"In these days the price for a woman is only about one hundred cash"
Sung-ling wrote about a couple who during the great famine from 1640 found themselves in the situation to be unable to feed themselves. The couple was roaming the streets, begging the merchants to give them little food to survive but no one was willing to help them. Pushed to desperation, the man offered to sell his wife, planning to move to another region with the money and hoping that the man who would buy his wife would take care of her and feed her. The merchant refused to buy the woman and set her price as in the quote above. Only a few sentences earlier, it was determined that a measurement of grains was worth three hundred cash, triple the price for a human being. This shows just how dire the situation was and how much the people who did hot had the financial means to buy food had to suffer.
"I wish to die as my husband is dying. His misery is my misery. How can I live on alone? My will is fixed: rather than die with him at the end, I shall be the one to go first."
The author talks a great deal about various women and the way they interacted with their husbands. In the 17th century in China, whether someone talked about a virtuous woman, she was a married person who put her husband above everything and everyone. This was also the case for woman Kao who killed herself when her husband was imprisoned for a crime he had done. Because of her actions, woman Kao was looked up to and was seen as a good person and many women followed in her lead and did what she did when they were faced with problems or faced with a situation they considered as being unbearable. This quote helps the reader understand that in those times, a woman’s worth was calculated while taking into consideration her husband and that a woman was considered as being worthless if her husband was dead or incapacitated in some form or manner.
"An excellent use of strategies, (…) without losing one’s body to the voracious soldiers. A worthy woman indeed. Intelligent and also fit to be numbered among the loyal and virtuous!"
Sung-ling presents the story of a woman who instead of running away when her village was attacked, she decided to stand her ground and remain in her own home. When the soldiers came, ready to rape her, she had a plan prepared to protect herself and her dignity. The woman dug a pit an put over it leaves and clothes so when the men came in, they were tricked into lying down on the mat and then felt down into the pit. The woman hid what she did and told the people asking about the smell of burning flesh she told them it was a pig she hid in the pit. Sung-ling praised the woman as being brave for her actions and for being willing to do everything to protect her virtue. Even though she did something illegal, the author forgives the woman because the reason why she did it is understandable.
