History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 22 Son of the Prince of Pengcheng

Suddenly! Hu Ertiao was lifted up backwards by Hai Yeren and slammed down!
Crack—several bamboo slips were destroyed, falling to pieces.

Despite the pain, Hu Ertiao grabbed Hai Yeren and pulled him down, punching him in the head. Hai Yeren dodged, and more bamboo slips were smashed by Hu Ertiao.

More and more apprentices gathered to watch, including those from the university. When Yuan Zizhi saw Yuan Heng, Xi Jiao, Cui Zhi, and Kong Mi arrive together, he gave his friend Qiu Ruizhi a wink, and the two who were tearing each other apart were pulled apart.

"Humph!"

"You dare hum again?!"

Hu Ertiao and Hai Yeren were not convinced by each other.

The battle was over, and those who had come to watch the spectacle dispersed, finding no more excitement. Wei Yao dug pieces of bamboo from the mud, her pent-up grievances turning into tears. She first sobbed softly with "hmm—" sounds, then her cries grew louder.

Cui Zhi and Kong Mi were both saddened and helped her pick up the trash.

"Thank you, my two senior brothers." Wei Yao said sadly, "I dared not be distracted for a moment in order to remember everything the Master said, but my notebook is all dirty and I can't read the words anymore, oh—um—I can't read them."

The schoolchildren ahead stopped walking, their steps halted by the sound of crying.

Someone finally couldn't take it anymore: "What did Wei Tong do wrong? It's bad enough that those people took her place, but they also ruined her hard-earned notes!"

"Yes, it's not easy to memorize all of Confucius's teachings."

"So, some things are simply impossible to recall after the notes are lost."

"Academy is a place for learning, not for fighting!"

Those who had been bullied by Haiye Ren and other spoiled brats before felt the same way: "We can't beat them, and we have nowhere to appeal. We'll have to endure this for half a year."

"Listen, how pitifully this female student is crying."

Yuan Heng was the first to sense the change in the emotions around him. He quickly pulled Xi Jiao away, and wherever he went, the apprentices either looked at him with disgust or turned their heads away, unwilling to look at him.

As they walked this distance, Yuan Heng angrily said, "I'm so wronged! I'm taking the blame for the mess Hai Yeren and Hu Ertiao made! And this Miss Wei, if you have a grudge, then get revenge! She must be in the same courtyard as Hu Ertiao. Go and tear Hu Ertiao's notebook to shreds right now, tear it all to shreds! What's with all the crying? What good does her whimpering do?"

Xi Jiao: "How many words can Hu Ertiao remember? Why are you walking so fast? Are you in such a hurry to get back?"

Yuan Heng shook his head: "No."

"Then I'm in a hurry to leave, you can take your time. Also, don't come with me tomorrow."

"Hey? Xi Jiao, are you saying you dislike me?"

Xi Jiao thought to herself, "You've made the female students cry. Now everyone at Cui Academy will dislike you." Unfortunately, she hadn't gone far when the shameless Yuan Heng caught up with her again, urging, "Hurry up, hurry up, the crybaby is behind us."

Wei Yao was indeed behind, crying all the way back to her dormitory. Cui Zhi and the other disciples were worried that she would be bullied again on the way, so they accompanied her to the courtyard gate before leaving.

The elderly Master Cui was startled by the crying and ordered his servant to quickly find out what had happened.

Once inside, Wei Yao lit a candle, returned and closed the door. The grievance and sadness on her face faded, leaving only the discomfort of prolonged crying.

From the discussions she overheard along the way, she figured out the backgrounds of Haiye Ren and the other Xianbei students, and why they were at Cui Academy. It turned out they, like Xi Jiao, came from the imperial family. No wonder they were so domineering and arrogant!
Therefore, it was the right choice for her to swallow her anger and endure being teased and having her notes destroyed.

However... since she had already endured it all and suffered the indignation, she was determined to amplify the incident, both to gain the sympathy of the Han scholars and to further tarnish the reputation of those纨绔 (spoiled brats)!

