Chapter 132: Eating Mooncakes and Listening to Gossip

"I am preparing to start promoting Simplified Chinese Characters; after simplification, it can lower the threshold for reading. As long as one has the heart to learn, they will certainly be able to learn it."

"Especially in some remote areas, reading is already expensive. If a child's comprehension is not good enough, or if they are slow to recognize characters, many parents will likely let the child give up on learning. But Simplified Chinese Characters are very easy to learn, which is equivalent to lowering the threshold for reading."

Grand Master Jiang and Grand Tutor Chen were both shocked.

What is His Highness trying to do?

Is she trying to let everyone in the world study and compete, so as to weaken the noble families?

Regarding this, Grand Master Jiang did not have any objections; neither he nor Chen Yuan came from noble families.

Grand Master Jiang was a bit curious, "How did you come up with these Simplified Chinese Characters? Did you think of them all yourself?"

Yan Ning had long since prepared her explanation: "Certainly not. When I was in Lingnan, I saw them at a bookstore; it is said they were brought back from overseas."

Grand Master Jiang and Grand Tutor Chen were once again surprised by Yan Ning's luck.

Yan Ning pondered for a moment, then thought, "Actually, besides the Imperial Examination to select talent, we can also use other methods."

As soon as Chen Yuan heard she wanted to reform, he had a bit of a headache.

But he still asked: "What do you mean by other methods?"

Yan Ning said: "Currently, if we want to become officials, we must go through layers of screening in the Imperial Examination, and only after becoming a presented scholar can one become an official. But those who are weeded out might have specialties in certain specific fields, such as mathematics or medicine."

Grand Tutor Chen said: "That is a good method, and there were precedents in the previous dynasty; this development should be feasible."

Yan Ning smiled and said: "That's great, I'll have my father discuss it with them later."

The next day at Court, Yan Ning proposed the promotion of Simplified Chinese Characters.

The ministers in the Court were once again in an uproar of opposition.

"Your Majesty, this won't work. Most teachers have learned Traditional characters; if you suddenly introduce Simplified ones, the teachers will have to learn from scratch."

"How can Simplified characters be as neat and good-looking as Traditional characters?"

Yan Ze, having already read the situation, replied dismissively: "Since most people have no objections, then we shall promote Simplified Chinese Characters from now on."

"Your Majesty!"

Yan Ning reassured them: "It's fine, both sets of characters can be used; you can use whichever you prefer."

Some ministers still wanted to speak, but Yan Ze dismissed the Court directly.

He did not give them a chance.

Yan Ning spent several days copying books, basically copying all the primers, and immediately sent them to the Imperial Academy to have them print the Simplified characters, then sent them to various places.

The promotion of Simplified Chinese Characters was inevitable.

Now that the Mid-Autumn Festival was getting closer and closer, having copied books for these few days, Yan Ning could finally relax.

She strolled to the Mooncake shop and heard the angry roars of several people:

"Let go, I got this first!"

"You're the one who should let go, the Manager took my money first."

"Manager, didn't your shop say you would hire more people? Why are there so few? My family has many people, we can't just cut it up and share it, right? That would be so tacky!"

In short, the entrance to the shop was still noisy.

Yan Ning entered through the back door and sat in the back compartment drinking tea.

The front was still noisy, so Yan Ning sat there waiting.

After about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, those people finally left. Manager Liu, whose throat was hoarse from shouting, wanted to go in to drink some tea and happened to see Yan Ning.

Manager Liu hurriedly said: "Your Highness, you have finally come. These snow-skin Mooncakes, no matter how we make them, it's never enough."

Yan Ning was stunned: "Didn't I tell you to find ten more people to make Mooncakes?"

Manager Liu sighed: "That is still far from enough."

Manager Liu was only a manager and could not make decisions on Yan Ning's behalf.

Yan Ning said: "Then add twenty more?"

Manager Liu considered for a moment: "Why not add fifty people?"

Yan Ning's mouth opened slightly, a bit surprised: "This, is the shortage that great?"

Manager Liu wiped the sweat from his forehead and began to talk about the recent business situation.

"These past few days they have come very early every day, but the quantity of Mooncakes is really not enough. There are also some wealthy families who, the moment they open their mouths, want to buy a hundred boxes of Mooncakes; many people have come to blows over this."

"And there are quite a few with backgrounds who, after the commoners finish buying and come out, directly force them to sell."

"Although the snow-skin Mooncakes sell the best, the other Mooncakes also sell quite well. Customers say the taste is very delicious, and it also requires many people to make them."

Yan Ning roughly understood their purchasing power here and decided to hire fifty more people and prepare more ingredients every day.

It was the Mid-Autumn Festival, and Rong Guogong Fu was hosting a Mid-Autumn banquet; Yan Ning also received an invitation.

Looking at this invitation, Yan Ning was debating whether to go.

Yan Ze said: "Why don't you go and see? The Mid-Autumn banquet is at noon, and our family can enjoy the moon together in the evening."

Yan Ning felt it would be good to go out for a stroll.

When Yan Ning arrived, she found that there were many seats; this Mid-Autumn banquet had invited quite a few people.

Seeing Yan Ning arrive, the Duchess hurried to welcome her and arranged for her to sit at the very front.

Many people were secretly sizing up Yan Ning.

This was their first time seeing the Crown Princess, and everyone was very curious.

Some even started whispering: "I heard this Crown Princess is rebellious and is always at odds with the officials in the Court."

"That can't be true, look at her appearance, she is well-behaved and cute; if she is at odds with the officials, it must be because she was forced to."

"You only know how to judge by appearances. My father also mentioned that although the Crown Princess looks gentle, she acts on a whim in the Court. If they don't agree, the Crown Princess can debate with all the scholars, fighting against more than a hundred people by herself."

"I, on the other hand, heard from my grandfather that the Crown Princess has a very good temper and that the policies she promotes benefit the country and the people; it is the ministers who are too conservative."

They were far away from Yan Ning and thought she could not hear them.

Yan Ning often eats Spirit Fruit exchanged from the cultivation plane, so her five senses are better than an ordinary person's; even from far away, she can hear these people's comments about her.

It turns out those officials she had retorted to were actually smearing her behind her back.

However, like her father, she does not care about others' opinions.

She only seeks to have a clear conscience.

The few people over there were still muttering when the wife of the Minister of Personnel scolded them: "Is the Crown Princess someone you can comment on as you please?"

Only then did the few people disperse.

Not long after, the seats were already filled with people.

The maidservants began to serve the dishes, and each person was allotted a Mooncake.

However, there were two Mooncakes on the plate in front of Yan Ning.

She blinked at the wife of the Duke of Rong, and the wife of the Duke of Rong asked with a smile: "Does His Highness need anything else?"

Yan Ning shook her head, "No, this Mooncake is very beautiful."

The wife of the Duke of Rong had carefully selected the two best-looking ones and given them both to Yan Ning.

Hearing her praise, the wife of the Duke of Rong beamed with joy.

Everyone began to eat the snow-skin Mooncakes.

Yan Ning does not really like the texture of snow-skin Mooncakes; they are sticky and hard to swallow, so she picked a Mooncake she liked and began to eat it.

While eating, she listened to the gossip.

"Hmph, why did that dog Yuan Lang come here too?"

"Yuan Lang, isn't that your elder sister's fiancé? They are already preparing to get engaged."

"Pah, pah, pah, what engagement? The Yuan family members are all extremely shameless; they say Yuan Lang is good-looking and want Yuan Lang to become the Crown Princess's husband!"