The Plan

In the following period, whenever someone came to inquire about the magazine Man Ying, Gu Yu would ask them similar questions.

"As expected..."

After asking over twenty people, Gu Yu also discovered that while some of them were loyal readers of Man Ying, nearly half of the people were purchasing the magazine specifically for the work Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

Many even bought the entire issue of Man Ying just to read this one work.

Considering the increase in Man Ying's readership during this time and the serialization period of this work, Gu Yu had a dawning idea.

In his plan for restocking books the following week, he doubled the usual anticipated order quantity for Man Ying.

Gu Yu was just the owner of a bookstore in Luo Province, and the situation in his store was mirrored in major bookstores and kiosks across Luo Province.

Bookstores, one after another, unreservedly increased their stock of Man Ying, leading to a massive surge in the magazine's sales.

Previously, due to the serialization of Tian Shu, Magic Realm, Secret Girl, and Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, Man Ying's sales had already risen from over 300,000 per week to over 400,000.

Now, as the year drew to a close, the orders received by the manga company had surpassed 500,000.

For a time, Ink Fish Manga Company drew the attention of the entire Luo Province manga industry.

Generally, the sales of manga magazines were quite stable. If there were significant fluctuations in sales, it was invariably due to the serialization of excellent new works or the conclusion of highly popular ones.

Man Ying had experienced similar situations in the past, but the sales fluctuations were usually only tens of thousands, far from the current increase of over a hundred thousand.

During this period, only two new serialized works had appeared in Man Ying.

One was Secret Girl, and the other was Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

Although Dong Yun's move was expected to bring some sales growth to Ink Fish, she didn't possess enough influence to account for a sales increase of over a hundred thousand.

That left only one possibility...

Industry professionals in Luo Province's manga scene turned their gaze towards the work Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

Starting from the fourth chapter, this work had already shown its potential. From ranking eleventh in the popularity poll in the first chapter, it took only seven weeks to reach the top of Man Ying.

In the past, many works serialized on Man Ying were canceled around the seventh or eighth chapter. However, no work had ever reached the top of Man Ying at this stage.

What's more, this work had also driven a wave of sales growth for Man Ying.

Regarding this surge in Man Ying's sales, everyone had a largely consistent judgment.

A small portion was due to Dong Yun's transfer, but the majority was brought by Shui Xin, Luo Province's biggest dark horse newcomer author, and his work Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

For a time, many lamented Dong Yun's bad luck. In her previous days at Feng Yu, she had never encountered such a situation. Her work was overshadowed in meetings by this new work during its serialization, and just as she was about to reach the top of Man Ying, this work beat her to it. Now, if this trend continues, the qualification for the Dragon Star Award would also be distant for Dong Yun...

Soon, the latest popularity poll results for Man Ying were released.

The outcome was pretty much as everyone had expected. Although Man Ying's sales continued to increase, both Magic Realm and Secret Girl saw little to no growth in their popularity poll numbers.

On the other hand, Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, which had already topped the Man Ying charts last issue, not only maintained its first-place position in this week's popularity poll but also gained nearly four thousand more votes, once again breaking Mo Yu's historical record.

However, regarding the performance of the eighth chapter of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, Chu Yu wasn't as excited as he was last week, despite holding onto the top spot.

He understood that the work's performance would only get better from here on out, as its plot became more captivating as it progressed. There was no logical reason for the vote count to decrease.

Of course, Su Ruo and Zhao Qinyin were excited for a long time as usual before calming down.

After all, at this rate, securing a qualification for the Dragon Star Award was practically a sure thing.

As long as Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal could secure first place for another two weeks, the qualification would be firmly in its grasp.

But Chu Yu's current popularity vote count had already surpassed the second-place Secret Girl by nearly ten thousand votes.

They couldn't imagine any possibility of Secret Girl or Magic Realm catching up.

"Oh right, Chu Yu, Zhao Qinyin..."

"Do you two remember what I told you a few weeks ago?" Su Ruo asked, having calmed down.

"What was that?" Chu Yu inquired.

"The annual meeting!"

"The annual meeting!"

Su Ruo said speechlessly.

"Your memories are too bad!"

"Since your school is on break, you can start preparing this week."

"Next Saturday is the day our Manga Company holds its annual meeting before the end of the year..."

"I submitted your names to the participant list a while ago. You know, even though Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal has topped Man Ying, I'm the only one in the entire Mo Yu... who has actually met you, Chu Yu!"

"A lot of editors at the Manga Company have been curious about you, the genius newcomer manga artist, Shui Xin, who appeared out of nowhere. Many wanted me to show them your photo, but I refused," Su Ruo said with a smile.

"This is a good opportunity for you two to make an appearance at the annual meeting. I wonder what their expressions will be when they find out that Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal was completed by two high school students..."

What kind of expression would they have? I'm not some big celebrity.

Chu Yu pursed his lips.

"Oh, right, one more thing I need to tell you. Our Manga Company's annual meeting is relatively formal. It's a given that men will wear suits and women will wear formal dresses. Don't show up in your school uniforms, or you'll truly become monkeys in a zoo for people to gawk at and comment on."

"A suit?" Chu Yu asked.

"I don't have one!"

"You don't have one..." Su Ruo looked at Chu Yu.

"If you don't have one, then you'll just have to buy one! You're already earning tens of thousands a month, buying a suit is pocket change for you, right?"

"Alright then!" Chu Yu thought about it.

"No problem?" Su Ruo asked.

"No problem..." Chu Yu replied.

Su Ruo looked at Chu Yu's face, then sighed after a while.

"Forget it, when you have time, I'll go buy one with you! That way, you won't be fooled by the sales assistants into buying some flashy clothes. It won't be good if you wear something too ostentatious..."

Am I that unreliable in your eyes?

Chu Yu complained inwardly, but he didn't refuse Su Ruo's suggestion.

"Zhao Qinyin, what about you? Do you have a formal dress?"

"No," Zhao Qinyin hesitated.

"Perfect then, we'll all go together. No matter what, you're both top authors and Manga Assistants at Man Ying. If you make a fool of yourselves, it would really be..."

"Understood!"

"Got it!"

Zhao Qinyin and Chu Yu said in unison.

"Alright, since that's settled, you two get back to work. I won't disturb you anymore!" Su Ruo nodded.