Rebirth of the Ming Dynasty: Sixth Generation of Glory, I don't want it

Ming Dynasty, June of the 31st year of Hongwu.

Xiaode Palace.

It was a sunny June in Peking, illuminating the originally dim palace.

Xu and a group of palace maids and maids sat on the carpet and played bowling with Zhu Zhanji.

The original colorful balls were specially sewn by Xu, and they were brightly colored. At Zhu Zhanji's age, he liked colorful things the most.

He could push while lying on the ground, carry while crawling, and even stand up and kick, using his hands and feet together, and he could have fun by himself and laugh out loud.

Because of mourning, the colored balls were changed to black and white balls, which Zhu Zhanji was a little unhappy about.

Xu could only gather a bunch of people to play with him, tease him, and only then could she arouse the little fat boy's interest.

When the group of people were having fun, Zhang Xin lifted the curtain and entered the room.

As soon as he saw Zhang Xin, Zhu Zhanji immediately threw the ball away and rolled into Zhang Xin's arms.

"Humph, after raising you for so long, mother is still the closest to you, right?"

Xu pouted.

"Yes, mother is the dearest!!!"

Zhang Xin smiled and rushed over to hug Xu tightly, imitating Zhu Zhanji's way of rolling around in Xu's arms, and she did it without any sense of incongruity.

"Oh, my, my!!!"

As the only baby born in the Prince of Yan's Mansion in recent years, Zhu Zhanji has been the apple of everyone's eye since he was born. Xu's arms were his exclusive place. Now that his arms were occupied by his own mother, Zhu Zhanji cried out in anxiety.

Unable to call his mother, Zhu Zhanji simply occupied Xu's side and refused to let go.

It was not the first time that Xu accepted her daughter-in-law's embrace. She shouted:

"Zhang Dahua!!! How old are you!"

"Mom, I'm eight years old!!!"

Zhang Xin's face is thicker than the city wall.

"Tsk tsk tsk, I've never seen a daughter-in-law like you!!! Get out of here, you're sweating all over! Tell me, you're so flattering, you must have done something bad again and you want me to take the blame!"

Xu was being held by a large and a small group and couldn't push them away, so she gave in.

Zhang Xin is well versed in the art of acting first and reporting later.

Since last year, Zhang Xin has shortened the hem of her skirt by two inches, and the maids and nannies who follow her in the palace have done the same.

Then I often go out wearing this kind of skirt that exposes my feet.

She would inspect her own dowry shop, stay at her farm where she grew tea and flowers, and attend banquets hosted by the officials and their wives in Yan.

Everyone knows that the Crown Prince's wife does not bind her feet, and even the servants in the palace do not bind their feet.

In the beginning, everyone was gossiping about it, but Zhang Xin didn't care about other people's opinions at all and insisted on doing so. She also clearly expressed her disapproval of foot binding at the banquet.

Over time, the skirts of people in Peking became shorter.

The daughters of officials were allowed to grow freely after their feet were bound.

This summer, I heard from Concubine Wu that there were more and more women from official families walking around in the city of Beiping.

Because women would buy this and that when they go out, many shops have started to employ female shopkeepers and waitresses.

All of a sudden, there were many more jobs recruiting female workers in the city of Peking.

It was obvious to the naked eye that the lives of ordinary people in the city of Peking were getting better day by day. Everyone had work to do, had extra income, and occasionally had some extra money to improve their food.

There are fewer fights and brawls that occur from time to time.

Xu only found out about this a while ago when she met the officials' wives in Yan area and was flattered to death because of her father-in-law's death.

When asked about it afterwards, Zhang Xin did not hide it and said that she did it on purpose.

Why should we bind healthy feet? To stop foot binding, we should start from Prince Yan’s Mansion.

Not only will I not pester you, I will also show off to you!

Women don’t necessarily have to stay at home. Some prefer quietness, while others prefer activity.

As the Crown Prince's consort, I am very active.

If you can accept it, accept it. If you can’t, then just hold it in.

Maybe what Zhang Xin did was taken for granted. When Zhu Gaochi had nothing to do, he would go out with Zhang Xin to appease all parties. People outside accepted it very quickly.

Everyone said that Xu had married a good daughter-in-law, and that Zhang Xin was a capable princess consort and that she and the prince were a perfect match.

After Xu let go, Zhang Xin really took charge of all the big and small matters in the Prince of Yan's Mansion.

Xu also accepted Zhang Xin's move, and even she herself shortened her skirt to support Zhang Xin.

She also couldn't have imagined that she could persuade others not to bind their feet in the same way as Zhang Xin.

The so-called "leading by example" still requires the superiors to lead by example and truly agree with it from the bottom of their hearts to be truly effective.

Before, neither her mother-in-law, Empress Ma, nor she herself had done well, and she obviously couldn't stand it, but she just let it go, which made the woman of the Ming Dynasty more and more trapped in her own difficulties.

Therefore, some things should be left to young and energetic people.

Now, no matter what Zhang Xin does, she doesn’t find it surprising and is rather curious.

"Hey, Mom, this matter is a bit serious--"

Zhang Xin took her hand back, held Zhu Zhanji's small fist, and without looking into Xu's eyes, made a finger-crossing gesture.

"Oh my God, please take this monster away. He is not eight years old. Eight months is more like eight months."

Xu held her forehead with her hand.

Zhu Xiaopang has a round face, and Zhang Xin's face is also round. The big head plus the small head is simply extremely powerful.

Looking at this daughter-in-law who claimed to be eight years old, Xu felt that it was only natural for her as a mother-in-law to be pushed around and then clean up Zhang Xin's mess.

"That can't be possible. At least it's a little bigger than our little fat pig."

Zhang Xin raised her little finger and laughed herself to the ground.

Xu couldn't help laughing.

Two adults and a little kid huddled together.

The people in the palace were laughing so hard seeing the mother-in-law, daughter-in-law and the little kid making so much noise that they couldn't stop. After a long while, they urged them to get up from the ground.

~~~

It was a hot day, and even with the ice pot, the room was only slightly cooler than outside.

When they got up from the ground, all three of them were sweating.

After changing clothes and washing again, Zhu Zhanji was taken to take a bath, and the two of them returned to the main room.

"Mom, look at this."

After they sat down, Zhang Xin presented Xu with the letter that Zhang Chang had sent back from Gunzhou Prefecture by express horse.

Xu's expression was quite relaxed at first, but as she read on, she straightened up and immediately slammed the table and said:

"Bixi, go to the government office and ask the prince to come back. Mammy, take Zhanji to the backyard, and Xin'er, follow me into the study."

Soon, Zhu Di came back.

Following behind was the monk Daoyan dressed in black.

Zhang Xin originally wanted to hide behind the screen in the study, but was stopped by Xu.

After the four people sat down, Zhang Xin explained the whole story, and everyone fell into silence.

But the silence lasted only a few breaths.

Zhu Di was the first to speak:

"How many people will be in the first batch?"

"It's estimated to be about thirty to fifty thousand."

Xu estimated a number.