In recent years, the official positions held by the Zhou family were minor matters. What truly made the Zhou family famous were the memorial archways standing outside the Zhou ancestral hall.
Just a dozen or so steps from each other stood these tall chastity archways. Along the road outside the Zhou ancestral hall, there were twelve or thirteen archways in total.
That’s why this street was called “Memorial Archway Street.”
Zhou Ping’s lips trembled as he watched a crowd surrounding Memorial Archway Street. From a distance, he galloped over on horseback, jumped down swiftly, and shouted harshly, “Who did this?! Who dared to touch our Zhou family’s archways?!”
Of course, not all members of the Zhou family lived together.
So when the incident happened, some Zhou family members who lived near the ancestral hall had already arrived.
At this moment, Second Old Master Zhou, a highly respected elder of the Zhou family, grabbed Zhou Ping and frowned, asking, “What’s going on here?”
…
Zhou Ping looked completely confused—why was his second uncle questioning him so angrily when the archways had been destroyed?
His temper flared up: “Second Uncle, I should be asking you that! You all live nearby—someone comes and smashes our family’s archways, and you just stand by and watch?”
Useless!
Memorial archways were imperial rewards. Destroying one was enough to be taken straight to the authorities!
Second Old Master Zhou’s expression became even stranger. After a moment’s silence, he moved aside and pointed ahead: “The person’s right there. If you want to send them to the authorities, go ahead.”
Zhou Ping snorted, thinking his second uncle was completely incompetent. Such a small matter and he couldn’t handle it.
He pushed past Second Old Master Zhou, furious, and strode inside—only to see the person sitting amid the ruins and rubble. His heart dropped: “Kun Ger? Why are you here?”
One of the archways had been toppled, and the remaining half looked like it could collapse at any moment. Zhou Kun was sitting on a stone block, surrounded by Zhou family elders.
Zhou Ping’s mind buzzed—his own son had destroyed the Zhou family’s archways!
Unbelievable….
He stormed up to Zhou Kun and scolded, “What’s going on? Did you do this?!”
Had this fool gone mad? A Zhou family member destroying his own family’s archways?
Zhou Kun stared at him grimly, showing no intention of backing down. He stood up and loudly declared, “That’s right, I did it! Father violated the law, keeping a mistress outside who has a son as old as me! And now you want to bring that woman home as a ‘wife of equal status,’ making her equal to my mother!”
The young man raised his head, tears in his eyes, pointing to the fallen archway behind him and righteously asked, “So, is this what the Zhou family stands for? Trading women’s lives for these archways, while men can indulge themselves outside and even discard their wives for new ones?”
Second Old Master Zhou had been planning to persuade him, but when he heard this, he coughed awkwardly and glanced at Zhou Ping.
After all, the most recently erected archway had been built because of Zhou Ping’s younger sister.
She was married posthumously to a man who had already died, and just three months after the symbolic wedding, she hanged herself.
The Zhou family heavily publicized her ‘loyalty and virtue’ and petitioned the court, which awarded them the archway and a hundred taels of gold.
The Zhou family’s reputation soared because of it.
Previously, people sighed in admiration at how loyal the Zhou family’s daughters were and how honorable the Zhou family was.
But now, with Zhou Kun’s words, women across the capital would probably come to despise Zhou Ping.
Exactly!
The Zhou family’s daughters gave their lives—was it only to allow Zhou family men to behave recklessly?
Keeping mistresses wasn’t a crime. For most men, it was nothing unusual.
Before marriage, they frequented brothels. After marriage, they took concubines.
That was normal.
But for the Zhou family, with such a carefully cultivated reputation, shouldn’t they be held to a higher standard of equality?
Not far away, Baizhi spat in disgust: “What a shameless family! The women are expected to marry the dead and die for the family’s name, while the men can have mistresses and act like tyrants!”
The onlookers began whispering among themselves.
“Yeah, how come it’s always the women of the Zhou family dying for reputation?”
“Look at those archways! Thirteen of them! Thirteen chaste women! Has the Zhou family ever produced any famous men?”
Second Old Master Zhou’s face darkened further. He tugged at Zhou Ping: “Take this quarrel home!”
Family disgrace shouldn’t be aired in public!
Did he not understand that family matters should be settled quietly?
If he wanted to take a formal second wife, fine—but at least clean up the mess first!
Now he’d driven his own son to smash the family’s archways. Starting tomorrow, the whole capital would say the Zhou family sold their daughters for wealth and status.
Zhou Ping was shaking with rage. He’d never imagined that his family’s hard-earned reputation would be ruined by his own son.
He raised his horsewhip and lashed it at Zhou Kun: “I’ll beat you to death, you unfilial son! You are no son of mine!”
He was utterly furious!
Baizhi looked on worriedly and gasped: “Miss, Lord Zhou is really hitting him hard…”
Zhou Kun had been persuaded by Qi Yuan to smash the archways—what if Zhou Ping beat him to death?
Qi Yuan raised an eyebrow and called out, “Shunzi!”
Shunzi immediately answered: “I’m here, Miss!”
Qi Yuan whispered a few instructions.
Shunzi grinned: “Don’t worry, Miss! Watch me!”
He charged over to Zhou Kun’s side, crying loudly as he ran: “Master! Master, please spare Young Master’s life! Even a tiger doesn’t eat its own cubs!”
Zhou Ping was utterly enraged.
Years of carefully built reputation—destroyed by his own son! And now someone else was trying to intervene again.
He swung his whip.
Shunzi dodged, rolling away on the ground, then quickly got up and kowtowed: “Master, the Young Master only did this because you smashed Madam’s head open! Please, Master, spare him!”
The surrounding crowd erupted in jeers.
“They made their fortune off women’s suffering, and now they beat women too?”
“Men are no good! They marry their daughters to the dead, beat their wives and sons! Absolutely rotten!”
The critical voices grew louder. Someone suddenly threw an egg at Zhou Ping: “Favoring concubines and killing wives, beating your own son—disgusting!”
Soon, others followed, throwing things at Zhou Ping.
Baizhi quietly picked up a stone and threw it too.
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