History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 252 Zhang Xiaojian, the Female Kitchen Official

As the carriage entered Yongkang Lane, the first mansion they passed was the former Jiangyang Prince's Mansion. Although Jiangyang Prince Yuanji denied poisoning the Grand Commandant and the Prince of Rencheng, he was still dismissed from his post and reduced to a commoner.

In front of the gate, Yuanji's eldest son, Yuancha, was instructing servants to move boxes and chests. It seemed that the family did not intend to live in Yongkang Lane. When Yuancha saw the Prince of Rencheng and his party coming, he immediately told the servants to move the oxcart to the side, while he himself hid inside the gate.

Zhao Zhi, with her keen eyesight, noticed the hatred in Yuan Cha's eyes as he spied on her. She immediately swung the iron hook and smashed it down on the largest wooden box. Wood chips flew everywhere, and the small boxes containing pearl jewelry scattered. Li Niu pulled the cart around wildly.

She shouted, "Who taught you to not bow to the king?"

Yuan Cha quickly stepped out, hunched over, and bowed to the main carriage of the Prince of Rencheng, continuing to bow until the entire procession had passed.

The Prince of Rencheng felt extremely relieved and suddenly understood why His Majesty had favored Zhao Xiu so much.

Upon arriving at the Prince's residence, Zhao Zhi pleaded, "I have something to ask of the Minister."

"explain."

Last night, Wei Yin told Zhao Zhi that to help Yuan Biejia, she couldn't implicate him, and even more importantly, she couldn't leak the contents of the memorial before the Sizhou government submitted it to the court regarding the construction of the Four Gates Elementary School. This needed to be addressed through another matter related to Confucianism!
Zhao Zhi: "My family's benefactor, Confucius, was lecturing at the Wenya Academy in the south of the city. The academy wanted to recruit more disciples, but it lacked fame. My daughter came up with an idea to unite with aspiring Confucian scholars to reclaim those stone tablets from all the temples that had seized the Three Character Classic in the past."

Prince Rencheng and Li Xuanmao exchanged a glance, both frowning. Earlier, Empress Dowager Wenming's elder brother, Feng Xi, destroyed the stone tablets to build temples and pagodas, constructing seventy-two Buddhist temples in various prefectures and counties. The remaining stone tablets were scattered among the weeds and arbitrarily divided up by unknown monks and Taoists.

If the Confucian scholars' demand for the stone tablet is manipulated by those with ulterior motives, it could very well ignite a conflict between Confucianism and metaphysics!

Zhao Zhi continued, "Children act on impulse, but my husband thinks this matter should be handled carefully. He's afraid that it might be used by bad people and turn into a conflict between Confucianism and Taoism/Buddhism, causing a huge uproar. By then, it will be too late to ask the Minister for help. So, does the Minister think the stone tablet should be retrieved and repaired?"

Of course you should!

For years, it was Prince Rencheng who was in charge of promoting the new school decree. Since the new emperor ascended the throne, there has been fierce infighting in the court. He has not been able to attend to the revival of the ritual system for the time being, but that does not mean that he has forgotten the late emperor's wishes and entrustment.

The King of Rencheng sighed, "If all the Confucian scholars of my Wei Kingdom were like Wei Yao, how could we worry about the decline of traditional Chinese learning? This is feasible, but we cannot rush it. Let me think about it."

Zhao Zhi was delighted and bowed in thanks. Her husband was right. The Prince of Rencheng, who was in charge of the new school, must also hope for the retrieval and restoration of the Han and Wei stone classics. As long as the Prince of Rencheng agreed to this matter, he would naturally link the retrieval of the stone classics with the construction of the Four Gates Primary School when he saw Yuan Biejia's petition.

By then, Prince Rencheng and Prefect Yuan will be helping each other and each will benefit, so it will be even more secure to add Wei Yao to the list of school officials at the Four Gates Elementary School.

Zhao Zhi escorted Prince Cheng to the front gate of the courtyard and stopped. She heard him and Li Xuanmao suddenly burst into hearty laughter, and she laughed along. Zhao Zhi didn't know that they were laughing at her earlier comment about "a huge uproar."

The next day.

After a two-day break, Wei Yao returned to the palace academy to give lectures. Before lecturing, she went to Xu Shushi's office.

"Is there something you need, Instructor Wei?"

