Chapter 54

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Author: 打字机N号

Chapter 54: The search for one’s mom second spring 22 [End] /For the sake of my mother’s remarriage 22 [END]

Future Generations

“Today, it

seems that we are going to learn about the history of the

Jin Dynasty. I do not know

which people from those times that Guan Daniu going to talk about. “

The students of the Department of Archaeology of the Shuimu University arrived in the classroom in a group of two and three. Before the teacher arrived, the students started to discuss the lesson quietly. The Guan Daniu mentioned in their mouth was the headteacher of their Department of Archeology. Since her surname is Guan and because he was the highest authority of their department, the student had called her Guan Daniu. [T/N: Da = Big; Niu = Cow]

“I think that

Guan Daniu is going to talk about Wu Ying-niang. After all, she was the one who leads to the flourishing period of the

Jin Dynasty. Furthermore, she

was the only female emperor in the history of China.”

A girl whispered

to her roommate who sat next to her. These years with the focus on the

military emperor as the

prototype for the film and television drama can be many, even if you did not

know about it, the existence of the female emperor left an

extremely profound impression

in many people.

“I think that

Guan Daniu will talk about Jiang Liu. As you know Wu Ying-niang was a student

of Fu Liu Academy which was founded by him. Wu Ying-niang had also stated that

without Fu Liu Academy, Wu Ying-niang will not exist. Apart from Wu Ying-niang,

the famous female poet and the representative writer of Wanyue school of

thought, Jiang Furong was also Jiang Liu’s wife. [Furong’s book of songs] which

was introduced as the teaching material for primary and middle school was said

to be edited and compiled by Jiang Liu himself. Even the reformation on the law

regarding the widow was pushed and promoted by him during Emperor Jin Wen’s

reign… He was the most important person in the history of the Jin Dynasty who

drive to improve the status of women. In my opinion ah, Jiang Liu is the true

figure of history advancement.”

[T/N: Wanyue: graceful and subdued (style)]

It is true that in

the history of the Jin Dynasty, Wu Ying-niang was originally a daughter from a

peasant family in the suburbs of the capital. She was poor as a child but

because of her wise mind, she was recruited as a female student by the Fu Liu

Academy. In the years she studied at the Fu Liu Academy, she had learned a lot

of knowledge and made friends with many girls from a

noble family. She also had

become the top achiever consecutively in her six years at Fu Liu Academy.

Because of that, the current Empress at that time was truly impressed by her.

Subsequently, the Emperor had selected her as the side consort [Ce fei] for the

sixth prince at that time.

After the eight

princes the throne, Wu Ying-niang, had been relying on her

intelligence and connections that she had forged through her years at Fu Liu

Academy to help the sixth prince overcome many problems. Eventually, the sixth prince comes to power and Wu Ying-niang was

sealed as the Imperial Consort [Huang Gui fei] whose position is only beneath

the Empress position.

It is a pity that

the emperor’s suspicion is always extraordinarily heavy. Coupled with the

Empress’ provocation, as well as the appearance of more and more fresh faces in

the palace, the once loving husband and wife in the past gradually become

estranged. Although the wisdom of Wu Ying-niang was far beyond the ordinary

people, even she could not escape from a love trap. Feeling disheartened with

everything she started to close herself behind her own palace’s door until Wu

Ying-niang’s only son, the Third Prince was accidentally drowned and yet the

Emperor did not punish the perpetrator behind the scene which completely

infuriated Wu Ying-niang who had just lost her child.

On the surface, Wu

Ying-niang began to fast and immersing herself in the teaching of Buddha. She

was completely quiet. However, in fact, she had borrowed power from her former

connections and woven a dense net around the royal court. After the Emperor

accidentally assassinated, she killed the Empress and support the young thirteenth

Prince to ascend the throne while she governs from behind the curtain.

At that time,

there were also many oppositions among the courtier which was all brutally

suppressed by Wu Ying-niang.

The seventh-year

after the little emperor ascended to the throne, he was persuaded by some

courtiers who wanted to stop Wu Ying-niang from meddling in the politic.

Because of this, Wu Ying-niang simply abolished the Little Emperor and ascended

the throne herself while changing the name of the country to Zhou.

