She had been married for five years but still had no children. It was not that she could not conceive; she had become pregnant twice, but miscarried both times for no apparent reason. She thought poor health was to blame, so after losing her second child, she began taking medicine to restore her health.
Because she could not conceive, her Mother-in-Law sent several women to her husband’s chambers. None had any status, not even that of concubines, but their presence still made her uncomfortable. She and her Cousin had once been childhood sweethearts who loved each other deeply. Now they treated each other with nothing more than formal respect.
Marital Separation was not particularly unusual in her era. She thought, however, that all men were alike. At least she and her Cousin had shared affection, so she had hoped that having a child would resolve everything.
After seeing the content on the Heavenly Screen, she began trembling all over, overwhelmed by fear. At the same time, she felt fortunate that her first two children had not survived to birth. If either had been a Child with congenital abnormalities, not only would the child have died, but her own life would have become difficult as well.
Fortunately, she knew about it in advance, so nothing like that would happen.
As for those on the Heavenly Screen who called it a matter of probability, she would never dare gamble on it. The Heavenly Screen had also said that a problem-free next generation did not guarantee a problem-free generation after that. She did not want to live in fear for so long.
If she and her Cousin had heard this news when they first married, she might have wrestled with it for a while, but she would still probably have remained in the marriage. However, after her Cousin accepted so many women sent by his Mother-in-Law, she lost most of her affection for her husband.
Her husband walked in at that moment. They exchanged a glance. She knew he had also seen the information on the Heavenly Screen, so after discussing it, they parted on peaceful terms.
This noblewoman was one of the fortunate ones. Naturally, others were not so lucky. A woman in her early twenties lived at the edge of Willow Tree Village. Her husband’s family divorced her after she gave birth to a Child with congenital abnormalities. Her maternal family also considered the child’s condition a bad omen and refused to let her return home. She had no choice but to take her child to a dilapidated thatched hut at the edge of the village.
In their era, a woman who had given birth usually had no trouble remarrying. Common People married to continue the family line, and having given birth proved that a woman’s body was healthy. However, because she had given birth to a Child with congenital abnormalities, others feared that any future children she had would suffer the same condition. No one dared approach her.
She now understood that giving birth to a Child with congenital abnormalities was not a sign that she was cursed or possessed by evil spirits. It was because she and her former husband were Cousins.
“That’s wonderful.” Covering her face, she wept. Because she had given birth to a child with congenital abnormalities, she had constantly been cursed and despised by others. Even she had looked down on herself. If not for her child, she would have thrown herself into a river long ago.
Now that the Heavenly Screen had explained it this way, it had finally cleared her name. She no longer had to live under the disgraceful reputation of being cursed.
Things happened as she had hoped. After the villagers of Willow Tree Village saw what the Heavenly Screen said, they thought of her and made inquiries. Sure enough, her former husband had been her Cousin, which meant that she had not been tainted by evil influences. Some Bachelors who had reached marriageable age but still could not find Wives began to consider her. Although some still feared that she might truly be cursed, others wondered whether she might not be.
Later, several Bachelors came to court her. In the end, she chose a man who was honest, hardworking, and capable, and married him. In the second year of their marriage, she gave birth to a child. Although it was a daughter, she was healthy, and the couple breathed sighs of relief. They later had a son as well, and their life became fairly comfortable.
Apart from this woman, many other women who had given birth to Children with congenital abnormalities through Consanguineous Marriage were also vindicated, and their lives improved considerably.
Many Cousins who had become engaged for the sake of Strengthening Kinship Through Marriage but had not yet married broke off their engagements.
However, many others did not. After all, the Heavenly Screen had said that problems were not inevitable and that everything might turn out fine. The women acted out of affection and hopeful luck. The men shared that hope, but they also considered that they could have Three wives and four concubines. Even if a Child with congenital abnormalities were born, it would not matter. Since the Heavenly Screen had explained the cause, they no longer had to fear losing face.
As for the children, they could have other women give birth to them and register them under the principal Wife’s name.
Compared with the common people, those in power thought much further ahead.
The Qin Dynasty.
After Qin Shi Huang saw this news, he immediately ordered Li Si to investigate whether children born through Consanguineous Marriage were more likely to have congenital abnormalities than other children. If so, they would follow the Future Era and issue laws explicitly prohibiting marriage Within Three Generations.
After all, if more Children with congenital abnormalities were born, the number of Common People under his rule would decrease, especially while he needed manpower.
The Emperors of other dynasties did the same. After confirming that the Heavenly Screen was correct, most dynasties followed the Future Era and introduced laws prohibiting Consanguineous Marriage Within Three Generations.
Although, as in the Future Era, quite a few people still entered into Consanguineous Marriage, many others avoided a tragic future as a result. Overall, it was a good thing.
In a place An Ran could not see, the progress bar beneath the Livestream app in the corner had advanced quite a bit.
After An Ran finished watching, she was speechless at the couple. Had they learned only this after more than a decade of education? They had wasted educational resources.
She rolled her eyes and continued scrolling down.
【I was wondering why all the countries had become so polite over the past few days. It turns out that Chang'e 6 gave everyone a spectacular display of China’s speed on its return.
Ever since Chang'e 6 returned successfully from the Moon at a speed of 31 Mach with Local specialties, all the countries had become much more polite.
Argentina returned fourteen cultural relics to our country. Germany also decided to return the cultural relics looted by the Eight-Nation Alliance during the War of Japanese Aggression Against China. Even Japan’s scholars and publishers decided to publish a collection of materials on the japanese army’s invasion of China.
In case anyone does not know how fast 31 Mach is, let me describe it: 10.54 kilometers per second. It also means that we possess a new type of Earth-Moon ballistic trajectory. To put it simply, we can throw a punch at any place on Earth from the Moon.
Given Our motherland’s character, the fact that it can make this public means our speed is not limited to 31 Mach. It may be even faster.
“I saw a comment from an Arab netizen: ‘The noble Eastern queen has finally removed her expensive silk glove, revealing a fist as large as a sandbag and joining the game.’”
“What Moon? That is the Guanghan Palace Special Administrative Region.”
“I summarize five thousand years of civilization in one stroke, but cover two hundred years of humiliation in two volumes.”
“British Museum, if you know what’s good for you, hurry up and come out to make a statement.”
“Every time I visit the British Museum and see how they stole so many treasures from our nation without properly preserving them, my teeth itch with rage. I want to disregard everything and steal them all back.”
“How can you call that stealing? They belong to our own family. That’s called taking them back.”
】
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