Return to the Tang Dynasty to be a villain

Chapter 48 Training Instructor Zhang Yizhi

On the first day of April, the sun was shining brightly and the spring breeze was gentle. The city of Chang'an was as bustling as usual.

The Xuanzheng Hall in the Daming Palace was the venue for the grand court meetings on the first and fifteenth days of each month, and at this moment it was already filled with loyal ministers and generals of the Wu Zhou Dynasty.

At this moment, His Majesty the Holy Emperor has not arrived yet, and all the civil and military officials are standing in their respective positions. It seems that there is no difference from the previous grand court meetings.

But upon closer inspection, the officials in Xuanzheng Hall today are somewhat different from the past.

Lai Junchen, at the request of Qin Yi, brought more than 300 copies of Chang'an Daily from the Imperial Censorate to the Daming Palace.

While the ministers were waiting outside the Suzaku Gate, the coachman he brought with him delivered the daily newspaper to the door of each official's carriage.

So, at this moment, such a strange scene appeared in the Xuan Zheng Hall.

Hundreds of men in ancient costumes and Tang Dynasty official robes were silent at this moment. Everyone was holding a copy of the Chang'an Daily and reading it attentively. The scene was very similar to the scene in later generations when the director was shouting "start" in a costume drama.

"Di Gong," Zhang Jianzhi looked at the news in the newspaper that Di Renjie was appointed as Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi, and concurrently deputy marshal of the Hebei Road Army, and was now preparing to go to Hebei Road to fight against the Turkic bandits.

"As the saying goes, war is all about deception."

"This is the news that you are going to gather an army of 100,000 and march on Hebei soon."

"I'm afraid if someone leaks this to the Turkic Khan Mochuo, it will cause a major disruption to the imperial court's military affairs, right?"

Di Renjie was reading the third edition of poetry at this moment. When he saw "Ganyu" written by Zhang Jiuling, he couldn't help but feel the same way and developed a strong interest in this young man.

Wu Sansi also received the newspaper sent to him by Lai Junchen, but what interested him more was the story of the first chapter of "The Investiture of the Gods".

Watching with great interest, Wu Sansi suddenly glanced at Lai Junchen who was looking smug, and carefully read the part where Nuwa ordered the nine-tailed fox to confuse King Zhou. A vicious plan gradually emerged in his mind.

Just as the ministers in the court were reading the newspapers in their hands with their own thoughts, the city of Chang'an was also in chaos due to the clerks of the Imperial Household Department.

In the West Market, Bi Ankang, who was selling mutton soup, was awakened by a series of hurried knocks on the door outside his shop early in the morning before dawn.

He quickly put on his clothes and went to open the door, still confused.

Today is not the day to pay rent for the shop, nor is it the time for the government to collect taxes. Moreover, I just paid tribute to the Black Tiger Gang in the city yesterday. Who is coming to knock on the door so early in the morning as if demanding my life?
However, when Bi Ankang opened the door of the shop, he was immediately scared out of his wits.

The reason was very simple. At this moment, a man wearing the robe of an official from the Imperial Court was holding the sword at his waist and looking at him with impatience.

Everyone in Chang'an knows that the officials of the Yishiyuan are like devils sent by the King of Hell. Once they come, families will be destroyed and people will die.

Bi Ankang opened the door fearfully, walked out of the shop with his head held high, and looked at the clerks in the court with a smile on his face.

"Sir, my mutton soup is not ready yet. If you want to have breakfast, you may have to wait a while."

Bi Ankang didn't know at this moment that the person standing in front of him was Niu Xianke, the chief clerk of the Recruiting and Censoring Office of the Imperial Household Department.

“Who wants to drink your mutton soup?”

Niu Xianke frowned and waved his hand. A clerk behind him hurried forward, holding a stack of printed papers in his hand.

Niu Xianke took out a piece from it, showed it in front of Bi Ankang, and then said.

"This is the Chang'an Daily, published by our Imperial Household Department. Since you can read, I'll give you a free copy today."

"If you like what you read, you can take a year's worth of newspapers home to read when you go to the Imperial Court tomorrow to ascend the throne."

Newspaper.Subscription

Niu Xianke's words obviously made Bi Ankang even more confused.

Niu Xianke looked at the other person's confused face and had to patiently explain it to him.

"One hundred and eighty wen a year?"

Bi Ankang took the newspaper in his hand and flipped through it hastily, calculating in his mind, if it is subscribed on an annual basis, this "Chang'an Daily" will cost less than half a cent a day?
After taking a quick look at the contents of the first edition, he suddenly had an idea and hurriedly bowed to Niu Xianke.

"Thank you, sir. I understand. If you need it, I will go to the Ministry of Commerce tomorrow to order it."

The same story as that of Bi Ankang's family was being played out in thousands of households in Chang'an City.

Out of fear for the clerks in the Yishiyuan, all the 10,000 newspapers that Qin Yi ordered Niu Xianke and Zhang Jiuling to distribute today were received by the people at their homes.

However, he was not sure how many people would come to the envoy's office to subscribe tomorrow.

The reason why Qin Yi wanted to use this method to promote newspapers in the beginning was that he did not have much time to organize boys to sell newspapers in a short period of time, so the method of selling newspapers in retail on the street was not feasible for him for the time being.

