History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 72 Entering the Palace to Copy Books
The ninth day of April.

The heavy doors of the old Pingcheng Palace closed behind Wei Yao. She followed closely behind Chen Shushi and three other female officials along the wall, wondering which library they were taking her to.

As far as Wei Yao knew, this old imperial palace was divided into the West Palace and the East Palace. The West Palace was built earlier and occupied a vast area. Construction began during the reign of Emperor Taizu, and it served as both the place where His Majesty handled state affairs and the residence of the concubines and imperial children. During the reign of Emperor Shizu, the third emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty, the East Palace was built specifically for the residence of the Crown Prince.

She and the ladies-in-waiting just entered through the Sixian Gate of the West Palace. There are four gates in total on the south wall of the West Palace, and the Sixian Gate is the easternmost one.

That's all Wei Yao knew.

The city walls stood tall, shaded by willows. They encountered almost no palace servants, though weeds grew everywhere in the cracks between the paving stones. After walking for a while, Chen Shushi deliberately slowed his pace, and Wei Yao immediately hurried to his side.

Chen Shushi pointed to the building in front of him and introduced it: "That is Chengxian Gate. In the past, Chengxian Gate was Huangxin Hall."

Zhang was no longer a servant girl and had been kept at Cui's school. Of the three female servant girls now serving as servant girls, Zhou was the youngest. At this moment, Zhou was also close by, listening to Chen Shushi's account.

"The Huangxin Hall was completed in October of the seventh year of the Taihe era. I remember... once I was ordered to deliver historical records to the Huangxin Hall, and I saw a female general come out. She was so young, and she even smiled at me. I was stunned at the time. I thought, what great merit must she have made to be summoned by the emperor?" There's another interesting story, but unfortunately I can't tell it. The current governor, Yuan, chased after the female general from the Huangxin Hall that day, and I don't know what he said, but he was slapped across the face, and his teeth flew out.

The vivid fragments of her memory quickly faded and disappeared from Chen Shushi's mind. She thought, that female general's armor was tattered, her uniform was old, and her demeanor was completely unlike that of a Xianbei noblewoman. What gave her the right to slap a member of the imperial family?

Therefore, as long as someone is a Xianbei, they are better than these prisoners of war, and better than her, who comes from the Yingchuan Chen clan!
How ironic!

This time, Wei Yao is the same. Wei Yao's family is just a sheltered household in the Wei clan and has nothing to do with meritorious officials. His so-called talent and intelligence are only because he is better than other primary school children in the Book of Poetry. The state government rewarded him by allowing him to enter the old palace to copy books for three days.

Why?
Just because the other party is a Xianbei, ha!

Chen Shushi's increasingly gloomy expression frightened Zhou Xiguan.

The group walked in silence and arrived at the inner palace area. When Chen Shushi led the way to the right, Wei Yao noticed Zhou Xiguan's momentary surprise.

Oh no! Wei Yao's bad premonition soon came true.

Chen Shushi finally stopped. Wei Yao looked around and saw rows of low, earthen houses, with abandoned livestock pens in the distance. The place was abandoned, but the unpleasant smell lingered.

Wei Yao, feigning childlike innocence, asked, "This doesn't look like a book storeroom. Has the book scribe come to the wrong place?"

All three officials lowered their heads.

Chen Shushi: "You didn't come to the wrong place."

Actually, she hadn't been here for a long time. This place used to be the dirtiest and worst place in the palace, filled with the unpleasant smell of earth and animal excrement. But at least there were frequent visits from palace staff, and there was always the sound of people talking.

After the capital was moved, this place was always under the care of Zhang Xiguan, but this Zhang is so lazy! It's obvious that he rarely cleans it.

Following his memory, Chen Shushi opened the third earthen house, which was in such a mess that it looked like it had been ransacked. He was mistaken; this house was where cloth was stored.

She pushed open the fourth door, only to find herself in the wrong room again. The room was still filled with fabric and emitted a pungent musty smell.

Wei Yao: "I don't understand, aren't supplies stored in the palace categorized? Books would be stored with fabrics..."

