"Father, you must have heard the story of how King Chu loved slender waists and many starved to death in the palace. This matter is somewhat different, but it is not so different. It is simply that when the superiors have a certain preference, the inferiors will follow suit. Nowadays, it is only some high-ranking officials and noblemen who prefer golden lotuses, and there are even scholars who write poems and lyrics about it, regarding it as a refined taste. Will other scholars who pursue refined tastes also follow suit?"
Jiang Xuelin sat on the stone bench with her back straight, like an unyielding pine tree. Her expression was not angry, but rather gentle and calm.
Fu Hanlai, who knew Jiang Xuelin well, knew that the calmer Jiang Xuelin was, the more terrifying she was; this was a habit she had developed at the border.
The angrier you are, the more urgent the situation, the more you need to stay calm, because if you lose your temper, you may lose your life.
But Prince Ping and Princess Ping didn't understand.
"Now they are nothing more than women in brothels, the prostitutes my father spoke of, who are there for people's amusement. To please their patrons and scholars, they have bound their feet to create a pair of small, elegant golden lotuses. But what about in the future? Will these golden lotuses spread to ordinary families, so that their daughters can marry into good families, so that their daughters can be sought after by more men, or even so that they can be sent to the mansions of high-ranking officials and nobles... Will they make their daughters wear golden lotuses to represent their status?"
Fu Hanlai fiddled with the lid of the teacup in front of him, without interrupting Jiang Xuelin.
What Jiang Xuelin said at this moment was exactly what he was thinking.
And this is just the beginning.
What if, in the future, a great Confucian scholar expresses his admiration for Jinlian?
What would happen then?
Once bound feet become a customary practice, does that mean every woman must have bound feet, or else she is considered deviant?
The saying "It's easy to find a spouse if you have a golden lotus" and the saying "It's difficult to find a spouse if you don't have a golden lotus" may sound like the same thing, but in reality, they are quite different.
By then, it will be difficult to change anything.
The timing is actually just right, though of course, there will definitely be some turmoil.
But Fu Hanlai didn't think there was anything scary about it, nor did he think Jiang Xuelin would be afraid of the storms that were about to be faced.
Knowing what he was about to encounter was why Fu Hanlai was so eager to try.
He never felt that Jiang Xuelin was wrong or that she was too outrageous or not a normal woman, which shows that Fu Hanlai himself disdained these things.
What the hell!
King Ping stroked his meticulously groomed beard and patted his round belly, still scrutinizing Jiang Xuelin as if trying to detect her hesitation.
Jiang Xuelin remained calm, as if nothing had happened, showing no sign of the volcano about to erupt in her heart.
Jiang Xuelin's aversion to this kind of thing was not only because it was a form of cruelty to women, but also for other reasons.
"It is said that our bodies and hair are given to us by our parents. Those who are most filial and care about filial piety, is this their way of being filial?"
"Your words will not convince me or those scholars and literati who love golden lotuses."
“Literati and scholars?” Jiang Xuelin tilted her head, her expression turning sarcastic. “Those literati and scholars who love Jinlian are nothing more than a bunch of hypocrites who seek fame and fortune in my eyes.”
If her words were to get out, she would surely be attacked, but she still said them without hesitation.
“My daughter-in-law admires true Confucian scholars, but she has never thought that all scholars are worthy of worshipping Confucius. Father might say that those women were not what those scholars requested, but rather it was the arrangement of the brothel.”
"Forget it then. If it had been rejected from the beginning, those money-grubbing brothels wouldn't have continued to produce any more Golden Lotuses. It would have naturally died out. Some people like to praise it, so naturally some people will continue to produce it to please those people. Therefore, none of those who like Golden Lotuses and write poems and lyrics about it are good people. Perhaps it was indeed a different path when the first Golden Lotus appeared, but it was definitely not the case later."
As the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Jing'an and now the Princess Consort of Prince Ping, it would be extremely impolite for Jiang Xuelin to mention brothels; such words should not have come from her mouth.
"As for persuading Father... Father, do you know that these women with golden lotuses won't be able to do much work in the future? Their feet are always twisted, and they walk with a swaying gait. In those people's words, they have a graceful figure, but how can they go down to the fields, how can they cultivate the land, and how can they support the family with the men in their homes?"
"Earning money to support the family is a man's job."
King Ping was also quite indifferent, giving only this one answer, the meaning of which was very clear—there was no need for women to do anything; men would naturally do the work of earning money and supporting the family, and there was no need for women to show their faces in public.
However, upon hearing his words, Jiang Xuelin reacted as if she had heard a joke.
"For ordinary farmers, tending such a small plot of land, how can the men alone feed and water their families? If they don't go to the fields and do any work, will the whole family starve to death if they rely solely on the men? Will the dowry and betrothal gifts for the children's future marriages be enough if the men alone are gone? What if the men are gone?"
That's not enough.
Of course not.
Putting aside everything else, let's talk about the damselfly.
The bean lady's husband is gone, and now she is the one who supports the family's bean shop with her daughter.
Women are not allowed to show their faces in public, but that only applies to wealthy families who don't have to worry about making a living. Women can stay peacefully in the backyard. But how many such families are there in the world?
Not many.
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