Chapter 405: I’ll Marry You
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
‘A new marriage law?’
The men intuitively felt that the marriage law set by the Great Empress was not beneficial to them, while the women looked expectant.
Bai Wutong returned to the Great Empress’s residence and carefully listed out the new marriage system.
The new marriage law made monogamy compulsory.
The legitimate wife was acknowledged as the legal wife. From now on, apart from the assets before the marriage, the assets earned after the marriage were jointly owned.
Locals could only have one legal partner. Only the legal partner had the other party’s inheritance rights, custody, and shared property.
Apart from a portion of the inheritance rights, children born to concubines were not allowed to infringe on any rights and interests of the legitimate wives.
If the husband used the common assets of the husband and wife to give it to others privately, one could file a case in the government office and request for the assets to be returned.
A child born to a concubine had custody of the child if she had a stable income.
For example, all the expenses of the concubines in the 30 families of Qinghe were from the man’s own assets. After so many years, the concubines must have a lot of private assets. After the marriage law was enacted, they temporarily had no job or place to go and could also rely on the private assets on hand to transition.
If a man forcefully kept a concubine at home or kept her outside, he would have violated the cohabitation rules in the marriage law and would be considered a guilty party. When the relationship between the two parties was completely irreparable, it was very easy for the person to lose the custody of the child when they had to file a lawsuit for divorce. The division of assets would also be more inclined towards the complainant.
Bai Wutong handed the listed regulations to every important official present. Everyone looked shocked.
Xu Ke suggested on the spot, “Isn’t this regulation too unfair to men!”
He had three concubines and two female partners at home. According to Bai Wutong’s rules, if they wanted to leave, he had no way to stop them. The children might also be taken away by them. How could he tolerate this?
Moreover, in everyone’s opinion, it was normal for a man to have three wives and four concubines. If the monogamous system was implemented, wouldn’t it be too biased towards a group of women who were idle at home?
If they threatened to divorce and split the assets, wouldn’t the house be in a tizzy all day?
He asked what most of the men were thinking. Everyone held their breaths and waited for Bai Wutong’s answer.
Bai Wutong looked at Xu Ke. “What’s unfair about that? A woman can only have one husband, and a man can only have one wife. Isn’t that fair?”
“If you want to find another woman, you can get a divorce and be a groom every night.”
Everyone in the hall immediately held back their laughter. If he was a groom every night and divorced every day, not long after, Xu Ke would probably become a beggar.
Xu Ke was choked by Bai Wutong. After a while, he said again, “How can a child be taken away by a woman! They can’t take good care of the child at all.”
Bai Wutong raised her eyebrows. “Why can’t a woman take care of a child? Weren’t you raised by your mother? Did your father usually take care of you?”
Xu Ke choked again and said with difficulty, “How can a woman raising a child be compared to a man educating a child? Besides, if it weren’t for a man earning money, a woman wouldn’t have the time to raise a child.”
Bai Wutong smiled and said, “Why can’t they be compared? Women can teach them kindness, but they can also teach them to be indomitable, brave, and fearless. Women can also read and write, and women have the ability to settle down and raise their children. If you stay in the backyard and take care of your children, you might not be able to do better than women.”
“At the very least, without a woman to take care of your children and settle down in your backyard, how are you going to earn money and enjoy life without worry?”
“How is there any peace and quiet? It’s just that someone is carrying the burden for you and you don’t know it. You still have the cheek to say that it’s unfair.”
Bai Wutong rarely scolded others fiercely. Xu Ke’s face turned pale and red. He stammered and did not dare to say anything else.
Seeing that Bai Wutong’s attitude was firm, the others did not dare to raise any more objections. They only thought that if their wives did not object to them raising concubines and did not want a divorce, it should not affect anything.
They still believed that the authority of their family head could intimidate the women.
The marriage law was quickly promulgated. Not long after, it spread throughout the entire Carefree City.
Apart from the tribes that advocated monogamy, everyone was stunned.
When women heard that after the divorce, their assets could be divided equally, they immediately became excited because their husbands had violent tendencies, was alcoholic and had gambling habits, and they could even take their children away from their in-laws’ houses.
The marriage law was simply too awesome!
An indescribable ripple stirred in every woman’s heart. They had never thought that they would one day be able to truly decide their lives.
After He Cuilian learned the contents of the marriage law from the bailiff, she could not believe her ears.
She stood rooted to the ground in a daze. After a long while, she grabbed the sleeve of the soldier in disbelief. “Really? Is this true?”
Since ancient times, unless the in-laws did not want children, women had no way to take them away.
Moreover, not only could she take the child away, but she could also split half of her husband’s assets. Although it was only after the marriage, when He Cuilian married Cripple Zhao, his family only had two acres of land left. A month after the marriage, he had relied on selling her meager dowry to survive for a few days.
Therefore, if Cripple Zhao divorced her, she would get more assets because he was the one at fault.
In an instant, He Cuilian’s heart burned.
Since he was heartless, he could not blame her for being heartless.
He Cuilian immediately said to the official, “Officer, please inform the Lord that I want a divorce!”
As soon as she said this, the women who had thoughts but did not dare to get a divorce immediately looked at her with hero-like admiration.
More women were also secretly paying attention. If He Cuilian’s divorce was really feasible… then even if they did not get a divorce, they could still make their husbands at home stop thinking about other women.
He Cuilian was the first woman to ask for a divorce. Lord Shi walked out and looked extremely concerned.
He knew very well that if he was a little biased towards a man and did not strictly follow the marriage law, he would definitely be reprimanded by the Great Empress.
After He Cuilian’s request was registered, Lord Shi read it in detail and immediately sent someone to find Cripple Zhao.
When Cripple Zhao heard about the marriage law, he was dumbfounded. He had never heard of a woman taking away her husband’s family assets.
Cripple Zhao pointed at He Cuilian and scolded, “Is there something wrong with your brain? I’ve already said that I won’t divorce you. Why are you doing this? You’re already so old. Do you really think that someone will marry you if you leave me?!”
He Cuilian took a deep breath and retorted loudly, “When I’m divorced, our child is mine and half of your assets are mine. 1 have a job and money in my hands. What kind of man can’t I find? If 1 don’t get a divorce, I’ll be the one with something wrong with my brain!”
As soon as these words were spoken, the surrounding people immediately clapped and cheered!
It had to be said that He Cuilian’s idea was very useful!
The men who wanted to get rid of their slave status all felt that He Cuilian, who was in her thirties and still had money, was a good choice.
Moreover, women in their thirties could still give birth. There were more men than women in Carefree City. It was already good enough that they could get married, so why would they be picky?
Immediately, someone boldly said, “i’ll marry you!”
Cripple Zhao turned around and saw that the person who spoke was actually a tall, powerful, and upright man. He was not a slave, but a soldier who had been single for decades..
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