More hurtful than “you’re not good” was “I’ll do it myself.” Little Wang immediately became listless, hanging his head dejectedly. Wang Daxia was completely adequate in hardware but utterly incompetent in operation. It was like using humanity’s most ancient computing system—an abacus—to run a supercomputer.

Human civilization originated from making and using tools. Little Wang’s self-proclaimed magnificent physical advantages could be completely replaced by a horn gentleman filled with hot water.

Wei Caiwei took his hand and truly taught him hand by hand. Only then did Wang Daxia finally get the idea and understand something. By the latter half of the night, though still not as exquisite as the previous life, it was no longer as boringly ineffective as scratching an itch through one’s boot.

Wang Daxia lay on the pillow, his cheeks flushed, wanting to speak but hesitating. Finally, he gathered courage to ask: “That… are my eyebrow paintings deep or shallow, and are they fashionable?”

“Last night in the bridal chamber, the red candles stopped burning. At dawn before the hall, I pay respects to parents-in-law. After finishing my makeup, I quietly ask my husband: are my eyebrow paintings deep or shallow, and are they fashionable?”

Wang Daxia had improved—not just in technique, but he would also use the limited ancient poetry he knew to tactfully seek his fiancée’s opinion.

Wang Daxia had secretly looked at some books and paintings, all of which talked about how women loved magnificence and preferably fighting until dawn and such. He learned according to the books and paintings, never expecting to take the wrong path and be scorned by Wei Caiwei.

Wang Daxia decided to go back and burn the entire box of books and paintings hidden under his bed!

What use are these useless things! Following them only brought self-humiliation.

These books and paintings were completely different from what Wei Caiwei taught him!

Wei Caiwei was at a loss for words: “The depth and shallowness are acceptable.” Everything else was not.

Wang Daxia wasn’t stupid. He could tell Wei Caiwei meant it wasn’t very good—like eating a meal where you’re full but didn’t eat well.

Wang Daxia immediately felt frustrated and deflected responsibility: “It’s not my fault. I read those books… I was misled. The books are all nonsense.”

Wei Caiwei finally understood why, even though they were the same person, Wang Daxia was so much worse than Eunuch Wang. She said: “Those books were all written by men, and only written for men to read. They write the same things over and over, and to increase sensationalism, they become more and more exaggerated. In these books, women are no different from a pillow or a bed—they’re just objects to be manipulated by men at will. Who cares about the true feelings of an object?”

“The women in these books are just accessories to men, only knowing how to please men. Even when uncomfortable, they must say ‘Master is so powerful.’ It’s all men deceiving themselves and others. You treat these books like martial arts manuals to read and practice by—no wonder you went astray and took the wrong path.”

One dared to write, one dared to learn. Wang Daxia had run further and further down the wrong road.

Wang Daxia stared intently at Wei Caiwei: “How do you know in such detail? You seem to understand more than anyone. You must have read quite a few.” He paused, then continued: “You definitely read more than me.”

“I—” Wei Caiwei thought: That was from the previous life when I was figuring out how to please the castrated you, buying all the relevant books on the market to summarize from. I actually didn’t read that many—less than a hundred volumes.

Wei Caiwei said: “I’m a studious physician. Knowing more never hurts.”

Wang Daxia pounded the bed with both hands, suddenly understanding: “No wonder you know so much! When we were in Xinghua City and you had me set up a honey trap for Prince Ming, you were like an old hand.”

Both reading books, Wei Caiwei became more understanding the more she read, while I became more confused the more I read. Our future children must not be like me.

Practice produces true knowledge. Here with Wei Caiwei, free trial learning, one-on-one teaching by a master teacher, theory and practice in parallel, guaranteed teaching and learning, no fees charged—even a stubborn stone could become enlightened.

On the fourteenth day of the twelfth month, cloud boards sounded in the Forbidden City. Emperor Jiajing had died. The Five Cities’ Military Commissioner took to the streets, ordering every household to remove red lanterns and other decorative items and hang white cloth, beginning national mourning.

