Quick Transmigration: Survive to the End

Not long after, the empress died.

The emperor coldly ordered preparations to be made for her funeral, and then wanted to make his beloved concubine empress instead.

This time, members of the imperial clan and court officials clearly expressed their opposition. Even the more senior member of the Imperial Clan Court scolded the emperor to his face.

The emperor had no choice but to put the matter aside for the time being, but then he turned around and gave the Phoenix Seal to Consort Zhen, and ordered all the noblewomen to pay their respects to Consort Zhen when they entered the palace.

This made Consort Zhen a de facto but nominal power holder in the harem.

As a result, Yin Yin and all the other wives of the imperial clan stopped going to the palace. Even when the emperor used a few people who wanted to flatter Consort Zhen and gain favor with him to warn the imperial clan, the wives of the imperial clan still did as they pleased.

The wives of the imperial clan all came from distinguished families, many being daughters of prominent clans. Although the empress herself remained inactive while she was alive, no one dared to interfere, lest she be "forced" to issue an edict reprimanding the emperor and get herself into trouble. After all, it wasn't the first time the empress had done something like this.

But after the Empress's death, everyone naturally put their disdain for Consort Zhen and their dissatisfaction with the Emperor for forcing his first wife to her death into the open.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival palace banquet, all the wives of the imperial family were ill, but on the Double Ninth Festival, they all gathered at Yinyin Manor.

Looking at the unusually well-organized group of royal ladies below, Yin Yin held her teacup and listened to one of the princesses speak.

"Although some things happen infrequently, we should still learn from them. Otherwise, if any family produces a daughter like that in the future, they will be disgusted to death."

Immediately, some people below echoed her, but after listening for a while, Yin Yin heard nothing but silent criticism and no constructive opinions were offered.

Some even pessimistically say: "Many women are confined to the inner quarters of their homes all their lives, and their knowledge and experience are limited to a small area. Apart from revolving around their husbands and children, how much insight can they expect from them?"

This statement is too broad in its scope. Among the people present, there are many who have moved from their parents' home to their husbands' home and have hardly ever left their homes except for going out to banquets and visit guests.

Just as the man realized his mistake and the others looked at each other in bewilderment, Yin Yin placed the teacup on the table.

The crisp sound of the teacup drawing everyone's attention.

Yinyin spoke calmly, "In that case, let's all come and see for ourselves."

How can I see it?

Yinyin considered the extent to which they could accept it: "Since we are wives of the royal family and are supported by the people, we naturally have a lot to do."

"While we cannot achieve the goal of making the people happy and prosperous in one step, we can certainly take care of the elderly and children."

“As you all know, I once established a charity to take in children who were abandoned or whose parents had died and had nowhere to go.”

"However, my abilities are limited and I lack manpower. I have only made arrangements in three places: the capital, the north, and the south of the Yangtze River. If you are willing, you can work with me to handle this matter."

Some readily agreed, while others fell into deep thought.

Seeing this, Yin Yin said, "It's not that I want to freeload off you all, but I think this is a good idea. Everyone will have more places to go and can learn more about what's happening in the community, which will bring good fortune to their families."

The mention of accumulating blessings, without the need for them to spend money, tempted all the ladies.

Yin Yin then brought up another matter, which was something that would truly broaden everyone's horizons.

“We are in the royal family and live in the capital. We cannot move around freely. I was just thinking about how we can know what is happening in the world while we are in the capital. I couldn’t help but think of the official gazette.”

"The official gazette?" Princess Xunyang, who was on good terms with Yinyin, spoke up at the right moment. "Are you planning to create a copy of the official gazette so that we can all see what's happening elsewhere?"

Yinyin nodded: "We can't go out, but we can send servants out to gather information about things happening all over the world. Once they come back, they can be published in books, so we can learn about different things in many places. Although some of it may be outdated, it's fine if it's just to broaden our horizons."

"Moreover, once this booklet is made, it won't just be available to us. There are many women in the capital or in our maternal family who can also broaden their horizons through it."

As they chatted with interest about where their families were and what information they could provide, Yin Yin didn't join in.

She had actually wanted to make newspapers and periodicals for a long time, but she had reservations and dared not make them public during the reign of the late emperor.

However, since the royal ladies had stopped talking about the Empress, Yin Yin wouldn't arouse suspicion if she brought it up again.

If it could foster cooperation among the entire imperial clan, even the emperor would turn a blind eye.

This first booklet, once published, will not have been widely distributed; it will likely have been mostly in the hands of noblewomen.

But how long can you read a booklet? No matter how fresh the news is, it becomes old after you've read it once. This isn't a literary work that needs to be read repeatedly.

Once everyone has the first copy, they will want to know more, which will naturally lead to the creation of a second, third, and even more copies.

As the number of issues increases, those that have been read before will naturally reach those who haven't seen them before. In this way, after a few more years, the scope of this booklet's dissemination will certainly be considerable, and its role will not be limited to broadening the horizons of women confined to their homes.

The seed is sown when someone begins to feel dissatisfied with their current situation.

Whatever happens then, it's not Yin Yin's fault as the one who made the suggestion.

After all, the reason she proposed this was simply to make it easier for the wives of the royal family to teach the girls in their families, hoping that they would have enough knowledge and not be blinded by love.

Which royal family would want their daughter to be a love-struck woman who disregards her status?

After the gathering, many ladies followed Yin Yin to her orphanage. After seeing the children there, most of them sent gifts, but a few actually stayed to help Yin Yin with her work.

But almost all the ladies, after returning home, busied themselves with the matter of the booklet, either instructing their subordinates or writing letters back to their families to ask for their help. In the end, before the heavy snow fell in winter, the first booklet was freshly printed and reached everyone's hands.

This booklet passed from the wives to their daughters, and some even reached the hands of princes and nobles of the royal family.

The book that Yinyin was holding was now being read by Gu Anzhi with great interest.

"The higher-ups said that the various peaks of Jiuguo Mountain look like nine large pot lids when viewed from above, hence the name. I don't know if that's really true."

"Is there really a scholar in Wanzhou who abandoned his fiancée to marry the daughter of the county magistrate?"

"Is it true that Liu Family Village gets struck by lightning every time there's a thunderstorm?"

Gu Anzhi found more and more problems, so Yinyin had to tell him, "The information here is compiled from various sources. Anything that cannot be confirmed as true or false is marked with the word 'fictional.' If it doesn't have that word, then it's true."

Gu Anzhi closed the booklet and said regretfully, "It's a pity that I can't leave the capital often, otherwise we could have visited each place listed in this booklet."