Chapter 60

"Is it also once a month?"

This kind of joke, derived from a certain physiological cycle of women, seems to have a lasting appeal. Despite the fact that this somewhat tasteless humor is based on the pain of most girls, when a usually serious instructor asked this question in such a formal training ground, it still brought about a great deal of laughter.

The neatly lined-up team burst into laughter, and some of the bolder boys pointed at the white sanitary pad that had already landed, eagerly raising their own questions:

"What brand is it?"

"Will it leak?"

"Is this a daily use one?"

...

Zhao Kan stood in front of the team, his head lowered, unsure of how to resolve the situation. The instructor, who had been stern-faced all along, showed a barely noticeable smile but kept his tone steady: "Why don't you go and deal with it?"

Only then did Zhao Kan hurry forward to pick up the item, put on his shoes, and everyone burst into laughter again, this time the girls laughing even harder.

Zhao Kan glanced at the instructor, who said, "Trash can," and then turned to face everyone, shouting loudly, "Attention!"

After all, they were new recruits, and it was rare to have such a joyful interlude. How could they immediately stand at attention? The laughter continued sporadically, and then the instructor coldly ordered, "Everyone, run twenty laps around the track!"

At this moment, Zhao Kan returned from disposing of the trash, ran to the instructor, and reported. The instructor glanced at him and coldly said, "Return to your position."

...

Due to Zhao Kan's heroic act of kicking out the sanitary pad, the ten-day military training reached its climax, making the subsequent training seem overly routine and somewhat dull. For Liu Jingting, this dullness was particularly profound for two reasons: one, Mi Hu indeed paid less attention to him because of the novel incident, only exchanging greetings like "Good morning" and "Good night"; and two, his roommate Sun Xinyang became increasingly absent-minded, although he still went to training with them every day and met his girlfriend after the nightly roll call, it was clear to anyone with eyes that his problems were getting heavier day by day.

Of course, there was also something to be grateful for, which was the steady progress of "The White-haired Devil Woman," with a chapter being completed almost every day.

"Before the 11th, the book should be finished," Liu Jingting left a message for Mi Hu, without saying anything extra. At this time, Mi Hu should still be in the classroom for evening study.

After saving the latest chapter, he did some stretching and started browsing the web. With the Golden Week approaching, the long-suppressed merchants began to stir, launching a barrage of advertisements.

Although Liu Jingting was not deeply familiar with business, he could still see some signs from the surface. The existence of shopping festivals and the Golden Week was deliberately created by merchants as a consumption point. The same logic applied to group house viewings organized by landlords or real estate agents. In the end, any war was a psychological one.

The concept of the Golden Week was that consumers, after a long period of hard work, suddenly had a long holiday. It was a perfectly reasonable behavior to relax and spend a few dollars shopping.

Book publishers naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity, and since Liu Jingting's focus was on the cultural field, various book advertisements naturally filled his screen.

"A book to teach you how to speak!"

"XX's Thick Black School, revealing the secrets of success in the workplace!"

"How to win his heart, XX's big sister tells you."

"The secret to living to 100!"

"Famous actor tearfully recommends XXXX"

"A novel that made all of Europe cry."

...

It was always like this, and it was nothing new. Liu Jingting, of course, wasn't concerned with these things. At this moment, he was smiling as he read a post on the Jianghu forum: [Publishers' Chaos, Martial Arts Novels Flood October!!!]

The post meticulously listed and counted the martial arts novels scheduled to be released in October, and a rough calculation showed that there were as many as twenty, including works by famous authors and popular writers, such as "Tian Luo Tower" by Beige Tang.

This scale surprised Liu Jingting a bit. It wasn't just a cluster but a congestion, a pile-up. What were these publishers thinking?

Liu Jingting closed the post and looked at other related web pages. Although there were some discrepancies in the details, the general content of the post was correct. In other words, the book market in October would be a battlefield of swords and shadows.

Some media outlets noticed this phenomenon and promptly interviewed Qianhong's Lu Yichou, asking a very representative question: "Faced with so many competitors, how will Qianhong and Gu Yongsheng respond? Will 'Seven Swords Descend from Heaven' also be published to meet this challenge?"

No matter what, this martial arts trend was initiated by Gu Yongsheng. Although all publishers claimed that this was in response to strong reader demand and market rules, everyone knew that when it came to martial arts, it was impossible to ignore the mysterious Gu Yongsheng. This was an undeniable fact.

In the video, Lu Yichou appeared even calmer and more composed than in person. He answered the journalist with a composed tone: "I also want to make a serious promise to everyone here. The novel 'Seven Swords' will not be published so quickly. I have discussed this with Gu Yongsheng, and he insists on continuing the serialization, possibly even until the end, because he doesn't want readers to pay twice."

