History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

After a moment of confusion, Wei Yao quickly stood up, bowed, and said, "This humble official is Wei Yao, a proofreader."

Less talk, less mistakes.

Before Cui Hong could speak, the young man asked her, "Did you find the 'Dialect' notes?"

The other party asked a simple question, his voice was not harsh or stern, but it was full of the aura of looking down on all living beings, making Wei Yao unconsciously tense up and her whole body tense up!
She was wrong. This person was not a young prince, but the emperor!

It must be the emperor!

Fortunately, she was cautious and maintained a bowing posture as she replied, "Two scrolls were found. The long scroll was written by Dr. Sun of the Imperial Academy, and the short scroll was written by Attendant-in-Ordinary Cui."

After replying, she picked up the two volumes of dialect notes from the ground and tentatively took small steps forward.

That's right. As she approached the storehouse door, Wei Yao saw the Imperial Guards outside, her mother wielding the Thousand Ox Knife, and the officials on duty from the Secretariat.

Cui Hong took the two volumes of notes, while Emperor Yuan Ke took Sun Huiwei's notes and unfolded them. The moonlight from this spot made the text clearly visible.

Yuan Ke was the best student among Emperor Xiaowen's children. As he looked at the contents of the paper, memories of his old school days came flooding back. He reminisced, "When Dr. Sun taught this book, I was listening. At that time, the Imperial Academy had not yet been established."

With a solemn expression, Wei Yao bowed respectfully: "Your subject—Wei Yao, Secretary and Proofreader—pays homage to Your Majesty!"

Yuan Ke tilted his head slightly, avoiding the small lantern, and finally saw Wei Yao's appearance clearly.

To briefly explain the background, why did the emperor appear here?

Yuan Ke came to the Secretariat tonight to see the memorial tablets of sages presented by the Hedong aristocratic families, led by the Pei family. He wanted to elevate Zhao Zhi, who came from a poor background, and of course, he also had to elevate her daughter. So he asked the officials of the Secretariat, "Is the proofreader Wei Yao on duty?"

The secretary replied, "The Imperial Clerk is on duty tonight in the Remnant Bookstore area."

The official in charge of the various clerks was the Secretary, who asked with feigned concern, "Why send someone there on a mission at night when it's so remote?"

The clerk cursed inwardly: "You corrupt official! I knew you'd show your face!"

He was prepared in advance and first relayed Wei Yao's pitiful words when he asked for the key: "In order to teach the Fangyan well, Wei Yao searched all over Luoyang for relevant annotations and historical materials for this book. He has spent all his family's wealth on this and has no other choice but to go to the long-sealed archives of ancient books to look for it."

He added to his own merits: "I remembered that the Bureau of Compilation had a large collection of books, so I quickly went to find some officials I knew and asked them to help me find chapters related to the Fangyan in their spare time. I had just returned to my office and was about to go see the Lieutenant Proofreader."

Yuan Ke attached great importance to the transmission of Fangyan. In the Wei territory, even the imperial academy did not teach this subject, let alone private schools! If it could be taught well and spread widely, it would surely attract Confucian scholars from other places to move to the capital.

Yuan Ke asked Zhao Zhi, "Did you spend all your money buying books?"

Zhao Zhi replied, "Yes. Money can be saved slowly, but learning is more important. If the learning is not taught in a superficial way, it will not only delay a generation of Confucian scholars."

Yuan Ke knew that the Wei family had indeed used their wealth to buy books, and that she must have remembered such refined words after hearing them from her husband or daughter.

Cui Hong, a literature enthusiast, couldn't help but praise, "Well said."

His situation was far worse than Wei Yao's! In order to realize his ideal of compiling the history of the Sixteen Kingdoms, he had long since exhausted all his savings to buy books, and was so poor that he could not even afford paper. Fortunately, Prince Yuan Yi of Qinghe recommended him to take up the post of "Recorder of Daily Life" in the Book Collection Department, and thereafter he could receive two salaries every quarter.

The cause was thus, and will not be repeated here. Yuan Ke walked out of the storeroom and first rebuked the highest-ranking official on duty that night, the Secretary: "Although the Secretariat has many old classics, many are incomplete, and many repetitive interpretations have accumulated over the years, without detailed annotations. If this continues, the work of meticulous collation will become increasingly difficult!"

