History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 92 Heart-to-Heart Talk at Night
Yuan Zhi mocked Yuan Zhenjiang, but in reality, he was trying to help Yuan Zhenjiang out of a tight spot: "If you had been ordered around since you were a child, doing hard labor and picking up sheep dung day and night, humph, you wouldn't be able to read or do math either!"

“Alas.” Yuan Zhen sighed heavily. “Yes. Ever since I heard about Zhao Mengshi’s upbringing, I have been moved to tears every time I think about it.”

Zhao Zhi slammed a pebble down: "This is never going to end!"

Feeling depressed, she distanced herself from the two men and idly chewed on a blade of grass. She missed Wei Yin; from childhood to adulthood, only her husband had ever had eyes that sparkled like stars, the brightest stars on the grassland, from the very first time he saw her.

Behind them, Yuan Zhen gestured vigorously towards Yuan Zhi with his chin: "Quickly ask him what's wrong?"
Yuan Zhi didn't understand either, so he came over and said, "He's a rough man who doesn't know how to talk, just ignore him."

Zhao Zhi: "I dare not. The common people dare not fight against the officials. Please trouble the governor to tell the garrison commander that last time I slapped him until he cried, he was worried that something would happen to my daughter and he was anxious. He will not dare to lay a hand on the garrison commander in the future."

"Huh." It turns out they misunderstood "shedding tears" as "shedding tears after fanning oneself." Yuan Zhi, struggling to suppress a laugh, quickly pointed to the mountainside and asked, "Are we waiting until dark to charge over?"

He had never led troops into battle, and Yuan Zhen was in charge of defense in Wuchuan Town, so he was no match for Zhao Zhi's experience in open-field warfare against the Rouran. Yuan Zhi only knew that since the fifteenth year of Taihe, the main military force of the Rouran had been the Gaoche in the west, which was why he made this agreement with Zhao Zhi to lead his elite warriors from Junji Mountain to the deeper Zhuoxie Mountain under the pretext of a great hunt, so as to launch a surprise attack on the Rouran from behind.

Zhao Zhi shook her head: "No. If these Rouran herdsmen are soldiers, we will fight a fierce battle, which would be too much of a loss."

“The brave warrior is right. They can’t migrate in a day or two, so we don’t need to rush.” Yuan Zhen agreed. He increasingly admired Zhao Zhi’s talent; she was skilled in martial arts and not reckless. He gestured with his chin again and quietly asked Yuan Zhi, “What do you think about doing me a favor and having her come to Wuchuan as the garrison commander?”

Yuan Zhi extended his right palm.

"You want five hundred warhorses?! That's too many."

“I’ll slap you! Let’s get down to business. Find more people and surround that part of the mountain.”

Xi Jiao, Zhou Tai, Yuan Zizhi, and many other imperial princes were also trekking through the mountains. By chance, they were not far from the governor's troops high up in the mountains.

Wei Yao and her fellow disciples arrived at the Junji Mountain camp. The camp was in chaos. Those who had arrived earlier were setting up their felt tents. The military officer in charge of the camp informed the various tribes that they were not allowed to cut down trees with axes, not to light fires outside their tents at night, and not to dig stoves to cook until the scouts ahead sent back news.

There were several streams inside and outside the camp. Wei Mao asked, "Who will wash the horses?"

Confucius came looking for him and said to his disciples, "While it's still light, sit down and catch up on the lessons you've missed."

If one can listen to renowned scholars discuss poetry, why would Wei Mao need to wash horses?

The first poem that all the disciples had to learn was "Fu Tian" from the "Qi Feng" section. Wei Yao, Kong Mi, and Guo Yun had all memorized it before setting off, but the latter two were ashamed. They had been too playful these days and now only remembered the poem's preface and verses, having forgotten most of the annotations and Zheng Jian's commentary.

As the sun set, night quickly enveloped the foot of the mountain.

Wei Yao and Wei Mao arrived at the stream. Since they met, they had been rushing on their way, and tonight was the first time they had calmed down and talked.

"Are you sure your head injury is all healed?"

