Chapter 345: Youshi and Qin Keqing

In fact, according to current customs, the Jia Mansion had few options.

Either send the two women back to their natal families, cease supporting them, and let their families arrange a remarriage or whatever—that is the so‑called "return to clan."

Or carve out a side courtyard in Ning Guo Fu, provide regular stipends of silver and rice, and let them live out their remaining days with the clan's dignity—that is "remain chaste in residence."

Generally, powerful families like the Jia Mansion tend to choose the latter, such as Li Wan.

Especially Youshi, who was once the matriarch of the clan and head lady of Ning Guo Fu, would cause considerable damage to the Jia Family's reputation if she returned to her clan and remarried!

In fact, if Youshi's imperial decree had not been revoked by the court, she would have had no possibility of returning to her clan and remarrying.

Because the Da Han Empire's system imposes extremely severe punishments on mandated wives who remarry:

"Any mandated wife whose husband dies and who remarries shall be beaten one hundred strokes, and her decree shall be revoked and she shall be divorced."

In other words, even if the husband dies, a mandated wife may not remarry, or she will be convicted and have her decree revoked.

If the husband is still alive, remarriage is an even greater violation of human propriety—a crime not even worth contemplating!

Now, although Youshi and Qin Keqing are no longer mandated wives, it is still not easy for them to divorce and remarry.

First, the husband's family will not permit it; in the husband's absence, the husband's family holds priority rights over them.

Second, it would greatly affect their own reputations!

In the Da Han Empire today, customs actually encourage women of the elite's inner households to remain chaste.

Da Han law explicitly protects widows who voluntarily remain chaste, strictly forbidding the husband's or natal family from "snatching" or forcing a remarriage; violators will be punished.

Thus, if Youshi and Qin Keqing decide to remain chaste in the Jia Mansion, no one may force them to remarry.

By contrast, customs toward commoner widows are relatively tolerant and flexible; as long as there is no "running away from the husband" scenario, interference is generally avoided.

In the hall, faced with Jia Mu's inquiry, Jia Jing fell silent for a moment, did not answer, and instead, expressionless, asked back:

"According to the matriarch, how should Youshi and Qin Shi be settled?"

Jia Mu glanced at Jia Jing's expression, felt a slight stir in her heart, and said after deliberation:

"In a great clan like ours, there is absolutely no reason to let a daughter‑in‑law who has transgressed return home and remarry."

"I think… perhaps we should carve a side courtyard in Ning Guo Fu for them to reside and remain chaste, with the clan providing a monthly allowance of silver and rice so they can live without worry."

"That way we preserve their dignity and also demonstrate your… new clan head's benevolence!"

Unsurprisingly, Jia Mu outright excluded the option of letting Youshi and Qin Keqing return to their clan and remarry.

Even though she knows that for widows like Youshi and Qin Keqing, who have no children, remaining chaste would be very hard to endure!

If they remain chaste in the Jia Family, it means the latter half of their lives will be spent in a bleak, secluded existence—"sweet austerity, no laughter, hands constantly toiling, feet never stepping into the hall."

But compared with the Jia Family's dignity and pristine reputation, these hardships are acceptable sacrifices!

As for why we choose to carve a side courtyard in Ning Guo Fu?

First, because remaining chaste should stay within the "husband's family"; Ning Guo Fu is precisely where Youshi and Qin Keqing originally lived.

If they are removed from Ning Guo Fu, their chaste status loses its foundation.

Second, Ning Guo Fu, as the seat of the Jia clan head and ancestral hall, even though it now belongs to Jia Jing,

but if Youshi and Qin Keqing remain chaste, Jia Jing has the duty, according to customs and clan ethics, to provide for them!

Of course, there is also the intention of letting the new clan head Jia Jing keep an eye on them.

After all, widows attract many scandals; if their chaste status leads to a "romantic scandal," the Jia Family would become a laughingstock.

Jia Jing, hearing this, fell silent again for a moment, inhaled deeply, and said gravely:

"The matriarch just said that a family that accumulates virtue will have lingering blessings; how can we now turn around and deny benevolence to our own seemingly faultless younger daughters‑in‑law?"

