History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 116 Questioning Wei Yao

“Listen to this, when someone is guilty, they just spout nonsense. You… are not a scholar!” Erzhu Rong said this last sentence, turning to Hu Wuwu and laughing with his hands on his hips.

A wise woman doesn't suffer losses in front of her. Hu Wuwu walked out of the stone pavilion first, then threw down the words "I'll let you go," and then ran away.

But how could she outrun Erzhu Rong, who could climb mountains as easily as walking on flat ground!
"Ah!" Her hair was grabbed by the other person, who dragged her back into the pavilion, then lifted her legs and flipped her over the railing, causing her to fall into the fishpond.

"Ah—help, help!" The crow thrashed about, and the fish thrashed about too. Luckily, there were servants in the courtyard who immediately ran over and pulled her out. "He tried to kill me, sob... I'm going to sue him!"

"Go ahead and sue!" Erzhu Rong was more than happy that Cui Academy wouldn't accept him.

He swung his fist to scare Hu Wuwu: "This time I'll push you to feed the fish, next time I'll push you to feed the frogs! It's no fun, teacher, I'm tired of buying exam questions."

Erzhumaiti hoisted the young master onto his shoulder, humming a folk song of the Qihu tribe, and left the choir.

Hu Wuwu could hardly believe that the two had just left. Pointing at their retreating figures, she asked, "Why didn't you stop them? Pushing people into the water like that, doesn't your Cui Academy care?"

The servant who had picked her up the grasshopper last time explained awkwardly, "That student is Erzhu, a young master who has just entered the academy to study poetry. The headmaster only instructed us to serve this young master well."

Erzhu? Hu Wuwu understood. This brat must be a descendant of the Qihu chieftain. The Qihu are all rude barbarians who, relying on their past service to the founding emperor, received fiefdoms, gained horses and provisions, and even developed intelligence. Every year, they fawn over the court and bribe officials everywhere!

This brat's entry into Cui's school must have brought him countless benefits. She'll probably have to swallow this loss today.

Zhang Jiniang, the new female teacher of the choir, came over, wrapped Hu Wuwu in a thin blanket, and led him into his own resting room in the Buddhist hall. "Did you choke on water? Did you bump into anything? Perfect timing, here are some clothes I sewed for you before, but I haven't had time to give them to you yet. Here, change into them first."

"I didn't choke on water, I'm fine." Hu Wuwu shook her head, tears streaming down her face. She disliked Zhang Jiniang's poetry teaching, but Hu Wuwu always knew of Zhang's kind and honest heart; otherwise, she wouldn't have gone to such lengths to spread rumors about Zhang Wenzhi and urge Cui Academy to hire another female poetry teacher.

After changing his clothes, Hu Wuwu leaned on Zhang Jiniang's lap and said sadly, "Pingcheng is no good, the waters here are too deep. I want to go to Luoyang."

"Learn to swim when the water is deep, unless you can avoid water for the rest of your life."

"What you say is true. The waters of Luoyang are even deeper. I must borrow a river from the old capital to learn a life-saving swimming technique."

Zhang Jiniang gently advised, "You should still prioritize your studies. Only by being like a Kunpeng (a mythical bird), can you be unafraid of the deep sea or the high sky."

Hu Wuwu was stunned by these kind words. At that moment, she regretted letting her father break off the engagement with Master Zhang and leave him in Pingcheng.

The following day, a joint exam was held on the elementary school curriculum, covering both the Erya and the Analects.

As soon as the joint examination ended, Jie, who had recovered from his injury, went to see Governor Yuan through Xue Zhixiao, the Tiger General, and brought up again his matter of wanting to "meet" Zhang Wenzhi and the student Wei Yao separately.

"Please forgive me, Governor, but if this matter continues to be delayed, I will not be able to explain it to the Crown Prince when I return." Xue Zhixiao's attitude hardened.

"Brave Warrior Xue, how can I arrest people if you don't reveal anything? You should know my temper. Even if the Crown Prince were here today, I would say the same thing! As a governor, how can I break the law? I will not arrest people without cause!"

