Chapter Forty: The Tide Turns in Public Opinion

The next day, February ninth, Jiang Yun and the other two were due to leave Rongzhou. Early that morning, Zhou Xuan went to Xinhua Bookstore and bought several copies of The Tales of the Ming Dynasty, signed them by hand, and then headed to the hotel.

“Brothers, this is the book I wrote, The Tales of the Ming Dynasty. I’ve signed it myself. I wish you a smooth journey home and a bright future,” Zhou Xuan said with a smile as he handed over the novels.

“Well now, not bad at all! I’m definitely going to treasure this properly. In a few decades it’ll be worth a fortune,” Deng Cheng said playfully as he picked up the Ming Dynasty book and flipped through it, reluctant to put it down.

“Xuan, that was thoughtful of you. Come to Rongcheng as soon as you can, all right? Deng Cheng and I will take good care of you,” Wang Ximing, usually so reserved and not given to many words, said happily as well.

Zhou Xuan replied, “Don’t worry, Brother Wang. I’ll be there in a couple of days, and I’ll make sure to call you ahead of time. I still need to go to Rongcheng to handle the registration for the internet-cafe management software company.”

“Good, good. Call us in advance and we’ll meet you at the station,” Deng Cheng said brightly when he heard Zhou Xuan would be heading to Rongcheng in a few days. “But hurry up. If the fifteenth passes, school will be starting for me.”

“Zhou Xuan, after I return to the Imperial Capital, I’m probably heading to Hong Kong. This is my last semester, and in the second half of the year I’ll be back in the Imperial Capital working. So, the three of you, why not come to Hong Kong for a visit while I’m still there?”

“Great, I’ve wanted to go to Hong Kong for a long time,” Deng Cheng exclaimed.

“As for me, it depends. You know my job isn’t the kind where I can just take leave whenever I want,” Wang Ximing said. Since he worked within the system, getting time off was indeed difficult.

“I’m free anytime. The middle-school entrance exam is no problem at all,” Zhou Xuan said. As a top student, the exam was nothing to him. He truly did want to go to Hong Kong, too; there were some things he needed to prepare there in advance.

“All right, then it’s settled. We’ll keep in touch. And the four of us should stay in touch often. Especially you, Zhou Xuan—if there’s anything you can’t handle, you must call us, understand?”

Moved by Jiang Yun’s advice, Zhou Xuan said, “All right, Brother Jiang.”

Watching Jiang Yun and the others drive away, Zhou Xuan finally felt at ease and went back.

These past few days had been rather vexing because of the publishing matter, but now that everything had been resolved, Zhou Xuan was in high spirits.

He was now waiting for the royalty payment to land in his account, after which he would immediately launch his chain supermarket plan. Looking north toward Rongcheng, Zhou Xuan saw the city where his career would begin.

With the departure of Jiang Yun and the others, the storm surrounding The Ming Dynasty Chronicles of the previous days took a sharp turn.

That morning, to everyone’s surprise, several newspapers that had once criticized and denounced The Tales of the Ming Dynasty suddenly fell silent and began reporting on other, unrelated matters instead.

For example, the Northern Arts and Literature Daily and the Imperial Capital Evening News supplement both changed topics, and no matter how hard people searched through their pages, they could no longer find even the slightest trace of the Ming Dynasty.

Meanwhile, the newspapers that had reprinted the Northern Arts and Literature Daily’s article just two days earlier, and had been loudly echoing its denunciations beside the Arts and Literature Daily and the Imperial Capital Evening News, also changed course and began reporting that the Ming Dynasty had sold another certain number of copies yesterday, that total sales had reached yet another milestone, and that still another record had been broken.

In just a few days, the story had changed three times. The speed of the reversal was like a girl’s moods, changing from one day to the next and impossible to read; or like the face-changing acts in Sichuan opera, with abrupt and dramatic twists.

Whatever people might have been guessing, one thing was easy to imagine: certain editors and newspaper leaders were all wearing dark, sour expressions. A directive had come from above, and they had no choice but to change course. Did they think I wanted to change my tune every single day?