"Youshi and Qin Shi are still young and have no children; forcing them to remain chaste for a lifetime, living as widows, isn't that a sin?"

Jia Mu was startled by the words, froze for a moment, then realized belatedly that she had just been rebuked by her own great‑grandson!

At that moment, Jia Jing continued in a resonant voice:

"What I mean is, the Jia Family need not forcibly keep them chaste just for the pristine reputation of a 'chaste woman.'"

"Youshi and Qin Shi have not had it easy in Dong Fu these years; when Jia Zhen was alive, they received no benefits."

"Now that Zhen and Rong have transgressed and have been removed from the register, why should we still let them suffer?"

"The state law does not implicate them, yet we would use customs to trap them for a lifetime; that is hardly a dignified matter!"

"Moreover, the phrase 'remain chaste' sounds pleasant, but behind it hides countless women's blood and tears."

"This matter goes against human desire, forces people into impossible situations, is inhumane, and is a wicked act that drives the living toward death!"

Having said that, Jia Jing paused briefly, then continued:

"The Jia Family's dignity and pristine reputation must not be lost!"

"But dignity and reputation are earned by the younger generations, not by the number of chaste women in the family!"

"If we let Youshi and Qin Shi remain chaste, outsiders may praise our strict customs on the surface, but deep down they might be stabbing at our backbone!"

"I think we should respect Youshi and Qin Shi's personal wishes and follow their own intentions."

"If they are willing to remain chaste, we can carve a side courtyard in Ning Guo Fu to house them, with a monthly silver stipend supplied continuously."

"But if they wish to return to their clan and remarry, we will also accommodate that."

"First, it gives them a way to live; second, it showcases the Jia Family's magnanimity. This is the harmonious, humane solution that follows the Way of Heaven and human sentiment!"

Regarding Youshi and Qin Shi's matter, Jia Jing has actually been monitoring it, but he has only just returned and hasn't had time to deal with it yet!

Qin Keqing is involved in a major imperial secret; the Embroidered Uniform Guard is still conducting a rapid investigation, so how could he possibly turn a blind eye!

The reason for granting the two a relatively lenient option also relates to Qin Keqing's status.

Of course, personally, he dislikes the Da Han Empire's current adoption of the Zhu Cheng rationalist Confucian rites inherited from the former Song.

In the Da Han era, remaining chaste is not merely about not marrying.

In a sense, it actually means lifelong confinement.

A chaste woman must live a secluded life, without cosmetics or entertainment, working day and night—serving her in‑laws above and caring for orphans below.

The physical hardship of enduring can still be tolerated, but the mental loneliness and oppression are the true torture.

Many widows endure from black hair to white hair, remaining widowed for decades; they suffer while alive yet cannot die, forced to endure, because seeking death while preserving chastity is deemed an "evil death," while suicide to follow a husband is considered a "heroic deed."

What is a widow's suicide?

It is when a wife commits suicide to follow her deceased husband; in the Da Han Empire this was regarded as the highest level of chastity and heroism for a woman.

In the Da Han Empire documents that Jia Jing examined, cases of widows' suicide were everywhere, shocking to behold.

Even an incomplete count from a single county in Southern Zhili shows that over the past hundred‑plus years of the Da Han Empire, more than seven hundred women committed suicide after their husbands' deaths, and the county with the most such chaste heroines recorded over three thousand.

In some regions, Neo‑Confucianism developed to an extreme, even persecuting unmarried women, giving rise to the term "virtuous maiden."

"Virtuous maiden" refers to an unmarried woman in the inner chambers who, after her fiancé's death, maintains chastity or even follows him in death; some women remain widowed for life, others, upon hearing of the death, starve themselves to death.

This is the true depiction of how contemporary propriety kills people!

Of course, Jia Jing does not think the notion of chastity is inappropriate; rather, nothing should be taken to extremes, lest it devolve into a moral fanaticism that strips basic human rights.

Moreover, those Neo‑Confucian scholars who vigorously promote chastity themselves do not act with propriety.

Zhu Xi once lured two nuns to become concubines; his eldest daughter‑in‑law became pregnant after her husband's death, and after the incident he was demoted and forced to confess.

Such double standards and hypocrisy truly make it hard to feel any respect!