"Your Majesty is wise! I second the motion!"

Prime Minister Zhang walked out of the queue firmly and bowed solemnly to Gu Jue.

If Prime Minister Zhang hadn't had to consider his status as Prime Minister, he would really want to praise Gu Jue to the skies.

Immediately afterwards, Xu Qian and Minister of War Zhuang Maohua also seconded the motion in unison. Their voices were sonorous and powerful, making it clear to everyone what the three elders wanted.

Gu Jue gently stroked his sleeves. This simple action made people feel an inexplicable pressure, as if a cold wind blew into the hall as he stroked his sleeves.

There was still no change in the expression on his face. He remained expressionless and made people feel that he was unfathomable.

Gu Jue glanced at the ministers below and continued, "Marriage has always been based on mutual consent. Only when the woman is willing to marry and the man is willing to marry can a marriage be established."

"Whether women remarry or are willing to remarry should be decided by themselves, rather than being restricted by chastity arches."

“……” Censor Wang was already sweating profusely, his brows were furrowed, and he was still unconvinced.

In his opinion, what the new emperor said was too absurd. If this policy is implemented, women will become more and more unfaithful in the future. Will they know what it means to regard their husbands as the heaven? ! Many officials also saw that Wang Yushi had not figured it out yet. He was so stupid that he should go home and have children as the new emperor wanted. Wang Yushi made two big mistakes. First, this matter should not involve the queen; second, the new emperor intended to implement policies to encourage women to remarry, and Wang Yushi was just walking into a knife.

The court officials all listened quietly, with different thoughts in their minds.

Gu Jue continued, "Send an order to all localities not to issue chastity arches anymore."

"Any widow who remarries will be given five taels of silver as private property by the court. The woman can take the children she had with her deceased husband with her or leave them in her husband's family, depending on the negotiation between the two families."

This was the first time that Gu Jue brought up this topic in public, but he had talked about it with Shen Qianchen during casual conversation.

At that time, Shen Qianchen said: "The biggest difficulty for a widow to remarry is having children. It is relatively easy for a widow without children to remarry, but those with children have many concerns. Not only will they be bound by their husband's family, but they are also reluctant to give up their children. Once they remarry, their husband's family will definitely not let them take their children with them, and may even forbid them to visit their children."

"Like mother, she refused to divorce at first because she couldn't take Mu Ge'er with her if she divorced."

At that time, Shen Qianchen had already married, and Shen Zhi thought that Shen Qianhuang was Jiang Minshan's daughter. The only child she needed to worry about was Shen Yunmu. Shen Yunmu was still too young. Once Chu Lingxiao remarried, Shen Yunmu would have to live under the control of his stepmother. Even if Chu Lingxiao did not remarry, Shen Zhi would not be able to feel at ease letting a child like Shen Yunmu live in the Chu family, a place full of intrigue and cruelty.

Gu Jue remembered everything Shen Qianchen said. Originally, promoting widows to remarry was not urgent, but since the time was right, Gu Jue didn't mind giving it a push.

“…”

“…”

“…”

The court officials were speechless and became even more shocked.

Everyone stared with their eyes wide open and looked at each other. They could imagine what kind of bloody storm would be set off among the people if this decree was promulgated.

This time, even the Minister of Rites Yang Xuanshan couldn't help but persuade him: "Your Majesty, the issue of offspring is of great importance."

Yang Xuanshan thought that if the widow's child was a girl, it would be fine, as boys were the ones who carried on the family line. But if the widow remarried with her son, the husband's family would probably be in an uproar.

Gu Jue smiled and said, "Offspring are of course of great importance, so the matter is not absolute. It should be resolved through negotiation between the two families. If the husband's family only has one offspring, the child will naturally be left to the husband's family."

After all, it was the Chu family that agreed to Shen Zhi taking Shen Yunmu away. If Shen Yunmu was Chu Lingxiao's only son, then no matter how much Shen Zhi insisted, it would be difficult to take Shen Yunmu away from the Chu family.

The Chu family was a noble family, so they had illegitimate sons, but ordinary families tended to practice monogamy, so it was impossible for a widow to take all the children with her when she remarried.

It is said that even an honest judge cannot judge family affairs.

Family affairs are complicated, and each family has its own circumstances. These matters certainly cannot be covered by a single decree. Gu Jue is just throwing out some ideas today.

