The group quickly chose their favorites and laughed even more heartily. It was wonderful; the bestowal of names meant that their master had accepted them and would not send them away in the future.
After they decided on their names, 001 would be able to see their information. It hesitated for a moment, then spoke up, "Luo Bao, of these sixteen, besides five, eleven have bound feet."
With a clang, the teacup fell to the ground. The women opposite were startled by the sound and nervously clutched the hem of their clothes, wondering what had happened. Ling Xue knew, though. She had been chosen as a spy since childhood, which was why she hadn't had her feet bound. The eleven women hadn't been chosen from childhood; they had been captured.
Ling Xue was somewhat puzzled by her master's reaction. In the mindset she had been instilled with since childhood, foot binding was something that women had to do, otherwise they would not be able to get married and would not be able to bring honor to the family. But she was actually somewhat relieved, because she had seen women in her family bind their feet, and the process was terrifying.
It took Qin Qianluo a while to react before she pressed on, "Foot binding? The Xuanyuan Kingdom still has women with bound feet? I swear, I thought opium was already enough to shatter my worldview, but they even have foot binding? The Xuanyuan Kingdom is truly something else, leaving women no way to survive."
001 was also somewhat incredulous at the information she had seen. She had carefully selected Tianxuan Kingdom to let Luo Bao reincarnate, and although she hadn't investigated the surrounding countries, this Xuanyuan Kingdom was simply too unimaginable.
It flipped through the documents and said, "Luo Bao, this place is like another late Qing Dynasty, only a bit luckier than the late Qing Dynasty, without the covetous eyes of foreign powers. But the darker aspects are no less than those of the late Qing Dynasty."
After calming herself down, Qin Qianluo asked, "Who didn't bind their feet?"
001 glanced at Qianying, Qianle, and Qianyou, who had been cooking for everyone these past few days. The three of them escaped this ordeal because they had to work from a young age. There were also Qianman and Qian'an; they were brought in as babies and were designated as spies from childhood, so they weren't caught either.
Looking at the eleven girls, the oldest being fifteen and the youngest only ten, Qin Qianluo thought, "This Xuanyuan Kingdom is truly wonderful, so wonderful." Qin Qianluo's eyes reddened.
She was angry at herself for not noticing it sooner. If she had noticed it earlier, she could have treated them sooner. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She slapped her forehead hard, and her fair forehead instantly turned red.
Ling Xue was startled and quickly stepped forward to grab Qin Qianluo's hand, which was about to fall again, to stop her from slapping her forehead. Qin Qianluo looked up at Ling Xue with red eyes.
Her voice choked with emotion: "Sister Lingxue, it's all my fault for not being careful. If I had noticed earlier that they were walking incorrectly and that they had bound feet, they wouldn't have had to suffer for so long."
Ling Xue gently rubbed her forehead: "It's not Qianluo's fault. It's the fault of the Xuanyuan country. Qianluo has been so busy these past few days that she hasn't had much time to rest. It's normal that she didn't notice."
001 also comforted her, "Yes, Luo Bao, Ling Xue is right. How can you blame Luo Bao? This is a problem of the Xuanyuan Kingdom, not Luo Bao's."
Qin Qianlu sniffed and asked, "Let's do a 001 test to see if there's any chance of a complete cure with the current treatment, or if there's any way to ease their suffering."
001 obediently performed the examination and was somewhat pleasantly surprised. "Luo Bao, thankfully, their bones haven't fully developed yet. Now, let's remove the cloth strips, reposition the broken and misaligned bones, and with proper care, there's a possibility of recovery."
Qin Qianluo's eyes lit up, and she quickly asked Ling Xue to call Ling Weixuanmei and Mo Chen to the operating room. She herself led the eleven women to the operating room as well, preparing to take X-rays and determine the treatment plan.
The women then realized why their mistress had suddenly become angry. Was it because of their feet? Did their mistress not like bound feet? But her expression seemed more like heartache. It must be heartache, they thought.
They didn't understand, and followed Qin Qianluo to a bright and clean place, where they sat down nervously. The remaining five women were also somewhat uneasy, as they had no idea what was going on.
After speaking to the three women, Ling Xue went to find the rest of the group and explained the situation to them. The five women were touched. It turned out that their master hadn't taken the women away because she liked "bound feet," but because she felt sorry for their sisters' plight and wanted to treat them.
Only then did they realize that they were not different, and that foot binding was wrong and should not have been practiced on women. Some of them felt like crying; it turned out that everything they had heard since childhood was wrong.
After Ling Wei and the other two arrived at the operating room, they followed Qin Qianluo's instructions to cut the women's foot bindings. Because the foot bindings were sewn with needle and thread, the stitches were very close to ensure they were tight, so they had to be careful so that the women wouldn't feel pain while cutting them.
Mo Chen, being a man, worried that the women would feel uneasy, so he took the initiative to avoid them and help Qin Qianluo adjust the machines. Mo Chen and the others would often come here to try operating the instruments. Qin Qianluo was always generous, letting them look at all kinds of medical books, including teaching them how to use the various instruments.
(What I mentioned in these chapters might make you feel a little uncomfortable. Before writing this, I was very lucky to get tickets to Xin Zhilei's play "Preliminary Evidence". I watched it almost in tears. I have to say, Xin Zhilei is amazing. She did such a good job in a one-woman show.)
When I got home, I looked up information about the things mentioned in the play. I was deeply hurt. Among the many accounts of victims, I saw a term that should not exist in this era: foot binding.
I looked into this topic again and found that women still bind their feet, and I even saw that there are tools for doing so on shopping apps.
I don't understand it at all. After hesitating for a long time, I still decided to write something that shouldn't exist in the present in this novel. Anyway, this is a story about a fictional imperial dynasty, so it's not abrupt to have such things and it won't affect the overall story.
Please forgive the author's whims.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
