History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Is Chapter 33 really all on the test?
"Why?" Cui Shang asked, puzzled.

"Brother, think about the origin of today's duel. They have harbored grudges for many years, and in order to reliably suppress each other, they must have prepared methods that no one else can find out. Brother, have you forgotten that Wei Mao once asked you to ask a fellow disciple for notes?"

Cui Shang's mind raced, and he realized that his younger cousin had reminded him of two things!
Firstly, Wei Mao might invite Wei Yao, a fellow student, to help Miss Lu in a literary contest. Given Miss Wei's experience of being assigned to the Xunyi Academy twice, it's clear that her foundation in the Book of Poetry is as solid as that of her fellow student Xi Jiao. If the questions aren't difficult enough, both Xi and Wei will be able to answer them, making it impossible to determine who is better.

In addition, his younger brother reminded him to keep quiet and not to interfere with how Wang Ji set the questions, for the same reason as above: what if a second person from either side came up who studied the Analects better than Zhou Tai?
Cui Shang immediately corrected his mistake: "What you reminded me of is that I need to prepare a few more questions, better to have more than less."

Suddenly, a commotion broke out outside, disturbing those sitting in the restaurant. Cui Zhi and his three companions, who had come with servants, quickly found out that two large carts covered with felt tarpaulins and caged with tigers were being pulled out of the Youmei Garden. Inside were two tigers, one large and one small. Many people were chasing after the carts to watch the spectacle, and the tigers were roaring fiercely.

After hearing this, the four boys all felt that the tiger beast was related to today's duel. Now that it was making a big show of itself and leaving, could it be that the fight was over?

It's definitely over.

Lu Baozhen's team unexpectedly won the fifth "long distance" competition, thanks to Wei Mao. Changsun's group did not expect that their opponents' chances of winning lay in the flat ground long jump. Fortunately, Xi Jiao was cautious and stopped Zhou Tai from participating, otherwise Zhou Tai would not have had a chance in the literary competition.

Then Yuan Heng sent the state soldiers and beast slaves to send the tiger back to the governor's mansion to prevent it from becoming more agitated. This is why there was a sudden surge of people and noise in the street.

Now that the two groups have left the plum garden, the road is quiet. They each go their own way, bickering as they head towards Jinji Restaurant.

Changsun Wuzhuo glanced disdainfully at the person opposite him and said, "I once read a book that had a saying... 'Win without arrogance, lose without resentment.' At the time, I thought, 'Shouldn't that be right?' Now, how many people can actually do that?" His eyes curved into fox-like smiles, which is why, from childhood to adulthood, those who liked him liked him very much, and those who disliked him disliked him extremely.

Lu Baozhen is definitely the latter!
In the final rope-pulling game, she and her seven teammates who were able to participate were all eliminated. What was infuriating was that the opponents had planned ahead and collectively let go the moment they won, causing her and her teammates to fall down one on top of the other. It was truly embarrassing and humiliating!
She shouted back, "I hope you'll remember what I'm saying after you lose this debate."

Changsun Wuzhuo laughed even more wildly: "We lose? You only have two people who can write, while I have twenty-one! How can we lose? I've got a plan, we'll write with our eyes closed." He pretended to be blind and groping, which amused Zhou Tai into kicking him.

Yuan Heng, lying in the oxcart, counted on his fingers. Where did twenty-one come from? Oh no, he was included too! He immediately let out a long breath and racked his brains to recall the chapters of the Book of Songs he had learned.

Lu Jiayi's loud voice rang out: "Twenty-one? Hmph, can even half of them write? They're not even as good as me, haha."

Hai Yeren's voice was also quite loud: "You, who was suspended from school, are laughing at us?"

"So what if I take a break from school? I can catch up with you even if I take two years off!"

Wei Jing followed up, saying, "Of course you won't be suspended from school. Ha, who doesn't know that the old school building of the prefectural elementary school has been called 'the school for the poor'? Plus, there are those old devils who fawn over the powerful and lack professional ethics..."

"Wei Jing," Wei Mao called out to his companion at the opportune moment.

