History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 16 Street Scoundrels
Wei Mao pulled her away from the looting area, and instead led her by the wrist to the other side of the road. Then he advised, "In this situation, even if you suffer some losses, don't argue or fight with a group of beggars."

"Yes, I understand." She understood this principle, of course, but still responded with a smile.

But Wei Mao's thinking is completely different from normal people's. He said with great dissatisfaction, "So you're just a bully at home, only daring to argue with me!"

"You're the one who said we shouldn't argue with those people. Aren't you just a bully at home?"

"Okay, I'll go find them right now... Aren't you going to stop me?"

"Stop! Mao Tongmen, don't go."

As the two walked and joked, two young men in black emerged from a shop they passed. They were Xi Jiao and his friend Zhou Tai.

However, neither of them saw the other.

Let's talk about Xi Jiao and Xi Jiao for now. They had arranged to meet Changsun Wuzhuo at the shop, but after waiting and waiting for their companion to arrive, they were worried that Wuzhuo would cause trouble again, so they went out to look for him.

Sure enough, in the alley next to the lantern stall, Changsun Wuzhuo and Lu Baozhen were fighting. Both of them were very stubborn. They twisted their bodies and grabbed each other's hair, refusing to let go. At the same time, they were kicking each other, kicking and stomping each other fiercely.

Fortunately, each of them brought their servants, who had already blocked the entrance, thus preventing them from losing face completely.

The head servant nervously recounted the incident to Xi Jiao and the other man: "Young Master and Miss Lu met while writing on lanterns, and after arguing for a few words, they started fighting. Young Master wouldn't let us get close, and the guards came to intervene, but they couldn't control the situation, and more and more people gathered. Then a young master surnamed Yuan came and persuaded Young Master and Miss Lu to fight here."

Zhou Tai had no patience to listen to the end. He seized the opportunity to pinch the tendon in Lu Baozhen's elbow. Lu Baozhen lost her strength and was pulled down. Knowing that she was going to suffer a loss today, she simply grabbed upwards hard. Coincidentally, two fingers were poked into Changsun Wuzhuo's nostrils.

"Ugh—" Two waves of soreness shot from Changsun Wuzhuo's nostrils to the top of his head.

Zhou Tai's foot was too fast, and he kicked Lu Baozhen again.

"Ow!"

He was kicked away, but the one who suffered the most pain and misery was Changsun Wuzhuo! His nose was bleeding profusely.

Lu Baozhen's hands were covered in blood, and only then did she realize how scared she was. She pushed Zhou Tai aside and ran back into the street. Facing her, she saw Yuan Cishi's nephew again, but fortunately, he didn't see her.

At this moment, Yuan Yu had no time to be distracted, as he was secretly following three street ruffians. The reason was that he happened to overhear them talking about "Wei Clan Academy" and saying things like "slap them, slash their faces" and other vile words.

The three ruffians kept looking around, and Yuan Yu, fearing being discovered, didn't let the guards follow. Instead, he and his servants approached the group, taking turns, and finally understood their intentions.

These audacious people actually dared to take advantage of the chaos in the streets today to harm a female student at the Wei Clan Elementary School! Furthermore, the scoundrels do not know the girl's name or appearance, only that she has ingratiated herself with Wei Mao, the son of a meritorious official, and recently came to the Disaster Relief Association with Wei Mao.

Coincidentally, a rogue had seen Wei Mao before, so the group planned to find Young Master Wei first, then collude with beggars to cause trouble, separate Young Master Wei from the girl, and then take advantage of the opportunity to do evil.

Yuan Yu went back to the lantern stall.

Xi Jiao and his group emerged from the alleyway.

Changsun Wuzhu chuckled sheepishly, relieved that his nose was still there, though it slightly slowed his breathing. He gritted his teeth and swore, "Lu Lanbao, Lu Choubao! Don't let me run into them again, or I'll break their fingers!"

Still bragging! Zhou Tai was about to explode with disgust.

As long as his friend is alright, Xi Jiao patted Wu Zhuo on the shoulder: "We're here to learn how to do things, so we must assist the garrison soldiers well. Let's go quickly, don't let Yuan Yu outdo us."

"Alright! I'll make amends. Yuan Yu was heading west just now, so let's head east and get past him."

Zhou Tai: "Then let's go to Lixue Street? Most of the Han scholars gather there, and beggars and scoundrels are most willing to steal from them."

At this time, Wei Mao and Wei Yao were already on Lixue Street.

