History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 205 Ascension to the Celestial Realm Instructor

When Prince Yuancheng of Rencheng had almost finished eating but Li Changshi had not returned, he glanced at the steward beside him. The steward understood and asked Zhao Zhi to lead the way to where Li Changshi's carriage was parked.

Zhao Zhi grabbed five large pancakes with one hand and led the way. Yuan Cheng laughed as he watched her back. He finally clearly recalled the scene when he saw Zhao Zhi at Huangxin Hall... She mispronounced Cao Pi's "Pi" as "Bu," and not only did she become the "General of Strong Crossbows," but she also slapped Yuan Zhi outside Huangxin Hall.

Yuan Cheng's ability to quickly summon Zhao Zhi as a guard was largely thanks to Li Huan, the Imperial Censor. In the twentieth year of the Taihe era, when Mu Tai was captured after his rebellion, it was Li Huan who contacted Zhao Zhi and captured Mu Tai alive on his escape route. This is why Yuan Cheng was able to locate Zhao Zhi and her family in Luoyang, a city with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, in just a few days.

Ma Sheren hurried back and reported in a trembling voice, "Minister, go and check on Chief Secretary Li's carriage."

The first thought that came to the Prince of Rencheng was that Zhao Xiu had killed Li Xuanmao.

With a gloomy face, he asked as he walked, "Where is Zhao Zhi?"

"She was watching the car."

"Hmm." It's good that I didn't fight with Zhao Xiu.

When they arrived at the parking lot, the half-open car door opened, and Ren Chengwang was stunned. Although Li Xuanmao's expression was not good, he was a good person.

Where is Zhao Xiu?

Li Xuanmao's chin trembled and his hands shook as he pointed to the car floor below.

Yuan Cheng was dumbfounded.

To prevent assassination attempts, he would sometimes switch vehicles with Li Xuanmao. Both the main vehicle he rode in and the secondary vehicle Li Xuanmao rode in had a partition built into the floorboards so that his large physique could lie down inside.

"Return to the palace," Prince Rencheng calmly ordered.

The group returned to the palace unhurriedly. The partition was opened, and the attendants thoroughly examined Zhao Xiu's body, but found no new external injuries.

Li Xuanmao was still living in a nightmare, wishing he could cut his heart out to the Minister of Works: "As soon as I got into the carriage, Guard Zhao leaned on my shoulder."

Yuan Cheng asked, "Was he already dead then?"

Li Xuanmao shook his head vigorously as he recounted the scene: "He said one word to his subordinates, 'Jiu,' then imitated a sheep's bleat, and then died. After his subordinates checked that he was not breathing, they realized that he must have said 'help.' Fearing that someone might accidentally enter the car, his subordinates could only hide the body in the compartment first."

Yuan Cheng then asked Zhao Zhi, "Was Zhao Xiu's breathing steady when he got into the carriage? Was anyone following him?"

"It's safe. Nobody's here."

Li Xuanmao glanced at Zhao Zhi a few more times, and it seemed that this woman was truly born tongue-tied, even her reply to the Minister was sullen and taciturn.

Unbeknownst to him, the Prince of Rencheng had already suspected Zhao Zhi of killing Zhao Xiu at the scene of the incident, and now he was even more certain. Yuan Cheng circled the corpse, approached Zhao Zhi, and asked, "Did you have a grudge before?"

“There was no enmity between us. His every word was contemptuous of Chief Secretary Li, which was tantamount to contempt for the Minister of Works, so I killed him.”

Good heavens, so what if he's contemptuous? Li Xuanmao behind him was dumbfounded. Everyone in the court knew that Zhao Xiu dared not contempt His Majesty, but he contemptled everyone else!

However, Prince Rencheng, accustomed to his high position, found these words of loyalty quite comforting. "Since the deed is done, let's do it cleanly, so that there's no way to prove it when he dies."

Li Xuanmao snapped out of his daze, realizing that if he didn't speak up soon, he could forget about being the Chief Secretary!

He immediately analyzed, "Zhao Xiu came here discreetly, firstly because he himself wanted to avoid being followed. He came to see his subordinates simply because he encountered something he couldn't figure out and wanted their help. Zhao Xiu is most favored by His Majesty, so what difficulties could he have encountered? It's very likely that he said or did something wrong to His Majesty and was expelled from the palace." Yuan Cheng nodded in satisfaction.

