She could not enjoy the emperor's favor during her lifetime, and was finally honored as the empress dowager after her death. Li Guiren passed away with the posthumous title: Ai.
Queen Mother Ai ended her tragic life. Her body was kept for three days and she was buried on the fifth day. Nine days later, Emperor Tianwu announced that he would pass the throne to the sixth prince Xuan Tianfeng, who would become Emperor Tianwen.
In the first year of Tianwen, one hundred days after the death of Empress Dowager Ai, the new emperor followed the sequence of the "six rituals" stipulated in the Book of Rites, and, after accepting the betrothal gift, asking for the name, accepting the good news, accepting the betrothal gift, and announcing the date, he formally proposed to General Pingnan and married the general's legitimate daughter, Ren Xifeng, and made her the queen.
The difference is that the royal wedding ceremony does not have the last of the six rites, "welcoming the bride in person". Although the emperor can send a gift, he can never go to the bride's house in person to welcome her. So the queen's family will solemnly send their daughter to the door, enter from Deyang Gate, pass Tianci Gate, Guowu Gate, walk along Changyang Avenue, and go to Qiankun Hall.
The ceremony of enthroning the empress was held in the Qiankun Hall. It was very grand. The emperor and the empress dowager came in person to accept the emperor and empress's kowtow. Afterwards, the emperor and empress sat on the dragon chair and phoenix throne with the empress to accept the congratulations of all officials. Finally, the empress took the phoenix seal and raised it above her head to show that she would be the mother of the country from then on.
The new emperor announced publicly that he would only have one empress in his life and would not have any other concubines. Anyone who petitioned to establish a concubine would be treated as a traitor.
The new emperor ascended the throne and issued a general amnesty, which was greeted with cheers from all corners of the country. The literati and scholars saw hope. Dashun finally had an emperor who respected literature, which was the pride of the scholars.
At that time, Feng Yuheng was taking Zirui to pick mushrooms in the deep mountains west of Xiping Village. It was the beginning of winter, the weather in the northwest was cold, and the snow fell early. Although there were mushrooms, they were not many. Feng Yuheng used her down jacket in the space to alter one for each of Zirui, Wangchuan Huangquan, and Ban Zoudu. Her craftsmanship was not good, so she asked an old tailor in Xiping Village for help and wanted to pay him later. The old tailor said he didn't want anything, but said that when Yao brought her and her siblings to live here, she had asked him to help cut clothes, but he was afraid that the people in the county would cause trouble for it, so he didn't agree.
After all, when the three Yaos were sent here, the county said that they were abandoned women from the capital, who were driven out of the prime minister's mansion and sent to the village to fend for themselves. The people in the village had little knowledge and were timid. Although they all sympathized with the three Yaos, they were still fooled by the county officials, so few people dared to befriend them.
Whenever the old tailor thought of what happened back then, he felt guilty and kept telling Feng Yuheng, "It's all my fault for being timid. You were so pitiful back then, but I was afraid of getting in trouble with the county, so I didn't even dare to sew a piece of clothing. As a result, you didn't have a decent piece of clothing for the whole winter, and the young master was sick for several times. Now that I'm doing something for you, how can I still accept money? It's not even worth it for my own peace of mind!"
But how could Feng Yuheng let him work for nothing? To be honest, when they refused to help, it was because of the situation, and it had nothing to do with the people. If she really wanted to hate someone, she only hated Wang Shugen and his wife for killing the original owner for money. Killing someone means paying with one's life. Xuan Tianming had already settled this account for her many years ago. After all, Xuan Tianming had seen what happened in the deep mountains. His wife was bullied, and with his revengeful character, how could he let her off easily?
Zirui pulled down the collar of his clothes and said happily, "These clothes that sister made are not only warm, but also very light. Although they look a little strange, they are not ugly, really good." As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed at the colorful mushrooms growing on a tree and said, "I didn't understand it before, but now I know that the brightly colored ones are poisonous mushrooms and cannot be eaten. Sister, am I right?"
Feng Yuheng nodded: "That's right. It's not just mushrooms. Many principles in this world are the same. Don't judge people by appearance or things by appearance. In many cases, the more beautiful a person is, the more poisonous their heart is. On the contrary, it is easier to get along with someone with an ordinary appearance."
"Just like the big sister before?" Zi Rui sighed and said, "If the big sister and her mother were not so bad, our Feng family would still be very harmonious."
"You can't blame her mother entirely for what happened back then." Feng Yuheng said something fair: "You were too young before, and I was afraid that you didn't understand some truths, so I never said much. Now you've grown up, Zirui, I want to ask you, if a girl who grew up with you spent all her family wealth to help you pass the imperial examination, and voluntarily stayed in her hometown to take care of your mother. After you passed the imperial examination, you asked to marry another girl for your own career, do you think this is fair to that childhood sweetheart?"
Zirui shook his head: "It's not just unfair, it's damned."
"Shen is the childhood sweetheart." She told Zirui, "Our father was the young man who went to the capital to take the imperial examination and won the first place. In order to gain a foothold in the capital, he proposed to the Yao family and married our mother as his principal wife. The old lady who was left in the hometown to be taken care of is the grandmother of the Feng Mansion. Tell me, if we look at this matter from Shen's perspective, wouldn't her actions not be so hateful?"
