Chapter 258 A New Open Source Approach

Chapter 258 A New Open Source Approach

Besides the courses being more practical, Xie Wanniang also basically subsidizes the courses herself.

Yes, it's exactly that—it's like paying someone else to pay you.

Tuition is free; in addition, a certain number of learning tools are provided free of charge.

Considering that not every woman can spare the time to study during the day, Xie Wanniang also set the class times in the morning, noon, and evening.

What's most thoughtful is that Xie Wanniang didn't even fix the location of the classes. Instead, she decided on the spot whether to set the location in the county town, town, or a village based on the actual needs of the students.

For this reason, she also had to set aside a sum of money to pay for the venue rental fee, as well as the food and lodging expenses for the school teachers and their accompanying guards.

Of course, the guards she assigned to the school teachers were not the guards she had hired to protect herself and her family, but rather the teenagers she had sent to study with Hao Yu, who came from military families or whose indentures were held by her.

These children were her reserve guards. Xie Wanniang assigned them to take turns protecting the school teachers, considering it an opportunity for them to gain experience.

As for where the school teachers came from, the answer is actually quite simple: they were recommended by the people around Xie Wanniang.

She now has many subordinates, each of whom has their own relatives and friends. As long as Xie Wanniang tells them her hiring criteria, they will eagerly sign up for their relatives and friends.

In addition, Hao Yu also had many comrades living in the vicinity. He would send the best people to Xie Wanniang if he couldn't accommodate them there.

Thanks to them, Xie Wanniang was able to select a group of talented and capable women in a very short time.

Some of these women were literate and good at accounting; with a little training, they could become qualified accountants. Others had helped their families run shops; with some training, they could easily become shopkeepers or managers.

These people could actually work part-time as teachers at girls' schools.

Of course, compared to those who are well-educated, good at accounting, and have business management experience, there are many more skilled workers who have mastered a particular skill.

Among them, some are skilled at spinning and weaving, some at raising silkworms and reeling silk, some at cutting and sewing, some at drawing and embroidering, and others at making pastries and cooking dishes.

Besides the skills that women are generally considered to be good at, Xie Wanniang also found several sisters-in-law and aunts who were good at raising poultry and livestock, planting various crops, making various utensils from branches and weeds, and making pottery, charcoal, sugar, wine, tofu, and carpentry.

Although their finished products are very rough, it doesn't matter. Xie Wanniang can pay for them and find them masters so that they can master more exquisite and diverse related skills and have more formal and better operating venues.

There's no need to specifically look for martial arts instructors. Xie Wanniang has plenty of girls around her who have practiced martial arts. Just send two of them over and have them teach the students in the same way that Hao Yu taught them before.

Of course, for safety's sake, Xie Wanniang still assigned several managers and guard captains with rich social experience to her girls' school.

These people are mainly responsible for the safety of the school teachers, students, and young guards, and for preventing them from falling into the traps or snares of bad people.

Although this would increase her expenses on manpower again, Xie Wanniang did not feel any remorse for the extra money she spent.

As I said before, not everyone in this world is kind, and not everyone will reciprocate kindness just because you show kindness first.

Some people will exploit the kindness of others for their own benefit, even at the cost of pushing others into an abyss.

Xie Wanniang didn't want her subordinates to encounter any bad things, so she preferred to spend more money to prevent problems before they occurred.

At this time, the teachers she hired, the long-term students who followed the teachers everywhere, and the young guards who followed them had not yet realized the importance of these "old hands" sent by Xie Wanniang.

It wasn't until much later that they gradually realized how much danger and trouble these "old hands" had shielded them from.

Of course, that's a story for another time.

At this time, the girls' school was still in its initial stage, with Xie Wanniang remotely directing it, and teachers, guards, and managers busy with publicity.

Because her child was still young, Xie Wanniang could not personally take charge. Fortunately, since she finished her postpartum confinement, Haitang and Xiaomei were freed up and she boldly entrusted them with important responsibilities, sending them to Yi County to oversee all matters related to the girls' school.

Xiaomei has a relatively gentle personality, but she excels in being meticulous and thoughtful. Haitang, on the other hand, is somewhat careless, but she is clear-headed, decisive, and adaptable. With their cooperation, the initially chaotic affairs quickly became well-organized.

By the time the girls' school was running smoothly, it was already late summer and early autumn. Xie Wanniang, feeling restless, began preparing for her trip to the prefectural city in late autumn and early winter.

She had already planned to hold a grand banquet for relatives and friends at the county magistrate's mansion in the prefectural city when her daughter An'an turned one year old. Now she has another plan - to acquire some properties in the prefectural city, so she plans to go to the prefectural city in advance.

She didn't plan to use the profits from the alcohol sales, but rather intended to keep them specifically for the girls' schools to cover all the expenses of the various girls' schools she would establish in the future.

Fortunately, she still had Jiang Yuan's salary, the annual income from their shops, estates and other fixed assets, as well as the unexpected fortune she received from the Lady of the Marquis some time ago.

All this money together should be enough for her to buy two well-located shops in the prefectural city.

With that in mind, Xie Wanniang started planning other ways to make money.

It's not that she's greedy; it's that she genuinely needs a large sum of money to do what she wants to do.

Although she now has enough guards and is deeply bound to the Zhenbei Army, she no longer needs to worry too much about the hidden dangers of her background. However, the two other things she wants to do, besides protecting herself, are even more expensive than raising guards and donating supplies to the Zijingguan garrison.

If she doesn't continue to open up new sources, she won't be able to open many of her girls' schools. After all, she would definitely have to lose money in the early stages of running each girls' school.

Not to mention that she also wants to do a public knowledge sharing event, which would cost a lot of money to print books.

Hmm? Printing books?

Thinking of this, Xie Wanniang suddenly remembered that it seemed that the main method of book copying in this era was still manual hand-copying.

With that thought, Xie Wanniang immediately perked up.

It seems she's about to open another new shop.