History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 346 The Newly Appointed Official, Wei Yao

Inside the city, the rain stopped.

Xi Jiao still came out from the East Gate. A bullock cart was parked on the road. The driver saw Xi Jiao and told the young lady Yang inside the cart.

"Jiaolang." Yang Ran smiled and waved to Xi Jiao. Her smile was very bright, as if she was always surrounded by happy things.

Before Xi Jiao could speak, Yang Ran interrupted him, asking, "Tell me quickly, have you seen Minister Guo?"

"seen."

"Come up and tell me. What did Minister Guo ask you? Was it difficult?"

Xi Jiao sat in the oxcart and said in detail, "Not simple. He asked me for my opinion on several local affairs. Fortunately, your father gave me guidance, otherwise I would have lost face in the Ministry of Personnel. Then he gave me a few questions about classical allusions, which I answered correctly."

Yang Ran: "And then?"

"Minister Guo told me to go home and wait for news."

Yang Ran excitedly patted Xi Jiao's knee and said, "Your entry into officialdom is sure to be successful! My father said that if Minister Guo is not satisfied, he will only..." She smiled down, imitating Guo Zuo's gesture of stroking his beard and shaking his head, accompanied by an exaggerated snort.

Xi Jiao smiled as he looked out the window, his mood brightening even before the sky cleared of its gloom. Because his father was in charge of sacrifices and rituals in the Ministry of Rites, and because he was about to enter the imperial court, his father had told him many secrets to prevent him from being naive and being deliberately framed or ostracized by others.

What shocked him most among the secrets was that the process of "hand-casting a golden statue," which was supposed to be completed to establish an empress, could actually be manipulated by humans.

Father has received a secret order from His Majesty that Consort Yu of the inner palace must be cast into a golden statue. If he fails, Father will be dismissed from his position as Minister of Divinity at best, and demoted to a commoner at worst.

Even before entering officialdom, Xi Jiao knew that the path to power was so hypocritical and treacherous, far exceeding his expectations. Therefore, when he looked at Wei Yao this morning, his complex emotions were not entirely the disappointment of unrequited love, but also admiration for her and a sense of unfamiliarity as if they were meeting for the first time.

As a young woman serving close to the emperor, she must have faced dangers and traps every day. Having spent the same amount of time studying and having moved from Pingcheng to Luoyang, why did she mature so quickly?
"My dear, my dear? What are you thinking about? You weren't even listening to me."

Xi Jiao snapped out of his reverie. He was honest and straightforward, saying, "I ran into my fellow disciple Wei Yao this morning, and I felt that all my former disciples paled in comparison to her. I was thinking that I need to work harder to be worthy of promising you a peaceful life, and to let you be this mischievous and joyful every day."

"Hehe." Yang Ran was overjoyed. Her hair was adorned with numerous hairpins, and she proudly raised her chin, resembling a cute but haughty kingfisher. She continued, "So, no one should underestimate us ladies. When we ladies get powerful, you men can't even catch up with us!"

The seventh month of early autumn.

The emperor completed his assessment of the state officials, relieved Ren Chengwang of his post as governor of Yongzhou, and summoned him back to the capital to preside over the autumn military training and martial arts examination. The imperial edict was issued and the emperor rode swiftly out of the city.

Starting this month, Wei Yao left the Secretariat and was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel, where he served as "Attendant Gentleman of the Yellow Gate," responsible for learning how officials reviewed and submitted memorials, as well as how confidential memorials and imperial edicts were sealed, forwarded, and promulgated.

The number of Attendants in the Secretariat was set at four, one of whom was a member of the imperial clan, namely Prince Yuan Yi of Qinghe.

The most senior was Cui Guang, but since Li Biao was dismissed from his post, Cui Guang had focused on writing history and hardly cared about his duties as a court attendant.

Nowadays, almost all confidential memorials from the Secretariat must be reviewed by Yuan Hui first. Yuan Hui has been in the Secretariat for many years, and his original position was the "Yellow Gate Attendant" that Wei Yao is now serving as.

The last person appointed as Attendant-in-Ordinary was Zhen Chen, formerly a Grand Master of the Palace, who was promoted to the position in early May.