"It's all better now. Even I was terrified by the military exercise that night. How did you manage to observe so many clues?"

Wei Yao first looked worried and sighed, "I've been forced into a corner," then laughed and said, "Hehe, I was just kidding. I'm not that good. When we were running away, I saw someone waving at us from inside the yurt."

"That's when I realized something was wrong. Was it safe to hide in the felt tent? Why were there no sharp weapons in any of the fighting pairs of soldiers? Not to mention the equipment of the Wuchuan Town soldiers, which I don't know much about, but what about the ring-pommel swords of our Pingcheng soldiers? I didn't see a single one of them using them."

"Also, apart from the fake Rouran soldiers using arrows when they stormed into the camp, I never saw either side shoot or kill anyone with arrows after they entered the camp. Besides, don't they curse and swear when they fight?" Wei Mao was amused by this: "Right, I don't fight silently. I always have to take a moment to curse a few times to vent my anger."

Wei Yao: "When those villains finally caught up with us and mocked us, I deduced from their words that they were definitely not Rouran people."

"You understand Rouran? Did your father teach you?"

“I don’t understand. But they’re pretending so poorly, just repeating the same few words over and over again.”

Her laughter blended with the sound of the stream, tinkling and flowing into Wei Mao's heart. He thought, how wonderful it would be if she could always be by his side, talking to him.

Pingcheng, Cui Academy.

The first batch of pageboys in the choir consisted of forty people, including twenty-five boys and fifteen girls. The girls had only one room, and after being ordered to extinguish the candles and rest, how could they, being so young, simply go to sleep?

Xu Jiaoqing turned to the side, placed her hand on Hu Wuwu's arm, and asked, "Have you memorized all of today's lecture content?"

The daily tasks of the pageboys were already set: they would rise early with the female teacher in the morning, who would chant Buddhist scriptures while the pageboys copied poems. After breakfast, they would all attend the main lectures, and in the afternoon they would practice chanting and do some chores. After dinner, the pageboys could arrange their own time, either reviewing their lessons or playing in the courtyard. They had to go to sleep by the end of the 7 PM.

Hu Wuwu pretended to be about to fall asleep and hummed, "No." He couldn't say that he had memorized it, otherwise the charming young lady would definitely make him recite it.

"Oh. By the way, I heard something. A lot of people are saying that Ms. Zhang is pretending to be high and mighty and is deliberately making things difficult for us."

The maidservant lying behind Xu Jiaoqing, surnamed Yu, was a daughter of the magistrate of Yonggu County. She chimed in, "She did it on purpose. This afternoon, she suddenly asked me if the storeroom had been cleaned. I said she hadn't told me, but she insisted that she had and that I hadn't listened carefully. It made me so angry!"

Miss Xin from the Gaoliu County Magistrate's household also joined in: "She also scolded me. Once, she just told me to organize the storeroom, and I categorized it according to my own ideas. As a result, she was not satisfied, and then I said... Why didn't the female teacher say so earlier?"

Xu Jiaoqing: "What did she reply to you?"

"She told me to go back and look in the mirror, to see what's under my nose."

Xu Jiaoqing: "There's nothing under your nose."

Unable to stand her foolish companion, Hu Wuwu pulled her close and whispered, "The mouth grows under the nose."

Xu Jiaoqing was furious: "So she was implying that you have a mouth under your nose but don't know how to ask her!"

Hu Wuwu covered his face with a blanket.

Ms. Xin's voice choked with emotion: "But I didn't realize it at the time! I only found out later by asking others. She made me look in the mirror for so long, like an idiot. Couldn't she just tell me directly, so I could ask her if I didn't understand something in the future? Besides, she was scolding me in front of so many men."

Dang, Dang!

There was a knock on the door twice, and Zhang Wenzhi scolded from outside: "You must be asleep by 7 p.m., why are you still making noise?"

Garrison Commander: The officer in charge of a border garrison, who has the authority to command troops and defend the border. There are two garrison commanders: the garrison commander and the deputy garrison commander. The garrison commander is equivalent to a prefecture-level official.

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(End of this chapter)