Yun Chuhuan flipped open the wooden box and held it out for Yun Shu to see.
"This is my congratulatory gift. If Crown Prince Royal Brother and Side Consort Shen find it useful, they may use it to store a few trinkets."
Yun Shu paused.
How brilliant.
He truly lived up to her expectations—no, exceeded them in sheer perfunctory flair.
Clicking her tongue softly, Yun Shu raised her thumb in admiration.
"Not bad. This box can hold broken silver or some hairpins and trinkets. Both the Crown Prince and Side Consort Shen will surely have use for it. You've clearly put great thought into it."
"Naturally," Yun Chuhuan replied, smugly snapping the lid shut. "I personally chopped the wood with an axe just yesterday and spent half the day carving it with a small blade."
An axe, a carving knife, and Yun Chuhuan—eight years old.
No wonder the box looked uniquely hideous.
Yun Shu raised her fist lightly to her lips to conceal the smile she could not quite suppress. She turned her head and lifted the curtain hanging over the carriage window, just in time to catch the lively chatter of commoners outside—discussing the very topic she had most wished to hear about.
"Tiezhu! Tiezhu, wait up. I need to ask you something. Have you heard about the new commercial tax?"
"The new tax decree from the court, right? There's an officer by the city gate reading it aloud nonstop."
The man named Tiezhu, carrying two baskets of chickens and ducks, turned his head at the sound of his name.
"Doesn't have anything to do with us farmers selling a few birds and eggs for copper coins. It's for merchants—they're being told to go register with the authorities."
"No, no, that's wrong—it's not the authorities, it's the Capital Merchants' Association!"
The first speaker, upon hearing this mistake, chuckled and rushed to correct him.
"And it has everything to do with us farmers, too!"
"What do you mean?"
Tiezhu stopped in his tracks. The sun had darkened his face to a deep bronze, but there was a flicker of unease in his expression.
"Don't tell me the court is going to start taxing the few coins we scrape together?"
"What? We rely on that money just to get by!"
Others in the crowd, also unclear on the details of the new tax, gathered quickly around them after hearing Tiezhu's loud concern.
"The court is taxing even us now? Do we all have to register with that association thing too?"
"No, no, it's not like that!" the first man said, seeing that panic was spreading. He hurried to explain.
"What I meant is, it affects us because once the new tax goes into effect, all those noble clans who've been profiting by seizing farmers' land will now have to pay the court for that income.
The more they seize, the more they must hand over.
So tell me—if those families can no longer profit from taking our land, won't they be less inclined to steal it in the first place?"
"That's right!"
Tiezhu caught on immediately.
"Why bother with something that brings only trouble and no gain? Is this news reliable? I passed the city gate yesterday but didn't hear the officer reading anything like that."
"It wasn't on the imperial bulletin. It was written in the Capital Weekly by none other than Princess Sheng An herself."
Another passerby, overhearing the conversation, chimed in helpfully.
"I heard she even took up office. She's now the Head of the Merchants' Association!"
"Princess Sheng An? But… she's a woman!"
That news sent a greater ripple of surprise through the crowd than the tax announcement had.
"A woman can hold office?"
"What kind of talk is that?"
This time, the rebuttal came from an unexpected source—Tiezhu himself.
He stood tall among the gathered townsfolk, his voice booming like a drum.
"Our Tian Sheng Dynasty once had a female sovereign—why shouldn't we have female officials too?
Princess Sheng An has done so much for us common folk.
My boy can go to school now. My wife has a job at the Tian Waitian Restaurant. We no longer worry about our land being stolen.
All these blessings—every last one—came from Princess Sheng An!
I, Li Tiezhu, don't understand much about the ways of the world. But I know this: Princess Sheng An has shown us great kindness.
If she wants to be an official, I'll be the first to support her!"
"That's right! What does it matter if they're a man or a woman? What matters is whether they govern well!"
Thanks to Yun Shu's months-long effort through the Capital Weekly to reshape public opinion—instilling the idea that "women can hold up half the sky"—and all the tangible benefits she had delivered, the people were more than ready to accept the news of her appointment.
The simple, heartfelt praise from the crowd left Yun Chuhuan stunned, his eyes nearly glassy.
"This is incredible. Fifth Sister, you told me before that nearly all the court officials opposed your entry into government. But from what I see, not a single person here is against it!"
"Officials and commoners are not the same."
Yun Shu nudged his head out of her way and pointed toward a young scholar walking nearby.
"Want to place a wager?"
"A wager? On what?"
The penniless Sixth Prince perked up at once, suddenly energized.
"Are we betting silver?"
"Silver works."
Yun Shu nodded.
"One hundred taels. I wager that scholar is one of those who oppose me."
"Then I'll bet he isn't!"
Afraid Yun Shu might change her mind, Yun Chuhuan agreed on the spot, eyes dancing with excitement.
"But Fifth Sister, didn't you just say that officials and commoners are different? That scholar is a commoner!
And you've introduced cheap paper, feather pens, and printing—all of which benefit him. I don't believe for a second that he'd oppose you!"
"You ignorant brutes!"
Just as Yun Chuhuan finished his declaration, the scholar reached the edge of the crowd, his face flushed with righteous fury.
"What do you mean, it doesn't matter if an official is male or female?
Men and women have their roles—men should strive for achievement and provide for the family, women should bear children and tend to the household. That is the natural order!
It has always been so!
Today, Princess Sheng An is allowed into the court. Tomorrow, will women be sitting for the imperial examination?
A woman, mixing among men in the court—fine, she may be a princess, with her lofty status.
But what of common women? If they behave this way, who would dare marry them?
It is preposterous! Absolutely preposterous!"
"You're the preposterous one!"
The slap came swiftly—along with the loss of one hundred taels. Worse still, Yun Chuhuan now owed Yun Shu an extra hundred.
He stuck his head out the carriage window, hollering in outrage.
"What's wrong with women taking the exams? What's wrong with women holding office?
You're just afraid you'll lose to them, aren't you?
With how useless you are, even without women in the exam halls, you still wouldn't pass!
'Men and women each have their roles'? If that's the case, yours should be digging a pit and staying in it!"
===
"Preposterous" means something that is completely ridiculous, absurd, or unreasonable—so much so that it's almost laughable.