Gu Chi couldn't resist asking, "What seems strange?"
"I think I just caught a whiff of the incense Shaoxuan usually uses." Shen Tang sniffed again, carefully distinguishing the scent and its source. Once she was sure she hadn't imagined it, she said, "I remember Yaohe specially made that incense for Shaoxuan. It's unique to Kang."
Shen Zhi and Bai Su were extremely close.
Just how close?
Close enough that rumors had circulated among the common folk that the two had a taste for women and were intimate friends. When the rumors first broke, they even alarmed the Censorate. During the morning court, the censors had impeached them both, urging them to mind the boundaries of their relationship and not tarnish the image of Kang's officials.
Though relations between men and between women were not forbidden among the people, Kang's postwar policies all supported men and women having children. Widows were encouraged to remarry or take in husbands. When a woman gave birth, the government gifted her ten jin of sugar, six jin of meat, and three bolts of cloth, whether the child was a boy or a girl. Even if the child died, she still received half as much to help her recover. In terms of policy, Kang had spared no expense to increase its population.
How could two men or two women living together have children?
Kang's officials had to set an example and support the union of yin and yang!
As soon as that was said, the hundred officials chimed in.
Shen Tang had gotten quite a juicy piece of gossip at the time, and had even gone to ask Bai Su and Shen Zhi what they thought. Given the social climate, the officials' concerns weren't entirely unreasonable. They could do whatever they liked in private, but there