History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 104 Wei Mao and Master Wei
And so, Hu Wuwu jumped onto the oxcart.

Seeing the beautiful wildflowers by the roadside, Wei Yao went into the grass to pick them. Guo Yun followed Wei Yao wherever she went. "I noticed you liked flowers during the great hunt, so I picked them for you."

"Let's pick more and twist them into a wreath to provide shade."

"Good idea. I'm not afraid of being tired, I'm just afraid of getting a tan. Ah Yao, to be honest, don't you like that Huwu House?"

“Not really. It’s just that what she was saying back and forth reminded me of Youlai and Youqu, the birds that Master Liu kept.” Before Guo Yun could ask why, Wei Yao continued, “The two parrots have almost the same feather color, but Master Liu liked Youlai the most, and the reason is… entirely because of its silver tongue.”

"Ah? Haha, hahahaha." After laughing, Guo Yun said, "You think the other servant was used, that Hu Wuwu himself didn't want to walk and wanted to ride in an oxcart?"

Wei Yao nodded: "No matter how big or small the matter is, if we only listen to one side of the story, we will become biased. Take this matter for example, we don't even know the name of the other servant boy, but we were led astray by Hu Wuwu's words and thought that the other servant boy was spoiled and did not act generously."

Guo Yun pondered for a moment and said, "Ayao, you have truly enlightened me. You can see the big picture from small things. If you are biased in small matters, wouldn't you be even more confused when faced with important matters? Why don't we put it into practice and ask the other servant boy?"

“That’s exactly what I was thinking, but words are meaningless. But I have something important to tell you first, A-Yun, you…” Wei Yao whispered in her ear.

Guo Yun admired her friend even more after hearing this: "This is a good thing! Don't worry, I know what to do."

As the two picked the flowers, they moved forward with the group, though at a slightly slower pace. Zong Yin tried to join them several times, but was threatened by several pairs of eyes from the Xunyi Academy, especially Yuan Jingrong, who mistook Niu Zong's buttocks for Zong Yin's face and slapped him so hard that Niu Zong kicked her.

After picking the flowers, Wei Yao and Xing Hang deliberately lingered behind another servant boy. Wei Yao asked Xing Hang, "Hu Wuwu said your foot hurts and you can barely walk. You wanted to ride in the oxcart for a while but didn't dare to come to us. Actually, it's alright. You can just tell us if your foot is injured. Don't try to be brave."

Guo Yun chimed in, "That's right, it takes a month to travel that far."

Xing Hang was neither stupid nor tongue-tied; he understood what was going on as soon as he heard it and immediately explained, "I never said that! Why does she keep making up lies all the time? By the way, you're Miss Wei, right? The day you were singing in the stone pavilion of the poetry club, it was Hu Wuwu who suggested sending you grasshoppers. We all tried to persuade her not to do that, but she insisted on doing it her own way, and then we all got beaten up."

Guo Yun murmured in astonishment, "Indeed, you can't just listen to one person."

Xing Hang further defended himself: "I walk all the time, and I often walk around the courtyard wall in the choir. If I were afraid of hardship, I wouldn't have come on this trip. Besides, do you two ladies look like you can't walk anymore?"

Guo Yun was furious and was about to speak again when Wei Yao spoke up before her: "Alright then, we only have a few ladies on this trip. If you encounter any difficulties, remember to look for us."

"Yes. Thank you, ladies."

Wei Yao pulled Guo Yun away, but the latter said angrily, "We should let the two of them confront each other and expose Hu Wuwu's lies!"

"I knew you were going to do that, that's why I stopped you from saying it."

"why?"

"The power behind this page is complex and intertwined; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to get his way into Cui Academy. We all know this, and we won't associate with them anymore, so why get involved in their conflicts? Besides, is everything this page said true? Is he using us as pawns to help him deal with Hu Wuwu?"

Guo Yun covered her face with a flower branch in frustration: "I believed one side of the story again."

Pingcheng, Weishi Academy.

