History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 123 Wei Yao Receives Reward
The stables of the governor's mansion.

When Yuan Zhi came over, he saw that Hai Yeren, Hu Ertiao and his gang of unruly boys not only did not find grinding the millstone hard, but were also singing songs to encourage each other!

The first line is "The shrike cries in July, the harvest is in August," and the second line is "The dates are peeled in August, the rice is harvested in October."

Yuan Zhi chuckled and said in exasperation, "Looks like the punishment wasn't severe enough!"

He instructed his subordinates: "Tomorrow we're going to commend Cui Zhi, Wei Yao, and other students, right? While we're at it, let's ask them for ideas on punishments and see if those clever ones can subdue those less clever ones!"

Huli Yelang, a subordinate, rushed over and reported: "Xue Huben and his party have already left the city."

Another official also reported: "Zhao Xiu is making a fuss again, saying that he must see the governor now, and he is also clamoring to go to the old palace."

The captain reported: "Two hundred soldiers from Woye Town have come to the government office at the behest of General Yu. They are going to Luoyang to compete for the position of Imperial Guard. They said that General Yu and Zhao Xiu had agreed that they would escort Zhao Xiu back to Luoyang on their way."

Another private letter arrived from Wuchuan Town General Yuanzhen, stating that Rouran troops had attacked Yixin Mountain in southern Wuchuan, capturing and killing over a hundred households of villagers in the reclamation town, presumably in retaliation for the murder of Khan's son, Futu.

At the end of the letter, Yuan Zhen expressed his hope that Yuan Zhi would not be stingy and would lend him "Zhao Mengshi" to Wuchuan Town for three months to serve as the temporary garrison commander.

Yuan Zhi cursed, calling them bastards, not only those worms but also General Yuan Zhen.

The prison warden, Shi Guanxian, jogged along, shouting, "We've finally found the governor! Something's happened! Something's happened in the prison!"

"What's the rush? Tell me, what's wrong?"

Guan Xian: "The prisoner next to Manager Bingfang, Nie Zhao, must have heard a lot of Nie Zhao's nonsense before his death. This prisoner was sentenced to be executed in nine months. In desperation, he actually talked nonsense to the officials under the Court of Justice, mentioning the Cui Hao case from more than forty years ago, saying that Cui Hao had descendants who escaped the execution of the gatekeeper!"

The Prefect Yuan showed no sign of alarm and asked, "Did those people in the Court of Justice really believe it?"

"Yes, they said they needed to look through the case files."

“Help them find it. Even if Cui Hao had descendants alive back then, the responsibility of the officials at that time should be investigated. It has nothing to do with me, Yuan.”

"But what can be found in the case files? If there were any doubts in this case that were recorded, would they have waited until now to investigate?"

Yuan Zhi slapped Guan Xian on the forehead: "Don't you understand? Get out of here! You've ruined your brain by performing an autopsy."

No matter how many urgent matters there are, they must be dealt with one by one.

The next day, the imperial court brought paper and pen to commend Wei Yao, along with the title of "Third-Class Warrior" for the Hengzhou Grand Hunt and the reward cloth, and announced it to the public.

Wei Yao's name has truly caused a sensation throughout Pingcheng this time.

Wei Zhen helped count the number of cloths, paper, and pens. She was genuinely happy for Wei Yao and said to the other students, "Since we are in the same dormitory as Yao, our dormitory of the Book of Poetry will also rise in status."

Wei Jing chimed in, "When I get to Shuozhou, if anyone asks who I am, I'll say... Have you heard of Wei Yao, the champion of poetry? I'm her fellow student."

Wu Ji continued from where Wei Jing left off, saying, "The worst student in the village! Haha—"

"How could I be worse than you?"

These two boys feel restless if they don't bicker every day, and the more they bicker, the more they enjoy playing together.

Wei Mao wanted to take this opportunity to talk to Wei Yao, but he happened to notice that the color of a few pieces of cloth was the same as the color of the handkerchief from the day before yesterday, so he swallowed the words that were about to come out.