Xue Zhixiao silently considered the matter before saying, "I can only reveal that it is related to the abandoned warehouse of the Xi government office."

Yuan Zhi also pretended to think it over and said, "The officials under the Secretariat need to record the details of this joint examination. The study of the Book of Poetry has not yet been tested. How about this, let the students of Wei Xue take the test first, and I will give you a reply."

"But that will take several more days!" "Xue Huben, don't just think about the Crown Prince's Palace. You must know that revitalizing civil administration and restoring etiquette have always been His Majesty's top priorities!"

That same day, the conversation was relayed to Zhao Zhi by the registrar, Gou.

Wei Yao returned to the city at the end of the month. Zhao Zhi waited for her at the city gate and took her directly to the governor's mansion.

Besides the mother and daughter, the only other people present were Prefect Yuan and Registrar Gou.

Zhao Zhi said, "I've told my daughter the reason. You can ask her, but don't scare her."

With a broad smile, Clerk Gou asked Wei Yao, "Young lady, tell me in detail what you saw and encountered after you went to the Xi government office. Also, when you left the Xi government office, did that clerk Chen touch your luggage? After you returned home, were there any extra items in your luggage, such as books or paper?"

Wei Yao answered the second question first: "When I left the palace, Chen Shushi was afraid that I would take too many books and scrolls with me. I was afraid that she would frame me, so she thoroughly checked my belongings. During the process, I did not look away and was also on guard against her. I can confirm that everything I took was brought with me. I just copied some books that I had not read before."

Do you still remember which books you copied?

“I remember. The fragment of Gao Linggong’s ‘Ode to the Capital’, Zhang Huan’s ‘Letter to His Nephew’, the fragment of Gao Cishi’s ‘Records of Yan’, and notes on some elegant poems from the ‘Classic of Poetry’. I’ve looked through all the other books and scrolls in the storeroom; they’re all notes on the ‘Classic of Poetry’ written by palace women. I didn’t copy them.”

Clerk Gou continued, "Have you noticed any inscriptions on the walls of the storerooms or anything like that?"

Wei Yao answered decisively: "No, I even lifted the mat on the ground. There are no words on the walls or the floor. There are no desks, no jars, no windows in the entire storeroom. The door panels only have normal scratches inside and out. I also went through the outer wall at the back of the storeroom, and there were no words there either."

This was strange. The registrar Gou and the prefect Yuan looked at each other, their eyes filled with confusion.

Wei Yao recalled, "I also went to other storerooms. Chen Shushi allowed me to enter the fifth one. Chen Shushi had initially opened the third and fourth rooms, which contained cloth."

The two officials perked up and listened patiently.

"I was unwilling to have come to the old palace for nothing, so while the ladies-in-waiting were away, I opened the sixth room with the broken lock and the last two rooms."

"The sixth room was the bedroom of Ms. Zhang, who was in charge of the warehouse area. Ms. Zhang is now Zhang Wenzhi, the female teacher of the Cui Academy Poetry Society. This room was messy, but there were no books. Similarly, there were no words on the walls or the floor."

"The last room is the feed storage, which contains only old grain and hay."

"The second to last room was the kitchen. There were many books and bamboo slips that were used as firewood. I found some useful ones and put them all in a discarded wooden box. I dragged them back to the fifth storeroom to copy them. The fragments of Governor Gao's 'Yan Zhi' and the notes on the elegant poems of the 'Classic of Poetry' written by the female historian were all found in this kitchen."

Wei Yao let out a soft hiss. She had already begun to suspect something and said, "There are four sets of wooden tablets in the discarded wooden box, interlocked in pairs. I have seen the contents."

Yuan Zhi and the registrar asked simultaneously, "What is it?"

Wei Yao truthfully recounted the contents, as well as how she added words to the wooden slips and then stuffed all four sets of wooden slips into the stove.

The registrar couldn't sit still any longer and guessed, "The strange thing might lie in these four sets of wooden slips. I have a way to try!"

(End of this chapter)