The Hateful Jianghu Monthly Report, The Forces Behind It

Lu Xiaofeng is Lu Xiaofeng.

After leaving Zhou Ming, he seemed to have let go and no longer dwelled on the matter.

Regardless of what he was thinking, at least on the surface, Lu Xiaofeng had returned to his former self.

This naturally eliminated Zhou Ming's fun.

The four maids immediately noticed that their young master had returned to normal.

Zhou Ming's daily life was very monotonous.

As he had told Lu Xiaofeng before, he fished in the morning, cultivated in the afternoon, and did other things he wanted to do in the evening.

Perhaps it was his otaku life in his previous life, or perhaps it was the ten years he lived on Zhongnan Mountain in this life, that made him accustomed to such a monotonous yet regular life.

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

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

Because of the success of the first installment, Zhou Ming had already grasped the key to success: piggybacking on trends!

The success of the first installment was largely due to piggybacking on the popularity of Li Xunhuan, Plum Blossom Thief, Lin Xian'er, Bai Xiaosheng, and Lu Xiaofeng.

After piggybacking on so many people, even if it wasn't popular at first, it would eventually generate heat.

The final sales results were naturally excellent.

And for this second installment, Zhou Ming planned to continue piggybacking on trends.

The first volume would be about the Counterfeit Banknote Case.

He would fill the middle with other cases as the second volume and advance the main storyline.

On April 19th, True Man Zhang of Wudang Mountain would celebrate his hundredth birthday, and it was estimated that that plot would unfold then.

He would piggyback on the popularity again at that time.

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

With just these two instances of piggybacking, the sales of the second installment would surely skyrocket!

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

Of course, he didn't mention the last volume.

"But, Young Master..." Xia Feng said, "The Counterfeit Banknote Case will be half a year old by then, and the Jianghu Monthly Report has already reported on it. Will anyone still care?"

"What?"

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

Xia Feng said, "But because of the Counterfeit Banknote Case, they released a special supplement two days ago. I remember the eldest sister gave it to you."

"Another special supplement?!"

Zhou Ming remembered this matter. He found the special supplement that Chun Hua had brought in the study, opened it, and after a couple of glances, he became angry.

The special supplement indeed described the Counterfeit Banknote Case in detail.

The Jianghu Monthly Report, as its name suggested, published one issue per month.

This was due to the underdeveloped communication technology in this world.

However, they often released special supplements.

These were divided into Kyushu, national, and regional supplements.

A regional supplement, like the current Counterfeit Banknote Case, was investigated by local reporters and only distributed in the local area after being written.

This way, there was no need to worry about communication technology.

For national supplements, carrier pigeons were used to convey the key points of a case in the simplest terms, and then the pigeons were sent out nationwide.

There were Jianghu Monthly Report branches in various places. After receiving the pigeons, they would expand on the information brought by the pigeons with their own writing.

Then they would distribute it in the areas they controlled.

Therefore, it was common to see multiple different descriptions of the same event in the special supplements, and even their viewpoints differed.

It had happened multiple times that special supplements of the Jianghu Monthly Report from two different regions expressed opposing views on the same event.

Despite this, the dissemination power of the Jianghu Monthly Report could still be seen.

Such measures were merely a sacrifice for dissemination.

Kyushu supplements were similar in method, but the scope was larger.

The distribution range of the special supplements often represented the influence range of the events they recorded.

For example, the Counterfeit Banknote Case this time was only a supplement for the Imperial City.

The previous Plum Blossom Thief case was a national supplement. As for other countries, they probably had no interest in this case.

Kyushu supplements, representing events that shook Kyushu and the Four Seas, were extremely rare.

In the many years Zhou Ming had been in this world, he had only seen them a few times.

Logically speaking, the regional supplement for the Counterfeit Banknote Case, distributed only in the Imperial City area, should not affect Zhou Ming's novel.

After all, his novel was sold nationwide.

But, we have to consider the timing.

Zhou Ming's second novel was scheduled to be released six months later.

Six months… not only would the current trend have passed, but the special edition for the Imperial City would likely have been distributed nationwide as well.

"Jiang! Hu! Yue! Bao!"

Zhou Ming couldn't help but clench his fists.

You can only do so much, but you can't keep letting this happen!

If this Jianghu Monthly Report isn't dealt with, it will likely become the biggest rival on his path to capitalizing on trends in the future!

This time, the Counterfeit Banknote Case was one thing; it was ultimately just a special edition for the Imperial City.

But when the major event that would happen on Wudang Mountain occurred, it would likely be a nationwide sensation!

At that time, the Jianghu Monthly Report would almost certainly release another special edition.

Zhou Ming's novels required consideration of plot, logic, cases, and twists.

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

When it came to capitalizing on trends, how could Zhou Ming's novels compare to them?

This matter must be resolved!

If it isn't resolved, sales of his future novels will be difficult.

However, it's easy to say but hard to do. This Jianghu Monthly Report is a top force in the martial arts world, with its reach extending throughout Kyushu and the Four Seas.

In fact, besides it, there were many similar publications throughout the martial arts world, but they were basically no match for it.

"Forget it, know yourself and your enemy, and you will win a hundred battles! Let's not talk about how to solve it for now, let's first understand this Jianghu Monthly Report!"

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

"Yes."

A moment later, Uncle Qiang arrived and said, "Young Master, Master wants to see you."

"Ah?" Zhou Ming was stunned. Why was his adoptive father looking for him?

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

He only asked about it, and it already alarmed his adoptive father?

"Adoptive Father, you were looking for me?"

"Mm."

It seemed that every time he saw Pei Ju, he was holding a book and reading.

Seeing Zhou Ming arrive, he put down his scroll and asked, "Why do you want to investigate the Jianghu Monthly Report?"

"This..." Zhou Ming was momentarily speechless.

"It seems you know that your reason is not justifiable, right? You want to deal with the Jianghu Monthly Report just for the sales of a work of interest?"

Pei Ju slammed the table, hating that Zhou Ming wasn't making progress: "Day in and day out, can't you do something serious! Last time I asked you to investigate the four secret agents of the Dragon Guard Manor, did you find anything?"

"Adoptive Father, didn't we discuss setting a trap before investigating? I'm waiting for news from the imperial court?"

"Then do you know that during the Lantern Festival, when the Emperor hosted a banquet for all officials, Yang Yuxuan once again submitted a memorial requesting the return of political power to the Emperor! And this time, the memorial was approved!"

"What?" Zhou Ming was surprised. "It's that fast?"

"What do you think?! Such a major event, and you don't know anything about it, yet you say you're waiting for news? What are you waiting for?!"

Zhou Ming fell silent.

During the Lantern Festival, he was very busy with the Counterfeit Banknote Case and naturally didn't pay much attention to court affairs.

He hadn't expected such a major change to happen during these days.

"You want to know who is controlling the Jianghu Monthly Report from behind the scenes, right? I'll tell you..."

Pei Ju, still angry, said, "...It's the Azure Dragon Society!"