History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 45 Qu Rong's Hatred
The Book of Songs was discussed in the house.

Some students wondered why Master Duan hadn't arrived yet, even though it was already past 5:30 a.m.

"Did the teacher oversleep?"

“Other teachers overslept, but our teachers don’t either. I think it’s because of the new school regulations.”

A group of schoolchildren are discussing the new school regulations.

"The spring exam should be scheduled for March, right? Wouldn't that mean there are two major exams in March?"

"Rankings across the entire city? Didn't you know that failing the quarterly exams also results in a year of suspension from school?"

"So in March, it's best to schedule the monthly and quarterly exams on the same day. That way, the person who comes in last place is very likely to be the same person, haha."

Other students are only worried about this month's joint entrance exam.

“I’ve already told my mother that I’ll go to Yongning Temple on the 16th to pray for good luck on my exams. Humph, what’s the point of praying? The exams are all over.”

"I've come up with a way to guarantee I won't get last place."

The surroundings fell silent instantly, and everyone looked at Wu Ji, who had spoken.

Wei Jing urged impatiently, "What's the solution? Tell me!"

Wu Ji glanced at each of his fellow disciples with his eyes darting around, looking utterly smug, and said, "We all handed in blank papers, haha."

Rags, paper, and pens flew through the air and rained down on the guy.

Fortunately, this drowned out Qu Rong's muttered words: "Let's persuade Yao first."

Wei Yao always listened more to her fellow disciples than to speak herself. Wei Mao, on the other hand, only spoke when asked. Neither of them had uttered a word so far. The other students were all caught up in their own excitement and didn't notice anything amiss, but Qu Rong was different. He hummed smugly to himself, convinced that Young Master Mao and Wei Yao had broken off their friendship!
Master Duan arrived.

Before discussing poetry, he said, “You have all seen the new school regulations, right? There are also several detailed rules, which I will now explain one by one. Listen carefully.”

"There will be no suspension of study or elimination system for the quarterly exams. At that time, several small private schools in the East City will need to be merged into our Wei Clan Academy for joint examination. I hope you will behave properly and not do anything that would tarnish the reputation of our Wei Clan Academy."

"The quarterly assessment is divided into a morning session and an afternoon session. The papers will be graded immediately after the morning session. Those who fail to advance to the afternoon session will be punished by having to go to the state government on the next day off to assist the clerks in organizing the document archives."

"Huh?" The schoolchildren all looked worried.

At this moment, Wei Yao couldn't help but feel emotional. In her previous life, when she was this age, she also thought that the quarterly examinations were too harsh and treated students like slave laborers.

Now it is clear that the Yuan governor took this measure to take care of students from poor families. Because without famous teachers, poor students simply could not get good grades, but the governor gave them the opportunity to enter the prefecture and broaden their horizons. If they had the chance, they could also read books that they could not usually read and get to know officials at the grassroots level.

Master Duan tapped the ruler lightly to silence the children's chatter and continued, "The papers of those who achieve excellent or extremely poor results in the quarterly exams will all be posted on the bulletin board outside the prefectural school. I don't want my students to be ridiculed for being ignorant, and I'm sure you yourselves would be even less willing to do so!"

All the students became serious; indeed, they preferred fame to infamy.

"Alright, now let's learn the new poem 'Yang Zhi Shui'. Wei Yao, begin the poem."

"The poem 'Yang Zhi Shui' satirizes King Ping. He did not care for his people, but instead stationed troops far away in his mother's homeland..."

The students listened attentively in both classes. When school ended at noon, Wei Mao didn't tidy up his stationery. Instead, he watched Wei Yao wash her brush and bind bamboo slips. He watched her roll up the slips and put them into her book bag, and then he walked ahead of her.

The two almost collided!

The one who deliberately turned the tables said, "Watch where you're going."

Wei Yao lowered her eyes and didn't retort. She wouldn't make friends with the other person, but making enemies was even worse. She figured she'd wait until the other person was discharged from the hospital before leaving.

At this point, only Qu Rong remained behind her.

"Fellow disciple." Qu Rong had been waiting for this opportunity all morning, and he had rehearsed his sarcastic remarks in his mind twenty times: "There are some things I shouldn't say..." "Don't say them, I don't want to hear them either."

