History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 50 The History of Women's Script

The exam, which ended on the 15th, was announced on the afternoon of the 16th. There was only one perfect score in the entire Pingcheng primary school's monthly exam on the Book of Songs! Wei Yao, a girl from the Wei clan of ordinary birth, quickly became known for her studiousness and intelligence in various private schools.

On the morning of February 17th, Wei Yin personally escorted his daughter to Cui Academy, where Wei Yao formally became a student of Kong Wenzhong according to ancient rites.

Everyone wants to compete for the best and brightest talents. Although she has become an apprentice, Wei Yao still has to attend classes at her own clan school as usual. The advantage is that once the joint examination is over, she can come to Cui Academy without waiting for the results and can continue to study until the end of the month, and then return to Wei Academy at the beginning of the next month.

Now that we've talked about the good students, let's talk about the bad ones.

The joint examination on the Book of Poetry brought cheers to all the underachieving students. Their answers were exactly the same, making it impossible to determine who was the worst, and therefore there was no suspension of study as punishment.

Therefore, the unfortunate ones were Wei Mao and Xi Jiao, whose scores were also similar, and it was impossible to select the top three as in previous months. As a result, this month, the Xianbei students were stripped of their qualification to audit the lectures on the Book of Poetry at the Qingwang clan.

As for Wei Yin, after dropping off his daughter, he went to borrow a few books from a learned old man from the Cui clan before leaving the Cui Academy.

Starting today, Wei Yao will study poetry every morning and practice reciting poetry with the other twenty-nine students every afternoon. According to the government's requirements, out of the thirty students, half must be girls and half must be boys, and half must be Xianbei students and half must be Han students. Apart from the students arranged by the government, the selection of the rest will be decided by Cui Academy.

Wei Yao knew perfectly well that her spot must have been forcibly added by her mentor, Confucius, because the other singers could be identified from their attire as sons of powerful and wealthy families.

Fortunately, Xi Jiao wasn't there.

However, there was the particularly unsociable Hu Ertiao, the headstrong Changsun Zhi who had eyes only for Kong Mi, and the ever-present Yuan Jingrong who loved climbing trees, stepping on shadows, and constantly looking around—she could never stay still for a moment. All three of them were young women.

Among the imperial princes are Yuan Heng, who was caught stealing exam questions by Wei Yao; Hai Yeren, who has a loud voice and is aggressive; Yuan Zizhi, who pretends to be upright but actually stirs up trouble and harms others without benefiting himself; Yuan Ning, whose face is full of eccentricities; and Qiu Ruizhi, who is good for nothing but painting, and even painting is not good at it.

Of the other six Xianbei students who came from families of meritorious officials, Wei Yao only knew Changsun Fuming. She wondered if they were studying the Erya, or had they switched to studying the Book of Poetry?

The practice ground was the "Youdao" bamboo forest where large classes had been held before. The poem they sang was selected by the government and was the longest poem in the "Fifteen Kingdoms Airs," titled "July." As Wei Yao had predicted, this group of unruly Xianbei nobles quickly caused a disturbance and injured one of the poetry instructors.

The five people who taught the poetry were all women. They were female historians, or female officials, invited by Cui Xueguan from the abandoned "palace school" of the old palace in Pingcheng.

The Palace Academy had always been the place where the imperial palace of the Great Wei trained female officials and tutors. After the capital was moved, the Palace Academy was naturally moved as well, leaving behind a group of low-ranking female officials and ordinary palace maids who were unwilling or unable to go to Luoyang.

These female officials were not idle. They had to organize and maintain the books left in the old palace, handle the affairs submitted by the nuns in the entire northern region, and accept invitations from the powerful and influential people in the north to give short-term instruction in etiquette, poetry and music.

For example, teaching poetry at Cui Academy.

There were two methods of promotion for female officials in the Great Wei Dynasty. One was the recommendation system, which Wei Yao would follow in the future. After being recommended by powerful members of the Wei clan, she would then take exams in the Analects, the Book of Rites, and even the Book of Documents. The other type of female official came from the Wei Dynasty's own criminal clans, as well as captives from the Xiao Qi Dynasty.

The five young women who came to teach hymns today are all the latter type of female officials.

