History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 102 Poetry Lectures in the Countryside
Yuan Xiaolang tried to put out fires on both sides, grabbing Zong Yin and pulling his companion up to the ditch. He whispered, "Forget it, just bear with it for now. Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake."

Thud, thud—Yuan Heng felt that the one muttering was the most cunning, so he threw two handfuls of dirt at the other person.

Unable to bear it any longer, Yuan Yi glared and raised his eyebrows: "Damn it..."

"Don't be impulsive." Zong Yin hugged his waist tightly.

Yuan Yi tapped Yuan Heng twice with his finger, then swallowed his anger.

"Cowards." Yuan Heng made a throat-slitting gesture at the three of them. He disliked Wei Yao and her fellow Han scholars, but outside, he was bound to these annoying guys. How could he allow these good-for-nothing scoundrels from Luoyang to provoke him so easily, treating them like female students of their academy!
On the other side, Yuan Jingrong shoved the whip into Wei Yao's hand and instructed her with a fierce look: "If that person bothers you again, do this—" She made a whipping motion.

Wei Yao nodded and gestured vigorously.

Guo Yun turned her head to the side, trying not to laugh.

Yuan Jingrong laughed in exasperation: "Are you tickling me?!"

Wei Yao gestured again: "I'll learn it with more practice, Miss Yuan. Thank you for helping me out earlier."

"Hmm." Yuan Jingrong sat on the carriage floor, her back to Wei Yao and the others. After swinging her legs leisurely for a few moments, she suddenly burst into song: "The scorching heat of July, the time for winter clothes to be given out in September..."

Wei Yao and Guo Yun exchanged a smile and sang together: "On the first day, the wind howled; on the second day..."

“Li Lie, without clothes or coarse garments, how will you survive the year…” Liu Zhenzhu and Kong Mi followed suit.

Yuan Zizhi began, adding a balanced rhythm to the otherwise purely female singing: "On the third day, she took up her plow; on the fourth day, she lifted her toes..."

Next, Yuan Heng also began to sing, and all the students who knew the poem joined in on the second stanza of "July." Even some farmers in the fields knew the poem, though their melody was different from the students'.

Confucius was very interested and ordered, "Go, whoever memorizes the tune quickly, go find the person and learn the tune. It's just in time, we've been walking for a while, let's all rest here."

Yuan Fan exclaimed, "As expected of a century-old capital, it's a place of outstanding people and abundant resources. Let's make it clear first, you have to teach me both kinds of music."

"Wei Yao learns music the fastest!" Several people said at the same time. Wei Yao's four female disciples had already rushed down the dam ditch hand in hand. Wei Yao turned around and shouted, "Yuan girl, hurry up, come here!"

"Tch, a bunch of cowards trying to embolden me." Despite her complaints, Yuan Jingrong still chased after them.

Hu Wu walked up to the three dejected Zong Yin boys and asked softly, "Which academy are you from?"

Feng Xing replied to her, "We are from Luoyang."

"Oh." So there's no school to attend then. Hu Wuwu concealed his disdain and asked, "I'm going to Luoyang later. Is Luoyang more lively than Pingcheng?"

"It's much more lively now."

"But I heard there are very few schools there, is that true?"

“It’s only been a few years since the capital was moved; it will definitely surpass Pingcheng in the future,” Feng Xing replied again.

Hu Wuwu added, "You guys are quite brave; you actually fought with those imperial princes just now."

"Are they members of the imperial family?"

"Yes. Cui Academy never discriminates against a student's background. Whether they are noble like the imperial family or poor like that young lady from the Wei family, as long as they are willing to improve, Cui Academy treats them all equally." Hu Wuwu pointed towards the fields, his voice lowering, "the one with the worst clothing."

It's her! Zong Yin asked urgently, "Her surname is Yu? Which Yu?"

"Which Wei clan member are you referring to, the one from the lower ranks of the meritorious Wei family?"

Zong Yin was very displeased: "Are you so noble?"

Hu Wuwu's eyes immediately reddened.

Feng Xing felt a pang of pity and scolded his companion, "Why are you talking to the young lady like that? Ignore him. My surname is Feng, what's yours?" "Hmph!" Hu Wuwu pretended to be angry and left them. A group of people who had never even attended school, at most relatives of low-ranking officials in Luoyang, humph, they dared to ask her surname!
Zong Yin's gloom vanished, and he stood up to gaze at the fields. Her surname was Wei; he now knew it.

