In view of this, Dai Xiaoshan had no choice but to seriously call back to report to the Red Mansion that there were 341 women in this group, of whom 63 were minors under the age of 18, the youngest was still breastfeeding, the other 217 were between the ages of 19 and 45, in addition to 31 people between the ages of 46 and 60, and the remaining 30 were over 60 years old, with the oldest being 75 years old.

Women of all these ages are currently single because they are self-combing women---- in principle, they will never marry! And this is the first batch, and there may be several more in the future......

These telegrams immediately sparked a heated discussion, after all, many people had heard the term self-combing woman for the first time.

Is there such a crowd in the world?

In this day and age?

At this moment, whether it is on the Nicole, or on the Pride, in the restaurant on the first floor of the Red Mansion, or in the Governor's Mansion in Xin'an City, in short, where there are traversers gathered, there is a topic about Ren Ke, his wife Yang Qiaoqiao and the self-combing girl, which has quickly become the hottest topic of conversation among everyone, and its popularity has exceeded the discussion about Operation Changfeng.

Especially the crew members on the Nicole, it was a relatively leisure time after lunch, and this hot topic was very suitable for drinking tea to cool off, especially since there were two insiders around them - Yue Chu and Zhou Rui.

So everyone said to the two brothers, you two married the Qingqi people around Yang Qiaoqiao in Liping Courtyard, since their old bustard, ah, it's wrong, it's Boss Yang, oh no, it's Mama Sang-it's a self-combing girl, just now you also said that your little lady was born as a self-combing girl, so can you tell us, what is going on with those self-combing girls?

Why are we interested, you ask?

Nonsense! After all, there are so many young girls who don't even get married?!

It's a pity......

Doesn't feel like it?

Isn't that really going to be blind?

At this time, someone began to talk at length:

No, after all, in this era, for women, there is no freedom in marriage, so being a self-combing woman is also a life choice, even if it is forced, but if in a society that is relatively open to marriage and sex---- such as ours, self-combing women may choose to fall in love freely......

That's it, that's it, otherwise it's just a terrible thing, it's a serious waste!

Waste is a sin!

So Yue Zhou and his brothers were entangled by everyone, so they had to tell some basic information about the self-combing girl, which the brothers learned intermittently from their own little lady who had not yet passed the door-

As the saying goes, when the forest is big, there are all kinds of birds......

After hearing Zhou Rui's opening remarks, the surrounding listeners all frowned sideways, and complained one after another, saying where is this?

So Yue Chu hurriedly took Zhou Rui's words and said, don't be impatient, I heard my lady say that the self-combing girl has an ancestral master! Oh no, Patriarch's.

Women are determined not to marry for life, including of course, those who will never marry again after being widowed---- most of them live in the village, but the ancestors and mothers worshiped in each women's village seem to be different, there are those who worship Nuwa Niangniang, those who worship He Xiangu, and those who worship Huang Daopo, and even those who worship Mulan in the play, in short, there are all kinds of things......

"What does a self-combing girl live on?"

"Uh...... I don't know, maybe it's business, right? ”

"What do you mean? In this world, without men, women can stand on their own? I express serious doubts ......"

"How do I know!? My lady has been raised in Liping Courtyard since she was a child, and these words are still spoken by the older sisters! ”

"Also, Yue Chu and Zhou Rui definitely don't know."

"That'...... What do they live on? Farming is impossible without a man, right? ”

"Of course, haven't you seen many indigenous tribes where women are in charge of farming and men are in charge of fighting?"

"yes......"

"Maybe it's ...... by selling yourself"

"Hey, hey! Brothers! Is it good to put a door on your mouth! The wives of their own brothers are also arranged like this? ”

"Roar! Brother Zhu! ”

"Brother Zhu is here! We're talking about self-combing girls! ”

At this time, Zhu Beiguo took Brother Peng Qiang and a few people who had just returned to the crew dining room from the deck, one of their daily routines was to train sailors from the three sailing ships, these young people were full of energy, and if they didn't give them some training items to consume excess physical strength, people on the ship would be suffocated.

Because of the hot weather, Zhu Peng and the others rolled up their seafarers' shirts to their chests, exposing their stomachs, and holding a pu fan in their hands, while fanning the wind into the restaurant, because there was an electric fan inside, which was much cooler than outside.

"Brother Zhu, you are always an expert in the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties, do you know the group of self-combing women?"

"Hehe, you've found the right person, that's what I wrote for my graduation thesis as an undergraduate, it's very unpopular, right?"

Zhu Beiguo said and sat down on an empty seat, slapped a few pu fans vigorously and responded with a smile.

"It's really quite unpopular......"

"It's the first time we've heard of this self-combing girl......"

"I can't imagine that Brother Zhu is a big man writing such a topic, I feel that it doesn't match Brother Zhu's usual painting style!"

Zhu Beiguo probably hasn't chatted with anyone for a long time, obviously people have been holding back for a long time---- now as long as someone talks to him about the history major, his eyes will shine, according to his friend Xu Zhi, this big doctor has the characteristics of "being a good teacher", or it is okay.

Obviously, Zhu Beiguo was aroused by this topic, and he didn't respond to everyone's complaints, but just picked up a glass of water and drank it a few sips, and then sat down in the middle again, looked around with a smile, and continued when the restaurant gradually quieted down:

"Actually, it's a coincidence that I wrote this topic, the title of my original thesis was to write about the gains and losses of the generals on both sides of the Salhu War, but that year there was an epidemic, the school was closed, and the outside was also closed, so there must be no way to go around to collect first-hand information, so the tutor said to me, don't toss, just write a pure theoretical project at home! Don't worry, it's difficult to find a job now, and you will be allowed to pass it anyway, and you will be guaranteed a graduate school after you write it, and you will graduate two or three years later, so that you will be unemployed after graduation......

So the tutor chose such a thesis topic for me, because this topic does not have to go out, after all, I can't collect information when I go out, and the self-combing girl has long become a historical relic......

After listening to Zhu Beiguo's explanation, everyone gradually quieted down, and they all began to listen to Brother Zhu's "talk about the ancients" with great interest.

What is a self-combing girl? Well, it's a long story, this self-combing girl is a woman who vows not to marry a man for the rest of her life! Of course, it is certainly not permissible for a woman not to marry a man, but there is indeed such a group of women in historical records, who are willing not to marry for various reasons---- but are unwilling to become nuns.

So these women are called sisters, and they are organized, financially independent, and self-reliant......

So, when it comes to how this self-combing girl became a group, it is a bit far, probably at least dating back to the Southern Song Dynasty, when the commodity economy in the south was very developed, and some qualified urban women could support themselves without marrying through craftsmanship and business, which is probably the source of the self-combing girl.

But at that time, there didn't seem to be such an organization as a women's village, so the self-combing women we really talked about were still in the middle of the Ming Dynasty - maybe a little earlier.

By the way, do you know Nüshu? It is a kind of text that only the self-combing girls in the female village can read, and it is probably around the time of the appearance of the Nüshu that the self-combing women officially appeared in the historical records as a group.

Well, now let's talk about the current self-combing women's group---- after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the silk cutting industry developed, and a large number of silk women workers appeared, and then there were some mutual relief and assistance organizations, which gradually developed into self-contained and self-sufficient small circles.