History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 199 Copying the Stone Sutra

After finishing their business with Wei Yao, the five of them left the county office and headed towards the ruins of the Han Imperial Academy in the south of the city.

On the way, Wei Mao recounted how Wei Zhen and Bu Yanzhen met in Luoyang.

“I took Bu Yanzhen and fellow disciple Wei Zhen to meet twice. They were estranged and didn’t say much on either occasion. Then Bu Yanzhen came to say goodbye and said he was returning to Pingcheng. Two days later, Wei Zhen sent someone to deliver a letter to me and also left Luoyang.”

Lu Baozhen: "What? I know about this!"

It turns out that Lu Baozhen and Wei Zhen became friends after they met in Luoyang. Before leaving Luoyang, Wei Zhen confided all her secrets to Lu Baozhen.

Accompanying Bu Yanzhen to Luoyang were his cousins ​​from his maternal uncle's family. After Bu Yanzhen met Wei Zhen for the first time, his cousin Pan Chunniang met with Wei Zhen alone and begged her to directly reject Bu Yanzhen's infatuation next time.

At that time, Pan Chunniang said, "If Yanzhen continues to be obsessed with you, his parents will stop his studies and no longer support his education. I have inquired and found out that your family has said the same thing to you, which is why you hesitated. But Yanzhen is different from you. The Bu family can only afford to support one child's education and official career. If he is abandoned this year, he will be abandoned forever! Unlike you, Weizhen, you can always apologize to your family."

Wei Zhen: "We can support ourselves and continue our studies after we earn money."

Pan Chunniang: "Self-reliance? You still want to make money? After you were kicked out of the house, you could only make a living by farming! Do you know that a couple has to cultivate sixty mu of land? If you have oxen, each ox counts as labor, so you have to add thirty mu of land. In addition to these ninety mu of farmland, you also have to cultivate twenty mu of mulberry fields. You leave early and return late every day, so tired that you don't want to talk, so tired that neither of you wants to chop wood or cook. At that time, what do you like about him? Will he still like you?"

Wei Zhen still retorted, "If everyone else survived, we can survive too!"

"And what about your children? Your children could have gone to school, but because of your choices, they have to suffer from birth? Miss Wei, you should have seen how much those people struggling in the fields suffered on your way to Luoyang."

Upon hearing this, Wei Yao and Wei Mao understood. Wei Zhen and Bu Yanzhen were awkward when they first met because they hadn't seen each other for a long time, but the awkwardness the second time was because Wei Zhen had come to terms with it.

During our casual conversation, we arrived at our destination.

The site of the National Academy is very close to the first gate, "Kaiyang Gate," at the eastern end of the southern city wall, while the site of the Imperial Academy is two hundred paces to the east of the National Academy.

Their purpose in coming here, besides visiting the two academy ruins and experiencing the Confucian concept of "civilization resides here," was more importantly to copy the scriptures from the various stone tablets in front of the lecture hall.

In front of the hall of the National Academy, there are twenty-five intact steles, erected in the second year of the Zhengshi era of the Cao Wei period. The inscriptions on the steles contain the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Book of Documents, written in three styles: seal script, tadpole script, and clerical script. In addition to the two books mentioned above, the remaining steles also contain parts of the Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals.

Whether it was the site of the National Academy or the Imperial Academy, it was filled with Confucian scholars who came from afar. Some of these scholars had gray hair and beards. Looking at the reverence these old scholars showed for the stone classics, Lu Baozhen couldn't help but feel ashamed: "Since I came to Luoyang, I have learned less and less every day. I have almost forgotten all the poems I used to memorize."

Lu Baohuan, a poor student, comforted her older sister: "It's okay, we're all the same."

Wei Mao: "I'm different from you guys. I've always been learning according to the course schedule."

Lu Baohuan made a face.

Wei Mao discussed with Wei Yao: "There are too many people. I'll squeeze in and read, and you can write?"

"Row."

Wei Bao: "Then I'll accompany the Lu family's young lady around. You two don't wander off. We'll come back to find you."

