People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 765 Rumors are like snowflakes, they can't stand the light of day.

Within two days, rumors began to circulate throughout the streets and alleys of Songjiang Prefecture.

"Have you heard? The women in the workshop don't live up to traditional virtues; they eat and live with the men!"

"That's not all! I heard they don't even care about their children, leaving them all to be raised by the elderly, while they go to the workshops to seduce men!"

"Tsk tsk, this isn't a workshop, it's practically..."

The rumors became increasingly outrageous, with some even claiming that the women in the workshops were all abducted and that those who disobeyed would be imprisoned.

When Granny Zhang, who sells steamed buns, heard these gossips, she stomped her feet in anger: "Nonsense! My daughter works in the workshop and is very well-behaved! If anyone talks nonsense again, I'll tear their mouth off!"

Even so, quite a few people still believed it. Some families who originally planned to send their daughters to the workshop hesitated, and some even secretly brought their daughters back from the workshop.

……

Inside the workshop, Wenniang was leading the female workers in counting the newly arrived cotton yarn when she suddenly heard a commotion outside. She went out to see what was happening and found several women pulling a young girl away.

"Mother! I'm not going back! The workshop is fine, I can still earn money..." The girl struggled, tears streaming down her face.

"Shut up!" the woman snapped. "It's all over the place that this workshop is no respectable place! You're coming home with me right now!"

Wen Niang quickly stepped forward: "Auntie, the workshop has very strict rules, and there are absolutely no such messy things."

The woman sneered, "You're from the workshop, of course you'll speak for the workshop! If my daughter ruins her reputation here, how will she ever get married?"

Wenniang wanted to persuade her further, but the woman had already pulled her daughter away. The surrounding female workers looked at each other, their expressions uneasy.

Liu Niang asked in a low voice, "Steward Wen, are the rumors outside really that bad?"

Wenniang took a deep breath and forced a smile, "Don't listen to those gossips. We've done nothing wrong, what's there to be afraid of?"

Despite saying that, she felt heavy-hearted.

……

Inside the inn, Zhu Youwei was looking through the workshop's account books when Chunxing rushed in.

"Princess, something terrible has happened! Rumors are spreading about the workshop, and several female workers have already been taken away by their families!"

Zhu Youwei frowned slightly: "Who spread this message?"

"I don't know, but someone is definitely behind this," Chunxing said through gritted teeth. "Should we ask the Duke to send someone to investigate?"

Zhu Youwei closed the ledger and said calmly, "No need to investigate, I know who it is."

She stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the workshop in the distance.

“Rumors stop with the wise, but the common people are often not wise,” she said softly. “Since they want to force us to bow down with rumors, then let’s show them what real ‘rules’ are.”

……

The following morning, a notice was suddenly posted in front of the Songjiang Prefectural Government Office, attracting a large crowd.

"Women's Workshop is now recruiting male workers. The monthly salary is two taels of silver, and room and board are provided!"

The crowd was in an uproar.

"Male workers? Doesn't the workshop only hire women?"

"Yeah, why are you suddenly hiring men?"

Beside the notice, Wenniang stood with several female workers, their expressions calm.

"The workshop is expanding and needs manpower," she announced loudly. "We will hire anyone, regardless of gender, as long as they are willing to work."

Among the crowd, several cloth merchants who had been spreading rumors were stunned.

"What...what does this mean?"

Wenniang looked at them and smiled slightly: "The workshop is not here to steal business, but to give everyone a way to make a living. If anyone doesn't believe it, they are welcome to come and see for themselves."

……

Inside Taibai Tower, Manager Shen's face was ashen.

"Hiring male workers? Isn't that a slap in our face?"

Li Chongyi frowned: "They're trying to silence public opinion."

Manager Shen gritted his teeth: "Then what do we do?"

Li Chongyi was silent for a moment, then suddenly sneered: "No rush, the rumors have already been sown, they won't be so easy to extinguish. Let's add fuel to the fire."

……

Before the morning mist had dissipated, the bluestone road in front of the Songjiang Prefectural Government Office was already crowded with people. Zhang Pozi, who sold steamed buns, had just set up her stall when she heard hushed conversations coming from the teahouse next door.

