Chapter 179
179
"I have a way. I'm the boss here. What can they do?" Cheng Yeran was very confident. "But before that, I have to make arrangements for my family first."
"I'll take care of the house, you go and make your own waves." Shen Yuntang likes to dress up the house the way he wants. He is also a person with a strong desire for control, and he has to make decisions for every corner of the house.
Before, he was in charge of the small family in the village, the small courtyard in the county town, and the house in the capital. Now that he has moved to a new home, it is still the same.
Maybe it’s because he never had the final say over his family in his previous life, and he has some kind of obsession in this life.
In his previous life, he had to listen to his parents before getting married, and to his mother-in-law after getting married. He always wanted to make his own decisions. Since marrying Cheng Yeran, he finally fulfilled this dream.
He was particularly happy today. On the one hand, he was very satisfied with the house he bought. On the other hand, he was happy to see that Xia Xiaowu was not living as well as they were.
The thought that Xia Xiaowu would have to behave himself when he saw them in the future made him feel even happier.
Today we simply cleaned the room and settled in. For the next two days, Shen Yuntang hired some servants to clean the yard, do laundry and cook.
The matters at home were soon resolved. He looked at Cheng Zhao who had been following him around and became troubled again. In the past, Cheng Zhao studied with the prince in the palace, and was taught by Cheng Yeran and Yang Shiming. But now Cheng Yeran has too many things to do. Does he still have time to teach him?
Shen Yuntang went to inquire about schools in the provincial capital, or to ask a private school teacher to come back and teach Cheng Zhao.
Cheng Yeran said that it is not good for children to stay at home all the time. It is better for them to go to school so that they can meet other children and build friendships with them, which cannot be replaced by reading more books.
Shen Yuntang also understood what he meant and thought about going to the academy first to take a look and then buy a servant.
When Cheng Zhao heard that he was going to study in a school, he thought it was similar to the school in the palace and was very happy. His father had said before that he would be a savage in the future and there would be many little savages as his friends. He was looking forward to it for a while, but later he found out that his father was lying to him. After arriving here, he didn't see any other children and thought he would never have playmates of the same age in his life.
Last night he dreamed of attending classes and playing with the fourth and fifth princes. He couldn't help but hide in the quilt and cry secretly, but he stopped crying when he left the room because he didn't want Shen Yuntang to worry about him.
He had been feeling listless these past two days, but when he heard that he could go to school, he became happy again and said, "I want to go."
"The school here is different from the palace. There are not only two teachers, but also dozens of classmates." Cheng Yeran asked him to prepare in advance.
"Dozens of people?" Cheng Zhao had attended a three-person school before. Three people needed two teachers to teach them. How many teachers would be needed for dozens of people!
Just when he was shocked, Cheng Yeran continued to say to him: "Every child has a different temperament and personality. Not everyone will like you and want to be friends with you, but there will be people like the Fourth and Fifth Princes who like you and want to be friends with you. You have to be mentally prepared. Don't come back crying because no one talks to you when you first entered the academy."
Cheng Zhao looked at Cheng Yeran helplessly: "I'm not you, why would I always hug my father and cry?"
Cheng Yeran: “???”
Shen Yuntang pulled Cheng Yeran aside at night and said, "Don't always hug me and pretend to cry in front of the children. You have lost your dignity as a father."
"Who says that being a father must be dignified? Our Xingxing hasn't grown up crooked just because I often act like a spoiled child and cry in front of you. You can't deprive me of the right to act like a spoiled child just because I have a child." Cheng Yeran thought of a perverse logic, "It is said that the more incompetent parents are, the more capable and mature their children will be. Look at our Xingxing, hasn't this been verified?"
Shen Yuntang wanted to ask him if he still wanted Xingxing to take care of him, but then he changed his mind and remembered that he had had similar ideas before. At that time, they were still selling tofu in the village. He saw that Cheng Yeran was too tired, so he thought about having at least four children to help Cheng Yeran with the work.
But later, when she really got pregnant and gave birth to Xingxing, she was so busy doting on him that how could she possibly let a little kid like Xingxing take care of them?
He knew that Cheng Yeran was just joking. He had seen how Cheng Yeran treated Xingxing on a daily basis. Cheng Yeran just behaves like a child, but he is still very reliable in what he does.
Cheng Yeran said he would accompany him to visit the academy another day, so he went to the News Department first today.
He was not wearing his official uniform and went to the news department alone as if he was taking a walk. As a result, his wallet was stolen while he was on the road.
This was the first time in Cheng Yeran’s life that his purse was stolen. He was speechless. Why was the security here so bad? It seems that there are still many areas that need to be rectified in the future.
