History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 242 Hun Yu Niang's Idea
Pingzhou, a place far away.

Dressed in fine clothes and riding spirited horses, they broke through the dust! The young warriors rode one after another towards Youzhou, their shouts of encouragement growing louder as they galloped away.

"The state troops are arresting fleeing residents, and the people are making way!"

"The state troops are arresting fleeing residents, and the people are making way!"

Changsun Wuzhuo, the son of the military advisor of the state granary, was in this group.

More than sixty criminals from the prefecture fled this time. According to the investigation by the prefectural officials, the mastermind behind the operation was named Gao Cong, and he had not been exiled to Pingzhou for long.

Changsun Wuzhuo's thoughts differed from the other warriors who were eager to make a name for themselves. He hoped that Gao Cong could escape safely to Pingcheng, so that he could take the opportunity to return to Pingcheng to reminisce with Xi Jiao and Zhou Tai. Escaping to Luoyang would also be fine; Lu Baozhen was in Luoyang, haha.

The forest the samurai had just passed through was now alive with monkeys leaping and jumping, and birds circling in fright.

A middle-aged man covered in monkey fur, holding a small monkey, watched the cavalry and muttered to himself, "These border soldiers are so useless now, what fugitive would be stupid enough to run away on the road? Let's go back to Luoyang. Oh dear, how did you die?"

He showed a look of pity even though he had clearly killed the monkey.

Luoyang.

As Wei Yao passed by the Luo River, she marveled at the beauty of the sunset reflected on its surface.

On the opposite bank of this location was a gathering place for merchants from the Western Regions and the Eastern Yi who had submitted to Wei. They traded goods with the people of Luoyang using local specialties, and part of the money they earned was circulated in trade, while the rest was squandered in casinos of all sizes.

Zong Yin and his partner Feng Xing have been hanging around here lately, but fortunately neither of them is addicted. No matter which casino they go into, they only play three rounds.

I had a really bad day; I lost all three games.

After they came out, Feng Xing put his arm around Zong Yin and said, "Alright, I forgive you for being so generous with your food, drink, and money these past few days."

Last year, on their way back from Luoyang, the three teenagers' friendship broke down. Feng Xing traveled alone in fear and held a grudge. Unexpectedly, Zong Yin came to visit him to reminisce. These past few days, he finally got to vent the anger he had been holding in.

Zong Yin smiled bitterly.

Feng Xing clicked his tongue: "Look at you, so spineless! Tell me, is there something you need from me?"

"It's nothing, I'm just feeling down."

"You're not still thinking about the Lady Wei from Heicheng, are you?"

"Don't you want to..."

"No! My family has already proposed marriage to me."

Zong Yin was happy for his friend: "Really? When are you getting married? You must invite me to the wedding."

Seeing that the other party was genuinely happy for him, Feng Xing said, "Do you want to find a proper job? Let me tell you, my relative works as a clerk in the county office. The county office has always been short of young prison clerks. Although the salary is low, it is hard and tiring. But my relative said that the Sizhou office is going to be expanded, and the Sizhou prison will definitely be short of people in the next year or two. If we work in the county prison for a while and gain experience in handling cases, we can use some money to make connections and maybe we can be promoted to prison clerks in Sizhou."

Zong Yin said with difficulty, "To be honest, my father is now a prison officer in the Court of Justice. This job is extremely hard and tiring. He hasn't been home for almost a month."

Feng Xing: "Isn't this how all low-ranking officials are? We don't have any family connections or wealth, so don't be picky. Go home and think it over. Let me make this clear: if you don't come with me this time, it will be too late to change your mind later. Even if you bribe someone, you might not be able to get in."

"Then I'll go home and ask my mother."

Feng Xing pursed his lips and shook his head as he watched Zong Yin leave: "How old are you? You should ask your mother first."

Today, Zongdian finally got a day off. Exhausted, he returned home, only to find his wife, Hun Yuniang, as he had expected. Instead of offering any words of comfort, she threw things around and yelled, "So you know how to come back! Why didn't you spend the New Year away from home!"

