History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 70 Nobody's Leaving!
After the two of them had their identities verified and entered the courtyard, Wei Yao asked, "I just heard fellow student Xi mention Scholar Du. Is he still studying at the state academy every day?"

"I heard that the old building is going to remove him from the list."

He had heard that this was definitely going to happen. This was exactly what Wei Yao was worried about. Once Du Tongding left the state academy, it was hard to say whether he would continue to live in Pingcheng. If there were new clues in the future that required him to be confronted, where would they go to find him?

"Thank you for informing me, fellow disciple Xi."

Just as Wei Yao was about to leave, Xi Jiao called out to her, "Fellow disciple Wei."

Zhou Tai felt inexplicably cramped in this place and gestured to Xi Jiao to go to the Five Weapons practice area first.

"Please speak, fellow disciple Xi." Wei Yao lowered her gaze so that she wouldn't see the other person's face.

But Xi Jiao took a step forward.

Wei Yao's heart pounded even harder, and the color of frost rose from her cheeks, staining her temples.

Xi Jiao admitted that he did it on purpose, but couldn't explain why he did it. He got down to business and cleared his mind of distractions: "Du Tongding studied the Book of Poetry, but his teacher was not Du Ling, and there was no kinship between them."

Just as they finished speaking, laughter entered the courtyard. It was Yuan Jingrong and Changsun Zhi, who had been singing the poem "July," who came together. They greeted Xi Jiao with smiles, and then, for the first time, they took a serious look at Wei Yao.

After the other person left, Xi Jiao continued, "But before Du Ling resigned, he often discussed scholarship with Master Yang of Du Tongding Academy. They were only nodding acquaintances before. Tell Wei Mao that this is all I can find out."

That's already a lot! Wei Yao bowed deeply in thanks.

Amidst the fragrant trees, she and Xi Jiao turned right and left, respectively.

Five female officials had arrived the night before. Chen Shushi and two servants stood at the gate to greet them. Zhang and another servant distributed the clothes described in the poem, all of which were cloth tunics worn by farmers.

In the poem, Wei Yao plays the role of a peasant girl picking mulberry leaves. Zhang gives her a gray set of clothes. Wei Yao is cautious. After taking it, she shakes it open to check and sees that there is a tear on one sleeve at the elbow and under the armpit. She says, "Lady Zhang, this sleeve of the rubao is torn."

Zhang said, "Picking mulberry leaves can easily tear your clothes. Go to the other room and change."

Wei Yao remained unmoved: "Who doesn't mend their torn clothes?" She had clearly just discovered the tear and was afraid to give it to anyone else, trying to fool her. If she obeyed and changed, wouldn't her undergarments be exposed during practice later?

Zhang, with a wronged expression and a forced smile, said, "Miss Wei, look how busy we are right now. Miss Hu... this dress is yours, Miss Wei. Please step aside for a moment. We're all very busy right now."

“I won’t bother you. Give me the needle and thread, I’ll sew it myself.” Arguing wouldn’t solve the problem, so Wei Yao demanded.

"There are changing rooms, but we'll have to trouble you to find them yourself, Miss Wei. We really don't have the time."

Wei Yao knocked on the door first. There was laughter inside, so no one probably heard her. She pushed the door open and came in. Besides the three imperial daughters, there were also Guo Yun and Cui Ying.

“My fellow disciple Yao is here,” Guo Yun waved to her and said, “We stayed in the East City yesterday afternoon. The East City is quite lively at night. Huh? Why did I give you a tattered coat?”

Wei Yao responded to her doubts: "Zhang Xiguan said that picking mulberry leaves is easy to tear clothes, but in the poem, which of the various farm chores is not easy to tear clothes? She doesn't care about me, so I'll mend them myself."

Guo Yun: "That's really too much. I can't stand her always looking so wronged, like everyone's bullying her. I heard the school wants to keep her here to teach hymns long-term."

Cui Ying nodded, then asked Wei Yao, "Are you looking for needles and thread? I just saw them."

Hu Ertiao raised her arm and declared, "Looking for this? If you can reach it, I'll give it to you." She was holding a small wicker basket in her hand, which must have been her sewing basket.

