My sister became the empress, but I'm still growing vegetables and raising chickens

Chapter 457 Women's Shelter

When the second sister was struggling with her feelings, she wrote letters to Si Muyan and the youngest sister.

Shortly after, the younger sister replied, saying that the government could strongly support the women's shelter and provide security for the women there. However, daily life and medical care would be somewhat difficult to address.

If we rely entirely on the government, once one place starts, other places will follow suit, and the national treasury and local treasuries will be unable to support it.

Si Muyan then provided a solution.

Her down jacket workshops are located all over the country. Raising ducks and geese, as well as textiles, down filling, and so on, all require a lot of materials.

Now that people's lives have improved, the demand for down jackets has also increased, and the supply falling short of demand is a major problem.

Moreover, Si Muyan's down jackets are of guaranteed quality, much better than those that appeared later. Although the price isn't exactly cheap, people are happy to buy them.

The shelters were perfect for arranging people and organizing a complete process including mulberry planting and silkworm rearing, weaving, poultry farming, and down jacket production. Workshops from various places would collect supplies from each county town, thus reducing costs. The women in the shelters could support themselves by working according to their abilities, and while the funding problem wasn't completely solved, it greatly reduced their burden.

Upon hearing this, the second sister thought the method was very suitable, so she selected several places to conduct pilot tests.

After this pilot program, it seems perfect. The women in the shelter were especially cooperative.

They used to a life of hardship, doing all sorts of rough and heavy work. The whole family depended on their own hands, but they themselves were often hungry and cold, and were beaten and scolded every day.

Now they have a place to go, and they no longer have to worry about going hungry or cold, or being beaten or verbally abused while being forced to work. They can also be self-sufficient, supporting themselves while helping others in the shelter.

Even things they didn't know before, there were people specifically to teach them; they were willing to learn and did them quickly and well.

If a place isn't suitable for growing mulberry trees and raising silkworms, growing vegetables and raising chickens and ducks are also good options. Anyway, Si Muyan has opened restaurants and estates for leisure in various places, and demand far exceeds supply.

Even without Si Muyan's farm, there were other merchants who followed in her footsteps and were willing to buy things from the women's shelter.

After visiting two places, shelters were opened in seven counties. The remaining counties didn't require Second Sister's personal visits.

The second sister was very happy and said to Prince Ning, "The shelters we currently run are all in relatively wealthy cities. There are relatively fewer women suffering in these places, so I want to go to a more remote place."

She had already traveled all over the Great Zhou Dynasty, visiting most of the places and witnessing the true conditions there. She also knew that the poorer the place, the harder life was for women.

How could Prince Ning refuse?

"Okay, let's go together."

The two of them went to a small town near the south, which consisted of only four county towns, none of which were wealthy.

The government had already received the news and had built the women's shelter ahead of time. The second sister, Prince Ning, had inspected it and found the location to be good—not too remote on the outskirts of the city, with plenty of farmland available for the women to use.

but……

The second sister asked the magistrate, "I heard that your women's shelter has been open for three months, but there don't seem to be many women living there!"

The magistrate quickly replied, "The princess is right. It's mainly the local women who don't have this need, so the number is relatively small."

While the second sister was talking with the county magistrate, Prince Ning led his men to inspect the women's shelter.

He didn't say much, but his second sister said after returning to the post station, "The women in this shelter must have been temporarily brought in to make up the numbers."

"how do you know?"

Prince Ning replied, “There are eight people in total. It looks like they are growing vegetables in the backyard, but the vegetable garden doesn’t look like it was acquired within three months. It should already have an owner. Moreover, among the women, two are pampered young ladies, and the other one… is a prostitute.”

The second sister frowned.

Prince Ning has been solving cases for many years, so he has the ability to judge people. My second sister trusts him.

"So, this women's shelter was set up by the local government to deal with us?"

Prince Ning nodded: "That should be the case. Alternatively, as they said, no woman is willing to come here. They have no choice but to find a few people to make up the numbers."

The second sister thought for a moment and said, "But as far as I know, this place is very poor. There have been many serious incidents in the surrounding villages in the past. When we came here to popularize the law, we also tried several cases. It can't be that much different from them in just a year and a half."

She recounted the case to Prince Ning.

“The men in this rural area are very arrogant and treat women as their private property. Moreover, clan power exceeds the law. When Gui Shan was here, she was almost dragged away by the rural men. Fortunately, the guards you gave us were capable and rescued Gui Shan.”

Upon hearing this, Prince Ning was startled and quickly grabbed her hand: "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. It was my carelessness; I shouldn't have separated from Guishan. Those places are vicious and cruel, and they're extremely unfriendly to women. I even heard that when refugees arrived, some were beaten to death by the villagers, who then took their wives and daughters for themselves..."

The second sister sighed.

"As you know, I later wrote to the imperial court and asked the governor to come over so that the government could resolve many issues. However, I always felt that popularizing the law was not as effective as in other places."

Prince Ning said, "If that's the case, then it only means that the local government is not doing a good job! We should set off for the city tomorrow and govern from the top down; that would be the most appropriate approach."

The second sister nodded: "Okay."

Just then, the old woman who had been with them came in and said, "Princess, Miss Gui requests your presence. She says she has saved two women."

The second sister and Prince Ning exchanged a glance and quickly followed him out.

In a small clinic nearby, I saw Gui Shan and two young women in their twenties.

Both women had disheveled hair and were covered in injuries. The larger one looked like she had a broken leg, while the smaller one was in better condition.

The second sister hurriedly asked, "What happened?"

Gui Shan explained, "I was just taking a walk nearby when I saw bloodstains near a grove of trees. I took some people there and found the two sisters hiding in the dense forest... They were quite badly injured, so I took them to the hospital first."

The second sister sized up the two women and noticed that they seemed timid, huddled together, nervously watching the group in front of them.

She said, “You don’t need to be afraid. We are not locals. I am Princess Xintong, and this is His Highness Prince Ning. If you have any troubles, you can tell us.”

Upon hearing this, the younger one burst into tears. Just as he was about to speak, the older one pulled him back.

Her eyes flashed with resentment as she glanced at her second sister and Prince Ning, biting her lip tightly and refusing to utter a sound.