The daily struggles of divorced women in ancient times

Chapter 187: Kasuga Workshop

Although Pei Yanxu did not come back this year, the Pei Mansion was still bustling. The emperor also bestowed a lot of rewards, knowing that Xia Mianwan had spent money and effort to adjust the grain and maintain the prices in the capital, which gave Xia Mianwan personal subsidies.

This time, Xia Mianwan did not put all the rewards given by the emperor into the public treasury, but put them all into her own private treasury.

The Pei Mansion did not receive much New Year gifts this year, so there were not many gifts that needed to be returned.

The main reason was that Xia Mianwan took the lead in donating money and lowered prices, which hurt the interests of many wealthy and powerful families.

But there were also gains, as many minor officials below the fifth rank in the capital sent New Year gifts.

The Jiang family also sent New Year gifts, which were delivered personally by Jiang Chengying.

Xia Mianwan was very satisfied with the Jiang family's sincerity, so she asked Pei Yanyue to bring Pei Yanshu, Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er to entertain Jiang Chengying together.

It was just a quick stroll around the Pei Mansion, and it didn't involve any issues regarding sex differences.

After the New Year, Xia Mianwan found Xiaowu and had a good chat about their future plans.

Xia Mianwan hopes that Xiaowu will hand over the affairs of Yanzhou to someone he trusts, and then bring Xiuxiu, Hehua and Huzi to the capital to help Xia Mianwan.

Xia Mianwan bought several plots of land in the suburbs of Beijing, planning to build workshops, dormitories, a food court, and a college.

The land was not far from Xia Mianwan’s hot spring resort, and Xia Mianwan was planning to open a branch of Manyuelou in the hot spring resort.

Xiaowu thought about it for a long time and agreed.

On the one hand, Zhou Chengze cannot come back in the short term, and Madam Zhou also needs someone to take care of her, so it is definitely not a good idea for her to live in Pei Mansion all the time; on the other hand, Xiaowu has already seen the big world, and he feels that he can see a more different world by following Xia Mianwan.

Xiaowu's coming to the capital was decided. Xia Mianwan wrote a letter and asked Xiaowu to bring it to Madam Yang, and then asked Xiaowu to return to Yanzhou to deal with some remaining matters.

Aunt Qin's performance this time was also very good. Xia Mianwan told Xiaowu that if there was something suitable for Aunt Qin to do, he could help Aunt Qin to make some money.

No matter when, having money is a guarantee.

……

After the beginning of spring, the ice and snow melt and the soil becomes loose, which is a suitable time to build a house.

Xia Mianwan recruited a group of long-term workers to build houses in the suburbs of Beijing.

Because the salary is good and the food is delicious, there are quite a lot of people applying for the job.

When work started, Xiaowu had already returned to the capital with Huzi, Wang Lei, Xiuxiu and Hehua.

Xiaowu and Xiuxiu are now responsible for all matters related to building a workshop in the suburbs of Beijing.

When Xiaowu returned to Yanzhou, he brought Xia Mianwan's letter to Mrs. Yang. After reading the letter, Mrs. Yang had a careful discussion with Mr. Yang. Mr. Yang was busy in the academy in Yanzhou, so Mrs. Yang returned to the capital alone.

This was the closest Mrs. Yang had ever come to her dream of attending a girls' college.

After Mrs. Yang arrived in the capital, the first thing she did was to look for Xia Mianwan and Mrs. Sang. The three sisters sat together at the same table again.

"I never thought that we would be reunited so soon." Mrs. Yang smiled and drank a glass of wine.

Xia Mianwan's eyes were full of smiles, and her tone was very excited, "Sister Yang, I didn't expect that this day would come so soon, but Mr. Yang is secretly scolding me and Sister Sang behind our backs."

Madam Sang was overjoyed, "He has monopolized Sister Yang for so many years, now it's our turn."

Madam Yang pretended to be angry and said, "You two are mischievous."

Madam Sang smiled and said, "By the way, Mianwan, please tell us about your plans. Sister Yang just returned to Beijing a few days ago, and there must be a lot of things to take care of at home. After that, we will start preparing."

Speaking of business, Xia Mianwan sat up straight and stopped being lazy. "I want to open a class for the first term of the Women's Academy, with about 50 students. The courses include: arithmetic, calligraphy, needlework, tea ceremony, cooking, etiquette, practical experience, etc."

"What is practical experience?" Mrs. Yang asked puzzled.

"Practical experience means applying what you have learned to practice. That is, when they are studying, we provide venues for these students to practice," said Xia Mianwan.

"Why do we need to offer needlework, tea ceremony and cooking?" asked Madam Sang.

"Women want to fight for status, but they cannot do it without financial support. If they come to our college to study and then have a stable job, it will greatly increase the college's appeal."

Madam Yang nodded and said, "That makes sense. If you can't even take care of your food and clothing, how can you have the energy to study?"

Xia Mianwan said: "Yes, there are no women's imperial examinations at present, and we can't take too big a step. If we want to improve the status of women, we can only make changes in the economy. Moreover, our women's thoughts have been poisoned for too long, and it will not work if we take too fast a step, so... we can only do it step by step."

"That makes sense." Madam Sang agreed deeply.

Xia Mianwan thought for a moment and said, "I also want to open a women's bookstore and publish a newspaper every month."

"What is a newspaper?" asked Mrs. Yang.

"It is the official newspaper."

"What to write?" Mrs. Yang continued to ask.

"We can open several columns in the newspaper. One column will be a news column, which will contain all the current affairs in Beijing, big and small; there will be a column called gossip and anecdotes, which will contain all the gossip and interesting stories in Beijing and even the whole country; there will be a column called the pattern list, which will contain all the most beautiful patterns selected by the major embroiderers. This is what I think for now. Our newspaper will also accept submissions, serialized storybooks, and poems by men and women, with a more graceful style." Xia Mianwan's idea was not perfect yet, it was just a preliminary idea.

Madam Yang and Madam Sang were deeply shocked. "Mian Wan, why do you have such a novel idea in your mind?"

"I think the environment can influence people, and thoughts are also affected by the environment. If there is such a newspaper, it may change the woman's mind." Xia Mianwan said.

"Your Majesty..." Madam Yang understood what Xia Mianwan was going to do, but she was worried about...literary inquisition.

Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "Don't worry, Sister Yang. I have already told Pei Yanxu about this idea. He told me that this can be done. The emperor and the prince are not that stubborn."

Madam Yang breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good, that's good."

Mrs. Sang didn't quite understand what he said, so she said bluntly, "Mian Wan, after all this talk, just tell me, what can I do?"

Xia Mianwan said: "There is no rush now. Wait until the workshop is built first. Ordinary people will not talk to you about highbrow things. They will only want to know what I can gain from studying in this academy."

"You have a point."