Wei Yao stated her purpose: "I have finished studying the Book of Poetry and want to continue teaching the Odes and Hymns. So I asked the historian whether I should be tested on the classics by Changqiu Temple or by the Imperial Academy?" The historian smiled kindly and said: "There is precedent for this. It requires the examination by the Doctor of the Imperial Academy. I will report to Changqiu Temple today. Lecturer Wei, please focus on your teaching. I will let you know as soon as I have any news."

Wei Yao thanked her and left.

The teaching of the Book of Poetry in the palace school is different from that of ordinary students outside, because the palace students had already studied the Book of Poetry before they were captured and brought to the Xi government office as slaves, especially the "Guofeng" section. If Wei Yao does not take the initiative to test his knowledge of the Book of Poetry, he will soon have to move to a new school and will no longer be able to teach Pei Shen and his disciples.

Xu Shushi is really efficient. As soon as Wei Yao returned to the office at noon, he sent Hong Shunu to inform her: "The examination time has been set. Tomorrow morning, Lecturer Wei will arrive at Qianqiu Gate at 5:00 AM. Zhang Gongren and I will take you to the Imperial Academy, where the Four Gates Doctor Dong Zheng will conduct the examination."

Wei Yao was astonished: "Master Dong?! Is he the Master Dong who studied under Liu Ruzong of Bohai?"

Hong Shunu smiled and nodded: "Thanks to Instructor Wei, I have never had the opportunity to pay my respects to Liu Ruzong's disciple in all these years in the palace."

The Confucian master, Liu Xianzhi, was from Raoyang, Boling. He was well-versed in the *Classic of Poetry* and the *Zuo Zhuan*. The late emperor had summoned Liu Xianzhi to serve as an official, but Liu Xianzhi resolutely declined, citing illness, and returned to his hometown to teach. People say that in literature there is no first place, but in martial arts there is no second. However, in the northern border region, judging by the depth of his scholarship in the *Classic of Poetry*, Liu Xianzhi is universally recognized as the master of poetics! No one dares to refute this!
Unfortunately, Liu Xianzhi had a very high threshold for accepting disciples, and ordinary Confucian scholars had no chance to pay homage to this Confucian master. So, as a second choice, being able to pay homage to the disciple of the great Confucian scholar, especially the famous civil official Dr. Dong, was a commendable experience for both Wei Yao and Hong Shunu.

Wei Yao ate her lunch with great relish. As she ate, she was thinking about tomorrow's assessment when a strange voice suddenly came from outside the office: "Is Instructor Wei here? I'm Zhang Xiaojian from the kitchen. I just steamed some freshly made rice cakes and brought them to Instructor Wei to try."

Xie Yi was about to welcome the person in when Wei Yao grabbed the child's hand, shook her head, and silently gestured for Zhang Xiaojian to leave.

Xie Yi was slow to react, so Pei Shen whispered, "I'll go."

"Zhang, the eunuch." Pei Shen stopped him at the door. "Lecturer Wei is focused on preparing his teaching notes and can only speak with Zhang another day."

"Oh dear, you're being unpleasant to hear. I've met all the lecturers in the entire palace academy, but none of them are as busy as your lecturer, Ms. Wei. I have something to discuss with her; it won't take more than a quarter of an hour."

Xie Yi then understood that Zhang Xiaojian must have come with a purpose. Her anger surged, but Wei Yao pulled her back and called out, "Pei Shen, forget it. Since Lady Zhang has something to say, please come in."

Zhang Xiaojian carried the food box and stepped across the threshold. He looked around the office and smiled before speaking: "I also came from the palace school. Now that I'm back, there have been many changes, but this office hasn't changed."

Wei Yao: "Lady Zhang, please make your story short."

Supervisor Zhang: "Lecturer, don't take offense. I'm here on personal business, it has nothing to do with the new school regulations, so there's no need to take notes. Of course, I'm not afraid of you taking notes either. I've inquired, you're almost eleven years old, aren't you?"

Wei Yao smiled gently: "Yes."

"A wealthy young master, Mr. Xu, has asked me to inquire whether the lecturer has found a suitable family to marry into, so as to avoid any potential conflict between our families."

That's a vicious question!
If the answer is "yes," then someone will inevitably try to subtly inquire who Wei Yao's family intends to marry her to. The answer cannot be Yuan Mao, nor can it be fabricated.

If the answer is "no," then a constant stream of troubles will come knocking.

(End of this chapter)