History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 272 Qi Zhi Palace Academy
Palace Academy.

Wei Yao was sitting in Xu Shushi's office, along with other female officials such as Hong Shu Nu.

Everyone's face was serious and grim.

After the two exams in the morning, the results were far worse than Xu Shushi had expected. Fortunately, she had just taken over the palace school, otherwise she would definitely have been held responsible for negligence! So she dared not delay. Before the third exam, she quickly had the female officials with the fastest handwriting copy a question bank and sent the answers from the four schools to Changqiu Temple.

The professors at Changqiu Temple were dumbfounded, especially the one in charge of poetry education.

At this point, there's no point in arguing whether the rule of "testing everything" is too strict. If a student can't withstand rigorous testing, it means their foundation in poetics is weak!

Furthermore, all sixteen students taught by Wei Yao achieved excellent grades. What does this indicate? It indicates that, apart from Qi Xing Academy, the other palace students were not good at studying, and the female teachers were not good at teaching!
So the Palace Instructor took the examination papers to see the officials. Fortunately, the chief and deputy officials, Bai Zheng and Wang Zhi, were both in the government office.

The eunuchs who had reached a certain position had different thoughts from the palace instructors. Bai Zheng and Wang Zhi both knew that His Majesty had postponed the excavation of the Yique Mountain Grottoes in order to build the Four Gates Primary School. This shows that His Majesty, like the late Emperor, attached great importance to the reconstruction and restoration of the Central Plains' ritual system.

To act in accordance with His Majesty's wishes is the essence of being a eunuch; political achievements come second.

Thus, Bai Zheng did not conceal his mistakes in this monthly exam. He even specially selected the simplest poetry question bank and personally sent one well-written answer sheet and ten worst-written answer sheets to the Imperial Academy.

Today, Sun Huiwei was on duty and called over Yuan Yu and other royal students to look at the questions together.

The pride of the underachievers was on full display at that moment!

I will not dwell on the past, but only speak of the present.

It's almost 1-3 PM, the afternoon exam is about to begin.

Xu Shushi: "We haven't received any news from Changqiu Temple yet. We're not going to wait any longer. Let's prepare for the afternoon exam."

Hong Shunu asked, "The two most difficult sets of questions weren't selected this morning. To avoid a poor score, should we remove these two sets from the question bank?"

These two volumes contain the most difficult questions. One of them tests the preface to "Guanju," which, as the opening chapter of the Book of Songs, describes the origin of the Book of Songs and encompasses the six principles of "Feng, Fu, Bi, Xing, Ya, and Song."

The other exam tested basic poetry, but with a more challenging format: a cyclical question that followed the previous line and then the next. This change made it several times more difficult than the one sent to the Imperial Academy.

"Why were they removed?" Xu Shushi's voice was stern: "Don't think I don't know what you're thinking! You've reviewed all six volumes of questions beforehand, and you know very well which ones are the most difficult. You can even tell from the appearance of the paper scrolls. That's why, after three rounds of assessments, we've only ever tested four volumes of questions!"

Hong Shunu and other female officials who selected the topics looked ashamed.

Xu Shushi then said sternly, “We should be thankful that we noticed the students’ laxity and the female teacher’s dereliction of duty in time, instead of covering them up. The three of you interfered with the exam for your own selfish reasons. How are you any different from the derelict female teacher? Hong Shunu, quickly find a silk pouch with the same color and embroidery pattern. Wei Yao, after you get the silk pouch, put all six volumes of questions in it! Before each round of exams, put the questions in the silk pouch again.”

Just as Wei Yao finished packing the test questions, the eunuchs who had received the news that the students of the Imperial Academy were coming to the palace school for the exam arrived at the Xi official residence.

Leading the group were Bai Zheng, the Grand Chamberlain, and Wang Zhi, the Central Magistrate. The two had very different temperaments; the former had a naturally honest and kind demeanor, while the latter exuded authority without anger.

Following behind were the registrar of Changqiu Temple and ordinary eunuchs.

The duties of the recorder were to manage all the documents in the palace and to keep the performance records of the female officials and eunuchs.

The eunuchs carried the desk and the writing brush and ink; the desk and the writing brush and ink were the best in the storeroom.