So far, it seems she has succeeded.

Furthermore, Wei Yao wouldn't naively assume that Hu Nulang was different from Hai Yeren just because of Hu Nulang's words of help that morning. Some people's momentary acts of righteousness aren't about helping anyone or anything, but simply about their mood at the time. Wei Yao wouldn't waste any more energy on this matter; she wanted to take advantage of the fact that her memory was still fresh and quickly rewrite down the knowledge Confucius had taught that morning.

She brought many plain bamboo slips from home, numbering them sequentially from "one, two, three," starting with the analysis of the poem's preface. As she memorized the points, she would add any additional information that came to mind, then add the necessary slips by writing numbers below the existing numbers. The font for each number was smaller than the first number to avoid confusion when connecting them at the end.

To save on bamboo slips, she used a method of lengthening the last vertical stroke and combining it with spaces to punctuate sentences.

By the time she finished writing, it was nearly evening. She opened the door to let in some fresh air and took a short rest before copying the notes onto paper. These notes were naturally for Wei Mao.

She deliberately skipped dinner. After it got completely dark, a maid knocked on the door. She was there on the orders of Steward Cui to deliver a food box with hot soup.

After finishing her meal, Wei Yao continued writing, this time for Gao Lou, Gao Xiaoniangzi.

As candlelight and dawn alternated, another day passed.

Wei Yao still left early, and encountered significantly more students than yesterday, especially her fellow students from Xunyi Academy.

"Good morning, fellow disciple Wei. My name is Cui Shang. Do you remember me?"

"I remember. Good morning, fellow disciple Cui."

This boy was the student who reminded Wei Yao to help Wei Mao copy notes the first time she came to Cui Academy.

"My name is Guo Yun."

"Good morning, fellow disciple Guo."

Of the nineteen students at Xunyi Academy, only three were female, including Guo Yun.

The students at Cui Academy were all friendly towards Wei Yao, but they all showed disgust towards Yuan Heng!

Yuan Heng and the others weren't stupid; they noticed it on their way to class, but it didn't matter, since they disliked Han students anyway.

Not long after Wei Yao sat down, Xi Jiao arrived, and the two of them still deliberately kept their distance from each other.

Behind them, someone asked Yuan Zizhi, "Yuan Zizhi, are you going to Luoyang this year?"

"Let's talk about it in the second half of the year. My father isn't in Luoyang right now, and I don't want to go. Xi Jiao should be able to go before me, right?"

Xi Jiao: "If there's nothing else to say, I'll head over after Mengxia." Yuan Zizhi's position was quite secluded, and as he turned to answer, he couldn't help but catch a glimpse of Wei Yao's fleeting surprise.

She wasn't surprised that Xi Jiao went to Luoyang earlier than in her previous life; what shocked her was Yuan Zizhi.

Wei Yao never expected that "Prince Pengcheng" Yuan Yanhe had left a son in Pingcheng! And he was sitting just one row away from her.

Yes, according to the timeline, after His Majesty's victory in Mianbei, he traveled to Xinye and Xuanhu. During this period, only Yuan Yan and the princes of the imperial clan accompanied the emperor. It was not until the autumn and winter of the second half of the year that the army of the Great Wei did not continue to attack Qi and returned to Luoyang because of the death of Emperor Xiao Qi.

She knew all this because Xi Jiao had told her.

Furthermore, she foresaw that Prince Pengcheng would be murdered by the treacherous minister Gao Zhao in September of the first year of Yongping. At that time, she overheard Zong Yin and his equally loose-lipped friends discussing outside her study, expressing their deep concern that the court might descend into chaos due to Prince Pengcheng's death. She too began to worry because of Zong Yin and his friends' words, but tragically, she died less than a month later.

If Prince Pengcheng were to continue suffering the injustice of being murdered, what would become of Yuan Zizhi, who now has no worries?

The wind rustles the bamboo leaves; there is no eternal glory in this world, let alone for those born in cold lands.

When Confucius arrived, the students quieted down and resumed sitting upright.

(End of this chapter)