"Have you heard? The women in the workshop don't go home at night." The cloth merchant in the silk shirt winked. "My neighbor Liu Er saw with his own eyes that men were sneaking into the back door of the workshop in the middle of the night."

The old man wearing a melon-shaped hat spat out: "What a tragedy! Such a fine young lady, she's gone astray as soon as she enters the workshop."

Granny Zhang, enraged, grabbed a rolling pin: "Bullshit! My daughter worked in the workshop for two months, coming home promptly at 7 PM every day. You gossipy old women, you can't stand to see others doing well, can you?"

The cloth merchant shrank back, but his voice rose even louder: "Who doesn't know that the workshops pay a lot of money? Who knows what kind of shady business they're in?"

Rumors spread like wildfire, reaching both banks of the canal by midday. Wu Lao Er, a dockworker, had just finished unloading cargo when his wife dragged him to a corner.

“Honey, our daughter can’t go to the workshop anymore.” The daughter-in-law’s eyes were red. “This morning when I was buying groceries, Aunt Wang said that in the workshop…” Her voice trailed off, “the girls only get paid if they entertain guests.”

Veins bulged on Wu Lao Er's forehead: "What utter nonsense! The workshop run by the Princess Consort, could it be a place like that?"

But when he got out onto the street, he found the news spreading even in the taverns. Three drunkards were harassing a singing girl, saying, "Young lady, why don't you go to the workshop? You can earn money while lying down."

"Snapped!"

The singing girl smashed her pipa on the drunkard's head. Her voice trembled as she cried out, "My sister spins thread in the workshop to support the family! If you keep talking nonsense, I'll tear your mouths apart with my life!"

As dusk settled, the rumors had morphed into horrifying tales. In the slums south of the city, several women whispered amongst themselves around an oil lamp.

"I heard the workshop is abducting children." Aunt Liu hugged her daughter tightly. "Master Zhao's granddaughter from the dye shop disappeared after three days."

Suddenly, a loud crash came from the corner. Liu Niang had overturned the basin of water, her face deathly pale: "Nonsense! My daughter is learning to read in the workshop, and she was here yesterday..."

"Then do you dare to go to the workshop now?" Aunt Liu asked in a shrill voice. "I heard that you can hear children crying at night. They're all being forced to do hard labor with their voices hoarse from drugs!"

Liu Niang trembled all over, grabbed the oil lamp, and ran outside. The night wind swirled the snowflakes, causing the lamplight to flicker. She stumbled through the snow to the workshop, only to find the gate tightly shut, with only the accountant's room still lit.

"Manager Wen!" Liu Niang cried, pounding on the door. "Where's my daughter? Let me see my daughter!"

The door creaked open. Wenniang stood in the light, holding an oil lamp, followed by Xiaotao, who was rubbing her eyes.

"Mother?" The little girl rushed over and hugged Liu Niang's leg. "I'm learning to use an abacus. Aunt Wen said that if I learn it well, I can become an accountant."

Liu Niang's legs went weak and she knelt on the ground, tears falling onto her daughter's hair. Wen Niang silently helped her up and turned to the night watchwoman, saying, "Go and call all the children in the backyard, so their parents can take them back to see them."

Before long, more than twenty children gathered at the entrance of the workshop. Some were humming newly learned nursery rhymes, some were showing off the candies in their work clothes pockets, and the youngest was only five years old, yawning while leaning on his older sister's back.

Rumors spread faster than the truth. The next morning, in front of the notice board by the canal, Li Chongyi waved his folding fan and said to the crowd, "Think about it, everyone. Women should be good wives and mothers. Now that the workshops are letting them show their faces in public, trouble is bound to happen sooner or later."

"Master Li is right!" the Shen family steward chimed in from the crowd. "The workshop suddenly letting the children go home last night is clearly a sign of a guilty conscience!"

Suddenly, Sister Wang, who sells fish, pushed her way to the front, put her hands on her hips, and cursed, "Bullshit! My daughter lives in the workshop. Last night, Manager Wen was kind enough to let her go home because he was worried about us." She pointed at Li Chongyi's nose, "You scholars can't stand seeing poor people living well, can you?"

