The Hateful Jianghu Monthly Report and the Power Behind It

Lu Xiaofeng was still Lu Xiaofeng.

After leaving Zhou Ming, he seemed to have come to terms with it and no longer dwelled on the matter.

Whatever he might have been thinking inside, at least on the surface, Lu Xiaofeng had returned to his old self.

With that, Zhou Ming naturally lost his entertainment.

The four maidservants soon noticed that their young master had returned to normal.

Zhou Ming's daily life was exceedingly dull.

Just as he had told Lu Xiaofeng before: fishing in the morning, cultivating in the afternoon, and doing other things he wanted to do at night.

Perhaps it was his shut-in life in his previous life, or perhaps the ten years he had spent living on Zhongnan Mountain in this life, but he had grown accustomed to this dull yet orderly routine.

Of course, the fact that nightlife in this world was far inferior to that of his previous life was also a major reason.

That evening, Zhou Ming prepared to draft an outline and begin writing the second installment of Famous Detective Lu Xiaofeng.

Because of the first installment's success, Zhou Ming had already grasped the key to success—riding the hype!

The first installment had succeeded largely because it rode the popularity of Li Xunhuan, the Plum Blossom Thief, Lin Xian'er, Bai Xiaosheng, and Lu Xiaofeng.

After riding the hype of so many people, even if it had not been popular at first, the friction alone would have made it hot.

Naturally, its final sales results had been excellent.

For this second installment, Zhou Ming intended to keep riding the hype.

The opening volume would cover this Counterfeit Banknote Case.

He would fill the second volume with some other cases and advance the main plot a little more.

On April nineteenth, True Man Zhang of Wudang Mountain would celebrate his hundredth birthday. By then, that part of the plot would probably be underway.

When the time came, he could ride that hype too.

He would write about the Wudang Mountain case as the third volume!

With those two waves of hype, wouldn't sales of the second installment soar into the heavens?

Zhou Ming described his ideas to Xia Feng, who was grinding ink beside him.

Naturally, he did not mention anything about the final volume.

"But, Young Master..." Xia Feng said, "by then, the Counterfeit Banknote Case will have been over for half a year, and the Jianghu Monthly Report has already covered it. Will anyone still care?"

"What?"

Zhou Ming was startled. "The Jianghu Monthly Report already covered it? When? Don't they only publish at the beginning of each month?"

Xia Feng said, "But because of the Counterfeit Banknote Case, they released another special edition a couple of days ago. I remember Eldest Sister brought it to you."

"Another special edition?!"

Zhou Ming recalled the matter, found the special edition Chun Hua had delivered in the study, and grew annoyed after opening it and taking a look.

Sure enough, the special edition described the Counterfeit Banknote Case in great detail.

Just as its name suggested, the Jianghu Monthly Report published one issue each month.

This was due to the underdeveloped communications technology of this world.

However, they frequently released special editions.

These were divided into Kyushu-wide, nationwide, and regional special editions.

A regional special edition was like this Counterfeit Banknote Case. Local reporters investigated it, and once they had written it up, it was distributed only within the local region.

That meant there was no need to consider communication technology.

As for nationwide editions, carrier pigeons were used to convey the key points of a case in the simplest possible language, and the pigeons were then sent throughout the country.

The Jianghu Monthly Report had offices everywhere. Once they received the carrier pigeons, they expanded upon the information the pigeons brought using their own writing.

Then they distributed it throughout the regions under their control.

Thus, one would often see several differing accounts of the same event in special editions, sometimes even with entirely different viewpoints.

There had repeatedly been cases where special editions of the Jianghu Monthly Report from two different regions expressed opposing views on the same incident.

Even so, this showed the Jianghu Monthly Report's reach.

Such measures were merely sacrifices made for the sake of dissemination.

Kyushu-wide special editions operated in much the same way, except over a broader range.

The region in which a special edition was distributed often represented the range of influence of the event it recorded.