Li Xuanmao continued, "His Majesty's confidants include Wang Xian, Wang Yu, Ru Hao, and Xue Zhixiao, all of whom desperately want to become the most favored minister. If Zhao Xiuzhen is reprimanded and expelled from the Zhai Palace, Wang Xian and the others would be the ones who most want him dead. So even if someone sees Zhao Xiu get into our Prince's carriage, and asks about it later, how can I answer... Zhao Xiu had me take him to a secluded place and get off. How could the Minister of Works have foreseen Zhao Xiu's arrival? And Zhao Xiu's disappearance has nothing to do with the Minister of Works."

“Okay.” Yuan Cheng patted Li Xuanmao on the shoulder.

Zhao Xiu, the most treacherous minister in the new emperor's court, died without a proper burial.

The following day, Wei Mao and Lu Baozhen accompanied Wei Yao to the county office to inquire about the news of the lecturer. This time, Wang Wenli came out of the office to greet them. "Great news, great news! The young lady has been retained as a regular lecturer, with a one-year probationary period. Tomorrow morning she can go to the palace school to inquire about the specific duties. As far as I know, among this batch of lecturers recruited by the court, the young lady is the only young scholar who has undergone the probationary assessment, haha."

"Trial appointment" is a necessary step in the assessment for becoming an official, and the period is usually one year. If she fails the assessment, Wei Yao will remain a lecturer after one year. To put it bluntly, "trial appointment" means that the court is very satisfied with Wei Yao's teaching and, in addition to being promoted to lecturer, the court will also grant her an official position. However, she has to wait for a suitable position to become available, and this waiting period can be up to one year.

Good friends sang and laughed together. Wei Yao and her two companions rode along the main road outside the city. They went to the ruins of the Imperial Academy to continue copying the scriptures on the stone tablets.

This time, Lu Baozhen read aloud while Wei Yao wrote. Wei Mao was alert to his surroundings, wary of the person who had coveted Yao Yao last time reappearing. As fate would have it, the more successful Wei Yao's family was in this life, the more unlucky Zong Yin's family would be.

There is a Chongxu Temple on the north bank of the Luo River.

This temple was built at the beginning of the relocation to the capital. The reason for its construction was that the local people kept hearing strange noises and seeing ghosts while they were sleeping. In order to appease the people, the government allowed the construction of Chongxu Temple in this place.

Zong Yin's mother, Hun Yuniang, came to pray to the gods today. After drawing a very bad fortune stick, she broke down in tears. The Taoist priest sweeping outside the hall chanted "Compassion" and helped Hun Yuniang to a shady spot under a tree, comforting her: "Life is full of hardships, but you will soon get through this."

Hun Yu Niang had been heartbroken these past few days. Through her tearful eyes, she mistook the Taoist priest for a deity descended to earth and told him about her family's suffering: "My eldest son wanted to marry a young woman, but he proposed twice, and she refused both times. My son then fell seriously ill and can't even take medicine anymore. Oh—my poor son—"

The Taoist priest said, "I have heard of a family that proposed marriage six times before finally being able to fulfill their wish."

Hun Yu Niang shook her head: "Immortals don't know, that young lady just moved to Luoyang from Pingcheng. I don't know where she lives now, so how can I propose marriage again?"

The Taoist priest looked as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

The fisherwoman realized what was happening and hurriedly pleaded, "Is there any way for the gods to save my son from this calamity? Gods, please save my family! I'll do anything, no matter what it takes!"

The Taoist priest said, "This method may be useful, but it will disrupt the fortune of my Xuanmen sect. Never mind, as a compassionate monk, please come with me."

He led Hun Yu Niang through a courtyard to a well and said, "This well suppresses a demon beast. Tell the demon beast everything about that girl, and then put some money into the well as a donation. Once the demon beast is moved by the donation, it will tell you which direction to look for the girl."

"Oh? But I didn't bring much money with me today. Tomorrow—no, I'll go home now and come back before evening, is that alright?"

The Taoist priest shook his head: "Mortals only have one chance. What is a chance? It is when you encounter it."

"What should I do?"

“Alas, I am truly in a difficult position today. Here’s what we’ll do: you can borrow merit money from the first barefoot Taoist priest passing by here. If no barefoot Taoist priest passes by by sunset, then you will have no chance with the Demon Beast Well. I still need to sweep the front yard. Please wait patiently.”

Desperate for a cure and with a long-standing superstition about deities, Hun Yu Niang didn't even suspect that the man was a fraud. She successfully "waited" for the barefoot Taoist priest and, in a daze, pressed her fingerprint on the loan agreement, and had someone copy down the family information on her identity bamboo tag.

Hun Yu Niang threw a full 20,000 coins into the well, and finally the voice of a "monster" came from the bottom of the well: "It may be in Yi Nian or Yong He."

(End of this chapter)