allendalepharm Chapter 22 The Shock of the Lou Family
Chapter 22 The Shock of the Lou Family
In front of newsstands along the street, newsstand owners shout at the top of their lungs: "One copy of Zhonghua Daily, please! The latest chapter of A Step into the Past, Xiang Shaolong is going to storm Xianyang Palace!" Such scenes can now be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys of Hong Kong.
Since its serialization in the *Zhonghua Daily*, *A Step into the Past* has been ostracized by major newspapers in Hong Kong, enduring smear campaigns and bans. However, it not only escaped the shadow of bankruptcy but also saw its circulation soar, now firmly holding the top spot in Hong Kong's daily newspaper market. Every morning, the printing presses operate at full capacity, delivering pages of stories filled with passion and intrigue to countless households.
The people of Hong Kong were already captivated by the plot of "A Step into the Past." In tea restaurants, young people put down their char siu buns to debate how Xiang Shaolong would assist Ying Zheng; on park benches, elderly gentlemen, wearing reading glasses, meticulously read the series, occasionally sighing at the characters' fates; even students secretly passed around newspapers during breaks, marveling at Xiang Shaolong's extraordinary adventures. "A Step into the Past" swept through Hong Kong like a whirlwind, and the name of its creator, Lin Zhou, became a household name.
At this time, Lin Zhou was enjoying a rare period of leisure. The newspaper's crisis had passed, and its operations were back on track. The editorial team was fulfilling their duties, and distribution had already been rolled out, requiring little of his attention. From acquiring the newspaper to establishing a firm foothold, it had only taken a little over two months. Lin Zhou had accomplished a remarkable turnaround that was unimaginable to others. Now, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, spending his days reading, drinking tea, and occasionally taking a tour of the newspaper office—a rather pleasant experience.
But Lin Zhou's leisurely life made other media outlets in Hong Kong uneasy. The sudden rise of *Zhonghua Daily* had taken away the livelihoods of many of its competitors. Seeing that Lin Zhou could make a fortune with just one novel, the editors of various newspapers were both envious and jealous. In order to compete for sales, they all turned their attention to Lin Zhou, the author of *A Step into the Past*. Simply reporting that Lin Zhou was the author of *A Step into the Past* would guarantee a surge in newspaper sales.
Before long, Lin Zhou's name dominated the headlines of major newspapers. The Oriental Daily News wrote in bold black font: "Lin Zhou, a genius from the mainland, stirs up a storm in Hong Kong's newspaper industry with a novel!" The Sing Tao Evening Post went even further, "An illegal immigrant rises to become a newspaper tycoon; Lin Zhou's legendary life is more exciting than a novel!" These reports went to great lengths to exaggerate and elevate Lin Zhou to the highest level.
They discovered that Lin Zhou had just smuggled himself from the mainland to Hong Kong, emphasizing his identity as a "genius from the mainland." They claimed that not only was his writing amazing, but his business acumen was also unmatched, and that making the Zhonghua Daily the number one newspaper in Hong Kong was just a small test of his abilities.
In the living room of the Lou family villa.
Lou Zhenhua sat on the sofa, holding a copy of the Oriental Daily News, his brows slightly furrowed; his wife, Tan Yali, sat beside him, wiping off the cosmetics she had just bought; their daughter, Lou Xiao'e, lay on the coffee table, flipping through a fashion magazine, humming songs from time to time.
"Lin Zhou, the name in this newspaper, sounds so familiar?" Lou Zhenhua muttered to himself, looking at the name on the front page.
Tan Yali stopped what she was doing and leaned closer: "What Lin Zhou? Is he some celebrity?"
"He's not a celebrity, but the owner of the Zhonghua Daily and the author of 'A Step into the Past'," Lou Zhenhua said, pointing to the photo in the newspaper.
Before he could finish speaking, Lou Xiao'e curiously came over, her gaze falling on the photo in the newspaper. It was a half-body photo of Lin Zhou, wearing a simple white shirt, a faint smile on his lips, his eyes calm and sharp.
"Ah!" Lou Xiao'e suddenly cried out in surprise, dropping the magazine in her hand to the ground. "This... isn't this Lin Zhou?"
Tan Yali was startled by her daughter's reaction and quickly grabbed the newspaper to examine it closely: "What Lin Zhou? Is he the young man who smuggled himself over from the mainland with us last time?"
"Yes! Mom, look at those eyebrows, those features, isn't that him?!" Lou Xiao'e's voice trembled with disbelief. She stared wide-eyed at the photo in the newspaper, as if trying to see right through it.
Lou Zhenhua leaned even closer, pointing his finger at the newspaper: "It really is him! Look at that name, that face, there's no mistake!"
A deathly silence fell over the living room, broken only by the hum of the air conditioner. The three members of the Lou family looked at each other, their faces filled with shock, speechless for a moment.
