Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 1236 Zhen Huan Enlarged to 160

There was a new person in Changchun Garden, a commoner abandoned by the previous emperor, and no one felt it was strange. But for the other concubines, they were more confident about their later life, and couldn't help but secretly pray that Jiang Xinxin could live safely and peacefully to be over 100 years old.

Of course Jiang Xinxin didn’t know all this, and even if she did she wouldn’t take it seriously. The most important thing for her right now was to set up the charity hall’s stall.

Wool products are still a bit expensive, and it is impossible for everyone to use them. Even if you already have cotton-padded clothes, cotton-padded jackets are still the most important property of many families, and they can even be pawned for money when necessary. For the general public, the way to keep warm in winter is still to stuff reed flowers or hay into their clothes.

The Charity Hall is a business that Jiang Xinxin arranged for the elderly and helpless palace maids and eunuchs on the basis of the Charity Bureau. Nowadays, the chances of eunuchs and palace maids being treated well after leaving the palace are very small. Even with the help of relatives and friends, their lives are often not as expected.

Therefore, the existence of charity hall is very necessary.

It just so happened that Jiang Xinxin didn't need them to work hard. She just needed to be a manager and give orders, or be a teacher to teach various rules and skills. When the children in the charity hall grew up a little, she would take care of them in their old age.

The majority of people in the charity hall are abandoned girls and baby girls. There are boys as well, but most of them are either mentally ill or intellectually disabled, or missing limbs and unable to do much. However, Jiang Xinxin also has people take in such children.

Since the charity hall was opened, Jianqiu has even complained many times that some people deliberately abandoned their children in the charity hall. Jiang Xinxin didn't have any opinion at the time, but just rejected a few families who obviously had no difficulties and simply didn't want to support the girls at home. Some even said that the charity hall would raise the children and then take them back to work like slaves.

Jiang Xinxin just had someone spread the word that anyone who entered the charity hall, whether they paid money or not, had sold their bodies. If they wanted to take someone back, they had to pay, and they also had to settle various fees.

In this way, there will no longer be those who try to take advantage of loopholes by being sneaky.

Thanks to Jiang Xinxin's power, almost every child sent to the charity hall can have a very accurate origin and background. Of course, these can only be seen by people above the level of the charity hall's general manager, and most of the children in the charity hall are abandoned by their families.

There are only a very small number of children whose families did not abandon them voluntarily, but who chose to hide their identities in charity homes for various other reasons.

Jiang Xinxin treats all these people equally. Every child can read and write and has a skill to support himself.

Now, seven or eight years have passed, and Jianqiu came to report that several girls in the first charity hall are going to get married.

It should be a good thing for girls to get married when they grow up, but Jiang Xinxin calculated the ages of the girls and the oldest seemed to be only sixteen or seventeen years old, and the youngest was only thirteen or fourteen years old.

"Could there be some mistake? I remember that the girls in the first charity hall were about 16 or 17 years old at most. It's a bit early to get married at this age."

Maybe getting married at the age of sixteen or seventeen was considered too late in previous years, but since the wool business started to develop, girls are willing to earn more money for a few more years, so getting married at the age of seventeen or eighteen is considered early.

Jianqiu had already obtained the birth dates of those children. After hearing what Jiang Xinxin said, she quickly explained, "After all, the children of the charity hall are different from those outside. Some of them really don't want to get married and have children. It's not bad for them to continue working in the charity hall."

"But some children, especially those who have been in the charity house for a long time, hope to have their own family as soon as possible."

Jianqiu herself didn't want to get married because she saw the most disgusting ugliness of men in Big Fat Ju and his brothers. Although she was just a slave, she had the freedom to choose her future life because of Jiang Xinxin, so she chose to become a nanny and accompany her master for the rest of her life.

Of course, although she made such a choice herself, she can also understand those who have not had the care of a family since childhood and their yearning for family life when they grow up.

Seeing that Jiang Xinxin still frowned slightly, as if she was worried about the future of those children, Jianqiu comforted Jiang Xinxin softly, "My queen, you have raised them up, saved them from dying in childhood, and taught them a skill so that they have a means to make a living for the rest of their lives. This is enough."

Jiang Xinxin sighed and said, "I only found out later that if a woman gets pregnant and gives birth before she stops growing, it will not only cause great damage to herself, but will also cause the child to be born with some deficiencies. So if there is a choice, I still hope that women can get married later in life."

Jianqiu finally breathed a sigh of relief. She was afraid that Jiang Xinxin would care too much about the children in the charity hall and would want to help them for the rest of her life, which would be too hard and tiring.

However, regarding the appropriate age for a girl to get married and the appropriate age for pregnancy and childbirth, Jian Qiu could only sigh: "Nowadays, most people in the world want to kick their daughters out of the house as soon as possible. It is actually a good thing to postpone the marriage of a daughter for the wool business."

Deep-rooted ideas are indeed not so easy to change. Even the abolition of foot binding was only curbed after a lot of blood was shed.

However, even though the imperial court directly raised the butcher knife and killed people, there were still many men who sacrificed their mothers, wives and daughters for the so-called "integrity". They openly disclosed the process of foot binding and vigorously promoted the so-called integrity, trying to become famous in this way.

If it weren't for Big Fat Ju's direct order that from the day the imperial decree abolished foot binding, anyone who defied the imperial law would be thrown into slavery and would not be pardoned, who knows how many women in this world would have been forced to bind their feet by men.

As for those women who were ostensibly the beneficiaries of foot binding, it is another matter if they were ignorant and terrified by the decree to abolish foot binding, and thus went to great lengths to protect their vested interests.

The first batch of girls who grew up in the charity hall got married successfully. Jiang Xinxin didn't give them much dowry. Those girls' lives over the years were enough to support themselves. What's more, they were literate and knew a lot of rules and etiquette. They were already ahead of many other girls. If they didn't live well, it would be purely their own problem.

But Jiang Xinxin didn't expect Zhen Huan to suddenly ask for a meeting.

Jiang Xinxin did not let Zhen Huan in right away, but asked Bi Tao, the messenger, "Did the Minister of Rites explain your purpose?"

Bi Tao replied, "I asked, and the Minister of Rites said that he heard about the girls from the charity hall under the name of the Majesty getting married a few days ago, so he was moved and came to ask for permission from the Majesty."

It seemed that what Zhen Huan was talking about must be related to the Charity Hall, so Jiang Xinxin let the person in.

After a few pleasantries, Jiang Xinxin directly asked Zhen Huan why she came, and Zhen Huan answered directly: "Your Majesty, I thought that after all, I have studied for a few years and know a few words. I want to go to the charity hall to be a teacher to teach people how to read, so as to help those poor girls."