History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 29 All Tests

“Young Master Mao is no ordinary member of the Wei clan; he is a true meritorious official and nobleman. Our family has no connection with him! He never invites me when he goes out, so how can I accompany him? I have no idea what he's going to do, so how can I follow him?!”

"Father, do you often see Young Master Mao with a female student? She's in the same dormitory as me. Her family is poorer than ours, but Father is a teacher, so I can't compare to her. I can't compare to anyone in the whole dormitory!"

"Also, I argue with this female student every time we meet. I don't know why she can't stand anything I say. Anyway, with her around, Young Master Mao is even more annoyed with me and doesn't want me to come along! Father, do you know now? Do you know now!"

As Qu Rong recalled this, his head drooped and his fists clenched. That day, several scoundrels who were acquainted with his father stood by the mule cart. They were a group of thieves and swindlers, and Qu Rong knew that they could hear everything he said, even if he shouted himself hoarse.

“Many people have heard this!” He gritted his teeth and muttered to himself, “Who has evidence that I instigated this? There are more than just her among the female students in this school, and I didn’t specifically point to anyone. Besides, I’m still so young. I had a fight with my father, and I forgot everything I said as soon as it was said! A bunch of idiots, a bunch of bad people, who knew they would have such evil intentions? They’re really wicked. They don’t even know if they can please my family, and they’ve already come up with this evil idea to harm people.”

Qu Rong had no idea that Wei Yao had already noticed his guilty conscience and other unusual behaviors. Considering the Qu family's past as slaves in the marketplace, Wei Yao had basically figured out the details of the case.

But the state government isn't continuing its investigation of the Qu family, so what good would it do if she figured it out? Getting caught up in this wouldn't only lead to nothing but also interfere with her studies. So these days, whenever she felt angry, she would console herself: it was her skill that she wasn't harmed by those scoundrels.

Besides, there's plenty of time in the future!

Suddenly, someone threw crumpled paper at her from behind. Every time, they greeted her with an annoying trick that was within her tolerance range. Who else could it be?

Wei Mao asked, "If you keep daydreaming, you'll walk into the ditch. I'm going to the bookstore, are you coming?"

"I have to go to Cui Academy. Confucius told me to go and get the solutions to the problems today." This time, when she left Cui Academy, she also gathered up her questions and handed them to Confucius, just like last time.

Wei Mao stepped on the crumpled paper, crushing the ancient poem "Papaya" he had written in class together with the soil. "Lu Baozhen asked me to ask you, do you go to the plum garden on your day off?"

Are you going to have another horse race?

"No. This time she wants to settle things with Changsun Wuzhuo's group, in both a physical and a literary contest. She needs your help with the literary contest."

Wei Yao smiled and said, "Okay, I'll go." She had fallen at the ranch before the New Year and had always remembered Bao Zhen's kindness in applying medicine to her wound.

Cui Xueguan.

Now that Wei Yao is a disciple acknowledged by Confucius, after arriving and explaining her purpose, a maid led her to the quarters where the Confucius lived. By sheer coincidence, she bumped into the flustered Yuan Heng.

He exclaimed in surprise, "Crybaby, it's you? I was wondering why I was having such bad luck!"

Wei Yao was even more surprised. Why was the other person wearing the clothes of a palace slave?
*Plop! P ...

Yuan Heng quickly confessed: "Tell everyone you've never seen me."

He had just run away when someone in the yard yelled, "Who did this? Who just went into the house, huh?"

Wei Yao gestured to the maid not to stand there like an idiot and to leave this troublesome place quickly.

Confucius's residence was located at the innermost part of the courtyard, with ginkgo trees planted along one side of the wall. The courtyard and the house were quiet. When Wei Yao entered, she saw Cui Zhi and Kong Mi, both of whom were his disciples, sitting below Confucius, each at a desk practicing calligraphy. Wei Yao bowed to Confucius and then to her two fellow disciples. Having received her answers, she did not immediately leave. Instead, she briefly recounted the morning's events in the classroom and earnestly requested: "This disciple lacks intelligence and is accustomed to compensating for her shortcomings with diligence. I have never dared to neglect my studies, so I have another request: I would like to trouble my senior brother to explain the preface to the poem 'Papaya'."

