An Ran slept for two hours before waking up, but after opening her eyes, she did not feel like getting out of bed.
She loved sleeping in, but after she started working, finding time to do so became difficult. She could even be called in for overtime on weekends. Without the high salary, she would have quit after a few months.
Since she did not want to get up, An Ran did not force herself. Lying in bed, she picked up her phone and started browsing videos.
The people of Ancient Times thought today's Heavenly Screen had ended. To their surprise, it lit up again after only a little more than an hour.
When the emperors of The Various Dynasties saw the Heavenly Screen light up, they set aside their work, hoping to gain something from Later Generations, as they had from Papermaking before.
The common people, meanwhile, watched while doing farm work. They could not afford to idle, but they were unwilling to miss anything either.
A rather handsome man appeared before their eyes. He had been fully clothed moments earlier, but after a scene transition, his upper-body clothing vanished, revealing a well-built chest and eight-pack Abdominal Muscles.
An Ran felt nothing in particular. She even found it somewhat greasy. She had always thought a man looked most attractive when he unintentionally revealed a little skin. This was too over-the-top for her.
The people of Ancient Times, however, were far less composed than she was. Unmarried young girls and young wives cried out in surprise and hurriedly covered their eyes, yet peeked at him again and again out of curiosity.
So this was what a man's body looked like! He was truly handsome!
The aunties were much more direct. Their eyes gleamed as they watched the bare-chested man, clicking their tongues while discussing him with one another.
“Whoa, what a physique. Not bad!”
“Look at those muscles. That young fellow must be strong!”
“Strong in what way?” the speaker asked with a wicked chuckle.
The auntie who had spoken earlier also laughed. “Of course he’s strong in every way!”
When their husbands saw their wives’ expressions, they glared at them but said nothing. Lower-class men often worked shirtless in the summer while farming, so the sight did not seem particularly shocking to them.
The scholars, however, could not accept it. They felt the man's behavior on the Heavenly Screen brought shame on all men, especially because he was clearly doing it to please others.
A dignified man was behaving like a woman, striking such a coquettish pose—he was throwing himself away. After seeing women climb over men and act tyrannically, they concluded that this future-era dynasty was doomed.
An Ran opened the comments and glanced through them. They were full of things like “hiss, hiss” and calls for him to be a “male Bodhisattva.” She had intended to like the video, but realized that doing so would bring her more videos like it, so she decided against it. If it had featured a woman, she would have been more interested.
She swiped to the next video.
A married couple went to the Hospital for an examination. All four of the woman’s pregnancies had resulted in Children with congenital abnormalities, and three rounds of Test Tube fertilization had failed. Only after their examination did they learn that their Consanguineous Marriage was the cause.
The two were Cousins, and the doctor stared at their information in astonishment. Both had graduated with an Undergraduate Degree, which shocked her even more.
“I thought only illiterate people entered into Consanguineous Marriage. With your level of education, you shouldn’t have done this! Look here—it says abnormal genes and disease-causing genes. That’s why the Nation forbids Consanguineous Marriage: the risk is too high.”
The young woman still argued, “There are Consanguineous Marriages where my family comes from, but their children turned out perfectly fine. One even got into a prestigious University.”
The doctor sighed. “Not everyone is that lucky. And just because their son had no problems doesn’t mean their Grandson will have no problems. You’re both Undergraduate students!”
The doctor was baffled. They were not illiterate—they had Undergraduate Degrees, and one had even attended a First-tier university. How could they have done something so absurd?
There were also people in the comments who argued back.
“My parents were cousins, and nothing is wrong with me or my older sister!”
“Then wait until your child or Grandson is born healthy before saying that.”
“Lots of places in the countryside have this sort of thing, but those two are University students! I don’t understand.”
“Everyone’s Physical constitution is different. My parents had a Consanguineous Marriage, and I’m perfectly fine!”
“The fact that you can say something like that proves you’re not without problems!”
“They were thinking of Strengthening Kinship Through Marriage, but look how it turned out… Sigh. Ignorant and unenlightened—no, they aren’t unenlightened either. They’re stupid. They’re Love-Brained People.”
“Good heavens, are marriages like this legal now?”
“Of course not. The nation does not permit consanguineous marriage.”
“The law stipulates that marriage is prohibited Within Three Generations. That doesn’t mean Consanguineous Marriage will definitely produce a Child with congenital abnormalities, but the probability is much higher than with other marriages. A normal child in one generation does not mean the next generation will be normal.”
“Don’t gamble on probability. Once the result comes out, you won’t be able to bear it—unless you don’t plan to have children.”
“It seems the miscarriage rate for Consanguineous Marriages is also higher than for other people. But if that happens, a miscarriage is a good thing. It’s better than giving birth to a Child with congenital abnormalities and leaving both the adults and the child to suffer.”
】
When the People of Ancient Times first saw that all four pregnancies had resulted in Children with congenital abnormalities, they wondered whether something was wrong with the woman or whether she had offended some evil spirit. They did not know what a Test Tube was, but it was probably something used to try to become pregnant.
As they read on, they were astonished to learn that the Consanguineous Marriage was the cause. Cousins could not marry each other, or their children would be born with congenital abnormalities?
“That can’t be true! My maternal nephew married his Cousin, and their children were perfectly healthy!”
“It also said that not all children born to cousins have congenital abnormalities. The likelihood is merely higher than it is for non-cousins.”
“Good heavens, I thought of Big Ox from our village. He married his Cousin and had a monster. They threw the child away, decided the woman was impure, divorced her, and then he married another Cousin. That child seemed to have congenital abnormalities too.”
“There was also a couple where my family comes from who had a child with congenital abnormalities. That couple seemed to be cousins as well.”
“Good heavens, I never thought cousins could have children with congenital abnormalities. Fortunately, I didn’t let my daughter marry her Cousin.”
At first, she wanted to Strengthen Kinship Through Marriage. But her daughter liked someone else, and his circumstances were also good, so she respected her daughter’s wishes. Fortunately, she had not let her daughter marry into that family.
Inside a luxurious mansion, a dignified and elegant woman held a bowl of medicine to her lips. When she saw the content on the Heavenly Screen, the bowl fell from her hand, spilling the medicinal liquid across the floor.
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