Because she came

from the Fu Liu Academy, everything that she had gained was inseparable from

the knowledge that she had learned in Fu Liu Academy. Consequently, Wu

Ying-niang attached particular importance to women’s education. In her decades

as an emperor, the Jin Dynasty’s Women’s Academy had flourished but she still

had the most respect towards Fu Liu Academy. All women were proud to be

students of the Fu Liu Academy. This is the era of the highest status for women

in ancient times. Almost all the prestigious wives and daughters were students

of the Fu Liu Academy. Even after the downfall of Emperor Wu, and the ascended

of the seventh prince’s eldest son, the transcendent status of Fu Liu Academy

remained strong.

[T/N I found Wu

Ying-niang story is similar to Wu Zetian]

Unfortunately, no

dynasty can truly last a thousand generations, and Wu Ying-niang’s Zhou dynasty

ended with the third emperor after hers.

At that time, the

head of the Fu Liu Academy was also the seventh generation granddaughter of

Jiang Liu and Jiang Furong. Under her leadership, she led all the female

students from Fu Liu Academy to fight against the enemy. They eventually died

for the country and the academy which had been founded for hundreds of years

was also collapsed and turned to ashes under the fires of the enemy corps.

Perhaps due to

their fear of the women’s academy which had once taught a female emperor, after

the Jin Dynasty, there have been a lot of literati who denounced the behaviour

of women who go to school. They vigorously praise the principle of a woman’s virtue is to have no talent. Thus, after the

Jin Dynasty, the restrictions on women became even more severe, and it was only

in modern times that foreign ideas clashed with native Confucianism, the

feudal rule was overthrown and

women’s status began to rise.

But even in modern

times, there is still a long way to go before the real equality between men and

women could be achieved.

“I always

think that Jiang Liu might be a time traveller. Think about it, he was the only

six times champion in history. He was the first one who sent his widowed mother

to remarry. He had also spent his whole life promoting changes and improving

the status of merchants and women. This idea of being ahead of times and

totally unlike those of ancient native.”

Speaking of Jiang

Liu, these girls obviously have a lot to say. After all, Jiang Liu’s various

initiatives against women showed that he was a rare ancient people who advocate

the gender-equal rights between men and women.

“Haha, ha, he

images really seemed like someone in a traversal novel. Not to forget that he

and his wife, the famous poet, Jiang Furong shared conjugal love throughout

their life. There was no concubine at their backyard. Even in some unofficial

record in the history of the Jin dynasty showed that he was a yes-man who even

painstakingly avoided the Qin Lou Chu Pavilion when he was meeting with his

colleagues. If you change it to another male-born stud, there will be at least

four, five or six true love.”

[T/N: I assumed Qin

Lou Chu is kind like a brothel or an entertainment house based on my google

image search]

That girl said it

with a smile, but in her heart, she truly envies Jiang Furong. Even in this

monogamous modern era, there are still few men who can keep their bodies like

jade and be content with only one partner.

“I heard that

Jiang Liu is still a very handsome man. The unofficial record wrote that Jiang

Liu has a wonderful appearance. Many women throw fruit at him so much that it

could fill his carriage car full. For her to be able to get such a handsome and

attentive husband, Jiang Furong must be really blessed. “

The girl looked

love-struck. Unfortunately, there is no camera in ancient times. Otherwise, she

really wanted to see what a well-known beautiful man in history looked like.

“Heh, Jiang

Furong is one of the greatest poets in Chinese history. Isn’t it normal for

Jiang Liu to be fond and love her? Besides, Jiang Furong is still the daughter

of Jiang Liu’s mentor. Without Jiang Shendao’s teaching, when all is said and

done, it might not even possible for Jiang Liu to accomplished anything.”

As Jiang Liu’s

fans and Jiang Furong’s fans began to fight, Professor Guan finally arrived

after the bell rang.

“Today we

going to talk about the Jin Dynasty’s history, I think everyone familiar with

who we are going to discuss today.”

This head of the

archaeology department was

obviously a very casual person, with a mug in her hand and no lessons plan at

all.