"Shut up!" At this moment, Chen Shushi exuded official authority, looking at Wei Yao as if she were a lamb. Then, she lashed out at the three Zhou women: "Is this how you handle the work I assigned you? Did you start slacking off as soon as you left the palace?"

Zhou: "I'm in charge of the food storage. Doesn't the scribe check it every month?"

Another official secretly rolled his eyes: Zhang's laziness is all your fault! Besides, when you assigned Zhang to such a remote place, wasn't it because you thought no one would want to come here to check, so that Zhang would have no worries?

Chen Shushi looked at Wei Yao: "I'm sorry to have troubled you, Miss Wei. There are too few palace maids and eunuchs left in the old palace. We also want to maintain the original appearance of all places, but alas, we are powerless to do so."

"The book historian was reflecting on life again, and the time that Governor Yuan had given me to copy the book was only two and a half days left."

"Hmph, trying to intimidate her by relying on the governorship?" Chen Shushi opened another storeroom and said, "Come in."

It seems Zhang is also doing something, gathering the remaining books and bamboo slips from the abandoned palace school in this room. "Miss Wei, the books and bamboo slips here are what remained after the abandoned palace school was moved; there's enough for you to read."

Wei Yao: "Chen Shushi has misunderstood the reward given to me by the prefecture! The palace school only teaches young palace maids, and my learning progress is almost the same as that of the academy. Tell me, Shushi, does the prefecture not know this? Then why did you send me here to copy books?"

"You're only reading the Book of Poetry, right? Here we also have the Erya, the Analects, and the Classic of Filial Piety. Look carefully, you're sure to find them."

"We also have these items at our military academy!"

"Oh dear," Chen Shushi clutched his forehead, about to faint, but Zhou Xiguan quickly caught him. "I'm really exhausted from teaching you to sing poetry these past few days. How about this, you stay here this morning, and I'll have Zhou Xiguan take you to the Imperial Library this afternoon. Quick, help me back to lie down for a while, my legs are so weak, and I don't even have the strength to speak."

"Oh, right." Chen Shushi had just stepped out of the room when he raised his voice: "After Miss Wei leaves, you guys clean up the pigsty over there! Some of the palace servants who were beaten to death for being rude were thrown into the pigsty. If you find any remains, find a place to bury them deep."

Wei Yao stood alone on the threshold, knowing she had been tricked by Chen Shushi, yet powerless to resist. She couldn't believe she hadn't provoked him! She hadn't provoked him at all!!

But there are some people who, when bullied by the strong, take their revenge on the weaker ones!

Like Du Ling, like Qu Rong, like Chen Shushi!

Wei Yao unloaded her basket. To copy more books this time, she had brought all the blank paper she had at home, so much so that her shoulders were numb from the strain. No one knew how much she cherished this reward. She didn't love money, clothes, or cosmetics; she only loved reading, and that was her greatest joy! Yet, it was so easily ruined.

The sound of running footsteps approached; it was Zhou Xiguan.

She said urgently, "Miss Wei, I'll try my best to talk to Chen Shushi. Wait for my news. You don't need to copy the books here. Most of them are notes from palace school students, as well as the lessons and scriptures of unfavored concubines. I heard from the eunuchs that they were all to be destroyed! Otherwise, given Zhang Xiguan's laziness, why would she have organized this entire storeroom? I have to go now. Wait for my news."

Wei Yao bowed and thanked Zhou Xi for his position.

Undeterred and unwilling to waste time, Wei Yao took out a headscarf, gathered her stray hairs inside, put on gloves, and began to peruse the books in the room.

It seems Zhou Xiguan wasn't lying; the storeroom was damp, the straw mats on the floor were soaked through, and even the books on the bottom shelf were moldy. The books on the top shelf were covered in dust when shaken. She opened several bamboo slips and two scrolls, all of which were notes on the Book of Songs, and the handwriting on them was worse than her own.

Wei Yao continued flipping through the pages, not missing a single one!

(End of this chapter)