Many students envied Wei Yao, and many were jealous. Jealousy is human nature, but deliberately spreading disgusting rumors that Wei Yao came from a poor background and would have little future is malicious and goes beyond simple jealousy. Because of this incident, Wei Yao began to suspect the real culprit who killed Qu Rong in her previous life, but that's a story for later; let's talk about the present.

The prefectural officials called Wei Yao aside and asked her to write down a punishment plan to get Hai Yeren and other mischievous children who disliked studying to return to school.

"punish?"

The subordinate official said, "Yes, the magistrate means that we should take any measures we can to make the young men and women feel ashamed or afraid. Any method is acceptable, as long as it can make them willingly return to the school and sincerely study."

After a moment's thought, Wei Yao said, "The young masters may lack patience for studying, but they may not lack patience for other things."

"That's right! He's been pulling the millstone for days, working harder than a donkey..." The official hurriedly covered his mouth.

“I think we can do it the other way around. Reward them with something that they really like, so that they will strive for it and also understand the hardships the teacher has gone through…” After devising a plan, Wei Yao felt that what followed was unnecessary, but still requested, “If the magistrate adopts the method I wrote, please don’t let the young masters know that it was my idea.”

"Scholar, you can rest assured!" The official thumped his chest loudly.

Cui Xueguan.

The students who were commended, Cui Zhi, Kong Mi, and Guo Yun, also devised their own plans and handed them over to the prefectural officials to take away.

Because his departure for Luoyang was approaching, Xi Jiao stopped returning to the Eighth Branch Academy in July and instead studied at the Cui Academy. The commendation of his fellow students was a cause for celebration, so he invited Yuan Heng, Yuan Zizhi, and other Han scholars, including Kong Mi, to have lunch at the Poetry Club.

Guan Nu first ran to the backyard of the poetry society and instructed the cook to slaughter crucian carp, roast mutton, and boil spring water to prepare tea.

As soon as the kitchen staff got busy, the servants eating in the opposite kitchen shed immediately found out.

"Which powerful scion is here again? Sigh, we didn't think much of it when we were eating here, but compared to him, we really look like servants."

"What's the point of comparing? You're just asking for trouble. The one who comes will definitely be a member of the imperial family... a spoiled brat." The servant silently brushed aside the word "spoiled brat."

"Hahaha. Have you heard? Wenyin Academy is almost empty. The fiercest Hai Yeren and the most unreasonable Hu Ertiao have also left. The governor disliked that they just stared blankly at the questions during the joint examination, so he summoned them to the governor's mansion to do hard labor."

After discussing these matters, the servants returned to the topic of their former teacher, Zhang Wenzhi. "Do you think Teacher Zhang will ever come back? If she doesn't, we'll only have one teacher left again."

"I think this Ms. Zhang is a good teacher."

Xing Hang: "I think so too. Moreover, she is not only good at teaching poetry, but also has a deep understanding of poetry. When I listen to the lectures and there are classical passages that I don't understand, I ask the female teacher when I get back, and she helps me understand them in words that I can understand. By the way, I made detailed notes. If any of you want to see them, just ask me."

Hu Wuwu couldn't eat anymore and left dejectedly.

Zhang Jiniang was originally hired by her father as a tutor to accompany her. Despite the long distance from Chang'an to Pingcheng, Zhang Jiniang had never sung poetry, nor did she understand as many allusions as Xing Hang.

Is it because she doesn't want to show off, or because she thinks the Hu family paid too little money?
Hu Wu walked to the Buddhist hall, where the door was open. After entering, she saw Zhang Jiniang reading Buddhist scriptures, and said with a veiled sarcasm, "Master, you are truly learned; it turns out you are also familiar with Buddhist scriptures."

"Does the lady need something from me?"

"Can't I come to you for no reason? Or does the teacher think that with Zhang Wenzhi gone, you've become an indispensable formal teacher at Cui Academy?"

Rouran: A derogatory term used by the Rouran people during the Northern Wei Dynasty.

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(End of this chapter)