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The initiative to establish schools across the nation was quickly implemented, allowing both men and women to enroll in school and, in the future, to serve in the court. The ministers had no choice but to suppress their reluctance and join in, each fulfilling their duties.
Their Emperor was quite clever; to oversee this initiative, he established a new agency called the Inspection Bureau, tasked with monitoring the officials responsible for setting up the schools. Anyone caught embezzling funds would face severe consequences, including losing their heads and having their entire family exiled.
Establishing schools required a significant amount of money, and greedy officials could have potentially profited greatly. However, with the Inspection Bureau in place, those officials were deterred from taking any risks.
Once the decree for establishing schools and allowing both genders to serve in official positions spread among the populace, it received unanimous praise from the people. Ordinary citizens, who previously could not afford schooling, were overjoyed and even kneeled in gratitude toward the capital.
Women who learned of this decree were incredulous, repeatedly confirming the news. After confirming, hope began to rise within them.
Could they rely on themselves to earn a name for themselves in the future?
This felt like a dream, no, even more than a dream.
The day the decree was announced became one of the happiest and most exciting days for many women.
In the Southern Kingdom, officials were busy attending to the establishment of schools.
In Ming Valley, it had been three days since Qingli gave birth. She had recovered well, and the children hardly required her care. Now, she was nearly back to normal, but her master and the others still wouldn’t allow her to get out of bed, insisting she remain lying down for a full month.
Qingming had named the two children: the girl was named Qing-Yu because he thought jade was a precious thing, and naming a girl after jade carried a good meaning.
The boy was named Qingyang, with “yang” representing masculinity. To Qingming, the character “yang” embodied a very upright and healthy essence, also carrying a positive connotation.
Qingli found the names somewhat ordinary and felt a bit dissatisfied.
Qingming shot her a glance, urging her to come up with names herself. After three days of thinking, she still couldn’t find appropriate names.
However, she felt that Qing-Yu sounded too similar to Big Brother’s name, so she decided to change it to Qingmeng.
The character “meng” signifies the realization of dreams, which she thought was also a good word. Moreover, “Qingmeng” sounded better than “Qing-Yu.”
Qingming didn’t object, and having looked at the children’s birth charts, he agreed that “meng” was acceptable.
What puzzled Qingming, however, was that the children’s destinies were the same as Qingli’s; he couldn’t see them clearly but only noticed they both had a strong presence of Purple Qi.
As for their features, the children were still young, and their facial features had yet to fully develop, making it difficult to assess.
What surprised Qingming the most was that the girl also possessed Purple Qi. Typically, Purple Qi is associated with emperors or powerful nobles. While emperors exude the strongest Purple Qi, others have it to a lesser extent.
However, it was quite rare for a woman to be born with Purple Qi. It seemed that his granddaughter might achieve great things in the future.
The two children were easy to care for, eating and sleeping well, rarely causing any trouble. They were extremely obedient.
It wasn’t until they learned to crawl, walk, and talk that Qingming retracted that statement.
When the twins learned to crawl at six months, they crawled to the edge of a cliff without anyone noticing, giggling and smiling at everyone, completely unaware that they had frightened everyone to the point of holding their breath, fearing they might fall.
As a result, Qingming and Qingyu spent the night chopping down a lot of wood, surrounding all the dangerous areas around the house with sturdy wooden fences.
Once they started walking, the two little ones would fall and get covered in mud every day. One moment of distraction, and they would uproot the vegetables planted in the garden, creating chaos. Important items inside the house couldn’t be left low, or else they would surely fall victim to the twins’ mischievous hands.
After they learned to talk, the two little ones would call out “grandpa, grandpa” every day, each clinging to one of his legs, begging him to take them to play ghost-catching.
Yes, the twins had inherited Qingli’s innate Celestial Eye, allowing them to see things that others could not, often scaring Qingyu and Jian Yue half to death.
As a result, both of them were reluctant to stay with the twins at night.
During the day, it was manageable, but at night, with darkness surrounding them, they could easily imagine ghosts lurking around. Thus, the responsibility of watching the children fell upon Qingli and Qingming at night.
Time flew by, and three years passed.
The twins were growing more and more beautiful but also increasingly mischievous, jumping around and never settling down for a moment.
Despite this, everyone still doted on the two children, growing fonder of them by the day.
In the early morning of Ming Valley, mist hung in the air as autumn arrived, bringing cooler weather and chilly mountain air.
Qingli was still nestled comfortably under her blanket when she suddenly felt something wet and warm on her face. She opened her bleary eyes to see a large baby face filling her vision, adorned with baby fat and bright, clear eyes, smiling widely.
When the little girl saw Qingli waking up, her soft and sweet voice chimed, “Mother, wake up! Did you forget what day it is today?”
The little girl snuggled closer to Qingli.
Qingli helplessly wiped the drool off her face with one hand while cradling her daughter with the other.
Feigning ignorance, she asked, “What’s so special about today? I can’t remember. I only know that every time you kiss me, you leave drool on my face. You do realize that’s not very clean, right?”
The little girl ignored Qingli’s complaint, pouted slightly, and retreated from her embrace, placing her chubby hands on her hips with a fierce expression, “Mother! How could you forget? Today is my and my brother’s birthday! We’re three years old! How could you forget such an important day?”
Her tone and expression were exaggerated, looking like an adorable little hamster puffed up in indignation.
Qingli didn’t dare to tease her for too long and quickly replied with a smile, “I didn’t forget! How could I forget the birthdays of Mengmeng and Yangyang? I was just playing with you!”
Only then did the little girl lower her hands from her hips, her face immediately lighting up with a smile.
“Mother, Uncle and Aunt have made a lot of delicious food! You need to get up quickly!”
Qingli nodded, “Alright, you go out first. Mother will come right away.”
Although Qingli hadn’t had enough sleep, she had no choice but to get up.