The system of Nan Yi Kingdom had endured for centuries, making it impossible to define its affairs by external perspectives.
Gu Qianying took Xiao Yihao's small hand.
"If one day, I told you that you were actually a girl, would you accept it?"
Her mother's words were peculiar, but Xiao Yihao quickly shook his head.
"How could I be a girl? I am a boy."
He was not wrong, yet Gu Qianying continued to question him.
"Oh? Why do you believe you are a boy? Is there any basis for it?" Her question was amusing, and Duan Xifeng stopped drinking, looking up at the mother and son discussing nonsense.
"Mother, my physical characteristics, my appearance, my voice, are all those of a boy. In every way, I am different from a girl."
He was nine years old and naturally understood how to distinguish between males and females, so his answer was sound.
However, Gu Qianying shook her head.
"No, it's now stipulated that someone like you is a girl, and someone like me is a man. Do you know? It's like this here, but it's the opposite outside."
She insisted on her statement, but Xiao Yihao could not understand.
"Mother, have you gone mad? How can it be the opposite? Everywhere I know, boys are like me, and mothers are girls."
He seemed a little flustered, his speech becoming agitated.
Gu Qianying quickly stroked her son's small face.
"Mother is joking with you, but I also want you to know that just as you have always known this way of thinking, in this country, everyone believes that men are lowly and women are noble. They do not go outside, nor do they accept external things. It has been this way for generations, so it will not change easily."
Hearing his mother's words, Xiao Yihao nodded, understanding somewhat.
"So, if we don't make the three Su brothers and all the men here firmly believe that men and women can be equal, then we are not truly helping them, are we?"
This explanation was perfectly correct, and Gu Qianying nodded.
In Nan Yi Kingdom, if the ingrained beliefs of everyone could not be fundamentally altered, all their efforts would be in vain.
Watching Gu Qianying and Xiao Yihao nod to each other, Duan Xifeng shook his head.
Though confused about the root causes and entrenched ideas, he understood that there must be a way to lessen the suffering of those three individuals.
Spotting the shoe-beating board by the door, his mind raced. He recalled Gu Qianying whipping Miss Su San earlier that day, and an idea struck him.
The evening meal took a long time, and Duan Xifeng's wine jar finally ran dry.
Gu Qianying did not have the palace servants clean up. Instead, she escorted Xiao Yihao and Duan Xifeng into their rooms and began tidying herself.
The day had been truly exhausting. Once the table was neat, she returned to her room and soon fell asleep with Xiao Yihao.
The palace lanterns along the path had been extinguished, leaving only one lamp before each door.
In Duan Xifeng's room, he, who had been snoring a moment before, suddenly opened his eyes.
Then, a figure vanished into the night sky.
Because the three from the Su family were all ladies, they were not housed in the main or secondary rooms of a single courtyard but in three separate, adjacent courtyards.
Su Zirong resided in the middle. For peace of mind, her courtyard had no guards.
Duan Xifeng swayed as he looked at the quiet courtyard and leaped inside.
A shadow could be seen through the paper window, indicating the person inside was not yet asleep.
Duan Xifeng could no longer distinguish whose room it was. He assumed it was Su Xiu'er's and directly pushed the door open.
"Who is it, you." Hearing the door open, Su Zirong quickly got up, intending to cry out.
But Duan Xifeng possessed martial arts skills.
He lunged forward, simultaneously sealing Su Zirong's acupoints for movement and speech.
Her unfinished words were instantly choked back.
She widened her eyes and finally recognized the person before her – it was that damned woman Gu Qianying's follower.
She naturally knew Duan Xifeng was a man, but for him to intrude into her room at night, if he were to ruin her purity, she would never be able to live as a person again.
First, there was the shock, and then her wild conjectures. As Duan Xifeng closed the door and turned, he saw Miss Su Er, her face streaked with tears.
"What, what are you doing?"
Having drunk a bit too much, Duan Xifeng felt a bit dizzy. Although he could still see clearly, his walk was unsteady.
Seeing the man, flushed with a red glow, approaching her, Su Zirong could only contort her facial expression, too distressed to speak anything.
Then, in the next moment, Duan Xifeng's foot hit a chair placed nearby, and he lost his balance, stumbling towards Su Zirong.
"Thump."
They fell heavily to the ground, embracing each other, with Duan Xifeng's face pressed against Su Zirong's chest.
A blush instantly spread across Su Zirong's cheeks. Although this man wore women's clothing, perhaps because it was night, he had removed his makeup. His hair, disheveled from the fall, now revealed the charm of a man.
Duan Xifeng was already a handsome man, and the thick haze of drunkenness added a touch of coquetry to him.
"Mmm."
Dazed from the fall, Duan Xifeng remained on top of Su Zirong without moving. He raised his head to look at the woman before him.
With less than a finger's distance between them, Su Zirong's heart began to pound violently.
An ambiguous atmosphere filled the room.
The evening breeze blew the window open, and a mischievous gust of wind blew in, landing on Duan Xifeng's face.
As if the alcohol was blown away, Duan Xifeng finally realized that someone was still pinned beneath him.
At this moment, Su Zirong's lips had turned purple. If he continued to press down, the person beneath him would be crushed to death.
Seeing the situation, he quickly got up and helped her to her feet.
Recalling that in his muddled state he had actually pressed her acupoints, rendering her speechless, he hurried to undo it. But then he paused and took a step back.
"I did not come here to do anything to you. I am merely warning you not to bully the three Su brothers anymore. You saw what happened to your second sister today. If you are not obedient, you will be the next to be dealt with. Do you understand?"
Thinking of how the three Su sisters had bullied Su Ming today, and how Gu Qianying only spoke useless道理, he had intended to threaten this woman.
Although he had entered the wrong room, and originally intended to threaten Su Xiu'er, they were all from the Su family, so it didn't matter if he was mistaken.
Making the best of the situation, he could use Su Xiu'er's plight today to threaten this woman.