Just as Wei Yao was about to go over, Hu Ertiao rolled his eyes and added a condition: "You should change into this tattered blouse first."

Guo Yun: "Hu Girl".

"Don't cause trouble! I..." "I'll change!"

Wei Yao's "I" overlapped with the other person's, and she repeated "I'll change right away," first taking off her short-sleeved shirt, then neatly removing her blouse and putting on a tattered short blouse.

During this process, Guo Yun turned away angrily, and Cui Ying was also at a loss, but what could she do? With Hu's intelligence and physique, she wouldn't listen to reason and she couldn't win a fight.

Wei Yao was dressed. She was shorter than Hu Ertiao, so she jumped up to reach him on her first try. Hu Ertiao let out a strange "Oh!" and jumped up as well: "You almost succeeded. Let's try again, haha."

After making that remark, Hu Ertiao led Wei Yao to slowly spin and jump around, so that everyone in the room could see Wei Yao's indecent undergarment.

"She looks like a rabbit," Changsun Zhi laughed, lying on the bamboo bed. Yuan Jingrong watched with a faint smile, gradually finding it uninteresting.

Another female student came in. Taking advantage of Hu Ertiao's back being turned to her, Yuan Jingrong snatched the sewing basket from her hand: "Alright, stop being so annoying."

"What business is it of yours?"

Yuan Jingrong shoved the sewing basket into Wei Yao's hands. Unafraid of Hu Ertiao, she retorted, "So what if I'm making trouble?!"

Changsun Zhi had a better relationship with Yuan Jingrong, so she immediately stood shoulder to shoulder with her companion.

"What? What are you going to do about it!"

No one in the room expected that Hu Ertiao's punch was aimed at Changsun Zhi.

"Ah—" Changsun Zhi's scream tore through the roof!
Accompanied by Hu Ertiao's hysterical shouts: "Ha! Nobody's leaving!"

The female officials rushed into the room upon hearing the noise, terrified. But it wasn't so easy to separate the people. Fortunately, Yuan Zizhi and Qiu Ruizhi arrived and helped pull Hu Ertiao out first.

Looking at the mess in the room, Chen Shushi was on the verge of tears. None of the female students had escaped unscathed; their faces were all bruised.

The handprint on Wei Yao's cheek was from protecting Guo Yun, and her nose also hurt from being scratched by someone's fingernail.

Liu Zhenzhu and Gao Yinyin were the loudest crying. It's no wonder they felt wronged; they had just arrived and were beaten up. They couldn't even run away.

Good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels fast. While they were rehearsing the poem "July," Xi Jiao's rehearsal of "Five Soldiers" was paused, and everyone ran over to peek over the wall to watch the excitement.

Zhou Tai gloated and shouted at Qiu Ruizhi, "Why is your leg lame?"

Let Hu Erdian kick it!
Xi Jiao arrived late, and Zhou Tai scrambled to the ground, calling to his companion: "Come on up, look! The Miss Wei you were talking to this morning has been beaten up."

what? !

Xi Jiao himself didn't realize that there were fifteen female students singing the poems, and they were all dressed in similar shawls. He immediately recognized Wei Yao as the one who was singing. "Was it that bad?" One side of her face was swollen, and her nose was cut.

Zhou Tai, misunderstanding his companion's question, said, "It's quite serious. Including Qiu Ruizhi and those five female officials, more than a dozen people were injured. Look, Hu Ertiao is really strong. Everyone else is exhausted, but she can still swing the axe. I have to try it sometime to see if that axe is real or fake."

Among the imperial family members practicing the "Five Soldiers" dance was Hu Ertiao's twin brother, Hu Yi'ao. At that moment, he heard the most discussions about Ertiao on the walls, and angrily jumped down, unwilling to look anymore.

He had only taken a few steps when a stone ball struck his right shoulder.

"Whose is this?" he demanded fiercely, trying to discern the culprit from the reactions of the crowd on the wall. Stone balls are attached to slingshots; they can kill someone!
Zhou Taisheng had slanted eyes. Seeing that Hu Yi'ao was staring at him the longest, he immediately shouted, "It wasn't me!" It was Xi Jiao, but he couldn't betray his friend.

(End of this chapter)