After releasing their desires, the two began to talk about serious matters.
"What did Father Emperor say?"
Yinzhen briefly recounted what he had said to Kangxi. After he finished speaking, Le Shu fell silent for a moment before saying, "Life is both long and short. I hope that when I'm old, you'll still be by my side."
In his previous life, when Yinzhen was old, his most trusted younger brother passed away before him, he was estranged from the Empress and also passed away before him, and his son was not very close to him. He was surrounded by flatterers, but he was truly a lonely man.
"Yes, definitely."
The Kong family will certainly face future troubles, but that's no longer important.
The two began to engage in a new "battlefield".
Industry can begin to emerge.
Then the people of the capital found that their lives were changing day by day, and they could do more and more things. The number of workshops in the Qing Dynasty increased, and they recruited workers. At first, most of them were men, but later they found that there were too many workers and not enough men. Women gradually began to do the things that men used to do.
When women have the ability to earn money, they speak with more confidence. They see the world outside the gate and begin to think for themselves. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Le Shu built the first girls' academy in the capital.
Complete equality in gender relations is virtually impossible; it's more a matter of one side prevailing over the other.
Even the fairest things are only relative.
Le Shu didn't think she could accomplish such a thing in her lifetime.
She was not a great person, but a miracle who was somewhat intelligent and stepped into history from the future. She was just doing what she could in this era, and she also knew that too much of a good thing is bad.
Going with the flow is very important.
Throughout history, there have been women's colleges, but none of them lasted long. Why is that?
Le Shu felt that the momentum was insufficient.
Productivity was too low, and there were overall differences in physical strength between men and women. Physiological structures led to different divisions of labor between men and women, and low productivity made men generally more suited to survival than women.
The awakening of women's consciousness, if forced from the top down, may only be temporary. But if this consciousness rises from the bottom up, it will create an unstoppable momentum.
The trend of the times is inevitable; those who follow it prosper, and those who oppose it perish—that is the principle.
This is how the girls' college was built, even though many people complained that it was an insult to civility, it was still established.
The academy was established to gather this momentum, enabling them to quickly develop powerful "weapons" and break free from their shackles.
Improving the status of women is not something that can be achieved overnight; it is a long-term endeavor that requires the efforts of several generations.
By the tenth year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign, the customs and traditions of the Qing Dynasty had undergone a dramatic transformation compared to the Kangxi Emperor's era. The Kangxi Emperor was now sitting in a mechanical wheelchair newly made by the Imperial Academy of Natural History.
It certainly can't compare to a modern wheelchair, but it was enough to free Emperor Kangxi from the need to be pushed around all the time.
Most of the time, he was pushed around by the people around him, but Kangxi did not like the feeling of being controlled, so he especially liked this wheelchair.
So for the first time, Kangxi took the initiative to say to Yinzhen, "Have Lady Chang come over. I want to see your Empress."
In fact, Emperor Kangxi did not approve of Yinzhen's decision to depose and then reinstate an empress.
Historically, many emperors have deposed their empresses. Empress Hu of the previous dynasty was deposed without any fault, and then came Empress Sun, a "figure" in history. If it weren't for Yu Qian's efforts to turn the tide, the Ming Dynasty might have become the Southern Ming, a second Song Dynasty.
Emperor Kangxi was afraid that Yinzhen would become like Zhu Zhanji.
Emperor Kangxi did not like people to see him in his old and frail state, and he rarely attended banquets. He had met Le Shu, but he mostly ignored her.
He wouldn't contradict Yinzhen, a well-behaved emperor, especially since he was certain he had no political future. He wouldn't do anything foolish. Of course, Yinzhen's meticulous "care" for him also prevented him from doing anything foolish.
He was only rebelling silently.
Did Le Shu understand what Kangxi meant?
She knew perfectly well how obvious Kangxi's intentions were! But she didn't care.
She just didn't expect that Emperor Kangxi would take the initiative to want to see her.
According to etiquette, Emperor Kangxi was an eunuch, and if he wanted to see her, Le Shu could not, would not, and had no need to refuse.
Le Shu was led by the eunuch to a pavilion. Kangxi sat in the pavilion, his figure thin and frail. He was really old. Time had left too many marks on this emperor, but from a distance, he looked no different from an ordinary old man.
"Greetings to Father Emperor, may Father Emperor enjoy boundless blessings and peace."
"The Empress has arrived, please have a seat."
"Thank you, Father Emperor."
Le Shu sat down on a nearby stone stool.
Kangxi waved his hand again, and the palace servants who were serving him left. They were still within sight, but their voices could no longer be heard.
Le Shu's heart sank.
Le Shu didn't understand Kangxi. In fact, she hadn't thought about studying him. Yinzhen's smooth ascension to the throne was due to his good planning. He understood Kangxi and his brothers. Le Shu didn't need to waste her energy trying to understand Kangxi as a person.
Previously, Emperor Kangxi had been reluctant to see her become Empress, so when he asked to see her this time, she felt puzzled. Seeing that he was avoiding the palace servants made her uneasy.
The palace servants withdrew, and Kangxi remained silent. Following the principle of "if the enemy doesn't move, I won't move," Yue Shu also kept quiet.
After a long while, Kangxi finally spoke: "You are more composed than I expected."
"Father, you flatter me. I just don't know what to say to you," Le Shu said respectfully.
Kangxi smiled and said, "You are neither humble nor arrogant. No wonder the fourth prince made you empress. You two are very similar."
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