Watertight
"Maybe he's losing money to promote his new workshop?" Zhao Ruxi said, stroking her chin.
Before Madam Cui could ask her, she blurted out the lie she had made up. "As you probably know, I recently bought a house and some servants. My second senior brother was worried I'd be scammed, so he asked a colleague from the Court of Judicial Review to introduce me to Broker Wang from the south of the city."
Madam Cui nodded.
When Zhao Ruxi bought servants, it was in Wu Zong's courtyard. The courtyard was not far from the academy, and it caused quite a stir. Several middlemen brought cartloads of servants for Zhao Ruxi to choose from.
Because Zhao Ruxi was a student at the academy, she became quite familiar with the old woman guarding the gate. Seeing this, the old woman naturally mentioned it to Madam Cui. Of course, the old woman's intention wasn't to gossip, but rather to praise Zhao Ruxi's competence.
Therefore, Madam Cui knew about this matter.
Zhao Ruxi continued, "My master is getting old and always wants to write down his life's insights in a book to leave for future generations. Since he's writing a book and creating a biography, I, as his disciple, can't just leave without showing some appreciation, right? So I asked a middleman to inquire about good seal shops in the city. It just so happens that the owner of Wang Printing House is related to Broker Wang, so he introduced me to this one."
Madam Cui nodded.
She also knew that Kang Shilin wanted to write an autobiography; Kang Shilin had mentioned it at the academy.
"He also said that his distant uncle liked to travel around when he was young, and even got married and settled down in Jiangnan. However, his wife passed away a few years ago, and he wanted to return to his roots, so he went back to the capital and brought back a printing machine. This machine was sold from the south to Jiangnan. It was fast and convenient for printing books, and the cost was low. It also used a special kind of paper, so he charged very little for printing books."
Zhao Ruxi looked up and smiled at Madam Cui, "Even if my master's book is well-written, I can't possibly find a cheap printing shop for him; it has to be the best. But thinking that you're running a newspaper, you must have to consider costs, so I kept that in mind and wrote down the address. And now it's come in handy."
"So that's how it is." Madam Cui was immediately Gao Xing.
As long as Zhao Ruxi didn't pay for the newspaper herself, it's a good thing for her. It means there's still hope for the newspaper to succeed. The Emperor is waiting to see the results.
When Grand Princess Shangde went to seek the Emperor's opinion, the Emperor said that if the newspaper performed well, the court also planned to issue some official gazettes.
"Okay, you can go back to class now. I'll discuss with the Princess how to sell these newspapers. If they sell quickly, I'll have her print another batch," she said.
After Zhao Ruxi left, she called her bodyguard over, told him what had happened, and instructed him, "Go and investigate whether things are as Miss Zhiwei said."
The guards obeyed and left.
The Wang family's affairs were arranged by Xiao Lingyan. He was a meticulous and thorough person, so there was no chance of anything going wrong with the Wang family's affairs. When the printing machine was first established, he instructed his subordinates to find suitable candidates in various places.
Wang Kun's father, Wang Shixing, was indeed the young master of Wang Printing House in the south of the capital. His biological mother died when he was young, and he suffered from the torment of his stepmother. At the age of fourteen, he left with his uncle to make his way in the world. He eventually married and settled in Jiangnan and never returned to the capital.
He initially made a fortune in business, and his family lived comfortably in Jiangnan. However, last year his grandson was beaten to death in a dispute. The family spent most of their savings seeking justice, and later suffered retaliation, ending up in prison and losing almost everything.
Xiao Lingyan's men sought justice for him, with the only request being that his family return to the capital to run a printing shop, with profits split 30/70, and Wang Shixing taking 30%.
Wang Shixing and his son had lost all their wealth and were left with nowhere to turn. They were supposed to be waiting to die in prison.
Having escaped death, the father and son felt that even selling themselves into slavery to repay this debt was the least they could do.
The other party did not force them to sell themselves into slavery; instead, they provided them with travel expenses and a ready-made business opportunity and profit. Naturally, they were extremely grateful and immediately took their families back to the capital.
When Wang Shixing's father passed away, Wang Shixing returned to the capital for the funeral and, with the help of his relatives, received a share of the family property.
However, Wang Printing House had already gone bankrupt, so he was allocated a courtyard and half of the original site, which consisted of ruins. He immediately built a courtyard on the half of the site and rented it out along with the allocated courtyard.
It's perfectly reasonable that Wang Shixing, having gotten into legal trouble in Jiangnan and unable to stay there, would bring Yu Cai and his family back to the capital to set up a seal-making workshop.
Most of the money he distributed was used for gifts and favors; outsiders had no idea how much he gave away or how much he kept. Even when he returned to the capital to set up a seal-making workshop, there were no clues.
Therefore, even if the investigation traces Wang Shixing's background all the way to Jiangnan, there shouldn't be any problems.
When Madam Cui's guards investigated, they naturally found nothing.
He returned and reported, "I've investigated, and the situation is indeed as Miss Zhiwei described. Old Man Wang has returned to his roots and settled in the capital. He wants to use that machine to reopen his family's printing shop, which has been closed for many years, and revive the Wang Printing House. That machine came from the south; it's convenient, efficient, and extremely low-cost for printing. They're worried that opening it will steal business from established families and offend people, so they're still hesitant about whether to set up the workshop or not, and how to price it if they do."
"They weren't open for business yet, so they weren't taking orders. A while ago, Broker Wang came to wish them Miss Zhiwei, saying the academy planned to print a newspaper—it wouldn't make money, it was just to educate women and for promotional purposes."
"Broker Wang's father did Wang Shixing a lot of favors back then, and they didn't want to offend Broker Wang, so they took on this business so easily. It's just that they don't have a good impression of the powerful and wealthy, which is why their attitude is so cold."
Upon hearing this, Madam Cui's doubts vanished.
After thinking about it, she went to Grand Princess Shangde's place again and told her about it.
Grand Princess Shangde had an idea after hearing this. However, she didn't tell Madam Cui, but instead sent someone to investigate Wang Shixing.
People generally trust their own judgment.
If Wang Shixing and his son had immediately tried to curry favor and showed any interest in finding a powerful backer, Grand Princess Shangde might have become suspicious and wondered if it was a trap set for her.
Now that she had discovered the situation herself, she no longer doubted its authenticity.
Grand Princess Shangde summoned Madam Cui and said, "Wasn't that old man Wang's family fortunes ruined because he had no powerful backing and offended some influential people? Now, because he has no backing, he dares not open his workshop."
"Go ask Old Man Wang if he'd be willing to partner with me on this business. I'll invest three thousand taels of silver in his printing shop, taking a 30% cut, so he can confidently open it up. Don't charge such low printing fees; just a little lower than others, to avoid attracting too much attention. However, our newspaper will continue to charge these low fees."