When they arrived, they first instructed the students to be quiet, and then one of them recited the poem. This was the right approach. To recite a poem well, one must first understand what the poem is about, what historical period it takes, and whether the poem should evoke feelings of sorrow, joy, or hope.

Then the female official surnamed Zhang revealed the poem's title: "July..."

They were then covered in mud.

Along with the lump of mud, someone from Yuan Heng's group shouted, "August!"

More mud flew by, hitting another female official on the shoulder, and a chorus of jeers erupted: "September, why aren't you telling your story, lady-in-waiting?" Yuan Jingrong climbed a tree to watch the commotion.

Wei Yao was pulled away by Guo Yun, who whispered to her, "You'll see more of this in the future and won't be surprised anymore. Young Master Yuan Heng and the others must have had someone inquire beforehand; these ladies are all from Xiao Qi."

Miss Cui from Shanyi Academy further explained: "The capable palace maids have all gone to Luoyang. Among those who remained, those with a future have also found their own paths. The highest-ranking of these five is the one in the middle, surnamed Chen, who serves as a third-rank female scribe and used to teach the Book of Poetry in the palace academy. The other four are all fifth-rank female servants. The one who was just explaining the ancient poem 'July' to us is surnamed Zhang, and she is the best at learning the Book of Poetry among the female servants."

Wei Yao quickly thanked the other party.

In fact, Wei Yao already knew about the situation described by Miss Cui. The Pingcheng Palace Academy no longer existed, but the people were still alive, and they had already fallen into a state of destitution. However, as Pingcheng became more and more distant from the central government, and with the impending severe drought in the northern region, the fate of these female historians left in the old palace would become increasingly tragic.

Suddenly, someone threw a clod of mud at Wei Yao. It didn't hurt, but it dirtied the hem of her new dress. The culprit was Yuan Heng, who was also in the tree, raising his fist in a threatening gesture towards Wei Yao who was looking over.

"Gentlemen and ladies, I am Chen Shushi, and I will now explain the ancient poem 'July' to you." The woman was over forty years old, with a cool yet gentle temperament. She stood in the spot where she had just explained the poem and began to enter the chaotic scene with a slow and gentle voice.

Yuan Ning: "Shut up! You didn't get hit just now, did you?"

"You're also an islander, aren't you? Why don't you go back to your hometown to recite poetry? Is your hometown no longer there? Haha."

“My hometown has long belonged to the Great Wei, and I wish that the Great Wei will forever be my hometown.” Chen Shushi responded with a smile and continued, “This poem begins with ‘July’s fiery heat,’ but the ‘first day’ that follows refers to the first month of the Zhou calendar, not the first month of our time.”

Hai Yeren didn't understand. Huo Dadao said, "Weren't we talking about poetry? What month did we refer to back then? Besides, didn't we just say July? Why are we talking about January now?"

Since his failure in the joint exam, Yuan Heng has become more shrewd, always managing to connect everything with Wei Yao, whom he dislikes the most. He immediately chimed in, "Shut up! You're not learning, but Miss Wei is. Miss Wei, we're getting more and more confused. Listen carefully, and you'll definitely teach us once you understand."

He pretended to bow while sitting in the tree, and Wei Yao had no choice but to return the bow.

Chen Shushi's smile remained unchanged as he asked, "Is Miss Wei the perfect scorer who stood out in this year's joint examination on the Book of Poetry?"

Hu Ertiao scoffed, "Isn't it a perfect score?"

The mere mention of the exam made Hu Ertiao furious! She had only managed to solve one question, and that was from the set of example problems; it had terrified her so much that she hadn't dared to go home. If everyone else had done poorly, would she have been in such a sorry state?

Wei Yao was quite far from Hu Er and couldn't hear. She looked at Chen Shushi, not responding to his obvious question, but instead, with a studious attitude, returned to her earlier discussion of poetry: "What month in the Xia calendar corresponds to the first month of the Zhou calendar?"

Chen Shushi explained gently, "November."

Wei Yao asked again, "Then what month does the 'July' in the first line of the poem refer to now?"

Chen Shushi: "July."

Wei Yao tilted her head slightly and joked, "After hearing what the lady said, I'm even more confused."

Fu Mu: In ancient aristocratic families, this referred to a woman responsible for raising and tutoring the younger generation. She was also called a nanny.



(End of this chapter)