Chapter 2386 - 2107: Contemplations Behind the Scenes

Chen Xi actually didn’t mind this group of young girls flirting with the mid-level military officers in the troops, even if they were flirting with young men like Lul Xun and Lu Yu. He would just turn a blind eye to it. However, even if they were doing it with marriage in mind, large-scale flirting was just playing games.

Initially, Chen Xi also thought that these girls were purely flirting, without any intention of marriage, especially since Cai Yan had stopped her teachings for a while, resulting in a group of young girls getting together and going astray. He didn’t think deeply about it, merely contemplating whether to find someone to manage the situation.

However, later, a remark from Li Youu woke Chen Xi up. This group of young girls was flirting not with soldiers but with mid-level officers, and there wasn’t such chaos before the grand military parade, but now it was happening all over.

If flirting with soldiers was purely for fun, then flirting with mid-level officers actually had some hidden meanings. Moreover, such situations hadn’t appeared before the grand parade, but emerged in large numbers afterward, which was quite problematic.

After all, these girls, if considered alongside Liu Bei’s mid-level military officers, don’t exactly match socially. But truthfully, these mid-level officers don’t fall short in status, influence, and overall potential.

The Han Dynasty has roughly 3,300 Qi Refining to Gang practitioners among a population of 45 million, which means these practitioners can be considered as rare talents, and even when on the battlefield, they are much safer than ordinary soldiers.

Among these people, some are still unmarried, only in their twenties, not yet thirty. With Chen Xi’s enforced education, many mid-level officers are literate.

In this sense, their capital is already high, and to exaggerate a bit, their potential is enough to see the possibility of achieving military merit and being ennobled. Though this chance is slim, obtaining military merit and being ennobled is almost the highest honor in the Han Dynasty.

As for the women peeking over here, are they legitimate daughters? Chen Xi observed carefully and realized they’re not; they are all commoner women. He instantly understood.

They have good upbringing, knowledge, and decorum; at least in public, they won’t embarrass their husbands. Their personalities are influenced by their families and Cai Yan’s longstanding teachings. Their appearances aren’t bad either, so it’s not surprising how much they attract these officers climbing from the bottom.

When speaking of matching identity and ability, these mid-level officers might just have a few more points in status, potential, and ability compared to these middle and small aristocratic family commoner women!

But facing pressure in culture, knowledge, personality, financial power, and environment, those mid-level officers unaware of their self-worth feel inferior when faced with these aristocratic family commoner women.

While they feel inferior, they probably have a kind of dignity wanting to be achieved, this is simply sparks flying when dry wood meets fire. Chen Xi now knows why such situations didn’t appear before the grand parade but occurred so lively afterward.

The gap between aristocratic families and commoners is so vast that commoners marrying an aristocratic family woman is considered a climb. In the Tang Dynasty, the desire to marry a woman of the Five Surnames, even uttered by a prime minister, shows an aristocratic family’s attraction to ordinary people.

For aristocratic families, legitimate daughters are the face of the family, selected early for matching roles, while commoner women are basically to be given away. Since they’re being given, whom to give to doesn’t matter. Now is the time to catch rabbits before these mid-level officers realize their value.

How many commoner women does a family have? Well, let’s say, each house has at most one legitimate daughter, the rest are all commoner women. Generally speaking, if counting branches and side members, having over a hundred commoner women isn’t an issue; at least Chen Xi hasn’t recognized all the Chen Family’s commoner women.

Apparently, these commoner women are over here on a mission, maybe those mid-level officers themselves don’t realize their value, but these commoner women have certainly been advised by their families.

Actually, thinking about it, it’s indeed the case. Rather than being forcibly married as a concubine Teng to the husband of a legitimate daughter during the marriage due to the Teng marriage system, why not try to use one’s own eyes to find a potential partner to be a legal wife?

Especially in accepting this matter, major aristocratic families basically expressed that if they really succeed in capturing, the main family would support them as the wives’ clan on the rear end.

This is the reason why aristocratic family commoner women have been wandering around recently, they are scoping out, and the aristocratic families are also scoping out, all searching for suitable marriage alliances.

After the grand parade, many corps haven’t been relocated and remain near Ye City, which is an ideal situation for aristocratic families now. The commoner women don’t need to enter the military camps, they just need to linger outside, and naturally, they’ll be noticed, they’ll spark interest.

In addition, various matchmakers and go-betweens are running everywhere, waiting for these people to come forward, the aristocratic families sitting comfortably, don’t need to do much. Once someone tries to let the matchmaker connect successfully, a large number of single mid-level officers will come pouring in after.

