newbobooks Chapter 217 Beijing Time Travel
Chapter 217 Beijing Time Travel
Back at the Princess's residence, Wen Yuxia sent Nan Yi to Yunyi Tower again to tell Zhang Jinxuan to postpone printing, and that she would send him a new sample later.
"Bei Yi, go to the real estate agency and ask if anyone is willing to place rental or sale advertisements in the tabloids. Bei Er, go to the pastry shop and ask if they want to promote their new products in the tabloids."
"Go to the rouge shop in the north and ask... The tabloid is run by the imperial court; it's free for the first month, but there will be a fee for the second month. This must be made clear," Wen Yuxia explained methodically.
As soon as Nan Er stepped out of the princess's residence, he immediately asked, "Wife, what does the master want the students to write for?"
Among the guards, Nan Yi was the slowest-witted. After listening to Wen Yuxia's explanation, he still didn't understand why he had to go to the bookstore to ask the students if they had any manuscripts for sale.
Bei Er said gently, "The imperial court has published a reading magazine called 'Little Newspaper.' The content is compiled by the princess. Naturally, the purchased manuscripts will be published in the Little Newspaper. You can choose which ones you like to read and buy them."
Although Nan Er wasn't very bright, he would go to the teahouse to listen to storytelling whenever he had free time. Buying books based on the stories he liked was always a safe bet.
"Okay, hehe," Nan Er laughed sheepishly.
Half an hour later, Bei Yi and the others returned with what Wen Yuxia wanted. Wen Yuxia took out the paper and, following the newspaper format from her previous life,
Information such as house rentals, new pastry products, and cosmetics was written in the creases of folded paper, while important court events were written on the main page.
The weather forecast and interesting stories from Beijing were included in the second edition. The third edition featured "Sun Wukong Thrice Beats the White Bone Demon," and to show respect, she also included the original author's name.
The fourth and final edition published a small excerpt from the manuscript that Nan Er had just bought, and marked it as a serialized story.
After arranging everything, he had his subordinates deliver it to Zhang Jinxuan. Upon receiving the brand-new tabloid template, Zhang Jinxuan's eyes lit up; it was far more interesting and engaging than he had anticipated.
Zhang Jinxuan personally handed out newspapers for free at the entrance of Yunyi Tower. The people, with their herd mentality, figured they shouldn't refuse freebies, and lined up in long queues to collect their newspapers.
The stories of "Sun Wukong Thrice Beats the White Bone Demon," "The Poor Scholar and the Rich Girl," important court events, weather forecasts, and the information hidden in the lattices were all of great interest to the people.
The next morning, before Yunyi Tower even opened, a long queue had already formed outside, with a large portion of the people there specifically to see the sequel to Sun Wukong's story.
For ten consecutive days, the number of people taking free newspapers at the entrance of Yunyi Tower increased, and the number of newspapers printed increased from the initial 500 to 2,000, but it still couldn't satisfy the people who wanted to read the newspaper.
Zhang Jinxuan excitedly told Wen Yuxia that they would increase the number of newspapers tomorrow, but Wen Yuxia shook her head: "No need, just two thousand copies. Tonight, we'll put up a sign at the door saying that each newspaper costs one copper coin."
Wen Yuxia had said before that the newspaper was not free and that it would cost money. Zhang Jinxuan never expected that it would only cost one copper coin. One copper coin was not even enough to buy the paper, let alone publish so much content. He was a little confused and said, "One copper coin? How is that possible?"
Wen Yuxia calmly said, "The purpose of publishing a newspaper is to let more people know about important events in the court, not to make a profit." Zhang Jinxuan nodded in agreement.
Wen Yuxia planned to wait until the merchants who advertised for rent, sale, and goods in the newspaper had tasted success before negotiating fees, so she didn't tell Zhang Jinxuan about this.
The next morning, the people who came to Yunyi Tower early to collect their free newspapers saw the notice board. The newspapers cost one copper coin each, and immediately a third of them turned and left.
Two thousand newspapers sold out in less than half an hour. Watching the reluctant people who hadn't bought any turn to leave, Wen Yuxia said with a faint smile, "We can increase the quantity tomorrow."
Zhang Jinxuan said with emotion, "Finally, we can increase the printing quantity. The type molds are used once and then thrown away, so printing too few is really not cost-effective."
"You use them once and then throw them away? What kind of type molds do you use?" Wen Yuxia asked curiously, having never heard of disposable type molds used in printing before.
Zhang Jinxuan led her to the backyard of Yunyi Tower. The printing workshop had not yet been built, so the backyard of Yunyi Tower was temporarily serving as the workshop. The engraving and printing masters were all recruited by Zhang Jinxuan from other printing workshops.
