Scum Man Cannot Redeem Himself - chapter 48

“Daughter’s Sutra” was an enlightenment book for girls. Generally, women who hadn’t gone to school could recite a few sentences. But it was generally limited to the first few sentences, Ning Qing could only remember some part at the start and the rest was forgotten in years.

Ning Qing sighed, “Mr. Mu, I remember some of the part at the start and I forgot the last part. Why don’t you test my ‘Female Commandments’ knowledge, I can recite anything you want.”

Mr. Mu said, “Then I will listen to it.”

Ning Qing smiled confidently, and secretly said in her heart that she copied it a few hundred times.

She cleared her throat, “Humility first, on the third day after the birth of a girl, the ancients observe three customs. First to place the baby below the bed; second to give her a potsherd [a piece of broken pottery] to play; and third to announce her birth to her ancestors by an offering. Now to lay the baby below the bed plainly indicates that she is lowly and weak, and should regard it as her primary duty to be humble before others….”

She spoke fast, amazingly fast.

The others in the school were stunned.

“Let a woman be correct in manner and upright in character in order to serve her husband. Let her live in purity and quietness, and attend to her own affairs. Let her love not gossip and silly laughter. Let her cleanse and purify and arrange in order the wine and the food for the offerings to the ancestors. When a woman observes such principles as these, then she may be said to continue ancestral worship. No woman who observes these three fundamentals of life has ever had a bad reputation or has fallen into disgrace. If a woman fails to observe them, how can her name be honored; how can she bring disgrace upon herself?”

Ning Qing finished it in one breath, and didn’t forget to glance at Hui Xian, proudly.

Of course, Hui Xian knew that she was often punished.

Mr. Mu nodded and touched his non-existent beard, “Good, good. Let’s talk about what you have read and share your thoughts.”

Thoughts, when it came to ideas, Ning Qing had a lot of them.

However, it was more of a problem that troubled Ning Qing. She wanted to take this opportunity to ask Mr. Mu, who knew everything.

“I have many thoughts, and there are many problems that I have never figured out.”

Mr. Mu knew that this girl was different. The other students answered questions according to the books.

So he nodded with interest. He wanted to see what questions the kid wanted to ask.

With Mr. Mu’s permission, Ning Qing said, “In this ‘Female Commandments’, the humbleness of women is written so naturally, I think that it is to solidify a female’s thought. Why can’t there be a female soldier in an upright way? Why can’t a woman take a test of her merits? Why can’t a woman be an Emperor? Why is the family inherited by a man? Why can a man marry a wife and get concubines? Why do the generations always carry a husband ’s surname? Why can’t women go to school? Why can’t women go visit the ancestral hall? ”

Li Shuangshuang stood up suddenly frightening Ning Qing. She interrupted Ning Qing’s words and gave her a contemptuous glance, “Because we are women, men and women are different. Men are strong, women are soft. Men are Yang, women are Yin. This is a heavenly order and it cannot be violated. This has been true for thousands of years. Do you want to violate the ancestors rules? I don’t know why you could even have such a disagreeable thought. Do you want to be different, or do you feel that us women should compete with men? “

Li Shuangshuang’s answer was the mainstream idea. Although the following two sentences were somewhat biased, Ning Qing felt that they were all personal opinions which she didn’t agree with.

Ning Qing replied, “Why can’t women compete with men? We got the same two arms, two legs, two eyes, one mouth. We have no difference except for a little strength? Moreover, there are small differences. You can gain strength later by practicing!”

“Don’t say that this has been the case since thousands of years. These rules are set by people. Since the rules are set by people, they can be changed. The good rules set by our ancestors must be preserved and the bad ones discarded.”

“And why do people have to be divided? Didn’t our ancestor say that all beings are equal? Why are they contradictory?”

Li Shuangshuang was dumbfounded when questioned by Ning Qing. She was so angry that she was challenged by a little merchant’s daughter.

Mr. Mu asked Li Shuangshuang to sit down and looked at Hui Xian again,”What do you think of Ning Qing’s question?”

Hui Xian stood up, looked at Ning Qing, and said softly, “Mr.Mu, Men respect women, women follow four virtues, male lead outside world, female lead inside world. From the record, the mother taught me like this, so I followed it always thinking that a woman should live like this. In the past, I felt very puzzled about Ning Qing ’s behavior, and it was only because of her temperament. But listening to Ning Qing ’s words today, I feel it was a bit reasonable and I am confused. “

Mr. Mu motioned to Hui Xian to sit down.

Hui Xian was relieved, and didn’t know how she answered? How would Chen Zhongyi view her remarks?

Chen Jili at the back stood up, “Sir, I want to say a few words,” his tone was unquestionable.

Chen Jili?

Ning Qing looked back at him wondering what he was going to say.

Mr. Mu said, “Please speak.”

Chen Jili said, “Of course there are differences between men and women, but they are complementary. For example, Ning Qing talked about strength. Men have great strength and naturally engage in more physical work. Women are delicate and naturally engage in relatively easy work. In the students’ eyes, there is no difference.”

“Another example of why families follow the surname of the man. It’s to preserve the surname and inherit the blood. You have a surname. Even after thousands of years, we can still know where we came from by the surname.”

“Whoever has the ability to change this rule could change it greatly. But if one doesn’t, they could only follow the mainstream thinking, so that people don’t feel strange.”

“Who doesn’t want to obey the living law of the heart? If there are no rules, people would behave waywardly. Simply put, the rules are to restrain those who don’t want to abide by the rules.”

Chen Jili leaned forward and whispered to Ning Qing, “Most of these rules set by the ancestors are for regulating bad girls like you who are not disciplined.”

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