History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 17 The Second Joint Examination

"That's a great idea!" The other disciples couldn't help but praise it.

It's normal for students to guess the questions beforehand whenever there's an exam. However, how could elementary school children possibly anticipate the thoughts of the examiners?

On the eleventh day of the first lunar month, primary schools in Pingcheng held their second joint examination.

The same Master Xue from the university was in charge of supervising the examination at Weiyao Academy. All the rules were the same as the previous joint examination. At half past 5 a.m., Master Xue announced the first question: "This question tests your vocabulary. Write down sixty characters from the poems you have learned. Characters from the poem preface and the poem notes are also acceptable. The characters must be neat and there should be no repeated characters."

The first question was that easy?!

How could the students not be excited? As soon as Master Xue finished speaking, they immediately dipped their brushes in ink and began to write.

Qu Rong was glad that he knew more than a hundred characters. He started by writing the simplest numbers such as "one, two, three", and then "up, down, left, right".

Those with rougher personalities, such as Wei Jing and Wu Ji, would write whatever came to mind, initially quite pleased with themselves, feeling that they were incredibly knowledgeable. However, after writing half of it, their speed began to slow down.

Those with a solid foundation, such as Wei Mao, Wei Zhen, and Wei Puti, followed the opening lines of the Book of Songs: "Guan, Ju, Hou, Fei, Zhi, De, Ye, Feng..."

As he was writing, Wei Mao suddenly stopped, pondering something. After changing his mind, he put pen to paper again, using obscure words that were not commonly found in poetry.

Only Wei Yao used obscure characters from the very first character: "谲、徵、踰、葅、蚣、蝑、罟..." Moreover, these characters were all selected from the "Preface" and "Annotations," avoiding characters contained in the poem.

Time flows by in every stroke of the pen.

At Chenshi (7-9 AM), Master Xue ordered the servants to collect the scrolls. Master Duan saw his disciples looking very pleased with themselves and knew they had all finished writing. He stroked his beard, smiled, and breathed a sigh of relief.

The second quarter of the hour of Chen (7:45 AM).

Master Xue announced the second question: "This question will still test your vocabulary. It's simpler than the previous one. You only need to write fifty characters. You can write characters from the Preface and the Commentary. Note that not only can these fifty characters not be repeated, but they also cannot be repeated from the characters you wrote in the first question. What are you all standing there for? Don't start writing!"

A sharp "smack" rang out. It was Wu Ji. He slapped his forehead in frustration. Which sixty characters had he just written? He couldn't remember them at all.

More than half of the students were in the same boat, so they were all stunned after hearing the exam questions. Those who thought they were clever were even more worried. Would the third question require them to write another fifty words? Good heavens, although each question was about the same difficulty on its own, they were exponentially more difficult when put together!

Who set this question? That's so mean!

Among the students who remained calm during this paper collection, only Wei Yao and Wei Mao showed any composure.

When Master Xue announced the third question, the students were speechless and had to admit that the first two questions were indeed easy.

Question 3: Within the scope of what the Master taught, recite the complete poems from memory. Recite as many as you can.

The requirements are that each poem cannot contain the same characters as the previous poem, including commonly used characters such as "之", "而", "有", and "于", and it cannot contain the 110 characters written in the first two questions.

"It's over——"

At this moment, Master Duan and his disciples resonated with each other for the first time.

Only Wei Yao remained focused and wrote her first poem, "The Locust".

"The grasshoppers' wings are so numerous, may your descendants be numerous and prosperous."

The grasshoppers' wings chirp and swarm, may your descendants be numerous and abundant.

"The grasshoppers' wings flutter and sing, may your offspring prosper and flourish."

The second poem she memorized was "The Rabbit Trap".

"The rabbit snares are set up with a clattering sound, the pegs are struck with a clanging sound, the brave warriors are the pillars of the dukes and marquises."

The rabbit snares are laid in solemn array on the central road; the valiant warriors and dukes are eager to make enemies.

"The rabbit snares are laid in the woods, and the valiant warriors are the trusted advisors of dukes and marquises."

The third poem is "The Sweet Pear Tree". "The lush sweet pear tree, do not cut it down, do not fell it, for it is where Duke Shao rested."

The luxuriant sweet pear tree, do not cut it down or destroy it, for it is where Duke Shao rested.

"The sweet pear tree, luxuriant and verdant, should not be cut down or bowed to; this is what Duke Shao said."

