Beast World: A Fragile Beauty Blessed with Many Children-Chapter 368 - 367: A Tall Tree Catches the Wind

Xiao Cheng took a deep breath, reining in his thoughts for fear that Little Hong might read them. With a smile, he said, "We’ll go. All of you can go. As long as you cubs don’t run wild, Father will take you all for a look at our Three-tailed Blue Fox Clan Land."

Si Shuo hugged him and burst out laughing. "We don’t need to take all of them. Let’s stick to the old rule and just bring two or three cubs each time."

"Alright, I’ll do as you say, Shuo," Xiao Cheng readily agreed with a nod.

The cubs glanced at each other. ’We’re all rivals now!’

Xiao Cheng continued explaining to Si Shuo, "After practicing all through the rainy season and the coldest season, the Beastmen handling the printing technology have become much more skilled. A newspaper like this—from finalizing the content, layout, and typesetting to printing and proofreading—only takes two or three days. The main bottlenecks are content finalization and typesetting."

"We have quite a few people involved in typesetting. Each one is responsible for a small section, which amounts to about two or three Beast Hours of work... They proofread each other’s work twice, and then a dedicated proofreader does a final check... This guarantees both the speed and quality of our newspaper... In the future, as long as we have the content ready, we can print a large batch by the very next day..."

He was now speaking in professional jargon, and Si Shuo nodded along, giving him a thumbs-up. "Xiao Cheng, your work on this has been absolutely spot-on."

Xiao Cheng straightened up, a proud smile on his face. "Well, we did learn a lot during the rainy season and the coldest season. All that business sense is right in here," he said, tapping his head. "Shuo, I was thinking that our newspaper might not sell for many Crystal Stones initially, so we should focus on giving it away. We can give a copy to every student at the academy and the Martial Arts Hall, leave some in the private rooms of our restaurant..."

"And not just in our private rooms. We should set up a reading area in the main hall, complete with tea and pastries," Si Shuo added, ticking off points on her fingers. "We should also leave a few copies in all the major restaurants and post-house inns throughout Guangshou City. First, we’ll focus on distribution to get the paper out there. Then, we can plan on selling space for advertisements... If the ads are creative enough, people will find them interesting to read, too..."

Xiao Cheng jotted down each point with a pen.

"Oh, and we can publish books now! We can start with reference materials like books on phonetics, character recognition, and dictionaries. Then, books that teach Skills, like cookbooks, guides to sewing, farming, and animal husbandry, wilderness survival basics, life-saving tips, and all sorts of storybooks for entertainment..." ’I can get ready-made versions from the supermarket, and the cubs will have to translate them into Beast Text. But the Beastmen are so starved for knowledge that, aside from the dictionary, the other books don’t even need to be very thick.’

Once books become more widely accepted and Beast Text is popularized, they could even license the printing to the official authorities of Guangshou City and just collect royalties! ~٩(*´◒`*)۶

From felling trees to making paper, from making paper to implementing movable type printing, and now, finally, to publishing books—Si Shuo had waited an entire year for this moment!

So that evening, when Wei Ce returned home, Si Shuo brought the matter up with him. "The movable type printing is a great boon that will benefit all the Beast Cities. We can’t keep it all to ourselves, or we’ll just attract jealousy and get targeted by schemes."

"If we have Father present the printing technology to the Beast City and negotiate the right conditions, we can then go all-out printing our newspaper and distribute it throughout Guangshou City, and eventually even to other Beast Cities..."

Wei Ce looked at the stack of newspapers, picked one up, and began to read it word for word. "The Guangshou City Gazette, First Issue... Another Spring Arrives... This Year’s Farmland Has Expanded, See If You’ll Benefit..."

The appeal of a newspaper is timeless. Its timeliness, short publication cycle, concise summaries, prominent themes, and eye-catching headlines were features guaranteed to make the entertainment-starved Beastmen fall in love with reading.

"This first issue is excellent," Wei Ce said after reading it from cover to cover, his emotions stirred by the words. He was still buzzing with excitement. "I’ll go find Father. But what should we ask for in exchange for the movable type printing technology?"

The family began to discuss the matter. Once they had reached a consensus they were all happy with, Wei Ce took the stack of newspapers and a notebook and went to find Wei Jin.

When Wei Jin saw the thick stack of newspapers, and the dense, neat, and clear Beast Text printed on them, he froze on the spot, completely stunned.

As the Clan Leader, he knew all too well the kind of shockwaves this method of recording Beast Text would send across the entire Beast World Continent.

With a slightly trembling hand, he picked up a copy. In the Beast World Continent, not just anyone could read Beast Text. Literacy was limited to established families and large tribes—only the leaders, Priests, and elders who shouldered great responsibilities, along with the exceptional young Beastmen poised to inherit their roles, could read. Even then, their mastery wasn’t perfect. Wei Jin himself had to rely on a good deal of guesswork to get through the paper.

"Our Shuo says that in the future, we can hire some reliable Flying Beasts to act as reporters. They’ll gather news about major events in the city, we’ll print it, and everyone will be able to read about it... The paper will also feature educational stories, articles on local culture, riddles, and advertisements..." Wei Ce explained to Wei Jin, pointing at the newspaper with a hint of pride. "Basically, once people learn to read, reading the paper will absolutely become a habit!"

Just those few sentences sent Wei Jin’s mind racing with possibilities. "Excellent, excellent! You young ones really do have sharp minds. You’re much more promising than your old Father."

Wei Ce smiled, changed the subject, and proposed that Wei Jin act as their representative to present the movable type printing technology to the City Lord Mansion.

Wei Jin didn’t need much convincing. He immediately understood the implications and nodded in agreement.

"A tall tree attracts the wind. If you monopolize the movable type printing technology, you’ll certainly make a fortune, but you’ll also attract a lot of envy. Trouble would be inevitable. The clan can’t protect you from everything, at all times."

"By handing it over, it may look like you’re giving up a share of the profits on the surface, but aren’t you also diverting unwanted attention and gaining a powerful protector for yourselves?"

"That’s why we need to trouble you to take us, Father," Wei Ce said with a smile. "If I remember correctly, Lady Mu Qiong’s birthday feast is in two days. All the influential Beastmen in Guangshou City will be attending..."

Lady Mu Qiong was a renowned Great Witch Doctor throughout Guangshou City and was deeply respected by all. Several of her Beast Husbands were leaders or elders in their respective tribes, and the children she’d borne had excellent talent, making them standouts among their peers. As it was now her sixtieth birthday, her Beast Husbands and children had decided to throw a grand and lively celebration for her.

It would also serve as an opportunity to find suitable partners for her grandchildren.

Wei Jin nodded. "Yes, that will work. I’ll speak with your second great-uncle. Lady Mu Qiong is practically your second grand-aunt, after all. This is the perfect chance for you to prepare a grand gift for her!"

Wei Ce agreed with a smile.

As for Lady Mu Qiong’s birthday gift, the family had differing opinions—or, to be more precise, the cubs did!

"Since it’s a birthday gift, I think we should give her a framed piece of celebratory calligraphy to hang on the wall..."

"How about a cookbook? That’s a really practical gift..."

"Let’s give her a picture book! We can mass-produce them, the illustrations make them fun, and we can put Beast Text with phonetic notations underneath. It would be great promotion on multiple levels..."