Chapter 226

Chapter 226: What princess consort? Go take the imperial examinations!

For nearly a hundred years, girls from the great clans were still taught to be good wives and mothers and to run the inner household.

Want to go out and work?

Want to enter the court and be an official?

No future, no safety, stop dreaming.

Princess Consort Ping had read many books since childhood and always wanted to be an official, but before she could even go take the imperial examinations, her family locked her up.

Her family said that as long as they were alive, she would never be allowed to take the imperial examinations.

The imperial examinations were for men. As a woman, why walk the path of office?

If she disobeyed, they said she would not even pass the first round.

After several fights that led nowhere, Princess Consort Ping gave in.

Her heart went cold. She decided to live like an ordinary woman, to support her husband and raise children, and to live a steady life.

But the fox spirit affair shattered the calm path she had chosen for herself.

[To heck with peace!]

If all she got by suppressing her nature was a dull and cold judgment, she would rather go a little crazy.

Everyone told her to hold back and think of the clan, but who in the clan had ever truly thought of her?

They only wanted her to be a safe tool.

All their training was just to make that tool look fancy and eye-catching.

She had had enough.

She said: “I want to take the imperial examinations.”

Yu Zhi Yi answered: “Ah, that sounds good.”

Although Yu Zhi Yi did not see a purple aura on Princess Consort Ping, merit and luck are not fixed. If Princess Consort Ping really put her heart into study, then with her status and past learning she might gain at least a minor post.

Princess Consort Ping said: “Official Yu, I want to take you as my example: after seeing you, I realized a woman can still live well even without support from her husband’s house or her birth family.”

She added: “It is too late to learn mystic arts, but if I prepare for the imperial examinations, I should still make it.”

Yu Zhi Yi said: “Mm, go for it.”

Princess Consort Ping left in high spirits.

Not long after, Red Luan returned. When Yu Zhi Yi told her about Su Yuan Lin, Red Luan was surprised and said: “You can really invite him?”

This man was a famous story in the Capital City. His struggle had inspired many people.

If they could invite him, people at the Quehan Institute would be greatly encouraged.

They talked for a while about the future paths of those people with regrets, then Red Luan went back to her work.

She had been working overtime lately, sleeping less than four hours a day. She finally finished most of her orders. Now only a bit over ten orders were left, and she should finish them in less than a month.

The day before yesterday, she submitted her resignation to Splendid Brocade Courtyard.

Naturally, Splendid Brocade Courtyard did not want to let go of such a money maker. But Red Luan had a conscience. Even before deciding to quit, she had trained two seamstresses. Though they were still not at her level, she promised that until those two could stand on their own, she would send Splendid Brocade Pavilion three design sketches every month.

With fine design sketches, they could make up for the gap in the seamstresses’ skill.

Splendid Brocade Pavilion was satisfied with this plan, so both sides parted on good terms.

Red Luan stretched and said: “At most twenty more days and I will be free. Then I will not have to commute every day.”

She asked: “By the way, when do you plan to move back?”

Yu Zhi Yi said: “In a few days, after we pick an auspicious day for moving.”

Red Luan said: “Then wait for me. I will look at houses these two days. Once I find a good one, we can move together.”

Living with a close friend, yet not getting in each other’s way, was truly great.

Even after they settled into a house, that did not mean they had to stop staying at Yiluan Charity.

Home was home. It was a base.

As for where to sleep, that depended on mood.

As independent women with money and a bit of connections and power, they did not need to listen to anyone’s nagging about where they should live.

That night.

Su Yuan Lin paced back and forth in his room, restless.

All day he felt like he was dreaming. He was distracted and could not do anything.

Every time he thought about what that person had said, he became excited beyond control.

Yet he still had a natural doubt.

His hands had been gone for so long. Could they really grow back?

Suddenly, there came a “knock, knock, knock.”

Su Yuan Lin jolted. He did not even ask who was outside. He went over and used his foot to open the door.

Yu Zhi Yi had not disguised herself. Other than changing clothes, she looked the same as in daytime.

She was not even wearing dark night gear. She looked more like a neighbor dropping by.

Su Yuan Lin did not think too much. He stepped aside to let Yu Zhi Yi in, his face a little tense.

He wanted to ask something, but he was so nervous he did not know what to say.

Yu Zhi Yi said: “Sit.”

She sat down at the round table and beckoned to Su Yuan Lin.

Only after he sat did Su Yuan Lin realize this was his home.

Yet it felt like he was the guest and Yu Zhi Yi was the host.

Yu Zhi Yi did not care about his thoughts. After he sat, she told him to place both hands on the table.

Both his hands had been cut off. Above his wrists there was only emptiness. It looked pitiful and scary.

With just one glance, you could not help thinking how much it hurt when the hands were cut off.

Su Yuan Lin, once so calm, was now anxious. He asked: “Official Yu, can a severed hand really grow back? You are not tricking me?”

Yu Zhi Yi said: “A severed palm cannot grow back.”

One sentence stunned Su Yuan Lin. He asked: “What?”

Yu Zhi Yi did not leave him puzzled for long and said: “But I can use an object-control technique to make two hands for you. Do not worry. Even if they are not your real hands, in all ways they will be very close to real hands.”

She added: “But they are not your own, and you also have not used hands for many years, so at the beginning they will be hard to control. Whether it is daily life or going back to writing and painting, you must practice.”

She said: “Think of these two hands like a newborn baby’s hands. To control them, you must slowly learn and adapt.”

Su Yuan Lin fell silent.

He had thought it would be true regrowth. He had not expected a replacement he had never heard of.

Were such hands really hands?

But did he have any other choice?

At last, he gritted his teeth and said: “Fine, attach them.”

Yu Zhi Yi nodded.

In fact, there are spells in this world that can regrow severed hands, but they require reaching the Great Completion Realm.

Below the Great Completion Realm, not to mention helping others regrow limbs, even a cultivator cannot easily heal a crippled body.

Unless the injury was very recent and the severed part was kept.

But the Great Completion Realm was far away for her. By the time she reached it, Su Yuan Lin might already have died of old age.

There was no need to give someone such a vague hope.