Chapter 339: Comic and Animation Blossom Together, Hong Kong

Zhou Hui began her third year of middle school, no longer in that awkward middle-school phase, and she started suffering the pains of love—every day and night after parting from Wei Ming, she longed for reunion, his tall, upright figure haunting her thoughts.

On the first day of school, the school-wide cultural performance intensified this longing, because they sang "Tomorrow Will Be Better."

This time, the choir members were no longer just background harmonizers; after careful arrangement, each member had a line of lyrics, and she remained the lead vocalist and absolute center stage.

At this moment, Zhou Hui had become the spiritual leader of the choir and a star student of the school.

Rumor had it that boys from other schools had come specifically to Sheng Shiteng Tang Middle School just to see her; all she could say was, "Childish."

While her Ming was worrying before the world worried and rejoicing after the world rejoiced, these little boys were skipping class just for pretty girls—utterly incomparable, no contest at all.

Of course, these childish boys didn't just skip class for pretty girls—they also fought over comic books.

Zheng Yijian, the same age as Zhou Hui, was an ordinary middle school student from Kowloon; if he had anything unusual about him, it might just be that he was handsome.

But being handsome didn't make him a school celebrity; on the contrary, he was introverted, even reclusive, and rarely mingled with others.

In an era before video games became popular, his greatest pleasure was reading comics.

He usually preferred comics like "Dragon Tiger Gate" and "Bruce Lee"; since Shangguan Xiaobao joined Yulang International, he felt the quality of "Bruce Lee" had risen another notch.

Today, while browsing for comics at a bookstore near school, a magazine titled "Maniac Comics" suddenly caught his eye—the ancient-dress characters on the cover made him unconsciously pick it up.

The cover depicted key characters from "Qin Shi Ming Yue"—men and women alike, the men handsome, the women beautiful, some even sensual, with incredibly detailed, almost artistic artwork.

He ran his fingers over the paper and thickness—it clearly looked like a high-quality magazine, or perhaps, an expensive one.

But when he checked the price on the back, Zheng Yijian was delighted to find it was only two dollars—same as those shoddy, mass-produced comic magazines.

What conscience!

So Zheng Yijian calmly flipped through the table of contents.

The story on the cover was called "Qin Shi Ming Yue," with art by Liu Yunlong and script by Wei Kuangren—both names sounded unmistakably comic-bookish.

There was also another story called "Heroes Emerge in Youth," also by these two.

Hmm, that title sounded familiar.

Oh, right—he remembered now; there had been a famous movie with the same title, apparently adapted from a comic.

Back then, because there were no left-wing cinemas nearby, Zheng Yijian had never seen that legendary film; now he could finally make up for the loss.

He glanced again at the front page and noticed something: the editor-in-chief of this magazine was Wei Kuangren, with Liu Yunlong as acting editor.

He'd heard the name Wei Kuangren somewhere before, but couldn't recall where—whatever, it didn't matter; better to just read the comic.

He immediately began reading the opening of "Qin Shi Ming Yue"—it started with Sword Saint Gai Nie unleashing his ultimate technique, escaping with Jing Tianming from the encirclement of Qin troops, only to face relentless pursuit by the Liusha organization, with Wei Zhuang's four assassins growing more deadly one after another.

Zheng Yijian was engrossed in the tension when the bookstore owner suddenly passed behind him and cleared his throat twice.

That cough wasn't aimed at him; Zheng Yijian looked up and saw several other boys his age had already picked up the new magazine and were flipping through it.

The owner's cough jolted him—he immediately paid. Though his family was ordinary, two dollars was still affordable.

After buying the magazine, Zheng Yijian returned to school and began reading earnestly.

The art style of "Qin Shi Ming Yue" was stunning—in his view, almost luxurious; whether backgrounds, characters, or action sequences, its quality far surpassed current Hong Kong comics.

The Qin era—what a time worth savoring!

Unfortunately, the story wasn't long—he'd reached the final page; the next installment wouldn't come until half a month later, since this was a biweekly magazine.

Next, he turned to "Heroes Emerge in Youth"—it clearly shared the same artist's style, but "Heroes" was an earlier work, slightly inferior in quality to "Qin Shi Ming Yue."

As he read, Zheng Yijian suddenly felt the urge to urinate, so he slipped the magazine into his desk drawer.

But when he returned, the class bully, Chicken Brother, was sitting with a few henchmen around his seat, holding his magazine and shouting excitedly.

"Holy shit, this is awesome!"

"This is insane!"

"Chicken Brother, slow down flipping pages—I haven't finished yet!"

Zheng Yijian hesitated, then decided not to approach—he figured Chicken Brother would leave after class. But when the bell rang, Chicken Brother left—and took his comic book with him.

"Chicken Brother…" Zheng Yijian finally called out.

"What?"

"M-my comic book." He pointed at Chicken Brother's hand.

"I'll give it back after I'm done," Chicken Brother said, then walked straight to the back row and resumed reading "Li Wang."