Zirui took a deep breath. He knew some of these things before, but he had never considered the problem from Shen's perspective. Now that his sister said this, he suddenly realized: "It turns out that things in the world really can't be seen from only one side. Everything has multiple sides. If you stand on the side with the opposite side, you can see different truths. So, sister, shouldn't we hate Shen? Are all the things she did justifiable? Or... is it our mother who was wrong to steal her childhood sweetheart?"
Feng Yuheng shook her head: "No, I should still hate her because she was wrong. She shouldn't have imposed her pain on others, nor should she have let her emotions run wild to murder others. Even though she is pitiful, her actions over the years have worn away that pitifulness. And our mother, she has lived in the capital since she was a child. She only knew that Feng Jinyuan was the top scholar, but how could she know that there was a woman waiting for him for many years in her hometown? Speaking of which, the person who should be hated the most is Feng Jinyuan. But he also paid the price for his own mistakes, so it is said that good and evil will eventually be rewarded, not that there will be no retribution, but the time has not come yet."
"But now that times have changed, we shouldn't hold hatred in our hearts anymore, right?" Zi Rui said, "Master said that forgiveness is the greatest virtue, sister, is that right?"
"Yes." She was very happy that Zirui became a disciple of the Imperial Teacher Ye Rong. Ye Rong's teaching of Zirui was without any deviation and brought out all the goodness in this child's heart.
The brother and sister held hands and continued to walk into the mountains. Wang Chuan followed them all the way and suggested: "I heard from the villagers that there are always wild boars in the mountains. It would be great if we could encounter one and hunt one. We can share some with the villagers when we return. In this cold winter, it must be very satisfying to stew a pot of hot pig-killing dishes."
As they were talking, they heard a noise behind them. Someone was running up the mountain quickly, heading towards where they were. The speed was as fast as an arrow shot from a bow, and in a few breaths, he was in front of the three of them.
Wang Chuan smiled and said, "I knew that you must have bullied Ban Zou into carrying you up the mountain. Otherwise, with your deceptive Qinggong skills, how could you be so fast?"
The people who came were Huang Quan and Ban Zou. When Huang Quan heard Wang Chuan teasing her, she couldn't stand it anymore and stretched out her hand to tickle Wang Chuan. The two laughed together. Meanwhile, Ban Zou said to Feng Yuheng, "There's news from the capital that the emperor and Miss Ren are getting married and a general amnesty has been issued. Many people have been released from the county jails, and everyone is kneeling in the direction of the capital to thank the emperor for his pardon."
Feng Yuheng was stunned, and felt that time passed quickly. It seemed that he had only been back to Xiping Village for a short time, and the Sixth Prince and Ren Xifeng had already got married. Now, Ren Xifeng was the queen.
She laughed and said, "It's great that everyone lives the life they want. It's great."
Huang Quan also smiled and said, "Yes! The new queen's decree has also been issued. Now, women in Dashun can go to school at the age of six, just like men. Women no longer have to spend their lives just on music, chess, calligraphy, painting, and needlework. We can go to school and work like men, and no longer have to stay at home like before."
This news made Feng Yuheng very interested. She had told Ren Xifeng some things about the future. Of course, she couldn't tell them explicitly. She just told her that women's lives were not limited to the inner courtyard of the mansion. They could also work and study like men. It was a bad habit to lock women at home. Sooner or later, they would be eliminated by the world. If possible, she hoped to get rid of this bad habit as soon as possible, so that women all over the world could live a completely different life from before.
She was surprised that Ren Xifeng actually wrote it down. She asked Huang Quan, "Apart from these, is there anything else?"
"Yes." Huang Quan said with a smile: "Women can also take the imperial examinations and can enter the palace as female officials. The test questions are no different from those of men. As long as they can pass the imperial examinations, from the provincial examination to the palace examination, those with excellent results can even become prime ministers. In short, there is no difference between women and men in Dashun now, everything is equal. Oh, and there is also... maternity leave. The Queen Mother said that if a woman goes out to work and gets pregnant and gives birth, she must enjoy maternity leave. During the maternity leave, the employer must still pay her wages."
Feng Yuheng listened and felt that it was a great fortune for Ren Xifeng to be the queen. She was not a woman who was confined to the inner courtyard of the mansion. She was generous and free-spirited, decisive in doing things, and very receptive to new things. Now that she has entered the palace, the first imperial decree has brought about such changes in the world, which is really exciting.
The few of them continued walking in the mountains, talking and laughing. They were thinking about taking the leading wild boar down the mountain, but at this moment, Feng Yuheng felt a breeze blowing beside his ears, as if something huge was passing through the forest at an extremely fast speed, even faster than Ban Zou who had just carried Huang Quan up the mountain.
A strong sense of crisis suddenly came over her. Because they were looking for wild boars, the people who went up the mountain walked separately. Although they were not far away and were all within sight, the animal came so fast that she didn't have time to think about it. She only felt a black cloud pressing down on her head, followed by the roar of a wild beast.
Feng Yuheng looked up at the last moment, and what rushed towards him was actually a huge black bear...
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