Numerous students from the Imperial Academy set up orderly stalls along the roadside, selling copied poems and essays, homemade calligraphy brushes, collected odd stones, sachets, masks, and old notebooks. Regardless of what they sold, they only accepted millet, which they then handed over to the chant leader of the Imperial Uncle Temple for use in the disaster relief ceremony. It was quite interesting to see scholars doing business; they all resembled Jiang Ziya (a legendary figure known for his shrewdness and resourcefulness), only speaking to their customers during the transaction.

Wei Yao and Wei Mao arrived at the mask stall. Wei Yao tried on a mask with an eagle head pattern, while Wei Mao chose one with a python pattern. They looked at each other through the eye holes of the masks and laughed at each other for looking so silly.

Then she went to the book stalls next door, where there were quite a few books on display, and many Imperial Academy students were also on duty there. Wei Yao carefully picked up and flipped through the books. The Book of Poetry was the most numerous, along with the basic calligraphy books "Ji Jiu Zhang" and "Fan Jiang Pian". Among the agricultural books were the small bean chapter of "Fan Sheng Zhi", the brewing chapter of "Si Min Yue Ling", and then there were chapters from "The Analects" and "Zhuangzi".

The writing materials included squares, wooden tablets, bamboo slips, and paper and silk, with prices varying greatly, but all sharing the common feature of being brief in content. Wei Yao lingered at this stall, and although Wei Mao had no interest, he did not urge her, and even stood behind her to prevent others from stepping on the hem of her skirt that was hanging on the ground.

Before Wei Yao could finish reading, trouble broke out in the Lixue Street area. First, beggars got into a fight, then a theft scuffle broke out, and then a lame man was knocked down and sat on the ground crying. What was intriguing was that each incident happened very close to Wei Yao and her companion.

That's right, all three commotions were orchestrated by those three scoundrels with their accomplices, who were trying to create chaos and abduct the young lady beside Young Master Wei.

However, Wei Mao was cold-hearted and never bothered with the affairs of strangers. Wei Yao, with her slender arms and legs, was even more self-aware, so she not only didn't go to watch the commotion, but also pulled Wei Mao even further away.

Yuan Yu, who had followed them, remembered seeing Miss Wei at the Dongyue Ink Pavilion before. He muttered, "What a coincidence," and then ordered his servant to summon the guards. He had originally intended to catch the thief red-handed, but seeing that Miss Wei was very alert and wouldn't fall for his tricks, he knew there was no need to waste any more time.

"Make way!"

"Make way! Make way!"

The garrison troops have arrived, but they've arrived far too quickly.

Then, Xi Jiao and his two companions, who were wearing masks to conceal their identities, stepped forward and accurately pointed out the rogue beggar causing trouble to the guards.

Yuan Yu was furious that the credit he had just earned had been stolen.

Amidst the chaos, Wei Yao and Wei Mao ignored the commotion and returned to Sangqu Street. It wasn't until late January that Wei Yao learned the disturbances on Lixue Street were aimed at her.

Leaving aside what happened later, as another joint examination approached, the students, while engrossed in their studies, began to discuss during breaks, speculating about what would be on the exam this time.
Wei Jiezhi said, "I think it's very likely that the test will be on what we learned years ago."

Wei Jing asked, confused, "Before the New Year? Isn't it a holiday before the New Year?"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Wei Mao: "You've gone crazy from riding that horse! Think about it carefully, didn't you learn five poems between the last joint exam and the start of the Lunar New Year holiday?"

Wei Zhen: "I think the three sections, 'Zhou Nan,' 'Shao Nan,' and 'Bei Feng,' might still be included in the exam."

Wei Yao agreed: "Therefore, we must review everything thoroughly and not neglect what we have learned in the days following the New Year."

While the other students agreed, Wei Jing pondered for a long time and finally remembered, answering his friend's earlier reminder: "Oh right, there are 'The Cypress Boat' and 'A Gentleman Grows Old Together,' so we've learned five poems."

"Hahaha!"

"Ha ha ha ha--"

Apart from the increasingly withdrawn Qu Rong, everyone else was amused by Jing Tongmeng to the point of bursting into laughter, pounding the table, and even laughing until tears streamed down their faces.

Finally, Wei Puti came up with an idea: "Let's learn from experience. Each of us can act as an examiner and come up with a question. Let's make it as tricky as possible. Maybe someone will guess the question correctly."

Vina: A monastic official appointed among monks in monasteries during the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Fangdu: Du refers to a short and narrow piece of wood. Fang is a wider and longer piece of wood than Du, and is square (a rectangular piece is called a Ban).

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(End of this chapter)