Chapter 263
"My beloved subjects, what do you think of the Ninth Prince?"
Hearing that His Majesty had chosen this person, everyone was taken aback for a moment before quickly chiming in with their agreement.
"Your Majesty, I believe the Ninth Prince is highly suitable."
"I second that!"
"I second that!"
Good heavens, a bunch of old officials instantly sold out the Ninth Prince without a second thought.
They had previously been speculating why, even though Zhou Yunxin and Chonghua were both dead, His Majesty had kept this formerly most favored prince around without punishing him.
They thought His Majesty still harbored some lingering father-son affection, never expecting that he had been kept all along to be the perfect scapegoat.
The Crown Prince's eyes flickered. His father intended to squeeze the last bit of value out of Little Nine before sending him to his death.
In that case, his own men could withdraw.
"Father, how do you plan to have Ninth Brother reasonably present these things, and as for the Junior Preceptor..."
No matter how well they planned, if Yue Fuguang did not hand over the technology, finding a few scapegoats would be useless.
"As for Fuguang, I will have to trouble my beloved subject Yu..."
Yu Chongshan bowed and said, "I will do my best."
As to whether he would exert one ounce of effort or two, that would be left entirely to fate!
"Once we obtain those two technologies, I believe the best opportunity will be your wedding. A younger brother presenting his elder brother with a wedding gift—it makes sense for it to be something precious."
If it could not be done in time for the Crown Prince's wedding, they would just have to wait for the Empress's birthday.
Everyone felt that aside from the timeline being a bit rushed, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the plan.
The Crown Prince said, "Father, wouldn't it seem a bit thin if it's just Ninth Brother alone?"
Emperor Mingxi paused, unable to help but ask, "Do you have other ideas, Crown Prince?"
"Father, I believe it would be better for Fourth Brother and Ninth Brother to shoulder this together. When the news spreads outside, it can be kept somewhat vague.
This way, those noble families will naturally investigate, which can confuse the public for a while and buy us time to produce the finished products.
Because the specifics of who it was will be blurred, when we later announce the true inventor, the Junior Preceptor, we will have a plausible explanation."
As long as the royal family stepped forward to endorse it, they could simply overturn the previous 'rumors'.
The kind-hearted Junior Preceptor gifted this rare technology to the two princes who were searching everywhere for a fine item to present as a wedding gift to their elder brother.
This story made perfect sense.
As for the two younger brothers who had to bear the reputation, they only needed to learn to keep their mouths shut.
Suddenly hearing the Fourth Prince mentioned, everyone present was momentarily stunned, their hearts filled with the same complex emotions as when the Ninth Prince was brought up just moments ago.
Strictly speaking, although this man was His Majesty's own flesh and blood, he could also be considered an important chess piece placed in Great Yan by Gan Sheng.
This person was also grounded and had not appeared in public for a long time. They had almost forgotten about this individual, who had been deemed a menace by those two ancestors.
Ever since Emperor Mingxi learned about Concubine Wan and Yue Ying, he had merely surrounded them without taking action in order to placate Gan Sheng.
Using the excuse of Old Four, Xie Zhiwei, offending the Junior Preceptor, he grounded Concubine Wan and the entire Xinrong Palace.
Now that the Crown Prince suggested letting Old Four share this massive scapegoat duty, he merely glanced at his increasingly mature eldest son and nodded in agreement.
Using the hands of the noble families to probe exactly how many people Gan Sheng had left by Old Four's side was indeed a good opportunity.
Otherwise, with only Old Nine bearing the brunt alone, he might not truly be able to withstand the backlash from the noble families.
"Grandfather seems to really like this kind of paper?"
The photos in front of Yue Fuguang were not entirely inappropriate for children.
The whole family gathered in Old Madam Yu's courtyard to talk, and the topic quickly shifted to the mysterious drawings that had appeared everywhere that morning.
Because there were juniors present, especially the girls, the adults naturally would not discuss the illicit affair between Bei Ye and Wei Qingyi in too much detail.
So the conversation naturally turned to the painting techniques and the paper.
They guessed who possessed such superb painting skills and speed; the affair was discovered at night, and the drawings were found in the morning.
In Yu Boming's words, how many highly skilled painters would they have had to mobilize to draw so many copies in such a short amount of time?
Yu Chongshan and the others seemed more focused on the paper used for the drawings, which prompted Yue Fuguang's question.
Yu Chongshan smiled kindly, "Grandfather just thinks this paper is different from the Xuan paper we usually use. Also, these drawings look like they were done by the same person.
It doesn't seem like what Boming and the others said, that many people were involved."
"Grandfather, truthfully speaking, for writing purposes, this paper is still inferior to Xuan paper.
As for the drawings you mentioned, getting thousands of identical copies isn't very difficult; don't printing workshops have the means?"
"Although it's not as good for writing as Xuan paper, this paper is truly beautiful. It feels smooth and delicate to the touch; the name 'Snowflake' is well-deserved."
Yu Ningxuan and the other girls valued the paper's appearance more, loving all things beautiful.
"If you want the paper to be whiter, just bleach it. You can also add talcum powder, chalk, or kaolin to the paper pulp, which also has a whitening effect."
"Seventh Sister knows how to make paper too?" Yu Ningxuan smiled. "And what is bleaching?"
"I've never heard of talcum powder, chalk, or kaolin either," Yu Ningxin added.
The two of them asked very naturally; having attended school together, the three had long developed the habit of discussing problems.
Little did they know, their questions played right into the hands of the men in the family.
Yu Chongshan secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't known how to bring it up, but his three granddaughters had started discussing it on their own.
"Papermaking isn't very complicated, and the materials are even more common. Can't broken fishing nets, straw, wheat stalks, reeds, bamboo, and tree bark all be used to make paper?
As for talcum powder and such, Grandfather, Father, and Uncles should know what they are."
"So many things can be used to make paper?"
The others also leaned in to ask. The paper mills in Great Yan used good materials, so the price of paper was relatively high, which was one of the reasons why the cost of studying was so expensive nowadays.
An ordinary family really couldn't afford for their children to use a large amount of paper every day.
"Grandfather, aside from the books copied by scholars, how are the books in Great Yan printed nowadays?
Woodblock, movable type, or something else?"
"Great Yan primarily uses rubbing and woodblock printing. I've never heard of this movable type you mentioned, Fuguang."
Yu Zhongchun couldn't help but ask, "Fuguang, can broken fishing nets, straw, wheat stalks, and reeds really make paper?
And is movable type a new kind of printing technique?"
Yue Fuguang now wore a look of utter confusion. "Does Great Yan really not have movable type printing? No wonder I heard the Eighth Princess and the others say paper is expensive; is it because they use precious materials?"
Saying this, she took two sheets of paper from her sleeve. One recorded several methods of papermaking, detailing the pros and cons.
The other detailed movable type printing, including the production of the movable type and ink, with steps so detailed that even someone without relevant experience could produce something decent if they strictly followed the instructions.
"Fuguang, this is...?" Yu Chongshan couldn't help but blush, feeling as though they had schemed against a child.
Yue Fuguang: The Yu family was truly her divine assist. With one thing leading to another, she had reasonably presented these two technologies. The promotion of movable type printing and papermaking in her cultural promotion mission was finally about to begin.
This mission was phased; as long as Great Yan produced the first sheet of paper and printed the first book according to the methods she provided...
With that, the first phase of her mission was complete, and she effortlessly pocketed twenty thousand points.