Chapter 692: Isn't it just causing trouble? Who's afraid of whom?

She said infants cannot eat salt, so not a single grain of salt is allowed in her daughter-in-law's meals.

Besides not being allowed to add salt, there is a whole heap of "strict rules and regulations."

Including: no drinking coffee, no eating sweets, no eating seafood, no eating spicy food, and no touching any seasonings.

She even refuses to let Wan'er touch dairy products.

Coffee contains caffeine, which is bad for infants.

Seafood is cold and cooling in nature, so it is better not to eat it.

Wan'er understands and can manage these, but what the hell is this about not being allowed to add a single grain of salt?

For three meals a day, Lady Jian has the servants make various kinds of soups and broths to promote lactation.

Millet porridge and boiled eggs mixed with brown sugar are bearable without salt.

But crucian carp and tofu soup, or peanut and pig trotter soup, are truly impossible to eat without salt.

Wan'er has protested several times.

When the protests were ineffective, she went to the kitchen to get salt herself.

As a result, she was discovered by her mother-in-law, who came over to hold her accountable.

It just so happened that Jian Yining saw it.

He immediately pulled a long face and said unhappily, "Mom, if you are going to be like this, I will immediately contact a postpartum care center and have Wan'er move out. She grew up being pampered by her elders at home, not to come to your house to be mistreated."

Jian Yining knows exactly what kind of person his mother is.

She only sees her own child as a treasure, while everyone else is just grass.

Now that he is trapped here and cannot get out, his wife is suffering great grievances at home.

Seeing her daughter-in-law video calling her son, Lady Jian immediately changed her expression, snatched the phone from her daughter-in-law's hand, and began to fuss over her son with great concern.

Jian Yining was not distracted by the change of topic.

He sternly warned his mother to treat Wan'er better; if she could not do that, they should not live together, as Wan'er does not absolutely need her "care."

Jin Wan'er was so moved that she wiped away tears.

Her husband understands her, so all the grievances she has suffered these days are worth it!

Lady Jian only wanted to torment her daughter-in-law and did not want her to take the child and move out, so she promised to relax the restrictions on Wan'er and stop meddling in everything.

But the credibility of her promise is basically negligible.

Jian Yining hung up the video call and immediately called Jian Yixin.

Without wasting words, he went straight to the point and asked her to move back to their parents' home to help Wan'er out.

It won't be long, just until he returns.

Jian Yixin agreed immediately, packed her things, and took her child back.

After the video call.

All three of them were eager to return home!

But Ji Yingjie proposed that Shi Youxuan accompany her on an inspection.

To walk among the common people.

She changed her approach, preparing to let Shi Youxuan taste the power of authority without her realizing it, so that she would take the initiative to accept becoming the Clan Leader.

However, Shi Youxuan disappointed her once again.

The Ji Family has strict rules; when the common people see the Clan Leader, they must perform a kneeling kowtow.

It has been this way for thousands of years, and no one has ever felt it was inappropriate.

But Shi Youxuan broke this rule.

When the people knelt to her, she personally helped them up.

She even said to everyone, "We are all equal; do not perform such grand bows. The Clan Leader is just a job; I am a person, not a god."

"If you have any requests or difficulties, you can bring them up, and I will solve them as much as possible..."

Shi Youxuan was acting entirely according to the standards of officials in Jiangzhou inspecting the countryside—approachable and amiable.

But Ji Yingjie could not accept it.

It was too demeaning!

It damaged the dignity of the Clan Leader!

Everyone in the Ji Family, young and old, knows that Shi Youxuan is the future Clan Leader.

What the future Clan Leader is doing now is basically the standard for when she becomes the Clan Leader later. Will the future of the Ji Family be one where the common people and the Clan Leader are on equal footing?

No, Ji Yingjie could not accept it.

But what she found even harder to accept was yet to come.

Not only was Shi Youxuan approachable and without airs, she also demanded that the women in the clan treat the men better.

