History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 21 Mutual Paths Among Fellow Disciples
The people around him immediately started jeering and making strange noises.

Wei Yao had no choice but to move her stationery to the small desk at the back. As soon as she sat down, the student with a rather dark face on her right asked, "Were you assigned to the Xunyi Academy?"

"Yes."

"Then why are you sitting here?" he said, glancing around to indicate that he wanted to switch seats with him.

The jeers started again, and Wei Yao suppressed her anger and got up, but her book box was held down by the boy in the fifth row wearing a red undershirt.

The person asked in a calm, consultative tone, "My hearing isn't very good, would you like to switch with me?"

Without speaking, Wei Yao couldn't lift the box, and whistles erupted. She was forced to reply "okay" before the other party finally let go.

When she stood next to him, he pretended to be forced to move, which amused everyone around him so much that they laughed uproariously.

"That's enough, you're all so noisy!" a woman said irritably, her loud voice drowning out all the commotion. Soon after, all sorts of strange cries became even more unrestrained.

Fortunately, Wei Yao was finally able to sit down comfortably.

Confucius arrived with his disciples Cui Zhi and Kong Mi, and witnessed her being bullied.

The schoolchildren who ganged up to bully others were all members of the imperial family and knew each other. Wei Yao was not the first person they had bullied for no reason, nor would she be the last.

Confucius knew what was going on but didn't interfere. His two disciples, who were following behind, also understood that the only way to deal with such matters was to wait for the right opportunity and a thorough solution. If they intervened now, the young lady would only suffer more later.

So why were these dozen or so pampered young men at Cui's Academy?
The reason is that the number of imperial children in Pingcheng has decreased sharply in recent years. After the Yuan governor took over Pingcheng, he divided the land of the prefectural academy in two and built the "Eight Branches" branch academy, which only taught children of the imperial clan. The day before the joint examination this month, the Yuan governor ordered that the most difficult students in the "Eight Branches" branch academy be forcibly assigned to the four Han aristocratic academies of Fan, Cui, Zheng and Wang to attend classes for half a year.

Therefore, this does not constitute a violation of the joint entrance examination rules.

According to the governor, the direct relatives of these students were almost all not in Pingcheng, and some had died defending the border against the Rouran, which is why they had been neglected in their upbringing. He earnestly instructed the Confucian scholars of all ethnic groups to strictly supervise the students from the former schools, so as not to let their best years for learning be wasted.

With the governor of a prefecture speaking to such an extent, how could the Han aristocratic family head, who still lived in Pingcheng, refuse?

Getting back to the main point. Confucius sat down under the crimson gauze curtain, and the noise below quickly subsided. He was slightly pleased; at least the students knew proper etiquette. He would teach them slowly.

Kong Wenzhong usually only lectured on poetry at Xunyi Academy, and his admonitions before the lectures were naturally only directed at his own academy: "Before lecturing on poetry, I must remind the students of Xunyi Academy that the results of this joint examination are far from what I expected."

A dozen or so students in the first three rows hung their heads in shame.

"Learning and inquiry! In addition to being diligent in seeking knowledge, one must also choose the good and follow it."

"Responsibility brings reward. The two students from the outer school assigned to the Xunyi Academy this time have achieved excellent results. From now on, you can address them as fellow students."

Confucius then looked at Xi Jiao and said, "Xi Jiao is studying at one of the eight branches of the state academy."

Cui Zhi observed the teacher's expression and, as soon as the teacher paused, immediately stood up and performed the fellow disciple's greeting.

Then Xi Jiao and Kong Mi stood up at the same time, and the other seventeen disciples of Xunyi Academy stood up and bowed to each other as fellow disciples.

"I have met Fellow Disciple Xi."

"Greetings to all fellow disciples."

Confucius nodded, his gaze pretending to search: "Wei Yao is studying at the Weishi Academy."

Wei Yao had been waiting for a while and called out loudly, "Master, I'm here."

Why not sit in your own seat?

"I know I was wrong, I will go back now."

The playboy who had taken her place was named Yuan Heng. Yuan Heng's face twitched, and he quickly complained to Xi Jiao, "The teacher did it on purpose, believe it or not," before dragging his book box back around... to glare at Yuan Ning, who had taken his spot. The former only opened his mouth but didn't utter a sound, threatening, "Get out of the way!"

The latter silently refused with a "Pah!"