The existence of a flock of commoner women is solely to entice, drawing attraction to those mud-leggers completely relying on ability and potential to reach mid-level officer positions, the rest is not necessary to manage, just waiting to reel them in.

Some words might be unwillingly said, but compared to ordinary women at the bottom level, commoner women raised by aristocratic families attract these people more. In simple terms, humanity always covets things that are hard to obtain, well, it’s a weakness.

In such situations, winning a beauty naturally will be extremely cherished. Adding to this is the education received by the woman herself, along with the support of the wife’s clan behind, improving all aspects of life.

As the saying goes, "In poverty, all matters are mournful for a married couple," but with the support of an aristocratic family behind the scenes, it’s simply impossible to be mournful, naturally, the woman of the aristocratic family would absolutely take control of the new family.

As for how much this investment means for the aristocratic family, when you think about it carefully, it’s really not much. Low cost, high return rate investment; unless luck is too bad, it’s basically impossible to lose.

In terms of potential, an unmarried young officer who has entered the middle level of cultivation in Qi Refining to Gang might achieve a rank of fifteen or above through merits.

"Yes, the cause-and-effect relationship is like this. What I mean is you should first manage this group of girls; don’t let them run around everywhere recently," said Chen Xi somewhat helplessly.

"Isn’t this a good thing?" Cai Yan half-squinted her eyes and chuckled, understanding the aristocratic family’s plan. But how to say, a married daughter is like spilled water; though she still takes care of her family, who takes charge and who supports will soon be clarified.

"I also know this is a good thing." Chen Xi nodded. The aristocratic family’s way does bring significant benefits to their main family to a certain extent, but to be honest, for the women married off, it’s not clear at first who takes charge and who supports, but after having children, it becomes clear soon enough.

"Since that’s the case, why stop it?" Cai Yan said nonchalantly.

"I just feel this approach is too slow, and it somewhat seems not to be taken seriously. I’m planning to take matters into my own hands," Chen Xi said rather helplessly, "Hanging out outside the military camp every day is degrading in status. I plan to gather the mid-level officers so the girls can stop, as the impact isn’t quite good."

"You mean to tell those ladies?" Cai Yan tilted her head and asked.

"Yes." Chen Xi nodded repeatedly.

"Then, who will gather the officers?" Cai Yan asked rather casually while looking out the window.

"Of course, it’s me." Chen Xi said with a resentful look, "When the time comes, I’ll find someone to dress them up well, and maybe we can muddle through."

"Oh, you can handle the aristocratic families yourself then. I’ll lead those little girls over when the time comes." Cai Yan considered for a moment and said, "But you’d better choose those with similar conditions, neither too good nor too bad, otherwise, they will cluster."

"Oh, no problem. I’ll go later. Actually, I’m quite satisfied with the choice of these aristocratic families, although there is an intent to cut corners, one can’t deny that the commoner women of aristocratic families are indeed literate." Chen Xi sighed after a while.

"Previously, I had been contemplating the issue of insufficient teachers for education accessibly. In fact, now thinking about it, if the mother is literate, the child raised by the mother will definitely be literate, saving a batch of teachers," Chen Xi sighed, "Oh, there’s one more thing I need to ask you."

"What is it?" Cai Yan raised an eyebrow and asked with a hint of curiosity.

"Hmm, help revise the ’On Practice’ and ’On Contradiction’ again, and remove the core inside thoroughly," Chen Xi thought for a moment and said.

"Alright," Cai Yan said calmly and habitually.

"If the previous books were banned books, these would be counter-books," Chen Xi suddenly laughed and said.

"Yes, counter-books," Cai Yan said indifferently with her eyes closed.

"Ok, I’ll be off now." Chen Xi propped himself up with a hand and slowly stood up, while Cai Yan didn’t open her eyes, merely nodded lightly. Previously, she would still send him off to the door, but now there’s no need; etiquette is for outsiders to see.

"Can’t even finish a conversation..." Cai Yan watched Chen Xi’s back, shook her head, and said somewhat discontentedly. Then she got up, somewhat drowsily reaching out to feel the sunlight outside the window, "Yangg Hu, how on earth can I make you behave obediently."

Chen Xi stood at the gate of the Cai Family mansion in silence after stepping out, then sighed. He indeed felt like a scoundrel, decided to drop the matter, refusing to talk about it again; whoever brings it up, ignore it, and leave it at that.

After Chen Xi left, when Cai Yan went out, seeing Chen Xi’s back, she silently shook her head. Thinking about it, the distance where they both lived wasn’t that far, just that interactions had become less frequent.