The little girl spoke logically and clearly, which made Confucius smile from his solemn face: "Sit down, right here, and let your senior brother Cui speak."

Cui Zhi respectfully replied "Yes," and pushed the few pages of paper he had just practiced to Wei Yao. The content was the last poem in the "Yong Feng" section, "Zai Chi," which they had learned before the Lantern Festival.

He said, "I believe my fellow disciple Wei has noticed that the background described in the preface to the poem 'Papaya' takes place after the background described in the preface to the poem 'Zai Chi'. Combining this with the background of 'Zai Chi', we can see the urgency of the situation when the State of Wei was attacked and occupied by the Di people..."

"The poem emphasizes 'returning a gift of wood for a piece of jade.' Interpreting it in the context of romantic love is simple: it's about reciprocity and a lasting bond. However, according to the poem's preface, Duke Huan of Qi's rescue of the people of Wei was a national act of kindness. As the first of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, 'returning a gift of wood for a piece of jade' certainly wasn't the repayment he desired..."

Cui Zhi spoke for more than an hour before thoroughly explaining the history before and after the poem's preface. Confucius always pitied students from poor backgrounds and ordered the maid to send Wei Yao back to the East Fourth Ward.

Zhao Zhi was already waiting at the intersection her daughter always passed. The mother and daughter bought some more braised food and returned to Chiyang Lane. Wei Yin happened to arrive at that time, and the family of three chatted and laughed as they walked home in the sunset.

February 10th.

Finally, the day off arrived. Wei Yao met with her fellow disciples Mao and Jing as agreed, and only then did she learn about the trouble Yuan Heng had caused. That fellow was really bold; he actually went to Master Liu's place to peek at the exam questions for this month's joint examination!

Wei Jing got excited when he mentioned it: "Fellow disciple Yao, do you think he saw the exam questions?"

Jing Tongmen always showed his thoughts on his face. Wei Yao observed him and, combined with Yuan Heng's behavior that day, replied, "I guess he saw it, but what he saw... was only a few words of the title, no specific questions? And the questions... were unexpected, making him suspect he was tricked? He suspects that Master Liu had taken precautions to prevent others from seeing the exam questions, and then placed a fake set of exam questions in a conspicuous place?"

Not to mention Wei Jing, even Wei Mao was amazed by her increasingly accurate predictions.

But their surprise didn't end there!

Wei Yao hadn't finished speaking yet.

She suddenly remembered the question that made the students feel helpless and embarrassed during the exam. Ever since that question first appeared, it immediately became a disaster for all the primary school children in Pingcheng. It was like rain in summer and snow in winter, and it would become a joint exam question again every once in a while. Even if the students got used to taking the test, at most one or two people could get a perfect score!
In her previous life, she had never heard of this question being leaked, but given its testing method, what difference would it make if she knew in advance?

Wei Yao murmured in confusion, "All, all, examine."

"Ah—" Wei Jing cried out, "You even guessed that? I know, I know, you went to steal questions too, fellow disciple Yao."

Wei Mao shouted, "Don't talk nonsense!"

The rest of the journey, Wei Mao recounted how Yuan Heng stole the exam questions.

Yuan Heng somehow discovered that Master Liu was the one who would set the exam questions for this month's joint examination, so he decided to sneak a peek. While Master Liu was in the outhouse, the scoundrel disguised himself as a servant and slipped into the room. Things went unusually smoothly; the first wooden box Yuan Heng found fulfilled his wish. Inside was a scroll of paper with the words "This Month's Exam Questions" written on the back. However, when the paper was unfolded, it contained even fewer words: "All of them will be on the exam."

(End of this chapter)