Chapter 039

Chapter 39: Feels Like I Got Kicked While Walking

Du Zi Heng had thought that if he spoke up for Yu Zhi Yi, then even if she didn’t thank him, she would at least give him a friendly smile. Instead, the way she looked at him made him feel like a thief. He was speechless: “…”

Yu Zhi Yi turned her gaze aside and asked the room in a level tone: “How can you feel moved by such a scary story?”

“Sca… scary?” someone asked, confused.

Yu Jiao Jiao poked from the side and said in a soft voice: “Sister, how can you think that? This is clearly a happy story. You shouldn’t judge others in a mean way just because your own life has been unlucky.”

Yu Zhi Yi ignored her. Her eyes swept over the noble ladies as she asked: “You all envy the girl in the story. Then if you have daughters in the future, will you allow them to date a poor boy? Even if she breaks with you for that boy, will you face it with a smile, even be moved by their perfect love?”

Silence fell. One noble lady put herself in that position and felt she couldn’t breathe. She blurted out: “How could that be? If a poor brat dares to steal my daughter, I will beat him.”

Right after speaking, she realized she had gone too far and looked around awkwardly. The other noble ladies turned their eyes away. She had only said what they all thought. They would not mock her. But since they disliked Yu Zhi Yi, they would not support her either.

Du Zi Heng felt like a dog walking down the road that got kicked for no reason: [Why do I feel like a dog that just got booted?] He was not a daughter, but still…

Seeing the others go quiet, Yu Jiao Jiao nearly ground her teeth to dust and said: “Marrying a daughter to a poor boy is indeed risky. It is natural most parents would hesitate. But no matter what, the two in the story ended in happiness, didn’t they? The man became the top scholar, and the woman became a titled lady…”

Yu Zhi Yi cut her off and said: “The woman suffered all kinds of bullying in the man’s household, and only after she died was she granted a title. If that glory were given to you, would you want it?”

She did not hold back as she tore the story apart. It was a classic, male-centered fantasy drenched in tired tropes. A rich family’s daughter loved a poor boy, but her parents stopped them. The boy’s family, on the other hand, welcomed her with open arms. The girl’s parents refused to give in and warned that if their daughter dared contact him again, they would see to it that the boy’s family could not live in that city. So the boy’s family took the rich girl and moved to a city a hundred miles away.

Without their parents’ consent or a proper matchmaker, the two held only a simple ceremony. The girl received no betrothal gifts, and the boy’s family was dirt poor. The pampered young lady became a poor man’s wife overnight, eating coarse food she couldn’t stomach. She had to spend the travel money she brought to keep the home running.

The poor boy did not pass first in the exams until ten years later. By then the girl had used up every coin from home and even sold her jewelry and clothes. She had fully changed from a noble miss into a poor wife. The boy’s mother had also grown into a strict, commanding mother-in-law. A girl who once had servants now had to serve her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, manage the house, and carry every big and small burden on her thin shoulders. The delicate young lady turned into a wife cast aside as “old and worn.”

When the man finally won first place, she did become the top scholar’s wife. But after only a few years, she died from poor health. Only after her death did she get a court title. Then the man married the Chancellor’s divorced daughter and became the Chancellor’s prized son-in-law.

It was melodramatic and, at the same time, frighteningly real. Yet this harsh reality was used to make their so-called love look pure and loyal. Loyal? Please. The loyalty belonged to the woman. The precious part was also the woman. As for that “love,” it was just a horror tale where a man clung to a rich girl, drained her, and once she had nothing left to give, he wrote her off.

Yu Zhi Yi’s voice was cool as she drew the line: “Crossing classes for love is brave. But the brave part is only the courage. Whether the rest is worth praising depends on whether the person himself is worth it.”

Du Zi Heng could not help asking: “Then in your view, what kind of person is worth it?”

She said, clear and steady: “If I were the girl or the girl’s mother, before marrying down or letting my daughter marry down, I would first consider the man’s character. If two poor parents struggled to raise a son, and that son is sensible, he will understand their hardship. He will use time between his studies to do what he can to ease their burden.”

She added, slow and precise: “A true gentleman cannot be summed up by a shallow line like staying far from the kitchen. What is a gentleman? In my eyes, he is loyal to his country and good at making decisions, filial to his parents and willing to share their load, tender to his wife and able to care for her, loving to his children and a model for them. He is not someone who spends his parents’ hard-earned money while slacking off under the name of studying.”

She looked around, eyes bright and sharp: “He is also not someone who, once his wife enters the house, throws the duty of supporting his parents onto her. He should support his parents together with her. Many men say to a new wife, my mother had it hard raising me, so when you come in you must be filial. That talk is laughable. His mother’s hardship was not caused by the new wife. It came from a husband who didn’t love her and a son who never shared her burden. He enjoyed all his mother’s love, then wants to hand off the duty of care to his wife. That is absurd.”

Her gaze was too clear, and too wise, as if it could see straight through the heart. Du Zi Heng felt uneasy under it and hurried to reflect. Had he ever said such a thing when Yu Zhi Yi entered the manor? The good news was no. The bad news was that he had said things even worse. He wanted to crawl into a hole.

The noble ladies were shaken by Yu Zhi Yi’s new way of thinking. Thanks to the efforts of Eldest Princess Jia Luo, who guarded the nation, and many outstanding women over the years, the women of the Great Sheng Empire no longer thought like women a hundred years ago. Still, they were trapped inside old lines they could not cross. Yu Zhi Yi’s words were like a knock on the head, showing a new way to look at men and women.

The noble ladies began to reflect. Had the rules they had followed all these years really been right? Some who already liked to break the rules had stars in their eyes.

Seeing their faces, Yu Zhi Yi smiled lightly and said as if by accident: “I only said it in passing. You can listen in passing. If you think that love story is so tragic and beautiful, feel free to try it for yourselves. I will leave one sentence with you: it only takes a love-drunk mind to fall from rich to poor, but for your children to climb from poor to rich, it may take a whole lifetime, and they still might fail. Not every poor boy becomes the top scholar.”

At that moment, the second Gold-Ranked Seamstress took the stage. But everyone was still lost in the shock of a rebuilt worldview, so their reactions to the next clothes were flat.

Until the fifth showcase. This time, the most famous Gold-Ranked Seamstress of Splendid Brocade Pavilion came on. Yu Zhi Yi looked past the seamstress and saw Red Luan peeking from behind a nearby door, beaming at her with a bright smile.