In the blink of an eye, it was the cherry blossom season. In Japan, the 15th of March to the 15th of April was designated as the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Once spring arrived, the whole country, from Ryukyu in the south to Hokkaido in the north, would be immersed in the cherry blossom season.
In the park, groups of Japanese could be seen sitting under the cherry blossom trees, or strolling slowly along the avenue. They could never get tired of the moment of glory and decay.
At home, Pei Zi Yun was drinking his barley tea. Sakako was sitting on the sofa in the living room with a serious expression. She lowered her head and asked, "Yamada Ki, isn't this too fast?"
A thick stack of documents was on the table. She was holding another one in her hand. These documents were related to Pei Zi Yun and the Ogawa Prize.
"Yamada Ki, your work has been nominated for the Ogawa Prize."
But the speed at which Pei Zi Yun was winning the prize frightened even Sakako.
Sakako recalled what she knew. In her memory, no one had ever won an award at such an exaggerated speed, let alone winning all three prizes and achieving a grand slam!
The closest person to such a legend was Queda Tsubo. He was a legend thirty years ago. At the age of nineteen, he won the Araki Prize for "The Last Hope".
At an extremely fast speed, he published "Tired", "Tearing Him", "Green Grass", "Life in the Apartment" and other high-quality works. Among them, "Life in the Apartment" won the Ōoka Prize. He was twenty-five years old and was adapted into a television series.
And "Goodbye, My Lover" about the complexity of sin was nominated. It was a pity that it did not win the Ogawa Prize.
How old was Pei Zi Yun now? The speed at which he won the prizes was too terrifying!
Thinking of this, Sakako could not help but say, "Yamada Ki, the speed at which you won the prizes is too abnormal. It will cause a lot of doubts."
"Don't worry, Sakako!" Pei Zi Yun looked at Sakako and saw her worried face. After a moment of silence, he smiled confidently and comforted her, "Don't worry, this is what I want!"
He was not a Japanese who was obsessed with the opinions of others.
As long as he broke through this hurdle, so what if he was criticized by the public?
Besides, although his work was a porter, it was completely worthy of the Three Great Prizes. Of course, it might not necessarily win the prizes, but since there was a work that was worthy of the prizes, there was no need to worry.
Pei Zi Yun rubbed his temples with his fingers and gave an order to Sakako Sanko, "Now, you can activate the navy and get them to spread rumors!"
"Let these fake reviewers question why Yamada Shinichi never accepts the award personally. Is there an inside story? Is there someone ghostwriting it?"
Indeed, Pei Zi Yun had already received the Wild Wood Prize and the Big Mizuka Prize. However, he didn't go to receive the prizes personally. Instead, he got the three thousand disciples to receive the prizes on his behalf. Such a situation was extremely rare and suspicious.
The Araki Prize was one of the highest honors in Japanese literature. Very few people received it, or rather, there was basically none.
The only case was the great writer Taichi Tanaka, who was bedridden.
However, Pei Zi Yun had gotten someone else to receive the prizes on his behalf twice. Such a situation was extremely rare, and the probability was extremely low. The first time, it could be explained away. However, the second time, it could not be explained away.
"Of course, I still need a portion of the fake reviewers to refute the doubts and motivate the readers." Pei Zi Yun smiled faintly and added, "My goal is to make the entire country talk about me!"
In reality, Pei Zi Yun could already feel the power of the Evil Screen Army. After all, the Sakako family had said that they were not the ones who had pushed for the filming of Nightwalking Ghost.
The nomination for the Little Mizuka Prize was also not the case. The Sakako family felt that it would take a few years.
This confirmed the involvement of a powerful force in society. This was definitely the Evil Screen Army.
Pei Zi Yun understood that the Evil Screen Army and the Evil Screen Army were enemies. This temporary help was probably due to other reasons. If his predictions were correct, it had to do with his eagerness to inherit the Yuan Fu.
Once Pei Zi Yun received the Ogawa Prize, it would be time for him to fight against the Evil Screen Army. Since that was the case, if he did not make use of it now, when would he?
Pei Zi Yun thought for some time before saying, "Also, we should make use of those reporters who have a conscience. Since it's for the sake of justice, we should throw out some fake news and let them chase after us. They will join in the process of creating hype, and it's all free."
"But …" Sakako Sanako looked confused.
"No buts!"
"This time, I will go and receive the prize myself. This way, I can change the public opinion."
"According to the law on the protection of minors, I have to use a fake name and cover my face. That's why I received the prize on my behalf twice."
"As for the Ogawa Prize this time, it's too grand. That's why I personally apologised to the citizens. Don't tell me the citizens won't accept it?"
"Even if there are doubts, they can't attack me for not receiving the prize. They can only attack from the quality of the book." Pei Zi Yun smiled confidently, "Do you think that my book can't receive the three prizes? The more they doubt me, the more they need to buy my book. "
"Piracy is not a small crime in this country."
"That's why you don't have to worry. With this hype, the hundred thousand books sold now, the upper limit of two hundred thousand, can become at least five hundred thousand?"
"Just this alone might allow me to enter the ranks of the top authors who sell millions of books." Pei Zi Yun said, "I've made up for the difference in popularity that would have taken me ten or even twenty years to reach."
"Although this kind of popularity is a little superficial, once it's gone, I'll have at least the standard of a top author who sells at least three hundred thousand copies. Why not?"
