"Alright, now let’s discuss serious matters," Yang Mengchen said with a solemn expression after she had stopped laughing. "Even though the prices of books and paper have dropped, many poor families still cannot afford to send their children to school. Eighth Brother, after you return, you must manage Yangshan Academy and Yangshan Girls’ Academy well, and on the other hand, go to counties, towns, and villages across the country to build schools in the name of the Emperor and the Yang family. Start by offering free enrollment to children under ten years old. Regardless of whether they become pillars of society in the future, at least let them be literate and understand reasoning."
Yang Chengbin’s expression tightened slightly, "Building schools and offering free enrollment is fine, but doing it in our family’s name..."
"Our family provides the money, manpower, and effort; we can’t just toil away for nothing. The Emperor will obtain a reputation for wisdom, and since the national treasury can’t spare the silver coin to support the project, he certainly won’t object. If anyone else dares to criticize, I believe the Emperor won’t ignore it," Yang Mengchen understood the Emperor’s nature to some degree.
Long Xuanmo, who had been silent all the while, spoke lightly, "Do not worry. Leave everything to me."
Yang Chengbin nodded in agreement.
"I will go to the Emperor for an imperial decree. That way, local officials won’t dare to hinder or obstruct Eighth Brother," Yang Mengchen continued. "This is a massive project. Eighth Brother must proceed step by step. For expenses, seek funds from Sixth Brother. The Hope Project Team will also be under Eighth Brother’s command;
As for the teachers, apart from those signing death contracts, we can also recruit reputable locals, as well as scholars of good character but poor circumstances. This could also help to ease some people’s livelihood issues," she mentioned.
"Understood," said Yang Chengbin as he took note of everything.
In her previous life, Yang Mengchen had donated money to build many Hope primary schools and skill training academies. When she came to this time and space, the idea persisted.
However, previously she had many responsibilities and limited energy, plus the circumstances here were different from her past life, so she had held back.
Now, with the family financially strong and her status as Princess Chen, as well as Eighth Brother having scholarly achievements and capability, this plan could finally be put into action.
The most important thing was that the Yang family was becoming increasingly powerful. As the saying goes, "a tall tree catches the wind." While Wende may maintain a stable position after his succession, if her descendants were to succeed in the future, some might advise the reigning Emperor falsely against the Yang family, bringing potential calamity upon them.
By starting to build schools across the country and offering free enrollment to students, not only would she be adding to the Emperor’s reputation for wisdom, but she would also gradually build a reputation for the Yang family. She believed that after several decades, most of the Dongchu People would have been educated in the schools built by the Yang family. Even if the reigning Emperor felt threatened by the Yang family, he would not dare act rashly.
In this way, she was creating a relatively solid safeguard for the Yang family. As long as the descendants of the Yang family managed their affairs with discretion, they would naturally be safe and sound. This gave her peace of mind for the time when she would be gone.
On the day of Long Xuanmo and Yang Mengchen’s grand wedding, everyone saw the Yang brothers, each with a noble and dashing demeanor. Moreover, with the Yang family’s rule of not divorcing wives or taking concubines, as well as the connection to Yang Mengchen, many had intentions of forming marital alliances with the Yang family. Of course, this excluded the three brothers who were already married, but unfortunately, Yang Mengchen declined all the proposals politely.
After Yang Chengbin topped the imperial examination, old proposals were brought up again. Yang Mengchen excused them all on the grounds that Yang Chengbin needed to prepare for the palace examination. Now that the Emperor had personally appointed Yang Chengbin as the top scholar of the new class and granted him a marriage to the Sixth Princess, everyone sighed with regret. Some quickly shifted their sights to the remaining four brothers.
Butler Ji, acting under Yang Mengchen’s orders, tactfully turned away visitors at the mansion gate, only welcoming a few closely related households.
The rejected guests could only return to their own residences; after all, with Yang Mengchen’s high status, not just anyone could easily enter the Princess Mansion. They had to think of other ways.
When Yang Mengchen came out of the bathroom, Long Xuanmo handed her the freshly received intelligence report and picked up a towel to dry her wet hair.
After reading the report, Yang Mengchen realized why her fourth brother had looked so troubled during the day; he had his heart set on someone and now understood why he was unhappy.
Her fourth brother’s beloved was Fu Chuyan, the legitimate daughter of the Chengen Marquis Mansion. Her mother had died in childbirth, and soon after, a series of misfortunes befell the mansion. A wandering Taoist passing by claimed that Fu Chuyan was born under an inauspicious star, a destiny of ’bringing calamity to relatives and the household.’
The heartless Marquis of Cheng En decided to have Fu Chuyan executed, but Old Lady Fu arrived in time to save her granddaughter. Out of pity, she took her granddaughter to live in the countryside.
After Old Lady Fu left, Marquis Cheng En immediately promoted his favorite concubine, Madam Lu, to the official wife and from then on disregarded his mother and daughter.
Over three years ago, Old Lady Fu suddenly passed away. Marquis Cheng En hastily managed the affairs and returned to the capital, while Fu Chuyan remained in the countryside to observe the three-year mourning period.
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