History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 153 The Bookstore is Investigated
"Wei Mao—Wei Mao, come over here." In the distance, Cui Shang and Zheng Zun, who had just met, called out to their friend in unison.

Wei Mao was overjoyed and leaped onto a horse, galloping towards his companions. The main reason for his good mood was the few times Wei Yao had pinched and kicked him during the military drill. Wei Yao was always very cautious; she wouldn't lay a hand on anyone else, which showed that she treated him differently.

The harder you pinch him, the more different it becomes!
"Haha, giddy up—"

Conversely, Xi Jiao, the main force behind Team B's victory, felt depressed and unhappy despite winning the military exercise. He saw Wei Yao and hesitated whether to discuss stopping the rumors with her now. However, he then saw Yuan Jingrong beside Wei Yao, who was unreasonable and only knew how to fight. So Xi Jiao gave up and decided to talk to Wei Yao in detail later that night or the next day when he had some free time.

The military exercise site needed to be repaired and would reopen in the afternoon. The students no longer gathered there. After Wei Yao and Guo Yun and the others gathered, they each found a horse and rode towards the lecture hall of the Classic of Filial Piety.

There were two teachers who lectured on the Classic of Filial Piety. One was a teacher from the Cui family, and the other teacher, surnamed Lu, was invited by Director Cui from Yangping County.

Behind the teacher, a crimson gauze curtain was set up, and on the desk, a bundle of straw was used instead of a ruler, symbolizing "passing on the torch under the crimson curtain".

To the left and right of the lecturer's seat were two desks each. On the left sat Gou, the chief clerk of the prefectural government, and Cui Xian, the head of the Cui Academy. On the right sat Yi Pensheng, the head of the state academy, and Kong Wenzhong, a great Confucian scholar of the Cui Academy.

Ibon's grandfather was one of the Three Dukes during his lifetime.

Behind Kong Wenzhong were three more seats. Cui Zhi was already seated there. After Wei Yao came over, her senior brother Kong Yi led her to sit down.

Previously, people spread rumors that Wei Yao had become a student of Kong Wenzhong, a famous scholar from Lu County. Some people did not believe it because of Wei Yao's background, while others did not believe it out of jealousy. All of these people believed that it was a misrepresentation and that Wei Yao was merely a disciple of the Xunyi Academy.

Today, it is equivalent to Kong Wenzhong publicly announcing three direct disciples.

Closer to home.

In the morning, Master Lu gave the first lecture on the *Classic of Filial Piety*, specifically the version with commentary by Kong Anguo. Upon hearing it was the *Classic of Filial Piety* in its ancient form, everyone who had read it before fell into deep silence!
There are two reasons: First, this classic differs from the currently circulating "Classic of Filial Piety." When it was discovered at the end of the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the content of the classic was entirely written in ancient script from the pre-Qin period. Second, Kong Anguo was a respected Confucian scholar, and his works were already few in number, especially in the Wei Dynasty due to the war.

Therefore, what Master Lu is about to explain is Kong Anguo's "Ancient Text Commentary on the Classic of Filial Piety", not Master Lu's analysis of the "Classic of Filial Piety". The difference between these two is significant.

Under the vast sky and amidst the gentle breeze, Master Lu began his narration of the Classic of Filial Piety with the phrase, "Confucius was at home, and Zengzi was in attendance."

Each of Wei Yao, Cui Zhi, and Kong Ji had a pageboy responsible for grinding ink and tidying up the paper. The pageboy assisting Wei Yao was Xu Jiaoqing, the daughter of the Pingcheng magistrate. At this moment, Miss Xu was serious and humble. She quietly watched Wei Yao quickly taking notes and felt ashamed once again for her previous frivolous words and actions that had looked down on Miss Wei.

The lectures would continue until early noon. Since the audience included not only students but also ordinary people eager to learn, Master Lu would randomly select three students every two quarters of an hour to ask them questions.

During the question-and-answer session, Xi Jiao looked at Wei Yao. The scene of the first time he saw her at Cui Academy flashed through his mind. At that time, she was with Lu Baozhen. The more cheerful the latter was, the more reserved Wei Yao seemed. How long had it been since then? She was now qualified to sit in front of a thousand people, with a dignified and composed demeanor.

How dare that wicked Fei Ming slander and defame such a beautiful young lady behind her back!
Xi Jiao finally made up her mind this time, even if her father complained, she would still beat Fei Ming to death.

