Chapter 19: Burning the newsstand in anger

This morning, Zhang Xinjie washed up early and went out to work.

Passing by the newsstand downstairs, he couldn't help but ask: "Fu Bo, any explosive news today?"

"Where would there be so much explosive news?"

Fu Bo rolled his eyes and said unhappily: "You're not interested in entertainment news, and you stay away from society fighting and killing. Hong Kong is only so big, where would so many things happen?"

"Even if Big Circle Gang members rob a gold shop, it's not something that happens every day!"

Zhang Xinjie chuckled, simply stopped to look around the newsstand, and said bluntly: "Look at what you're saying, as if I'm a weirdo. Hey!"

While talking, he took out a newspaper from a prominent position and asked curiously: "What is this 'Mong Kok News'? Why have I never heard of it before?"

"Probably a new newspaper. You know how many newspapers there are in Hong Kong!"

"Why did Fu Bo put such a new newspaper in such a prominent position?"

Zhang Xinjie asked curiously. At this time, the front-page headline had already attracted his attention: "The Gold Finger," a financial story created based on the Ponzi scheme!

As a university graduate, he naturally knew what a "Ponzi scheme" was!

Thinking of the recently sensational "Carrian Case," he became interested and was soon attracted by the wonderful plot.

"Jie Zai, if you like it, buy a copy. Don't stand here and be an eyesore!"

Fu Bo hurriedly said: "Small business, all earned through hard work!"

Zhang Xinjie was speechless, took out money, took the newspaper, and left. He was too lazy to buy "Ming Pao," which he liked to read the most in the past, and kept complaining in his heart that he was a miser.

Fu Bo happily collected the money, feeling beautiful in his heart.

He certainly wouldn't shout loudly that "Mong Kok News" was distributed for free, and the money from selling each copy was all his own profit.

Originally, he wasn't in a good mood because he was forced to distribute them by a few low-level thugs, but when he saw that dozens of "Mong Kok News" were almost sold out, he couldn't help but grin.

He subconsciously took out a copy to read, and after a while, he made a tsk-tsk sound, his old face showing a disgusted expression, but his eyes couldn't move away from the beauties on the color page of the newspaper.

There were quite a few people like Zhang Xinjie and Fu Bo!

Five thousand copies of "Mong Kok News" were distributed to newsstands in Yau Tsim Mong, and they were easily digested, and some newsstands didn't even get any.

This is a prosperous area in Hong Kong. Although it can't compare to Central, there are quite a few white-collar workers.

Many white-collar workers were attracted by the stories in "Mong Kok News," and they privately exchanged that it was clearly the plot of the "Carrian Case," just with different names for the protagonist and the company.

"The 'Carrian Case' is still in the trial stage. Promoting it by name at this time might lead to a lawsuit. Is it really good to do this? It avoids risks in advance!"

An old hand pointed out: "I don't know who wrote such a story in the newspaper. It must be someone in the know about the 'Carrian Case'. Tsk tsk, they really dare to write!"

For a time, "Mong Kok News" became slightly famous among white-collar workers.

Not to mention, besides the story content of "The Gold Finger," there were also beautiful and attractive young ladies on the back pages.

Not only did white-collar workers love to read it, but the LSP group was even more enthusiastic. Five thousand copies of "Mong Kok News" were not enough for them to share.

The newspaper sellers reacted the fastest and immediately called the "Mong Kok News" office, hoping they could distribute more newspapers tomorrow.

"Print more, print 10,000 copies tomorrow!"

Wu Feng didn't expect "Mong Kok News" to sell so well, and waved his hand to order.

He was sitting in the newspaper office at this time, but it was just two small rooms rented in a Tong Lau. This was where the "Mong Kok News" office was, simple to the point of being outrageous.

It can only be said that the newspaper industry in Hong Kong is developed. As long as the news material is edited, everything else can be completed through outsourcing, and there is no need to have your own printing plant and supporting facilities.

Of course, it's fine to play like this when the newspaper scale is small, but once the scale is large, playing like this is actively exposing flaws to competitors.

As for "Mong Kok News" being free, Wu Feng was losing money every issue, but he didn't care.

The cost of a newspaper is only a few cents, so 5,000 copies is only a thousand Hong Kong dollars. Even for 10,000 copies, the cost is only about 4,000, which he can afford to lose.

At this time, the World Cup had ended, history had not deviated, and the Pampas Eagles had achieved the final victory, and Lao Ma had also achieved the name of "Football King" because of this.

Wu Feng made a profit of 1.99 million, and his cash on hand was quite abundant, enough for him to toss around like this.

There is a good saying in later generations: free is the most expensive!

In fact, he was also imitating the plot in a certain novel by doing this.

As a result, he didn't expect the effect to be surprisingly good!

Of course, there were problems, but for Wu Feng at this time, they didn't count for much.

As long as the circulation of "Mong Kok News" is stabilized, he is at least the boss of a medium-sized newspaper, and his status is different.

The 10,000 copies of "Mong Kok News" issued the next day were not all sold out.

Of course, because it was free, the newspaper sellers didn't intend to return the goods.

As for how many were sold, it was not clear because it was difficult to count, but it definitely exceeded 5,000 copies!

Wu Feng strolled among the newsstands in Mong Kok himself, and he could see some tricks.

With the sensationalism of the "Carrian Case" at this time, 10,000 copies of "Mong Kok News" should have been easy to sell.

But the problem was that the time was too short, and "Mong Kok News" had no fame before, so many groups who liked to read newspapers didn't know about the existence of "Mong Kok News" at all.

That is to say, many people didn't see the story content of "The Gold Finger"!

This is easy to handle!

The next day, a newsstand in Shanghai Street was burned to the ground by a fire, which immediately shocked the entire Yau Tsim Mong District, and then quickly shocked all of Hong Kong through newspaper and television publicity.

There was no other reason, it was just that this matter was a bit bizarre!

The guy who burned the newsstand didn't run away and was controlled by the police immediately.

Then, the reason for his anger in burning the newsstand was also asked.

It was very simple. This guy had invested heavily in Carrian stocks back then, but Carrian had an accident and he lost everything, leading to his family being broken and miserable.

As a result, because he saw the story of "The Gold Finger" in "Mong Kok News," he thought of the "Carrian Case" and his own heavy losses, and for a moment his brain got hot and he burned the newsstand.

Such a "bizarre" thing was publicized, naturally causing a sensation in all of Hong Kong.

Just like a dog biting a person is not news, but a person biting a dog is definitely strange.

The most critical thing is that there are quite a few Hong Kong citizens who have the same experience as the arsonist!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 20 =====