SFS Chapter 488 Donating Money, The Cao Family's Scheme
Chapter 488 Donating Money, The Cao Family's Scheme
Xie Ying suspected that Jiang Er had received instructions from Concubine Jiang.
Although Concubine Jiang now has a prince, her previous reputation was too bad. If she wants to become the queen smoothly and not drag down her son Yang Tao, she has to manage her reputation well.
Building schools and even charity halls are all great acts of kindness.
Xie Ying had a guess in her mind and quickly found Situ Yuan and asked him privately: "You want to build a school. Did you guess that Concubine Jiang would definitely cooperate?"
Situ Yuan smiled and did not refute: "I knew it. You are so smart, you will definitely guess it."
Xie Ying rolled her eyes at him but didn't ask any further.
It's good to just know about this kind of thing, there's no need to say more.
However, since Concubine Jiang wants a good reputation and is willing to get involved in building the school, their next tasks will be much easier.
Especially girls' schools.
There was no precedent for this, and once it was proposed, it would inevitably attract opposition from many parties. However, if they had the support of the Princess and Concubine Jiang, they might be able to accomplish it.
However, the girls' school was bound to be in turmoil, so it was best not to let Xie Xiu intervene. He was now the prefect of Gusu, and if he intervened, he would probably be impeached by the censor and attacked by his colleagues.
But such a good thing cannot be given to outsiders, so Xie Ying decided to let Tu Jiaojiao come forward.
After all, she is a woman. Even if those sanctimonious hypocrites are dissatisfied, how many of them would dare to risk their face and impeach a woman like her?
Even if the other party really dared to do so, the eldest princess and Concubine Jiang would be dissatisfied.
So the matter was quickly settled.
First, Xie Xiu and Jiang Er invited wealthy families in Suzhou to discuss the matter of supporting the construction of academies and technical colleges.
Tu Jiaojiao then followed closely and invited the female family members to a flower-viewing banquet to discuss the women's academy and the women's technical college.
Although Tu Jiaojiao's eloquence is average, she has two great helpers: Cao Wanning and Feng Xinyi.
Xie Rou and Luo Ziling also joined in.
As the Princess of Fu'an County, Xie Ying also attended the flower viewing banquet. However, she was still too young to speak too much.
So she didn't say much the whole time. She just sat next to Tu Jiaojiao as a mascot, eating melons and watching the show with a smile on her face.
Seeing that Cao Wanning and others had fooled the women with just a few words, their eyes were shining and their expressions were fanatical, he couldn't help but secretly suspect that these people had entered a pyramid scheme venue.
She couldn't help but look at Cao Wanning a few more times. The more she looked, the more she felt that this woman was a talented person!
No wonder she was able to become a pirate leader as a woman in the original book. Her ability to deceive people is simply beyond the reach of others. It is obvious that she has the potential to be a female boss!
Such talents must be won over!
Once you become an enemy, you must eliminate him immediately and never let him go back to the mountains!
Xie Ying had a very good impression of Cao Wanning. She felt that this person could be well developed and it would be a good idea to have him as a subordinate.
Anyway, she is not Emperor Taihe, and her surname is not Yang.
The Chen family wants to seize the Yang family’s territory. What does it have to do with her, Xie Ying?
What's more, Cao Wanning has a grudge against Chen Shao, so she would definitely not be willing to let the Chen family get away with it.
Xie Ying wouldn't have any psychological burden using Cao Wanning.
With Jiang Er and Feng Xinyi stepping in, things went very smoothly.
Even though the wealthy families in Gusu looked down on Xie Xiu and Tu Jiaojiao, they dared not deny Jiang Er and Feng Xinyi's face.
After all, Jiang Er represents Concubine Jiang, and Feng Xinyi represents Luo Zheng.
Previously, when Luo Zheng was an imperial envoy, he arrested many local dignitaries and powerful families in Gusu when he was investigating cases in Gusu.
Many people even gave him the nickname "Luo Yanwang" in private. How could they dare to offend Feng Xinyi now?
Looking across the entire Gusu today, who still doesn’t know that Feng Xinyi is Luo Zheng’s long-lost wife, who gave birth to a son and a daughter for him?
With such a deep friendship, no one dared to test the extent to which Luo Zheng could do for Feng Xinyi.
So once Jiang Er and Feng Xinyi showed up, things went exceptionally smoothly.
In particular, the two of them took the lead in donating silver.
Jiang Er first donated 10,000 taels of silver on behalf of Concubine Jiang, then donated 8,000 taels in the name of the Jiang family, and finally donated another 5,000 taels in his own name.
This money was donated not only to boys' schools, but also to girls' schools, with half for boys and half for girls.
Immediately afterwards, Situ Yuan also donated silver.
He was a prince, and not only did he donate 10,000 taels of silver in the name of the eldest princess, he also donated 8,000 taels in his own name, half for each gender.
Feng Xinyi took the lead in donating to the girls' school at the flower-viewing banquet, donating five thousand taels of silver.
As for the boys' school, Luo Zheng asked the housekeeper to donate six thousand taels of silver.
Tu Jiaojiao, Xie Rou, Xie Ying and Luo Ziling also donated money at the flower viewing banquet.
Tu Jiaojiao donated four thousand taels, Xie Rou and Xie Ying each donated two thousand taels, and Luo Ziling also donated two thousand taels.
Such a generous gesture really shocked the wealthy families in Suzhou. How could they dare to be stingy?
So they donated generously.
Jiang Er and Feng Xinyi also set up fundraising points respectively and had large billboards made with the identities and amounts of the donors directly written on them. Not only were they displayed publicly, but they also had people beat gongs and recite them.
This is true even if a beggar donates a penny.
Such a high-profile publicity method really opened the eyes of the people of Gusu!
Many people even donated money just to have their names appear on the billboard and enjoy this rare honor.
The wealthy families, however, were very worried.
After what Jiang Er and Feng Xinyi did, how could they dare to be stingy?
If they donate too little and are outdone by those who are not as good as them, their entire family will be embarrassed!
But if they really have to spend too much money, they are reluctant to do so.
So some wealthy families held a private meeting to agree on the amount of investment in order to put an end to comparisons.
Unfortunately, there are always some people who want to take advantage of the opportunity to curry favor with Jiang Er, Luo Zheng and Situ Yuan.
Therefore, the fundraising point always received large donations, which caused the people to talk about it and made several prominent families in Gusu secretly resentful.
Xie Xiu and Jiang Er don't care what these people think.
As long as they have the money, build the school and operate it well, they will have done a great job.
However, building a school requires more than just money; you also need teachers and students.
If there are no famous teachers willing to teach and no outstanding students, no matter how good they build the school, it will only become a laughing stock.
So when the news that Jiang Er and his team were going to build a school came out, many local teachers in Gusu became interested and waited for Jiang Er to poach them with high salaries.
The eldest master of the Cao family even specifically told his younger brother Cao Xuehai: "With your reputation, they will definitely invite you to teach. This is an opportunity for our Cao family!"
Although Cao Xuehai was somewhat tempted, he shook his head after careful consideration. "No, Qingyun Academy is great. I've been here for many years. How could I abandon it just for a tiny profit? I'd be a worthless person."