The three of them hadn't walked far when they saw someone selling copied stone tablet texts. However, there weren't many buyers. Lu Baohuan was curious about the reason, and Lu Baozhen explained, "If there's a single mistake or missing word in an ancient text, the meaning changes. Who knows if these people were careful when copying it, or if they missed any words?" Wei Bao added, "Look at the clothes of the scholars around you. Their families must be ordinary. They can just use cheap ink to copy it themselves, which won't cost much. Buying it is a different story."

After hearing this, Lu Baohuan would look back at the scholars in plain clothes sitting in layers around each stone tablet. They were indeed from ordinary families, and many of their clothes were faded from washing. But they were full of energy and so persistent and eager to record the scriptures!
What was she doing during that same youthful period?
Ugh... I can't remember. I don't think I did anything, I just played around.

"There aren't many people around this stone tablet, elder sister, I'd like to make a copy too."

Lu Baozhen blurted out, "Copy what? Buy..." She pursed her lips and changed her words, "Then I'll copy one too."

Wei Bao: "Then you two sit here. I'll see where I can buy food and water, and I'll come back to find you soon." They also needed to buy paper and ink. The two young ladies from the Lu family only brought their travel bags, pens, and two rolls of paper, which was far from enough.

Wei Bao and Zong Yin passed each other. Wei Bao glanced at Zong Yin a few more times because the other man's anxious, searching look seemed out of place in the learning atmosphere of the place.

Zong Yin couldn't care less about anyone else now; he saw Wei Yao! He was glad he had come up with the idea on a whim. Every student who came to Luoyang for the first time would come to the Imperial Academy and the National Academy to copy scriptures. So he came to these two places every day. Heaven took pity on him, and after only a few days, he finally saw the figure he had been longing for.

The lesson learned a few days ago made Zong Yin dare not be reckless again. He stood on the outermost edge, pretending to look at the stone tablet, but in reality, his eyes turned into a pen, carefully tracing the outline of Wei Yao's body. His pounding heart wished it could grow tentacles, reach to her cheek, and get close enough to listen to her heartbeat. If only he could hold her hand and let her touch his heart.

Wei Mao's chanting of the scriptures stopped abruptly, his face turning fierce. Wei Yao followed his gaze and turned around, then shook her head at Wei Mao, pointing to the scroll in her hand.

Luoyang and Heping City are different. Furthermore, Zong Yin's father is an official in the Court of Justice. Without sufficient evidence, if Wei Mao were to beat Zong Yin in such a solemn place as the abandoned academy, he would definitely cause trouble.

After reciting two more lines of scripture, Wei Mao said angrily, "No, he keeps looking at you, I can't stand it!"

"Now you won't listen to me..."

"I'm listening!" Wei Mao was as sweet-hearted and sweet-talking as if he had tasted honey. He quickly tickled Wei Yao's arm under the cover of his sleeve.

With a flushed face, Wei Yao whispered a word of advice: "It takes no heroism to act impulsively. Fighting with this kind of person, even if you lose a little, you'll still lose everything."

Wei Mao stopped joking and began to seriously consider his words.

Behind him, Zong Yin bit his tongue until he tasted blood before belatedly realizing the pain. So, Miss Wei had someone she liked? How could she sit so close to another young man! It turned out she wasn't cold to everyone, only to him!

Why!

What did he do to make her hate him? Also, the young man next to her clearly comes from a wealthy and powerful family, and they are not on the same level at all. Does she think that she can marry into a wealthy and powerful family just by learning a few poems?

Zong Yin left the abandoned academy as if he had lost his parents, and fell seriously ill after returning home.

Leaving aside the disheartened, three days passed in the blink of an eye. On May 18th, before dawn, Wei Yao left Yinian Lane and, accompanied by her family, headed towards the Qianqiu Gate of the Imperial Palace.

Wei Mao and his elder brother Wei Bao followed along. Normally, they were not allowed to get close to the palace walls, but today they could wait outside Qianqiu Gate under the pretext of escorting Wei Yao, which was also a way to broaden their horizons.

(End of this chapter)