History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

291. Big octopuses can be scary too.
The imperial decree bestowing a marriage upon Yuan Mao, a court attendant, and Wei Yao, a scholar-official, was delivered to both families the following day. Yuan Zhi had been eagerly anticipating this day, having already prepared live geese and instructed his subordinates, including the chief clerk, to study ancient wedding customs.

On the morning of the ninth day, the Yuan family sent a matchmaker to the Wei family to propose marriage. Wei Yin and Zhao Zhi agreed to the marriage and gave the matchmaker a string of cash as a wedding gift.

The tenth day is considered an auspicious day.

His Majesty even arranged for the envoys for the "selection" ceremony to be sent to the Yuan and Wei families, which shows the great favor bestowed upon them!
The envoy was the Seventh Prince, Yuan Zhen.

Among the guests accompanying the envoy were Sun Huiwei, a scholar of the Imperial Clan; Yuan Shixian, son of Yuan Song, a general of the Imperial Guard; Guo Qingli, the second son of Guo Zuo, the Minister of Personnel; and Cui Hong, the Left Attendant of the Prince of Pengcheng's Palace.

The groom's family must have a messenger, and the bride's family must also have a host.

The person in charge of guiding the male guests and representing the female guests in performing the rituals is the one who guides them.

The host invited by Wei Yin and his wife was the renowned scholar Kong Wenzhong, as well as Wei Yao's three fellow students Cui Zhi, Kong Yu, and Er Zhu Rong.

According to etiquette, after the groom's envoy arrives, Wei Yin and his wife must sit inside and wait while Kong Wenzhong and his disciples go out to inquire why the envoy has come.

This action demonstrates that the bride's family takes the marriage very seriously, and even knowing the messenger's purpose, they still need to find out the details.

Yuan Yu replied to Kong Wenzhong: "I am Yuan Mao, son of Yuan Zhi, the Prefect of Sizhou, who has come to present betrothal gifts and seek to marry the virtuous lady Wei Yao."

"Please wait a moment, messenger."

Cui Zhi, Kong Mi, and Er Zhu Rong stayed at the courtyard gate to accompany the envoys. Yuan Yu, Yuan Shixian, and Er Zhu Rong were all young and it was their first time handling such a matter, so they couldn't help but laugh.

When the three children looked at each other, something incredible happened: their tightly pursed lips trembled like leaves!

Kong Wenzhong returned to the house and relayed the Seventh Prince's words to Wei Yin and his wife.

Hiding in the inner room, Wei Yao's heart was pounding. At this moment, her past life's marriage experience completely vanished, and she was now the shy, unmarried young girl, Yao Yao.

Wei Yin and Zhao Zhi went out with Kong Wenzhong. The couple bowed twice to the Seventh Prince, Sun Huiwei, and the other guests, but none of the guests returned the bow.

This gesture indicated that the guests had come at the request of the Yuan family and dared not accept gifts in their capacity as Yuan Biejia.

At this point, Wei Yin and Zhao Zhi bowed again, inviting the Seventh Prince and other guests to enter the courtyard. From the courtyard gate to the house door, the couple bowed three more times to the guests. When they arrived at the house door, the host and guests bowed to each other three times in accordance with ancient etiquette before entering the house.

Yuan Shixian and Erzhu Rong walked at the back. Both of them were the type to become familiar with each other as soon as they met. Yuan Shixian quietly asked Erzhu Rong, "Are you the son of the chieftain of the Qihu tribe?"

"Yes."

"Do you Qihu people also follow ancient customs when getting married?"

"No way, those ancient rituals are too troublesome. In this short time, all the men and women of our Qihu tribe have already given birth..."

Zhao Zhi's gaze swept over, and the brat shut up, hiding behind Yuan Shixian in fright.

Because the Wei family was not a prominent or noble clan, the subsequent etiquette was simplified.

Yuan Yu stood under the lintel of the house, reciting the marriage proposal on behalf of the Yuan family.

The couple accepted the man's marriage proposal.

The host and all the guests left the house and returned to the courtyard. As long as Wei Yin accepted the wild goose, the "betrothal" ceremony was considered complete.

This plump goose was a rare find; it was the most majestic and lively one that Yuanzhi and his son had chosen from a dozen or so lead geese. Wei Yin tentatively tried to grab its wings, but finding it difficult, he tried to grab its neck instead, almost getting pecked. Zhao Zhi lightly slapped the goose on the head, making it dizzy, thus relieving her husband's embarrassment. Even so, Wei Yin struggled to lift the plump goose. Fortunately, the goose was afraid of being slapped again, and it waddled along on its two legs until it was put into the cage.