After class, Wei Mao headed to the Confucius Academy near the university building. Just in time, he ran into Wei Yin, who was on his way to pick up his meal. "Master Wei, I had my servant cook some rice and bring it over. It's still warm. May I eat with you?"

Wei Yin smiled and said, "Sit down."

“We have a new teacher at our school. He teaches poetry too fast, and there were several parts I didn’t understand. But after two classes, I’ve forgotten the questions I had in the first class.” Wei Mao’s face was full of frustration. “Haha, I was like that when I was a child. Don’t worry, let’s eat quickly, and I’ll explain it to you after we finish. Today we learned the poem ‘Yang Zhi Shui’ from the ‘Tang Feng’ section.”

"It's clear that the Master cares about his fellow students; he even knows where we are in our studies."

Wei Yin picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and chewed it slowly.

After a moment of silence, Wei Mao asked, "I heard that a court official has come to Luoyang to commend the new school, and because of this, I've heard that both official and private schools in Luoyang are far inferior to those in Pingcheng. Have you heard of this, Master?"

"I've heard about it too. If you want to confirm, you can write to your father and ask. Are you thinking of going to Luoyang?"

"I'm afraid that going there will interfere with my studies. Will the Master's family go to Luoyang later? If they do, I won't be afraid."

Given Wei Yin's age and shrewdness, how could he not know what this little rascal was testing? He brushed it off with a single sentence: "Wait until Yao'er finishes reading the Book of Poetry before you look at it." Then, with a hint of sarcasm, he said, "Wei Mao, when you write to your father, you can inquire about the various reforms of the court. If you want to enter officialdom in the future, you can't just be familiar with the classics. Don't just ask about the reforms of recent years; start from the seventh year of Taihe."

"Yes, thank you for your guidance, Master Xie. But there are some things I cannot ask my father, for fear that he might misunderstand."

Wei Yin sipped his soup spoonful by spoonful, without saying a word.

Wei Mao: "So I'll ask the Master instead."

"Sigh, I can't shut you up, go ahead and ask."

"If I have a close elder in my family who has no children and does not bear the surname Wei, I can adopt him..."

"Cough cough cough..." How could Wei Qingbin have given birth to such a rebellious son!

Northeast suburbs of Pingcheng.

After noon, Confucius instructed his students to walk slowly, not to rush to Gaoliu County. "Look far ahead, let your hearts follow your eyes! Travel is about seeing and hearing things you've never seen before, such as the hardships of the people and the changing weather. Connect what you see and hear with what you've learned in books; as long as your understanding deepens, this journey will not have been in vain!"

The teacher's encouragement could only alleviate the heat for a moment. The students were drenched in sweat, and Yuan Heng and Yuan Ning wished they could take off their shirts and use leaves as fans as they walked.

Hu Wu was not comfortable sitting on the oxcart. The uneven country road made him shake so much that his voice trembled as he said, "The poetry club just taught us a new poem. I'll sing it for you ladies. The tune of this one is very easy to learn."

No one answered her, so Cui Wanwan replied listlessly, "Fine, go ahead and sing."

Hu Wuwu cleared his throat, and as soon as he began to sing, his voice was melodious and clear: "Guan Guan cry the ospreys, on the river's islet, a graceful and beautiful maiden..."

Yuan Jingrong's whip grazed the top of Hu Nulang's hair and struck Niu Rim: "Change to another song."

"Huh? Why..."

"Change the song! Or do you want to get beaten up?!"

When Miss Yuan stood up for Wei Yao, how could Wei Yao remain silent? "Miss Hu, you want to ask why? I'll answer you. My name has the character 'Yao' in it. It's fine for you to teach me to sing this poem normally, but if the person who bothered me yesterday learns it and keeps singing it to bother me, I'll be unhappy, and it will also go against the original meaning of the poem."

In the seventh year of the Taihe reign, Empress Dowager Wenming issued an order prohibiting Xianbei people from marrying each other with the same surname.



(End of this chapter)