On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

Zhang Li was leaning against a carved couch, the neckline of her purple brocade cheongsam wide open, revealing her swan-like slender neck.

She naturally spread her legs and pulled Lin Zhen into her arms.

Of course Lin Zhen would not refuse such a kind gesture. He lay down and rested his head on her chest. The black jade ring on his big hand casually stroked her calves that were as smooth as mutton-fat jade.

Zhang Li stretched out her fingers and gently massaged Lin Zhen's ears, one by one, her movements were gentle and full of love.

Lin Zhen moaned in pleasure, listening to the rustling sound of her fingertips across the top of his head, and suddenly felt that this moment of peace was more intoxicating than thousands of troops.

"My dear, do you still remember the skinny horse from Yangzhou that the chess and card Buddha mentioned just now?"

Lin Zhen closed his eyes and hummed, feeling the warmth on her legs: "Why, did you take that crazy monk's words to heart?"

"It's not that I'm concerned." Zhang Li chuckled, pressing his head against her chest again as her chest rose and fell. "The Yangzhou Guild Hall sent a letter of greeting, saying that their merchants would like to hold a 'skinny horse trial sale' at our Yingxiong Restaurant in three days. They spread the word a few days ago that if the nobles in the capital respond well, they will hold a grand sale and the highest bidder will win."

Lin Zhen opened his eyes, his gaze fixed on the pearl necklace swaying on her chest: "Then do you know what a skinny horse is?"

"I don't know. I only know that they are all women with miserable lives." Zhang Li shook her head, her fingertips tracing across his brow. "The details still need to be explained by my husband."

Lin Zhen closed his eyes again and continued, "Yangzhou skinny horses are girls bought from poor families, taught in music, chess, calligraphy, painting, singing, dancing and etiquette, raised until they are thirteen or fourteen, and then sold to high-ranking officials as concubines or mistresses. This business began in the Kanglong period of Southern Chu, flourished in the Kaiyuan period, and has continued to grow stronger ever since."

His voice didn't change at all, as if he was telling a story from very ancient history.

When matchmakers select girls, they prioritize thin, small, pointed, curvy, fragrant, soft, and proper. Thin refers to a slender figure, small refers to young age, pointed refers to a pointed chin, curvy refers to a soft waist, fragrant refers to fragrant skin, soft refers to soft hands and feet, and proper refers to proper behavior.

Zhang Li's fingertips rested on his wrist, and she said with some resentment, "It sounds like selecting tribute."

"Isn't it just a tribute?" Lin Zhen sneered.

"The matchmaker would walk the streets, looking for girls two or three years old. If they were pretty, she would negotiate with their families and buy them for a few taels of silver. Their foster mothers, known as 'Shou Ma A Ma,' would teach them to read people's expressions and even practice their coughs to achieve the rhythmic rhythm of 'sweet coughs'. Training was divided into four areas: qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Qin taught them pipa, guzheng, and dongxiao, requiring them to play the strings silently with their fingertips. Chess taught them go, xiangqi, and backgammon, requiring them to be able to play with distinguished guests. Calligraphy taught them small calligraphy with flower-shaped ornaments, poetry, and songs, copying the 'Instructions for Women' a hundred times daily. Painting taught them meticulous brushwork of flowers and birds, landscapes, and figures, with particular emphasis on the flowing eyes of ladies."

"Ah? It's so complicated? Under these circumstances, the girls we raise would be more than qualified to be married off to ordinary people, even to become concubines for the emperor." Zhang Li frowned slightly. "And wouldn't their foster mothers be even stricter than private school teachers?"

"At least a hundred times more stringent! Any girl who slacked off would be caned. Even worse, to maintain a slim figure, they were only allowed half a bowl of porridge a day, and even practiced their gait even when they were starving. Why do you think they were called 'skinny horses'? They were raised to be skinny, to please the nobles."

Zhang Li suddenly sighed softly, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing the old scar on his forearm. "They are so pitiful. My husband, when the previous dynasty was at its peak, Yangzhou belonged to Southern Chu, and we, the Great Qian, were unable to seize it. Now that Yangzhou is ours, don't you want to deal with this matter?"

"Discipline?" Lin Zhen opened his eyes and looked at her, and found that her eyes were very serious, as if she was really speaking up for those women and hoped that they could be liberated.

But how can such a thing be so easy?

Lin Zhen explained, "Fool, do you think those matchmakers don't have the support of local officials? It's just like your casino. Without so many officials coming to play, how can we develop long-term? Moreover, the local people favor sons over daughters. Girls are considered 'money-losing goods' and are sold for money as soon as they can walk. This is an industry rooted in Yangzhou for 300 years."

"If the imperial court bans it outright, it will only drive the trade underground, fueling even more trafficking. Did you know that last year, there were over 300 cases of 'skinny horse' sales registered with the Yangzhou government office? The number of unregistered cases is probably ten times that many."