The person who most wanted to kill Fei Ming, and who was determined to kill Fei Ming this time, was Wei Mao.

After Master Lu answered the first scholar's question, Wei Mao informed his two friends, then left the crowd and headed straight back to the city from the ranch. Since Xi Jiao helped investigate Du Ling's plot against Master Duan, Wei Mao was grateful to Xi Jiao. Even though he knew that the scoundrel Fei Ming was working as a servant at the Dongyue Flower Shop on Zhuji Street, he pretended it never happened and forgave all the evil deeds the scoundrel had committed in the past.

But not this time. Even if it means making an enemy of Xi Jiao, Wei Mao will definitely take this scoundrel's life!
But when he arrived at Zhuji Street in a fit of rage, he learned that today was a day of strict government inspection. Not only had Feiming been arrested, but all the idlers in the former market had also been arrested. The government had also searched and taken away all the forbidden books of the genre, such as those about romance and the supernatural, and those about prophecy, from all the bookstores in the eastern part of the city!

The shopkeeper was sweating profusely with anxiety when he saw Wei Mao enter. He was surprised and asked, "I just sent a servant to the pasture, and you're already back, young master?"

Upon seeing the books scattered and all the book boxes open, Wei Mao immediately understood and asked, "Have the books of the island barbarians been seized?"

"They've all been taken by the guards. They even left a message telling you, sir, to go to the prefectural government office in the next few days if you have time, otherwise they'll arrest us all for questioning and shut down our shops!" The shopkeeper went outside to look around, then came back and lowered his voice, saying, "This time, the prefectural government isn't just investigating the properties of our Wei family, but also the properties of Minister Xi Jian. Sir, think about it, have you done anything recently that offended Governor Yuan, or any important official in the prefectural government?"

Wei Mao shook his head in confusion. Huangfu Jing's sudden and mysterious death had linked his fate with that of Governor Yuan. Besides, he was in Hengzhou; how could he dare offend the highest-ranking official in the prefecture? That's right, Huangfu Jing, the Hu family! Could it be... that Father replied to Governor Yuan? And was Governor Yuan dissatisfied with the content of his reply?

Around noon, a servant of the Xi family finally found Xi Jiao through someone and informed him that their ink shop and flower shop had been investigated by the government, and that Fei Ming had been arrested.

So Xi Jiao hurriedly left the ranch and rushed to Zhuji Street in the east of the city. The shopkeeper of the ink shop relayed Wei Mao's words, and after Xi Jiao briefly understood the situation, he met up with Wei Mao and went to the governor's mansion together.

Wei Mao was extremely anxious, not because he had lost the business, but because he was afraid that if he arrived too late, the authorities would find out that "the island barbarians had no roots" was actually Master Wei, which would be troublesome!
When the two arrived outside the government office, Governor Yuan was indeed in the backyard. However, Yuan Zhi was still angry and didn't want to see the Xi and Wei families. He was tapping on a letter from Wei Yi, a minor official, which contained only three words: Shameless!

Yuan Zhi snorted, indignant: "Who's shameless? We're all tied to the same rope. If I'm shameless, then who's shameless?"

Registrar Gou also returned. Today, the government's crackdown on the markets was more severe than before, so he couldn't stay at the ranch any longer. Upon arriving at the yamen gate, he saw Wei Mao and Xi Jiao being blocked, and then went through another gate into the backyard.

Yuan Zhi pointed to the various boxes and chests in the courtyard and said with disgust, "In the ninth year of the Taihe reign, His Majesty strictly prohibited any magic arts outside of the records in the Three Tombs and Five Classics, and strictly prohibited the sale of books that falsely claimed to be prophetic and predicted good or bad fortune. However, the pursuit of profit has blinded people's minds, and the ban has been repeatedly lifted! Look, look at how many there are!"

Registrar Gou immediately admitted his mistake: "It was my oversight, and I will definitely investigate it thoroughly in the future. As for... those strange tales of the island barbarians without roots?"

"Ahem." Yuan Zhi glared at the soldiers and whispered, "They've all been searched. Ahem, the writing is quite good."

"hey-hey."

"hey-hey."

After the two officials finished laughing lewdly, Yuan Zhi handed a brocade pouch to Chief Clerk Gou and urged, "I'll show you something else good. Open it and take a look."

The Three Tombs and Five Classics: The works of ancient sages.

Fangji: A general term for medical prescriptions, divination techniques, etc.

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(End of this chapter)