Female-to-male: I live on farming

"That bunch of old stubborn people." Su Mian complained silently.

But seeing that Jinyang had already thought about it, he was relieved. It was a pity that Gu Lanxi had finally helped Jinyang to the throne, and they could not stay together openly for the time being.

Jinyang's luck was pretty good indeed, to have met such a peerless beauty, and not only was he devoted to her, but she was also so virtuous.

Su Mian does not have her own mansion yet. She is not a court official, and Jinyang cannot arrange a mansion for her on this street.

If she was allowed to live alone somewhere else, she would be worried. Therefore, Su Mian lived with Lu Youqing and others some time ago. After Jinyang ascended the throne, the Princess's Mansion became empty, so Su Mian came to stay with Gu Lanxi for a few days.

As soon as she arrived in Beijing, she became idle again and was lazy every day.

On this day, the breeze was blowing, and she was leaning on the railing bored. She held a handful of fish food in her hand and sprinkled it into the water from time to time, watching the fish swimming happily. Her eyes were a little dazed, and no one knew what she was thinking.

"You seem to be very free?"

As soon as Qin Ke came in, he saw her looking so bored and couldn't help but tease her.

Su Mian rolled her eyes at him, threw all the fish food in her hand into the pool, clapped her hands, sat back in the recliner, and asked, "Why are you coming to my place if you're not busy with your official duties?"

She had heard about it all. After Jinyang ascended the throne, he announced the establishment of imperial examinations, and Lu Youqing was fully responsible for this matter, and was busy every day.

Qin Ke sat opposite her and said, "Official business has naturally been arranged. I came to see you on purpose. I have something to ask you. Are you interested?"

Qin Ke was already familiar with promoting crops and farm tools. Moreover, the Ministry of Industry was the least noticed department among the six ministries in the imperial court. He only needed to arrange these things and no one would make trouble for him.

"Oh? What's the matter?"

"Well, your majesty let me take charge of the imperial examination this time. In addition to selecting some talents, it must also be to encourage more women to take the exam."

Jinyang became an empress, and this time Lu Youqing, a woman, would be the examiner. Any woman in the world would be very excited to see this scene.

Su Mian raised her eyebrows and motioned for him to continue.

Qin Ke poured himself a cup of tea, moistened his throat, and continued to analyze: "So I estimate that there will be a lot of women taking the exam this time, but in the past, there were very few women taking the imperial examinations. They have no experience, or they don't have the conditions. In short, they are much worse than men in all aspects."

"So you want to..." Su Mian was indeed interested.

"My wife, as the chief examiner, must not be partial to others, but you are different. You have the background and resources, and I have the funds. Why don't we buy a house in the capital to entertain these candidates?"

"This is a good idea. There will definitely be many women coming from far away to take the exam. By then, the inns in the city will be overcrowded. It would be a good deed if we could provide them with free accommodation." Su Mian analyzed the situation according to Qin Ke's thoughts.

But then he reacted and frowned, "No, what do you mean I have a backer and resources?"

Qin Ke winked at her and smiled: "Of course you have a backer. Who has a bigger backer than you?"

Su Mian pursed her lips. Although what Qin Ke said was true, she didn't want to trouble Jin Yang too much.

"Okay, don't get distracted." Qin Ke put away his smile and said seriously, "What I mean is that even if they are girls from aristocratic families, they don't study for the imperial examination, so their test-taking ability must be poor. We might as well copy down the excellent test papers from previous years for them to refer to and learn from."

Lu Youqing cannot do this, and Qin Ke is not suitable either. The most suitable candidate at the moment is Su Mian.

The examination papers of previous years are sealed in the archives room of the Ministry of Rites. As long as Su Mian brings it up to His Majesty, His Majesty will surely agree.

Although Jin Yang was unlikely to reject her, Su Mian didn't want to make things difficult for Jin Yang.

Qin Ke saw through her thoughts and advised: "In fact, your majesty must also hope that there are more women in the court. And this is just the first step. We are currently only printing test papers and providing them to candidates, but in the future we can print all the books in the world for all scholars to read."

Su Mian couldn't help but be frightened by Qin Ke's tone. Printing all the books in the world, what an arrogant statement.

However, she noticed that Qin Ke mentioned the word "printing" and asked out of curiosity.

"Actually, I didn't plan to make a printing press at this time. It was just because of the imperial examination and the fact that you are here, that I decided to start working on it."

"Printing press?"

"In fact, the full name is movable type press. At present, books can only be copied manually, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. The movable type press uses machines to print books, which not only improves efficiency but also reduces costs."

When Qin Ke talked about this time, he couldn't help but think of the time when they were still worried about money, and his wife had brought many books from the town back to copy and supplement the family income.

Su Mian had always heard Li Nanqiao mention Qin Ke before. He was a man with brilliant ideas who could come up with things that ordinary people could never imagine.

I actually saw it with my own eyes today.

"Can you really do what you said?"

"Although it hasn't been done yet, there are already some signs of it." Qin Ke nodded.

If Su Mian knew him, she would know that when he said there was a clue, it meant he was completely sure of it.

"From a long-term perspective, it would be better to do this in the name of the royal family. The Royal Library has the largest collection of books. As long as His Majesty nods, this matter can be done." Qin Ke continued, "This kind of thing will benefit future generations."

Su Mian couldn't help but be excited by Qin Ke's words, and immediately responded: "Okay, I agree."

However, it was too early to print all the books in the world. They had to eat one bite at a time and walk one step at a time. The first thing they had to do was to find a suitable house.

But the good news is that when Gu Lanxi heard about what Su Mian was going to do, she immediately expressed her desire to participate in the investment and would be responsible for the funding issues.

When Qin Ke heard this, he nodded in agreement hurriedly, as if he was afraid that she would regret it.

With a wealthy man around, it would be a waste not to take advantage of this opportunity. And the future queen has already invested in it, so who would dare to take advantage of this printing press in the future?

Gu Lanxi bought a house in the capital. Although the location was a bit remote, it covered a large area. Su Mian found some people to clean it up and renovate it, making it just right for candidates to live in.

Qin Ke didn't know what Su Mian said to the emperor, but just as Qin Ke expected, the emperor agreed to their proposal and agreed to let them copy the test papers sealed by the Ministry of Rites.

Qin Ke didn't need to worry about these things. All he needed to do was watch the craftsmen making the movable printing press.