Yuan Zizhi was listening intently and couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean by fawning over the powerful and belittling the weak? Who lacks professional ethics? Finish what you're saying."

Wei Mao patted Wei Jing on the shoulder, making him stand on the inside of him, and then he replied to the other person: "I have said what I wanted to say. If you understand, you don't need to ask. If you don't understand, go and find out for yourself."

One good thing about this group of spoiled brats is that fighting and bickering are commonplace for them. Since the root cause can't be found out, no one bothers to ask any more questions.

Some people walk fast, some walk slow. Wei Mao accommodated Wei Yao's pace, and together with Wei Jing, they were already behind everyone else.

While in the garden, Wei Mao noticed that Wei Yao seemed preoccupied, and assumed she was worried about the upcoming literary contest. He said, "Just do your best in the literary contest. Among them, Xi Jiao is the best at studying the Book of Poetry. I believe that even if you can't beat him, he definitely can't beat you."

Wei Jing encouraged him from the side: "Don't be afraid, fellow disciple."

Wei Yao smiled: "Thank you for your trust in me, fellow disciple Xie Mao, and for your comfort, fellow disciple Xie Jing. I'm not afraid. I'm thinking about this month's joint examination. Have you two considered the possibility... that the exam questions that Young Master Yuan Heng saw are this month's exam questions?"

Wei Jing chuckled, "How could that be!" "What if?"

Wei Jing was taken aback when he saw Yao, who was tilting her head and looking slightly quarrelsome. Just as he had the thought, "She's really pretty," Wei Mao pushed him aside.

Wei Mao said, "Actually, I had my doubts, but then I thought, if we really test everything, what's the difference between that and not knowing the test questions beforehand?"

"There is a difference."

Wei Mao and Wei Jing asked in unison, "What's the difference?"

The latter hurriedly stopped him: "No, don't say it in the street, let's go after the debate..."

"Let's go to Yingju Bookstore," Wei Mao decided on the location.

Wei Jingshen took a deep breath, extremely excited. He had misunderstood, thinking that Wei Yao had figured out the hidden meaning behind "all exams" and that she knew exactly what the exams were about. In that case, wouldn't the three of them be able to take all three spots in this month's joint exam?

The sound of arguing, still tinged with childish voices, interrupted Wei Jing's thoughts. It was Lu Zhengpin. The little guy was very angry, almost to the point of jumping onto the other side. "But we beat Chaoju! Didn't you guys brag that we wouldn't win a single game?"

Changsun Wuzhuo beckoned to him: "Come here, little rascal, come here."

Lu Zhengpin stepped forward with his hands on his hips: "Come on then, I'm not afraid of you... No way, hmph." Sister Baozhen said that she couldn't insult this guy in public, or she would be criticized for being rude.

"Remember this: if you can't beat others up, then learn how to back down first. Once you've learned that, I'll teach your sister Baozhen, hahaha."

Hu Yi'ao and the others around him burst into laughter.

Lu Zhengpin pointed at Zhou Tai: "What gives you the right to laugh? It was you who bragged that we wouldn't win a single game, but we won by a wide margin!"

Zhou Tai: "So what?"

"So if you don't have the ability to win everything, you have to learn how not to brag first!"

"Little rascal with chapped skin."

"We won the super distance game!"

"Are you brats ever going to stop?!" Zhou Tai was speechless, unable to swallow his anger. Taking action would seem petty, so he could only wave his hand irritably: "Fine, fine, you win, okay? Get lost."

"Why should I get lost? I won't! We won the Super Distance anyway, humph!"

No one knew that two days later, poor Lu Zhengpin was still arguing furiously in his sleep: "We won against the Super Distance!"

Closer to home.

We've arrived at Imyoshi Restaurant.

The place wasn't large. All the servants were waiting in the courtyard as their master commanded. Before entering, Wei Mao glanced at Xi Jiao's servants, or rather, he focused on the one among them named Fei Ming. If Wei Yao hadn't been there today, and he didn't want to frighten her, he would have already found an opportunity to kill this servant!

(End of this chapter)