Three Obediences and Four Virtues
Shen Feibai raised his voice. “What kind of trash dares to set his sights on my Shen Feibai’s daughter!”
Shen Taohua nodded vigorously in agreement and said loudly, “Exactly! Exactly! He even wanted me to observe the Three Obediences and Four Virtues! What a shameless face he has! If anything, he should be the one observing them for me!”
Shen Feibai, who had been about to agree, suddenly choked mid-thought, speechless. “What nonsense are you talking about? How could a man observe the Three Obediences and Four Virtues?”
Shen Taohua snorted. “Why not? My new version of the Three Obediences and Four Virtues is made specifically for men.”
Seeing her look so confidently mischievous, Shen Feibai instinctively felt she was up to no good, yet he still couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Then tell me, what exactly are your ‘new Three Obediences and Four Virtues’?”
Steward Liu and Ping’an, standing nearby, quietly perked up their ears.
Shen Taohua launched into it immediately. “The ‘Three Obediences’ are: obey when your wife goes out, obey when your wife gives orders, and blindly obey when your wife is wrong. The ‘Four Virtues’ are: wait patiently while your wife dresses, be generous when your wife spends money, endure it when your wife is angry, and remember your wife’s birthday.”
Shen Feibai froze.
Steward Liu and Ping’an both stood there with their mouths open.
Shen Taohua swayed her head proudly and continued, “In addition, I can also achieve my own ‘Three Obediences and Four Virtues,’ which are: never gentle, never considerate, never reasonable; cannot be beaten, cannot be scolded, cannot be reasoned with, and cannot be provoked.”
Shen Feibai: “……”
Steward Liu: “……”
Ping’an: “……”
Shen Feibai’s mouth twitched violently as he silently complained to himself.
To meet your standards, what kind of unlucky man would that even be?
He said irritably, “Don’t go around saying things like that outside.”
If those requirements really got out, every eligible man in the county would probably be scared stiff and start avoiding her like a plague.
Shen Taohua spread her hands. “There will always be someone who can do it. If no one can, then they’re not worthy of being my husband and don’t deserve me marrying them!”
Shen Feibai rolled his eyes at her. Knowing how sharp-tongued she was, he didn’t bother arguing further and returned to the previous topic.
“You dug out all the people who were harmed by Meng Jun and got your revenge, but have you thought about the aftermath? Even a dying camel is bigger than a horse. What if the Meng family retaliates against them? Do you think they can handle that?”
Shen Taohua said with a grin, “Of course I thought of that. Isn’t that what I have my father for?”
As she spoke, she leaned over to Shen Feibai’s side and eagerly started massaging his shoulders and back. “You’re so kind-hearted, you definitely wouldn’t refuse to help them, right?”
Shen Feibai rarely saw his daughter acting so ingratiatingly and couldn’t help but feel a bit pleased, putting on an air of dignity as he said, “So now you remember your father?”
Shen Taohua smiled sweetly. “Of course I’ve always remembered you. After all, a father as good as you is once in a hundred years!”
That wasn’t flattery on her part.
Even though the world didn’t impose especially harsh restrictions on women here, throughout the entire Peach Blossom County, a father as open-minded as theirs, who allowed his daughter complete freedom in choosing marriage prospects, was still extremely rare.
Shen Taohua raised her voice in a cutesy tone. “Father, you’re the best. Please help me, and help those poor young ladies too, okay? Pleaaase, father~~ father~~”
The smug Shen Feibai shuddered at her overly sweet, exaggerated tone and couldn’t help but tremble.
“Alright, alright, I’ll help, okay?”
Could he really just ignore the trouble his own daughter had caused?
And it wasn’t as if he didn’t know—Old Man Meng had privately gone around calling their Shen family nothing but country bumpkins.
Hmph. The man didn’t understand anything.
In times like these, whoever controlled the grain held the power.
Their Shen family might not be an aristocratic household, but as one of the major taxpayers who reliably paid grain taxes every year, unlike certain crafty merchants who dodged taxes at every turn, they had plenty of standing with the county officials.
Helping protect a few people? That was easy.
Especially if they were people the Meng family wanted to target, that made it even more necessary to protect them.
Outside the city gate.
Several young women looked at Shen Taohua gratefully.
“Miss Shen, thank you. If it weren’t for you, we might still be trapped in that suffering, unable to break free.”
Shen Taohua waved her hand. “I didn’t really do much. You were able to pull yourselves together mostly because of your own strength.”
These women were the victims who had beaten Meng Jun two days earlier. At this moment, their expressions were sincere and calm, there was no trace of the wild intensity they had shown that day.
When she first asked Wen Tie and the others to help locate these women, not all of them were willing to step forward. In fact, most of them, after being hurt by heartbreak and public gossip, were too afraid to appear in front of others again.
It was only after that that she unleashed her silver tongue, using certain “madwoman quotes” she had seen before, like the whispering of a devil, to relentlessly persuade and tempt them until they finally changed their minds.
As she had said while persuading them: the one in the wrong was clearly Meng Jun, so why should they be the ones to hide away?
They had suffered injustice, they had endured gossip and hardship for their families, but would Meng Jun ever actually suffer any consequence?
No.
In the end, all that would happen was that even more people would continue to be harmed.
Since things were already bad enough, why not take a gamble and fight back?
And after personally beating up that heartless scumbag, they suddenly realized, taking revenge with their own hands felt unbelievably satisfying.
The resentment and grievance from being abandoned by Meng Jun and gossiped about by neighbors all poured out in that moment. The sky seemed to clear, the waters turned calm, and their minds suddenly felt open and unburdened.
In fact, they even regretted not doing it sooner.
