Chapter 155 Chapter 154 Book Launch Frenzy (Part 2)
“Madam, it’s all like this outside.”
A poster landed on the table, featuring a grinning Qiao Qiao with a crooked smile, surrounded by several women. One of them, a red-haired warrior, was dressed very revealingly, wearing a chainmail bikini that exposed her tanned abdominal muscles.
The old noblewoman was so furious that her hands trembled as she asked, “How many?”
“From the East City to the West City,” the young male servant swallowed hard. “The book is selling like crazy; now it’s even hard to buy paper.”
The old noblewoman, with trembling hands, picked up her glasses and couldn’t hold back any longer, slamming them on the table with a loud “bang.”
“That promiscuous woman!” the old lady shouted. “Ever since that shameless hussy showed up in tight pants at the banquet, I knew she was there to ruin our society! She bought a publishing house and dared to publish such vulgar, deplorable books!”
“It must be banned, it must be banned!”
She stood up angrily. “Books that harm the mental health of the public must be banned!”
“Madam…”
“Quickly prepare my carriage,” the old noblewoman commanded. “I want to see that old fool in my house! And scour my home to see who bought such filthy novels; burn every last one of them!”
“Yes, Madam.”
Tonight, the atmosphere in the old noblewoman’s home was quite grim.
Everyone knew that Jima’s publishing license was granted by the emperor. Although in other electorates one could disregard the emperor, here in Adolf, no one dared to disregard him.
The old noblewoman was infuriated and helplessly discovered that there was nothing she could do about the book, only able to denounce it in the newspapers for corrupting morals and endangering public health, calling for it to be banned.
This received much agreement.
Yes, this book was pornographic, filled with absurdities, truly despicable.
It even featured a woman exposing her abdominal muscles on the cover.
For a moment, public outrage erupted, even those men who normally visited the Moulin Rouge to cultivate their sentiments wrote articles harshly condemning “The Adventures of Qiao Qiao in Another World.”
In their eyes, it was a great danger to the public that common folk read such light novels as “The Adventures of Qiao Qiao in Another World,” posing severe threats to both mental and physical health.
Of course, subconsciously they believed that their own secret affairs with lovers and leisure time at the Moulin Rouge were completely healthy behaviors.
Compared to commoners reading “The Adventures of Qiao Qiao in Another World,” their activities were green and healthy to the point of disappearing.
But even so, the book continued to sell and people continued to buy it. No one confiscated “The Adventures of Qiao Qiao in Another World.”
The only change was that since a large amount of paper flowed into Adolf, the price of paper finally dropped to twice its original price, making it considerably cheaper.
Additionally, the servant informed the old noblewoman that the search was finished, and they found a whole small pile of “The Adventures of Qiao Qiao in Another World,” involving no less than sixty people.
The old noblewoman’s wrinkled face expressed no emotion as she ordered the burning of these vulgar novels and commanded that every servant receive ten lashes and copy religious scriptures ten times.
After issuing her orders, she returned to her parlor with the young servant, waiting for the soundproof and solid environment.
With only the young servant beside her, the old noblewoman shouted, “I’m so furious!”
“This group of morally decayed, timid people! They don’t even dare to take action against a vulgar book.”
“They, they even read that filthy book.”
Fuming, the old noblewoman could hardly catch her breath, wanting to spit something out.
Outside, “The Adventures of Qiao Qiao in Another World” was burning.
The old noblewoman gazed out at the flames, always thinking of Jima’s collagen-filled youthful face and slim waist, and of course the long legs encased in tight clothing.
The more she thought, the angrier she became; she had been hysterically humiliated in front of so many people at the banquet and had left in shame. She still remembered the smug smile on Jima’s face.
The more she thought about it, the more indignant she felt; she had not slept well for two nights, her eyes darkening.
Now she reflected on her failures, her aging chest heaving as if it would explode.
“Madam,” the young servant spoke up at the right moment, “we could gather the servants to tear down these scandalous posters, to stop bookstores from selling these harmful books for the sake of profit.”
“Good idea.”
The old noblewoman immediately stood up. “Quickly gather the servants; I will lead the charge! I want to see who can stop me.”
“Yes, Madam.”
The old noblewoman took half an hour to gather the servants. Leading the way, she sat in the carriage, ready to head out.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted outside, followed by the sound of the main door swinging wide open.
“Bang! Bang!”
“Open the door! The Inquisition is here to investigate heresy!”
This startled everyone, even causing the old noblewoman’s heart to skip a beat.
No one wanted to see the Inquisition here.
As everyone was stunned, the main door suddenly trembled violently.
“Bang! Bang!”
It sounded as if someone was hammering on the door with a battering ram.
“Quick, quick, open the door!”
The old noblewoman commanded.
One of the servants trembled as he approached to unlock it.
The door flew open. It was a man wearing a tall leather hat, with a cold, square face beneath it.
Everyone gasped; the man was none other than the cold and fanatical witch hunter Van Helsing. Although it was said that his brain suffered irreversible damage while disguised as a green-skinned creature, no one doubted his fanaticism.
