newbobooks Chapter 128 Is Master An willing to teach them?
Chapter 128 Is Master An willing to teach them?
An Qingya shook her head dejectedly.
If she were a man, she could take the imperial examination and become an official, and make a career with her knowledge, or she could teach students in a private school, but as a woman, she could do nothing.
Even though he has taught many outstanding female students over the years, it only made their reputations more famous and helped them marry better.
Thinking of An Qingya, I felt a little depressed.
Song Yunxi hesitated for a moment, but still asked tentatively: "There is a place where the Third Madam's knowledge is needed, but I don't know if Madam is willing."
West Street in the capital was an area where the poor lived, and it was absolutely impossible for nobles and powerful officials to come here.
But seeing how familiar Song Yunxi seemed, he must come here often.
Song Yunxi led them to a courtyard. As soon as the door was opened, several girls around seven or eight years old ran over and hugged Song Yunxi: "Sister Xi!"
Song Yunxi touched the girls' heads one by one and asked, "How have you been doing recently?"
The girls were all jumping around and eagerly sharing their recent lives with her. Song Yunxi listened with a smile. She was no longer as cold and aloof as before, but was completely gentle and kind, a feeling that was unfamiliar to the people in the capital.
After patiently listening to the girls' sharing, Song Yunxi asked someone to take them downstairs to play first, while she took An Qingya and Fang Chengwei to introduce this huge courtyard.
This is the home for girls that she secretly built after her rebirth. There are girls of all ages here, from abandoned babies to middle-aged women who were kicked out of their husband's family and had nowhere to go.
There are girls who are treated as commodities by their families and are sold to old men as concubines in exchange for money; there are girls who are sold to brothels by their parents, brothers and sisters-in-law and suffer a lot. There are girls from all walks of life.
As long as someone sends her a distress signal, she will save them from danger as soon as she sees them. This courtyard hidden in the city is their home.
The establishment of this girls' home was also a coincidence. The concubine daughter of a minor official learned that she was going to be sent by her father and stepmother to a Zhongshan wolf as a concubine. She ran away and was chased with nowhere to go, so she hid in Yiyuan Hall.
At that time, Song Yunxi happened to sneak out of Wenyuanhou Mansion at night and went to Yiyuan Hall to take a medicinal bath to treat her legs, and she saved the concubine's daughter.
After hearing about her and her aunt who was forced to be a concubine because of her outstanding beauty, Song Yunxi felt some ups and downs in her heart.
Song Yunxi was not sure how many women like this who had nowhere to go were in the capital, but they might not have the courage like this concubine's daughter to fight and escape.
After thinking about it for several days, I finally felt that I needed to do something.
Ask Jiang Yanting to keep an eye on all the businesses in the capital city on weekdays, and if there are women who need help, they will notify Qinghe, and Song Yunxi and Qinghe will rescue them.
Over time, it became an unspoken secret among many women that the newly opened dance and music hall in the capital could help them escape bad luck.
There were abandoned baby girls at the door of the dance and music house, letters for help sent secretly, and people who secretly came to ask for help... Over the past six months, this courtyard has taken in more than 20 women of all kinds.
Song Yunxi asked An Qingya: "Master An, are you willing to teach them?"
She called him Master An instead of Madam Fang San.
Song Yunxi said calmly: "Many of them will definitely become independent women in the future. I must let them learn more and change them completely from the inside."
"Although my ability is limited, I have a lot of businesses both in the capital and elsewhere, and I can definitely provide them with opportunities to earn money and support themselves in the future."
Song Yunxi pointed to the women who were learning needlework and accounting: "Having a skill will allow them to live with dignity."
"But my external help is still too limited for them. The ethical education of the Three Obediences and Four Virtues has a profound impact on them. I hope that they can have a thorough change in their thoughts and perspectives and truly stand up on their own. Therefore, the master's talent and knowledge are very important to them."
Song Yunxi asked An Qingya solemnly: "Teacher, are you willing to teach them? Are you willing to help them with what you have learned?"
An Qingya looked at those women who seemed to be living a peaceful life now. Some of them still had hideous scars on their faces. It seemed that she could see through these scars that they had once lived a miserable life.
Let them change their inner thoughts and truly stand up, relying on their own skills to establish a household and support themselves.
This has a fatal attraction to An Qingya.
She thought about it, but she had to care about what Fang Chengwei and the Fang family thought.
So she subconsciously looked at Fang Wanwei, who just gave her a supportive and respectful smile: "Just make your own decision. I believe that father, second brother and Yichen will support your decision."
An Qingya thought of her father who had taught her to be independent and self-reliant since childhood. He would certainly feel comforted by her decision.
He decisively told Song Yunxi his decision: "I will teach them. I am willing to teach them!"
This made Song Yunxi very happy, but some things still had to be made clear in advance.
"Some of them were tortured, slandered and framed by their husbands, and their reputations were ruined. Others were forced to be sold into brothels and had to compromise and endure suffering and humiliation in order to survive. They are not the so-called good women recognized by this world..."
"If people knew that the teacher usually interacted with them, I'm afraid not only you, but also the Pingnan General's Mansion and the Scholar's Mansion would be criticized, and your reputation would be affected."
With An Qingya's background and two families behind her, it is understandable that she cares.
The most important thing is that although Song Yunxi admires An Qingya's talent and character, it is an indisputable fact that the noble ladies in the capital look down on the lower class people. She does not want these poor women who have suffered so much and escaped from the sea of suffering to be despised and looked down upon again.
"I do not care."
After listening to Song Yunxi's voice on the city wall, she suddenly understood that the so-called reputation is nothing more than the invisible shackles that bind women in this world. Since she has already broken through it, why would she put it on herself again?
An Qingya's eyes were burning: "I want to help them!"
She felt full of energy whenever she thought about the fact that she had contributed to their future success.
This is much more meaningful than teaching those noble ladies in girls' schools to add icing on the cake.
Her firm attitude made Song Yunxi stunned, and she reminded him again: "But General Pingnan..."
"Father will certainly support me."
Fang Wanwei also said firmly: "Yunxi, you are an unmarried daughter of a famous family, but you can help them out of compassion without caring about those false reputations. Do we, men who have fought in the battlefield and witnessed too many lives and deaths, care about those false reputations?"
"Father has never looked down upon the prostitutes sent to our Pingnan Army. He has even tried every possible way to help them escape from their lowly status and start a new life by marrying and having children at the border."
"So you can rest assured. If he knew it was to help these poor women, he would definitely agree."
An Qingya also said: "Although my father is a civil official, he is not a pedantic person. He has always hated those who treat women as playthings, and he will definitely support it."