Emperor Taizu advocated equality between men and women and encouraged women to study and practice martial arts. After the previous emperor ascended the throne, he highly respected aristocratic families and advocated that women should be gentle, chaste, well-educated and sensible. Therefore, she also educated her own daughter in the same way, letting her daughter learn piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and learn women's precepts and training.
But after a brief moment of hesitation, Wei Wan immediately nodded to Gu Yanfei and said, "Okay."
"It's good to learn martial arts!"
Last time, she didn't listen to Gu Yanfei and almost made a big mistake. She and her daughter died unclearly. Thinking back on it now, she still felt a lingering fear.
If she insisted on letting her daughter learn to be elegant, it might bring great trouble to her.
Besides, although a girl may suffer some hardships when learning martial arts, once she has learned the martial arts, they are hers and no one can take them away. At least her daughter will not be bullied!
Wei Wan turned her head to look at Xu Yao, gently put her arm around her daughter's slender shoulders, her eyes kind and gentle.
Xu Yao was a thoughtful and well-behaved girl, and she immediately said, "Okay, mother, I want to learn martial arts."
If she learns martial arts, she can protect her mother! Xu Yao's pupils lit up slightly.
"Brother!" Wei Wan was impatient. She quickly looked at the Duke of Wei who was sitting diagonally opposite her and said, "Find a better martial arts master for Sister Yao later."
The Duke of Wei and his wife exchanged a tacit look.
This matter was extremely simple for the Duke of Weiguo's Mansion. The Duke of Weiguo's wife was also born into a military family and had many skilled female guards around her.
The wife of Duke Weiguo smiled and said, "Wan'er, what do you think of Qiu Zhuo?"
Qiu Zhuo has been with the wife of the Duke of Weiguo for more than twenty years. In the past, when the wife of the Duke of Weiguo was guarding the border with the Duke of Weiguo, Qiu Zhuo had also been to the battlefield. So it was natural for him to be a martial arts master to a mere young boy.
Wei Wan also knew Qiu Zhuo, and she responded happily: "It's my sister-in-law who gave it up."
In just a few words, the two quick-tempered women settled the matter, leaving Gu Yanfei with no chance to interrupt.
Gu Yanfei: “…”
Gu Yanfei silently picked up the teacup. In fact, she had only said half of her words.
She took a sip of tea and waited for the aunt and sister-in-law to finish their discussion before continuing, "Sister Yao is so quiet and well-behaved..."
Her meaningful gaze swept lightly over Xu Yao, who was sitting upright and smiling.
For a girl, being quiet and well-behaved are words of praise, but in the context of Gu Yanfei's words at this time, it is hard not to think deeply.
Wei Wan and the wife of Duke Weiguo were both thoughtful.
Lady Weiguo guessed that it was because Xu Yao was here that some things were not convenient to say, so she made an excuse as if nothing had happened: "Yan Fei, didn't you say last time that you would give me a few fire carp?"
"Sister Yao, can you help your aunt pick one?"
When Lady Weiguogong asked this question, Xu Yao, who had never known how to refuse, stood up and answered obediently, and followed Juanbi out of the main hall.
Looking at Xu Yao's small figure walking away, Gu Yanfei's eyes became clearer and brighter, and he said slowly: "Your daughter is too soft. If she continues like this, she will definitely make a big mistake in her marriage in nine years. She will meet the wrong person and be played around by him."
Her tone was very certain, as if her eyes had already seen Xu Yao's future.
Gu Yanfei only gave a little guidance, but Wei Wan couldn't help but start thinking divergently.
Calculating the time, nine years later, Xu Yao just reached the age of 15.
At the age of fifteen, she will officially take over the Ji'an Marquis Mansion.
It is conceivable that by then, her marriage will attract many interested parties.
To put it more cruelly, Xu Yao is a piece of delicious fat meat, which will inevitably attract those bloodthirsty tigers and wolves. It’s ok if they are after money, but you are afraid that they will bite your flesh and blood.
How could a delicate little girl raised in seclusion fight against those tigers and wolves with ulterior motives? The case of Xu Yan was a precedent.
This time, the mother and daughter were able to save their lives because they met Gu Yanfei. Will the daughter still have such good luck nine years later? ! Wei Wan was so frightened that her back was soaked with cold sweat.
Wei Wan said quickly: "I will let Sister Yao start learning martial arts tomorrow."
"It's all my fault. I should have taught her when she was little."
In the past, the daughter had the protection of her parents and elder brother, and the support of her maternal family, the Duke's Mansion. All she needed to do in her life was to find a gentle and honest husband and live a peaceful and stable life.
To put it bluntly, it's still my fault as a mother.
Looking at Wei Wan's appearance, Lady Weiguo thought about asking the younger ones in the family to practice with her as well. It would be more lively if the little girls practiced together and had company.
After finishing the business, the wife of Duke Wei said jokingly: "When we go back, if Jiao Niang knows that we came to your place, she will definitely blame us for not bringing her to play with us."
Wei Wan smiled and said, "Yan Fei, I heard from my sister-in-law that you like to listen to operas just like Jiao Niang. I will invite a troupe to come back to the mansion to perform operas someday. I heard that a troupe from Yangzhou came to the capital recently. Not only do they sing Yangzhou opera well, they can also perform puppet shows, which is very interesting."
When he heard about puppet show, Gu Yanfei's eyes lit up and he agreed happily.
As they were talking, Xu Yao came back, her originally calm features brightened up a bit. The maid behind her was holding a blue and white porcelain fish tank the size of a washbasin.
