By a twist of fate, the illegitimate son of the Marquis's family marries the county princess.

Chapter 182 Couples' Team Building

Open the bow without turning back the arrow!

Having secured the Crown Prince's support, Wen Zongji returned to the Capital Gazette Bureau and immediately summoned everyone, saying, "The court intends to establish Capital Gazette Bureau branches in various prefectures. These branches will not be authorized to publish the Capital Gazette, only to print it. Even so, each branch needs someone to oversee it. Who among you wishes to go?"

Everyone was suddenly struck by this news and didn't react for a moment.

Yao Maofang reacted quickly and asked, "Sir, is the person in charge of the branch office an official or a clerk?"

That hit the nail on the head.

Wen Zongji said, "For now, I will be a minor official."

The Capital Gazette Office now has dozens of people, but only Wen Zongji and Yao Maofang are real officials. The others are all clerks, which shows that it is not easy to become an official in the Great Chu.

Setting up more than a hundred branch offices at once would be impossible for the imperial court to provide more than a hundred official positions all at once; the cabinet would absolutely not agree to it.

Both the Crown Prince and Wen Zongji knew that for the Beijing Gazette, the sooner the news spread throughout the Great Chu, the sooner the court could control public opinion.

Therefore, in order to get the cabinet to approve the establishment of the branch office, the person in charge of the branch office of the Beijing Gazette Office would only be a minor official.

However, each branch office would exist independently, subject only to the jurisdiction of the Capital Gazette Office in the capital, and not subordinate to any local government office.

In this way, the branch offices of the Beijing Gazette Office could be freed from being controlled by others, and other people could be prevented from interfering in the branch offices' finances.

After all, the Beijing Gazette Office existed during a very special period for all government offices, because it was self-sufficient and could even sell the Beijing Gazette to make a considerable profit.

To prevent anyone from being short-sighted and trying to take advantage of the branch office of the Capital Gazette Office, the Crown Prince and Wen Zongji discussed the matter and decided to make the branch office independent.

However, Wen Zongji did not tell everyone about the independent division; they would find out when the time came if they were willing to go.

Upon hearing that he was still an official, the crowd lost much of their interest.

Both are minor officials, so should one be a minor official in the capital or a minor official in a local area?

This choice is not difficult.

Wen Zongji did not rush them to answer: "This matter still needs some preparation. Think it over carefully. Those who want to go should write an application and submit it to Mao Fang. I will make arrangements accordingly."

These people are all veterans of the Beijing Gazette Bureau. They know the Beijing Gazette very well. When they go to take charge of the branch offices, they will only be responsible for printing the Beijing Gazette. They will be more than enough.

"Yes, sir."

Afterwards, Wen Zongji asked Yao Maofang to accompany him to his office and said, "Recently, many bookstore owners in the surrounding counties have been inquiring about the Beijing Daily. I think the time is right to sell the right to sell the Beijing Daily to the surrounding counties."

Yao Maofang asked, "Will we hold an auction like last time?"

Wen Zongji shook his head: "There's no need for such trouble. Since it was the first time we held an auction, everyone in and around the capital knows the value of this qualification. We'll set the price at five hundred taels per qualification and allocate the number of slots based on the size of each county."

Yao Maofang worried, "Without an auction, there are so many bookstores in the county town, who would be a suitable buyer? Won't this cause trouble?"

Although auctions are troublesome, they follow the principle of the highest bidder wins; whoever has the most money gets the spot, and the loser accepts it.

Now that the qualification is priced and anyone can buy it, there's a lot to say about who can get that qualification spot.

They will definitely resort to all sorts of methods at that time.

Wen Zongji said calmly, "Who gets the qualification is naturally up to the Beijing Gazette Bureau!"

Upon hearing this, Yao Maofang immediately felt relieved: "With adults around, there won't be any problems."

The Beijing Gazette Bureau was a one-man show run by Wen Zongji. Even if outsiders managed to win over other people in the Bureau, it would be useless if they couldn't get Wen Zongji to back them up.

"The announcement of opening up the sale of Beijing registration quotas will be published in the sixth issue of the Beijing Daily, and the list will be published in the seventh issue of the Beijing Daily."

Yao Maofang then asked, "Then which page should it be placed on?"

Wen Zongji said, "Don't put it on any page. Aren't there blank spaces in the middle of the left and right pages? Put this news in those spaces."

Yao Maofang was stunned: "In the past, the gaps were all blank, and people didn't have the habit of looking at the gaps, so I'm afraid many people wouldn't notice them."

Wen Zongji: "Opportunities are reserved for those who are willing to give them; if you can't see them, it means there are no opportunities."

Yao Maofang nodded: "This humble official understands."

……

The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon.

Early in the morning, Pei Rujing pulled Wen Zongji up, and after breakfast, they got into a carriage and left the mansion.

Wen Zongji asked, "Where are we going?"

Pei Rujing said enthusiastically, "Let's leave the city!"

Seeing her acting mysteriously, Wen Zongji didn't ask any further questions.

Until he saw Zuo Mingxuan and Fang Sichu, Pei Shirong and Mei Yilan at the city gate.

Wen Zongji was stunned: "Wife, what's this?"

Pei Rujing explained, "I thought about it for a long time, but I couldn't think of anything fun to do in the capital, so I decided to find a few more people to go out of the city with."

Wen Zongji was genuinely surprised, since Pei Rujing had always disliked having other people around when she was alone with Wen Zongji, yet this time she actually took the initiative to invite other people.

They were all in pairs.

This is so unlike Pei Rujing's personality.

It was not a good time to linger at the city gate. The group exchanged a brief greeting and then boarded their respective carriages, leaving the city one after another.

Of the group, only Wen Zongji and Pei Rujing were a married couple and could rightfully ride in the same carriage. The others, although engaged, were not yet married and rode in their own carriages.

Inside the carriage, Wen Zongji asked, "Was this your own idea, Madam?"

Pei Rujing shook her head: "It was Zuo San who suggested it."

Wen Zongji suddenly realized.

He said it himself, this doesn't seem like Pei Rujing's personality.

"Why did you agree, my lady?"

Pei Rujing said, "She said she wanted to get to know Fang Sichu better before the wedding, but it's not good for the two of them to be alone for too long. It would be easier if there were other people around, so I agreed. Anyway, it doesn't matter whether there are two or four more people, so I also called my second brother and Miss Mei."

Wen Zongji was speechless: "My wife is amazing."

They managed to turn their date into a couple's team-building activity.

"Shall we come out of town for some fun?"

Pei Rujing said, "I've already had a boat rented; let's go boating on the lake."

Wen Zongji nodded: "If there are many people, it is indeed suitable for boating on the lake."

Pei Rujing said, "We originally planned to go to the manor, but we thought it would be too crowded and noisy there. It's more private on the boat."

Wen Zongji looked at her and said softly, "My wife is truly thoughtful in her dealings with people."

Even privacy has been taken into consideration.

Pei Rujing smiled smugly: "Of course. There are some things I just don't want to do, but if I want to, I can definitely do them well."

Wen Zongji continued to praise, "She truly is my wife."

Pei Rujing rolled her eyes at him: "My husband is so shameless, even when praising me, he doesn't forget himself."

Wen Zongji smiled and put his arm around her: "Husband and wife are one."

Pei Rujing liked those four words very much, and a smile appeared on her face, showing no sign of arguing.