Chapter 1212: Release
April 18th was a good day; it was also a day that would be recorded in the history books of later generations. Reason being, this was the day the world’s first female newspaper was published.
This day was recorded in history as the beginning of the awakening of female self-awareness.
In the eyes of the later generations, today was a sacred day. However, in the eyes of the people of Great Qi, today was a very lively day. In places where The Lily Tis was distributed, people looked forward to buying a copy. Even in places where it wasn’t, people would get their contacts to send them a copy or two.
The Lily Tis was out of stock as soon as it was launched.
The won were unusually supportive because it was a woman’s newspaper.
Considering a newspaper cost rely five copper coins, the won expressed that they could afford it. After all, it was just the cost of two pairs of insoles.
They could afford it without relying on n.
On the other hand, the n were very curious about the contents of a woman’s newspaper, having heard that The Lily Tis had recruited an all-female staff. Every staff mber was female—all the way from the noble Empress to the lowly newspaper vendors!
The villagers of Yangchun Village, Songjiang Prefecture were also guarding the big banyan tree at the entrance of the village early in the morning. All of them were waiting for the junior officer to read the newspaper to them after returning from the town to collect a copy.
On the other hand, Li Yuan personally ran to town to buy a copy of the newspaper. When he saw his mother’s na on it, he imdiately jumped up in joy and ran towards the village.
“My mother’s article is published in the newspaper! My mother’s article is published in the newspaper. Her Highness even personally wrote a comntary for my mother!” Li Yuan waved the newspaper in the air as he ran ho.
Not only were the villagers of Yangchun Village shocked, but even the residents of the town who heard him shout were shocked. There was actually soone here whose article was good enough to be published in the newspapers?
With the ntality of watching a show, everyone followed behind the young man.
By the ti the junior officer arrived, panting, the village had already been surrounded by people watching the commotion. In this era, there were very few people who could read at all, and even fewer who had achieved full literacy. In any case, no one was of help before the junior officer arrived. The young man could recognize a few words, but he was not a bold person. Once he was surrounded by everyone, his face turned pale from fear.
The junior officer parted the crowd and walked in. As he panted, he scolded, “Kid, why are you running so fast? Don’t you know how to respect the old and love the young?”
The junior officer took the newspaper from Li Yuan’s hand and looked at it. After seeing the page clearly, he returned it to him and instructed the young n in the village, “Go, go ho and bring a table. Carry it to the stage for . The princess consort has given our Yangchun Village and Songjiang Prefecture a way out. Our village is going to be famous!”
The young man who was called out went ho excitedly to carry the table.
Madam Ding was quickly invited over. She looked at the newspaper in the junior officer’s hand with sparkling eyes and asked, “Junior officer, is my article really on the newspaper?”
“It’s true, Mother.” Li Yuan ca over with the newspaper in hand. “Look, your hotown and na are on it. I would know, since I wrote this letter!”
Madam Ding was on the verge of tears.
The junior officer also gave her a friendly smile before walking up the stage. He said loudly, “Everyone, quiet down. I know why everyone is here, so I will get to the point right away. Let’s read Yangchun Village’s Madam Ding’s article and the comnts written by Queen Consort Rong!”
The surrounding people imdiately cheered loudly, eager to know what a village woman had written. Weren’t the people who wrote articles for The Lily Tis all talented won?
If a village woman could write an article for The Lily Tis, did that an they could also do the sa?
At this mont, everyone’s hearts were in turmoil.
However, the reason why Mu Yangling chose Madam Ding’s article was not because of the article itself, but because of its content.
Li Yuan’s article and letter were mixed together. Not only were there many wrongly-written characters, but they were also covered in ink. If not for the fact that Mu Yangling happened to be the one to review this article, it would definitely have been eliminated in the first batch. In fact, Mu Yangling had also thrown the article away when she first saw it.
The reason why she picked it up again was because the first sentence had caught her eye when she skimd the contents of the article. “I’m a widow from the Songjiang Prefecture…”
Madam Ding was a widow, and her husband had died when Li Yuan was still in her womb. At that ti, both her in-laws and her maternal family hoped that she would leave the child to her in-laws after giving birth and remarry. However, looking at her son, who was crying to be fed, Madam Ding did not listen to them. Instead, she raised her son alone.