One of his henchmen had just pulled out this comic; he was instantly drawn to the bloody, violent imagery, and immediately memorized the artist, Niu Lao, and the writer, Wei Kuangren.

Zheng Yijian kept glancing back nervously—Chicken Brother was still reading, and he wanted to warn him: today was the homeroom teacher's class, be discreet—but the distance was too great, he couldn't reach him.

Chicken Brother didn't even read properly—he read while flexing his biceps or lifting his shirt to admire his abs, lamenting how far he was from the protagonist: "Gotta train harder."

Just as he was immersed, a shadow fell over him—he looked up to see his balding homeroom teacher staring at him with a deathly gaze.

Before Chicken Brother could react, the teacher snatched the comic away; Zheng Yijian's heart bled.

Teacher Song, the history teacher, took the comic straight to his office after class.

He'd never been interested in such comics, but idly flipping through, he spotted the name Wei Kuangren.

If he remembered correctly, the mainland writer Wei Ming—who recently led a charity concert—had a pen name: "Wei Kuangren," and another called "Wei Shenhua."

Teacher Song was no stranger to "Wei Shenhua"—his "Tian Shu Qi Tan" was currently serialized in Ming Pao; his son read it and found it interesting, so he'd read it too—it was adapted from "Ping Yao Zhuan," and he could faintly sense political allegory; the author's skill was truly formidable.

Driven by curiosity about Wei Ming, Teacher Song flipped to the table of contents—a title called "If History Were a Pack of Cats" caught his eye; he wasn't just a history teacher—he was also a cat lover.

He turned directly to that page—the first story told of the beginning of heaven and earth, featuring mythological figures like Pan Gu Miao and Kua Fu Mao.

Though the mythological figures were now cats, the stories were faithful to the "Records of the Grand Historian," merely draped in feline imagery and infused with cat-like elements, turning serious history into something adorable.

Teacher Song burst out laughing—excellent, excellent; if this comic ever got a collected edition, he'd buy it for his son.

After class, Zheng Yijian saw Chicken Brother acting as if nothing had happened, about to leave—he finally gathered courage and stepped forward: "Chicken Brother, my comic book…"

He hoped Chicken Brother might help him retrieve it; after all, Chicken Brother was the class bully—maybe Teacher Song would give him some leeway.

But those words reminded Chicken Brother—he said: "Oh right, the comic—'Maniac Comics'—I haven't finished yet. Buy another copy. I'll keep reading tomorrow."

Zheng Yijian: "Huh?"

"What 'huh'? Just buy it. Buy every issue from now on—I don't want to spend my own money," Chicken Brother declared, then shoved Zheng Yijian aside.

In that moment, Zheng Yijian cursed he wasn't Sword Saint Gai Nie—he truly wanted to slash this bastard to pieces.

But in the end, Zheng Yijian obediently went back to the bookstore to buy "Maniac Comics"—first, he feared Chicken Brother would torment him further; second, he wanted to finish reading it—there were several more stories he was eager to see.

But to his shock, it was sold out.

The owner grinned: "Yeah, sold out. Nobody bought it on day one, but today? All gone. Everyone who read it said it was great—but the more we sell, the more the boss loses."

Zheng Yijian didn't understand what he meant, but he knew he was probably in trouble.

Sure enough, the next day, when Chicken Brother couldn't find "Maniac Comics" in his bag, he flew into a rage, beat Zheng Yijian up, and told him: "Don't just stare at one bookstore—go to others!"

Zheng Yijian didn't know "Maniac Comics" was inspired by Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman," nor that Lu Xun had once truly said: "Either explode in silence, or die in silence."

But he lived it—he was pushed to the brink by Chicken Brother and erupted like a madman, attacking the bully who terrorized the class; even Chicken Brother's henchmen dared not step forward.

But Chicken Brother was just a 14-year-old boy—not much taller or stronger than Zheng Yijian—and under Zheng Yijian's furious assault, he broke.

"Dragon Brother, stop hitting me! Dragon Brother, I'm sorry! Dragon Brother…"

"Dragon Brother."

"Dragon Brother."

"Good morning, Dragon Brother."

At "Maniac Comics" headquarters, the artists grew increasingly respectful toward Liu Yunlong, the acting editor-in-chief, who was barely older than them.

The debut issue of "Maniac Comics" had been out for three days; they'd all visited bookstores near their homes—their magazine was selling well, each of their works had fans, people praised them, and they felt they'd finally broken through.

Liu Yunlong remained calm, exuding the demeanor of a seasoned general. He walked into his office, hesitated, then dialed the printing company.

"Print another ten thousand copies!"

The initial print run had been only ten thousand—Hong Kong's market was small, and no comic magazine had yet reached a 100, 00-circulation level.

Ten thousand copies was already risky for a new publication.

But feedback from many bookstores showed the magazine's reputation was spreading—three days in, ten thousand copies were already insufficient; so he ordered another ten thousand—this would be the final reprint.