In order to eat, I signed a contract with the system

Chapter 473: Legend of Zhen Huan - Nian Shilan

"This, how is this possible?"

Shen Meizhuang couldn't believe it. The doctor wondered why Miss Shen was so surprised when it was obviously a good thing. However, based on his duty as a doctor, he didn't ask too much and just explained a few words.

"Musk does have the effect of making women infertile. Logically speaking, if Miss Shen really absorbs musk for a long time, it will indeed damage her fertility."

"But I have read in a medical book that there is a kind of top-grade musk produced in the northwest, called musk deer. It has a very strong medicinal effect but is easier to absorb and remove than ordinary musk. However, it needs to be paired with a special spice to remove it, which seems to be called Mi Li Xiang."

"Missing incense?"

Shen Meizhuang's eyes were dazed, as if she remembered something, "Caiyue, go get the gift the emperor gave me and show it to the doctor."

"Doctor, when I left the palace, the emperor specially sent someone to deliver these rewards. Lady Qiao also specifically told me not to let the emperor down."

"Please help me check, doctor. Is the fragrance on these rewards the mysterious fragrance you mentioned?"

Shen Meizhuang waited for the doctor's results, but she had already figured everything out. The former queen was from the Ulanara clan, which had long been in decline. Even if she could produce musk, she couldn't produce such precious northwest musk deer, let alone so much. Almost all the women in the harem had musk jars buried in their palaces.

Thinking of those concubines who were rewarded and sent back home by the emperor, Shen Meizhuang suddenly had an indescribable feeling in her heart. At this moment, she didn't know whether she should be grateful or hateful towards the emperor. After thinking about it carefully, she felt more grateful in the end.

Even if she really got pregnant in the palace, so what? She would just be another Zhen Huan. Getting pregnant but not being able to give birth is much more hurtful than not getting pregnant at all.

After thinking it through, Shen Meizhuang swallowed the matter back into her stomach. Madam Shen and Cai Xing and Cai Yue were also warned by Shen Meizhuang. This outcome was the best for Shen Meizhuang. With her personality, it would be more appropriate for her to marry into a family of equal status and become a fair and virtuous mistress of the house.

Shen Meizhuang's guess was right and wrong. Some of the musk jars were buried by Nian Shilan and some were not. But there was no point in talking about these things now, as they were all in the past.

After Nian Shilan ascended the throne, she fulfilled her promise and made Nian Gengyao a prince, but she had no intention of turning the Nian family into the next royal family. For this reason, she specifically issued an edict to clarify her decision and re-established the official promotion assessment system, dividing the officials' political achievements into individual scoring items.

An Lingrong, Ye Lanyi, Songzhi, Baicao and other four female officials gradually began to move from being full-time secretaries to the emperor, and gradually began to get involved in other work. When Nian Shilan awarded the men according to their merits, the men in the court realized that they were being boiled like frogs in warm water by the emperor.

Thus, the Little Zhou Dynasty officially began to have female officials who could attend court. Three years after Nian Shilan ascended the throne, the dynasty's first imperial examination for women was held. According to the same standards as the men's imperial examination, 20% of the places for juren were reserved for the court. For the second women's imperial examination, 30% were reserved, and for the third, 40% were reserved. It was not until the fifth time and after that the quotas for women's imperial examinations finally became the same as those for men.

The purpose of this arrangement was, firstly, to prevent scholars from being too averse to women serving as officials, which would cause disputes over the status of men and women too quickly; and secondly, to give those conflicted and hesitant women time to muster up the courage and ambition to realize their dreams.

What’s interesting is that the former Prince Guo, Yunli, also participated in the first special examination held after Nian Shilan ascended the throne. This time he did not hide his abilities as he did in the past. He tried his best and finally passed the examination and became an official, and walked in front of Nian Shilan again.

After Nian Shilan ascended the throne, officials had proposed that Nian Shilan expand his harem and have more concubines, but such proposals were rejected by Nian Shilan.

Women are different from men in that they are the ones who make sacrifices when it comes to childbirth. In order to give birth to a child whose quality is unknown, they not only have to endure all kinds of pain during pregnancy, but also face the threat of death. Nian Shilan must be crazy to insist on giving birth to an heir.

But the emperor cannot be without an heir. In the later period, Nian Shilan was getting old, and the discussion about the successor in the court became more and more urgent, which eventually forced Nian Shilan to decide to end the feudal dynasty ahead of schedule and step into the era of democratic elections as soon as possible.

The course of history was accelerated at this time by Nian Shilan, but fortunately the final result was good. Nian Shilan ascended the throne at the age of thirty and reigned for forty years. The first ten years were devoted to clearing up chaos across the country and training a new batch of young officials. The second decade was generally devoted to improving the status of women. The third decade was focused on reforming key poverty-stricken areas. The fourth and final decade was spent accelerating democratic development. By the fifth decade, Nian Shilan had abdicated and peacefully handed over power to the first new leader elected by the people.

At this time, Nian Shilan was already eighty years old. Although her mind was still clear, her body had become old. Songzhi Baicao, An Lingrong, Ye Lanyi, and even the former Zhen Huan and Shen Meizhuang had all died one after another. Prince Guo Yunli, who had been entangled with Nian Shilan for the rest of his life, also died not long ago and was not able to get a status before his death.

Nian Shilan felt the merits in himself and wished he could immediately leave this old body and start practicing. So without waiting for the sixth decade, Nian Shilan closed his eyes on a sunny day and chose to leave.

When Nian Shilan opened his eyes again, he found that the time and space around him were blocked. A long straw approached from a distance and began to absorb the spiritual consciousness overflowing from his body.

"It turns out that every time I left the film and television world, I was sucked in by the system!"

As soon as Nian Shilan saw the straw, she realized that it was the interface used by the Dream-Fulfilling System to absorb the origin of the world. However, she did not know that this interface would also absorb her spiritual consciousness when she left the film and television world. The reason why Nian Shilan discovered it this time was because her cultivation had reached the level of the Five Internal Organs of Merit, which is the Golden Elixir, and her spiritual consciousness had grown stronger, so she was not knocked out by the system's transmission.

Seeing that the straw sucked again and again but couldn't suck anything from her body, Nian Shilan smiled.

You didn't expect that you would encounter a bug this time, and successfully used the cheat code provided by the system, but it was just a query and did not "spend" the points. It was impossible for Straw to absorb the "reward" from it like before.

Not long after, the straw realized that it could not absorb anything, so it paused and finally gave up. Nian Shilan felt that the time and space in front of her eyes had resumed operation. After a dizzy spell, Nian Shilan opened her eyes again and found that she had returned to the system hall.

The trader's soul was floating in place, looking much more transparent than before he accepted the task. Nian Shilan guessed that it was because the golden finger had consumed the trader's soul.

"Tsk, it turns out that all I spent from beginning to end was my reward!" He cursed inwardly and swallowed his food in one gulp.