They simply couldn't connect the "Hong Kong newspaper tycoon" and "literary genius" in the newspaper with the young man in their memories who had traveled with them on a cargo ship, braving storms to smuggle himself to Hong Kong.
The journey on the ship was incredibly boring. To alleviate the dull atmosphere, Lin Zhou would often tell everyone stories from foreign literature, from Shakespeare's plays to Tolstoy's novels. He told them vividly, adding color to the monotonous journey. Sometimes, he would also tell jokes, making everyone laugh heartily, especially Lou Xiao'e, who was often amused by him to the point of double over, temporarily forgetting the hardships of the journey.
Lou Zhenhua remembers that Lin Zhou looked very young at the time and didn't have much savings. When asked about his future plans, he only said that he would first establish himself in Hong Kong.
Tan Yali saw that Lin Zhou had no connections but was handsome and talented. She even considered that her daughter, Lou Xiao'e, was also a rich young lady. Although she was only in her early twenties, if Lin Zhou was willing to become a live-in son-in-law, she and her husband could help him out and give him someone to rely on in Hong Kong.
After all, in their view, a young person who has illegally immigrated, with no background or resources, is lucky if he can find a factory job in Hong Kong and live a stable life.
They helped Lin Zhou with the process of obtaining his ID card. After Lin Zhou left the Lou family, they went about their own business and lost contact. The Lou Zhenhua couple would occasionally think of the young man, wondering if he had gone to work in a factory, living a precarious life. They never expected that they would hear Lin Zhou's name again on the front page of major newspapers.
"He...he's actually the owner of the *Zhonghua Daily*?" Tan Yali broke the silence first, her voice tinged with barely perceptible excitement and regret. "The *Zhonghua Daily* is the hottest newspaper in Hong Kong right now! I even asked Lao Lou to buy a copy yesterday, saying I wanted to read *A Step into the Past*!"
"And there's *A Step into the Past*!" Lou Xiao'e picked up a magazine from the ground and said urgently, "Dad, Mom, do you know? Everyone in Hong Kong is reading *A Step into the Past* now! My classmates are talking about Xiang Shaolong every day. I never imagined that this novel was written by Lin Zhou!"
Lou Zhenhua took a deep breath, slowly put down the newspaper, and the shock on his face gradually faded, replaced by a trace of emotion: "I really didn't expect that... Back on the cargo ship, I thought he was just an ordinary young man, at most a little educated. I never expected him to be so capable." He recalled how Lin Zhou looked when he told literary stories, his eyes filled with a thirst for knowledge and a longing for the future. But at that time, he had no idea that this young man possessed such enormous energy.
Tan Yali nodded, her face full of regret: "I initially wanted him to be a live-in son-in-law, but now it seems I underestimated him. Look, in just over two months, he turned a nearly bankrupt newspaper into the number one in Hong Kong. That kind of ability is not something ordinary people can have."
As Lou Xiao'e looked at the newspaper, images of the cargo ship involuntarily surfaced in her mind. Back then, Lin Zhou, though simply dressed, always brought warmth and joy to everyone in crucial moments. She mostly understood the foreign literary stories he told, but was captivated by his earnest expression.
"I didn't expect Lin Zhou to be so amazing..."
The little goose murmured to itself, its eyes filled with admiration and a complex mix of emotions.
"When he was on the ship, he said he just wanted to establish himself in Hong Kong. I never expected that he would achieve such great success."
Lou Zhenhua picked up another newspaper, which detailed Lin Zhou's acquisition of the *Zhonghua Daily*. The report stated that when Lin Zhou acquired the newspaper, it was on the verge of bankruptcy, and the staff were in a state of panic. However, after taking over, Lin Zhou single-handedly revived the newspaper with the single drama *A Step into the Past*, causing its circulation to skyrocket. Now, it has surpassed all established newspapers, becoming a rising star in Hong Kong's newspaper industry.
"What a genius!" Lou Zhenhua couldn't help but exclaim. "A novel can save a newspaper and make it number one in Hong Kong. This was something we never dared to dream of before." Having been in business for so many years, he knew how difficult it was. To gain a foothold in the fiercely competitive Hong Kong was as difficult as climbing to the sky, let alone to achieve such brilliant success like Lin Zhou in just over two months.
Tanya looked at the newspaper report, then at her daughter, and couldn't help but say, "Little Goose, you used to say Lin Zhou was a good person. If you had known he was so capable, you should have contacted him more often."
Lou Xiao'e's cheeks flushed even redder, and she lightly stamped her foot: "Mom, what are you saying!" Although she retorted verbally, she also felt a little regretful inside. If she had kept in touch with Lin Zhou back then, she might be able to meet this now-famous legendary figure in person.
Silence fell in the living room once more as the three members of the Lou family pondered their own thoughts. They were astonished by Lin Zhou's achievements and felt a pang of regret for their past misunderstanding. The young man who had told them stories and jokes about literature on the cargo ship was now a household name in Hong Kong, while they could only witness his legendary rise through the newspapers.