History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Seeing that her daughter-in-law's breathing became unsteady after speaking for a long time, Consort Meng took over and said, "The scholar consulted the oracle and told the owner where to look for the ancient tripod. However, his good intentions were not rewarded. After the powerful found the tripod, they accused the scholar of stealing the missing leg."

"The scholar knew he couldn't win against the powerful even if he was right. Seeing his hard-earned family fortune being robbed, the scholar cursed in front of the powerful's relatives... 'You're the one who destroyed the ancient cauldron! You often heard your relatives say that the prosperity of your family was due to the ancient cauldron protecting your home. You felt that your years of hard work had been ignored by your relatives, and that your reputation was not as good as a cauldron. That's why you wanted to destroy the ancient cauldron, build a new three-legged cauldron, and find a scapegoat to take the blame for destroying the ancient cauldron!'"

"But things will be different from now on. The ancient cauldron will become a deep-seated problem for you, and it will also be a treasured artifact used by your clan to test whether you can bring prosperity to the family! If the ancient cauldron exists, the clan exists; if the ancient cauldron is destroyed, the clan is destroyed!"

The last part of the story was Li Yanhua's favorite, so she eagerly said, "In full view of everyone, the scholar transformed into a raccoon dog, broke free of his bonds, and leaped onto the roof. This was the nine-times-redemption method taught to him by the old immortal; in the event of disaster, he could transform into a raccoon dog to escape. From then on, no one in the chaotic city saw the scholar again."

Yuan Cheng's expression changed. If he still couldn't guess that the author of the "Luoyang Civet Cat" tales was Wei Yin, then he would be the biggest fool in the world!

But if his guess is correct, doesn't that mean... the moment he stepped into the Lingtai the day before yesterday, he fell into Wei Yin's trap?!
Once this thought arose, all of Wei Yin's actions, reactions, and even every word he uttered after meeting him took on a different meaning.

The divination text of Wei Yin says that two of the three kings will die, and the remaining one, whether truly insane or feigning madness, will have to become insane in order to save his life.

However, according to the strange tales, only one leg of the ancient tripod was damaged, while the other two legs were intact.

The divination text says that this month marks the beginning of misfortune for the three kings.

The biggest change in the court this month was His Majesty's bestowal of dukedoms upon his two maternal uncles, Gao Zhao and Gao Xian. Simultaneously, Gao Meng, the grandson of His Majesty's maternal grandfather, inherited the title of Duke of Bohai. Therefore, the new tripod now has three legs: Gao Zhao, Gao Xian, and Gao Meng.

The term "beginning" most likely refers specifically to Gao Zhao!

However, the strange tales also say that it was the owner of the ancient tripod who wanted to destroy it, not anyone else.

Is it possible that... Gao Zhao, the so-called "initiator," was essentially a scapegoat, a pawn forced into the game?
Yuan Cheng kept pulling at his hair, saying, "It's a mess, a mess."

Even when he voluntarily withdrew from the court, he was convinced that His Majesty intended to crack down on the prime ministers, elevate the power of his maternal relatives, and divide power among the imperial relatives and princes. What Wei Yin implied through the strange tales overturned his deep-seated suspicions, and then replaced his original fear with an even more terrifying one.

"Everything's in complete chaos—"

How old was the emperor? Could he really plan so far ahead? Could he really go to such extremes?

Consort Meng quickly pulled her daughter-in-law outside and whispered, "He's gone mad from listening to tales of the strange and supernatural. Let's stay away from idiots and not catch his 'infect' spirit."

As she stepped outside, Consort Meng turned back and called out, "Little Erzhu said that the tales of the Luoyang raccoon cat are only sold at Nanying Bookstore, run by Wei Yi in the south of the city."

"Oh?" Yuan Cheng suddenly stood up, his disheveled hair and blank expression making him look just like a badly sewn-up rag doll.

That same day, Yuan Cheng came to Nanying Bookstore looking for books.

He understood Wei Yin's intention in doing so. The strange tales alone could not possibly be connected to the current political situation in the court. The strange tales about ancient tripods that his mother and wife relayed must not have been written down.

From beginning to end, "Luoyang Civet" was just a Confucian scholar who wrote books to make money. In other words, whether he used Wei Yin's strategy or not was irrelevant to Wei Yin, and even less relevant to Zhao Zhi and Wei Yao.