Wei Yao, accompanied by Xu Shushi and a group of female officials, hurried to greet them. She secretly observed the words and actions of the other female officials, and her ambition grew even stronger. Having only served as a "Zhongcai Ren" (a mid-level female official) for a day, Wei Yao was already dissatisfied with being a fourth-rank official. In the future, she wanted to be the "moon" surrounded by stars, not just a "star"!
Bai Zheng briefly explained that the royal children were coming soon. Time was short, so Xu Shushi immediately ordered the two schools waiting for the exam to move their desks to the book-drying area.

Bai Zheng inquired about the scope of the exam and instructed the eunuchs to arrange the desks. Not only were the desks and stationery of the royal students well-equipped, but their exam seats were also arranged in the places where they could hear the questions most clearly.

Wang Zhi was also very busy. He asked Hong Shu Nu and the other two girls, plus Wei Yao, who were going to read the questions aloud later, to eat a small bowl of throat lozenges in advance to prevent their voices from becoming hoarse.

Only Wei Yao still had the energy to ponder things. She thought that if all the students at the Imperial Academy had the same foundation as the Seventh Prince, there was really no need for this ointment. The teachers and students who had finished their exams in the morning were panicked when they saw so many eunuchs suddenly arrive in such a grand procession. Unable to find out anything, they could only crowd at the entrance to look towards the book-drying area.

"There are more eunuchs here than there were during the last murder case."

"Don't say anything unlucky."

"Anyway, we've finished the exam, so let's just say it's auspicious or inauspicious."

Some were looking towards the courtyard gate.

"Look, several young men have arrived, one, two... seven."

"They have Imperial Guards behind them, so they must be important people."

"Look at that military officer leading the Imperial Guards, the way he walks is really funny, haha, his helmet is all crooked."

The military officer who was ridiculed by the palace students was, of course, Yuan Yu.

He was so hot that sweat streamed down his chest and back, pooling in one spot until he was practically wet. He had to walk with his legs bent to let the wind blow in.

His head was itching terribly, and he would scratch it every few steps, but it didn't relieve the itch. So he simply took off his helmet and scratched it to his heart's content, which made his hair bun a mess. When he got to the gate of the Xi government office, he tried to put the helmet back on, but he couldn't get it right no matter what he did.

Yuan Yu and the others felt ashamed to get close to the Prince of Guangling, so they all strode away with their short legs.

Bai Zheng and Wang Zhi quickly came to greet them.

Yuan Yu commanded sternly, "You are not allowed to reveal my identity!"

In fact, the fact that Bai Zheng and Er Guan were serving as chief examiners when the royal children came to take the exam already put pressure on the palace students. It wouldn't matter if another prince was added as chief examiner. But Yuan Yu didn't think so. He had already suffered all the hardships along the way. If he took off his armor now, wouldn't he be laughed at to death by Yuan Yu and his little brats?

Yuan Heng invited his two partners, Yuan Shixian and Yuan Yongping, to greet Wei Yao: "Dr. Sun told us that you set the questions this time. Although we are friends, please don't tell me how many questions there are in advance. Although I already know that there is a long paper testing the basics of poetry."

Wei Yaodong stretched out his hand and made a "six".

"what?!"

This number far exceeded the expectations of the three students. After their astonishment subsided, they turned around to look for the Prince of Guangling.

Wang Zhi then called out, "All students, please sit down. The exam will begin soon."

Yuan Yongping muttered, "But, but..." But he changed his mind and didn't want to take the exam anymore. He didn't want to lose his beloved Fire Moon Bow.

Yuan Yu's purpose in coming here immediately became clear. He only gave the Imperial Guards a look, and the hesitant Yuan Yongping and the others were led to their respective places and forced to sit down.

Bai Zheng watched the clock tick away.

Despite their nervousness, the students quickly ground ink, laid out paper, and prepared thoroughly. The commotion of grinding ink brought the distracted Yuan Shixian and Yuan Yongping back to their senses, and they joined the ink-grinding frenzy.

They no longer expect to answer every question perfectly; they only hope to outperform the students in the palace.

The questions for the three volumes have been selected.

Only Xie Cai Ren remained calm, while Hong Shunu and Rui Cai Ren felt like banging their heads against the wall! The two of them had drawn the two most difficult sets of questions that they hadn't drawn that morning!