Chapter 278 "Are you already tired of me?"...
“His bride is a little younger than him, just sixteen, petite,” Bernard said.
I laughed. "You've found out quite a lot."
“I know much more about it than you do,” Bernard laughed. “He had a falling out with his mother recently and has left the family to make a living on his own. His wife left the family with him.”
Why did he fall out with his mother?
"I don't know, and I'm too lazy to ask."
Bernard smiled slightly. I knew he wasn't telling the truth; he definitely knew, but he just didn't want to tell me, and I couldn't be bothered to ask.
Now that he has left the family and is making a living on his own, he definitely needs this job.
These days, life is tough for everyone. I put him on the acceptance list, but to avoid any appearance of impropriety, I assigned him to the distribution department. Distribution is responsible for managing the newspaper's sales channels across various regions; he should be well-suited for dealing with people. Having delivered wine for the family business for many years, he should be very familiar with the rules of social interaction.
In the end, I selected ten people, all of whom were men. There was no other way; all thirty shortlisted candidates were men.
They interned for a while, rotating between the printing, information sourcing, and distribution departments, before officially starting their respective jobs two months later.
I started to feel relaxed.
No more busy day and night, no more working overtime late into the night, and I can leisurely eat breakfast and take an evening walk.
When I have some free time, I take out the journalism textbooks from my travel bag, translate them into the local language, and plan to print them into books so that the staff can all study them.
A month later, I finally received my first advertisement, seeking a husband for the youngest daughter of a noble family in the Western Regions. The advertisement fee was one thousand gold coins, which was not high, but at least it was a start.
The marriage advertisement was quite effective, and the noblewoman found her Mr. Right in the second month. After that, the number of advertisements increased, and things became busier. However, it was not cost-effective to set up a separate advertising department, so the advertising business was transferred to the distribution department.
At the end of the year, I held an employee dinner – which was essentially a disguised team-building event and a thank-you banquet.
This was the first time I had seen Nathan in months. He had grown much taller, darker, and stronger.
The banquet was held in the courtyard of the most upscale tavern in the royal city. On a night with light snow falling, the aroma of a burning bonfire, the rich smell of roasted meat, the refreshing scent of fruit and wine filled the air above the entire courtyard.
The employees sat together in twos and threes, chatting and laughing, creating a relaxed atmosphere.
Some employees brought their children along, and the kids ran around on the lawn, threw snowballs, and had snowball fights, creating a unique and fun atmosphere.
I toasted each employee in turn, and when I got to Nathan, I smiled and said, "I heard from your supervisor that you're doing a great job. Keep it up!"
"Thank you!" He smiled and clinked glasses with me.
"Why didn't you bring your wife? Do you have children?" I tried to chat with him in a relaxed manner.
He replied, "She and I have been separated for a long time, and the child will be born next year."
"Congratulations!" I ignored the first part of the sentence.
"I am simply fulfilling the family's duty of continuing its lineage."
I felt a little awkward. "Having kids is great."
“I was just doing it to complete the task, otherwise my mother would scold me for being selfish every day. She finally got pregnant, and I wanted to leave home, but my mother wouldn’t allow it. I had a big fight with her and left home.”
"Isn't this... a bit too impulsive?!" I said cautiously.
He looked me in the eyes and said, "Every decision I make is not impulsive."
“You’re still young,” I advised. “You should go home and make up with your mother.”
“I will have a home, but not with them.”
I smiled, raised my glass to him again, and then went to another employee.
Before leaving, I said goodbye to each employee, and also to him. Snowflakes drifted past my eyes, and I could barely make out his face. "Keep up the good work, you're really great!"
He didn't speak, and I was about to get into the carriage when I heard him say in a very low voice behind me, "Are you already tired of me?"
I turned around and said sincerely, "Work hard! Our families will be reunited in the future!"
He gave a bitter laugh and whispered, "Your words are like poison needles."
I was silent for a moment, then said, "Sometimes people shouldn't be too greedy; it's important to cherish the people around them."
The illegitimate son of a noble family suddenly encounters a famous woman with supernatural abilities, the queen's mother, and the king's favored mistress. It's inevitable that he would be tempted to curry favor. His entire family would need to work at least another generation to have the opportunity to enter the royal banquet hall.
He was breathing heavily, and I could feel his heavy breathing, which sounded like anger, resentment, and grievance.
He's still a child, I told myself.
Time flies, and I poured all my energy into my work. My main job was to oversee the overall situation, while the detailed operational tasks were delegated layer by layer. I primarily communicated, held meetings, issued decisions, and formulated plans only with the highest-ranking managers. Before I knew it, another year had passed.
The newspaper industry made great progress that year, and I had a basic grasp of the national news in the four border regions. I assured the nobles of the four border regions that I would not publish any private news without permission, nor would I involve any royal secrets. I would only publish the news they wanted me to publish, and only then did the nobles of the four border regions allow me to continue publishing their news.
As for gossip and scandals among the nobility, I generally only post about the lower and middle classes, occasionally about the upper classes, but only about impoverished upper-class noble families. I can't afford to offend the powerful nobles.
The same is true in modern society. News about the truly powerful and wealthy is kept tightly under wraps.
I also have to abide by this rule, otherwise my newspaper business cannot survive.
Stories of ordinary people are easier to share, often focusing on various cases, which can spark discussions about social tragedies, human morality, fairness, and justice.
It also regularly publishes academic content, such as the geography and customs of various countries, and food culture. It also accepts submissions from talented nobles, wealthy businessmen, or ordinary people, mainly in the form of essays and poems.