Subsequently, the emperor issued an edict: "Inform Lu Yuan that you intend to petition to recruit ten collators from among the Confucian scholars in the capital to first revise the exegesis and then revise the Book of Rites."

“Wei Yao was relieved of his post as proofreader and promoted to secretary.”

“Cui Hong was appointed as the proofreader and was in charge of examining the annotations of the Fangyan.”

Amidst cries of gratitude and acceptance of the imperial decree, the emperor proceeded to another warehouse district to view the memorials presented by the aristocratic families of Hedong. At the urging and prompting of several officials, Wei Yao followed behind her mother, accompanying the emperor.

The next afternoon.

Princess Chenliu was furious when she received the news from the Secretariat last night. How lucky were Zhao Zhi and her daughter! Eleven-year-old Wei Yao had only been a ninth-rank proofreader for four months when she was promoted to a seventh-rank secretary! The key reason for Wei Yao's promotion was that she had swapped her notes on dialects.

Yuan Zhenjun pinched his nails until they split, feeling increasingly humiliated the more he thought about it.

Now that things had come to this, she could no longer afford to create further discord with the emperor. She immediately ordered the literate maids in her household to copy the more than one hundred volumes of the "Dialect" notes day and night. She kept the copies and then instructed her trusted maid, Diezhuang, to send Wang Su's notes to the Wenya Academy.

While unloading the carts, Diezhuang smiled and apologized to Kong Wenzhong and his apprentice: "It was my fault for being confused. Last time I mixed up the supply carts and gave some poetry collections to you scholars. Fish eyes cannot be pearls, and weeds cannot be cypress trees. I've exchanged them today, please don't be angry."

"What's the confusion?" Erzhu Rong, his temper flaring, couldn't help but retort sarcastically, "You've said all the nice things, how dare we commoners complain?"

Diezhuang didn't know that this cheeky child was the only son of the Qihu chieftain. She poked Erzhurong's forehead, ostensibly to tease him, but actually to threaten him: "If you know you can't blame him, then don't talk nonsense, or you'll bring trouble upon yourself."

As Erzhu Rong grew older, he realized that his family was merely grooms for the imperial court. The powerful and influential people in the capital respected the Erzhu clan only to buy horses at low prices; they actually looked down on the Qihu people. With the power of the Princess, dealing with the Qihu people should not be difficult for her.

The more you think about it, the more chaotic it becomes, and the deeper your fear grows.

Yu Yin noticed Erzhu Rong's unusual behavior. Usually, the boy was always talking, noisy, and laughing, but now he was hiding to the side, either throwing stones or kicking dirt. After finding out the reason, he did not take the matter lightly and took Erzhu Rong to the palace gate that very day.

When Wei Yin mentioned that he was a relative of Zhao Zhi, a Gentleman Attendant at the Palace Gate, the Imperial Guards immediately helped him deliver the message.

Zhao Zhi took a short leave of absence, and after hearing what had happened, she comforted her apprentice: "With your master here, there's nothing to fear."

With her husband around, she wasn't afraid of anything and didn't bother to think. The two of them, one big and one small, looked at Wei Yin and waited for him to come up with a solution.

On his way here, Wei Yin had already thought it through and said, “Instead of being constantly on guard against petty people, we should strengthen ourselves and make them fear us. Chief Clerk Gou of the Sizhou Office mentioned to me before that the Cavalry Advisor has been replaced in a series of times and no one has been able to do the job well. Perhaps we can select a talented person from the Erzhu Warriors to go to the capital for a trial.”

Erzhu Rong's eyes gleamed. For so many years, his family had been offering camels, horses, cattle, sheep, and grain to the court and making connections with powerful figures. Money had been wasted like water, but in the end, not only the court, but even the princes no longer appointed warriors of the Qihu tribe as officials.

From now on, can the fate of the Qihu people, who are only fit to raise horses, be changed?

When causes and conditions arise, it is difficult to predict whether it will bring good or bad fortune.

He Lan was once again relieved that he had made the right bet!

Because she frequently attended lectures at the elegant academy, Li Yin, upon learning this, proactively proposed severing their teacher-student relationship. (End of Chapter)