She demanded gender equality, saying one man per household is enough!

Men handle external affairs, women handle internal affairs.

Or women handle external affairs, and men handle internal affairs—either is fine.

But a husband and wife should be harmonious and discuss things together, rather than one side suppressing the other...

If the marital relationship breaks down, both parties have the right to propose divorce and the right to fight for child custody.

Girls can be raised by the mother, and boys can be raised by the mother; men are not slaves, and one cannot discriminate against males.

Children can take the mother's surname or the father's surname.

Ji Yingjie's face turned livid, and she interrupted the inspection.

She flew into a rage and questioned what right Shi Youxuan had to do this.

On what basis should she change the rules that have existed in the clan for thousands of years?

Shi Youxuan responded with a smile: "Little Aunt, have you forgotten the purpose for which you kept me here?"

"Aren't you wanting me to be the Clan Leader? Since I am the future Clan Leader, I naturally have the right to tell the commoners my thoughts. This is what I plan to do in the future, so you can rest assured."

Ji Yingjie:...

Could she really rest assured?

It was even more worrying, wasn't it?

However, her attempts to stop it had no effect at all; Shi Youxuan continued to go her own way, promoting her own set of ideas.

The two men who had regained their freedom were not idle either.

Jian Yining used his advantage of being silver-tongued to promote to the clansmen everywhere how good and how colorful the outside world was, encouraging everyone to go out and take a look.

The commoners of the Ji Family were not allowed to go out as they pleased.

He was shaking the morale of the troops.

If he were an ordinary man in the clan, it would be possible for him to be dragged out and beaten to death.

But he was Jin Wan'er's husband; for the sake of Wan'er, Ji Yingjie had to spare his life.

The death penalty could be avoided, but the living punishment was unavoidable.

Jian Yining was locked up again.

Sheng Hanyu appeared to have done nothing, yet he almost shook the foundation of the Ji Family.

What he did was very simple: he taught the people in the clan how to play computer games.

Ji Yingjie originally thought that games were nothing important—just leisure and entertainment to kill time—so they could be played.

But she did not expect that this kind of game was very easy to get addicted to.

Furthermore, to continue leveling up after reaching level six, one had to be connected to the internet!

The game leveling was not important; what was important was the internet connection!

Once the network was connected, it meant the Ji Family would have a channel to communicate with the outside world. By then, there would be no need for the three of them to promote anything; all kinds of information from the outside would infect the Ji Family clansmen.

She had never seen such difficult people to deal with.

Give up.

Ji Yingjie decided to let them go, but she was still unwilling, so she repeated her old trick.

She said to Shi Youxuan: "I know you really want to go back. A twisted melon is not sweet. Letting you go back is fine, but I have conditions."

Shi Youxuan: "I don't agree. Don't even think about it."

Ji Yingjie:...

She hadn't even finished speaking before she was rejected.

Ji Yingjie wanted to make Shi Youxuan sign an agreement with her, consenting to let Shi Ran be the future Clan Leader.

The mindset of an adult is fixed and hard to change; it is easier to cultivate a child.

However, Shi Youxuan did not agree.

Back then, when Jin Lao wanted Shi Ran to live with them in A Country to have a companion and for the great benefit of Shi Ran's studies, Shi Youxuan had not agreed; now, it was even more impossible for her to agree.

If there hadn't been the precedent of Jin Wan'er, perhaps she could have feigned agreement.

In extraordinary times, use extraordinary methods.

Since they were being coerced anyway, going back on her word afterward wouldn't count, right?

But after Wan'er's child was taken away by Nianyin, Shi Youxuan changed this way of thinking; things should not be done that way.

No matter the time, one must keep one's word; a person must have integrity!

Thus, she refused flatly, without even a moment of hesitation.

Shi Youxuan gave her reason—Shi Ran's life should be chosen by herself.

Although she was her mother, the one who gave her life, she had no right to decide for her how her future path should be walked.