At least in the court's decrees, some favorable conditions should be provided to widows for "remarriage".

Yang Xuanshan wanted to say something, but Gu Jue said calmly, "In addition, all children who have lost their fathers, regardless of gender, will be allocated a certain amount of rice by the government every month. The specific amount will be determined by the Ministry of Revenue."

After Gu Jue gave a series of orders, he finally said "dismiss the court" and stood up.

As everyone was about to send the new emperor off, Gu Jue said to the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards next to him, "Let the Imperial Guards patrol more often in the capital these days and keep an eye out. If there are people like Lord Wang who are willing to add population to the Great Qi, we should fulfill their patriotic wishes and let them get what they want."

The court officials' faces turned stiff upon hearing this.

It sounded like Gu Jue was threatening them. What he meant was that if there were anyone else who thought, like Censor Wang, that it was wrong for a widow to remarry, the Imperial Guards would deal with them. If they were officials or juren, they would be stripped of their jobs and qualifications for imperial examinations, and other matters could be discussed after they had given birth to fourteen children.

The deputy commander of the Jinyiwei naturally understood Gu Jue's intention and quickly clasped his fists in response: "Yes, Your Majesty."

His voice was neither too loud nor too low, loud enough for all the civil and military officials in the court to hear.

Gu Jue didn't care about the ministers' reactions. He shook his sleeves, turned around and left in a cool manner.

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, until the new emperor's back disappeared, and then the hall became agitated.

Many people looked at Censor Wang with sympathy when they walked past him.

Although the decrees issued by the new emperor today are somewhat shocking, compared with Censor Wang who went home to have a baby, these things do not seem to be a big deal. To put it bluntly, these policies of the new emperor are nothing more than encouraging widows to remarry.

The key point is "encouragement" rather than "compulsion". In short, each family should mind its own business.

The court officials walked out of the Golden Palace, talking in groups of three or four.

The Minister of Rites Yang Xuanshan and the Minister of Revenue Xu Qian stood there for a long time without moving.

The two looked at each other and gave each other a look of mutual sympathy.

The series of instructions just issued by the new emperor had little impact on other government offices. The most annoying ones were the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue.

Xu Qian stroked his beard and said with emotion: "The emperor should be able to win."

With the queen's mother's "demonstration" in the past, the remarriage of widows should be able to be smoothly implemented among the people.

"Have you ever seen the emperor fail to accomplish anything?" Yang Xuanshan nodded in agreement and raised his long eyebrows.

Xu Qian smiled in agreement and sighed, "That's right."

A few officials who had not left also heard it and felt the same way, nodding their heads.

The young emperor had been on the throne for less than four months, but these officials felt more tired than after working for ten years.

The new emperor is too strong! It is conceivable that under the leadership of this new emperor, the Great Qi Dynasty will take a completely different path from the previous emperor and Emperor Renzong. This will also give these court officials, while exhausted, a sense of hope in their hearts: their Great Qi Dynasty has a promising future!

Here, the court officials were still discussing how to implement the new emperor's decrees;

Over there, Gu Jue also returned to the Qianqing Palace, and Shen Qianchen was waiting for Gu Jue to have lunch together.

Under Shen Qianchen's arrangement, Gu Jue's life became more and more regular. For example, the start time of the daily morning court had been delayed by half an hour. Now Gu Jue could have a good breakfast with Shen Qianchen before going to the Golden Palace. When the morning court ended, it would be almost time for lunch.

The young couple can talk about what happened in the morning court and then enjoy lunch together.

It was the same today. As soon as Gu Jue came out of the court, he told Shen Qianchen about what happened in the morning court. When Shen Qianchen heard that a certain censor was going home to give birth to a child, he laughed so hard that he was out of breath.

"Jiuxia, you are really too mean!" Shen Qianchen laughed so hard that tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. His eyebrows raised, revealing a row of neat, white teeth.

Gu Jue raised his hand and touched her tender cheek, his burning gaze fixed on her little face.

He liked to see her smile. When she smiled, it was as if all the bright colors around her faded away, and only her brilliant smile remained in his vision.

Being looked at by him with such focused eyes, Shen Qianchen couldn't help but feel her ears burning, and then she saw him raise his hand and tap her forehead lightly with his fingers.

"..." Shen Qianchen covered his forehead with his hands, raised his chin slightly, and looked at Gu Jue with innocent and reproachful eyes.

