History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 215 The Female Imperial Food Supervisor

However, at present, no merchant in the inner city of Luoyang dared to violate the edict on the circulation of "Taihe Wuzhu". Wei Yao got off the carriage outside the Changhe City Gate. At this time, it was just dawn and the city gate was crowded. The construction of Yaoguang Nunnery had boosted all kinds of businesses in the vicinity. The most obvious ones were food stalls, which occupied all the places that could be stepped on on both sides of the road.

"Rice porridge from Jiangnan—"

"Lamb bone soup from the northern desert—"

"Steamed cakes from Heyang County come with a free vegetable sauce with the purchase of the cakes."

Heyang County is not far from Luoyang, just west of Huangnvtai in the west of the city.

Wei Yao bought a thick pancake from the pancake stall, spread a small spoonful of salty sauce on it, and spent three coins. Then she went to the food stall next door to buy a bowl of mutton bone soup, a clear soup without any meat, which cost one coin.

When Jiang Shunu told Wei Yao that she could have breakfast at the Xi official residence, it was impossible. The breakfast time at the Xi official residence was very early, and there were regulations on the earliest time that non-palace maids could enter the palace. By the time Wei Yao arrived at the Xi official residence, the kitchen would have already closed.

As she chewed on her bread, she watched the travelers and caravans slowly entering the city, and only then did she truly understand what it meant to say, "The world is bustling, all for profit; the world is in turmoil, all for profit."

Take herself as an example. Her monthly salary was three hundred coins. If she worked twenty-seven days a month and all sixteen palace students passed the monthly assessment for female officials, her salary would increase by one rank to four hundred coins. However, after factoring in her travel and meal expenses, how much of the four hundred coins would she have left?
A group of knights dismounted beside her, interrupting Wei Yao's thoughts. It was Yuan Cheng. The diners all tactfully made room for him to sit down. Yuan Cheng sat opposite Wei Yao, while the warriors sat around him.

Yuan Heng asked, "Aren't you living in Yinian anymore?"

"I moved to Quanxue Lane."

“I still have to stay in Yinian this month.” Yuan Ru pouted and complained incessantly: “I study poetry every morning and Erya every afternoon. It’s not as good as going back to Huangzong to study Qingkuai. Miss Wei, how do you memorize articles? You don’t know, the Shigu chapter of Erya is too difficult to memorize. In my opinion, those words are completely unrelated, just like a bunch of fleas! But the Master insists that these fleas have similarities. Humph, I just can’t learn it.”

Wei Yao listened patiently and asked, "The term 'shigu' means one word explaining multiple words. Which word has Your Highness learned?"

"Gather."

Wei Yao immediately recited: "揫、敛、屈、收、戢、蒐、裒、鸠、揽，聚也。"

Turning her back! Yuan Yu's pout became even longer.

Wei Yao asked, "Did the Master explain in detail why each character has the meaning of 'gathering'?"

“He did explain it, and I could understand it while he was explaining it. He quoted stories from classical texts to tell me every word, but after he finished, I still had a lot of trouble memorizing it. I can't remember it at all when I woke up this morning.”

What to do? Wei Yao's own method was to memorize by brute force if she couldn't, but she knew that some children were just late bloomers, and coupled with their playful nature, they found obscure texts as difficult as reading gibberish. "Can Your Highness recite the entire 'beauty' section from before the gathering?"

“Shi Mei?” Yuan Yu raised his chubby chin slightly, thinking as he spoke, “There’s Huang Huang, Miao Miao, Jia, Zhen, um… and… and Mu Mu.” He shook his head, unable to recall the rest.

Sigh, the Erya is so difficult! Much harder than memorizing poems!
Wei Yao took out a pen and paper from her bag and wrote down the remaining answers, adding the character "Qiao" which did not mean "beautiful". "If I add a character with a different meaning, can Your Highness find it?" Yuan Ru had memorized it before, and immediately recalled it when he saw these words. He pointed to "Qiao" and said, "This is it."

