After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

Despite the heavy snow and slippery roads, Lu Zhiyuan, carrying the Seventh Princess in her arms, felt no jolts as she sat in the sedan chair. The sedan chair bearers were not ordinary guards, but highly skilled individuals with exceptionally stable stances. The Crown Prince did not ride in the sedan chair, but instead walked alongside his guards on the right side of it.

Candlelight fell on his cloak, snowflakes settled on his hair, and he walked slowly with his hands clasped behind his back, looking rather pleasing to the eye. The Crown Prince was very kind, occasionally picking a few topics to chat about, all of which were things she was very interested in regarding the border town.

For example, her maternal grandfather feigned illness and shirked responsibility after her mother went to the border, delegating most of his power to her. The Xie Chaoyun of today has long since shed her former self, resembling the female general who fought on the battlefield. It is said that she has formed two special armies.

One team consisted of cavalry armed with special bows and arrows, while the other team comprised special forces trained under grueling conditions, each capable of taking on a hundred men. Their elusive nature made them impossible for the Southern Chu to defend against.

At this point, the Crown Prince turned to look at Lu Zhiyuan: "The bows and arrows in the hands of the cavalry were drawn by A Yuan, and the training manual for special forces was also written by A Yuan. I am a little curious, where did A Yuan learn these things? Could you please enlighten me, Your Highness?"

"Is what I dreamt of, Your Highness? Can you believe it?" Lu Zhiyuan hugged the Seventh Princess tightly. "Your Highness is well-informed and should know that at Chaoyun Villa, I almost died at the hands of my wet nurse. At that time, I was taking a bath when my wet nurse strangled me from behind with her belt. I was completely exhausted and slid into the bathtub. Just as I was about to die, I saw a strange world that was completely different from Beiliang."

The Crown Prince stopped and asked Lu Zhiyuan, "What was that strange world like that you saw, A-Yuan? Could you describe it to your Crown Prince brother in detail?"

Lu Zhiyuan frowned and sat askew on the sedan chair: "It was a peaceful country without war. Not only men could study, but women could too. In that world, women could become officials, generals, weapons developers, or teachers. They were no longer confined to the inner quarters; everyone could live a wonderful life."

The Crown Prince said, "The Northern Liang can also start the imperial examinations for women, so that women can become officials and generals, and women can also go to school to be female teachers."

"If that were truly the case, the people, especially the women of the world, would be grateful to my Crown Prince brother." Overwhelmed with excitement, Lu Zhiyuan leaned halfway out.

Startled, the Crown Prince quickly helped Lu Zhiyuan to her feet and spoke only after she was seated properly: "There's no need for that. These were all my uncle's suggestions. He made the decision after seeing Lady Chaoyun and A-Yuan. He believes that women are no less capable than men, and that women can do what men can do, and do it even better. I agree with my uncle's idea and am willing to help him make this happen."

"That's also a good deed for you, Crown Prince." She took a piece of candy from the Seventh Princess's pocket and handed it to him: "This is a reward for you, Crown Prince."

The Crown Prince smiled and took the candy that Lu Zhiyuan handed him: "Besides women being able to become officials, generals, and female tutors, what else has A-Yuan seen?"

"I saw some methods for making weapons. Lu Yun's blood-dripping guillotine, Ye Bai's purple bracelet, Liu Ying's ring, and the bows and arrows I asked my mother to give to my maternal grandfather were all learned from my dreams." Lu Zhiyuan counted on her fingers: "Where there are weapons, there are people who use them. Where there are people who use weapons, there are methods for training them. I wrote down what I saw and learned and gave it to my mother. That's how I came up with the cavalrymen with bows and arrows that my brother, the Crown Prince, talked about, and the special forces who appear and disappear like ghosts."

Seeing the Crown Prince lower his head, looking thoughtful, Lu Zhiyuan clicked her tongue twice and said deliberately, "It's all thanks to Master Yin the Thirteenth. He found craftsmen to make those bows and arrows for me. The original sketches weren't that detailed. The craftsmen made them by studying and combining their own experience. It's not entirely thanks to A-Yuan."

The Crown Prince raised an eyebrow and smiled: "Ah Yuan is too modest. Without Ah Yuan's dream, even the most skilled craftsman could not have made such a bow and arrow."

“Yes, yes, yes, what Crown Prince Brother says is true. A-Yuan is the smartest person in the world.” Lu Zhiyuan nodded her chin. “However, no matter how smart A-Yuan is, she can’t control the situation on the border. It’s still Grandfather’s soldiers who are more capable and can withstand those rigorous training.”

"The Xie family army is known for its strict discipline, from the Emperor to the common people in Beiliang." While praising the Xie family army, he was thinking about something else entirely.

Lu Yun's blood-dripping dart, Xiao Yebai's purple bracelet, Liu Ying's ring, Xie Yuandao's bow and arrow—it turns out that only he, her fiancé, has nothing. A pang of jealousy rose in his heart, but he couldn't quite put his finger on where the jealousy came from.

I want it, but I can't bring myself to say yes. If I don't want it, I feel like I'm losing out.

Just as she was pondering how to begin, she suddenly heard Lu Zhiyuan, who was in the sedan chair, say, "In that world, the most amazing thing is not these weapons, but gender equality."

"Gender equality?" The crown prince raised an eyebrow slightly.

No wonder she could utter such outrageous words as "one man for life" at such a young age. Let alone royalty, even moderately wealthy ordinary families had wives and concubines. He had only ever heard of "one man for life" in folk tales. He couldn't believe that such a world existed, that there were men who didn't like taking concubines, who didn't like having multiple wives.

Having lived in the royal family and witnessed all sorts of sordid things, he simply didn't believe that there was any sincerity, true feelings, or genuine intentions in this world. Even someone as pure and abstemious as him weighed the pros and cons when choosing a crown princess.

"Does A-Yuan's so-called gender balance mean that women can freely choose husbands and keep male concubines?"

Lu Zhiyuan shook her head: "What you're talking about isn't gender equality, it's promiscuity. It exists in that world too, but it's considered a despicable act. They practice monogamy and are protected by the government. Whether it's a woman being promiscuous or a man keeping a mistress, they can both go to the government and request a divorce. The one who betrays the other's true feelings has to pay the price, at least some financial compensation."

"To me, there's not much difference. It's just that taking concubines is legal in Beiliang, but illegal in that world. However, illegality doesn't mean non-existence. Officials still take concubines, but they keep them outside the family. Their wives will swallow their anger for the sake of their family's interests. If they're rich, they can appease them with money. As long as they're appeased properly, the mistress won't cause trouble in front of the mistress, and the mistress won't bother fighting with the mistress. Even if the mistress has a child, it's a son born out of wedlock and can't compete with the legitimate son."

No, in that world, illegitimate sons can compete with legitimate sons, and not only illegitimate sons, but also children born out of wedlock. Upon closer inspection, the laws and regulations in that world are even less stringent than those in Northern Liang. In Northern Liang, a legal wife can find a pretext to sell a concubine if she dislikes her. In that world, concubines and mistresses are often more arrogant than the legal wife.

Of course, Lu Zhiyuan would not tell the Crown Prince about this.

The Crown Prince did not dwell on this issue, but instead turned the topic back to those strange weapons: "Could A-Yuan make a handy weapon for Crown Prince Brother to use for self-defense? As you know, Crown Prince Brother's Eastern Palace is also fraught with danger."