Chapter 48 Living and Working in Peace and Contentment

We women simply want to find a man we can depend on. Why is it so hard?
Besides—I—think that!—Actually—"
Chen Fan felt a wave of satisfaction, realizing that Wang Shiyu was actually feeling secretly jealous!
"Then do you think you can depend on me?"
Chen Fan shot the question straight at her, without beating around the bush.
Wang Shiyu froze. What kind of remark was that?
Why wasn't he playing by the rules?
The truth was, the thought of Chen Fan not caring exclusively about her made Wang Shiyu furious! She only wanted Chen Fan to treat her and her alone well.
She had been unhappy upon learning that Chen Fan already had two wives.
Yet, she was the one who had married him later; she was the newcomer.
Naturally, she had to consider their feelings as well.
However, Chen Fan had traveled alone to Wang Family Village not merely to mobilize them for the autumn harvest.
He was also investigating the cases of missing women, keeping other women on his mind.
She could not accept this, even though Chen Fan had readily agreed to marry her and treated her with great affection.
If Chen Fan treated every woman well, was his treatment of her merely out of a sense of duty?
Did Chen Fan not love her as much as she thought?
Therefore, despite her usually emotionally stable nature, she had suddenly begun to ramble.
She knew these words did not need to be spoken aloud; everyone understood them implicitly.
Some things had to remain unsaid, for voicing them would only cause embarrassment for everyone.
She was a woman who understood the bigger picture! Why had she lost her composure?
"My lord is naturally someone one can depend upon, but that is not what I care about.
I just feel that those sisters are so pitiful! Who knows if they are safe right now!
Can the Great Zhou not put an end to such things?
Why must women be assigned to men?
Every woman has someone she loves; why should they be unable to marry the one they desire, only for the government to forcibly arrange their matches?
Could they not be given a little time to pursue the ones in their hearts?
Why can women not have a choice of their own?
Why must women be at the mercy of circumstances beyond their control?"
"Stop! Stop! Stop!"
Chen Fan shouted in response to Wang Shiyu.
"Why are good men in this world so few? Why are men unwilling to cherish their wives?
Even if they might not fancy those women, the women of the Great Zhou I have seen have never done anything to wrong them!"
"STOP! STOP! STOP!"
"I have learned that in other villages, it is the women who do all the heavy labor, and it is even more so in the county seat!"
"STOP! STOP! STOP!"
"For the sake of survival, even if they harbor no affection for their husbands in their hearts, these women still treat their husbands well!"
Wang Shiyu grew increasingly emotional, her voice rising higher and higher.
"Stop, stop, stop!"
"It's unfair! It's unfair! It's—un—*cough, cough, cough*—"
Having raised her voice too high, Wang Shiyu choked on her own breath.
She stood there coughing.
Chen Fan gathered her into his embrace.
Once her throat cleared a bit, she raised her head to look at Chen Fan, her eyes shining with light—the light of tears.
Remaining silent, she stared fixedly at Chen Fan, waiting for an answer.
Chen Fan did not know if voicing the long-contemplated and constantly evolving answers in his heart would make Wang Shiyu accept him, nor did he know if she could understand them.
Even less did he know if the subjects of the Great Zhou could comprehend them.
He hesitated over whether he should speak or remain silent.
He kissed Wang Shiyu, a deep kiss that did not pull away.
Wang Shiyu looked at him, refusing to close her eyes, showing no sign of weakness.
She was unwilling to let herself sink into the gentleness of Chen Fan simply because she loved him.
For this was a question she had pondered ever since she had learned to read, a knot she could never untangle.
She knew that if she let the matter drop simply because Chen Fan kissed her now, she might never get an answer in the future.
Perhaps Chen Fan himself had no answer, but even without an answer, he had to tell her so.
Even no answer was an answer. With wide-open eyes, she tried to push away his body pressed tightly against hers.
This was her final, stubborn protest.
Sensing that Chen Fan remained oblivious to her resistance—since he still refused to part his lips—she bit down on his mouth.
Chen Fan had known all along that she was desperate for an answer.
Enduring the pain, he gazed at her tear-filled, glistening eyes.
"Damn it! Your biting doesn't hurt at all; it just drives me crazy!
It's stirring up all this unwanted fire."
Chen Fan pushed her back slightly and answered her question.
Not knowing how else to put it, he decided to speak the plain truth, regardless of whether she could comprehend his words or not.
"Do you know? This world has never been fair.
Since ancient times, the common people have suffered under the oppression of nobles, living lives of hardship from cradle to grave.
They sustain princes and generals, yet remain nameless themselves, leaving behind nothing more than mounds of yellow earth.
For their own interests, the nobles impose heavy taxes and extortions!
The common people fight bitterly, risking their lives to defend the country, yet it changes nothing about their destinies.
Most of them remain mired in poverty, without titles of nobility, unable to pass down any ancestral blessings to their children.
Generation after generation, their descendants are bound to the plow.
Is this fair? Do they have a choice?
The successive monarchs of the Great Zhou have always held the people in their hearts, rewarding agriculture and military service.
They abolished the feudal system, sparing the realm from the endless miseries of war.
Even the institution of slavery was eradicated.
Every subject born within the Great Zhou is bestowed the rank of baron.
Men and women are no longer addressed by traditional humbled terms, but simply as men and women. Is this not treating all commoners equally?
True, the monarchs of the Great Zhou have fought to the death against barbarian tribes, suffering heavy casualties and sacrificing countless subjects.
Yet, those who died in battle for the Great Zhou have always been men! The Great Zhou has never once forced a woman to bear arms, nor made any woman face the enemy's blade.
Is this not considering the plight of women?
Granted, the national strength of the Great Zhou is currently in decline.
Yet the sovereign of the Great Zhou strives solely to protect the borders and secure the people!
If the barbarian cavalry were to breach the northern frontier and sweep southward, the sea of blood and deep-seated enmity between us and the barbarians would only result in their blades falling upon every single subject of the Great Zhou.
By then, we would truly never see the light of day.
Therefore, do not doubt the imperial court of the Great Zhou; support it, for the rise and fall of the realm is the responsibility of every ordinary citizen!
That is why I serve as an official of the Great Zhou! That is why I labor for the people of the Great Zhou.
This is the duty I must shoulder the moment I put on these official robes.
Once the northern barbarians are subdued, forced to bow their heads as vassals and cease their southern raids, can we not finally rest and recuperate?
When the national power of the Great Zhou reached its zenith, no foreign state dared to invade us.
In those days, the Great Zhou dedicated itself to developing people's livelihoods.
Under the prosperous era of the Guan-Yuan reign, the common folk lived in peace and contentment, men could marry the women they cherished, and women could pursue the ones they adored! In those times, a couple remained devoted to each other for a lifetime.
But today, the population of the Great Zhou is withered; how can we resist the enemy?
When the people lack sufficient food and clothing—yet the Great Zhou still refuses to send women onto the front lines of battle—what choice remains?
To ensure the survival and continuation of the nation, the state must arrange marriages to foster population growth.
If the Great Zhou were to lose every single one of its subjects, would the Great Zhou still be the Great Zhou?
We are the subjects of the Great Zhou! The land upon which we live is the territory of the Great Zhou!
We must guard it with our lives!
As for romantic love, I do not know how to explain it.
But I know this: as long as we officials manage the country well, the common people will have the luxury of romance!"