History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 263 features the talented woman Wei Yao!
The lovers reluctantly bid farewell and headed towards their respective palace gates. From the moment Wei Yao stepped across the high and thick threshold, her lively girlish demeanor vanished, replaced by composure and a hint of sharpness.

Today, in addition to the female official Meng Gongren and the page Xie Yi, there was also an unfamiliar young palace servant who came to take her to the palace school.

Meng Gongren explained the origin of the palace slave: "Xu Shushi knew that you were short of a page, so he picked a diligent and honest child from the labor service area. Her surname is Bao, her given name is Jiayan, she is eight years old, and she entered the Xi official's office last March."

It was obvious that the girl had been instructed in advance on how to act. As soon as Meng Gongren finished speaking, the child quickly bowed to Wei Yao.

Around 9 a.m., the eunuch Liu Teng arrived at the palace school with several junior eunuchs. All classes in the school were suspended, and the regular lecturers, recitation instructors, and female teachers all came out to listen to Liu Teng read out the revised regulations of the new school decree.

The first change was to the standards for "recitation instructors," requiring them to be proficient in the meaning of a sutra! The examination required questions set by a doctoral scholar from the Imperial Academy, and only those who achieved an "excellent" grade were eligible.

Taking Wei Yao as an example, if her knowledge is only enough to teach the "Airs" section of the Book of Songs, she should be removed from the title of "commonly recited" and demoted to the lowest rank of "recitation instructor".

Secondly, starting next month, the salary of the lecturers for regular recitation will be increased from 3,600 coins per year to 5,600 coins per year.

Because of the leap month of August, when salaries are paid at the end of the season, an extra month's salary is added.

Upon hearing this, Wei Yao felt a surge of power coursing through her body!

The third new decree applies to all Confucian scholars in Wei territory. The original decree was the "Rural School Decree" issued by Emperor Xianzu in the first year of Tian'an.

The additions include: anyone who is proficient in one of the Five Classics or one of the disciplines of exegesis can be promoted to "Assistant Instructor" in a minor prefecture; anyone who is proficient in two of the Five Classics or exegesis can be promoted to Assistant Instructor in a medium prefecture; anyone who is proficient in two of each can be promoted to Assistant Instructor in a secondary prefecture; anyone who is proficient in two of each and achieves "Excellent" in the imperial academy examination can be promoted to Assistant Instructor in a major prefecture.

The Five Classics are well-known, and the study of exegesis includes the Erya, Fangyan, Shuowen, and Shiming.

The fourth newly added decree is a temporary decree.

The imperial court planned to build the Four Gates Elementary School at the four gates of the former Imperial Academy. Once completed, the Four Gates Elementary School would replace the Imperial Academy, and children of nobles and officials from the capital could enroll. Simultaneously with the construction of the Four Gates Elementary School, the court needed to recruit ordinary literary officials to copy the teaching materials.

These literary officials could be proficient in only one academic discipline, but they still needed to pass the examination for Imperial Academy Doctor.

Liu Teng recounted the last law, which was also extremely important for all educated young women in the world!
"From this day forward, the new school decree will allow female students to participate in the selection process for positions such as lecturer, teaching assistant, and literary officer in the four primary schools. They may also serve as female officials in the inner quarters at the same time."

He looked at Wei Yao and congratulated her as if he had received good news: "Congratulations to Lady Wei! The Grand Chamberlain and the Chief Minister have jointly recommended you, Lecturer Wei Yao. From today onwards, you will not only serve as a 'Changsong' (a type of lecturer), but also as a talented woman of the fourth rank."

Zhongcai Ren is the highest rank among female officials of the fourth rank!
This is similar to how noble children enter officialdom from a young age; the higher their initial official position, the easier it is for them to be promoted in the future.

The quickest mouth to speak was Zhang Gongren, who chimed in first, "Congratulations to Lady Wei!"

Female officials who usually hold the rank of "Chūsai-nin" do not like to be called "So-and-so-sai-nin" because it would be confused with ordinary "sai-nin" of the second rank.

The others chimed in with their own congratulations: "I heard that Lecturer Wei passed the poetry exam at the Imperial Academy a few days ago, so I guessed that this day would bring such joy!"