“Wei Yao! You are good at studying, but being bad at studying doesn’t mean you’re stupid, and being illiterate doesn’t mean you can’t judge people.”

Wei Yao retorted sarcastically, "When others belittle themselves, it's out of modesty; when you feel ashamed, it's the truth."

Qu Rong thought for a couple of breaths before he realized that she was actually using his words to mock him! No, he couldn't let her lead him astray. He continued with his original plan, saying, "Hypocrisy can't last. You can curry favor with Young Master Mao for a while, but you can't do it forever."

Wei Yao was furious because this guy had said almost the same thing in her past life, the only difference being that he had accused her of currying favor with "Young Master Xi" back then. In her past life, she had responded to him with, "You can't even curry favor with him for a short time," which he then spread widely, claiming that she had personally admitted to currying favor with Xi Jiao.

She couldn't possibly fall into this scoundrel's trap again: "People see people as people, dogs see people as masters. My normal interactions with fellow disciples are obviously seen as flattery in your eyes, but you're not hypocritical at all!"

"You, you, how can you have such a vicious mouth!"

"You're so vicious, yet you still follow me around and listen to me, you bastard!" Wei Yao didn't want to provoke him, so she cursed him in her heart and turned to leave.

Qu Rong had mustered the courage to start this argument over two days, only to be left trembling with embarrassment. He hadn't even finished half of what he planned to say before she'd so viciously insulted him. He had never hated anyone so much, hated them to the point of wanting them dead right now! "I'm so glad I argued with you. So this is how you look down on me! You've finally told the truth, haven't you? In your eyes, I truly don't deserve to be your fellow disciple; I'm nothing but a dog!"

"You've always treated me like a dog, haven't you all treated me like a dog, disliking that my elder sister is a concubine, disliking that my family has a concubine..."

“My elder sister was a concubine, but I wasn’t raised by a concubine, I wasn’t…”

Qu Rong hated Wei Yao for a while, hated her own background for a while, and couldn't even remember which road she took back home.

Time does not slow down because of anyone's happiness, nor does it speed up because of anyone's suffering.

February 15th.

It's that time of the month again for the joint exam at Pingcheng Elementary School.

It was still dark when Xi Jiao was already on his way to the Eighth Branch Academy, his torch illuminating the path, just like his burning ambition. He had originally been thinking about how to have another competition with Miss Wei, and that if he won, he could leave Pingcheng with peace of mind. And now, his wish had come true! The imperial court had issued another decree on education, and he was determined to suppress her ranking in the quarterly examinations!
Of course, he also attaches great importance to today's monthly exam.

Cui Xueguan in Xiyifang.

Candles were lit in almost every schoolhouse, as many students stayed up all night studying to save time traveling back and forth.

Master Guo from Xunyi Academy arrived early and asked the student, "Were the students this diligent in the previous two joint examinations?"

"Reporting to Master, no, not the first two times."

"Hmm." I understand now. It seems there are some clever people who guessed that the leaked "all will be tested" really meant all of them would be tested.

Dongsifang.

Wei Yao only allowed her mother to see her off to the street. Zhao Zhi felt that the road was still dark and wanted to insist on seeing her daughter off again. Then she saw Wei San with several strong servants.

“Master’s wife.” Wei Mao dismounted and bowed respectfully. “Yesterday I received the winter shoes that Master’s wife sewed. I didn’t know how to express my gratitude, so I went to Yongning Temple early to queue up and buy some breakfast, which I was about to deliver to Chiyang Lane.”

"You're too kind, kid." Zhao Zhi patted Wei Mao's arm lightly.

Wei Mao spun half a circle on the spot, oh my god! It felt like he'd been hit by a hammer!!

It must have been that sharp-tongued Wei Yao who complained to her mother. Humph, I should have known better than to buy her one too.

With her daughter traveling with her fellow disciples, Zhao Zhi felt relieved and returned home with the food box.

There was still time. Wei Yao and Wei Mao walked in silence, the clatter of their horses' hooves sounding particularly loud on the quiet street, each clatter striking Wei Mao's heartbeat.

From now on, the first update will be at 7 AM, and the second at 7 PM. If the second update is delayed, it's because I'm too busy with work. I've run out of drafts (please hope the editor doesn't see this). I'm writing part-time, so please bear with me, readers, and continue to support this story. Thank you!

(End of this chapter)