History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 353 Prince Rencheng and Xie Zhi
Upon returning to the capital, he never expected that two of the lost Three Character Classic stone tablets would be found. Seeing the excited Confucian scholars surrounding the stone tablets, Yuan Cheng was also moved and couldn't help but express his feelings to his guard, Wei Jia.

"The late emperor strengthened the education of rites and music in order to compete with the island barbarians for the right to rule the Central Plains. I was ordered by the late emperor to promote the education policy, but I have repeatedly failed the late emperor's trust due to the ups and downs of my official career and the struggle for power and profit."

His sorrowful tone suddenly shifted, and he bowed towards the Changling Mausoleum, saying, "Your Majesty, I am here today to read the inscriptions. You see, Your Majesty, I have not failed you!"

Wei Jia was much more shameless than the host. His face turned red with embarrassment. He thought to himself: I had only ever heard of "deceiving ghosts" before, but today I have finally seen it with my own eyes. If the late emperor has a spirit, please don't believe it. The stone tablet being found has nothing to do with Prince Cheng.

At this moment, a voice shouted from the crowd: "Please make way, Master Xie from Wenya Academy is here to read the inscription."

The Confucian scholars made way for the monument.

"Hurry, hurry up and catch up with her," Yuan Cheng urged Wei Jia.

"What are you two squeezing for?" The Confucian scholars weren't stupid; they stopped the two of them. Every extra person in front of the inscription would obstruct the view for others, especially since the Prince of Rencheng's prominent broad shoulders and large belly could easily take up the space of three people.

Yuan Cheng pointed to Xie Zhi: "I was with her."

Xie Zhi turned around: "I don't know him."

The hot-blooded young students despised liars. Stared at by a group of angry eyes, Yuan Cheng deliberately raised his voice and said, "How come Teacher Xie says he doesn't recognize me afterward?"

After saying that, he gave Wei Jiafei a look, and the little guard, feeling extremely ashamed, followed with his head down, suddenly bumping into Yuan Cheng's back, who had stopped.

Wei Jia muttered, "Wang, how could you say such a thing?"

Yuan Cheng: "What do you know? With my word, I guarantee Master Xie will recognize me for life. Let's go see the construction of the Four Gates Elementary School. Late Emperor, your subject today..."

Here we go again! Wei Jia roared silently, "It's so hard to earn money as a bodyguard!"
On the site where the school was being built, craftsmen of all kinds were busy and orderly, with the sounds of ramming earth and encouraging slogans rising and falling.

A middle-aged Confucian scholar was also there overseeing the construction of the school. Upon seeing Yuan Cheng, he was startled and immediately came over to bow in greeting: "Zheng Daozhao pays his respects to the Prince of Rencheng."

Zheng Daozhao was a man of exceptional talent and learning, and a staunch supporter of the new educational reforms. His father, Zheng Xi, was highly regarded by Emperor Xiaowen and was considered the head of the Zheng clan of Xingyang. Regrettably, Zheng Daozhao's cousin participated in Yuan Xi's rebellion, which implicated Zheng Daozhao, leading to his dismissal from office and subsequent departure from Luoyang to travel.

Yuan Cheng asked, "When did you return to the capital?"

"It's been half a month."

"Was the construction of the four primary schools... supervised by Sun Huiwei?"

Zheng Daozhao knew his chance to return to the court had come, and replied, "It is Sun Huiwei. He has been promoted to Secretary Assistant."

He gestured for Yuan Cheng to come and accompanied him to inspect the construction of the academy from various locations, explaining in detail: "The rammed earth structures of the academy in all four directions are up. Sun Huiwei comes every few days, sometimes every three days, sometimes every seven days, so the supervisors and craftsmen dare not slack off."

"Your Majesty, rest assured, the new education decree has been continuously revised, issued, and implemented. Sun Huiwei is worthy of the position of Imperial Doctor. He is currently in the Secretariat collating books and classics. This time, the collating task requires the recruitment of forty Confucian scholars from the common people in the capital, with ten of them being female students."

Zheng Daozhao became more and more excited as he spoke: "This summons will surely make all the scholars in the world yearn for Luoyang! If the work of collating the stone classics can be completed from beginning to end, and all the Han and Wei stone classics can be found, repaired, and re-erected in the Imperial Academy, restoring the roots of us scholars, what a magnificent scene that would be!"