Zhang Li asked anxiously, "But how could the people be willing to sell their own daughters?"

"They can't afford to raise them, and they don't want them. As the saying goes, 'Giving birth to a son is like finding a treasure, giving birth to a daughter is like planting grass.' Many families who give birth to daughters are treated harshly at best, and drowned at worst. Raising them until they are seven or eight years old and then selling them for money is considered relatively merciful. The Shouma Yahang (thin horse and tooth business) takes advantage of this opportunity to buy girls cheaply and sell them at a high price, making a profit of a hundred times the price."

"Then, with such disregard for human life, is there nothing we can do?"

Lin Zhen sat up and said seriously, "Do you really want to put an end to this kind of thing? You're a businessman, you can also share in the profits of Skinny Horse."

"I am a merchant, yes, but when did I ever engage in human trafficking? Besides, I've heard that Nanchu doesn't treat women as human beings, and even makes things like beauty bowls and beauty paper. It's simply abhorrent! If possible, I really want to help them."

"Okay, then I'll help you. However, I don't agree to cancel the local characteristics of Skinny Horse, but we can regulate it."

“How to control it?”

"For example, if you don't want to see things like beauty bowls and beauty paper, then we'll enact the 'Women's Protection Law' to prohibit the objectification of women. On the other hand, we'll also enact the 'Skinny Horse Industry Rules', requiring all brokerages to register with the government, recording the origins of girls, training details, and where they were sold. We'll also strictly prohibit the trafficking of young children, stipulating that girls must be at least six years old to be adopted, and the selling price cannot exceed the prescribed maximum limit. By cutting off their huge profits, fewer people will naturally take such risks."

“But can the filing system completely eliminate those chaotic phenomena?”

"Of course not. That's why we're also implementing a 'daughter-birth subsidy,' for example, in Yangzhou Prefecture. Families who give birth to girls will be exempt from half a bushel of tax per mu of land for three consecutive years. We'll also erect a 'Chastity Archway' to honor farmers who refuse to sell their daughters, slowly changing the trend. Did you know that during the war a few years ago, there were tragic incidents of girls being killed to pay for food in Jiangnan? Later, the implementation of the 'daughter-birth exemption' policy helped Nanchu recover."

After getting the answer she wanted, Zhang Li suddenly chuckled and leaned over to straighten his collar. "My husband is really thinking ahead. So, will you go to this trial sale?"

"Go! Why not go?"

Lin Zhen looked at the pearls on her temples and said, "I want to see what kind of elegance the so-called Yangzhou skinny horse really has. Besides..."

He suddenly lowered his voice, "The palace is so huge that maids are needed in many places. And you are also familiar with the situation in Daqian. There are fewer and fewer people selling their children. The housekeeper Lin An complained the other day that no one was sweeping up the fallen flowers in the back garden."

"That..."

"Dong dong dong."

Just as Zhang Li was about to speak, there were three knocks on the door.

Then the twins Yan Fei and Yan Miao came in with small steps.

Both of them wore bright red cheongsams with gold embroidery, with collars opening to the collarbones and buttons embroidered with lotus patterns.

They were holding gilded food boxes, and the scent of rouge mixed with the aroma of food wafted into the air.

"Prince, Boss, it's time for dinner."

Yan Fei opened the food box, revealing the emerald bowl of crab roe tofu. "Today the kitchen has new Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs, so I made crab roe tofu and drunken crab."

Yan Miao held a celadon teacup with a few white chrysanthemums floating in the tea soup: "This is the boss's favorite chrysanthemum tea, with half a spoonful of honey added."

Zhang Li took it with a faint smile.

The reason why she liked the twins was not because they were loyal, but because they were considerate and knew the rules.

For example, now, although Lin Zhen is here, no matter what Yan Fei and Yan Miao do, they always look at Zhang Li's face first, and even ask about it. They don't take advantage of Zhang Li's favor and become arrogant. This is the rule.

Lin Zhen looked at the snow-white satin socks that peeked out from the slits of their cheongsams and suddenly remembered the skinny horse training he had just mentioned. So he asked, "By the way, have you two ever learned music, chess, calligraphy, or painting?"

Yan Fei chuckled, her fingertips tracing the gold thread on her cheongsam. "Your Highness, you're joking. We sisters are the daughters of ordinary people from Cangzhou. We were sold to a brothel at the age of ten. How could we understand those elegant things?"

"Don't listen to her nonsense." Zhang Li smiled and picked up a drunken crab. "Last month, Yan Fei won the chess game at the casino and made that old man Long Er lose three jars of daughter's red wine."

"Oh, Boss! That's...that's what I learned by myself..."

"Haha, alright, alright, go back to work if you have nothing else to do."

"Yes, I will retire."