Chapter 266: The Night-Blooming Jasmine of Blackstone Slope

Upon arriving at Black Stone Slope, everyone disembarked from the train.

This was Li Banfeng's first visit to Black Stone Slope. Shortly after getting off the train, he sensed the city's unique atmosphere. The atmosphere of Black Stone Slope was distinct from other places. Li Banfeng, possessing the 'Hundred Flavors Exquisite Skill,' could deeply perceive this difference.

Belt Ridge had a greasy sweetness, Sea Eat Peak carried the aroma of food, Iron Gate Fort possessed a unique tranquility, and Green Water City exuded a strong scent of luxury. Black Stone Slope's scent was even stronger, primarily comprising three types: smoke, ash, and engine oil.

The sky here was noticeably darker than elsewhere. Stepping out of the station, one could see chimneys of varying heights everywhere. In an era where electricity could not be widely utilized, steam was exploited to its fullest, and coal served as the most vital 'food source' for steam engines. Black Stone Slope had three major specialties: iron ore, stone, and coal. A portion of these three specialties was transported to various parts of Pro Province, while another portion was processed into goods locally. This defined Black Stone Slope's unique character: it was a remarkably pure industrial city.

Xiao Chuanzi had arrived ahead of them and already secured accommodations. While Li Banfeng was still looking for transportation, Xiao Chuanzi had already prepared a vehicle. It wasn't a horse-drawn carriage or a rickshaw; it was a steam car. A steam locomotive pulled two carriages, traversing the narrow tracks through the city's streets and alleys. Wasn't this just a train? The only difference from a regular train was its smaller size, small enough to navigate even narrow alleyways.

Black Stone Slope was precisely this kind of city. Unlike Green Water City with its extensive road network, all the roads here had been converted into railways. Although it meant more noise and poorer air quality, one could always take a train right from their doorstep. This reminded Li Banfeng of the light rail in Yue Province City, but light rail was electric, and he felt it somehow lacked the character of a steam train.

Xiao Chuanzi said, "I heard from the workers here that Green Water City originally wanted to build railways within the city too, but the wealthy residents disagreed. They found it noisy and dirty. I don't see the big deal; it's just a bit of coal dust, just floating dirt. How dirty could it get?"

Xiao Chuanzi was an industrial repairman, and Black Stone City was practically a holy place for his craft. He was highly excited whenever he introduced a new location, even though outwardly, the buildings looked almost identical: dense, minimalist, and crudely built.

The small train traveled for over forty minutes before stopping at a station. Everyone disembarked one by one and arrived at the residence Xiao Chuanzi had just purchased. For now, let's call it a residence...

The place was enormous. Upon entering the main gate, there was a courtyard, and within it stood a colossal structure over twenty meters tall. This behemoth was a grayish-white cube, covered with pipes of various diameters, and beside it stood a chimney even taller than itself. To an outsider, it looked like a large building, but insiders knew it was one of the core pieces of equipment from the age of steam, technically called a steam generator, commonly known as a boiler.

Passing the boiler and going further inside, Li Banfeng saw parts scattered on the ground and semi-finished machine tools. The parts and machine tools were heavily rusted. Li Banfeng looked at Xiao Chuanzi and asked, "This is a residence?"

It was clearly an abandoned factory.

Xiao Chuanzi scratched his head and said, "Seventh Master, the kind of residence you asked for is hard to find in Black Stone Slope. You said it needed to accommodate over thirty people, be discreet, and not too conspicuous. Only a place like this fits the bill."

Li Banfeng frowned, "Where do we live? In the factory building?"

"No, not there. There's a building behind the factory."

In the factory's backyard, there was a three-story building. The first floor had a canteen, bathrooms, and toilets, while the second and third floors each had over a dozen rooms. There were many such factories in Black Stone Slope, and most of its residents were workers. Workers spent their days laboring in the factory and slept there at night. Once they started families, they brought their relatives to live in the factory too, rarely leaving the premises in their daily lives.

Aside from work, did they have no other forms of entertainment? They'd go to the cinema to watch a film. Have a drink at a small pub. Buy a newspaper and rest for a while. When they had money, they'd visit special places to find special people for a tryst. When they had no money, they could buy a magazine and still indulge themselves.

Workers' time was tight; dance halls, theaters, salons, banquets... none of these suited them. Suitable entertainment for workers had to be time-saving and economical. This was also the primary reason for the highly developed newspaper and magazine industry in Black Stone Slope; these items were cheap, convenient, and effective.