"These are the templates we've used these past few days," Zhang Jinxuan said to Wen Yuxia, carrying several heavy wooden planks out of the storage room.
In her previous life, Wen Yuxia's city didn't have any printing plants. She usually copied or printed documents using a computer-connected copier, operating directly on the computer. She had both a computer and a copier in her spatial storage.
This was the first time she had ever seen such an antique type of lettering template. Staring at the neatly carved characters on the wooden board, Wen Yuxia's mind raced. Her past life... her past life...
Oh, right, in my past life, my workplace had an old-fashioned typewriter. The typefaces were made of steel or iron, one character at a time. You could just pick out whichever character you wanted.
"Brother Jinxuan, the lettering doesn't necessarily have to be engraved as a single piece. We can do it like this..."
Wen Yuxia instructed the woodblock engraver to nail small wooden strips around the edges of the engraving block, the height of which was exactly the height of the characters. Then, she carved the characters onto each small block.
The engraved characters were exactly what would appear in tomorrow morning's newspaper. Wen Yuxia placed the engraved characters one by one on the wooden board and said with a smile, "This way, the typeface can be reused repeatedly."
Next, Wen Yuxia told Zhang Jinxuan to make more wooden boards with strips nailed to them, and to store all the typefaces in order of strokes or radicals, making them easier to find when needed.
Zhang Jinxuan also enjoys carving small objects. Watching the sculptor carefully carving each character, he suddenly became interested and joined in the carving with his tools.
Wen Yuxia didn't linger. After telling Zhang Jinxuan and the others everything she knew, she turned and left Yunyi Tower. On her way home, she saw a little beggar begging on the street, and another thought came to her mind.
As time went on, the newspaper became increasingly popular. The story of Sun Wukong was still provided by Wen Yuxia, and more and more students came to Yunyilou to submit their stories. She no longer needed to go to the bookstore to find other short stories.
Wen Yuxia selected representative works and published them in the newspaper. A month later, reading the newspaper had become a popular pastime for Beijing residents.
The aroma of wine from brokers, pastry shops, cosmetics shops, and even Wen Yuxia's family's shop were all willing to pay an advertising fee to continue publishing various information in the newspaper.
In addition, many shops saw that the businesses of the shops that published information in the newspaper were doing much better than before, and followed suit, going to Yunyilou to inquire about the cost of publishing their own shop information.
"Mu Hua, you really have a way with things. The advertising revenue is enough to cover the cost of printing the newspaper, and the money people pay for the newspapers can even be used as profit."
Zhang Jinxuan continued, "I'm planning to change the location for selling newspapers. The shop assistant can only take care of the newspaper sales in the morning, so he can't take care of the store's business."
Thinking of the little beggars on the street, Wen Yuxia smiled faintly and said, "Newspaper stands can be mobile..." She suggested that Zhang Jinxuan recruit some little beggars as newspaper boys, having them carry newspapers and sell them along the street every morning.
Zhang Jinxuan smiled. This was a good idea; it saved on rent and hiring costs. The little beggars didn't have a fixed salary; they only got paid when they sold newspapers.
"We could also create a section in the newspaper called 'Charity Hall,' calling on city residents to donate their old items," Wen Yuxia suggested to Zhang Jinxuan, coming up with another idea on a whim.
After a moment's thought, Zhang Jinxuan nodded in agreement with her suggestion. A charity section was added to the newspaper, calling on everyone to donate old clothes and quilts so that the little beggars could stay warm and cozy.
Zhang Jinxuan was incredibly efficient; the very next day, the newsboys, carrying their specially made coarse cloth satchels, were already roaming the streets and alleys of the capital.
"Newspapers for sale! Newspapers for sale! One copper coin a newspaper! Newspapers for sale!" The crisp voices of the newsboys echoed throughout the capital.
A few days later, Wen Yuxia, on behalf of the Princess's Mansion, donated a batch of coarse cloth clothes to the Charity Hall. The clothes were newly made to fit the young newsboys.
Newspaper boys, dressed in new clothes and carrying specially made satchels, ran through the streets and alleys of Beijing, becoming a beautiful sight in the capital.
After the printing workshop was built, the printing workers moved out of the backyard of Yunyi Tower. Zhang Jinxuan and Wen Yuxia handed over the management of the newspapers and the profits from their sale.
Xia Yichen handed over the management of the newspaper and printing plant to the Prefect of the Capital. As the only newspaper in the Great Xia Dynasty, Xia Yichen named it "The Capital's Timely News" and ordered each prefecture to publish its own version of "The Capital's Timely News" based on the template of "The Capital's Timely News".
At Wen Yuxia's suggestion, Xia Yichen also equipped each prefecture with an Imperial Observatory for observing celestial phenomena, calculating calendars, and guiding agricultural production.