Zong Dian rolled up his trouser leg, revealing a large, bloody sore, and cried out miserably, "It hurts so much! Where's the ointment at home? Quickly, bring it to me!" "Oh dear!" After all, they were an old married couple, and Hun Yu Niang quickly went to find the ointment. "What happened? Your leg was fine when you left home!"

"The prison was filthy and dark. I accidentally scraped my skin, didn't pay attention, and then it got infected. It's nothing, it looks scary, but it doesn't really hurt. Hiss—"

Hun Yu Niang: "Didn't you say it didn't hurt? Why are you yelling?"

After the medicine was applied, Madam Hun realized what was happening and asked, "That's not right. This injury happened while you were on duty. Why isn't the government doing anything about it?"

Zong Dian laughed: "If I recover, will you still feel sorry for me when I come back?"

Hun Yu Niang snorted coldly and spread her palms: "Even husband and wife need to keep clear accounts. Didn't you say that jailers could bring money home by the mile? Where is the money?"

"Don't even mention it. You only know what you're doing once you start a job. There are ways to bribe people, but they don't give it to us lowly jailers. The money ends up in the hands of the jailers, and at most we get a few sips of soup."

He untied the cloth bag, and Hun Yu Niang glanced at it and said angrily, "How much is this? At most two hundred coins!"

Zong Dian lay down, turned his back, and pretended to be dead, without saying a word.

Hun Yu Niang wiped away her tears and remained silent.

After a long while, Zong Dian said wearily, "If you think I'm incompetent..."

Hun Yu Niang sniffed and interrupted her husband: "The job you've been doing, you've been away from home for almost a month, and you don't even tell me what you've been doing when you come in. How can I not have all sorts of wild guesses?"

Zongdian sat up. "Fine, I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone, not even the children."

Seeing his wife nod, he said, "Someone is using witchcraft to murder powerful and influential people in the capital. The Court of Justice is investigating this matter thoroughly."

Hun Yu Niang: "No wonder. The neighborhood officials visit each household every few days, telling us not to believe the wandering sorcerers, and they also explain many of their tricks."

Zong Dian: "These days, the Court of Justice arrests people every day, interrogates them, and releases them. It's driving me crazy. You wouldn't believe it, but some seemingly insignificant commoners are actually raising poisonous insects that use witchcraft in their homes. And you have no idea how brutally prisoners are tortured in jail! Sometimes I wonder, if I were wrongly accused of something, would I just confess to something I shouldn't?"

Hun Yu Niang's eyes darted around, and she said, "There's something... I need to ask you for Yin'er's sake. Originally, I planned to discuss this with you later, but now it seems like God has given Yin'er this opportunity, and it would be a real shame to miss it. When you're interrogating the criminals again, think of a way to get them to implicate Wei Yao..."

"Shut up!" Zong Dian urgently stopped him from speaking further: "You bastard Hun, you don't want Wei Yao's family to die, you want me to die!"

Hun Yu Niang: "Let me finish! We're not really framing her family. It's normal for prisoners to talk nonsense when they're being beaten. Or you can lie and say you misheard the prisoner's confession. Anyway, the goal is to get Wei Yao or her family to go to the dungeon, scare them a little, and then you can rescue her family and do them a favor. Then, when you propose marriage, will her parents have the nerve to refuse?"

Zong Dian laughed angrily: "Do you think I run the Court of Justice? You think you can scare me?"

"Hmph." Hun Yu Niang took out two strings of coins from the box and pushed them to her husband: "This is the money you're given for doing errands. Anything you don't spend is yours."

Zongdian closed his eyes and remained still.

Hun Yu Niang took out another string of cash.

Zong Dian looked at the money and said slowly, "This is very dangerous. If things go wrong, I might end up in jail myself."

"Don't push your luck! If you don't want it, then forget it!"

Zong Dian sighed, "What a tragedy."

"Do you think I want to do this? Yin'er is of marriageable age, and I've introduced him to several girls, but he refuses to meet them. He's your son too, don't you feel sorry for him? Besides, once Wei Yao marries into the family, I'll treat her like my own daughter, okay?"

Fuhu: In the Northern Wei Dynasty, criminals sentenced to death were "pardoned" and exiled to various border regions. These people were enslaved by local officials and generals for generations and had no personal freedom.

(End of this chapter)