History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 274 Yuan Mao praises Wei Yao

The examination papers of the seven children of the imperial clan were collected by the clerk. When they were brought to Yuan Hao, the little guy solemnly instructed him: "The ink is not dry yet, don't ruin my writing."

The clerk thought to himself: "Looking at your handwriting as a whole, it looks like it was swept out with a broom. If you look closely, each stroke is covered with pig bristles. How bad could it possibly be?"
Prince Yuan Yu seized this brief rest time to give Wei Yao a meaningful glance.

Knowing the reason, Wei Yao first praised him after coming over, and then asked tactfully, "Your Highness, it was your first time taking this new test, and you were able to answer it calmly and patiently until the end, which really exceeded my expectations. How did the test go? Which question did you find the most difficult?"

Success is the stepmother of failure, while praise is the birth mother!
Yuan Heng's confidence began to rebound, and he said, "They are all difficult. I did manage to answer the question about explaining 'beauty and virtue'," he pouted and corrected himself, "wasn't that question divided into three sub-questions? I didn't hear the second one clearly."

"What a pity," the little guy added.

Wei Yao earnestly echoed, "Yes."

She was the one who set the questions, which were for palace students carefully selected by the Xi government office, the youngest of whom was seven years old.

Yuan Yu and his group of children were obviously younger, so they shouldn't have taken the same exam as the palace students.

The difference between six and seven years old is one year, and the difference between sixteen and seventeen years old is one year. These differences make a world of difference in reading and understanding things.

So there's no need to say anything pointless encouraging words for the other person to do well on the next test. Wei Yao thought for a moment and said, "For the next two rounds of quizzes, write down everything you know. If you don't know something, don't write anything. Just write down the question. The purpose of writing down the question is to review the answers when you get back, or I can teach you when I have time. I guarantee you'll be able to do the same questions in the future."

At this moment, Yuan Yu regarded Wei Yao as a confidante.

Wei Yao then whispered a piece of advice to the other student: "If you write carefully, and none of the other students can give the standard answer, the teacher will judge your strength based on the neatness of your handwriting."

Yuan Zhen nodded repeatedly, his confidence growing even stronger!
But his light-haired little tiger... Alas, there was no time to tell Wei Yao about this. After a short break, the second round of tests began.

Rui Cairen unfolded the examination paper, and the chief invigilator announced the start of the examination. All the students dipped their brushes in ink and held their wrists in anticipation.

"For the first question, write the first line of the poem, 'Wei yi bu yong huai'."

The seven academic underachievers were indeed a good group of friends. Instead of thinking about the answers, they would simultaneously wrinkle their foreheads, glance at whether Wei Yao was writing, and then look left and right to see if Gong Xuesheng had started writing.

Oh no, Instructor Wei is writing! That means she's about to call out "Read!"

Fortunately, the students in the palace didn't pick up their pens either; some were even stealing glances at Wei Yao.

This question comes from the poem "Juan Er".

The answer is: I will pour wine from that golden vessel.

Yuan Hao suddenly made an "oh" shape with his mouth because he saw his younger cousin Yuan Yi start writing.

Yuan Yu followed Wei Yao's instructions and wrote the title, but because he couldn't remember the original sentence, he wrote "The only one I will never forget," which was two characters wrong.

Nearly ten palace students came up with the answer, but unfortunately they only wrote two or three words before the next question began. These palace students, having already learned from experience, decisively abandoned the new question and wrote down the answer in front of them first.

Rui Cairen: "Write the next line after the line 'No rest is possible' in the poem."

This question comes from the first chapter of the poem "Han Guang".

The answer is: There was a wandering woman in Han Dynasty.

Yuan Yu still wrote the title "No Rest".

The other six underachievers started making things up. Although they were all making things up, there were differences. Yuan Shixian and the other five underachievers just wrote down a line of poetry they had memorized. Although the chances of it being the correct answer were slim, what if it was?
Unlike the worst of the worst, Yuan Hao wrote: "This is a redundant question."

They're taking an exam right now, and they're saying "no rest"? Isn't that a pointless question?

The second round of testing was thus a grueling process of switching between "previous sentence" and "next sentence." The conversation was divided into two parts.

Yuan Mao is currently at the Imperial Academy, helping Dr. Sun Huiwei organize manuscripts.

