Chapter 1175: Plan

Little Fu’s eyes darted around, then he looked up and shouted, “Fourth Aunt, leave this to us.”

Mu Yangling looked at the three children who wanted to see the world in chaos. Thinking of their grievances, she agreed. After they left, Mu Yangling said to Spring, “Keep an eye on them personally. As long as they don’t destroy the manuscripts, just leave them be.”

If they didn’t allow these brats to seek revenge, they would probably cause a ruckus at the home of the owner of these manuscripts.

Mu Yangling did not want such a commotion to happen before The Lily Times was even started.

Mu Yangling thought that the matter would be resolved by putting up a sign outside the King’s Residence, but that wasn’t the case. In just three days, not only did the gatekeeper of the King’s Residence obtain countless manuscripts, but he also received stacks of invitations or calling cards. After the King’s Residence threatened to burn the manuscripts if they continued to throw them in, no one dared to throw them in anymore. However, they began to look for the servants of the King’s Residence to pass their manuscripts to.

Because they felt that with so many people submitting their manuscripts, who knew when Queen Consort Rong would see it if they placed it in the wooden box? Of course, they had to find another way.

While most of the manuscripts were submitted for The Lily Times, there were invitations and calling cards from both men and women.

As the Publisher of the newspaper office had yet to be confirmed, many people were interested. The people who had invited Mu Yangling in the beginning were the daughters-in-law or madams. Later on, when they saw that Mu Yangling had declined, they could only send the invitations in the name of the matriarch. Seeing that Mu Yangling still had not replied, the men could only invite her in their own names. In order to increase their bargaining chips, they would even add prefixes to their names.

For example, Crown Prince’s Grand Tutor Fang Zhiyuan, Pine Mountain Academy’s Lin Weide, Fanyang[1.an ancient commandery of China]’s Lu Liang.

The former was to show off their status through official positions. Lin Weide was a great scholar and a doctorate of the Pine Mountain Academy. Holding high prestige among the Jiangnan scholars, he wanted to emphasize his fame to stand out. As for the latter, the Lu family of Fanyang was a renowned aristocratic family.

These men’s aim was to compete for the position of Publisher at the newspaper office, while the other ladies’ and madams’ invitation cards were targeted at The Lily Times.

Of course, they didn’t want to work in The Lily Times. They just wanted to ask if and when their submission could be published in The Lily Times.

Coincidentally, Lin Weide’s mother, Old Madam Lin, had also sent an invitation to Mu Yangling. While Mu Yangling could ignore other people’s invitations, she could not ignore Old Madam Lin’s.

The Lin family was not an aristocratic family, but they were a family of prestigious scholars. His father used to be the Minister of Rites of the previous dynasty, but he resigned after escaping south with the Imperial Court. However, he was as famous as Grand Tutor Yan of the previous dynasty, and his reputation among the scholars was only inferior to Grand Tutor Yan.

As the top scorer in Jingyan’s 12th year, Lin Weide was even more impressive than his batchmate Yan Du, who was only a list leader in the palace examination.

However, he was not like Yan Du. After becoming the top scholar, he fulfilled his father’s expectations and became a traveling student instead of becoming an official.

As he traveled and studied, he took in disciples along the way. In Jingyan’s 25th year, he returned to the capital to teach at the Pine Mountain Academy. It could be said that he had students all over the world. Therefore, he was very famous among the Jiangnan scholars, even more so than Yan Du, Lu Liang, among others.

In the third year of Taikang, Qi Xiuyuan had personally gone to the Pine Mountain Academy to invite him to become an official, but he did not agree. After asking again, he still did not agree. After declining three times, he simply disappeared.

Whether Qi Xiuyuan was angry or not, Mu Yangling did not know. However, Qi Haoran did get mad. After this incident, Lin Weide’s reputation soared even higher.

It couldn’t be helped. Although most of the people in the world had the common desire to become an official, they all yearned to be extraordinary and revered people who could resist the temptation of fame and fortune.

Back then, during the new year, Qi Xiuyuan simply conferred his mother, Old Madam Lin, as a first-rank Lady of the Imperial Command for having taught her son well. Therefore, Old Madam Lin was also famous in Jiangnan.

She had already sent an invitation to Mu Yangling once for her son, but Mu Yangling did not respond. If she still did not respond this time, she would be regarded as putting on airs. Even if she was Queen Consort Rong, she would probably be criticized by others. After all, the mouths of those scholars were not for show.

Hence, while she could refuse others, she could not turn down Old Madam Lin’s invitation.

Mu Yangling simply found Little Madam Xia to accompany her.

Little Madam Xia was also very vexed these few days. “After you announced that you were starting The Lily Times, I’ve received piles of invitations.”

Everyone in the capital knew that King Rong’s estate was not good at socializing, but were also aware that Queen Consort Rong was chummy with Little Madam Xia and the Empress.

As the Empress had a high status and lived in the palace, they had no choice but to go to the gentle and amiable Little Madam Xia. Those who were on good terms with Little Madam Xia directly went to beg her to help put in a good word. Those who were not on good terms with her also sent invitations to Little Madam Xia’s residence to build up a relationship first.

Mu Yangling was used to being reserved. After closing the door, she was the only one who knew if she actually responded to the invitations. However, Little Madam Xia’s image to outsiders had always been gentle and amiable. Considering there were close acquaintances among them, how could she keep rejecting them?

Hence, she was even busier than Mu Yangling during this period of time, and naturally hoped that the matter of The Lily Times would be settled as soon as possible. As long as the rules were set, she would be able to relax a little.

Mu Yangling held her hand and said, “Come with me to meet Old Madam Lin. Then, help me choose a date and I’ll invite all the young ladies in the capital to my place. The Lily Times is recruiting people, so we have to choose the candidate from among them.”

“How is that possible?” Little Madam Xia was shocked. “Who would work in the newspaper office? Ah Ling, by simply suggesting this, you’d be offending others.”

Who would go to the newspaper office to work when it wasn’t as if their family was starving?

It was understandable for a woman to write one or two poems and publish one or two articles, but if she went out to work, she’d be considered to have fallen from grace.

Even Little Madam Xia thought so, let alone the others.

Mu Yangling immediately felt that she had a long way to go.

“We can’t possibly get a group of stinky men to review our manuscripts, right? Would they know what women are thinking, how to take care of their husbands and children, and the difficulties of getting along with their mother-in-law?” Mu Yangling sighed and said, “And the women who need money and have no choice but to work are not capable enough to review these manuscripts. Actually, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with working in the newspaper office. They can just work for half a day a day and rotate shifts. That’d also keep them occupied. Haven’t you recently complained that you don’t have anything to do other than looking after children all day?”

Mu Yangling continued, “The other newspapers are still under the newspaper office of The Great Qi Times, but The Lily Times has to be independent. I’ve long intended that all staff at The Lily Times—from the printing staff to the Publisher—will be female. In addition, I’d consider a female salesperson first. This is also a way for us to do something for the women of the world.”

Little Madam Xia opened her mouth wide and asked, “Then, who will be the Publisher? Will you personally hold the position?”

Mu Yangling shook her head. “The first Publisher will be the Empress. I’ve decided to go to the palace in the afternoon to seek her consent. It’s best if she’s willing. If not, I’ll see if Old Madam Lin is willing.”

Anyway, it was all about reputation. The ones handling the day-to-day operations would still be the two Deputy Publishers.

Shocked, Little Madam Xia’s eyes lit up as she said, “If you can convince the Empress or Old Madam Lin to take up the position at The Lily Times, it’ll most likely be successful.”

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