At this moment, a child came up from downstairs, carrying a backpack and waving a large folded paper in his hand. He shouted, "Newspapers for sale! The court has a new policy! The court has a new policy!"

"What new policy? Hurry and give me one."

"I want one too."

"Here, I'll give you five copper coins."

When the customers on the second floor heard about the newspaper, they immediately started buying it.

The price of newspapers has also dropped a lot in recent years. From more than ten cents at the beginning, it now costs only five cents per copy.

At present, not to mention Jingji Road, the entire Henan Province is covered by the newspaper. Kaifeng Weekly has now become Dasong Daily, with branches in Damingfu, Beijing and Yingtianfu, Nanjing.

The people were very enthusiastic about reading newspapers; even peddlers and hawkers would often buy a copy. Some followed national affairs, some enjoyed the jokes, and still others enjoyed the poetry, songs, and serials.

Once private newspapers are allowed to open, this industry will flourish and develop rapidly across the country.

"Bring one."

When the child passed by the table of Feng father and son, Feng Shi asked for one.

Guests at other tables nearby have already started looking.

"Hey, the content of today's newspaper has been changed. How come all these words have become the vernacular we speak every day?"

"Didn't the higher-ups say so? The prefecture must fully implement the vernacular language reform. All official documents and policies issued by government agencies must be communicated to the people in a simple and understandable manner."

"What's the point? Many people can't even read a single word. Even if it's written in vernacular, they still won't understand."

"Yeah, it's none of our business anyway."

"Of course it doesn't matter. At least we know some characters. But sometimes we don't know all the ancient texts. Wouldn't it be much easier to translate them into vernacular?"

“That seems to make some sense.”

Many diners talked about it, and felt that this matter didn't seem that important, so they didn't pay much attention to it.

Only Feng Jing looked deeply thoughtful after reading today's newspaper.

Feng Shi knew his son was very smart, so he asked, "What have you discovered now?"

"The court is about to make a big move."

Feng Jing put down the newspaper in his hand, turned his head to look out the window, and said calmly: "This reform of vernacular writing is probably just the beginning."

(End of this chapter)