History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 255 Yuan Yu Causes a Scene at the Imperial Academy

Of all his brothers, Yuan Ke was only dissatisfied with Prince Yuan Yu of Jingzhao! And his dissatisfaction grew stronger day by day!
For example, Yuan Yu entered the palace without an imperial edict, and Yuan Ke remembered that he had previously strictly ordered the other party not to go to the Imperial Clan Academy. However, as the eldest of his brothers, Yuan Yu never knew how to set a good example for his brothers by setting an upright example.

“Let…” Yuan Ke paused, pondering who to send to keep Yuan Yu in check.

At this moment, he thought of Zhao Xiu again. There were so many eunuchs in the palace, but none of them dared to act like Zhao Xiu, who abused the emperor's power and acted arrogantly in front of all the princes and important officials.

"Sun Huiwei and Wang Zhongxing, you two go to the Imperial Academy. No one is allowed to disrupt the examiner Wei Yao's assessment."

Talented and diligent Xianbei scholars were rare finds. Since the reign of Emperor Shizu of Wei, most of the civil officials in the Secretariat and the Imperial Library were Han Chinese aristocratic scholars. The few exceptions relied on their family background and dared not compare themselves with Han scholars in terms of genuine talent and learning. If ten-year-old Wei Yao could answer the questions posed by Sun Huiwei, it would be enough to dispel the misconception that Xianbei scholars were weak.

Imperial Academy.

Yuan Yu walked around the various government offices and schools with his hands behind his back. He wasn't just wandering around. The day before yesterday, he had a fight with the Prince of Guangling outside the Changhe Gate. After returning home, he felt more and more frustrated and couldn't sleep all night. Well, he came up with an idea.

His Majesty said there were no suitable duties for him, what a load of rubbish! How could there be no duties in such a vast palace? Yuan Yu guessed that either Yuan Ke was jealous of how good his father had been to him when he was alive, or that villains like the Prince of Guangling and Lu Yuan were making false accusations! Or perhaps, Yuan Ke was suspicious of his younger brother, which was why he summoned him back to the capital and tried every means to suppress him.

Hmph, he's not someone to be trifled with! He won't just sit and wait to die! If you won't give him a job, he'll find one himself!
His plan was to take control of the Imperial Academy.

Yuan Yu thought, if he were to guarantee His Majesty that he would teach the youngsters of the Imperial Academy well within a year, no, within six months, what reason could His Majesty possibly give to refuse?
As for what will happen in six months, we'll talk about that then.

"Greetings, Prince of Jingzhao." Cui Guang led all the school officials out of the office to pay their respects, while Yuan Heng and the other students followed behind.

Yuan Yu couldn't even fake being refined; he just grunted and gestured with his chin toward the schoolhouse.

Cui Guang explained, "They are conducting an examination inside. There was an edict during the late emperor's reign that all examinations must not be interrupted. Would Your Majesty like to come with me to the office for a short while?"

Yuan Yu was displeased and wanted to go to the school.

Cui Guang stepped forward and bowed deeply, saying, "Your Highness, Yu."

The Seventh Prince, Yuan Ruo, boldly shook his third brother's sleeve, but Yuan Yu slapped his hand away.

Yuan Yu looked directly at Wei Yao inside the room and asked curiously, "Why is there a girl taking the exam all by herself?"

Cui Guang replied, "Before each lecturer can teach any course, they must first pass an examination."

"A lecturer who frequently recites mantras? What does he teach?"

“Teaching students in the palace.”

Yuan Yu couldn't help but scoff: "What palace students? Aren't they just female slaves of the palace officials? I remember the lecturer who taught the palace slaves was a person selected by the Changqiu Temple."

“The king is referring to female teachers. The lecturers of the regular reading are different from female teachers. The lecturers of the regular reading were recruited from Confucian scholars in the prefectures and counties starting last year, according to the new imperial edict, and are not female officials in charge of internal affairs.”

Unfortunately, Cui Guang had the patience to explain, but Yuan Yu didn't. He bypassed the other party and still wanted to enter the schoolhouse. It wasn't that he had a compelling reason to go in, but rather that he was used to doing the things that others didn't want him to do!

Despite being only twelve, Yuan Yu easily pushed aside the frail Cui Guang.

