History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 42 A new day

When Cui Weng looked at the character “兰”, he suddenly made a new discovery. He looked back at the first column of messages and found that the spaces between the characters were shorter than those between the characters in the second column. This further proved that the idea that the characters “世” and “殳” and the character “舌” all lacked the “three-dot water” radical was correct.

Returning to the character "兰" (lán), does it refer to orchids? Or to shops selling orchids elsewhere? Or to people whose names contain "兰"? Does "兰" also imply national fragrance or royal fragrance, alluding to the imperial court?
If it's hard to guess, then we'll work backwards.

Old Cui stared intently at the character "尉" (Wei). This character, left in an emergency, couldn't possibly refer to an official position; if it did, it would broaden the scope of clues to an unpredictable level. So, was it a surname? If so, was the pronunciation "魏" (Wei) or "玉" (Yu)?
Cui Weng didn't care about the surname "Wei" (魏) sounding like "Wei" (尉), and to avoid getting himself into trouble, he immediately dismissed that lead. He was only concerned with whether it was a surname belonging to the meritorious official Wei (尉), and whether "Wei" (尉) was pronounced like "Yu" (玉)!
Suppose that the "尉" on the silk is telling the buyer that... Mu Tai was captured alive by a warrior from the Wei clan at the beginning of last year. As far as Cui Weng knows, the only person in the Wei clan who is stronger than Mu Tai and trusted by His Majesty is Wei Yi, the Gentleman Attendant.

Why is there an extra "兰" character on top of the character "尉"?

It's still not easy to push.

As for the missing character below the character “尉”... let's leave that aside for now.

"Wei Yi." Old Cui was cautious, and he rarely spoke to himself, even when he was alone. This was the first time he had uttered this name since Niulangjun left.

Wei Yi went to Luoyang at the beginning of the relocation of the capital, but left a young son in Pingcheng.

It was common for powerful families in the State of Wei to raise their children separately. In fact, this was not unique to Wei. Any aristocratic family that had experienced the turmoil in the Central Plains and witnessed the frequent bloodshed in their own country's court would try every means to protect their children and descendants in order to ensure the survival of their bloodline.

Wei Yi's youngest son was named...

“Wei Mao”.

In the still of the night, the temple bell tolled, drowning out Old Cui's soft whisper.

At midnight, all the temples in Pingcheng, big and small, rang their bells. Wei Yao heard the bell from the Imperial Uncle Temple.

After returning from the bookstore, she asked her strong mother to help her cut out the poem slips, while she previewed the new poem "Junzi Yangyang" that she would learn the next morning. In her previous life, Master Duan either had a worsening lung disease or did not have a thorough understanding of the "Wang Feng" chapter, so in any case, he only briefly explained the preface to each poem in this chapter.

In this life, Wei Yao could not tolerate herself glossing over the "Wang Feng" chapter, so her solution was to write down all the points she couldn't understand.

For example, what social class did "gentleman" refer to at that time? Is it too general to simply summarize "gentleman" as the sons of nobles? What examples from classical texts can be cited for the "chaos" in "gentleman suffers chaos"? Furthermore, how can the phrase "not seeking the Way" in the commentary on "official position" be explained in a way that is easy to understand?

If Master Duan can't explain these things clearly tomorrow, she'll save them up and go to Cui Academy to ask Master Kong or Brother Cui Zhi for help.

After previewing the new poems, she selected the essential knowledge points from all the poems between "Shuoren" and "Junzi Yuyi" and condensed them onto a long scroll of paper. This notebook was for Gao Lou to help him catch up on the lessons he had missed while away from the city.

Amidst the ringing of bells, Wei Yao stretched her aching shoulders and waist, deciding to stop learning for tonight.

She extinguished the candle. She closed her eyes and thought before falling asleep: "Gao Lou, I admire your courage to leave your hometown to study at such a young age, and your ambition to learn. I admire your courage to expose the vile face of that scoundrel Du Ling, even if it means giving up your own reputation."

"From now on, I will do my best to send you notes from renowned teachers to help you continue your studies. I am willing to be the guiding star you can see when you look up."

"Tonight, I could tell that Jing Tongmen is very concerned about you."