If that was the case, it was not enough for Mu Yangling to acknowledge her. The key was that she had modified the loom and created the tri-weave fabric.
Mu Yangling knew about Songjiang cloth since her clothes had been made from Song Jiang cloth in the past few years. Not only was the material soft and light, but it was also highly sweat-absorbent.
She thought that this thing had always existed. It wasn’t until she saw this article that she learned that the Song Jiang cloth had been invented less than 20 years ago. Granny Wang, who had brought the advanced techniques to Songjiang Prefecture, had just passed away a few years ago.
As for Songjiang cloth, it was mainly sold in the Jiangnan area and had yet to beco the best-selling cloth worldwide. As of now, Songjiang cloth had only slightly improved the quality of life in Songjiang Prefecture. It had yet to beco as popular as how it would later be recorded in the history books, nor beco as valuable in the eyes of businessn.
Because of Granny Wang’s selflessness, Madam Ding was able to learn the weaving skill and use it to support herself and her son.
She was a strong person to begin with. When she found out that Queen Consort Rong had started a newspaper for all the won in the world, she got excited and asked her son to write an article on her behalf. She didn’t have any other intentions except to tell the world with her story that won could also do impressive things. Even without a man, she could support a family. Therefore, won shouldn’t belittle themselves.
Li Yuan was a filial child. He was probably afraid that his mother would be sad if her article was not chosen, so he attached a letter to the article, listing his mother’s hardships and efforts one by one, hoping to move those who read the article.
In order to support him, his mother weaved day and night until she accidentally modified the loom and created the tri-weave fabric. Only then did her life get better.
Mu Yangling admired Madam Ding’s aspiration and dedication to self-improvent, so she specially wrote comnts to praise her.
Standing on the platform, the junior officer finished reading Queen Consort Rong’s evaluation before turning to look at Madam Ding. Everyone, too, looked at her with admiration. Whether it was because of what she had done or Queen Consort Rong’s evaluation of her, everyone looked at her with admiration.
Madam Ding lowered her head in slight embarrassnt.
Elsewhere in Great Qi, there were a few people whose faces were as flushed with excitent as Madam Ding. Their articles had also been chosen to be published.
The teahouses and restaurants all over the world were unusually lively because of the launch of The Lily Tis today. It was no less lively than the Lantern Festival when everyone appreciated the lights and played.
In the capital, it was a different kind of liveliness, with the citizens here obviously more concerned about the content of the newspaper. They noticed that there were not only short stories with great aning in The Lily Tis, but there was also comntary on political affairs. There was even half of the page dedicated to publishing legal knowledge. If not for a relatively graceful poem and an article on the topic of Suzhou embroidery, people would probably think that this was The Great Qi Tis.
How was this a woman’s newspaper? The content was not at all inferior to the articles written by n.
The n working at The Great Qi Tis secretly bought The Lily Tis to study it. In the end, they sighed and said, “Indeed, you can’t underestimate won. Judging from the rich and comprehensive content, it can be seen how talented they are.”
“I don’t dare to offend such a woman. You have to be careful when you pass by The Lily Tis in the future and make sure not to misspeak.” Although the n didn’t say it, they were still a little unconvinced by the fact that the won had started their own newspaper.
“That’s right. Can’t you see that even His Majesty has yielded? He even specially wrote a congratulatory speech!” After saying that, he flipped the page over for everyone to see. Everyone sighed faintly. “Queen Consort Rong is indeed impressive. With this quarter-page congratulatory speech, The Lily Tis has nothing to fear.”
The first sentence written in bold and black was indeed a congratulatory ssage written by the Emperor for The Lily Tis. However, this was not all; there were also ssages from plenty of other notable figures such as King Rong, Prince An, the Left and Right Pri Ministers, the Ministers of the six ministries, and the famous Confucians of Great Qi. In addition, there were encouraging ssages from the heads of various aristocratic families, the most eye-catching among them being the Kong family. Since even the descendants of a sage were praising won, what else could they say?
Reviews
All reviews (0)