Chapter 1179: Commentary

“I’ve already invited Her Majesty to be the Publisher of The Lily Times. Since you’ve seen the organizational structure diagram of The Lily Times, you should know that there are many positions at The Lily Times waiting to be filled. The Lily Times is still in the preparation stage and urgently needs your help.” Mu Yangling said with a smile, “If anyone is interested in becoming an editor at The Lily Times, you can contact me. The Lily Times welcomes you to join.”

Shocked, everyone could not help but ask, “Are the editors going to be recruited from among us?”

Mu Yangling nodded, then shook her head. “The responsibility of an editor is to review manuscripts, so talent is a prerequisite. I don’t care about the candidate’s identity. As long as she has talent, has a passable character, and is suitable for the position of editor, I’ll recruit her.”

Everyone understood that in an era where everyone was generally illiterate, there were few women who could read, and there were even fewer talented people who could review poems and essays. If there were, most of them came from their class.

Therefore, if Mu Yangling wanted to recruit editors, she really had to choose from them. Otherwise, the candidate would most likely come from a scholarly family or family of officials.

Those who were proud of their talents couldn’t help but look up proudly. Those who couldn’t read couldn’t help but feel dejected. Not all women from official families could read. Some families only required women to only know how to manage the household and didn’t support them to learn to read and write.

Some people also noticed that Mu Yangling was talking about editors. There were also two Deputy Publishers listed on the paper, one Editor-in-Chief and two Deputy Editors-in-Chief. Could it be that Mu Yangling had already confirmed candidates for those positions?

Those who were interested made up their minds to think of a way to stay and ask around.

Mu Yangling did not say if she had already recruited the Deputy Publishers and the other positions. She only explained the content and section requirements of The Lily Times.

Since she wanted to raise awareness about women’s rights, The Lily Times naturally couldn’t just publish poems, songs, flowers, scenery, and things like that.

Mu Yangling told everyone about the content that would be published in The Lily Times. All kinds of knowledge, the way of managing a household, the way of interaction between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, the philosophy of life, and even the political affairs of the country could be published in the newspaper.

Of course, if there were outstanding poems and songs, The Lily Times would also publish them.

In addition, The Lily Times would feature some stories about women. Regardless of whether they were good or bad, as long as they served as warning or inspiration, they could be published.

As Mu Yangling explained in detail, everyone listened attentively.

Although The Great Qi Times had existed for several years, this was the first time everyone had come into contact with the way a newspaper office operated. They really didn’t know much about these things, so they had many questions to ask.

For example, “If we go to work in the newspaper office, won’t we be running around in public?”

Mu Yangling explained, “The editor only needs to review the manuscripts in the newspaper office. As for news articles, it’s naturally good if you’re willing to verify them personally. If not, there are people in the newspaper office for you to delegate.”

At the beginning, Mu Yangling was willing to relax the requirements to a large extent.

“But we still need to manage the household and can’t stay in the newspaper office all day.”

“Don’t worry about that. The working hours in the newspaper office are six hours a day, with two days of rest every five days of work. I don’t think this is difficult for you.”

It was indeed not difficult. Six hours was enough time to take a nap, have afternoon tea, and admire the flowers.

This was the question most people were concerned about, while the rest of the questions were much more scattered. For example, a young lady asked embarrassedly, “Your Highness, have you seen the poem I sent you? Do you think it can be published?”

A young wife asked, “Your Highness, I’ve also sent an article to you. What do you think of that? If there are any flaws, you can point them out and I’ll take it back to correct them.”

Even Old Madam Lin turned to Mu Yangling and said, “I was so happy that I didn’t sleep the entire night when I found out that you were going to start The Lily Times. I also wrote an article, but I don’t know if you’ll find that acceptable.”

Mu Yangling was smiling so much she felt like her face was about to turn stiff. She could only raise her voice slightly and say, “People have expertise in different areas. Considering I only have more experience with travel memoirs and history books, I’m afraid I won’t be able to judge the rest. You’ll have to wait until I’ve hired enough editors to prepare for The Lily Times.”

Everyone felt that it was a pity and could only suppress the anxiety in their hearts and continue to wait.

During the afternoon break, Mu Yangling specially invited Mrs. Hua to talk.

The few of them fell into deep thought when they saw this and said in a low voice, “Madam Lu is famous among the ladies. Her Highness probably thinks highly of her and wishes to recruit her as the Deputy Publisher.”

“But I don’t think she can compare to Mrs. Lin.”

“Mrs. Lin might not be willing to accept the position…”

“That might not be the case. Didn’t Teacher Lin also set his sights on the position of the Publisher of The Great Qi Times recently? Since a wife typically follows her husband, perhaps Mrs. Lin is also tempted. After all, even Old Madam Lin has made an appearance.”

Old Madam Lin was also talking to her daughter-in-law. “Since your ability is not inferior to Madam Lu, Her Highness might approach you next. Have you thought it through?”

Mrs. Lin took a sip of tea and smiled. “Mother, the Empress is the Publisher.”

Therefore, even if she was only hired as an editor, it would not be embarrassing. Of course, she paid attention to following her heart and didn’t mind this very much.

There were also many people who had the same thoughts as Mrs. Lin. Everyone looked in the direction where Mrs. Hua had left vaguely, feeling very excited.

Mrs. Hua was not calm either. She grabbed the handkerchief in her hand and entered the room with a smile.

Other than Mu Yangling, there was also Little Madam Xia in the room.

Mrs. Hua was about to bow when Little Madam Xia grabbed her hand and said with a smile, “You don’t have to be so polite in front of me. Come over quickly. Although Ah Ling looks serious, she’s actually the same as me.”

Little Madam Xia and Madam Lu were very close, so she spoke casually.

Mrs. Hua looked at Queen Consort Rong generously. Seeing that she was indeed standing there with a smile, she smiled and bowed again. “Although Your Highness is kind, I still have to bow.”

Seeing how open and generous she was, Mu Yangling immediately had a good impression of her. Beaming, she said, “There’s no need to be so polite in private settings. Hurry up and sit down.”

Little Madam Xia pulled Mrs. Hua to sit beside her and Mu Yangling said, “I invited Mrs. Hua here because I have something to discuss with you. I originally wanted to imitate Liu Bei and pay three visits to the thatched cottage1, but Cousin-in-law said that like me, you don’t care for superficial actions. That’s why I directly invited you over. Can you let me know of your intentions so that I can make the next arrangements?”

Mrs. Hua stood up and bowed. “If Your Highness has any orders, as long as it’s within my abilities, I won’t dare to disobey.”

“I don’t like to force people.” Mu Yangling pretended to be serious and said, “Actually, it’s not a big deal. It’s just that The Lily Times still lacks a Deputy Publisher. I wonder if Mrs. Hua is willing to help me out?”

Although she had already expected this, Mrs. Hua still couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by excitement when she heard Mu Yangling’s words.

Considering there were crouching tigers and hidden dragons in the capital, she really didn’t expect Mu Yangling to recruit her for the position.

She stole a glance at Little Madam Xia, suspecting that she was the one who recommended her to Mu Yangling.

Little Madam Xia nodded at her with a smile. “Don’t look at me. Although I did mention it in front of her, it’s her choice whether to adopt my suggestion or not.”

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