Li Banfeng told the writers Bai Qiusheng and Yuwen Qi, "Both of you have lived in Black Stone Slope and understand the local rules. Tomorrow, go handle the paperwork to open a newspaper office first, then a magazine publisher."

"Paperwork?" Bai Qiusheng shook his head. "No need for that. To open a newspaper office in Black Stone Slope, a printing press is all you need."

Yuwen Qi added, "Opening a magazine publisher is a bit more complicated; you'll need a camera."

Li Banfeng asked in surprise, "Just one printing press is enough to open a newspaper office?"

Bai Qiusheng replied, "Yes! We'll write the articles tonight, do the layout tomorrow, and you can send someone to buy the printing press. We should just about make it for tomorrow evening's paper."

Li Banfeng was stunned for a moment before saying, "The newspaper office hasn't even opened, and you're aiming for tomorrow's evening paper? Are you joking? What will you write about? Do you have any news?"

Yuwen Qi said, "News is easy. Just find a few major newspapers and copy two headlines. Our paper mainly sells commentary and stories. News can be found anywhere. The key is to write something engaging!"

"Making things up?" Li Banfeng still didn't understand. "Who would buy a newspaper that's just made up?"

The two writers didn't know how to explain, so Xiao Chuanzi said, "Seventh Master, let me take you to a newspaper cart, and you'll understand."

Xiao Chuanzi led Li Banfeng and the others to the newspaper cart. A 'newspaper cart,' as it was called, was a small booth that sold newspapers and magazines. In Yue Province, these were known as newsstands. Newsstands in Black Stone Slope were a bit different; these small booths had wheels underneath — four wooden and four iron wheels. Normally, the wooden wheels rested on the ground, allowing the vendor to pull the newsstand around. Once it reached the railway, by operating pulleys inside the booth, the wooden wheels would retract, the iron wheels would drop, and a hook on the front of the newspaper cart would allow it to be attached to the back of a train and travel along.

Li Banfeng entered the booth and glanced at the newspapers. Li Banfeng recognized the newspapers from the Lu and Ling families, but most of the others he didn't. Newspapers like 'A Bright Rod' Evening News had particularly distinctive names. Li Banfeng looked at the headline news: 'Acting Too Real: How Deeply Did Songstress Xiao Xiufai Get Into Character?' The first few sentences of the article described Songstress Xiao Xiufai's interview before the release of the first 'Blood Blade Detective' film.

When was this news from? It was about four months old! This could still be in the newspaper?

Li Banfeng was curious and picked up the paper to take a look, but the vendor immediately stopped him: "'A Bright Rod' is eighty cents. You can't read it unless you buy it."

Li Banfeng pointed to the Lu and Ling family newspapers. "How much are these papers?"

"The Morning News is thirty cents, the Evening News is fifty cents."

"Then why is your 'A Bright Rod' selling for eighty cents?"

"That's the price. It's genuine, effective upon reading, no deception for young or old!"

"'Effective upon reading?' That's supposed to be 'effective upon taking medicine!'" Li Banfeng scorned the vendor but took out eighty cents and bought a copy of 'A Bright Rod.' And indeed, it was effective upon reading. After finishing just the first page, Li Banfeng's 'rod' brightened.

The front-page article explored Xiao Xiufai's immersion in her role from various angles. The language was simple, but the content was detailed and comprehensive, covering the male lead's feelings, the female lead's experiences, the photographer's impressions, and even the sweeping lady's recollections. Everything was described perfectly, making it even more exciting than the film itself.

Before he could read the remaining pages, Li Banfeng noticed a magazine. The magazine was titled 'Blood Gun Detective V.'

"My movie is only at Part Three, but their magazine is already at Part Five?"

The woman on the cover was beautiful, with a distinctive figure and attire. Her figure was very graceful. As for attire, there was none.

"How much is this magazine?"

"Five dollars and sixty cents."

"Isn't that excessive? A movie ticket is only five dollars."

The vendor scoffed, "That's where you don't understand. If you buy a movie ticket, you can only watch it once, and 'Blood Gun Detective' isn't even allowed to be shown anymore. If you buy this magazine, you can look at it as many times as you want. Plus, I'm including a free poster."

As soon as the vendor showed half of the poster, Li Banfeng decided to buy it. This poster was truly something.

"I'll take that one, and that one too..."

Within minutes, Li Banfeng spent over a hundred dollars. The vendor was thrilled, giving away over twenty posters as freebies alone. If Bai Qiusheng hadn't stopped him, Li Banfeng would have bought more.

