"Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal? What's that, Shui Xin? I've never heard of it." As Li Xi spoke, she helped Tang Xin clear away the takeout containers and snack wrappers scattered across the table.
As Tang Xin's editor, she certainly wasn't responsible for menial chores like these. But she knew that if nobody helped Tang Xin clean up, the girl—who was brilliant at drawing manga but utterly incapable of looking after herself—would turn this apartment in the heart of Modu, where every inch of land was worth a fortune, into a garbage dump.
"You don't know it?" Tang Xin's eyes widened, her face full of disappointment.
"This one! It's serialized in Man Ying, the magazine published by Ink Fish Manga Company. It's only up to three episodes so far..."
"I don't know it. It doesn't ring a bell. But I know pretty much all the established authors from Luo Province, so maybe it's a new writer who just emerged over there!" Li Xi said, shaking her head.
"But why are you asking?"
Tang Xin stood up from her chair, looking a little embarrassed.
"I just thought, since you used to work at that manga company..."
"I mean..."
"If you're still on good terms with them, could you get me a copy of the later manga installments, or maybe the manga name for this series..."
"Even though it's only up to Chapter Three in the magazine, if that company called Ink Fish is anything like ours, they might already have the original manuscripts for Chapter Four or even Chapter Five of Rurouni Kenshin. And if they have the manga name, they might have even drawn and submitted the ending."
"I'm really curious about what happens next." As she spoke, Tang Xin clasped her hands and looked at Li Xi with eager hope.
At that, Li Xi gave her a merciless chop to the forehead.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Tang Xin cried, clutching her head.
"What are you thinking? I left that boring company two years ago, remember? And we parted on terrible terms. How could I possibly get my hands on their manga drafts?"
"Besides, even if I were still on good terms with the people there, that would still be impossible! How could they let anyone copy or borrow unpublished manga manuscripts or manga names? Sure, a few people at that company are useless, but this is a matter of principle. Forget about it."
"Aww..."
"But waiting a whole week for just one episode is torture!" Tang Xin dropped heavily into her chair, looking utterly dejected.
"You're one to talk," Li Xi said with a cold laugh.
"Do you know how many issues you've skipped this year? On average, you take a week off every month. Have you ever thought about how your readers feel, waiting for a new episode every week—and sometimes not even getting one?"
"But I really can't draw anything! I feel like I've used up all my talent and run out of inspiration."
"Maybe this is what the ancients meant by 'a genius who's exhausted his gifts.' Maybe I shouldn't have become a manga artist in the first place... If I hadn't, I might be an excellent fashion model by now!"
"Stop overthinking it. You need to face reality. Someone like you, who can't look after herself, falls for every scam, and doesn't understand how people work—if you weren't drawing manga, you'd starve to death!" Li Xi said, looking at her with complete seriousness.
"Fine. Do you have any other weird requests? Tell me all of them, and I'll turn them all down at once. Then I'll stay by your side for the next five days without leaving. Until you finish the next episode, you're not going near your phone or computer, and I'm cutting off the internet completely."
"Are you a demon or something?" Tang Xin sprang to her feet.
"I'm a manga artist, not a slave! I have rights..."
But Li Xi only gave her a resolute, piercing look.
Slowly, Tang Xin's defiance began to fade.
"Then can I make one request?"
"Go ahead!"
"Could you ask your friends in Luo Province to send me the latest issue of Man Ying, the one before that, and any future issues featuring Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal? Oh, and don't use regular delivery. Have them send it by air. Just deduct the cost from my royalties!"
Li Xi let out a long breath and looked at Tang Xin's earnest face.
"Is this 'Something Kenshin' manga really that good?"
"It's just a series in a regional manga magazine..."
"Of course it's good..." Tang Xin turned her computer screen toward Li Xi, like a child showing off a prized possession.
"Why don't you read it yourself? It's only up to Chapter Three, so it won't take long..."
On Monday, the moment Su Ruo stepped into the manga company, she sensed a strange atmosphere.
Almost everyone was sneaking glances at her. A few coworkers who had always treated her coldly because of her feud with Song Jiayu even seemed friendlier than usual today.
Su Ruo understood what was behind the strange feeling.
After the Man Ying voting results came out last Friday, word had spread beyond Ink Fish. Even the editorial departments of the other two manga companies in the same league, Feng Yu and Dragon Fang, had heard that a series in Man Ying had attracted over ten thousand votes after only two chapters.
Over the past two days, quite a few people she knew in the industry had asked her about it.
It wasn't just outsiders who found the news unbelievable. Even Su Ruo, Chu Yu's editor, hadn't expected things to unfold like this.
She had expected Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal to become popular, but she'd never imagined it would catch on so quickly.
"Su Ruo, these are letters from readers. Could you pass them on to Teacher Shui Xin?"
Soon after Su Ruo reached her desk, a woman arrived carrying a whole box—several hundred letters—and set it down in front of her.
"So many?"
"Yeah. I checked. They're all letters from Teacher Shui Xin's fans across Luo Province."
After the woman left, Su Ruo sat alone, staring blankly at the pile of fan mail on her desk.
The vote counts in the rankings had just been numbers on a screen. They hadn't given her a real sense of the scale of it.
But the whole box of letters in front of her made her realize that Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal really had become a hit.
It had more than earned the fourteen thousand votes it received in the previous issue.
Su Ruo had been an editor for three years. She had always hoped that one day she might help turn one of her authors into a popular manga artist—but this had happened far too quickly!
Just two months ago, she had been troubled by the way she was being sidelined at the company after falling out with Song Jiayu. At one point, she had even considered giving up the job. Now, with Rurouni Kenshin's sudden success, her standing at the company had naturally risen along with it.
"Su Ruo, the editor-in-chief wants to speak with you," a coworker came in to tell her.
"Oh, got it. I'll be right there!"
Su Ruo took a deep breath before replying.
The editor-in-chief wants to talk to me?
Su Ruo didn't need to think twice to know it had to be about Chu Yu.
After all, last week's ranking results had made it clear to everyone at Ink Fish just how much potential Shui Xin—that was, Chu Yu—had...
Before you continue