Li Chongyi snapped his folding fan shut and sneered, "What does a vulgar woman know? The 'Admonitions for Women' says..."

"Can 'Admonitions for Women' be eaten?" Chunni's father from the dye shop suddenly shouted. "My daughter earns three taels of silver a month at the workshop, and we've built a new tiled house. If you, Mr. Li, don't like it, why don't you lend me ten taels of silver to buy rice?"

The crowd burst into laughter. Li Chongyi's face turned ashen, and he turned to leave, only to bump into the postmaster who was rushing over.

"Make way!" The postmaster was sweating profusely. "It's an urgent message from the Hangzhou workshops! The women's army is coming to Songjiang!" The entire Songjiang Prefecture suddenly fell silent.

In a private room at Taibai Tower, Manager Shen's teacup clattered to the floor. Trembling, he grabbed Li Chongyi's sleeve: "It's over. Those shops that spread rumors in Hangzhou last year—the women's army smashed them all!"

Li Chongyi forced himself to remain calm: "What are you afraid of? If they dare to make a move, it will only confirm their reputation as shrewish women."

"You know nothing!" Manager Shen cursed. "Those women fought alongside the princess. Last year, the constables from the Hangzhou government tried to stop them, and three of their legs were broken!"

Suddenly, the sound of orderly footsteps came from outside the window. The two rushed to the window and saw a group of women in blue overalls marching down the long street. They had spindles at their waists and carried carrying poles wrapped with red silk on their shoulders, their steps even more synchronized than those of the men from the canal transport gangs.

The woman leading the group suddenly looked up, her sharp gaze piercing the second-floor window. Manager Shen's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Go and invite Old Master Zhou."

……

Rumors spread like a plague throughout Songjiang Prefecture.

In a teahouse in the south of the city, several idle men were embellishing the gossip about the workshop.

"I heard that those female workers spin yarn during the day and entertain guests at night; their wages are earned by sleeping around!"

"That's right! My cousin saw it with his own eyes at the dock; a man was sneaking into the back door of the workshop in the middle of the night..."

Before he could finish speaking, the teahouse curtain was suddenly flung open. A group of women in blue filed in, their spindles gleaming coldly in the sunlight. The woman at the head of the group, in her early thirties with a scar on her eyebrow, was none other than Lin San Niang, the instructor of the Hangzhou Women's Army.

"Who was gossiping just now?" Lin San Niang's gaze swept over everyone.

The idlers shrank back, and the skinny man in the gray cloth shirt forced a smile and said, "None of your business!"

Lin San Niang sneered and took out a copper plaque from her bosom, slamming it on the table.

"Lin Sanniang, a centurion of the Hangzhou Women's Corps, is here by order of the princess to thoroughly investigate the rumors." She pointed at the thin man's chest. "You, come with us."

The skinny man's face changed drastically, and he turned to run away, but was grabbed by the arms of two women on either side.

"Let me go! The authorities need evidence to arrest people!"

Lin San Niang pulled a piece of paper from her sleeve: "Would you like to see the arrest warrant from the Songjiang Prefecture?"

The teahouse fell silent instantly.

……

At the canal dock, Zhu Youwei was helping Wenniang count the newly arrived cotton yarn. Suddenly, the sound of orderly footsteps came from afar, and a group of men in short jackets jogged over. The leader was none other than Zhou Dehai.

"Princess!" Zhou Dehai gasped for breath, "The Shen family sent people to Hangzhou to spread rumors, saying that the women in the workshops are all..."

Zhu Youwei raised her hand to interrupt him: "I know."

She turned around, took a letter from Chunxing, and handed it to Wenniang: "The Hangzhou Women's Army entered the city this morning."

Wen Niang unfolded the letter, her eyes growing brighter with each reading: "Instructor Lin led his men to arrest seven people who were spreading rumors?"

“Not only that.” Zhu Youwei looked towards the east of the city. “We should be at Taibai Tower by now.”

……

In a private room on the second floor of Taibai Tower, Li Chongyi was drinking with Manager Shen.