And now, even more strikingly, a heavyweight scholar had published an article in open support of The Tales of the Ming Dynasty, leaving everyone astonished.

Yu Changlin, the famed historian and doctoral supervisor at Yanjing University, published an article in the Yanjing Daily, publicly praising The Tales of the Ming Dynasty. He pointed out that this historical novel used vivid language, a storytelling style, and a unique angle to recreate the grand and turbulent centuries of the Ming Dynasty.

It turned serious, difficult history into something vivid and engaging, making it easier for ordinary readers to approach history and fall in love with the history of the Ming Dynasty. This was an innovation in historical fiction, one that could help more people understand history, and therefore this style of writing was worthy of affirmation.

Once this article appeared, the newspapers that had smeared the Ming Dynasty in the previous days fell collectively silent, while even more newspapers and magazines turned around and gave The Tales of the Ming Dynasty even greater coverage, allowing the whole country to learn of it.

“Wow, The Tales of the Ming Dynasty is actually that amazing? It sold three hundred thousand copies in just one week and broke a first-week sales record that had stood for more than a decade.”

“Those newspapers were saying the other day that the Ming Dynasty was ugly and distorted history. I thought those sales figures were fake. But now it looks like they’re real after all?”

“Of course they’re real. Let me tell you, a lot of people bought the book to read it, and everyone who read it recommended it to their friends. I went and bought it too, and once I started reading I couldn’t put it down. I recommend you buy a copy and keep it. It’s really excellent. As for those newspapers’ slander the other day, they were definitely trying to smear it after seeing how well the Ming Dynasty was selling. But the public’s eyes are sharp. Now that they can’t suppress it anymore, they’ve gone quiet.”

“Huh, what you’re saying actually makes sense.”

“Come on, let’s hurry to the bookstore. The Ming Dynasty is so hot right now—if we go too late, we might not be able to get copies.”

“Right, right. Xiao Chen said he wants a copy too.”

“Okay. We’d already brought five copies for them all, and now it’s become six.”

In many bookstores across the country, The Ming Dynasty Chronicles was not only placed in the most prominent spot on the new-release display stand, but many bookstores had also made large posters and placed them at the entrance.

Anyone passing by a bookstore could spot the promotional poster for The Tales of the Ming Dynasty at a glance. And as the newspapers kept reporting on it, more and more people grew curious about the book and hurried into the stores to buy a copy.

Under such a wave of publicity, sales of The Ming Dynasty Chronicles kept rising. Before noon had even arrived, many bookstores with small inventories had already sold out and were frantically calling their distributors to send more copies at once.

Rongcheng, West Ridge Publishing House, the president’s office.

Wei Xiyue let out a long sigh and said regretfully, “The Ming Dynasty is selling like mad today. So many bookstores have already run out. It’s a pity the next volume no longer belongs to our publishing house. I really regret it now.”

The president looked at Wei Xiyue, patted him on the shoulder, and said, “This isn’t your fault. The decision the night before last wasn’t made by you alone. Don’t worry. You’ve worked for the publishing house for so many years—let’s see who would dare say anything against you.”

“Thank you, President,” Wei Xiyue said, finally easing up after hearing the reassurance. “Who would have thought that Zhou Xuan’s connections would be so formidable? We had no way to do anything at all.”

The president frowned and said somewhat gloomily, “What a pity this excellent opportunity is. Since things have come to this, we can only continue promoting it and hope we can make a little more from the first volume. As for Zhou Xuan’s side, we still need to make up for things as much as possible. We should deliver whatever is due as quickly as possible and try to leave a good impression. He’s only sixteen, after all. No one knows how much he’ll be able to write in the future. The University of Science and Technology Press can’t monopolize everything.”

“Yes, that’s all we can do.”

Wei Xiyue knew that The Ming Dynasty had already soared into the sky, but it no longer belonged to West Ridge, and it no longer belonged to him.