All the major temples in the capital struck bells thirty thousand times. Bell sounds rose and fell continuously over the capital, day and night without rest. Snowflakes danced and swirled in the sound of bells.

During national mourning, slaughter was forbidden for forty-nine days. All common people wore plain clothes, women in plain clothes were not allowed makeup, and no marriages or music were permitted within twenty-seven days. After twenty-seven days, normal clothes and marriages could resume.

Officials were forbidden from holding joyous events like weddings for a hundred days. There were still nine days until Wang Daxia and Wei Caiwei’s wedding date, so the wedding had to be canceled according to regulations.

Three years, then another three years, then another three years, then another hundred days. Wang Daxia was on the verge of tears but had no choice. He hurriedly wrote notices canceling the wedding, with the wedding date to be set after national mourning ended.

Even Commander Mu sympathized with him, comforting: “Good things take time. As soon as national mourning ends, I’ll immediately arrange your marriage.”

The joys and sorrows of the world don’t connect. Wang Daxia was forced to postpone his wedding, but the great mountain pressing on Prince Yu’s head had collapsed with a thunderous crash. Prince Yu was like Sun Wukong who had been pressed under Five Finger Mountain for five hundred years—suddenly clear-headed and refreshed, completely relaxed.

However, in public, Prince Yu still showed a sad demeanor. On the first day, the ministers urged him to ascend the throne, and he tearfully refused. On the second day, the imperial clan urged him to ascend, and he tearfully refused. On the third day, prestigious families, centenarians, foreign envoys in the capital, Buddhist monks and Taoist priests and other religious figures knelt and requested his ascension, and Prince Yu still tearfully refused.

Three invitations and three refusals had been a customary rule since Grand Ancestor Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. On the fourth day, all the previous people collectively submitted memorials urging him to accept the imperial position. Prince Yu finally nodded, ascending the throne as emperor with the reign name Longqing, becoming Emperor Longqing.

After Emperor Longqing’s ascension, he issued an enthronement edict proposing thirty articles for eliminating corruption and implementing reforms. The two most important were settling the unjust cases from his father’s Jiajing reign, clearing names and restoring reputations, which invigorated the court and won officials’ support.

Then he exempted half of the land tax for the first year of Longqing to encourage agriculture and sericulture. He also ordered that all uncollected taxes from the forty-third year of Jiajing, regardless of tax type, would no longer be pursued! All written off! Once this tax exemption policy was announced, farmers and merchants throughout the realm were even more grateful to the new emperor.

These two articles alone won the hearts of the realm, earning reverence from all people and submission from all officials. The remaining twenty-eight articles also had merit. Emperor Longqing immediately established himself as a reformer and secured his throne upon taking office.

After securing his position, Emperor Longqing immediately posthumously honored his mother, Consort Du Kang, as Empress Dowager Xiaoke, compensating for the regret that when Empress Dowager Du was dying, his father the emperor hadn’t allowed him to see her one last time.

He posthumously honored his deceased first wife Lady Li as Empress Xiaoyi Zhuang. He also posthumously titled his two deceased sons and daughters as Crown Prince Xianhuai, Prince Jingdao, Princess Penglai, and Princess Taihe, giving them names. What the children hadn’t achieved in life was all made up for in death.

Having honored the dead, he then honored the living.

He made his second wife Lady Chen empress and elevated concubine Li Jiubao to Noble Consort—in the month she was elevated, Noble Consort Li gave birth to a little princess, so she now had two daughters and one son, her honor elevated due to her children.

The other concubines who had not yet borne children were all given various ranks of consort and concubine according to their ages and years in the household.

Additionally, Emperor Longqing had the Ministry of Rites choose a name for his only surviving son. The ministry carefully selected many names for Emperor Longqing to choose from, finally settling on Zhu Yijun, embodying Emperor Longqing’s beautiful wishes for his son and compensating for the regret that his son was already five years old without having a name announced and recorded in the imperial genealogy.

