A modern-day Chen Shimei

[The man beside Ning Ziteng is Peng Changshun, an assistant director in the Ministry of Rites. Compared with Ning Ziteng, he's practically a modern-day Chen Shimei!]

Guagua spoke with some anger.

[Chen Shimei? Is he really that despicable? Guagua, hurry up and tell me the dirt on him!]

At the mention of that name, Jiang Nuan's brows knitted together, and she looked thoroughly displeased.

The other ministers had no idea where the name came from, but judging by Jiang Nuan's and Guagua's reactions, he certainly couldn't be a good man.

Peng Changshun's face stiffened as he became the subject of their gossip. He silently cursed his bad luck.

[Peng Changshun lost both parents as a child and was raised by his maternal uncle. His uncle's family barely had enough to eat, but when they saw that he wanted to study, they tightened their belts to pay for his schooling.

His uncle even promised his daughter to him in marriage, and the two enjoyed a sweet stretch of married life.]

[His uncle's daughter? Doesn't that make her his cousin?]

Although she knew that marrying cousins was common and perfectly normal in this era, her modern education made it impossible for her to accept.

[Because of the limitations of this era, they don't know that marriages between close relatives, such as cousins, greatly increase the chances of their children having health problems. It's best to marry someone beyond the five degrees of kinship.]

Jiang Nuan sighed.

What? Close relatives shouldn't marry?

Quite a few ministers at court had married their cousins. Hearing Jiang Nuan's words, they suddenly saw the light.

The lucky ones had healthy children, but some had children with all sorts of problems. They had considered many possible causes, never imagining that this was the reason.

Those who had sought