“I will definitely go to Luoyang in the future. I know that my fellow disciple Jing will go to Shuozhou in two years at most. I also know that his father is a military general in Shuozhou and has control over the military intelligence of the border town. My fellow disciple Jing is a young man. After he leaves, what reason do I have to maintain the friendship between fellow disciples and such a meritorious official?”

“Tonight, I found a way.” “Jing is a loyal fellow disciple. I asked him to help deliver the letters between you and me. I’m sure he won’t refuse. In this way, Jing will not forget his fellow disciple as the distance between us grows.”

"So, Gao Lou, you are also my Lou constellation star."

Wei Yao's thoughts raced, and she guessed that Lu Baozhen and Changsun Wuzhuo must be about to leave Pingcheng. Otherwise, after so many years of bickering, why would they both decide at the same time to stop interfering with each other after the winner was decided?

Still unable to sleep, she turned over, slightly opening her eyes. As her vision adjusted to the darkness, she saw the shadow of the orchid pot on the desk and couldn't help but recall Xi Jiao's words about Bingfang not being able to close the case anytime soon. "Bingfang... orchids... selling orchids that can't be kept alive, isn't this the first time they've mixed clay into their products and made a dishonest deal? Aren't they afraid of being discovered and having their flower shop turned into a scene?"

"Ha—" Wei Yao gasped, her drowsiness gone!
Zhao Zhi came out of the courtyard several times. Seeing that the candle in her daughter's room had finally been extinguished, she did one last check of the courtyard. She then went back to the main house and bundled up the cut bamboo strips into small packages so that her daughter could carry them with her.

While she was busy, she said to her husband, "You know, this child, after a whole day of work, is actually going to bed later than usual. You shouldn't write anymore, staying up too long will hurt your eyes."

"That's exactly what I was waiting for." Wei Yin agreed with a smile. After tidying up the paper he had written, he saw a pair of winter shoes tied together in the corner and exclaimed with delight, "You sewed me another pair?"

“It’s not for you. Do you remember before the New Year, I gave Yao’er’s fellow disciple Wei Mao a pair of shoes? He left in a hurry, and I took the wrong ones. They were all left-footed, one big and one small. Tonight, when he brought Yao’er back, I suddenly remembered this. By the time I found the shoes, he had already left.”

"Haha. No problem, no problem. It's not good to have Yao'er deliver it to him. I'll take it with me tomorrow and have one of his university students give it to him. It's perfect timing, boys' feet grow fast, he can wear the big ones later."

Zhao Zhi nodded happily and asked, "Husband, am I too stupid?"

He'd be asked this question eight hundred times a year, and Wei Yin immediately replied, "You're the only one in our family who knows how to sew shoes. If you're clumsy, then what am I?"

"Too."

With the creaking of spinning wheels, the crowing of roosters and the barking of dogs, and the rising smoke from cooking fires, a new day begins in the old capital of Pingcheng.

No one around Bingfang Flower Shop knew that a murder had occurred. The guards on patrol last night saw the body and quietly carried it away.

The scenes in the streets and alleys of Dongsifang are just as vivid as they were yesterday.

Only the sounds of reading echoing from the walls and courtyards of the various schools in the city ushered in a new chapter.

"The gentleman is dignified, holding a reed pipe in his left hand, and beckoning me to enter the room with his right. How joyful it is!"

The new poem we learned today has two lines, and it's still a poem by Wei Yaoqi. The other students who had memorized the poem beforehand started reciting it together from the second line. However, they made a fool of themselves halfway through. The reason was that the character "且" in "其乐只且" should be pronounced like "居," not like "并."

Only Wei Yao read it correctly.

The students laughed and joked, not taking it seriously at all. Qu Rong, who was reciting the new poem ahead of time for the first time, was no match!
He was seated to Wei Yao's right, and when he looked over, he immediately saw her smiling. What was she laughing at?! What was so great about her? Did she recite the poem correctly on her own merit? Wasn't it just because she had a teacher father?

Left hand holding the canopy: The canopy refers to a feathered canopy. In the poem, it means that the dancer holds the feathered canopy in his left hand.

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(End of this chapter)