However, due to his upbringing, even though Chen Wenwei sincerely wanted to achieve something, there was still a hint of caution in his words. After Xi'er told him everything in detail, he fell into a long silence.
Perhaps unable to bear the hope in Xi'er's weary eyes, Chen Wenwei finally nodded and promised, "I will definitely arrange this matter and get to the bottom of it. But it's been a long time since your son drowned. From what you said, many people in your village testified that it was Qiangzi who fell into the pond by himself..."
Actually, a child under two years old needs constant care. If an adult is negligent, it's easy for the child to fall into the water.
Xi'er was heart - broken and asked repeatedly, "Is there really no way to punish that adulterous couple for their evil deeds?"
Chen Wenwei didn't dare to say more to her. He reluctantly agreed and said that it was time for him to leave.
Shen Yuning accompanied Chen Wenwei all the way out of the town. They sat facing each other in the carriage, but they were not as at ease as they were in the inner room of the embroidery workshop just now. They just sat in silence.
After a long while, Shen Yuning said, "Your Honor is the magistrate of Yun County. Although I know it's complicated to investigate these matters, there are thousands of people like Xi'er. We must solve this problem all at once. Otherwise, our determination will fade away, and in the end, we'll have to let it go."
Chen Wenwei and Shen Yuning had known each other since childhood. He knew that she was smart and articulate since childhood, even more so than many young men. So he put aside his airs as a county magistrate and sighed, "My dear sister, you don't know. When I first came here, seeing the hard - life of the common people, I visited many mountain villages and fishing ports day and night. I compiled case files and submitted memorials to the higher - ups. I never gave up even though my efforts were in vain many times. But..."
"But making Yun County prosperous is not only your wish but also the wish of the common people. With everyone's unity and your ability and courage, you can overcome all difficulties. However, cases like Xi'er's are different. The victims are often people that the common people don't care much about. Instead of unity, there are those pedantic village elders and clan relatives who come out to stop us. Maybe even Your Honor doesn't know how to proceed."
Seeing that Shen Yuning had hit the nail on the head, Chen Wenwei quickly nodded and said, "My dear sister is right. This matter needs long - term consideration."
As a county magistrate, he had countless affairs to attend to. It was already very difficult for him to spare time to visit this childhood friend. Moreover, considering the priority of things, there always seemed to be other matters more urgent than Xi'er's case.
Shen Yuning looked up at the peddlers coming and going on the street. Everyone was hurrying forward. This place was much better than Shenjiapo, but it was still full of problems. At the beginning of this year, the emperor praised Yun County in Ling City. If women in this exemplary place were so miserable, what about those in other places?
She turned back and looked Chen Wenwei in the eye and said, "Does Your Honor still remember what the young master of the Xue family said once? I was young then and thought he was overreacting. Now I realize that he was telling the truth. For those in high positions, conscience and benevolence are the most important. The weak rely on the strong, but the strong also rely on the weak. If the Great Zhou can't treat women and children well, how is it different from barbarians?"
Chen Wenwei also looked up at her. He saw that her eyes were firm. Even when talking about her former elder brother, she only used a respectful title and showed no sign of sadness.
Shen Yuning smiled slightly and said, "Your Honor, I'm not threatening you. You have so many affairs to deal with. It's normal that you can't take care of everyone at once. Your willingness to support my small embroidery workshop is already the greatest help to me."
Chen Wenwei was surprised and asked, "Sister Yuning, do you mean you don't just want to open one embroidery workshop?"
Shen Yuning nodded and said, "Once the emperor joked that I'm different from ordinary delicate girls. They are like vines, delicate and pitiful, but I'm a sunflower, very stubborn. A sunflower is stubborn, but it has better qualities, such as endless vitality and perseverance. That's who I am."
It was when Yuning was ten years old. At a palace banquet, she had a dispute with a princess. Even though the other party was a princess, she was not afraid and argued with her. The emperor, who was passing by with the court officials, heard this and made this comment.
Chen Wenwei didn't quite understand, but he could feel her determination. If he didn't do it, she would try her best.
"Sister Yuning, now you're no longer the daughter of a marquis. And it's not good for your reputation for a girl to deal with such things. This matter..."
"Your Honor misunderstood." Shen Yuning still smiled, "Your Honor, I'm not going to interfere in Xi'er's matter. But it's not that I'm afraid of my reputation. As you said, I'm no longer the daughter of a marquis, so I don't have to worry about disgracing the reputation of the Xue family. Instead, Xi'er's case is too common. With my current ability, how can I solve it? However, the reason why I'm determined to open my own embroidery workshop instead of working as an embroiderer in someone else's house is that one day in the future, I hope to have the ability to speak up for the weak."
Chen Wenwei asked, "How are you going to speak up for them?"
Shen Yuning shook her head and said, "I don't have enough ability for now. I can only do my best to make the embroidery workshop bigger and stronger. Wherever my Shen's Embroidery Workshop goes, I'll go from street to street and let everyone know that according to the laws of the Great Zhou, buying and selling wives and children is a crime. Even if I can't do much, I'll try my best to save those women in distress."
Chen Wenwei knew that she was telling the truth and was doing it. She knew how to influence people subtly. These days, when she recruited embroiderers, she was actually observing the people's conditions and publicizing that buying and selling women and children was a crime.
