After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

The next day.

At dawn, the sky was just beginning to lighten with the first hint of white.

A strange shop on Datong Street called "Nancheng Daily" opened for business with a shiny signboard in gold lettering on a black background.

Five children, heads held high, led five adults out the door.

Ning Nan entrusted the task of selling newspapers to them because the children seemed innocent and guileless, which fit his stereotype of newspaper boys.

However, since Li Xing and Li Jiujin were from Li Family Village, Ning Nan was worried that something might happen to them, so he sent five servants from the Ning family to accompany them.

"Sir, would you like to read the newspaper? It's the Nancheng Daily, it just opened today, and we're giving you a free copy!"

Li Xing flashed a smile, revealing a set of white teeth, and addressed each of the wealthy-looking men who passed by.

Restaurants, the Imperial College, chambers of commerce, cotton shops, and even brothels... in every place in Nanjing where wealthy families were present, there was a small figure dressed simply, carrying a cloth bag across his shoulder, shuttling back and forth.

These small figures shouted, "Breaking news! Breaking news!" If anyone asked what the news was, they would shove a piece of paper into the other person's hand, saying, "Sir, this news is absolutely huge!"

On this day, newspapers, a novel item that cost nothing, appeared before everyone's eyes.

Because it was free and fresh, the thousand servings were quickly distributed.

Inside the restaurant, a student from the Imperial Academy, who was having breakfast, glanced at the unusually large piece of paper while munching on a jade pendant. "The Nancheng Daily?" he frowned.

The official gazette is not the official gazette.

It's not a book.

I don't know what it is.

He spread the paper out with a series of clattering sounds.

The first half is an article praising His Majesty's wisdom and might.

I glanced at it.

The writing is excellent and hits the nail on the head.

Yes, well written.

interesting.

Then quickly looked down.

The lower half.

Ok?

The student frowned even more deeply.

vernacular?

"A Chinese Ghost Story?" Upon seeing this name, the student, with a steamed bun in his mouth, looked puzzled.

I glanced at the author of the book—Jia Songling.

Strange and unusual names.

After glancing up and down, I noticed that many of the characters were in colloquial script. Ugh, so vulgar, unbearably so.

The story is also quite cliché.

A young fox spirit, having just attained enlightenment, saw a scholar traveling to the capital for the imperial examinations and decided to capture him.

The first time, the fox spirit pretended to be a beautiful woman who had fallen by the roadside. The scholar helped her up, and she thanked him repeatedly, then invited him to her house for tea.

The scholar asked, "Is your husband home?" The fox spirit raised an eyebrow and said no. The scholar then said, "You can't go there; it's against etiquette."

The second time, the fox spirit was robbed by bandits. The scholar took a stick, stepped forward, and saved the fox spirit. The fox spirit was extremely grateful and invited the scholar to her house for tea.

The scholar asked, "Is your husband at home?" The fox-woman's eyes darted around, and she replied, "Yes, he is."

The scholar said, "You can't go there." The fox-woman glared at him and asked, "Why?" The scholar replied solemnly, "It's against propriety, and I'm afraid my wife's husband will misunderstand."

The fox-woman was so angry she wanted to bite her teeth.

The third time, she pretended to be a drowning woman and was rescued by the scholar. She then asked the scholar to take her home.

Before the scholar could even speak, the fox spirit said that her husband was blind and asked her to escort him.

The scholar said, "You can't go, you can't go." "You're not going either?" The fox-woman stared wide-eyed, utterly bewildered.

Then he transformed into a woodcutter, saying that he had just witnessed the young master's actions and was greatly impressed.

The scholar asked, "The young lady's husband is at home, but you don't go; her husband isn't home, but you still don't go; her husband is blind, but you still don't go. So what should you do to make her go to your house?"

The scholar rolled his eyes, shrugged, and said, "She doesn't have a husband, so I'll go now."

"Pfft! Hahahaha—" The student, who was munching on a steamed bun, burst into laughter.

He shook his head with amusement, "Ha, that makes some sense." He then looked down.

The little fox demon was furious. With a whoosh, the clouds dispersed, revealing her charming true form. She put her hands on her hips and shouted angrily—

...To find out what happens next, please stay tuned for the next installment.

"what?"

"Um?!"

The student, who was eating a steamed bun, frowned. He looked at the words on the right, which said something about cotton, and then looked at the back. There was nothing there; it was empty.

The students looked worried.

It was boring... He finished the meat bun in a few bites.

After breakfast, because the newspaper contained praise for the current emperor, and it was not easy to throw it away, I could only take it with me to the Imperial College.

Upon arriving at the school, I found several classmates gathered together, talking about something.

He glanced at it.

What a coincidence!

The people opposite were also holding this vulgar item called a newspaper.

"They must be denouncing Jia Songling for taking a storybook apart and discussing it in a disjointed way."

The student smiled helplessly.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the people in front of them weren't talking about the fox demon at all, but rather about the vernacular text about cotton.

One person said, "I never imagined that the Han people have been cultivating cotton for a thousand years."

