As for the Empress coming to Xuanzheng Hall to participate in politics—they were mostly unable to persuade His Majesty otherwise. Moreover, looking at what just happened, it wasn’t without benefit to them. Why argue with His Majesty? It’s useless to struggle; better to save their energy for discussing other state matters.
This old official, however, could not let it go. He said in a deep voice: “Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Empress should not have appeared in the Xuanzheng Hall in the first place, and now she opens her mouth without authorization to interfere in state affairs—this truly does not conform to reason.”
As his words fell, the Xuanzheng Hall fell into silence once again.
This old official is really shameless, huh? Her Majesty the Empress had just helped out her fellow officials, yet he tears down the bridge after crossing the river—wasn’t it a little too fast?
Li Yue’s temper hadn’t even fully flared up yet, and now someone actually dared to bump into him right before his eyes. He immediately sat upright, ready to explain to this old official what exactly did or didn’t “conform to reason.”
Just as he was about to speak, Meng Fu beside him reached out and tightly held his hand. His Majesty turned his head to look at her, and Meng Fu shook her head.
Since she had already spoken, there was no reason to have Li Yue speak on her behalf again.
His Majesty puffed up like an angry pufferfish, but in the end, because of Meng Fu, he did not let out that breath of fire.
Meng Fu lowered her gaze, looking at this old official below the court whose hair and beard were already white. Everyone in the world knew that it was “against reason” for women to appear in the imperial court—but in this world, what exactly was reason? Who decided what was reason?
Men rectify their hearts, cultivate themselves, manage their families, and then can govern the country and bring peace to the world—why can’t women? Strictly speaking, in terms of managing the family, women actually work harder. But in reality, when women manage the household well, the credit is counted toward the man—it is said the man “married a good wife.”
Meng Fu smiled faintly and calmly asked: “Against reason? Against which reason? Lord Cao, how about you tell us.”
Lord Cao said coldly: “Confucius said: ‘As for women, they grow through obeying the teachings of men and thus cultivate reason. Therefore, they are not to exercise authority independently, but follow the Way of the Three Obediences. Their duties lie in serving wine and food only. There should be no unseemly conduct outside the inner chambers.’ Your Majesty the Empress, you only need to manage the inner palace—the affairs of the world are not something a woman should meddle in.”
[“Three Obediences” (三从): obey father before marriage, husband after marriage, and son after husband’s death.
“Inner chambers” (阃): traditional private space for women.]
“Born into this world, one is first a person, and then male or female. If we are all human, why must women be relegated to being mere appendages of men? Why must they be confined to the rear courtyard?” Meng Fu spoke neither quickly nor slowly, “It’s often said that the Way of the Gentleman (君子之道) is founded on benevolence. But if benevolence means loving others, and yet people are not loved equally—then even the words of the sages have flaws.”
Old Lord Cao only felt that Meng Fu was being deliberately argumentative. His face turned beet red, his eyes nearly bulged out, and he shouted: “Women are weak and lowly—it is fitting! This is the compassion of the sages!”
Li Yue, seeing him still daring to glare, glared back on behalf of Meng Fu. Lord Cao was startled and quickly lowered his head.
Meng Fu, however, was not angry. She smiled and said: “Then Lord Cao, you too were born of a woman. If women are weak and lowly, then what are you? The weakest of the weak?”
“How can you interpret it so recklessly!” Lord Cao was so angry his beard trembled. He continued, “The Su Shu says: ‘When women plead publicly, disorder arises.’ I’ve heard Your Majesty the Empress is learned and well-read—surely you understand the meaning of this phrase?”
[“Su Shu” (《素书》): an ancient text on governance and moral philosophy.]
“‘When women plead publicly, disorder arises’? But since ancient times, has the world ever truly lacked chaos? Were those in power all women? Were the subordinates of those in power all women too? Since they weren’t women, then why don’t we say—” Meng Fu paused, then said, “It is the meat-eaters [idiom referring to those in power, who ‘eat meat’ while the common people starve] who are muddled and lawless, bringing disaster to the people—what blame do women bear?”
“Zuo Zhuan says: ‘Who among men is without fault? If one can correct it, nothing is greater than goodness.’ Clearly, even sages make mistakes, and when they do, they correct them. So why must Lord Cao treat the words of sages as flawless scripture?” Meng Fu stood up, her gaze sweeping across the officials below, and with the same calm tone as before, asked,
“Moreover, from this day on, a thousand years hence—who will be deemed a sage, and who will be called a scoundrel? Who will make the judgment? The words of the sages today may in the future become words of folly and ignorance.”
The Empress’s voice was always calm, without any anger, like a broad river slowly flowing across the plains—still smooth even when it finally enters the sea. Lord Cao had served as an official in court for decades, enduring the wrath of countless superiors, but none had ever made him feel as unbearable as this moment. He cried out bitterly:
“Your Majesty! Please listen to what Her Majesty the Empress is saying!”