"Master Li's move is brilliant." Manager Shen squinted. "Once the rumors spread, the workshop won't be able to find workers, naturally..."

Suddenly, the sound of orderly footsteps came from outside the window.

Li Chongyi pushed open the window, his expression changing drastically. He saw a group of women in blue walking down the long street, with seven or eight dejected idlers at the front, each with a wooden sign around their neck that read "Rumor-mongers" in vermilion ink.

Lin San Niang struck the gong, her voice booming like a bell: "Elders, look carefully! These are the villains from the Rumor-Spreading Workshop! The Princess has decreed that anyone who slanders the women of the workshop again will be punished for defamation!"

The crowd erupted in uproar. Wang, the fishmonger, pushed her way to the front, pointed at one of the idlers, and yelled, "You scoundrel Liu Er! He borrowed money from my family the other day, and now he's making fun of my daughter!"

The idler shrank his neck, not daring to raise his head.

On the second floor, Manager Shen's wine glass clattered to the ground at the window. Li Chongyi slammed the window shut, his face ashen: "Why are the Women's Army here in Songjiang?"

……

In the square in front of the government office, Zhu Youwei personally struck the Dengwen Drum.

The sound of drums shook the treetops, causing sparrows to fly in all directions, and people poured in from all sides. Lin San Niang forced the rumor-monger to kneel down the steps, while Wen Niang stood on both sides with more than twenty female workers, each holding an account book and a spindle.

Prefect Zhao rushed over, his official hat askew: "Princess, what's going on...?"

"Please, Your Honor, uphold justice!" Zhu Youwei pointed at the group of rumor-mongers. "These people have slandered the reputation of the women in the workshop. According to the Great Ming Code, what crime should they be charged with?"

Someone in the crowd immediately shouted, "Eighty slaps!"

Paraded through the streets as a public spectacle!

Prefect Zhao wiped his sweat and was about to speak when he suddenly heard a commotion. Old Master Zhou, leaning on his cane, squeezed to the front, followed by more than a dozen members of the Zhou family.

"I can testify!" the old man's voice boomed. "The women in the workshop are all innocent and diligent. These wicked people should be severely punished!"

He turned to the onlookers and bowed, saying, "If you don't believe me, you can go to the workshop and see for yourselves. I guarantee with the Zhou family's century-old reputation that there is absolutely no such sordid affair!"

The crowd fell silent for a moment.

Granny Zhang, who sells steamed buns, suddenly rushed out and grabbed Liu Er by the ear: "Come on! Come with me to the workshop! If you can't find out the dirty deeds you've been telling me, I'll tear you apart today!"

……

The workshop doors were wide open, and hundreds of women stood in formation, each holding a spindle.

Zhu Youwei led everyone through the spinning area and the dyeing area, finally stopping in front of the canteen.

"Did you see clearly?" she asked the rumor-mongers.

Liu Er's legs trembled. Twenty long tables were set up in the canteen, where female workers were lining up for their meals, each with a piece of braised pork belly, marbled with fat and lean meat. Several five- or six-year-old children were learning to read in a corner, taught by an elderly scholar with gray hair.

"This...this is impossible..." Liu Er stammered, "Someone clearly said..."

Lin San Niang kicked him in the back of the knee: "Who said that? Point it out!"

Liu Er knelt down with a thud, his hands trembling as he pointed to the outer edge of the crowd.

Just as Manager Shen was about to slip away, he was blocked by two women.

……

As dusk fell, seven lotus lanterns floated on the canal.

Zhu Youwei stood on the bank, watching the lights drift downstream.

“The Shen family paid three thousand taels of silver in compensation.” Chen Han draped his cloak over her shoulders. “Li Chongyi was stripped of his official rank and exiled to the frontier.”

Wenniang brought over the newly drafted recruitment list: "Princess, more than eighty people have signed up today."

The first page of the roster reads "Zhou Dehai".

Zhu Youwei laughed: "Is the Zhou family going to change allegiance?"

The sound of a night watchman's clapper could be heard in the distance.

The women's army returned to camp, their blue-clad figures gradually blending into the night.

Rumors are like snowflakes, they can't stand the light of day...

(End of this chapter)