Epilogue
By the time the Inspectorate sealed the Loyal and Brave Marquis Mansion, Mother and I had already received word:
We had both placed in the top ten of the Women’s Examination. The palace examination lay ahead.
Mother took me to the grandest restaurant in the capital to celebrate.
Downstairs, drinkers talked loudly.
They wagered on which women would pass and become Da Zhou’s first female officials.
Then the conversation turned to Shen Wanrong.
“Who would’ve thought? Xie Chengzong seemed so upright—yet he threw everything away for one woman. Hardly worth it.”
“Worth it or not, how would we know? Maybe they’re happy enough in that kiln cave.”
“True. Making father and son risk their title for her—dying beneath the pomegranate skirt and still smiling as ghosts.”
“And don’t forget the Wang boy. One woman against three.”
“What kind of face does she have to drive men that mad?”
Someone snickered. “Heard there’s a sign outside the kiln cave now. Pay, and you can go in and enjoy her. Shall we try tonight?”
Mother had been listening with bright interest.
At those words she set her cup down hard. Anger clouded her face.
“Yaohua… we still haven’t done enough.”
She was right.
The realm now held a Women’s Examination to find talented women.
Yet to most, a woman remained a “calamity,” the root of every misfortune.
Inside the story, men acted without thought.
Outside it, they still blamed women for every failure.
It didn’t matter.
I clasped her hand tightly.
“Mother, the road is long and difficult. But I will walk it with you.”
Thousands of women would follow.
In this world we were shaping ourselves, the future held endless possibility.