"A female doctor?"
Li Wanming was taken aback for a moment and said, "That's great, of course. If they can learn medical skills, it will surely be easier to find a way out than growing vegetables!"
However, learning medicine was so difficult. Looking across the entire capital city, there wasn't a single female doctor. Who could teach them...
Xiao Jingnan smiled and said, "Me."
"I've been in poor health since childhood and have seen doctors all year round. Having seen so much, I've also done some research on the art of medicine. Although I can't claim to be an expert, it should be enough to teach them."
"I'll teach medical skills, Aunt Liu will teach accounting, and Yiyi will teach silk trading. Well, if we can invite an embroideress from the Liu family's silk store, there will also be someone to teach textile weaving."
Li Wanming thought for a while and felt that such an arrangement was indeed more reasonable, so she nodded in agreement.
She and Xiao Jingnan discussed for a long time and finally determined the curriculum: there would be cultural classes in the morning and practical classes in the afternoon.
The cultural classes would mainly focus on reading and writing, taught by Qinglan. The practical classes would include brewing, medicine, accounting, and textile weaving, taught by herself, Xiao Jingnan, Aunt Liu, Liu Yiyi, and the embroideress respectively.
Classes would be held every other day. The cultural classes were compulsory, while the practical classes could be freely chosen by the students.
In addition, they would also learn physical fitness training, martial arts, archery, and horseback riding every day.
Although Lady Yuan had said that she could come to teach, she was busy with military affairs, and Lady Li couldn't come often. So Li Wanming decided to lead them in physical training herself.
Anyway, she would train them the same way she had trained Qinglan and Caiwei back then.
Learning martial arts was ultimately about strengthening the body, and the essence remained the same. They could all start with a five - kilometer run!
Besides, on the days when the government offices were on holiday, the top scholar Pei Yanqi would give an open class.
Well, Li Wanming had already decided that this class couldn't be held in the Zhaoyu Academy.
She would book a floor in the Hongbin Restaurant for him!
She would let all the students go there to listen and also let the people of the entire capital city see the teaching staff of their Zhaoyu Academy!
In the evening, Lady Yuan and Li Rusong came over.
Lady Yuan hadn't seen her daughter for a long time. When she saw Li Wanming again, it felt as if it were a different world.
Her little daughter seemed to have suddenly grown up in the past few months.
Opening a wine shop, entering the palace, and running an academy... She was no longer the little girl who used to cling to her and only knew how to be naughty.
Hearing Li Wanming calmly talk about the curriculum arrangement for the Zhaoyu Academy in the future, she suddenly realized that all her previous worries were unnecessary.
This girl was really capable of withstanding the storms and handling things on her own.
"Mother, what do you think?"
Li Wanming looked at her, with a bit of uneasiness and a bit of expectation in her eyes.
Lady Yuan looked at her and didn't say a word for a long time.
"Mother..."
Li Wanming thought that her mother was angry because she hadn't invited her to teach. Just as she was feeling uneasy, she heard Lady Yuan softly smile and say with relief, "You've done a great job. My daughter has finally grown up."
Li Wanming looked up and saw that there were actually tears in her mother's eyes.
Li Rusong even hugged her tightly and said, "My daughter is so amazing! Now you're not only the owner of the wine shop but also the owner of the academy! Even the daughters of the grand tutor and the secretary - general have become your students. You're really amazing!"
He was both proud and elated, with a surging sense of pride that almost brought tears to his eyes.
After the father - daughter pair had talked for a while, Lady Yuan pulled Li Wanming over and said seriously, "I don't approve of Lü Songyuan and Fang Zhi coming to study here. But Qinglan has told me what happened before, and I know you had no choice."
"However, I must remind you that these noble ladies are not easy to get along with. You must be extremely careful when dealing with them."
"Especially, in the future, when you have them study under the same roof, the slightest carelessness may lead to trouble."
Li Wanming held Lady Yuan's hand and said, "Mother, I know. Don't worry."
After the baptism of the flower - viewing banquet hosted by the Princess Chengping, she already had a clear understanding of the scheming and tricks of these so - called noble ladies, and she had also roughly figured out how to deal with them.
To put it simply, there were two points: one was to bully others by relying on one's power, and the other was to see who was more shameless!
The so - called "bullying others by relying on one's power" meant to see whose background was stronger.
This was a game where the big fish ate the small fish, and the small fish ate the shrimp.
Now, behind her were the General Xuanwei, the General Yunhui, and the emperor who she could be distantly related to. There was also the Princess Chengping and the Langya Cheng family that her in - laws could be connected with.
With such a background, not to mention the grand tutor Lü, even the imperial relatives would have to think twice before challenging her.
Moreover, Lü Songyuan had a deal with their Zhaoyu Academy, so she had some leverage over her. Therefore, she wasn't too afraid of Lü Songyuan.
As for "shamelessness", it referred to those noble ladies. They were just a bunch of cowards who were all about face and lacked real substance!
At the flower - viewing banquet, she had noticed that as long as she was more daring than them, no one would dare to touch her.
At that time, she had stripped half of the capital's young ladies of their clothes, and no one had dared to do anything to her, right?
So now that Lü Songyuan and Fang Zhi were coming to the academy to cause trouble, she would just be a bit more tired, but there shouldn't be any major problems.
In the evening, after seeing off her parents, Li Wanming and Qinglan readjusted the layout of the academy.
Since there were too many applicants, they didn't have enough desks and chairs. They had to postpone the start of classes for two days and urgently purchase a batch from the shops in the capital.
By the candlelight, Xiao Jingnan was quickly moving the abacus beads. After a moment, he said, "Including the rent, decoration, purchases, school supplies, and teacher salaries... our current investment in the Zhaoyu Academy is 2,284 taels of silver."
Li Wanming let out a sigh of relief. "It's okay, it's okay. We can still manage..."
This expenditure was within her original budget.
However, opening a new wine - shop and running the academy had almost exhausted all the silver she had earned in the past half - year.
If there were any more large - scale expenses, she wouldn't be able to afford it.
Xiao Jingnan closed the ledger, but his expression was a bit solemn. "My lady, it's not that simple."
"What I just calculated was only the one - time expenditure for opening the academy."
"But once the classes actually start, there will be daily expenses."
"My lady has offered such good benefits, and the common people were enthusiastic about signing up this afternoon. But I just asked Qinglan, and among the 52 people, only a dozen or so paid the tuition fees in advance. The rest either used grain to offset the fees or owed the money and would pay later."
"And my lady is going to teach them brewing, medicine, and weaving... Each of these requires raw materials, which means that our academy will not only have no income but also need a long - term input of silver to maintain."