I am the villain in the book

“Cosmetic surgery?”

Hearing this long-unheard modern term again, Li Yang couldn't help but feel a surge of familiarity.

With a "snap", he closed his folding fan, leaned closer, and asked curiously, "Brother Wei, what is cosmetic surgery?"

“Uh, it’s just… changing one's appearance.”

Wei Changtian said perfunctorily, his gaze fixed on Li Yang's face.

Looking closely, he did indeed still have the same appearance.

But in his memory, Li Yang was clearly a bit sleazy, while now, although he couldn't be described as particularly "upright", he could at least be called "refined."

How could this be?

Could it be because of running the Chun Shen Bookstore and the 'Kyoto News'?

Is it true that inner cultivation manifests as outer elegance???

“Brother Li…”

Hesitating for a moment, Wei Changtian tentatively asked in a low voice, “Do you still frequent brothels now?”

“Alas, I haven’t been there for a long time.”

Li Yang shook his head, his expression seemingly a bit regretful, “Now that the circulation of the 'Kyoto News' is getting larger and larger, I am so busy every day, where would I have the time to go to such places?”

“Besides, my father has already found a marriage for me, the daughter of the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and we will be married after the first month of the new year.”

“Since I am already engaged, it would not be appropriate to go to places of pleasure again…”

“…”

Good heavens, he doesn't even go to brothels anymore?

Wei Changtian's impression of Li Yang was that he spent most of his time visiting brothels, but now he doesn't even have this biggest hobby.

Brother Li, what on earth have you experienced?

For the next half hour, Wei Changtian spent his time catching up with Li Yang and Wang Er.

The three of them drank tea and chatted for a long time in his private courtyard.

Everything in the courtyard, including the furnishings in the room, remained as they were when he left, except that the serving maids were no longer Yuan'er and Qiuyun, and the three hens that used to jump around all day were long gone.

During the chat, Wei Changtian gained a more detailed understanding of the current situation of the Gongji Society and the Chun Shen Bookstore.

The former had more than 50,000 members in the Great Ning and Great Shu kingdoms, with more than 3,000 people in the Kyoto headquarters alone. Except for the lack of a second-rank expert on the surface, it had become the undisputed number one Jianghu force in the two countries.

Although there were now many imitators who had successively launched various kinds of newspapers, such as the Tianji Pavilion, which had once issued the "Great Ning Good and Evil List", had created a "Jianghu Monthly".

However, these newspapers were limited by the size of the "issuing organization", and had no competitiveness compared with the 'Kyoto News' in terms of publishing cycle, timeliness, price, and audience.

Therefore, Chun Shen Bookstore could at least completely monopolize the public opinion in Great Ning for the next few years.

This was by no means a useless effort.

At least when Ning Wenjun usurped the throne, the reports of the 'Kyoto News' greatly influenced the people's perception of Ning Wenjun and Ning Yongnian.

For them, emperors were too distant, but the 'Kyoto News', which was published every day, was more intimate and credible.

“…”

“Brother Wei, when you first proposed the idea of a newspaper, I only thought it was novel, but I didn’t expect that a mere piece of paper could have such an effect.”

Li Yang took a sip of hot tea in the courtyard pavilion and said with emotion, “Now the people of Great Ning can be said to not even believe the imperial edict, but only believe what is said in the 'Kyoto News'.”

“If Young Master wants to pull the emperor off the dragon throne one day, I estimate that he won’t need a single soldier, just a few crimes that I can fabricate for Ning Wenjun in the newspaper.”

“Killing people with a pen, this is really unprecedented.”

“…”

The breeze blew through the gauze curtain, stirring up the overflowing fragrance of tea.

As the chief manager of Chun Shen Bookstore and the chief writer of the 'Kyoto News', Li Yang had obviously fully realized the great effect of grasping the throat of public opinion, and what could be done as a result.

In other words, many things that even the Suspended Mirror Division couldn't do, the 'Kyoto News' could.

Therefore, Li Yang would naturally attribute the reason to a new thing like "newspaper".

However…

“Brother Li, killing people with a pen is not the credit of the newspaper, let alone the 'Kyoto News'.”

Wei Changtian shook his head and corrected softly, “It’s actually the credit of 'authority'.”