As for the student who was sitting in Yuan Ning's original seat, who should have been in the fifth row further back, he was also surnamed Yuan and named Zizhi. He calmly watched the show, knowing he wouldn't go back to the fifth row anyway.

Wei Yao hurried past the three of them, carrying her book box, and bowed to Cui Zhi, her fellow disciples, and Xi Jiao as a fellow disciple.

Yuan Heng couldn't hold out any longer. He told Yuan Ning, "You wait," and sat down in the fifth row, at the very edge, where Yuan Zizhi's seat used to be. This was a terrible spot; there was a dent in the cushion. He raised his fist at Yuan Zizhi: "You wait too!"

"Study the poem "Kaopan" today."

The poetry lesson will be conducted according to the tradition of the school that initiated the large class. This poem was started by Kong Yu. Students who could keep up should recite it from memory, while those who couldn't should read it aloud from the poetry book.

"The poem 'Kao Pan' satirizes Duke Zhuang, who failed to continue the legacy of his predecessors, causing virtuous men to retreat into poverty. Kao Pan is in the ravine, a broad-minded man... Kao Pan is on the slope, a luxuriant man... Kao Pan is in the south, a slender man..."

Startled by the wave-like sound of recitation, the forest birds took flight and landed at a distance to watch curiously.

Kong Wenzhong was a renowned teacher because he could devise suitable lessons for his students regardless of their varying levels of understanding. He would sometimes cite examples from different classical texts to stimulate thought in bright students like Kong Mi, Wei Yao, and Cui Zhi; at other times, he would use engaging and lively vernacular language to further explain concise and difficult sentences in poems, annotations, and citations, making even students with weaker foundations interested and focused. This, in turn, cultivated a good habit of willingly listening to lectures.

It is worth mentioning that if stationery is placed on the small desk in front of the students, there will not be enough paper to write on. This tests the students' ability to hold the wooden slip (paper) in one hand and wield the pen in the other. If any of you here enter officialdom in the future, you must master this writing method.

At noon, Confucius ended the day's lesson with the words, "Tomorrow I will explain the hermits of the time of Duke Zhuang of Wei." The students rose and bowed to see him off. Wei Yao, worried that those纨绔 (sons of wealthy and powerful families) would cause her trouble again, quickly left the bamboo grove.

"Hey, what's your name, Lieutenant? Stop right there!"

Someone called her from behind, but she pretended not to hear and quickened her pace, yet she was still caught up. The student who caught up was named Hai Yeren, from the imperial Sihai tribe. He chuckled and said, "I'm not going to beat you up, look how scared you are. Wei... fellow student, I saw you writing the whole time during class, did you memorize everything the teacher said?"

"No, I didn't remember them all."

Haiye Ren squinted, straining to breathe, his expression full of threat.

Wei Yao, who was a head shorter than him, wisely took out her notebook upon seeing this. Hai Yeren's breathing became heavier and he became angrier, because the short sentences in the notebook were even more obscure than the ancient quotations in the Master's writings! Even if he tried to "borrow" them, it would be useless.

At this moment, Hu Ertiao, a girl who usually liked to oppose him, approached.

The young lady Hu was the one who had quelled the commotion of the spoiled brats early that morning. She looked down on Hai Yeren and told Wei Yao, "Don't be afraid of him. His name is Hai Yeren, Ye as in wild monkey, and xiaoren as in villain..."

"Get out!" The bamboo slips that hadn't been bound together were instantly thrown out by Haiye Renquan.

Hu Ertiao was hit in the face, but he still finished saying the other person's nickname: "A person of a villain!" and then swung his fist back.

Hai Yeren was already waiting. He turned his head to dodge and tried to elbow Hu Ertiao in the back. However, since they were frequent fighters, Hu Ertiao knew his moves well. She bent forward and didn't get up, instead pinching his new injury on the back of his leg hard!
"Ouch—!" Hai Yeren stomped his foot in pain and yelled, "Hu Erdian, let go! Let go!"

They had a good beating, but Wei Yao's painstakingly written notes suffered the consequences, being trampled on and on, and she couldn't pick them up no matter how many times she tried.

"绮襦纨绔" refers to wealthy and noble young men.

Parent: Here it refers to the head of a clan.

Crimson gauze tent: In ancient times, a teacher who lectured in an open space would have a crimson gauze tent behind him, which also represented "lecturing" or "a teacher's school".

Kao Pan (pán): means to play music and sing.

薖 (kē): Describes something as spacious and generous.

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(End of this chapter)