“Correct.” Wei Yao smiled and comforted the other person: “The original intention of the ‘Shigu’ is to let us explain ancient characters in the language we can understand now. You know that the character ‘Qiao’ does not mean ‘beautiful’ or ‘splendid’, which means that you have reached the basic level required for this set of words. The rest is to review and practice day after day, rather than memorizing everything you have learned in one day.”

Yuan Heng's eyes lit up: "What you say makes sense!"

Wei Yao continued, "Next year, when Your Highness is a year older, you will definitely be smarter and think more clearly than Your Highness is this year. Your understanding of words will also improve, and you will not find it as difficult to learn the other chapters of the Erya as you do now."

"Yes, yes! Young lady, I have a fellow student named Yuan Shixian, who was the young man who traveled with me at the Xi official's office before. He is even more struggling with his studies than I am. He gets sleepy as soon as the teacher opens his mouth. Do you have any good ideas on how to teach Yuan Shixian to listen to the lessons?"

This meal cost four coins, but it was worth four thousand coins' worth of work!
Wei Yao: "There is a way; he should be able to break the habit of dozing off within a month."

When Yuan Yu arrived, he was full of complaints, but when he left, he strode away with his head held high. He went to Yaoguang Nunnery to check on the progress of its construction and sent a warrior to the palace to find Yuan Shixian's father, Yuan Song, and tell him how to cure Yuan Shixian's drowsiness.

This warrior was from the Qinghe Prince's Mansion, where Yuan Yun was currently residing. The Seventh Prince was young and could act recklessly, but the warrior dared not, after all, the Left General Yuan Song was the younger brother of the Prince of Rencheng! The warrior told Yuan Song the truth, saying that the idea was not conceived by the Seventh Prince, but was taught to him by a female lecturer surnamed Wei from the palace school.

After the warrior left, Yuan Song murmured, "Lecturer Wei, it seems she is Wei Yao, the daughter of my brother's chief bodyguard Zhao Zhi."

Yuan Song's elder brother was Prince Rencheng, Yuan Cheng. Because Yuan Song spent a lot of time in the palace and had many confidants, Prince Rencheng instructed his younger brother to send a team of guards to patrol near the Xi official residence. The infighting in the harem was no less intense than that in the front palace. If Wei Yao encountered any difficulties, he should help her if he could, and if she was framed, he should protect her first.

As fate would have it, when Yuan Song was inspecting the Zhai Palace, several palace maids from the Imperial Kitchen came from another direction. Yuan Song stopped them and, as usual, asked, "Usually it's the Imperial Kitchen Supervisor, Liang, who comes. Why is someone else here?"

The leading female official, surnamed Zhang, bowed first and then replied: "Liang Xiaojian's sister was beaten to death for making a mistake at the Xi official's office. Liang Xiaojian suffered a heart ailment due to grief. My surname is Zhang, and I also serve as the Imperial Food Supervisor. Starting today, I will be the one delivering breakfast."

Yuan Song walked ahead of these people, and when he returned to the front of the Zhai Palace after counting the number of Imperial Guards here, the eunuch Wang Yu brought out the food box and scolded the female official Zhang: "What's going on? Did you change the cook? The porridge today is not to His Majesty's liking!"

Just as Lady Zhang was about to explain, Yuan Song suddenly realized something. He strode over and scolded in a low voice, "Don't make a scene here. Go and serve His Majesty. I'll talk to her."

Lady Zhang cursed her bad luck inwardly. The group followed Yuan Song out of the Zhaigong Palace. Yuan Song warned, "Do your job well. If the Imperial Kitchen is short-staffed, report it to the Changqiu Temple to fill the positions! Don't try to argue with His Majesty about why you failed in your duties!"

"Yes."

As Yuan Song turned and walked away, he gave a wink to the Imperial Guards in front of him.

In terms of martial prowess, the Imperial Guards ranked ahead of the Tiger Warriors in both strength and rank.

The imperial guard carefully followed them and returned half an hour later to report to Yuan Song: "They are very careful. I had several eunuchs and palace maids follow them in different ways, but we didn't hear a single word. However, I think, cough, I have a fellow villager in the Imperial Kitchen who overheard the conversation between Zhang, a junior Imperial Kitchen official, and another junior Imperial Kitchen official, Liang."

Did they mention anyone surnamed Wei?