"Aunt, I have picked out the fire carp, please take a look." Xu Yao said to the wife of Duke Weiguo with a smile on her small face.
Lady Weiguogong praised Xu Yao for her good taste with a smile on her face.
After talking for a while, Duke Wei and his entourage said goodbye.
Gu Yanfei personally escorted the person to the outer ceremonial gate of the Gu Mansion, where the carriage of the Duke of Weiguo's Mansion was parked.
When they arrived, the Duke of Wei came up to greet them casually. After a quick glance at Gu Yanfei, he whispered, "The Xu family clan members went to the Duke's Mansion and are now staying there and refusing to leave."
"Even the former clan leader, Old Master Xu, is here. You know that Old Master Xu is already in his 80s. The Crown Prince's wife was afraid that something might happen to Old Master Xu, so she let them in."
To put it bluntly, the wife of the Prince of Weiguo was afraid that Old Master Xu would be too emotional. If someone died at the gate of the Duke's Mansion, it would easily be used as a topic of conversation and affect Xu Yao's succession to the title.
Duke Weiguo just nodded slightly. He was not surprised by the unannounced visit from the Xu family. He already knew what was going on.
In the eyes of the world, only men can inherit the family business. The Xu clan would definitely not be happy to confer the title of Marquis of Ji'an on a girl.
In all likelihood, they also considered adopting offspring from their clan to the main branch of the royal family.
The Duke of Wei and his wife looked at each other tacitly, both of them were calm and composed.
After the Wei family said goodbye to Gu Yanfei, the carriages and horses left the Gu Mansion.
Just as the Duke of Weiguo had expected, even though no one in the court opposed it, those people in the Xu clan still made a big fuss.
Sometimes he proposed that Xu Yan's second legitimate brother Xu Yu should inherit the title, and sometimes he proposed that one of Xu Yu's sons be adopted by Wei Wan. These proposals were all dismissed lightly by the Duke of Weiguo.
The Xu clan thought they had backed off again and again, and the final condition they put forward was that the choice of Xu Yao's future husband would be decided by the clan, and when Xu Yao gave birth to a boy, the title would be immediately given to Xu Yao's eldest son.
For this matter, the Xu family took the octogenarian Old Master Xu back and forth to the Duke of Weiguo's Mansion several times.
The various governments in the capital also saw this and were mostly watching the incident, wanting to see how it would develop in the end. For a time, the Wei and Xu families became the focus of the capital.
The first female marquis since the founding of the Dajing Dynasty also caused quite a stir among the people, just like a stone that caused a thousand ripples.
There were some pedantic scholars and old pedants in academies and teahouses saying that it was ridiculous for a woman to inherit a title, that it was a hen crowing at dawn and a sign that the country would be ruined, and that they were wailing; but some wealthy businessmen whose families could not give birth to sons and were said to be extinct were overjoyed.
In the following days, the capital became more and more lively, with everyone from noble officials to ordinary people discussing this matter.
Juanbi heard some news from outside, and returned to the mansion in high spirits to report to Gu Yanfei: "Miss, do you know Zhen's Silver Shop?"
Gu Yanfei, who was sitting at the desk, slowly raised his head from the account book, looking a little listless.
These days, she has been kept at home by Gu Yunzhen, who asked her to look at the account books for nearly a month after the separation of the family.
She got a headache looking at the strings of numbers in the account book. She spent two whole days but didn't even finish reading half of it.
"Zhen's Silver Shop?" Gu Yanfei felt that it sounded familiar and raised his eyebrows, thinking that he seemed to have seen this name somewhere.
She flipped through the account book for about ten pages and pointed to a certain position on the account book with her slender jade finger. "Is this the Zhen's Silver Shop?"
Juanbi served Gu Yanfei a cup of new tea, leaned over to take a look, and couldn't help but smile, clapping his hands and saying, "This is the one."
Since the Gu family split up last month, the mansion has been in a state of disrepair. Although there have been no new people, there have been a lot of new things. For example, some exquisite silver ingots were ordered from the Zhen family silver shop to reward servants and as gifts.
"Not only this silver ingot, but also your gold-inlaid jade bracelet with skylark pattern is jewelry from Zhen's Silver Shop." Juanbi said with a smile, "This Zhen's Silver Shop is one of the leading silver shops in the capital. In recent years, it has opened many branches in various states, and its business is booming."
"Boss Zhen is now in his 50s and has only one daughter. Miss Zhen is like her father and is good at business. She has helped Boss Zhen with his business over the years and has managed everything in an orderly manner."
"But because women cannot inherit the family business, the Zhen clan has been forcing Boss Zhen to adopt a distant nephew. Boss Zhen is not willing to give up such a huge family business, so he refused to agree and has been arguing with the clan for many years."
"I have inquired privately. Boss Zhen lost his father when he was young and was raised by his widowed mother. Back then, someone in the clan bullied them and almost robbed them of the two thousand taels of silver left by Old Master Zhen. It was only after my uncle's family intervened and made a scene that the clan finally gave up."
As he spoke, Juanbi curled his lips in disdain and commented, "This Zhen clan member is really shameless. He used to bully orphans and widows, and now he has the nerve to covet other people's family property. If I were Boss Zhen, I would not agree to adopt any sons or nephews. Why should the family business that I worked so hard to build be given to others!"
The second update has not been completed yet, so I will not merge it today. At 12 o'clock~ (End of this chapter)
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