When Lu Yichou said this, a faint glow of a cultural angel appeared on his face. His tone, full of humanistic color, vividly portrayed his identity as "the most literary businessman."

Liu Jingting smiled slightly and muttered to himself, "It seems that no matter who it is, they can't help but perform in front of a camera."

"How will Qianhong respond to this group challenge?"

Lu Yichou smiled dismissively and said, "I never call these challenges. Our company's purpose in publishing books is always to provide high-quality reading material and serve a wide audience, not to fight with others. As for our publication plan for October, please allow me to keep it a secret for now. There might be a surprise."

"Cunning," Liu Jingting laughed, appreciating the precision and appropriateness of the old fox's words and expressions. Yesterday, he had left a message for Lu Yichou, saying that the new novel might be completed ahead of schedule, so Lu Yichou added that sentence that would inevitably cause suspicion and over-interpretation.

Sure enough, the media that interviewed Lu Yichou made their own guess first. They believed that Qianhong's purpose was to protect Gu Yongsheng, as the leader of the so-called new school of martial arts. If he were to lose in the October chaos, it would be very embarrassing.

This view quickly spread on the internet, and it seemed that everyone had forgotten that the readers of "Seven Swords" and "Yue Nü Jian" were still the largest group of martial arts novel readers.

In this atmosphere, several representative figures also spoke up, including Duan Dao from Tie Hulu Books and the female martial arts writer Qin Se from Wan Chui Culture. However, these two were relatively mild, expressing gratitude to the senior Gu Yongsheng and politely hoping to compete with him, "in line with the essence of martial arts novels."

The most intense and provocative voice, of course, came from Beige Tang of Ding Jie Culture, who published a long blog post titled "Drawing the Sword and Looking Around," almost like a declaration of war. In the post, he challenged Gu Yongsheng by name and used metaphors to remind Qianhong and Gu Yongsheng, "Don't be a coward."

Beige Tang's hatred for Gu Yongsheng had a long history, mainly due to Mi Hu. The scene at the crossroads was the most humiliating moment of his life. He had achieved fame at a young age, with countless fans. When "Feng Yi" was released, countless young female readers fell in love with it. When had he ever experienced such a humiliating moment?

After Beige Tang's declaration of war, Xue Muliang further fueled the fire. He first placed an advertisement for "Tian Luo Tower" on the cover of "Ding Xiaoshuo," then had several top-tier popular authors, such as Shen You, Luo An, and Adam, promote Beige Tang on their microblogs, and finally wrote a preface for Beige Tang himself. It was worth noting that Xue Muliang had recently written a commissioned article for a magazine at a rate of 25 yuan per word, so the weight of this preface was significant.

After reading all this, Liu Jingting couldn't feel any real tension because he could easily judge that, apart from Beige Tang, who was genuinely angry, the other authors were mostly acting out of the need for publisher promotion. This was an unwritten rule in the publishing industry, where all publishers preferred authors who actively cooperated with promotions. Even when Lu Yichou talked about Han Shuo and Xue Muliang, he had to admit that Xue Muliang made collaborators more at ease.

Of course, Han Shuo himself pursued a unique style. If he posted heavily edited photos on his microblog, showing off brand-name underwear one day and high-end belts the next, and then promoting his book everywhere, his fans would undoubtedly look down on him, which could be a loss.

Moreover, in this world, Liu Jingting couldn't feel any worry about any author. To be frank, these authors who were making probing, provocative, and aggressive statements first had to face the ongoing serialization of "Seven Swords" and the short and concise "Yue Nü Jian." Otherwise, they wouldn't even have the qualifications to speak to Gu Yongsheng.

Many of Gu Yongsheng's readers calmly stated this view on forums and microblogs. While defending Gu Yongsheng, some readers also hoped that Qianhong would release "Seven Swords" early to震慑 the competition in October and prove its greatness.

Liu Jingting closed all the web pages and looked out the window, feeling a strange anticipation for October, a feeling that belonged to the vain part of his heart.

...

"Just finished evening study."

Liu Jingting, with his hands crossed behind his head, was deep in thought when he saw Mi Hu's avatar flash. He smiled slightly and replied with a "Hmm."

At this moment, another avatar also flashed, the one from the knife flower he hadn't contacted for some time.

"The script is complete, Gong Cheng'en said they will start filming next month, but I noticed you seem to be on rotation next month."

Liu Jingting shook his head speechlessly and replied, "The user you are contacting is busy, please try again later." After sending it, he realized something was off.

The knife flower sent a screenshot of "please try again later" back and added, "Is the uncle's IQ busy?"

...