History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 52 Grasshoppers and Crickets, Coming and Going

The next day at noon, at the Xunyi Academy.

After Guo Fuzi finished lecturing on "Gathering Kudzu," he informed his disciples that they would have a day off the next day. Wei Yao was delighted, thinking that they wouldn't be given a day off this month. The study of the Book of Poetry is different from the study of the Analects and the Erya. The academy needs to ensure the continuity of learning one poem every two days, so it will adjust the day off appropriately, bringing it forward or backward, depending on the progress of learning the poems.

In the afternoon, they still had to practice reciting poems. Seeing that Wei Yao was still engrossed in her studies and showed no sign of leaving, Guo Yun asked curiously, "Fellow disciple Yao, aren't you going back to Tingxing Courtyard?"

"Tingxingyuan" was the large courtyard where the Xianbei girls stayed. Cui Xueguan did not name the courtyard. One day, Yuan Jingrong, who liked to climb high, climbed to a high place and found that a corner of the courtyard protruded from the four sides, looking down like a pavilion. So she named it that, and it quickly became known throughout the school.

Wei Yao replied, "Walking back and forth would waste time. The Master talked a lot today, and I want to go over it again from the beginning."

Cui Zhi, Kong Mi, and Cui Shang all stopped at the door. Cui Shang asked, "So, what are you having for lunch?"

Feeling cared for, Wei Yao smiled and took out a flatbread box to show her fellow disciple: "I took extra wheat cakes when I left this morning." The fire-tending maid named Chaoxi had also prepared two kinds of pickled vegetables for her.

Cui Zhi and the other two felt ashamed! Many people in the academy praised Yao for her extraordinary talent and memory, but no one praised her for her perseverance and diligence.

From that day on, more and more students at the Xunyi School arrived early and left late, competing with each other while also encouraging one another. When the news reached the headmaster, he immediately ordered a kitchen shed to be built at the Xunyi School.

This is a later story.

At half past 1:00 PM, there was a path through a bamboo grove.

Five female officials arrived early, having prepared many items described in the poem, including coarse cloth winter clothes, farming tools such as hoes and plows, mulberry leaves and white wormwood for feeding silkworms, axes for splitting trees, sickles for cutting grass, bamboo baskets of various sizes, wine jars, granaries, as well as piglets and lambs.

Mulberry leaves, granaries, pigs and sheep, etc., were all sewn from cloth. Wei Yao picked up a mulberry leaf and shook it. She didn't know what was inside, but it made a "rustling" sound.

Starting today, Liu Fuzi's two tamed parrots, "Youlai" and "Youqu," will also be rehearsing together. Their bodies are stained green with vegetable juice and have a few dangling insect legs stuck to them, making them the grasshopper and cricket from the poem, respectively.

Wei Yao listened to the parrot's speech and learned that the one who shouted "Run!" on the day of the bumblebee infestation was called "You Lai," and the one who shouted "Don't run, you wicked thing!" on the day of the stolen paper was called "You Qu."

After Yuan Heng and Wei Yao finished playing with the parrot, he also went over to coax the two birds into talking.

"Youlai" stared at Yuan Heng and spoke in human language: "Who just went into the house? Run, run!"

"Huh—" Why does that sound so familiar? Yuan Heng deliberately poked at the bird's "grasshopper" leg again.

Youlai was very agitated, and his voice grew louder as he shouted, "Who is it! Who did this, huh?"

At this moment, not to mention Yuan Heng, even Wei Yao suspected that it wasn't Master Liu who was angry in the courtyard on the day the questions were stolen, but rather "Youlai" calling out.

Yuan Ning nudged Yuan Heng's shoulder and said, "You're acting strange. Why haven't you bothered that crybaby these past two days? You've even been avoiding her a bit."

"It's none of your business!"

After the governor of Yuan made fun of his nephew that day, he sent someone with a real reply. In the letter, he instructed Yuan Heng to practice reciting poetry diligently and cherish the opportunity to study in the Cui clan. If he continued to be unruly, he would have Yuan Heng become a disciple of Wei Yao! Since he could not be a direct disciple of Confucius, he could at least be a direct grand-disciple!
Yuan Heng had no choice but to give in, hoping that the first day of next month would come soon so that Wei Yao could return to her Wei Academy.

Closer to home.