“First of

all, let’s talk about the Jin Dynasty’s poet-girl Jiang Furong. She was also

the first director of Fu Liu Academy. She is the representative poets of the

Wanyue style. We have learned about her poetry when we started to learn in

primary school. I do not want to talk much about it so today we are going to

discuss something interesting. Now you tell me, what does this poet look like

in the end? “

Guan Daniu did not

play cards according to common sense. She did not speak about any textbook

knowledge but instead talked about the appearance of the poet.

“This

classmate, you speak.”

The person who had

been called happened to be Jiang Furong’s fan.

“Naturally

she is beautiful. “

She blurted out

her word spontaneously. However, her answer was not without thinking as it was

supported by a lot of historical evidence.

For example, in

Jiang Shendao’s autobiography, of course, this was not written by Jiang Shendao,

but by his grandson, which was Jiang Furong’s son. This son of hers grabbed the

Tanhua position during the Imperial examination when Emperor Jin Wen was 37

years old. The autobiography was written based on Jiang Shendao’s dictation and

his own understanding.

In this

autobiography, Jiang Shendao once described his daughter as “beautiful and

unparalleled.”

Furthermore, in

the [Historical annals] pertaining to Jiang Liu, it was recorded that every

morning he draw his wife’s eyebrows and then praise her with the sentence [

Furen is very beautiful]. These two people were Jiang Furong closest men so it

should note be false.

Besides, if Jiang

Furong is not beautiful, even if she is smart, it will be hard for her to

ensure that her husband will devote himself to her for a lifetime.

Professor Guan has no objection in regards to the

explanation given by this classmate.

He waved to the

classmate to sit down: “Yes, many historical records describe Jiang

Furong’s face, but in my opinion, Jiang Furong is likely to be a plain-looking

woman.” “

There was a

commotion in the classroom, but Professor Guan went on without stopping.

“First of

all, the record on the rise and fall of the Fu Liu Academy, [The History of Fu

Liu] has briefly described the first director of the Fu Liu Academy. It was

recorded that her appearance was merely delicate and pretty. Many of Jiang

Furong’s poem also mentioned her appearance as only ordinary, although many

later scholars believed that this is merely Jiang Furong’s self-deprecating

words. However, I think that this may be the truth. “

“Of course,

this is my own opinion. You can choose not to believe it. Anyway, our research

on Jiang Furong is mainly on her poetry and her achievements in the history of

women’s education which is also enough to make people ignore her

appearance.”

Guan Daniu took a

sip from her mug and went on: “Let’s discuss the famous and well-known

woman’s friend in our history- Jiang Liu.”

“Hahaha.

“

“Pfft.”

“

Because of this

women’s friend remark, the students in the class were laughing out loud.

However, when they thought about it carefully, Professor Guan’s description was

not wrong. Jiang Liu was most famous for his widow reform and he also founded

the women’s college. Due to his initiatives, it greatly improved the status of

women in the Jin Dynasty. Therefore, to call his Friend of women was not too

much.

“I don’t need to elaborate on his achievement. In addition to him being so thriving and formidable, he and his wife Jiang Furong has a total of three sons. Two of them are like their fathers and were the champion of the Imperial examination. Even the worst of the bunch managed to grab the Tanhua. It was said that when the Jiang Liu’s youngest son result was revealed, Jiang Liu’s father-in-law, Jiang Shendao was crying in front of his colleague. For this, we can see the importance of education in this family.”

[T/N: Good for you Jiang Shendao! Finally got your flower lol. I somehow could imagine Jiang Liu saying to his son, (Son, you must get the flower, don’t be like your useless brothers) lol]

If you constantly

comparing yourself, it will only make you feel angry. However, for this family,

everyone was happy even when the youngest son only managed to get a Tanhua. So

much that Jiang Shendao needed up weeping.

Also, he himself

was a champion, his only disciple is also a champion, even his two grandsons a champion. But when one ended up as a Tanhua, if it

was another person, obviously they will become angry right?

“But fortunately this grandson was not someone

who drowned in flattery. He was the one wrote a personal biography for his

grandfather, and it was rumoured that, among many grandchildren, the most

beloved grandson of him was Jiang Gelou who only managed to get Tanhua in the

Imperial examination”

Guan Daniu flow of speech was so persuasive even when she did not have any direction. However, due to her humorous and interesting teaching contents, she will talk about many unknown unofficial histories or more obscure historical records that make the students so engrossed that they could not wake up from the world she described until the next bell rang.

