Seeing the silly and cute expression on Ye Jingning's face, Ye Jinghe's alarm bells went off, and he immediately exposed Ye Jingning's behavior: "Even if it tastes bad, you bought it yourselves. Eight pieces of pastry cost fifty coins. If you had bought rice, you could have bought ten dou of rice! You wasted ten dou of rice!"
"Fifth brother, what right do you have to criticize us? You yourself spent all your money on pastries, you wasted even more!" Ye Jing'an quickly said.
"I only bought what I like to eat, so it's not a waste!" Ye Jinghe glanced at Ye Jingan with a hint of pride.
"Jingning and I just never expected that a pastry shop would sell such terrible pastries at such high prices. That shop is also problematic!" Ye Jing'an said loudly.
"Exactly!" Ye Jingning echoed emphatically.
"Different strokes for different folks. Everyone's taste is different. The fact that pastry shops can sell pastries means they have a customer base. Of course, pastry shops need to offer a wide variety of pastries to attract customers and give them more choices," Ye Jingchen said with a smile, glancing at the two indignant and righteous little ones.
The two little ones knew they were in the wrong and dared not say another word.
"Alright, scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, the reason I'm having you learn how to deal with merchants today is because the way of merchants involves a lot of knowledge about how to conduct oneself in society. The way of doing business also has many things in common with the way of governing a country, and I want you to understand that."
"Of course, there are some commonalities, but doing business and governing a country are different. Merchants prioritize profit, while governing a country is about benefiting the people. The two are fundamentally different."
Ye Jingchen introduced them to merchants in order to break down the ingrained class concept of "scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants" while they were still young and their class consciousness was not yet deeply ingrained.
He has always emphasized the importance of agriculture and the importance of ordinary people. Now he is making them aware of the ways of commerce. As for engineering, all politicians will be pragmatists. As long as they see the convenience that 'tools' bring to life, they will naturally respect craftsmen.
Ye Jingchen returned Ye Jingning's Luban lock to him, and the little guy held it tightly and immediately started playing with it.
Ye Jingchen reached out and ruffled his hair, but he didn't react at all.
"Wei Yi, come and hold Jing Ning. The show at Linfeng Opera Troupe is about to start. Let's go listen to the opera!" Ye Jingchen said.
Linfeng Opera Troupe is a recently popular opera troupe in the capital, and its popularity is due to two plays.
These are two plays that Ye Jingchen commissioned Liu Wenxuan, a down-on-his-luck scholar, to meticulously craft over three years.
Of course, the down-on-his-luck scholar is not down-on-his-luck at all now!
Liu Wenxuan passed the imperial examination in the autumn two years ago and performed well in the spring examination last year. He was selected by the emperor as a second-class Jinshi and entered the Hanlin Academy. His career seemed to be on the verge of rapid advancement.
Ye Jingchen was very glad that he hadn't used his real appearance when he went to find Liu Wenxuan, but had disguised himself. Otherwise, wouldn't it have been very awkward if they met in the court later?
In this era, the prestige of a second-class Jinshi degree was probably much higher than that of an ordinary student from the highest institution of learning in his time. The story he meticulously crafted over three years was written in a smooth style, with ornate language and a dramatic plot that kept readers hooked.
Perhaps thousands of years from now, these two stories will become classics and be passed down through the ages.
The storybooks caused a sensation as soon as they appeared in the major bookstores of the capital, attracting countless noble ladies and young women from wealthy families.
For women, these two stories are a hundred or a thousand times better than those vulgar love stories about rescuing prostitutes or scholars encountering beautiful ghosts and fox spirits.
How popular were these two storybooks?
They became so popular that they were impeached by censors and officials at court, who said that these storybooks were contrary to the Heavenly Spirit and that the court should investigate them thoroughly.
But the emperor had already read these two storybooks; they were given to him by his most beloved daughter.
Ye Jingshu was overjoyed when she gave him the storybook, praising it to the skies. Perhaps because of this, when he read the storybook, he only felt that it was well-written and there was nothing wrong with it.
"They're just two storybooks, what's the big deal about rebelling against the Heavenly Gang? Must women always stay in the backyard to be good wives and mothers? If their abilities are no less than men's, why can't they serve the country?" the emperor asked casually.
These words caused an uproar throughout the imperial court.
They couldn't understand why the emperor, a beneficiary of the patriarchal ideology, would say such a thing.
In reality, Ye Jingshu had been saying these things to the emperor frequently over the past few years, and not only did none of the other princes and princesses refute her, but they also showed great support. Over time, the emperor's thoughts gradually began to change.
In a way, this is also a kind of subtle herd mentality.
The emperor also began to realize that women's abilities should not be restricted or limited by gender. Therefore, when the censors impeached him, he said such a thing very naturally.
After the emperor's words were circulated, they caused a sensation in the imperial city and even the entire Dayuan, and also propelled the two storybooks to a new level of popularity.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ye Jingchen had someone acquire a nearly bankrupt theater company in the capital and arranged the storybooks into plays that even illiterate people could understand.
Upon the premiere of these two plays, the Linfeng Opera Troupe not only made a fortune, but the two stories also spread even further, becoming household names in the capital.
Any reform is extremely difficult to implement from the bottom up, but much easier from the top down.
Because their group included two celebrities, Gu Beichen and Wu Zemin, they entered the theater through the back door and then through the internal passage to their private room in an extremely discreet manner.
As soon as they arrived, the owner of the theater troupe personally brought them fruits, pastries, and tea, and the show began.
The two plays are titled "The Peerless Female Prime Minister" (a civil play) and "The Legend of the Heroine" (a martial arts play). This afternoon's performance is the civil play.
Although the play was inspired by "The Female Imperial Scholar," and the female lead was indeed chosen by the princess because of her talent and exceptionally beautiful appearance, the princess soon discovered that the female lead was a woman disguised as a man.
After discovering that the female lead was a woman, the princess admired her even more and helped her conceal her identity on several occasions.
The female protagonist is sent to serve as an official in a remote area. During her term, she is diligent in her duties and loves the people, earning their deep respect. The princess is her solid and reliable support in the court. The two support each other, and the female protagonist rises step by step to become the most famous virtuous minister in the court.
In the end, although the heroine's true identity as a man was revealed, she had already risen to the position of prime minister, and her position in the court was unshakeable. Moreover, the emperor had been persuaded by the princess and did not blame her. Instead, he issued an edict allowing her to revert to her female identity and attend court in women's clothing.
Ye Jingchen has included a lot of personal ideas in this play, not only about liberating women's minds and encouraging daughters to be self-reliant, but also about many ideas on governing the country. It remains to be seen whether the emperor can understand them.
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