Fortunately, there was only some change in the purse, and the phone was not in it.
He took the newspapers into the news department and said, "I've read all of this. It must have taken a lot of effort to make up these things. Since you have the time to make them up, why not spend it on the people?"
Officials from the news departments of various places were first trained in the Beijing News Department before being sent to the local areas. There were a lot of people, and Cheng Yeran didn’t know everyone, but he felt that they all came from his hands, just like a family. It made him even more heartbroken when his own family members did such a shameful thing.
The editor-in-chief of the news department was named Meng. He had originally been hoping for luck, but he didn’t expect to be discovered by Cheng Yeran so quickly. He didn’t know how to respond for a moment and stood there in a daze.
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Cheng Yeran thought he was just pretending, so he took out a newspaper and said, "I asked you to hand in the newspaper on the day I arrived, but you dragged it for three days. The ink wasn't dry when I got it. Look at the content again. It's so fabricated that it doesn't make sense even if you read it as a joke. You can't even make up a good story. I really doubt whether your test scores are real."
He raised the matter to another level, and everyone knelt down in fear. If Cheng Yeran reported to the emperor that they had cheated in the imperial examination, then the crime would be a serious one.
The punishment for cheating in the imperial examinations in this dynasty was very severe. If discovered, the person would be beheaded immediately. Close relatives would not be allowed to take the imperial examinations for three years, and sons and grandsons would not be allowed to take the imperial examinations for the rest of their lives.
Although they have not done it, they are afraid of being wrongly accused during the investigation. If there is any mistake, their heads will fall to the ground.
Editor-in-Chief Meng kowtowed and begged for mercy: "It's not that we don't want to report the real events, it's that the people don't trust us. It's not that they don't trust us, it's that the officials here treated the people badly before, making the people think that we are all the same kind of people. They dare not write letters and refuse our proactive interviews. We have no choice but to make up fake news."
Cheng Yeran thought of the letters he received from the people when he was in the capital. The letters from other provinces were all criminal cases, such as major incidents where an entire family was murdered. The minor incidents were all written by local people in the capital. He had never read the daily newspapers of other provinces.
Because there was not enough time, if he was still in Beijing, he would have asked each province to compile each month's daily newspaper and submit it to him. He would have sent someone to check it and also make a magazine that would include the more exciting reports from daily newspapers across the country.
However, the workload is quite huge, so he wants to wait until the imperial examination is over next year to select talents from it.
Now it seems that I should not only produce magazines, but also check the work of news departments across the country and write a letter to Beijing someday.
Cheng Yeran sighed. The situation in each place was different. Officials in many places were indeed scary. When people had grievances, they would rather endure it than report it to the authorities.
Cheng Yeran looked at them and said, "The people are afraid of you, so why don't you let them be afraid of you?"
"How can we stop them from being afraid of us?" asked the editor-in-chief and reporters of the news department.
"You put yourselves in a high position, so they naturally can't say anything to you. It will be fine if you come down from it," said Cheng Yeran.
When they heard the word "down", they thought Cheng Yeran was going to remove them from their positions and they were so scared that they trembled all over.
Cheng Yeran said, "When you go out to interview people, don't wear your official uniforms. Be more approachable and show that you really care about them and want to help them solve their problems. In addition to these, you can also find news on your own. You don't have to write about the grievances of the people. For example, if a horse-drawn carriage knocks over a vendor's stall on the road, you can write about whether the road is too narrow, the floor tiles are uneven, or the local government has not made adequate plans. Or, when I was out just now, my purse was stolen. There are too many local thieves. Is it because the constables did not do a good job of catching the thieves?"
After listening to Cheng Yeran’s words, they thought to themselves, “Aren’t you just a local official? If we write bad things about you, do we still have a chance to survive?”
"As long as it is not fabricated, you can write whatever you want. Your existence is to monitor whether the local officials are doing their job properly. We are actually at the same level, and I can't control you." Cheng Yeran said.
When the people in the News Department heard this, they realized that they were at the same level and Cheng Yeran was the founder of the News Department, so they subconsciously feared Cheng Yeran and they quickly stood up.
Then Cheng Yeran said, "Of course, Chu Wenqing from the News Department in Beijing is my student."
When they heard this, they quickly bowed respectfully, too scared to even look at Cheng Yeran.
Cheng Yeran said, "Follow my idea just now and write down why there are so many thieves in the local area. Go around and ask local people if they lose a lot of things, or if it's only outsiders like me who lose things when they come here. Investigate in depth. Start with a weekly report, one issue a week. I want to see the results in seven days."
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