After patiently waiting for the students to look at all the objects, Chen Shushi called out, "Young men and women, stand in the four teams that were assigned beforehand. We will distribute the objects and then sing poems. While you are singing, you can perform the objects in your hands. After the break, we will teach you the formal dance positions and movements."

Four female servants were in charge of distributing the leaves, and Zhang handed Wei Yao her favorite rustling mulberry leaves.

The female students all received small items, except for Hu Ertiao, who was assigned a set of winter clothes.

"I don't want this!" Hu Ertiao threw the winter clothes back to Zhang. "Then, then..." Zhang turned around to ask Chen Shushi what to do. The winter clothes were quite heavy, so she let the tall and strong Hu Ertiao take them.

However, they misunderstood. Hu Ertiao impatiently shoved Zhang aside, strode over to the boys, and snatched the axe from Kong Mi's hand. "Hmph, why should the young lady get the winter clothes? Anyway, in my own home, I've never seen my mother sew winter clothes!"

Kong Mi didn't think anything of it, but his beloved eldest grandson Zhi was not happy. "Hu Erdian, what are you doing? Give it back to him!"

Changsun Zhi tried to snatch the axe, but Hu Ertiao refused. Seeing that he couldn't get it back, Changsun Zhi got angry and tried to grab Qiu Ruizhi's basket, throwing the basket at Hu Ertiao.

"I'll kill you!"

Yuan Zizhi cried out "Ouch!" and shouted for those around him to break up the fight.

Wei Yao's group was the furthest from the fighting area, and she heard Guo Yun say helplessly, "These people never stop fighting."

Cui Ying: "I'm so curious how lively the Eighth Branch Library must be every day. Ah Yun, have you ever been to the State University?"

"I've been there, but I haven't been since it was divided into the old and new sections."

Wei Yao was a little distracted. In her previous life, she had followed Xi Jiao to the state academy many times. Xi Jiao also often came to Wei Academy. When he was traveling between Pingcheng and Luoyang, he would only send his servant Fei Ming to deliver messages to her. Now that she thought about it, were all those messages instructed by Xi Jiao?
"Alright, is there anything you'd like to say about the distributed items? Shall we begin the hymns?"

Wei Yao stopped thinking and looked at Chen Shushi, who was seeking her advice.

Alas, the five female historians did little to break up the fight, yet they were badly injured. Chen Shushi, in particular, had several marks on her face oozing blood, but her voice remained steady and composed, and one could not discern her distress from her tone alone.

The axe was still in Hu Ertiao's hands. In order to sing the poem as soon as possible, Kong Mi shared a set of winter clothes with Changsun Zhiping.

Because the objects were switched, the original singing order had to be changed. The first verse of "July" was still sung by the children, and the three idle teams burst into laughter. One laughed at Kong Mi's action of sewing winter clothes, and the second laughed at Hai Yeren's off-key singing while wielding a hoe.

Chen Shushi did not call a halt, and Wei Yao's second group immediately followed.

"In July, the scorching sun sets; in September, clothes are given out. The spring sun shines brightly, and orioles sing. Women carry their fine baskets, following the narrow paths, seeking tender mulberry leaves..."

The third verse was originally intended to be sung by the boys, but due to a change in the axe-bearer, it was changed to be sung by the fourth team, including Hu Ertiao: "The fire star sets in July, reeds grow in August. In the silkworm month, mulberry branches are trimmed, and the axe is taken..."

Another joke occurred in the fifth chapter. This poem contains the characters "grasshopper" and "cricket." "Youqu," playing the role of "cricket," followed the instructions of the animal slave and circled above the students. However, the parrot, playing the role of "grasshopper," flew onto the cloth "pig" held up by Yuan Heng and excitedly shouted along with the song, "You wicked child, something terrible has happened! Run, run!"

Fortunately, because it was a day off the next day, today's chaotic hymn practice only lasted for about an hour.

Wei Yao hurried back to Tingxing Courtyard to gather her notes, taking nothing else. As she walked quickly to the outside of the hall, her mother came to pick her up, just as she had expected.

"Strange, who planted a pomegranate tree there?"

Hearing the murmurs, Zhao Zhi and her daughter looked over and, sure enough, a pomegranate tree had appeared under the outer wall of Cui Academy, which wasn't there when Wei Yao came on the seventeenth.

惭恧 (nǜ): meaning ashamed or embarrassed.

　斧斨(qiāng): 斨 refers to the square hole on an axe for attaching the handle.

Sorry, sorry, the second update is late again today.

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(End of this chapter)