Quarrel

Su Ruo stood up, her pretty face fearless.

Over the past few months, Song Jiayu had targeted her in every possible scenario, and because of their superior-subordinate relationship, she could do nothing about it.

Today, she finally had a chance. Even if it wasn't to secure a good platform for Chu Yu's new work, just to vent the pent-up anger in her chest, she couldn't back down.

Deputy editor-in-chief or not, since you've already got it out for me, why should I keep tolerating you?

So Su Ruo didn't mince her words.

"Please note, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Song, the main purpose of this meeting is to discuss work quality."

"Given Teacher Dong Yun's status, even if her serialization doesn't pass this meeting, she'll surely get a chance to be serialized on Man Ying within the company. So how can you claim you won't be able to serialize her work?"

"But Teacher Dong Yun knows her work is being evaluated in this serialization meeting. If we don't confirm her new work's serialization here, how can we show our manga company's sincerity?"

"As a pillar author of Tian Yin Comics... coming to our Man Ying, and not even getting one serialization seat..." Song Jiayu frowned, eyes blazing with anger as he stared at Su Ruo.

"So what? In the manga industry, it's all about strength to eat..." Su Ruo cut him off.

"After evaluations from many editors, Rurouni Kenshin scored higher than Secret Girl. The strong advance, the weak fall—it's a simple truth. Why drag in things unrelated to the manga itself?" Su Ruo said loudly.

"I admit, the first three chapters of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal are indeed brilliant, and the editors' scores are higher than Secret Girl's."

"But I still want to say, this is just everyone's assessment of the first three chapters of these two works."

"Teacher Dong Yun, after all, is a manga artist with years of experience, having drawn two or three long series. It's normal for her to start slow, so she's temporarily being outshone by an unknown author's work."

"But think long-term... between an established author with a large fanbase and a newcomer who debuted two months ago, who would you rather trust?"

"I admit, the first three chapters of Rurouni Kenshin are high quality, but haven't we seen plenty of works that start strong and end weak?" Song Jiayu continued.

"The author of this work, Teacher Shui Xin, previously only serialized a seven-chapter short manga on Ink Shadow. After The Garden of Words ended, many readers criticized it for a bad ending."

"If even a seven-chapter work ends like that, do you really believe Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal can maintain this quality later? I doubt it."

"Compared to Teacher Dong Yun's credentials, Shui Xin is still too young!" Song Jiayu said in a low voice.

"What Deputy Editor-in-Chief Song says is complete nonsense. First, The Garden of Words ranked first in Ink Shadow's popularity vote for four consecutive weeks starting from its fourth week, with more people supporting its ending." Su Ruo slapped the table with both hands.

"Which work doesn't have a few haters? Forget The Garden of Words, even those ultra-popular works currently serialized on RB Island have people calling them boring. Are you going to follow the crowd too, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Song?"

"And your speculation is baseless. What reason do you have to guess that Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal's quality will decline later? And what reason to think the same problem won't happen to Teacher Dong Yun?"

"Aren't there plenty of examples in the manga industry of veteran manga artists flopping?"

"Ignoring the current gap in work quality and judging future development solely by past achievements and time—is that something a responsible editor would say?"

"If everyone acted like you, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Song, we might as well dismiss all our young contracted manga artists and bring back those retired teachers in their sixties to keep making manga!"

"You..." Song Jiayu's face turned ashen, momentarily speechless, before he finally choked out words.

"I've seen the name for Teacher Dong Yun's new work later on. I can only say the following plot is much better than the first three chapters. Teacher Dong Yun's new work is absolutely worth anticipating—there's no quality decline."

"What a coincidence!" Su Ruo pulled a stack of drafts from her bag.

"These are the manga names for chapters four to nine of Rurouni Kenshin. I want to say, not only did he finish the original drafts for three chapters in this period, but he's also drawn the name up to chapter nine."

"I asked Teacher Shui Xin, and he said the first three chapters are just the beginning—the later plot will be even more exciting."

"So there's no quality decline here either!"

"Editor-in-Chief, you can review them and then decide."

Su Ruo had long guessed Song Jiayu would target her today, so she came prepared for his arguments, bringing the later names of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

But she hadn't made copies, so she only handed them to the editor-in-chief.

Song Jiayu clenched his fists, wanting to vent his anger but holding back.

Suddenly, the two who had been at each other's throats fell silent.

Pang Feng took the name and flipped through it seriously.

Page after page, even though dozens of people were waiting for him, he took his time.

Twenty minutes later.

He closed the name and looked at everyone.

"Indeed, the later plot isn't bad at all—no quality decline."

"Alright, discussion ends here. Let's start voting."

"Those who support Secret Girl winning this meeting, raise your hands."

Below, a sparse show of about eight or nine hands went up. Regular editors' votes counted as one point, and Song Jiayu, as deputy editor-in-chief, counted as three.

But the total came to only about twelve points.

Song Jiayu's expression was grim. For him, losing the serialization opportunity for Dong Yun didn't matter.

But as deputy editor-in-chief, being overturned by a lowly editor like Su Ruo—where was his authority? He could imagine that for the next few days, the entire manga company's hundreds of staff would be discussing him enthusiastically.

He glared hard at Su Ruo.

Su Ruo didn't care at all and shot him a mocking face in return.

"Next, please raise your hand if you support Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal being serialized on Man Ying."

With that, Editor-in-Chief Pang Feng was the first to raise his own hand.

This also meant that his vote, worth five points, was cast for Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

The second to raise her hand was Su Ruo.

The editors below exchanged glances with each other.

Anyway, if the sky fell, the editor-in-chief would hold it up. At worst, Song Jiayu would go after Su Ruo.

Besides, they had long harbored dissatisfaction with Song Jiayu, but his deep connections within the manga company made them angry without daring to speak out.

Now that they had a chance, it wouldn't hurt to spite him a little.

So, one after another, over twenty people raised their hands.

Song Jiayu took a deep breath. He understood the matter was settled, and his expression returned to normal.

Su Ruo's face was filled with an excitement that words couldn't describe.

"In that case, the vacant slot on Man Ying will be filled by Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, with the serialization set for the Man Ying issue two weeks from now!" Pang Feng, whose face had been stern throughout the entire process, finally cracked a faint smile, his eyes full of encouragement as he looked at Su Ruo.

After all, Su Ruo was a junior he had personally mentored. During This Period of Time, Song Jiayu had used every means to bully her in the manga company, and he had long been displeased.

But given Song Jiayu's background with the Modu and Ink Fish Manga Company's Board of Directors, and the fact that while Song Jiayu was nitpicking, his criticisms always had some semblance of reason, he couldn't easily act.

But today, Song Jiayu had stirred up this mess himself at the Serialization Meeting, and it just so happened that a work like Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal was submitted. No wonder no one else was to blame.

The slap to his face was half his own fault for sticking it out in the first place.