"Me?" Gu Jue raised his eyebrows, and there was a hint of mischievous youthfulness between his brows.

Shen Qianchen bit her lower lip with her jade teeth and changed her words: "You are awesome, you are the best!"

Gu Jue leaned over and kissed the corner of her lips. His nose moved and he could smell not only the usual incense from fumigating clothes on her body, but also a faint scent of alcohol.

"Drunk?" he asked with a chuckle.

Shen Qianchen nodded: "It was Qiu Lu Bai that Qin Yao sent to the palace just now. He said he bought it from Jiangnan. There are ten jars in total, and he gave us five jars."

Shen Qianchen, who had drunk, felt a little lazy, with a slight blush on his snow-white cheeks. His pair of dark phoenix eyes looked like black and white chess pieces soaked in water, appearing exceptionally bright and pure, yet with a bit of charm and laziness after drinking.

She leaned against Gu Jue softly, rubbed his slightly rough palm, and pointed at two fingers: "I only drank two cups."

"This Autumn Dew White is a little stronger than the lotus wine. You can only drink three cups." As she said this, she added a finger, made the number "three", and leaned on him like a piece of soft bone.

Gu Jue rubbed her nose with his nose, a gentle smile in his eyes, and whispered to her intimately: "Help me taste the wine?"

Shen Qianchen nodded, put his arms around Gu Jue's waist, rested his chin on his shoulder, and sniffed the familiar scent on his body with longing, feeling a bit like "people get drunk even if the wine doesn't make them drunk".

The next moment, she heard him say in her ear: "Flowers are not charming, people are charming themselves." His voice was as intoxicating as fine wine.

Shen Qianchen was stunned, and her first reaction was to recall whether she had just said the words "It's not the wine that makes people drunk, it's people who make themselves drunk".

It took her two beats to understand the meaning of his words.

"Ah!" she cried softly.

Gu Jue turned his head to look at her, thinking that she was feeling unwell, and raised his head to touch her forehead.

"I don't have a fever." Shen Qianchen moved his hand down from his forehead, and placed his palm against his, rubbing it tenderly for a few times, then moved his face closer to him, staring into his narrow eyes and asked, "Are you praising me?"

Flowers do not seduce people, but people seduce themselves.

Shen Qianchen chewed over these words in his heart, with a charming and bright smile on his lips.

She had not left the house today and was dressed very casually, with her thick black hair half tied up and half loose with a big red silk ribbon, and she was wearing only a bright red embroidered silk shirt, the bright color of the material made her skin as white as snow and her face radiant. As she looked around, the joy that came from her heart naturally emanated from her, just like the bright spring sunshine in April.

Gu Jue also stared into her eyes and smiled: "Wrong!"

Shen Qianchen stared in disbelief and wanted to argue with him, but he heard him say: "I was just saying sweet words."

Shen Qianchen was startled again, and his cheeks turned red little by little, visibly, from pink, to bright red, to scarlet, until they turned bright red.

She turned her face away and buried it in his strong shoulder embarrassedly. She could clearly hear her own heartbeat, thump, thump, louder than the last.

"I lost." She said sullenly.

Gu Jue raised his eyebrows and repeated, "You lost?"

Shen Qianchen hugged his waist even tighter, refusing to look up or speak.

Knowing her like Gu Jue, he could understand what she meant after a brief thought. His voice became even gentler: "Sometimes it's okay for you to give in to me."

His little girl was nice enough, and often made him feel that he wasn't good enough to her and could be better.

So, it doesn't matter if she loses to him when it comes to talking about love, right? !

He placed his palm on her slender waist and rubbed it gently.

After a while, Shen Qianchen finally moved, raised his head, and his bright eyes became even brighter.

She held his face in her hands, kissed his forehead almost devoutly, and whispered, "I'll let you do it this time."

Isn't it just a love talk?!

She is so smart, she learns things very quickly!

Shen Qianchen said to herself in her heart, and put her arms around his waist again, rubbing against his shoulders and chest like a cat that refused to look up, acting coquettishly.

Gu Jue gently touched his forehead with one hand, and felt very peaceful and at ease, with his heart filled with something warm and soft.

His heart is all about her! Before he returned to the capital from the north, he never thought he would meet her. In just one year, his life has changed drastically. He has a future, expectations, and her! How wonderful!

It’s nice to have someone who makes him feel that the future is promising! (End of this chapter)