Sure enough, Nan Ying Bookstore had other stories of strange tales, but not the one about the ancient cauldron. This story tells three tales about the Hu Bian Kingdom's "attack on Yangcheng".

The first story tells of a scholar named Li Mao who, upon arriving in Guangzhou, happens to meet a wealthy merchant who originally lived in the northern suburbs and planned to move his entire family to the city to stay with relatives.

The scholar divined for the wealthy merchant, revealing an inauspicious omen, and advised the merchant and his family to turn back and not enter Jiyang City. The merchant, thinking the scholar was a swindler, continued on his way.

While resting again, the wealthy merchant overheard passersby discussing how the city of Jiyang was full of sycophants who only cared about profit and had no kinship whatsoever. Even more wicked were the powerful and influential who had learned the evil art of exchanging lives for lives, luring their relatives from other places into the city, then killing them to draw their blood and prolong their own lives. The innocent victims were called "sheep."

The passerby also said that the stronger the sheep's abilities and the more vigorous its life force, the easier it is for people to target and kill it.

The wealthy merchant, terrified, tried to flee, but was stopped by relatives who had come out of the city to fetch him. Two years later, only the merchant's descendant, who had feigned ignorance, escaped the calamity. As this young man left Jiyang City, he saw a raccoon cat with a compassionate expression at the crossroads.

Upon seeing this, Yuan Cheng immediately understood... The wealthy merchant referred to Gao Zhao, and the northern suburbs referred to Pingcheng, where Gao Zhao's family lived. The attack on Yangcheng was even clearer; it meant Luoyang. Not only was "Yang" a homophone for "Yang," but it might also be a veiled reference to "scapegoat."

As for other clues, he decided to read the whole story before trying to piece together the whole picture.

The second story tells of a scholar named Tanuki who came to a place called Yongcai Town, a place overgrown with weeds and thorns, where rotten wood stood out, making a tall pine tree appear even more majestic. The pine tree had survived nine tribulations of lightning and could speak like a human; it was only one more tribulation away from growing legs and being able to roam freely in the world.

The pine tree realized that the scholar was capable and asked him to predict the fortune of the next tribulation.

The scholar consulted the oracle and the divination result was extremely ominous. The only way to deceive the heavens was to use the substitution method: move a large tree to take the lightning strike in place of the pine tree. With the scholar's assistance, the pine tree could conceal its vitality and safely weather the calamity.

The pine tree agreed, but when the tribulation lightning struck, it couldn't bear it. It angrily stretched out its branches and leaves, determined to bear all the lightning strikes alone. This time, the heavenly lightning was different from before. One guillotine-like flash after another appeared, as if a god had clenched his fist, seen through the substitution, and concentrated all the thunderous power to smash down on the pine tree.

The scholar, filled with righteous indignation, used his divination powers to summon lightning and save the pine tree, but he himself was struck and turned into a raccoon. When he awoke, he was back at the city gate of Jiyang City.

In this story, Yuan Cheng immediately understood that the pine tree represented Prince Pengcheng, Yuan Xie. The reason was that in the twenty-first year of the Taihe era, Yuan Xie composed a poem after taking nine steps, which read: "...I ask the pine forest, how many winters has the pine forest endured? The mountains and rivers are as they were before, the wind and clouds are the same as in ancient times."

The thunderbolt naturally symbolizes the one in the palace.

Yuan Cheng then looked at the third story.

The scholar felt a premonition that there were people in Yangcheng who needed his help to overcome their misfortune. Following his heart, he encountered a strange person. What was strange about him? The scholar, now possessing considerable skill, could not discern whether the person was male or female, old or young.

The strange man confided his dilemma to the scholar: "I am the head of the family, and I want to marry one relative to another. The latter relative is mediocre. Should I choose a talented woman to marry her off, or should I choose someone even worse and more mediocre? I feel reluctant to give up the woman in the former case, and I feel reluctant to give up the man in the latter case."

The scholar said, "But no matter which you choose, you won't be the one who suffers. You're not someone I'm helping, so get out of my way."

The strange man was furious. He held an ancient cauldron in his palm and roared angrily. The roar was like thunder. Instantly, all the rich and powerful people on the street turned into skeletons and evil ghosts and attacked the scholar.

Is that all? Yuan Cheng turned the paper over to check; there were no words on the back. (End of Chapter)