Though appearing as Van Helsing, it was truly the witch hunter Arcanis who had dropped his portable battering ram and held up the search warrant issued by the Inquisition, shaking it a few times while saying, “I am here to investigate heresy! Sons of Sigma, advance!”
Behind him surged a crowd of Inquisition personnel, all loyal followers of Sigma.
The old noblewoman’s face turned pale.
After a thorough search, someone discovered idols of heretical gods and several other very unorthodox objects.
The old noblewoman’s face was white as paper, and she quickly distanced herself.
This search operation created a political stir; fortunately, through everyone’s mediation, the Inquisition did not escalate the situation, only capturing a few implicated individuals to be burned at the stake.
This dissatisfied witch hunter Arcanis, who shouted for the old hag to be put to death, and ultimately the high priest Walker had to intervene and arrange for him to go to another region.
Upon hearing this arrangement, many nobles relaxed, and the atmosphere in the upper city of Adolf became much lighter.
Rumors circulated that the witch hunter Arcanis was directed by the emperor to target the old noblewoman because she did not understand political decorum and had attacked the emperor.
Regardless of whether the rumors were true or not.
For the old noblewoman, it made no difference.
Because her husband angrily came to find her, telling her to stay at home and not cause him trouble, explicitly stating that she was being foolish and had offended the emperor’s favorites—clearly, this was yet another nonsensical rumor.
Furious, the old noblewoman couldn’t help but cough up blood, yet she had no choice but to stay under house arrest.
Once this news spread, the sunlight in Adolf became even brighter, and the young men and women smiled more. Some quietly moved the cloth covering the table legs aside, revealing the legs of the table—no one cared, of course.
However, the aftershocks caused by “The Adventures of Qiao Qiao in Another World” were far from over.
Thanks to the old noblewoman, even the history professor with crow’s feet who usually ignored novels had heard of it by this time.
“Professor,” one of his former students glanced at the history professor’s wife next to him, “Have you heard of that book ‘The Adventures of Qiao Qiao in Another World’?”
The history professor with crow’s feet thought for a moment: “I’ve heard of it.”
“Everyone is criticizing the book for ruining the language, especially a literary critic named Tangkede, who nearly critiques this book every day.”
“Isn’t that the book the emperor threw on the ground?” the history professor smacked his forehead. “I remember now; the publisher is Xueyue Publishing.”
“What do you think, Professor?”
“Literature is inclusive; it should have grace and also a bit of vulgarity,” the history professor with crow’s feet replied. “Some people in power have been ruling for so long that they lack the tolerance for literature; I must set the record straight for this novel.”
Although the history professor with crow’s feet had not read the novel, this did not prevent him from writing a piece to satirize the emperor.
As he spoke up, public criticism of “The Adventures of Qiao Qiao in Another World” began to ease.
This angered Owen Green, who shouted about betrayal of literature. Because of the history professor’s statement, the critical piece he had written under the pseudonym Tangkede was returned to him, which infuriated him greatly.
In this muddled situation, Jima caught the most fish.
“Two thousand gold coins! Yay!” She thrust her hands into the pile of gold coins, raising them high.
In just a week, the cash that arrived in front of her amounted to two thousand gold coins, with many accounts still unsettled.
Jima optimistically estimated that at this rate, in less than a month, just “The Adventures of Qiao Qiao in Another World” could bring her nearly ten thousand gold coins in legal income.
Not to mention the dividends from the casino investments.
No matter how she viewed it, her task was bound to be accomplished; that George guy scheming to make himself profit? No way.
In a good mood, Jima personally attended Arcanis’s farewell party.
She was the only attendee.
Not far from the farewell party, someone sponsored a band to play “Farewell to the Plague God,” making the atmosphere festive and adding a touch of warmth to Adolf’s winter.
“I owe you a favor.”
Arcanis rode alone on horseback, stopping by a tree.
The air beside the tree spoke: “You still owe one.”
“I know, I know, little witch,” Arcanis replied, glancing back at Adolf.
“Don’t you want to leave the imperial capital?” Jima said. “Actually, if you hadn’t shouted about burning the old noblewoman, you could have stayed in the capital.”
“But I want to see that woman burn,” Arcanis said. “Everyone else barely came back alive from the battlefield; I just want to see a noblewoman showing a bit of skin, damn it.”
“They even said the book I love should be banned; I really want to burn her right away.”
“Then that doesn’t count as a favor; you can do what you want.”
“Get lost.”
“Then I’ll take my leave, goodbye.”
“One more thing, will ‘The Adventures of Qiao Qiao’ still be as good in the future?”
Jima smiled and said, “Yes, it will.”
“Will there be more women added?”
Jima lied, “Definitely, definitely.”
“That’s good, I recommended the book to a few stinky guys in the army; they all like it.” Arcanis pulled the reins and waved at the city of Adolf. “Goodbye!”
The hooves lifted, carrying Arcanis away in a rush.
The wind carried Jima’s whispered words: “Goodbye.”
She had heard that Arcanis was going to Sirvani to investigate vampires.