"The female officer is only ten years old, yet she has a bright future ahead of her! We all envy her."

Wei Yao first returned the greeting to Liu, the palace official, and then, suppressing her excitement, she returned the greeting to the people around her in a steady voice.

She guessed that the court would grant Yuan Biejia's request, and she also guessed that the new school decree that Amao mentioned would include changes to the lecturers of the Changsong Academy. The only thing she didn't expect was that she would embark on the path of a female official!
The fulfillment of a wish feels like a dream come true.

The salary of a fourth-rank female official was quite high, amounting to 48,000 coins per year! Furthermore, although female officials in charge of internal affairs did not receive the same public land grants as local officials, their annual rewards of silk, wine, and meat were the same as those of officials in the outer court. After the festivities subsided, Wei Yao resumed her classes as usual.

The very next class, Xu Shushi sent Meng Gongren over to offer her a new dormitory. Wei Yao politely declined, for young people who have achieved success should avoid being ostentatious, especially since she came from a poor background and was even more likely to be envied.

Wei Yao watched Meng Gongren leave, then turned around and saw Pei Shen and the other students all standing up, overjoyed, shouting, "Congratulations on your promotion to the fourth rank of Zhongcairen!"

"Congratulations on your promotion to the fourth-rank scholar!"

"Congratulations on your promotion to the fourth-rank scholar!"

The children cheered three times in succession, each cheer louder and more unified than the last!

Wei Yao looked at them with delight and said earnestly, "The best way for students to congratulate their teacher is to remember his teachings and cultivate virtue."

She then said, "There will be a test next class. You have half a quarter of an hour to go to the toilet now."

In an instant, only Xie Yi and Bao Jiayan, two servant boys, remained in the schoolhouse.

Wei Yao instructed the latter: "Jia Yan, go to my office and get eighteen blank sheets of paper. You two will also participate in the exam in a little while."

Bao Jiayan was terrified: "Lecturer, I...I..."

Xie Yi whispered to her, "We won't report our scores to Xu Shushi."

Bao Jiayan immediately relaxed, smiled shyly, and hurriedly ran out.

Wei Yao sat back down at her desk and asked Xie Yi, "You seemed off on your way to the academy this morning. Did you secretly wipe away some tears just now? Tell me why."

This time, Xie Yi panicked. She stood there with her head down as if she had made a mistake. She didn't dare to lie to Wei Yao and choked out the truth: "I suddenly miss Gong Ai. I know that she deserved the consequences of her crime, but I had already treated her like a younger sister during the days I spent with her."

Xie Yi wiped away her tears with her sleeve and continued, "In the morning, Meng Gongren led me to see Bao Jiayan and told me that Bao Jiayan would serve the lecturer with me in the future. Only then did I realize, only then did I realize... that Gong Ai would never come back."

"Please forgive my ignorance, lecturer. Today is a joyous occasion, yet I've spoiled the mood. It's not that I dislike Bao Jiayan; it has nothing to do with her. I, I..."

"Come here." Wei Yao gestured for the child to sit beside her, then put her arm around her shoulder and whispered words of comfort: "The reason Gong Ai was exiled but not executed is because Changqiu Temple found out she was implicated by the culprit. Like you, I haven't forgotten her. I even saw her off when she left Luoyang. A few days ago, I found some loyal warriors to track down Gong Ai and see if her journey is going smoothly. I'll let you know when I get a reply. Oh dear—"

Xie Yi nodded like a chick pecking at rice, his snot dripping onto Wei Yao's sleeve.

Old clothes go, official robes come.

After the exam, Wei Yao returned to her office and saw that the official robes, seal, and hair-binding cap of a successful candidate for the imperial examination had been laid out on her desk. In addition, there was a bronze mirror.

The official robes of a fourth-rank female official in charge of internal affairs were white "Zhanyi" and the seal was a silver seal.

Xie Yi and Bao Jiayan helped Wei Yao change into her official robes, comb her hair, and put on her canopy hat. Wei Yao only needed to coordinate with the stretching of her arms and other movements. Looking at herself in the mirror, she let out a long sigh of relief.

This breath contained the pent-up emotions of a past life, and the resentment of a wronged death!