xiaosan fell silent. "He is, after all, her own flesh and blood. Even if he's not a man, you can't use that to threaten him."
"You underestimate the inherent flaws of men. As the saying goes, 'A man who is not ruthless is not a true man.' If he doesn't even know how to treat his wife, who has shared joys and sorrows with him, well, how can you expect him to have any fatherly love for his children?"
“That’s not true,” the old man said indignantly. “There are plenty of good men in the world. A few scoundrels don’t represent all men. And some women are promiscuous, but have we said anything about that?”
"Then tell me, are there more good men or good women in the world?"
"How can you explain this kind of unreasonable argument?"
When it came to their own positions and reputations, the once loving couple began to subtly turn against each other.
Seeing this, Huang Xiaosan secretly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and asked, "Grandma, what should we do about this?"
"Do as you say first."
"Didn't you say it was useless?"
"You don't understand. Even the best people come in different levels. Don't rush to deal with those who are not firm in their stance. Teach the scoundrels a lesson before taking the next step."
What's the second step?
"Do I need to teach him?" The old lady looked down on her grandson, thinking he was too stupid. "Divide and conquer, and defeat them one by one!"
"You're just trying to scare people again, aren't you?" Huang Xiaosan immediately understood. He was very good at this kind of thing. After thinking about it, he felt it was inappropriate. "This kind of approach only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. It might work once or twice, but it won't work after that."
"Therefore, the key is for those female workers to stand up for themselves."
"Grandma, do you have any good ideas?"
After considering for a while with a serious expression, the old lady spoke uncertainly, "How about I compile a book?"
Upon hearing this, Huang Xiaosan's eyes widened in disbelief as he asked, "You're going to compile a book?"
If he remembered correctly, his grandmother had only been able to read for a little over four months. Even if she had read a few books, they were just low-brow novels and stories. How could she suddenly have such courage?
"What do you mean by that?" The old lady narrowed her eyes unhappily. "Can't I edit books?"
"Of course not," Huang Xiaosan quickly explained, sensing the chill around him. "I'm just a little surprised. You're so busy, attending court, reconciling accounts, and counseling the female workers. You probably don't have that much free time."
Huang Xiaosan spoke very carefully, afraid of offending the old lady in some way and getting himself punished.
After Jiang Chao left, there was no one left to suffer alongside him. Life was just too hard!
Hearing this explanation, the old lady's expression improved considerably. "Time is indeed tight, but we can still manage to squeeze it out. I know this is difficult, but no matter how difficult it is, someone has to do it, right? There's an old saying that one generation plants the trees so that another can enjoy the shade. If we wait to enjoy the shade of others, it will probably take another hundred or two hundred years. We won't live that long. It's better to try it ourselves. No matter what the result, as long as we can make a splash, that's good enough."
“That makes sense,” the old man said, supporting his wife’s decision. “Old woman, how do you plan to compile the book?”
He's a father too, and putting himself in others' shoes, every father in the world hopes his daughter will have a better life.
"My daughter often tells Xiao Wu how a girl should behave, and I think it makes a lot of sense, so I'll write it based on that. I'll organize it first and then choose an auspicious day to start."
“My mother taught Xiao Wu,” Huang Xiaosan hesitated. “Many of the things she taught were unorthodox. It’s fine for us to learn them ourselves, but if it gets out, wouldn’t that be inappropriate?”
He had no objection to a young woman's self-respect, self-love, and self-reliance, but his tendency to divorce and abandon her husband and children at the drop of a hat was frightening.
If those female workers really did what the book said, wouldn't their mothers be scolded to death?
"What's wrong with that?" the old lady said dismissively. "You men are just too spoiled by us women. You take everything for granted and need a bucket of cold water to wake you up."
The old man: ...
Huang Xiaosan: ...
The two exchanged a glance and silently swallowed their dissatisfaction.
They felt wronged; the women in their families were practically behaving superior to the men, and yet they were still trying to dampen their spirits...
Does that mean men can't have any status at all?
They kept muttering to themselves, but no one dared to utter a word out of respect for the old lady's authority.
Seeing that the two had no objections, the old lady nodded in satisfaction. "Alright, it's settled then. Xiao San, go ahead and get busy. See how many troublemakers are coming. I'll go over there myself later."
"Okay, sure." After saying that, Huang Xiaosan turned and left.
He really didn't want to stay any longer; every time he came, he felt so depressed.
"Wait a minute," the old man suddenly spoke up, "How's your older brother doing?"
"It's fine, why are you suddenly asking this?"
"It's nothing," the old man said with a sigh after smacking his lips a couple of times, "I was just worried that he wouldn't adapt and would feel resentful."
“You can’t blame anyone else for this,” Huang Xiaosan said helplessly. “If he had considered the consequences a little more back then, none of this would have happened.”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com