By now, they had arrived outside Xitian Town. Shen Yuning jumped off the carriage and waved goodbye to Chen Wenwei with a smile.
Chen Wenwei looked at Shen Yuning. She was just a bit older than before, but he felt that she had changed a lot. It was not just her simple dressing. More importantly, there was less arrogance and more boldness on her face.
The clerk who accompanied him asked at this time, "Your Honor, are you really going to handle this matter for this girl?"
Just then, a young man driving an ox - cart passed by. He smiled at Shen Yuning, helped her onto the ox - cart, and they drove away chatting and laughing.
Chen Wenwei shook his head and said, "No, I'm not going to do this for her. I'm going to do it for the women and children in Yun County."
In winter, there was finally a result for Xi'er's family matter.
The reformed prostitute that Xi'er's late husband remarried was not only from an underground brothel but also forced good women into prostitution before. She trained a group of innocent young girls. But she was also a victim. Because of her involvement in these things, she got some status. Unable to bear the torment of those rough men, she begged the master to let her go.
This kind of underground brothel was not a formal entertainment house. There was no so - called low - status register, and many girls were even unregistered. No one knew where they came from. Moreover, most of the girls in it didn't live past twenty - five and were tortured to death.
The magistrate of Yun County took bold measures to ban all the underground brothels in the county. The difficulties were needless to say. Just the fact that the magistrate's mansion was attacked several times and he almost lost his life was amazing.
But Chen Wenwei was not an ordinary inexperienced person. Influenced since childhood, having read a large number of case files, and with so much experience, he was naturally on guard. So he was only scared a few times. Instead, he found a breakthrough and traced back to the mastermind.
The mastermind was a collusion between officials and merchants. A family of a junior official in Ling City, in cooperation with the deputy magistrate of Yun County, committed such heinous crimes. After the incident was exposed, their families were raided and they were sentenced.
However, when Chen Wenwei held the written memorial to be submitted, his brow didn't relax at all. Although the investigation of this matter ended here, he knew that the implications were far more than that. Many former magistrates of Yun County had died. Those who survived might have found backers and been promoted.
This kind of thing was not an isolated case in Yun County. He was lucky to be unharmed because he was from the Chen family. But in the future, whether to continue moving forward bravely or to play it safe, he had no idea at all.
Chen Wenwei held the letters from his father and elder brother in his hand. They both advised him to consider the overall situation. The forces in the court were complex. As a young man just in his twenties, how much could he change? His father even meant that his step - mother had found a good marriage for him. He just needed to wait until his three - year term was over, return to the capital, get a promotion, marry, and live a stable life.
The scene of parting with Shen Yuning that day flashed through his mind. He gritted his teeth but didn't dare to pick up the pen to reply. If he just filled in a line in his resume like other noble young men during his three - year stay in Yun County to get a legitimate official position, what was the purpose of his hard work since childhood?
Should he abandon all his childhood ambitions when he grew up?
At the same time, everyone in Shen's Embroidery Workshop was extremely happy. Xi'er's late husband had originally refused to admit that he had killed his own son. Later, his weak - willed mother, who only knew how to work hard all day, couldn't bear the pressure and voluntarily reported that her son had been bewitched by the reformed prostitute. He believed her nonsense that Qiangzi was not his own son but the son of Xi'er and the young master of the family where she used to work.
Xi'er's late husband was rather vulgar in appearance, while Qiangzi was cute and good - looking since childhood. This made Xi'er's late husband have a bad thought. After getting drunk one day, he even had the intention to kill his son.
So, Xi'er's late husband's family all received due punishment. Xi'er's late husband was sentenced to be beheaded immediately for harming his own son, and the reformed prostitute had already been imprisoned for abetting young girls.
After Xi'er knew the whole truth, she neither cried nor made a fuss. She was in a daze for two whole days. Then she wiped away her tears, burned Qiangzi's swaddling clothes, and never mentioned this matter again.
Xi'er's elder brother came to see her and said that he had been stupid and didn't stand up for his sister at that time. But Xi'er said that he should just think of her as dead. Her elder brother didn't agree at first. Xi'er simply took out a roll of white silk and asked her elder brother if he wanted her corpse. This scared her elder brother and he didn't dare to make trouble anymore.
Later, Xi'er wanted to sign a body - contract and sell herself to the embroidery workshop like Miss Cen. Finally, Shen Yuning made the decision to accept her body - contract and promised that if a suitable opportunity came in the future, she would return the body - contract to her so that she could remarry and start a new life.
In this regard, Xi'er and Miss Cen were the same. After spitting out the words "all men are dirty" coldly, they laughed heartily.
Xuanzhi was a bit confused when he heard their words. He came up to Shen Yuning and said, "Sister, I don't think I'm a dirty person. But being included in the category of men by them, I'm really not convinced."
Shen Yuning was calm and said, "They have suffered from men. Just look, a man as honest as my second brother is regarded as an excellent man. It shows how pitiful the women in the world are."
She reached out and rubbed Xuanzhi's head and said with a smile, "Xuanzhi will be fourteen after the New Year. You're a big boy now. You must remember in the future that although it's right for a man to support a family, more importantly, he must be responsible for his wife and family."
Xuanzhi laughed傻傻ly. He was still young and had unfinished wishes. How could he have a wife so early?