I also made a noblewoman poet famous. After publishing several of her poems, she suddenly became a socialite. Originally just a lower-ranking noblewoman, she married a middle-ranking nobleman, a promising young man. Generally, lower-ranking nobles marrying into higher-ranking families usually only marry old men or men who have been married before or three times.
Aurora joked, "You should ask her for the advertising fee; she married a good man thanks to your newspaper."
“Our review process is very rigorous, and the fact that her poem was published shows how talented she is,” I said. “As for advertising fees, you owe me much more.”
Aurora placed several ads in my newspaper and made a lot of money. Now the channels for agricultural products have been opened, but we haven't paid a single penny for advertising.
Aurora looked embarrassed, and I started talking to her about the advertising fee. We finally agreed on a "family rate," which is half the regular advertising fee.
Our newspaper's distribution capacity has increased dramatically compared to a year ago. Sales channels have doubled or tripled. We've expanded our presence in major capitals, royal cities, and large tribes, and these outlets also take on the task of disseminating important news and gossip. As a result, the newspaper's pages have doubled in size, with more and richer content.
In a way, we have to thank Nathan. The expansion of the various outposts was all thanks to Nathan. He personally traveled to major capitals, royal cities, and large tribes, engaging in numerous difficult negotiations with city lords, important stewards, and high-ranking officials to successfully establish these outposts. Afterward, he would stay in the local area for one or two months until the new personnel were familiar with the operations.
He rose through the ranks quickly, becoming second only to the head of the distribution department, and was essentially responsible for the distribution work in most areas.
I'm a pretty good boss too. Since he's so capable, a raise is a must. Besides, I bought several nice houses in the royal city specifically for high-ranking employees to live in for free. Nathan is one of them.
Soon, Nathan will be promoted again, becoming the head of distribution. The previous head was quite old and had recently broken his leg, requiring at least a few months of recovery; he had already resigned. Since I couldn't find a suitable replacement, I decided to promote Nathan to head of distribution.
We met again in the royal palace's conference room. A year and a half had passed since our last meeting. I almost didn't recognize him. He had grown taller, strong and well-proportioned, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, taut chest muscles, powerful back muscles, thick, slightly curly hair, and captivating light-colored eyes that were almost blinding in the sunlight.
He's only about twenty years old and already so outstanding; he'll be extraordinary in the future.
We sat down for a meeting, and he submitted information on all the distribution areas to me. I was amazed by his overall planning, coordination, and organizational skills. After praising him, I called on the other managers to learn from him.
As the meeting ended, he asked me, "Am I no longer a child in your heart?"
I laughed, "You've already grown up."
"That's good," he said. "I did everything I could to stand by your side, just for those words."
"Why?" I was stunned.
"I want to stand by your side, so you feel that I am no longer a child, and that I have the ability to protect you and love you."
I was stunned, and after a few seconds of frozen silence, I replied, "Is your child two years old? Take good care of your family."
He smiled and said, "My wife has remarried, and the children live with her. I pay child support every month."
I said, "Then we're not a good match. I'm much older than you, I can be your mommy. You should just live your own life."
I was just telling the truth, but he laughed even more smugly, "That's just what you think."
At midnight, I couldn't sleep, not knowing what I was trying to escape, and kept flipping through documents.
"My life is complicated enough, I don't want it to get any more complicated," I murmured.
After a while, Bernard pushed open the door and entered, bringing the night breeze with him.
"I heard you met your sweetheart today?" he asked with a smile.
"Could you please not put it so harshly?" I closed the document.
He took off his embroidered gold outer robe and came to me wearing only a soft nightgown. "I'm glad to know you rejected him."
“Don’t keep watching me all day long, it’s really annoying,” I said.
“I was just worried about your safety. I didn’t deliberately eavesdrop on your conversation. You weren’t hiding from anyone.”
He embraced me gently, saying, "I need to go back to the Eastern Frontier in a couple of days to take care of some things."
"Oh, are your mistresses fighting again?"
I heard his mistress had a fight with him a few months ago. I have many sources of information now. He now returns to the Eastern Territory once a month and stays for half a month each time. After returning to the Eastern Territory, his mistresses fight openly and secretly to win him over. It's common for them to bicker at banquets, and last time they even got into a fight in the garden, which several strong maids couldn't separate.
His eyelashes fluttered as he laughed. "No, I punished a whole bunch of people, how could they dare to do it again?"
I played with his soft ears. "It's good to be a king. Even at your age, women are still fighting tooth and nail for you. Are they fighting for you, or for your money and power?"
“I have both,” he laughed. “I’m not lacking either. When I was your young lover’s age, I couldn’t stay single at all; women wouldn’t leave me.”
“I know that.”
When he was a handsome young man, he captivated everyone, and a whole bunch of women wanted nothing more than to lick his feet.
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Author's Note: I saw "Zhi Liao's" comment, thank you so much! I've come up with some titles. Hmm, "Mistakenly Entering a Dark Otherworld, Being Fiercely Sought After by Multiple Powerful Figures" and "Abyss Rose" sound good, but I'll have to think about whether they suit me [let me see]. "He Feng Xi Xi's" "I Won't Be the Chief's Mistress," haha, very interesting, but a bit cheesy, lol. What should I call it? I haven't decided yet. Now I have a new idea: "I Have CP Feelings with All the Kings" and "Otherworldly Love Story." What do you guys think? Share your thoughts, hehe~~ Or if you have any new ideas, tell me quickly, haha~~
Choosing a title and writing the synopsis were the hardest parts, I'm so sad! [Crying emoji] Please leave some comments so I can know your thoughts on the title or the story, hehe~~
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