On the way with Wei Yao, Zhen Chen complained quietly, also teaching her: "Yuan Hui is deeply trusted by His Majesty, and he is good in every way, except that he is a bit greedy for money. You have to..." He made a gesture of grabbing money, "to have a chance to read the secret edict, sigh."

Wei Yao feigned anger and said, "He's a court attendant, controlling the imperial edicts and preventing others from seeing them. Isn't he afraid of being impeached by his colleagues?" Zhen Chen, with his hands behind his back, shook his head and sighed, "Water that's too clear has no fish, and a person who's too discerning has no followers. Besides, it's not like he actively asked for money. He just says you're not qualified to read it yet, which isn't against the rules. What can you do about it?"

He then said, "Do you want to talk to Prince Qinghe about this matter? Alas, to tell you the truth, it has been more than a month since I came to the Secretariat, and I have not seen Prince Qinghe or Cui Guang come here. In the long run, even if these two Attendants come, do you think they would know which imperial edicts are kept in which secret room or which secret box?"

After thinking for a moment, Wei Yao changed her tone and praised, "So, Yuan Shizhong is really diligent in his duties. No wonder his hair is tied up so small that his scalp is showing."

"Well, it's better to just see it than to say it out loud."

The Secretariat was located south of Duanmen Gate, between the Chancellery and the Department of State Affairs. Whether by coincidence or not, Yuan Hui, who was on duty every day, was off duty, and Zhen Chen, bearing only the empty title of Attendant-in-Ordinary, didn't even dare to decide which office to assign to Wei Yao.

"Don't rush, I'll go to the Imperial Academy and the Secretariat to see if Attendant Cui is there. Feel free to look at the documents here." After giving these instructions, he told Wei Yao to wait in his office and hurriedly left.

Zhen Chen certainly didn't go looking for Cui Guang, because what use would it be?

Wei Yao didn't just sit there dumbfounded. She picked up the documents and read them. They were indeed free to look at, and they were all drafts of imperial edicts prepared by the staff of Dongji Hall. Three of them were even drafted by her.

She stood at the doorway and looked around. She could tell that Zhen Chen had come to the Ministry of Personnel, and officials were coming and going, but none of them came to ask if he was in the office.

Wei Yao didn't waste time watching. She was preparing her draft, and when she had thought it through, she returned to her desk, laid out paper, and ground ink.

While grinding the ink, he had already figured out how to write the memorial to the throne.

Put pen to paper.

Until it was finished, not a single word was erased, and no revisions were needed.

After drying the ink, she put the petition into an empty box, left the Secretariat, and returned to the Eastern Hall.

Let's talk about Zhen Chen next.

He was in an office in the Secretariat, asking two officials whether Wei Yao had been diligent in the past. Seeing that they were both wary and cautious, he quickly explained, "Don't overthink it. This is just routine business. Vice Minister Wei is still young, and the Secretariat is not like other departments. Even when I was transferred there, I had to check his past performance."

Zhen Chen pretended to take out his pen and bag and started writing down the details based on Er Guan's dictation. In order to buy time, he racked his brains to ask some trivial questions.

"You're saying that Wei Yao's monthly shifts here are less than half a month?"

The official explained, "Doesn't Attendant Zhen know? Isn't she often summoned by His Majesty to the Dongji Hall for questioning?"

Zhen Chen: "Yes, yes, that's right. Please continue... As you said, Wei Yao only looked through official documents from the time of Empress Dowager Wenming last month? Did she tell you who told her to do that?"

One official looked bewildered, while another exclaimed in surprise, "Who dares to ask her?! Everyone knows that Vice Minister Wei's husband works in the Censorate, where he's responsible for impeaching officials of our rank. Besides, everyone has a mountain of work to do; we're all too busy with our own tasks to keep an eye on anyone else."

"Hmm, hmm, okay." Zhen Chen didn't mind the trouble and recorded everything word by word. After finishing this long paragraph, he praised Wei Yao: "We hold important positions in the central government and should be cautious. Anything else? Go on."

Both officials rolled their eyes inwardly, thinking how annoying this Minister Zhen was!
Karma has caught up with you.

A young eunuch trotted over and called out to Zhen Chen, "Have we found Minister Zhen? Quickly, His Majesty summons you to the Dongji Hall for questioning."