Chapter 11

In this era, newspapers were not very large, roughly the size of four A4 sheets. Unlike modern newspapers, which are wider horizontally and narrower vertically and folded, Northern Song newspapers were generally wider vertically and narrower horizontally. People preferred to roll them up like scrolls when carrying them. Moreover, printing was done vertically from right to left.

Each news item was divided into small sections, some accompanied by simple illustrations. The content was quite similar to what the original self had known: part of it copied from the court’s official reports on current affairs, auspicious signs or disasters in certain regions, appointments, promotions, and removals of officials at various levels, imperial edicts, remonstrances, and ministers’ petitions. The rest consisted of various curious stories from the marketplace and rumors from different government departments. There were even palace gossip reports.

Yang Man-niang saw that the headline in the Li Family’s newspaper reported that the emperor, in disguise and after lunch the day before yesterday, went out of the palace to the Sang family tile workshop for leisure. Not only did he watch a women’s sumo wrestling match in the elephant pavilion, but he also enjoyed a fancy cuju (ancient football) performance by the Qiyun Society in the Lotus Pavilion. This shows the newspapers’ timeliness.

Overall, the seventeen newspapers had largely similar content but different styles. For example, “The Small Report,” “News,” and “The Xiang Family’s Small Report” had a more orthodox and aloof tone, often merely hinting at the more explicit gossip without much commentary. In contrast, newspapers like “The Li Family’s Small Report” and “The Sun Family’s Small Report” leaned more towards entertainment, especially the Li Family’s paper, which felt almost like entertainment to death. More than half of its pages were filled with reports on affairs and secret trysts outside of marriage, such as one story about a certain official from the Court of Judicial Review sneaking out at night for a clandestine meeting with a woman, only to be chased down by her husband’s dog, turning pale with fright.

“The Li Family’s Small Report” even boldly included details as if the writer had witnessed the scenes firsthand. Its language was daring and sharp, far from the reserved tone typical of ancient writers, making Yang Man-niang, a modern person, feel slightly embarrassed reading it.

None of the newspapers contained paid advertisements or serialized novels.

After flipping through them all, Yang Man-niang grew increasingly confident about her idea to earn money. However, to be cautious, before she began writing her novel, she needed to survey the market.

After finishing work, Yang Man-niang sent her second brother, Yang Shilin, who had come to wait for her, back home. Yang Man-niang was a person of strong execution. Once she decided to do something, she always exerted her utmost effort to overcome all difficulties.

She went alone to Panlou South Street, where she had bought newspapers that morning. She did not rush to buy writing supplies but first visited nearby bookstores to browse the popular storybook novels and biographies of the time, to see what her contemporaries were writing and to get a sense of the literary style, diction, and phrasing commonly used in storybooks.

Although her behavior of merely looking without buying earned her disdainful looks from shopkeepers, she had no choice; she was truly too poor to buy, so she pretended not to notice.

For the next seven or eight days, after work, she did not go home immediately. Instead, she spent more than an hour each day in the major bookstores on Panlou South Street, comparing various storybooks on the market. She left at dawn and returned only when it was completely dark, hardly ever enjoying the warmth of Bianjing’s winter sun.

Though somewhat tiring, the harvest was considerable.

In those seven or eight days, she read nearly twenty to thirty well-known novels available on the market, gaining a basic understanding of the literature and storybooks of this era.

Thanks to reduced printing costs, bookstores offered a wide variety of books: specialized study materials for imperial exams, the Four Books and Five Classics, travel biographies, ci poetry, poems, storybooks, and theatrical scripts. Many storybooks were written in vernacular style, closer to the common spoken language, although their diction was influenced by the late Tang style, often ornate and flamboyant. Especially in romantic storybooks about talented scholars and beauties, the dialogues sometimes felt almost theatrical.

The two most famous storybooks were “Strange Tales of Liang Sheng” by the old scholar from Yueyang and “The Plum Blossom Love Story” by an author named Qingyue Sanren.

“Strange Tales of Liang Sheng” tells the story of a thin, impoverished young scholar named Liang Sheng, who, having failed the imperial examination, lives alone in a dilapidated Taoist temple and encounters a beautiful female ghost named Zhou Yueniang. The scholar studies diligently, and the ghost admires his talent. She appears to him at night, and they become close, developing mutual affection. The scholar continues his studies while the ghost cooks, washes clothes, and keeps him company in the rundown temple, even engaging in unspeakable acts. Since the scholar lacks money to retake exams, the ghost, who needs no rest, spends day and night embroidering items to sell at the shop to support him. Moved to tears, the scholar composes poetry praising the ghost’s virtues, calling her industrious, modest, and a moral model among women.

The ghost, upon reading his poetry, feels unworthy and weeps, revealing her background as a servant to a wealthy young lady, believing only her mistress deserves such a learned scholar. Through the ghost’s help, the scholar coincidentally meets the young lady at the temple, retrieving a handkerchief she accidentally dropped. This encounter leads to their acquaintance, and with the ghost’s continuous matchmaking, the impoverished scholar and the young lady fall in love and marry. Later, the scholar finally succeeds in the imperial exams, becoming a top scholar and high official. Grateful to the ghost, he takes her as a concubine. From then on, his wives live harmoniously like the legendary sisters Ehuang and Nüying, respecting and loving each other, accompanying the scholar throughout life.

This story is clearly a female ghost matchmaker’s version of the classic tale of Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying. The ghost, aside from not needing sleep, has no magical powers and is much like an ordinary woman, so the story lacks any eerie atmosphere.

This book sold very well in bookstores, especially among male readers.

On the other hand, Qingyue Sanren’s “The Plum Blossom Love Story” centers on a pair of childhood sweethearts who pledge their love under a plum blossom tree. The male protagonist, Wang Sheng, is also a scholar living next door to the female protagonist, Liang Peiniang. Because a plum tree grows between their homes, they often played beneath it as children and, upon reaching the age of first love, pledged their love there. Wang Sheng gave Liang Peiniang a bracelet engraved with plum blossoms and told his mother he intended to marry her. However, Wang Sheng’s mother, influenced by malicious gossip from a jealous sister-in-law, believed Liang Peiniang was neither virtuous nor modest and opposed their marriage.

Torn between filial piety and love, Wang Sheng was troubled and helpless. To win over his mother, Liang Peiniang decided to prove herself through acts of devotion. Every day after Wang Sheng left for the academy, she tended to his mother, nursing her when ill, even assisting with her most personal needs. In winter’s cold, she warmed his mother’s feet in her lap. When his mother craved carp, Liang Peiniang braved the ice to catch one. Enduring hardships akin to a dutiful heroine in a filial piety tale, she overcame countless trials until Wang Sheng’s mother was moved by her kindness and recognized her excellent character, finally consenting to the marriage.

Coincidentally, Wang Sheng passed the imperial examination ranked third and returned to marry Liang Peiniang. The two families reconciled, living happily ever after.

Compared to “Strange Tales of Liang Sheng,” “The Plum Blossom Love Story” was even more popular, especially among noblewomen and young ladies. The storyteller Li Jieyuan, who had performed at the elephant pavilion, was reciting this very book.

Yang Man-niang mused that the book’s popularity among ladies might be because the male protagonist did not have multiple wives or concubines but remained faithful to one woman.

Nevertheless, after reading it, she still felt an inexplicable sense of frustration. What was the matter with that?