“Authority?”

Li Yang was slightly stunned, lowered his head and pondered for a moment, and suddenly understood what Wei Changtian meant.

Indeed.

The reason why the people believed in the 'Kyoto News' was not because it was a newspaper.

But because in the hearts of the people, this thing, which was supported by the Suspended Mirror Division and the Gongji Society behind the scenes, was to some extent the most authoritative source of information they could access.

Before the 'Kyoto News' came out, most of the news came from word of mouth and the government's posted notices.

The former was difficult to distinguish between true and false, and the news was mixed.

The latter, although endorsed by the government, had poor timeliness, and most of the things announced were not related to the daily life of the people.

After all, the government's notices would not say anything about the gossip news in the Jianghu, and the prices of goods in various places.

As a result, the 'Kyoto News' became the most comprehensive, timely, and reliable existence.

Many people had developed the habit of reading and listening to the newspaper every day, and the things reported in the 'Kyoto News', no matter how big or small, could eventually be verified as true.

Over time, this formed a kind of bottom-up credibility, and its "authority" had even greatly exceeded the government and the imperial court.

The "government's" authority was not even comparable to a "private" bookstore.

Wei Changtian and Li Yang were naturally happy to see this scene, but there must be many people who were unwilling to see it.

Such as…

“By the way, Brother Wei.”

“Some time ago, the emperor set up a Dibao Division under the Ministry of Works. I think he is going to start preparing to run an official newspaper.”

Putting down the teacup, Li Yang squinted and said, “Do we want to ruin this?”

“Hmm…”

Wei Changtian pondered for a moment, then shook his head, “Forget it, we can stop it for a while, but we can’t stop it forever.”

“It is impossible for only our family to make newspapers, and it is a matter of time before the imperial court publishes official newspapers.”

“Let Ning Wenjun do what he wants to do, we just need to ensure that the 'Kyoto News' is the most authoritative newspaper at any time.”

“Brother Li, you should know how to operate it, right?”

“Hahaha, naturally!”

Li Yang smiled and said, “Brother Wei, just rest assured, if the official newspaper is really printed, I will make it so that no one dares to believe it in less than a month!”

“That’s good.”

Wei Changtian nodded, looking at Li Yang, whose temperament and conversation were completely different from before, and once again sighed in his heart, “Things have changed.”

The "lackey" who used to visit brothels together all day has now become one of the most influential figures in Great Ning.

How much this transformation had to do with Wei Changtian, and how much it had to do with Li Yang himself, may be difficult to say.

Yes, Wei Changtian brought him into Chun Shen Bookstore, and Wei Changtian also proposed the concept of newspapers.

However, the entire operation of the bookstore, including the entire process of the 'Kyoto News' from scratch, was all handled by Li Yang, and it was done with great success.

So in Wei Changtian's view, Li Yang's ability to get to this point was actually more due to himself.

And seeing that his former friends had finally found the "direction" in life and were no longer indulging in sensual pleasures all day long, Wei Changtian was actually quite gratified.

Of course.

Working alone is not enough, we still need to combine work and rest.

“Brother Li, it’s still early, are you really not going to take a stroll in Pingchang Ward?”

“This…”

“If you don’t want to, then forget it.”

“Ahem, it’s not that I can’t…”

“Then let’s go?”

“Let’s go! Since Brother Wei, you have said so, then I will break my vow!”

“…”

Soon, Li Yang, who was "sacrificing himself for righteousness", got into the carriage and went to Pingchang Ward in the north of the city with Wei Changtian.

Pingchang Ward was still as lively as it was two years ago, and there were even more women in each building and courtyard than before.

“Tsk tsk tsk, nostalgia!”

Walking casually with Li Yang in the alleys of Pingchang Ward, looking at the open windows around him, and the Yingying Yanyan waving handkerchiefs by the windows, Wei Changtian was very emotional.

“Hahaha, Brother Wei…”

Li Yang next to him laughed twice, just about to say something.

However, at this moment, a madam standing in front of a building not far away suddenly shouted in surprise:

“Yo! Young Master Li!”

“What? You just left last night and you’re back again today?”

“Miss Xing'er will be very happy to know!”

“…”

Wei Changtian: “???”