Li Yue, seated on the dragon throne, was resting his chin on his hand, eyes fixed on Meng Fu without blinking. Hearing Lord Cao’s outcry, he came back to his senses, gave an “Ah!”—then clapped his hands and said: “What the Empress said is right.”
The hundred officials below the court were extremely speechless upon hearing the clapping—Your Majesty, your show of support is a bit too obvious, isn’t it? Among them, there were some who originally wanted to stand up and refute the Empress, but since the Emperor had already spoken like this, if they still stood up to ask for a scolding, wasn’t that just asking to be insulted?
Old Lord Cao’s body couldn’t help but sway—what the Empress had just said was truly disrespectful, but the Emperor didn’t care, so what could he do?
From then on, the Empress would rightfully and openly stand upon the imperial court, jointly overseeing state affairs with His Majesty.
Though the hundred officials had mentally prepared for this over the past few months, when the scene truly came to pass, there was still some awkwardness in their hearts. However, their resistance was not strong.
The Two Sovereigns jointly presiding—from this point, the dust settled.
After Li Yue killed a group of people during the Jiangnan flood disaster, the officials below were all in a state of panic, each fearing for their own safety, and all became well-behaved. The memorials they submitted became more and more detailed—this in turn exhausted His Majesty, whose eyes blurred from reading, yet he couldn’t exactly complain about it.
In the end, Meng Fu simply suggested that from now on, officials writing memorials must follow a standardized format—clearly writing the cause, process, and result, with proper paragraph divisions and less rambling nonsense.
This method was highly effective. Not long after implementation, the memorials that originally took Li Yue and Meng Fu until evening to finish reviewing could now be read two hours earlier.
It was already early winter. There were fewer memorials today than usual. After finishing all of them, there was still some time before nightfall. Li Yue asked Meng Fu, “A’Fu, shall we go out of the palace?”
Meng Fu set down her brush and asked him, “Right now?”
Li Yue nodded.
Meng Fu thought for a moment, then said, “Why don’t we bring the Empress Dowager with us for a stroll?”
But as soon as they arrived at Cining Palace, the Empress Dowager complained: “Aijia originally wanted A’Fu to have time to accompany me. But you, Emperor, bring A’Fu with you whether at morning court or after court!”
Li Yue didn’t feel even the slightest guilt. He said to the Empress Dowager, “Mother, if you’re really bored, how about finding a companion?”
The Empress Dowager shot Li Yue a glance and said angrily: “What kind of nonsense are you spouting?”
Upon learning that Meng Fu and Li Yue had come to take her out of the palace, the Empress Dowager directly refused. First, she knew it wasn’t easy for the two of them to go out and didn’t want to get in their way; second, she had recently discovered a new pastime—compared to leaving the palace, she much preferred playing Pai Jiu in the palace. The joy of playing Pai Jiu was something the Emperor could never imagine.
[Pai Jiu: a traditional Chinese gambling game using domino-style tiles.]
After Meng Fu and Li Yue left the palace, they went directly to Xun River in the outskirts—it was the place where they first met.
There were few people here, no carriages or horses passing by. Li Yue held Meng Fu’s hand and slowly walked along the riverbank. Time seemed to slow down all at once; between the vast heavens and earth, there were only the two of them.
They spoke of the Lantern Festival in the 11th year of Wenkang, and of the lights from that night. Meng Fu joked, “Your Majesty taught me martial arts that night—should I call you shifu (Master)?”
Upon hearing that “shifu,” Li Yue didn’t know what came to mind, but his cheeks flushed slightly. He lightly coughed into his fist and said, “A’Fu, let’s save that for when we get back.”
Meng Fu: “?”
Has His Majesty been reading some kind of love story booklet lately?
She curled her finger and lightly scratched His Majesty’s palm.
Li Yue gripped Meng Fu’s hand even tighter. He turned to look at her face and said with emotion, “If I hadn’t gone to the Northern Frontier that year, would your life have turned out better?”
“No.” Meng Fu looked up at the gray-blue sky. A black-and-white bird swiftly flew overhead, leaving only a streak of shadow. She turned her head and tiptoed to kiss the corner of Li Yue’s lips, smiling as she said, “Your Majesty, I think this right now is already very, very good.”
The river water rippled softly, flowing gently—coming from the boundless sky, and going toward the rolling mountains.
Spring is born, summer grows, autumn harvests, winter stores.
Meng Yanxing’s On Male Virtue was finally fully compiled. Li Yue read through it once and thought—it was written… quite well.
The kind of “quite well” that made him, after reading just one line, want to throw a sack over Meng Yanxing’s head and give him a thorough beating.
Mmm. Quite good indeed.