In the four occupations, the farmer was ranked second, just below the warrior nobles and the gentry scholar.
When the kingdom was founded, the warrior noble was slightly higher than the scholar, even though both ranked first in the occupations class, because the warrior noble had a higher family background.
But after the late emperor ascended to the throne, he slowly diminished the power of the warrior nobles and raised the gentry scholars' position. Because of this, the nobles now pursued scholarly virtue and deemed warriors as rough and uncultured.
After the warrior and scholar, the next rank was the peasant farmer, followed by artisans and merchants, and the last was merchants and traders.
Therefore, even if she wanted to earn a lot of money, Yao Zhi couldn't become a merchant. Otherwise, she would bring shame to her husband and might hinder his official career.