The fourth poem is "Zouyu".

“Those sprouting reeds, one shoot yields five boars, alas, the Zouyu!”

"Those saplings are growing tall, one sprouts five boars, alas, Zouyu!"

The fifth poem is a new poem I learned on the eighth day of the lunar new year, titled "The Rat".

"Even a rat has skin, but a person has no manners. If a person has no manners, what is the point of living?"

Even rats have teeth, but humans have no limits. If humans have no limits, why wait for death?

"Even a rat has a body, but a person lacks manners; a person lacking manners, why doesn't he die quickly?"

Wei Yao put down her pen, not because she didn't have enough time to write, but because she could only write five poems. She compared and checked each line to make sure that there were no repeated words in the five poems, and that all the words in the five poems avoided answering the questions in the first two questions.

"Collect the exam questions." Master Xue had a premonition that the Xianbei students were about to rise to prominence, so after instructing the palace servants, he personally collected Wei Yao's exam paper.

Since today is a day off, there will be no classes. Students will be dismissed immediately after the exam.

Wei Mao and his companions, having regained their spirits, left noisily without even taking their books. They had arranged to go horseback riding at Youmei Garden. Those who hadn't gone to the Disaster Relief Association yesterday also got together and set off with great enthusiasm.

In the blink of an eye, the schoolhouse became completely quiet, with only Wei Yao, Wei Zhen, and Qu Rong remaining.

After packing her books and saying goodbye to Wei Zhen, Wei Yao was just leaving the house when Wei Jing rushed back and almost bumped into her.

"My dear fellow disciple, your father is waiting for you outside the school." After telling him this, he hurriedly ran away.

In fact, the night before last, Wei Yin told Wei Yao that he was proctoring the exam for the Analects class and that he wouldn't be going back to the university after the exam; instead, he would be going home with her.

When the father and daughter met, Wei Yin said happily, "I just chatted with Master Xue for a bit. He said you did well on the exam. Master Xue doesn't praise people easily."

"Hehe, I wrote five poems for the last question."

Wei Yin was genuinely surprised this time. He had been kept overnight at the university building last night and had learned in advance what the courses would test. He had also practiced answering the questions with several chief proctors. In the best-case scenario, the third question in the Book of Poetry test would be five poems.

He asked, "Are they the five poems: 'The Grasshopper,' 'The Rabbit Trap,' 'The Sweet Pear Tree,' 'The Zouyu,' and 'The Rat'?"

Wei Yao nodded emphatically: "Yes. When I handed in the paper, I thought that even if the third question was asked first, the best answer would still be these five poems. Father, am I right?"

"Yes! Haha, let's go buy some roasted venison and go home to tell your mother about the exam, so she can share in the joy!"

At this moment, Wei Zhen and Qu Rong also came out of the school.

Wei Zhen looked ahead with envy and said, "Master Wei is very knowledgeable and gentle. If any of my fellow students don't understand something, they can ask her father when they get home. How could their studies not be good?" Unlike herself, she was faced with her aunt's crying, her grandparents' quarreling, and her parents' quarreling when she got home. There was no quiet place for her to study.

Qu Rong absentmindedly hummed in agreement. Every time he saw Master Wei come to pick up Wei Yao, he couldn't help but compare him to his own father. Actually, he had also gone to the disaster relief meeting yesterday, but he had to wait until all his fellow disciples had gone far away before going alone. The feeling of being isolated was very unpleasant. After finding his father on Sangqu Street, his father scolded him in front of passersby!
She scolded him for wasting money on paper and ink, for not studying well and for making him stupid, and complained that he just went home stupidly after school every day instead of going out to play with Young Master Mao.

What's most infuriating is that my father has gotten involved with those scoundrels and rascals from Dongsi Lane again!
Zhongsi: a type of insect that produces many offspring. When Wei Yao wrote the uncommon character, she used the explanation of "Zhongsi" in the poem's annotation, which is "Chongxū". Therefore, her writing of this poem was within the rules.

诜诜 (shēn): means numerous.

"One shot, five piglets" (壹发五豝, 壹发五豵): "豝" refers to a sow. "豵" has two interpretations: one refers to a one-year-old piglet, and the other refers to a pig giving birth to three litters.

Please forgive me, this is a free chapter, it involves exams, and I didn't mean to pad the word count.

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(End of this chapter)