Back at the factory, Ma Wu had already instructed someone to prepare Li Banfeng's room. After an hour of studying in his room, Li Banfeng understood the newspaper and magazine industry of Black Stone Slope. Newspapers were entirely based on fabrication. Magazines weren't fabricated; they involved finding local young women to act as models, taking their photographs, and then adding some background information about the women, along with their insights on life and the future.

Li Banfeng remarked, "Don't even get me started, these young women are quite talented. What they write is quite profound; they're all people with ideals."

Yuwen Qi shook his head. "Seventh Master, these young women can barely read a few words. Where would they get so many profound insights? These are all written by the editors. They make their money through their writing skills."

Li Banfeng nodded. "So, aside from the young women's names being real, everything else is false."

"Not exactly," Yuwen Qi shook his head. "Even the young women's names aren't real."

Bai Qiusheng said, "In Black Stone Slope, if you want to make a living, your writing skills have to be sharp. It's the same principle as street performers. Regardless of whether you're a literary giant of this era or a renowned master, if your writing is good, people will keep coming back to buy it. If it's not, they'll fall for it once at most and definitely won't buy your second copy."

Yuwen Qi said, "Seventh Master, you might think these things are indecent, but Black Stone Slope also has respectable publications. There are plenty of good stories; Black Stone Slope is never short of quality books and papers."

"I think these things are very respectable. They are all genuine art. Those who create art are good people, and those who appreciate art are also good people. This whole venture can't go wrong, and this place can't go wrong either," Li Banfeng said, patting the newspapers and magazines in his hand. "We'll make newspapers, and magazines too. In a couple of days, once Xiao Chuanzi brings back the printing press, we'll start work."

"Why wait a couple of days?" Bai Qiusheng chuckled. "Chuanzi left over an hour ago; he should be back with it by now."

"An hour to buy a printing press?"

A printing press isn't a printer. Li Banfeng had seen the printing presses in Pro Province; they were steam-powered and wouldn't fit in two rooms. How could such a large piece of equipment be bought and brought back in an instant?

Chuanzi had indeed bought it back, and it was already assembled. This printing press wasn't large; it was about the size of two wicker baskets. Having frequently handled complex mechanisms, Li Banfeng possessed some mechanical knowledge. "This isn't steam-powered; it's hand-cranked," he observed.

Chuanzi said, "The two writers suggested buying this one to make do for now."

Bai Qiusheng said, "Seventh Master, this is Black Stone Slope, not Green Water City. Printing presses in Green Water City cost thousands of silver dollars. We don't need that. In Black Stone Slope, you can buy any kind of printing press you want. This machine shouldn't be more than sixty silver dollars, right?"

Chuanzi nodded, "Fifty-seven."

"Alright, not overpriced then. Seventh Master, listen to us. We'll use this one for now. If business goes well, we'll get a new one. If it doesn't, we won't lose much."

Li Banfeng nodded. "I'm no expert, so I'll defer to you two. Please bear the trouble, and let's start immediately—newspapers first, then magazines."

Yuwen Qi sighed, "We used to make a living this way, and now, having gained a little fame, we're unexpectedly back to our old profession."

Li Banfeng smiled. "It's not the same compensation as before. Given your current standing, I'll provide triple the remuneration plus double the bonuses. When it comes to money, I assure you, you will be well compensated."

Bai Qiusheng praised, "Seventh Master is so straightforward! What do you say we name our newspaper?"

Li Banfeng pondered for a moment. "Since it's an evening paper, let's call it 'Night Blooming Jasmine.'"

Yuwen Qi said, "Popular and easy to remember, it's settled then!"

The writers immediately got to work, beginning to write 'art.' Ma Wu's photographer from the film crew didn't stay idle either; he started looking for young women to photograph 'art.' As for how to distribute the newspapers and magazines, Ma Wu and the two writers were experts, so Li Banfeng didn't need to worry about it.

Li Banfeng went directly to the Three Blessings Cinema. The owner was packing his belongings, preparing to move. The cinema had been vandalized, his employees beaten, and the Cleanse and Preserve Society had issued an order: get out of Black Stone Slope within a month and never return.

Li Banfeng pulled out twenty silver dollars and handed them to the cinema owner. "Clean up the cinema and screen 'Blood Gun Detective' one more time."

"Screen it again?" The owner shook his head. "Sir, if I dare to screen it one more time, I'll lose my life. Please don't make things difficult for me."

Seeing that the owner truly lacked the courage, Li Banfeng didn't press him further. "Alright, name your price and sell this cinema to me."

The owner paused. "May I ask your name?"