"And you should understand that it doesn't matter even if I fail. I'm a warrior, I don't rely on literature to make a living."
"A top author's annual income is no more than thirty million, and a top author's annual income is no more than three hundred million."
"Would being a true warrior be any worse than that?"
"I'm not one of the eighty thousand. I'm a warrior who can slay evil spirits."
In fact, as long as the public opinion reaches the highest point and allows him to open the door to legend, it would have nothing to do with him in the future.
Looking at Pei Zi Yun's relaxed and confident demeanor, Sakako's worries finally dissipated a little. She used her hand to comb her hair that had fallen to her forehead and thought for a moment, "Yamada Ki, since that's the case, I have a list of media people with a conscience."
As she spoke, Sakako took out a list from her backpack and unfolded it. This list contained the information and phone numbers of some relatively decent and conscientious media people that Sakako had gathered through her connections at the Tsukawa Shrine. One of them was the reporter, Fukamatsu Mitsuki.
At this time, Fukamatsu Mitsuki was drinking sake in an izakaya with very few people. One could see that her suit was a little untidy, and it was obvious that she was very distressed.
Recently, the matter of Yamada Shinichi receiving the Ōkuoka Prize had been too shocking. Even though there were people at the top suppressing it, there was still a wave in private.
Due to Fukamatsu Mitsuki's personality, he had spent a lot of effort to gather information about Yamada Shinichi's Ōkuoka Prize.
Fukamatsu Mitsuki's overly straightforward personality had caused him to suffer a lot in the workplace. He had even missed out on promotions many times. However, he did not change this habit and continued to persevere.
While gathering information, Fukamatsu Mitsuki was hesitant. He did not know if he should continue doing this. Based on the information he had gathered, the power behind this was too great. It could easily crush him into pieces.
"Is this the end of my persistence?" Fukamatsu Mitsuki took a deep drag on her cigarette. Her eyes were bloodshot.
Even a man made of iron would find it hard to bear such pressure.
At this moment, the phone rang.
Fukamatsu Mitsuki picked up the phone. A very strange male voice came through the phone. "Fukamatsu kun, I have some news for you. Yamada Shinichi has taken the opportunity to release a new book. He has even been nominated for the Ogawa Prize!"
Hearing this, Fukamatsu Mitsuki's hand trembled. He put out the cigarette butt. "What? Yamada Shinichi has released a new book, The Boat of Ziyuan, and was nominated for the Ogawa Prize?"
"Yes, this is too surprising."
"Such a book, which author can publish four books in a year? It's really suspicious! "Sakako Sanako said with a voice changer." Don't ask me who I am. I'm just doing this out of righteous indignation. "
With that, the phone hung up.
Fukamatsu Mitsuki put down the phone. After a long silence, he drank the sake in one gulp. The hot liquor ignited the man's anger.
"This is too arrogant, too arrogant!
"How can something like this happen in public without being questioned in anger?"
With that, Fukamatsu Mitsuki made up his mind and hung up. His friend Wakamori said, "Hello, Wakamori, this is Mitsuki!"
"Yamada Shinichi was nominated for the Ogawa Prize. This is too much."
"This is a public challenge to the credibility of the entire literature and media. We must expose this, please!"
Wakamori was a friend of Fukamatsu Mitsuki. He worked at a newspaper, but more importantly, he was a very famous person on the Miyako Forum. His code name was Sandaime.
Similarly, Wakamori had a relatively straightforward personality. Because of this, he had a good relationship with Fukamatsu Mitsuki.
"Understood." A calm and angry voice came from the phone.
Shimoda Bookstore
Bao Yukinobu entered the bookstore and asked the staff at the front desk, "Do you have Yamada Shinichi's latest book?"
The staff at the front desk scanned the book and answered politely, "Sir, you came at the right time. We only have one left!"
Hearing this, Bao Yukinobu's face lit up. He took the book and said to the staff, "I'll buy it!"
At this time, someone rushed over and asked the staff, "Do you have Yamada Shinichi's latest book, The Boat of Ziyuan?"
The staff said with a regretful voice, "I'm really sorry, you came a little late. It's all sold out."
The man sighed. "Ah, what a pity. I've already gone to a few bookstores!"
Bao Yukinobu couldn't wait to sit on a bench by the street after buying the book. He opened the book and immersed himself in it. He was satisfied and said from time to time, "As expected of Master Yamada, it's so good!"
"Among the new writers in Japan, he's the only one I admire now. In my opinion, other than him, there's no one else in Japan who can become a great writer."
"Once you fall in love with Master Yamada's novels, you can't stop!"
At this time, the phone rang. Bao Yukinobu didn't want to answer, but the ringtone persisted. He had no choice but to pick up. Before he could get angry, the person on the other end shouted, "Yukinobu, have you heard?"
"The Ogawa Prize has nominated your favorite writer, Yamada Shinichi, but someone on the internet is slandering him, saying that he stole someone else's work and that it might have been a team effort."
"What? Is that true? Master Yamada is a future great writer. His reputation can't be tarnished. " Bao Yukinobu said angrily, "And for Master Yamada to be nominated for the Ogawa Prize, it shows his ability. Wait, send me the address, I'll go now."
Note 1: The shogunate has 80,000 samurai, so the 80,000 people refers to normal samurai who don't have the power to kill evil spirits.
Also, in the real world, there really is a case of a 12-year-old writing that caused a stir in the country.
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