Chapter 1173: Submission
Mu Yangling said nonchalantly, “I didn’t start the newspaper with the aim of earning money anyway. As long as Big Brother doesn’t want to also hand over the glass factory and watch factory to the country, it’s fine.”
“This is not a matter of money, but reputation. Ah Ling, don’t you know that The Great Qi Tis can boost your reputation?”
“That doesn’t bother in the least.” Mu Yangling said confidently, “Just based on the Harvest Grain Stores, I’m already the most likeable person in Great Qi. Why would I need the newspaper office to further boost my reputation?”
Mu Yangling recalled that every ti she went out shopping now, there would always be people kowtowing to her from afar. She couldn’t help but sigh sadly. “Actually, it’s not a good thing to have too much prestige!”
“…” Qi Haoran could only nod to show that she was right.
“So you don’t mind handing over the newspaper office?” Qi Haoran stared at his wife and asked.
Mu Yangling nodded readily. “My original intention is to let the people of the world know the affairs of the country and not be deceived by the local officials. I want them to be educated in etiquette, morality, and sha. I want them to know right and wrong. I also want them to understand the law and be aware of how to protect their rights. Therefore, it doesn’t matter who owns the newspaper office. What’s important is whether this newspaper office continues to do well. If you have a good idea, I’ll naturally heed your suggestion.”
Qi Haoran felt that the desire-less Ah Ling was so cute. Pulling her into his embrace, he said, “Ah Ling, you’re the best!”
Not everyone could resist the temptation of fa and fortune. The Great Qi Tis gave the owner a reputation that was not inferior to the accumulation of a lifeti of scholars’ achievent, but Ah Ling was willing to give that all up just like that.
Qi Haoran hugged her and said, “Ah Ling, when I’m with you, I also feel that I’m much more noble.”
Mu Yangling coughed in embarrassnt and muttered softly, “Well, the newspaper office isn’t profitable anyway.”
The newspaper business was really not profitable.
In order to make the newspaper accessible to more people, she only charged five copper coins for such a large newspaper. In addition to the cost of printing, writing, ink, and paper, there were also royalties, salaries of the newspaper office staff, transportation fees for delivering the newspaper, and so on. After deducting these costs, the profit of the capital’s newspaper office was less than 100 taels. Not to ntion so remote state capitals, where the inco and expenditure of the newspaper office were almost equal. When it ca ti to settle the accounts during the new year, Mu Yangling would count herself lucky if she didn’t have to take money out of her own pocket to make up for the shortfall.
In order to boost the effect of The Great Qi Tis, they had to hold so events every year and invite famous scholars or ministers to attend. These expenses were not small, so the total profit was only enough to hold an event and give the employees a moderate red packet.
The Great Qi Tis could only bring prestige and not money. Unless the employees were squeezed dry or the selling price increased, there were only two shortcuts left: reducing the cost of printing and transportation.
Fortunately, the King’s Residence was wealthy and was not afraid of losing money. If it were soone else who was the boss of The Great Qi Tis, Mu Yangling dared to wager that if the other party did not fret so much till their hair turned white, she’d change her surna to sothing else.
In short, it was a ton of effort for no profit.
“Although The Great Qi Tis has a high reputation now, that’s because we’re the only newspaper in the entire Great Qi. In a few years, when there are more people starting newspapers, The Great Qi Tis’ reputation will decrease.” Mu Yangling was not obsessed with the ownership of The Great Qi Tis. If not for Qi Xiuyuan suppressing it, newspapers would have long erged all over the place after seeing the influence of The Great Qi Tis.
When he saw the power of The Great Qi Tis back then, Qi Xiuyuan was afraid that soone would make use of newspapers to do sothing immoral, so he issued an edict to the various governnt offices to suppress it and not allow a second person to set up a newspaper office.
This suppression had lasted for so many years. But in a few years, when the country stabilized and prospered, the Imperial Court would definitely relent on such rules and regulations. At that ti, there would definitely be many people starting newspapers.
Even if The Great Qi Tis was still the leader, its authority would still be divided.
Mu Yangling explained her analysis to Qi Haoran and concluded, “That’s why running a newspaper office is tiring and not profitable. If it weren’t for the fact that it’s beneficial to the people, I really wouldn’t have done such a thankless thing. Giving up my ownership of it isn’t a bad thing.”
Qi Haoran imdiately entered the palace to look for Qi Xiuyuan. He proudly and happily told the latter that he could consider taking over the newspaper office.
Qi Xiuyuan held Li Jinghua’s hand and sighed. “I really don’t know what Ah Ling is thinking. She doesn’t seem to care about the sa things as us.”
Smiling, Li Jinghua said, “If you ask , it’s because she’s noble and pure enough. If it were a selfish person, they’d definitely not be willing to give it up. Having ownership of it is better than giving it up, even if it’s not profitable.”
The two people in the palace were not calm. Outside, there was also an uproar because of a statent in The Great Qi Tis.
This statent was written by Mu Yangling herself. Her literary talent was average, but everyone could understand it.
Mu Yangling first explained her original intention for starting the newspaper. Then, she looked forward to the future and told everyone that she was going to start four more newspapers. Then, she told everyone that apart from the regular contributors, the masses were also welco to submit manuscripts. Any manuscript that passed the review would receive a certain amount of royalties.
There was no requirent on age, gender and class.
In the last two paragraphs of the letter, Mu Yangling highlighted The Lily Tis, a newspaper specially for won.
As a woman, she knew very well the difficulties faced by won. She hoped that The Lily Tis could help more won lead a better life.
She hoped that one day, all won would beco strong, confident, capable, and upright. This was also the reason why she started The Great Qi Tis back then.
At the end of the statent printed the addresses for submitting manuscripts, which were basically the locations of the newspaper offices in different regions.
As soon as this statent was published, it caused a huge uproar.
So people paid attention to the fact that they could now submit manuscripts to the newspaper office, which ant that they had the possibility of becoming famous.
So people paid attention to the fact that she was starting additional newspapers and were already looking forward to them.
So people paid attention to what Queen Consort Rong said about won and felt that she gave too much preferential treatnt to won. However, considering she was a woman herself, it was understandable.
At this mont, the won in the inner estates were also looking at this statent. At this mont, no matter what they thought of Mu Yangling in the past, they could not help but admire her.
This was because no one had ever done sothing this huge for just won alone. Mu Yangling was the first.
Even Li Jinghua wiped her tears while holding the newspaper. “Ah Ling is aweso. I’m proud to be in the sa generation as her.”
After being touched, Li Jinghua’s heart skipped a beat. She asked Wen Cui, “Should I write the first article for The Lily Tis?”
At the sa ti, many young ladies and daughters-in-law in the inner estates asked the people close to them, “Do you think I can submit a manuscript to The Lily Tis?”
Even an old lady over 60 years old held the newspaper and asked the old nanny beside her, “Do you think Queen Consort Rong will accept my article if I submit it to The Lily Tis?”
The maidservant looked at the old lady, who was trying her best to keep her voice down, and said in exasperation, “Why don’t you give it a try?”
“Then go get a brush and ink.” The old lady hurriedly stopped the maidservant and whispered, “Bring them over quietly without anyone knowing. Don’t those scholars like writing under a pseudonym? I should co up with a pseudonym too…”
That way, no one would know that it was her.
The maidservant was speechless, but she still quietly brought over a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.
At the sa ti, there were obviously many people who shared the sa thoughts as the old lady. This was because on the third day after the statent was published, Mu Yangling received a large stack of female submissions.
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