Besides conferring titles, Emperor Longqing also acted “in reverse,” removing his grandfather Zhu Youyuan’s spirit tablet from the Imperial Temple and ending his grandfather’s qualification for temple worship.

It should be known that when Emperor Jiajing ascended as a collateral branch of the imperial clan, originally his father was only a prince. But Emperor Jiajing strongly opposed all dissent, violated ancestral rites, and raised the “Great Rites Controversy” in court, insisting on posthumously honoring his father as emperor with additional posthumous titles, placing his tablet in the ancestral temple with the same temple worship as all previous emperors.

For this, Emperor Jiajing had beaten, killed, and exiled all officials who opposed his father’s inclusion in the worship list, causing years of bloody storms in the court.

Now, as soon as Emperor Longqing took the throne, he overturned the “Great Rites Controversy” that his father had painstakingly pursued, removing his grandfather’s tablet and downgrading all related ritual specifications. Everything was restored to its original form.

The rule of “not changing policies for three years after a father’s death” was completely cast aside by Emperor Longqing. Whatever his father supported, he opposed.

His father built Taoist temples and favored Taoist priests, so he demolished temples and killed priests. Even the legitimate Taoist Celestial Master Zhang of Dragon and Tiger Mountain had his hereditary seal of True Person Zhengyi confiscated and was forbidden from participating in government affairs.

His father had forcibly placed his grandfather’s tablet in the Imperial Temple for worship, so he moved the tablet out.

The thirty-year-old Emperor Longqing was like a rebellious child with delayed adolescence, doing everything he had wanted to do but couldn’t before, venting years of pressure and grievance.

If Emperor Jiajing knew that his only son had negated almost all his policies upon taking the throne, even his coffin boards probably couldn’t hold him down.

But when a person dies, the light goes out. One dynasty’s emperor, one dynasty’s officials. With a new emperor on the throne, the old emperor’s policies became passing clouds, no longer useful, and people cheered for the new emperor.

Even when Emperor Longqing appeared at the grand court assembly in the first month, many old ministers wept on the spot!

Thirty-some years! The emperor was finally holding court! The old ministers could see the emperor hold court before dying—even death could now close their eyes in peace.

Emperor Longqing reduced taxes upon ascending, but the state needed money to operate. The reduced tax revenue had to be sourced from elsewhere.

Emperor Longqing announced the lifting of maritime prohibitions, using Yuegang in Zhangzhou, Fujian as a pilot program, gradually opening coastal cities to allow overseas trade. During the Jiajing period, the court’s maritime prohibitions were strictest. Whether for more tax revenue or opposing his father, lifting maritime prohibitions was something Emperor Longqing was happy to see.

Moreover, through the efforts of famous anti-pirate generals like Hu Zongxian, Yu Dayou, and Qi Jiguang, coastal pirates were basically eliminated, maritime trade safety was guaranteed, and it was time to lift maritime prohibitions.

Hearing about lifting maritime prohibitions, everyone knew this meant big money. Wealthy households in the capital were eager to try, pooling money to invest in legitimate overseas trade at Yuegang. New emperor, new policies—a scene of renewal and bustling activity. People placed hope in the Longqing reign.

Only Wang Daxia paid no attention to outside affairs, focused only on holding his wedding, not joining this excitement. After the hundred days of national mourning ended, he would send out his third wedding invitation, with the date set for the sixth day of the fourth month.

One wedding, three invitations sent—truly good things take time.

Wang Daxia delivered the new invitation to Lu Ying: “This time, will Commander Lu still be willing to serve as my best man?”

This was the third invitation. He had agreed the previous two times, but hadn’t been able to serve.

Lu Ying smiled as he accepted the invitation: “Always.”

Author’s Note: Lu Ying: always!

After finishing this update, I’ll take my thermos to queue for nucleic acid testing at the community square, hoping to get tested tonight. Everyone please take care of your health—don’t remove your masks.