However, Meng Jun had still left many painful memories behind, and to this day those experiences continued to subject them to rumors and stigma.
Because of this, aside from a portion of women who chose to stay after learning that the Shen family would provide protection, the few girls in front of her and their families were preparing to leave Peach Blossom County and seek out distant relatives to start new lives elsewhere.
After repeatedly thanking and bidding farewell to Shen Taohua, the women each went to rejoin their families. Only the last girl remained, taking out a pouch from her chest and handing it to Shen Taohua.
“Miss Shen, please pass this money to Miss Zhang Xi.”
Shen Taohua paused slightly, then understood.
This girl was the so-called “new lover,” while Zhang Xi was the woman whose face had been slashed by Meng Jun.
When she was arranging help earlier, she hadn’t included Zhang Xi. Not everyone needed to be involved in the revenge, asking a disfigured woman to come forward would have been too cruel.
She could tell by touch that the pouch contained the compensation money she had previously given this girl; judging by its weight, most of it had been returned.
She smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it gets to her.”
Watching them leave, Shen Taohua silently wished them a future of openness and freedom.
In fact, these people did end up living fairly well afterward.
Not only because they had entered a new environment, but also because Shen Taohua’s advice had opened a new door for them.
Later, whenever some of them encountered trouble again, or were mistreated by their in-laws, they would inevitably recall that sentence from the crowd—”there is nothing more important than your own happiness”, and choose, with determination, to defend their own rights.
Meanwhile, over in the city, on the third day of people discussing the scandal involving the Meng family and Meng Jun, someone suddenly brought up that Meng Jun’s visit to the teahouse that day was because he had been invited by Miss Shen.
But on that day, Shen Taohua never showed up; instead, it was the women who had been abandoned by Meng Jun who appeared. Could it all be related to her?
As soon as this claim surfaced, the stallholders who had benefited from Shen Taohua were the first to object.
Flower Aunt pointed at those people and cursed, “I spit on you! Miss Shen already rejected that Meng guy, why would she invite him again? Stop spouting nonsense. Aren’t you afraid your tongues will rot?”
Fat Auntie also said, “That Meng family boy brought misfortune on himself for doing wicked things. What does it have to do with Miss Shen? Are you saying she forced the Meng family young master to toy with other people’s feelings?”
Aside from the stallholders, Wen Tie and the others also voluntarily stepped in to speak up.
“If I were Old Master Shen, I’d be too busy cutting ties the moment my daughter ran into someone as disgusting as Meng Jun. Who’d willingly invite trouble onto themselves?”
“Exactly! I think the Meng family is just doing badly and trying to drag the Shen family down with them because they can’t stand seeing others do well!”
“That’s right! It must be that. That Meng guy relied on a bit of filthy money to mistreat people, he’s nothing but a beast. If you ask me, those women he wronged should’ve just beaten him to death and spared everyone the sight of him alive.”
“Exactly! Don’t they know there are plenty of men who still can’t even find a wife? Does he really think money lets him do whatever he wants?”
“Ha! What money? The Meng family is probably going to collapse soon anyway. Let’s see how arrogant he is then.”
No era is ever short of people who resent the rich.
And in this case, Meng Jun himself was morally vile, which gave people a “justified” excuse. Many who were already frustrated with life seized the opportunity to vent openly.
Those who had previously suffered losses at the Meng family pawnshop didn’t even need encouragement, they cursed them passionately, wishing the Meng family would collapse immediately.
As the discussion shifted away from the center of attention, and with the Shen family also quickly stepping in after receiving the news to control the rumors, not many people continued dragging Shen Taohua into it.
After achieving their goal, Wen Tie and the others linked arms and went to their usual tavern for a drink.
Even while drinking, they kept grumbling, “That Meng guy really thinks too highly of himself. He should take a piss and see what kind of thing he is!”
“Exactly. How dare he even set his sights on Miss Shen? I spit on him!”
Indeed, in this large county, there were not only young ladies of higher birth and even greater beauty and talent than Shen Taohua, but those ladies were people they could never aspire to reach.
Even if they occasionally passed them on the street, they would be avoided as though they were something filthy.
They could understand it to some extent.
But comparison is what truly hurts.
Once Shen Taohua appeared, someone who never treated them differently, the gap between her and everyone else became immediately obvious.
Naturally, they began to favor her more, feeling that she was good in every possible way.
And it wasn’t entirely just because they were biased.
Shen Taohua not only treated everyone equally and never looked at them with prejudice, she had also previously helped pay for medicine when someone in their group fell ill and had no money for treatment.
They also knew she often went to the orphanage to help take care of elderly people and children with mobility issues.
Occasionally, when nearby towns suffered disasters and refugees arrived, the porridge distributed by the Shen family was also the most substantial and honest.
“Bang!”
Wen Tie slammed his wine cup heavily onto the table, frowning as he clicked his tongue. “The more I think about it, the more I can’t stand it!”
The others echoed him. “Exactly! I heard he even shamelessly demanded an enormous dowry from Miss Shen. That bastard has no shame at all!”
They all had varying degrees of goodwill toward Miss Shen, though each of them was self-aware enough to know they weren’t worthy of her.
Seeing their “white moonlight” being targeted by such a scumbag already left them unhappy. Add a few cups of liquor to the mix, and their blood heated up. They huddled together, muttering for a while, and quickly reached a consensus.
If even those women could band together and beat up that Meng guy to vent their anger, were they really worse than a few women?
They usually benefited from Miss Shen’s kindness, just talking about it wasn’t enough to count as repayment. It would be embarrassing to even admit it.
Wen Tie looked left and right. “Do it?”
The others slapped their thighs. “Do it!”
They casually tossed enough silver coins onto the table to cover the bill and strode out with aggressive determination.