After learning the song, Wei Yao and the other four walked back along the ridges of the field. Two toads hopped across the road. Cui Wanwan was scared and wanted to wait for the toads to pass before she could cross. Yuan Jingrong got annoyed and yelled "Hey!" and kicked the toads away, mud and all.

The ditch was very steep. Kong Mi and Cui Shang pulled Wei Yao and the others up, but Yuan Jingrong didn't need to.

Gaoliu County is a hundred li away from Pingcheng, and it is impossible to reach it today. Confucius intended to train his disciples, so he stopped in the countryside at dusk and had his disciples learn from the servants how to make felt tents and dig earthen stoves.

At this moment, the effects of the anesthetic from Xue Zhixiao, the Tiger Warrior, wore off. He opened his eyes and it took him a while to recall why he was injured.

The prison warden guarding him, Shi Guanxian, quickly summoned the guards to find an official.

"where am I?"

Guan Xian: "In prison, there will be many cases to be tried these two days. The officers are often here, so it is safest for you to recuperate here."

"What time is it now?"

"I don't know. Judging by the timing of the anesthetic, it should be close to 5 PM."

After the bone was set, Xue Zhixiao cried out in pain, so Guan Xian had to give him a dose of medicine.

The registrar has arrived.

Xue Zhixiao asked, "What about the soldier who injured me? Since this is a competition, don't punish him just because he injured me."

"Don't worry about these things, just focus on recovering."

Where is Zhao Xiu?

"Went to stroll around the market."

“You must find someone to keep an eye on him and prevent him from harming innocent civilians and damaging the Crown Prince’s reputation.”

"rest assured."

"Where is Governor Yuan?"

"I'm with Zhao Xiu. If Warrior Xue has anything to discuss with me, you can."

Xue Zhixiao's attempts to test the waters backfired, and he angrily closed his eyes. He was most dissatisfied with Governor Yuan, who simply couldn't distinguish between what was important and what was not. Zhao Xiu didn't even know what the Crown Prince had instructed him to do, so what was the point of him accompanying him!
The bright moon shines everywhere.

At the entrance of Chiyang Lane in Dongsifang, Niulangjun hesitated. Cui Weng was ill and often delirious, the only words he uttered were repeated names like "Wei Yin". He pressed his servant E Xun for answers and learned that Wei Yin was a teacher at Wei Academy, and then found out that the Wei family lived in this lane.

Why would Old Cui be so concerned about a man surnamed Wei?
E Xun said he only knew that "Master Wei was the old man's knot in his heart." What kind of knot in his heart? After it was untied, would the old man's health improve?

After thinking for a moment, Niu Langjun decided to leave. He couldn't risk knocking on the Wei family's door looking for someone; Wei Yin might not be willing to go with him to visit Old Master Cui, otherwise E Xun would have come looking for him long ago. So he had to figure out a way to create an opportunity to get to know Wei Yin. Some scholars were straightforward; perhaps a few words of praise and a few cups of wine would be enough to find out the other person's relationship with Old Master Cui.

The countryside was even brighter under the moonlight.

The village head of the place where the students were sleeping came with a dozen or so neighborhood children. Tonight was the first night of the poetry lecture, and the poet was Cui Zhi. The lecturer was explaining the first poem in the "Zheng Feng" section, "Zi Yi".

This collection contains twenty-one poems, corresponding to the twenty-one disciples of the Xunyi Academy. Wei Yao, the fastest writer, was responsible for taking notes, which would later be compared with the notes given by the Master to see if anything had been omitted. Confucius allowed his disciples to add their own interpretations beyond what he provided, but it was already difficult enough to simply recite from the notes and answer a child's question; to extend the teaching further was even more challenging.

Zong Yin had no interest in poetry. He kept tiptoeing, but he couldn't see the girl he admired no matter what he did. The only tree nearby was occupied by that wicked girl. What could he do? Yuan Yi had a solution. He and Feng Xing took turns carrying Zong Yin on their shoulders.

"did you see?"

I'm doing part-time writing and can't stay up all night anymore, so I'm adjusting my update schedule for April. The first update will be at noon, but I'll still be updating twice a day. Please forgive me.

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(End of this chapter)