For example, this Counterfeit Banknote Case had only received a capital-region special edition.

The previous Plum Blossom Thief case, however, had received a nationwide special edition. As for other countries, they presumably had no interest in the case.

Kyushu-wide special editions represented major events that shook Kyushu and the Four Seas, but they were exceedingly rare.

Zhou Ming had been in this world for many years, yet he had only seen a few.

Logically speaking, this regional special edition for the Counterfeit Banknote Case had only been distributed in the capital, so it should not have affected Zhou Ming's novel.

After all, his novel was sold nationwide.

But there was a matter of timing to consider.

Zhou Ming planned to release the second installment of his novel half a year later.

Half a year... not only would the hype have passed, but the capital's special edition would likely have been carried across the country as well.

"Jianghu! Monthly! Report!"

Zhou Ming could not help clenching his fists.

Once or twice was acceptable, but not a third time!

If he did not deal with the Jianghu Monthly Report, it might become the greatest rival on his future path of riding the hype!

This Counterfeit Banknote Case was one thing; after all, it had only received a capital-region special edition.

But when that major event occurred on Wudang Mountain in the future, it would probably become an incident that shook the entire country!

By then, the Jianghu Monthly Report would almost certainly release another special edition.

Zhou Ming's novels had to consider plot, logic, cases, and twists.

But the Jianghu Monthly Report only needed to describe events step by step.

How could Zhou Ming's novels compete with them in snatching the hype?

This had to be resolved!

If it was not resolved, future novel sales would be difficult to manage.

It sounded simple enough, but doing it would be difficult. The Jianghu Monthly Report was a top power in the martial world, its reach extending across Kyushu and the Four Seas.

In fact, there were many similar newspapers and journals throughout the martial world, but none of them could compete with it.

"Forget it. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you need not fear a hundred battles! Before thinking about how to deal with it, I should first learn more about the Jianghu Monthly Report!"

Zhou Ming thought to himself, then waved his hand. "Xia Feng, go find Uncle Qiang and have him send me any intelligence related to the Jianghu Monthly Report."

"Yes."

A moment later, Uncle Qiang came over and said, "Young Master, Master wants you to go see him."

"Huh?" Zhou Ming was startled. What did his adoptive father want with him?

Could the power behind the Jianghu Monthly Report be so terrifying?

Had merely asking about it alarmed his adoptive father?

"Adoptive Father, you wished to see me?"

"Yes."

It seemed that every time Zhou Ming saw Pei Ju, he was holding a book.

When Zhou Ming arrived, Pei Ju set down the book and asked, "Why do you want to investigate the Jianghu Monthly Report?"

"This..." Zhou Ming was briefly at a loss for words.

"Looks like you know your reason cannot stand on its own, either. You want to deal with the Jianghu Monthly Report just for the sales of a work you wrote for amusement?"

Pei Ju slapped the table in frustration. "Can't you do something proper for once? Last time, I told you to investigate the Four Great Secret Agents of Dragon Guard Manor. Did you find anything?"

"Adoptive Father, didn't we agree before that we would set a trap first and investigate afterward? I've been waiting for news from the imperial court."

"Then did you know that during the Lantern Festival, when the emperor held a grand banquet for the officials, Yang Yuxuan once again submitted a memorial requesting that power be returned to the emperor? And this time, the memorial was approved!"

"What?" Zhou Ming was astonished. "That quickly?"

"What do you think?! Such a major matter happened, yet you knew absolutely nothing about it. You said you were waiting for news—what exactly were you waiting for?!"

Zhou Ming fell silent.

During the Lantern Festival, the Counterfeit Banknote Case had kept him extremely busy, so naturally he had not paid much attention to court affairs.

He had not expected such a major change to occur in just those few days.

"Don't you want to know who controls the power behind the Jianghu Monthly Report? I'll tell you..."

Still not fully over his anger, Pei Ju said, "...it is the Azure Dragon Society!"