His Majesty has approved the construction of four primary schools; the specific locations for the construction need to be determined as soon as possible.

Liu Fang, the Grand Master of the Imperial Academy, was concerned that the primary schools established during the Zhou Dynasty were located in the four suburbs, but ancient texts did not specify how far apart the primary schools were. It would certainly be inconvenient to assess and supervise four primary schools at the same time.

Therefore, Liu Jijiu initially proposed to build four primary schools directly on the site of the four gates of the Imperial Academy. He then changed his proposal, saying that the site of the Imperial Academy was still spacious. If the primary schools were built at the four gates, it would be no different from the four suburbs in ancient times, and it would still be difficult to take care of the young children who were going to school. It would be better to merge them into one place and build them in the site of the Imperial Academy.

The emperor granted permission again.

The smooth progress of the petition from the Four Gates Primary School was largely due to Sun Huiwei's efforts. As Yuan Zhi's son, Yuan Mao knew very well why Sun Huiwei was even more eager to make this happen than Liu Jijiu.

Just as his father had predicted, Sun Huiwei was promoted again and was granted the fifth-rank official position of "Secretary Assistant" by His Majesty. Together with Liu Jijiu, he assisted Prince Rencheng in supervising the construction of the primary school.

Despite being described as assistance, the construction of the primary school involved the protection and restoration of the Imperial Academy ruins, the construction of the official road in the southern suburbs of the city, and the search for all records of primary school etiquette in ancient books and cemeteries. All these tasks were incredibly complicated, and the already busy Prince Rencheng could not possibly manage them all.

Therefore, only Liu Fang and Sun Huiwei were actually in charge of the construction. The former went to the old site of the Imperial Academy to conduct a survey, while the latter searched through the many libraries in the Forbidden City for relevant elementary education materials and then made records.

The older and more worn the book, the more it hurts your eyes if you look at it for too long. Sun Huiwei kept rubbing her eyelids. When Yuan Mao saw this, he took out his sachet and said, "Doctor, please try this. The sachet contains herbs that can clear your eyes and refresh your mind."

Following Yuan Mao's instructions, Sun Huiwei gently rubbed the sachet against the bone of her left and right eye sockets twice each. Sure enough, the discomfort in her eyes was immediately relieved.

Yuan Mao showed the other party that he still had some.

Sun Huiwei accepted the sachet with a smile and asked, "Did you only study the Book of Poetry in Pingcheng?"

Yuan Mao had just sat down when he stood up again to reply: "At the academy, I only studied the Book of Poetry. However, one of my classmates studied the Erya and the Book of Rites. I'm shameless, so I always asked her for her notes and learned some of them as well."

"Haha, you have to be thick-skinned when necessary!" Sun Huiwei made a gesture.

Yuan Mao sat down.

Sun Huiwei asked curiously, "It's rare for a student your age to be learning three classic texts at the same time, and to be able to teach you. Is your fellow student still in Pingcheng?"

"She also came to Luoyang and is a lecturer in the Imperial Academy. Her name is Wei Yao, and she is a year younger than me."

"So it's Consort Wei!"

"Yes, I must congratulate her when I see her someday."

Sun Huiwei: "You'll be able to see her as early as today, or at the latest tomorrow."

Yuan Mao suppressed his wildly pounding heart, thinking: That's exactly what I've been waiting for you to say.

Sun Huiwei himself was studious and naturally admired studious young people. He then asked, "The elementary schools in Pingcheng all teach the *Erya*, why don't you learn it from the teachers there?"

Yuan Mao replied, “Sometimes the Master’s lectures are quite profound. If I don’t understand the beginning, I tend to lose focus. And if I don’t understand the end, I’m lucky if I can remember half of the content in a class. Wei Yao’s notes are different. I can understand them all. Even the classical quotations are translated into modern language into stories that my age can read. I can learn them without much effort. The less effort I put into learning, the more willing I am to learn.”

Sun Huiwei listened with surprise, her fingers unconsciously tapping lightly on the desk.

"Dr. Sun?"

Sun Huiwei snapped out of her reverie and became even more interested in Wei Yao, asking, "If you see Consort Wei again, ask her for a copy of her notes so I can take a look."

Lei (léi): A vessel for holding wine, similar to a pot, with a small mouth, a large belly, and a lid. A smaller Lei is called Kan.