Fortunately, the academic officials were prepared and reached out to catch the swaying Cui Shizhong.

Yuan Heng cried out, "Brother, no!"

However, Yuan Yu has already crossed the threshold.

Wei Yao was filled with anxiety when Dong Zheng said at the right moment, "Take the exam with peace of mind." She immediately regained her composure and resumed writing. Since the chief examiner had spoken, she was ready to go all out. As long as the nobleman who barged in didn't snatch the exam paper, she would answer the questions as usual.

The two academic officials and two female officials rose and bowed, but neither spoke.

Dong Zheng and Kong Fan maintained their bowing posture, standing in front of the Prince of Jingzhao, using their scholarly pride as their final barrier.

Hong Shunu shifted her feet slightly, blocking the desk and Wei Yao's arm holding the pen.

What is "考"? The Erya says that "考" means "to complete".

Propriety and righteousness serve as tools; when tools are sharp, things will be accomplished.

What is meant by "test"? The Book of Yu says, "Test your merits clearly!"
It means to explicitly use the performance of officials as a test to evaluate their achievements.

The two words together mean "the conduct of propriety and righteousness," which are the rules for officials to follow! As long as they are alive, these civil officials will never allow any behavior that violates the examination rules to occur in the Imperial Ancestral School, the premier official school!
"Get out of the way—get out of the way!" Yuan Yu felt his anger explode from his heart. This was outrageous! Since leaving Xuzhou, even rats and dogs dared to bully him! Fine, everyone assumes the worst of him, thinking he wants to disrupt the exam, huh? Then he'll disrupt it. He's giving up on this job at the Imperial Academy.

"Your Highness, you mustn't!"

"Protect the exam papers!"

"Third brother—"

Yuan Yu cursed and beat the school officials and snatched the exam papers. In the midst of the chaos, Wang Zhongxing and Sun Huiwei arrived just in time.

Wang Zhongxing had been the late emperor's personal bodyguard, and his physique and strength were the best in the Imperial Guard. He grabbed Yuan Yu's shoulders, and his rough voice, as if wrapped in thunder, came from his throat: "His Majesty has ordered that Prince Yu come with us to the Zhai Palace."

Yuan Yu was furious, his face contorted as he looked around. Who had taken advantage of the chaos to rip his hair out? Who had pinched the most painful spot on his thigh? And who had stepped on his heel, surely breaking the skin on his foot, which was now burning with pain!
Sun Huiwei repeated the imperial decree: "Your Majesty urgently summons Prince Yu. Please come with us immediately."

Yuan Yu could only utter harsh words: "You just wait. And you too!" The latter part was a threat to Wei Yao.

Wei Yao stood up, placed the completed fourth volume of questions on Examiner Kong's desk, her eyes red and tears welling up. She silently bowed to all the civil officials, the newly arrived palace attendants, and all the imperial students who helped salvage the exam papers, but deliberately ignored Yuan Yu.

She returned to her seat, sobbed twice, opened the fifth volume of questions, and answered them without hesitation.

Aside from the Prince of Jingzhao, everyone felt a pang of sympathy: they had almost forgotten that Instructor Wei was only ten years old; what was wrong with being a little spoiled? Poor thing.

"Huh? She's crying now?" Yuan Yu was pulled away by Wang Zhongxing, and her cursing turned into an explanation, "I didn't hit her, and I didn't tear up the test paper either. Don't blame me if she fails the test."

The fifth volume of the exam breaks the order of easy to difficult, and tests the historical system of the "Odes".

Wei Yao was not replaced; the more difficult the problem, the better it would test her academic achievements.

The first question... Explain the preface to the poem "Qingmiao" and its interpretation: "The word 'miao' means appearance; it refers to the construction of palaces and buildings to resemble the appearance of the temple."

Wei Yao quickly organized her thoughts in her mind, without getting to the point: "The Book of Rites says, 'When there is a king in the world, he divides the land and establishes a country, sets up a capital and a town, and sets up temples, ancestral tablets, altars and mounds to worship him, thus determining the degree of kinship and the number of people.'"

Zheng Xuan commented: "The ancestral temple is the venerable appearance of the ancestors."

"Commoners and ordinary people have no temples; when they die, they are called ghosts."

This explains why a "temple" was built.