Secondly, subscribers can pay one year's fee at a time, which will allow Qin Yi to recover a lot of funds in advance.

As for whether one hundred and eighty cents a year is a profit or a loss?

Qin Yi really didn't think about this seriously.

After all, the biggest problem for him now is that his cash flow has dried up. If he can't get a large sum of money in a short period of time, then the monthly salary payment for nearly a hundred people in his several projects will become a problem.

This was the biggest risk for Qin Yi, and at this moment, he was hiding behind a gauze curtain in the Shiseido training classroom, feeling uneasy. Shiseido was his largest investment yet, and if he couldn't quickly recoup his funds, Qin Yi would have no choice but to return to the Qin Mansion in disgrace and continue to be his young master.

"My dear ladies and gentlemen, a man who is willing to spend money on you may not really love you, but if a man is unwilling to spend money on you, then he definitely does not love you. Please understand and applaud!"

Zhang Yizhi had no idea what Qin Yi, who was hiding nearby, was thinking. He was filled with passion as if he had been injected with chicken blood.

Who was he originally? Just a lowly, shabby scoundrel in the market.

But what about now? The most distinguished ladies in Chang'an City were actually sitting in front of him, looking at him with eyes full of admiration.

It’s no wonder these ladies are in such a state. They have never seen such a scene before.

None of them had expected that a handsome young man who made people's hearts flutter could speak such convincing words.

After receiving the invitation to Chengzi a few days ago, I thought it would be just like the opening of previous shops, where I could buy some novel goods.

However, today's experience was something new and novel that they had never experienced before.

It’s not that these women are ignorant. If we talk about knowledge and experience, most men in the entire empire are probably not as knowledgeable as them.

For example, the one sitting below, staring at Zhang Yizhi with burning eyes as if she wanted to swallow him into her stomach, was Princess Taiping Li Lingyue.

Sitting next to her was Princess Anding, Wu Xiuli.

In addition, Crown Princess Dou, Princess Wei, Princess Liang, Princess Bin, Princess Yiyang, Princess Gaoan and others also gathered together.

"My dear ladies and gentlemen," Zhang Yizhi's voice rang out again, "As women, what is our greatest source of pride?"

"Sister," Crown Princess Dou looked at Li Lingyue beside her with curiosity, "What do you think a woman's capital is?"

"What is it?" Li Lingyue also fell into deep thought.

"Of course it's our appearance," Zhang Yizhi's excited voice sounded again, "Women, you must be nicer to yourselves."

"And the most important way to treat yourself well is to give yourself a peerless appearance."

"What Mr. Zhang said makes a lot of sense!"

Wu Xiuli's eyes lit up and she muttered to herself unconsciously.

"Now," Zhang Yizhi looked down with a smile, "I need a volunteer, a volunteer to experience our Shiseido products."

"Volunteer?" The noble ladies sitting in the hall looked at each other, not understanding what Zhang Yizhi meant by this word.

Zhang Yizhi also saw that they did not understand the meaning of the word "volunteer" and hurriedly explained it.

“People who are willing to try the effects of Shiseido products.”

In the end, Wu Xiuli stepped forward. Zhang Yizhi applied mud to her face, sprayed perfume on her body, and finally washed the mud off her face with soap.

"Wow, so smooth and tender!"

Wu Xiuli reached out her hand and gently stroked her face, her face full of disbelief.

Wu Xiuli's words immediately aroused the interest of the ladies in the hall, and they all came to Zhang Yizhi.

With Wu Xiuli taking the lead, all the women became interested.

Zhang Yizhi quickly called out Zhang Changzong, Li Linfu and others to serve all the women.

Before this, Qin Yi had already instructed Zhang Yizhi to take special care of Princess Taiping.

Zhang Yizhi also personally took out the facial mud and applied it on Li Lingyue's face.

"Mr. Zhang, this clay of yours is truly miraculous. I wonder how much it's going to cost?"

Although Li Lingyue looked calm at the moment, a huge wave of shock had already been set off in her heart.

Apart from anything else, just the glass packaging that contained these things was enough to horrify her.

As a princess of the Li Tang clan and the daughter-in-law of the Wu family, Li Lingyue naturally lived a wealthy life, and glassware was not uncommon.

However, all the goods in this Shiseido store are packaged in glass. When she thought of this, she was surprised at the strength of this store.

Don't think of Li Lingyue and others as kind-hearted little white rabbits just because they are women.

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the three words "Shiseido" on the store's sign were written by Wu Zhao herself, there would definitely be many people in this room who would have covetous thoughts in their hearts.

This was the second reason why Qin Yi insisted on getting Wu Zetian to write an inscription before he dared to open his business. Otherwise, he was really afraid that he would not be able to keep the shop.

Zhang Yizhi applied facial mud to Li Lingyue with a technique as gentle as a spring breeze, but he had no idea that countless thoughts were already running through Li Lingyue's mind in the blink of an eye.
When hearing the question from Princess Taiping, Zhang Yizhi's hands were still gentle, but the answer he gave made Li Lingyue feel confused.

(End of this chapter)