Yuan Cheng: "The repair of the stone scriptures cannot be completed in one or two years. If you are interested in this, you must first return to the court to take up your post."

Zheng Daozhao bowed and said, "Please, Your Majesty, show me the way." "It is better to seize an opportunity than to choose one. Write a memorial on the matter of the Han and Wei Stone Classics and send it to my residence in Yongkang Lane."

Zheng Daozhao smiled slightly and took out the "Request for the Establishment of Han and Wei Stone Classics" that he had prepared in advance from the cloth bag.

Yuan Cheng put away the memorial. There was nothing left to see at the Imperial Academy ruins. As he left from the west side of the Imperial Academy, Feng Linghua entered from the south gate ruins.

The Feng family guards, who had been waiting there, reported to Feng Linghua: "Your wisdom is divine. On the day that Prince Rencheng was on leave, he really came to the Imperial Academy. He went to read the stone tablet, but we don't know where it is now."

"Come with me to the Four Gates Academy."

Now, when the Feng family marries off their daughters, they are all under the jurisdiction of Feng Xi's concubine, Lady Leling. Initially, Lady Leling arranged for Feng Linghua to enter the palace as a second-rank "female attendant," naturally hoping to get close to the emperor through the position of a female official and achieve the goal of becoming a concubine.

If the plan fails, a royal marriage must be arranged for Feng Linghua, who is of marriageable age. What will happen to the younger sisters if Feng Linghua does not marry well?
The emperor's brothers certainly couldn't dream of having a prince of the right age, as evidenced by the fact that Feng Linghua's request to become a female attendant was rejected.

The emperor was wary of the Feng family.

However, ordinary members of the imperial family are only currently enjoying their glory, destined to decline with each generation. Therefore, Feng Linghua dislikes all those whom the Lady of Leling has her eye on.

After much thought, Feng Linghua came up with a prince... Prince Rencheng, Yuan Cheng.

Yuan Cheng had only one wife and no concubines. He held a high seniority within the imperial clan, yet was still in his prime. Princess Li of Rencheng suffered from a chronic illness. The Feng family spent a fortune to inquire with the imperial physician who had previously treated Li, and learned that Li was incurable and that her time was limited to the next year or two.

Feng Linghua thought that once Li Shi died, if she married the Prince of Rencheng, she would not only not have to worry about the future of her children, but she herself would also no longer have to fear her stepmother controlling her fate.

However, the signs of missing out on marriage appeared as soon as she arrived at the Imperial Academy, just as Prince Rencheng was leaving.

The place that Prince Rencheng went to see next was the Lingtai.

This Lingtai was built by order of Emperor Guangwu of Han, Liu Xiu. Due to the impact of war, the Lingtai has long been damaged. The Great Wei Dynasty has only recently moved its capital and has not yet repaired the Lingtai. However, the base of the platform is still more than five zhang high.

At this time, the area around Lingtai was just like Fangjie, filled with fortune-telling stalls. Some people used yarrow stalks to predict good or bad fortune, some used ancient coins, and others used homemade stone or bone chess pieces to ask questions.

Yuan Cheng was very curious and asked any young man he met, "Has Lingtai ever held a divination competition? How come there are so many diviners?"

"Out-of-towner, huh?" The man rubbed his fingers together mysteriously and then lifted his chin.

Yuan Cheng didn't turn his body or eyes, but instead put his right hand behind his back and rubbed his fingers together with the little guard Wei Jia.

Wei Jia understood and took out a handful of copper coins.

Yuan Cheng handed the copper coins to the young man, who beamed and said, "Most of the fortune tellers here are swindlers, specializing in cheating you outsiders. Only one person is always accurate, over there... see him? His surname is Wei. It was because he was the first to tell fortunes for fishermen here that other fortune tellers gathered here. But if you want to have your fortune told by fortune teller Wei, you have to change your clothes. The more expensive your clothes, the more he'll charge."

Yuan Cheng looked at him suspiciously: "You two aren't in cahoots, are you?"

People from Luoyang never lie to outsiders!

Yuan Cheng walked toward the fortune-telling stall the other party pointed to. The stall was decorated with the things that could be calculated. Yuan Cheng quickly finished reading it and angrily turned back to look for the swindler from before!