Guo Qingli, one of the guests, was filled with emotion upon seeing this scene. He recalled the legend of his great-uncle Cui Hao. At that time, all the civil and military officials in the court combined could not match the favor his great-uncle had in front of Emperor Taiwu. The powerful ministers could not compete with his great-uncle and could only ridicule him for being a weak scholar and having less strength than a woman.

Guo Qingli prayed to Heaven that Wei Yin would not only inherit his great-uncle's shortcomings.

After the "betrothal" ceremony comes the "asking the name" ceremony.

At the same time, Prince Yuan Cheng of Rencheng was impeached by the Grand Commandant and the Minister of Works for unauthorized imprisonment of Minister Wang Su. The emperor was furious and immediately ordered him to be dismissed from his post and punished by staying at home to reflect on his mistakes.

Prince Yuan Yu of Guangling left his residence and strolled leisurely. The two residences were too close together, so he turned a corner and entered the residence of Prince Rencheng.

Chief Secretary Zhang Puhui led him to the back garden.

Yuan Cheng was fishing in the pavilion when the Prince of Guangling came over. He pointed to the fish in the pond and asked, "Look at them, which fish do you think stands out?"

"Naturally, the fattest one is the most conspicuous."

"Yes. Fish are meant to be slaughtered, but they were raised to be too fat. The moment they jumped out of the water, it still startled me."

The Prince of Guangling shook his head: "I can't watch anymore, I get water sickness."

"Haha." Yuan Cheng put away his fishing rod and washed his hands in the copper basin.

The servants set out a food table, serving melons, fruits, rice cakes, and Zhang Puhui left some for the two princes to brew tea.

Prince of Guangling: "I didn't expect you to make such a move so suddenly. The more I think about it, the more uneasy I become. Could it be that the situation in the court has reached the point where we need to avoid disaster in advance?"

"Yes, we've arrived." Yuan Cheng sighed deeply. "I never expected that the Prince of Pengcheng would capture Shouchun so easily this time, fulfilling the late emperor's long-cherished wish to launch a southern expedition. One hundred thousand troops, they're as easy to command as his own limbs! Such overwhelming power, even if His Majesty can tolerate it, can the Grand Commandant in charge of troop deployment tolerate it?"

He continued with concern, "The Prince of Pengcheng was summoned back to the capital last winter, and only half a year later, he showed signs of sharing power with the Grand Commandant. Most importantly, the conflict between the Grand Commandant and General Yu Lie has reached a point of extreme tension and irreconcilable differences. If this situation continues for another six months, what will happen when His Majesty assumes personal rule at the beginning of next year and reclaims the military and state power held by the Grand Commandant?"

Following up on this analysis, the Prince of Guangling replied, "If I were the Grand Commandant, I would immediately request to leave Luoyang to avoid Yu Lie's revenge! No, if the Grand Commandant really understands this, and he leaves, wouldn't the Prince of Pengcheng become... the most frightening fish in the pond?"

"Look at you, always talking about fish. Chief Secretary Zhang, tell the cook to kill a fish at noon and cook a few more fish dishes."

Zhang Puhui knew he couldn't listen to what the two kings were about to say, so he replied "Yes" and left.

Sure enough, as soon as he left, the Prince of Guangling said with a gloomy face, "Are we destined to be nothing more than fish? Daring not to be weak, daring not to be strong, and daring not to be mediocre!"

Prince Rencheng ladled a bowl of tea from the pot for the other man and a bowl for himself, then said, “Your Majesty’s temperament will only be clear in the next year or the year after. I still have an elderly mother to support, so I can only use my clumsy plan to withdraw from the ranks of the regents and wait and see.”

Prince of Guangling: "Zhao Zhi..."

"Don't let her find out anything! From now on, she and I will go our separate ways. Apart from your own trivial matters, try not to bother her. A warrior has her own destiny. As long as she is not an ungrateful person, she will help us when her luck is better than ours."

May 15th.

An urgent report of a severe drought in the six northern garrisons was sent to the imperial court, and the Grand Commandant dispatched Yang Bo, a court attendant, to Hengzhou to provide disaster relief.

Several days had passed before Wei Yao heard the news. In her previous life, she was in Pingcheng at this time and had no idea that the imperial court had sent officials to provide disaster relief. This was because groups of refugees from Beizhen poured into Hengzhou, and rumors of wealthy households and farmers being robbed kept circulating in the suburbs of Pingcheng, causing panic among the people in the city.

What's frightening is that the people's fear of not sleeping soundly grows stronger year by year!