"The founding emperor's contributions are undeniable," someone echoed.

"The newspaper says that when the cotton flowers bloom, they resemble silver swirling across the ground, coming from all directions—truly a magnificent sight, but I've never seen it. Brother Yuncai, you're from Suzhou Prefecture, have you ever seen it?"

Brother Yun Cai smiled bitterly and said, "I've seen this since I was a child, but this year there was first a flood, then an insect plague, which greatly reduced cotton production. The scenery is certainly not as good as it used to be."

After finishing the meat buns, the student, whose hands were still greasy, approached the group and frowned: "Oh no, we've suffered a disaster. No wonder I heard that cotton prices are going up."

"That's a pity," someone sighed.

Brother Yun Cai sighed, "The scenery is secondary; the cotton industry has suffered a disaster this year, so the price of cotton will probably have to rise."

The student with the meat buns chimed in, "That's right." He waved the newspaper in his hand, "It says here that cotton is of paramount importance to the nation, and the people cannot do without it for even a day. The founding emperor also said that whether the people can be spared from hunger and cold depends on cotton. After the disaster in Jiangnan, of course the price immediately went up."

The students turned around and saw that it was him. They greeted him with smiles.

The student with the meat bun laughed and said, "Brother Yuncai, your family runs a cloth business. You're in for a tough time this time."

Brother Yun Cai gave a wry smile and said, "That's right. Prices have already gone up. I heard this morning that they've increased by several tens of percent, almost reaching fifty coins per catty! My father had no choice but to raise the price to get some shares."

"Unscrupulous merchants will inevitably hoard goods and speculate on prices during natural disasters."

"Not entirely, after all, cotton merchants also suffered losses."

"A doubling price is reasonable, a doubling is also acceptable, but Brother Yan, do you believe that cotton prices will eventually triple, five times, or even ten times?"

"What's the use of my belief?" Brother Yan said helplessly, spreading his hands. "Does it mean I believe it won't go up, or that I don't believe it won't go up?"

Everyone fell silent again.

Feeling down.

After a few breaths of silence, the student with the meat buns tried to smooth things over with a laugh, saying, "If you ask me, we should go ask Brother Meng to treat us to a meal today."

Everyone was taken aback.

The student with the meat bun said matter-of-factly, "Isn't Brother Meng's family a cotton merchant? A big cotton merchant in Suzhou Prefecture! They're definitely going to make a fortune this time."

Brother Yun Cai sighed and said, "Isn't it going to make a fortune? Right now, whoever has cotton in their hands will become rich."

"Don't even think about it," someone chuckled. "No matter how high it goes, it'll always fall eventually. Brother Yun Cai, your family's losses this year will be made up for next year!"

The student with the meat bun chimed in, "Brother, my family owns a restaurant. If it weren't for the fact that cotton transactions between cotton merchants and cloth shops often involve tens of thousands of taels of silver, we wouldn't dare take this risk. Otherwise, we would have gone and made our fortune too."

Students like them, who were admitted to the Imperial College through family donations, still had this much foresight.

Everyone shook their heads with wry smiles. Although they truly hated hoarding and speculation, they had to admit that such opportunities to make a fortune were extremely rare.

Natural disasters are always a good opportunity to make money and buy land. This time, what everyone hates most is that their family isn't a cotton merchant anymore.

Feeling somewhat frustrated, the group decided to stop thinking about it for the time being. They casually handed the newspaper to other classmates who hadn't read it yet, and then ran off to find Meng, the scholar destined to become rich, to treat them to a meal at a brothel.

Free newspapers, like a thousand stones, were thrown into the lake in the capital, creating tiny ripples that were not yet noticeable.

Those affected by these ripples, during meals, chats, gatherings, and tea breaks, would mention the newspaper as if telling jokes and anecdotes, laughing at the fox spirit and the scholar, and inevitably bringing up cotton a couple of times.

But once the topic of cotton prices was brought up, news of rising cotton prices inevitably came from another person, followed by news of floods in southern China and cotton pest infestations.

Cotton, floods, price increases... such closely linked and mutually reinforcing information began to ferment continuously in the city.

Most wealthy people, shopkeepers, owners, students, teachers, and even officials who don't usually pay attention to these things inevitably hear a few words about cotton.

Normally, it takes until the cotton in the fields is harvested, the merchant guild transports the cotton to the weaving workshops, the weaving workshops finish weaving the cloth, and then the woven cloth is transported to silk shops in various places.

Finally, the silk shop tailor, looking rather pitiful, bowed and said to the customers, "Excuse me, excuse me, because of the disaster in Jiangnan, cotton prices have risen, and we have no choice but to raise the price of our cloth as well..." It was only then that people from other trades and those with some wealth belatedly realized, "Oh, cotton prices have gone up." But this time, they were forced to find out in advance.

In an era of extreme information isolation, information that would normally require a long supply chain to be transmitted was slowly and quietly spread outside the flower market through a single news item in the newspaper.

Cotton...is going to go up in price.