“Okay,

today’s lesson end here, the next lesson we will discuss the contribution of

the ancient warrior for women’s rights to the equality between men and

women.”

The class was

over, and the tea in the Guan Daniu’s mug was nearly empty.

As the student

leaves the class in two or three, only the four characters

written on the blackboard behind Guan Daniu were still looking conspicuous:

equality between men and women.

*****

Since leaving the

previous world, Jiang Liu has received a total of 94 people’s sincere

gratitude. In addition to the completed task, he received a total of 2000

points. Added up with the 8400 point that he saved from the previous world he

now has a total of 15,300 points remaining.

“Only 94

people truly grateful?” “

The extra points

were much smaller than he expected.

“That’s

because the impact of your initiatives really came into play after many years

of these initiatives were initiated. As soon as you leave the world, even if

someone else was genuinely grateful to you, it won’t be recorded.”

001 patiently

explained: “Furthermore, do you think those extra points are so easy to

get? If it was only simple gratitude, for each extra 50 points, you can simply

throw money on the ground to make tens of millions of points in a single world.

The judgment for real gratitude is very strict. In general, only those who

regard you as a saviour and believe you as if you were their god will create

those 50 points of gratitude. “

The explanation

done by 001 solved the persistent doubts that had bothered Jiang Liu for a long

time. For him now, the point is the second things. The utmost important is to enjoy life

in every world which in his opinion are more interesting.

“Let’s start

the next task.”

Jiang Liu decided not to rest for long as he can’t wait to go to the next

world.

A few seconds

later, Jiang Liu started to sway and he appeared in the next world.

*****

“Dad,

Yueliang is going to tell you a little secret. “

When Jiang Lu

appeared in the next world, there was a seven- or eight-year-old girl standing

in front of him, dressed in a white shirt and knee-length grey plaid pleated

skirt that looked like a uniform issued by the school.

The little girl’s

cheeks were bulging as she laughs. There is also a pair of lovely little

dimples on her cheek. Her eyes round and bright and with a delicate pigtail,

she truly looks like a doll.

Jiang Lu suddenly

struck with the thought

that his children Xiaoming and Xingxing from the first world. Yueliang and

Xingxing really looked like a pair.

For a moment,

Jiang Liu’s heart softened

He crouched down,

put his ears to the little girl’s mouth, and made an obedient and respectful

gesture.

“Last night

Yueliang had a dream. Inside that dream, Yueliang is a fairy in the sky.

However, because I know that my father is very lonely, so I had come down to

accompany my father. And if dad is not good to Yueliang then Yueliang will fly

back to the sky.” “

The little girl

stuck out her chest and said with a little pride.

“Really, then

dad will be very good to Yueliang and strive to let my fairy to accompany dad

for life.”

Jiang Liu made a

surprised expression as he cooperatively played along.

“Hehehe!”

“

The little girl

was amused by her father: “Today I will go to school with Doudou, dad has

to wait for Yueliang to go come back home okay.”

The little girl

kissed Jiang Liu on his cheek and then ran out to the door of the house. She then waved a

Jiang Liu before leaving the afterimage of her braid.

What a lovely

little girl!

Jiang Liu can’t

wait to receive the memories and tasks of the world.

Ten minutes later,

he was sweating coldly as he rushed out of the house with a pale face

He hopes that it is not too late.

The author has something to say: There’s another chapter about 10:30.

T/N: Author. Not

me.

About the fourth arc. There might be a trigger that made people uncomfortable with it. This arc also the arc that nearly made me give up ever translating this novel. But I think this arc is very good as a precautionary and PSA type of story. If you are uncomfortable with some aspect of this arc, please skip it.

Trigger warning: Paedophile, Victim-shaming, Revenge on the abuser, Cyber-bullying.

This website is supported by the ads revenue. You do not need to click on any. I appreciated if you could turn off ads-block for this site. If you like things that I translate, do consider fuel me up with lots of bubble tea to pump me up |▽//)ゝ