Tokyo Tycoon, Start as a Writer

Chapter 105: When "The Golden Pavilion" was published, the literary world fell silent.

At eight o'clock in the morning, a literary salon was held at Ishihara's house.

Salon culture is not popular in the Japanese literary world, and most writers prefer gathering places such as cafes and bars.

There are two definitions of a salon: one is private, the other is luxurious.

Ordinary writers are destined to have no chance of attending salons.

Only a small number of elites at the top of the industry have access to gatherings at the level of literary salons.

As the owner of the salon, Seiji Ishihara was dressed very formally today and stood at the entrance to greet incoming guests.

The Ishihara Zaibatsu is the largest chaebol in Japan's entertainment and political circles. The theme of today's salon is literature, and the guests present are basically related to the entertainment industry - officials from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, bigwigs in the publishing industry, many university professors and writers, famous film and television directors, etc.

In the huge and luxurious living room, there was a huge round table, placed with all kinds of exquisite food, just like the ones in Western aristocratic parties.

The crystal chandelier hangs on the four-story dome, providing bright light without being glaring.

The guests were toasting each other, and servants and maids in Western-style suits were coming and going, gracefully carrying trays of drinks.

Many people have gathered in the salon. Most of the men are wearing suits and are around 40 or 50 years old. The women are mostly wearing sexy dresses and are between 20 and 30 years old. They mostly appear as accessories.

A Japanese literary salon, organized like a Western dinner party.

But the decoration in the living room is full of Chinese calligraphy and Chinese-style ink paintings, which reflects the contradiction of the Japanese.

This was a literary salon, and the topic of discussion was naturally recent literary topics, so it was inevitable to mention Mishima.

Keisuke Takahashi, the Dean of the Faculty of Letters at Kyoto University, was chatting and laughing with an old gentleman holding a glass of white wine. He was wearing a rather elegant British pinstripe suit with a scarf tucked into his chest.

"Takahashi, you haven't been very active these days." The old gentleman greeted with a smile, "I haven't seen you criticize Mishima at all."

Hearing this, Takahashi Keisuke shook his head helplessly and said cautiously: "I suffered a great loss from Mishima before, so I'll just say it in a subtle way. I dare not criticize him directly. If anything unexpected happens, I will be scolded to death by his fans..."

He used to be a very arrogant person, but unexpectedly he is so low-key now. He doesn't even dare to criticize a junior who has caused him a great loss and is in the vortex of public opinion.

Several guests nearby couldn't help laughing and teasing him a few times, then inevitably turned the topic back to Mishima.

"What a shame! Mishima's writing skills are solid, but he didn't delve into the plot and was obsessed with trivial love stories all day long. What a waste of talent..."

"Without a plot that is profound and meaningful, no matter how good the writing is, it is nothing but an embroidered pillow. Just like him, no matter how good-looking he is, what does it matter? He has no respect for elders and does not know the rules. In my opinion, he is a disgrace to the literary world."

"If we only look at the first two chapters of The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, the writing is still top-notch, and the post-war background makes it easy to develop an in-depth narrative. But Mishima said that this is a book about youth and redemption. What a waste of talent..."

Listening to these people criticizing Mishima by name, Takahashi Keisuke opened his mouth several times but ended up stopping himself from speaking.

When he criticized Mishima in class, he didn't dare to mention him by name, but only mentioned him vaguely.

When Mishima's "Shiosau" became a huge hit, Takahashi Keisuke almost became the biggest stepping stone... After the experience of settling accounts afterwards, he would never do such a thing as popping champagne at halftime again.

After the people around him finished criticizing, he shook his head and said, "Don't exaggerate. Mishima is really not a simple person, nor is he a brainless and arrogant person. Even if he is, those old guys in the Shincho era are not either. The Shincho era actually dares to say that this is a great work, so the quality of The Temple of the Golden Pavilion cannot be that bad. You should wait until you have read the whole book before commenting..."

This old guy is actually so cautious?
Several people nearby looked at him, and vaguely felt that he had PTSD about Mishima.

"Takahashi, being cautious is a good thing, but being too cautious will make you look cowardly." The old gentleman at the beginning reached out and patted him on the shoulder. "Mishima is certainly talented, but he is young and inexperienced, let alone the post-war period. The post-war literature he wrote can only be pure fantasy. How can it compare to The Sun and the Tower, which was polished by Ishihara himself?"

At this point, the old gentleman paused, and then continued: "Mishima is really talented, but no matter what, he is still just a new writer. Everyone present is a veteran. It would be so embarrassing to be frightened by a newcomer and not even dare to comment."

"Teacher Ikezawa is right..."

The people around echoed.

The old gentleman who was speaking is called Takaki Ikezawa, one of the leading figures in the right-wing camp in today's literary world.

Like Shintaro Ishihara, he is the most famous right-wing novelist in the current Japanese literary world and has a strong appeal in the literary world.

Takahashi Keisuke didn't want to put on airs with Ikezawa Takaki, so he shook his head and smiled bitterly, saying helplessly: "I still want to wait until I read the full text of The Temple of the Golden Pavilion before I drink this glass of champagne with you."

"Teachers, let me have a drink with you." Ishihara Seiji, wearing a suit and looking very happy, walked over.

Those who had just been teasing Takahashi Keisuke raised their glasses and turned to look at Ishihara Seiji.

Keisuke Takahashi breathed a sigh of relief, drank some wine, and went to the sofa to rest. He picked up a few newspapers on the table and read the news in the literature section.

Since November, the Japanese literary world has been caught in a melee surrounding the competition for the Akutagawa Prize.

The battle report for November was released in early December.

Bungeishunju and Seiji Ishihara were huge successes.

Although Shincho and Mishima also achieved second place, they were criticized by public opinion as if they were at the bottom of the five major pure literature journals.

[Sales are exploding! On Mishima's seven deadly sins!!!]

Takahashi Keisuke didn't even bother to read this kind of report which was obviously intended to attract attention. He simply threw the Asahi Shimbun into the trash can and switched to reading another newspaper.

The authoritative media "Yomiuri" set aside a special section to introduce in detail the pattern of this literary melee and analyze the future direction. Several other newspapers also carried such news. Without exception, they all were optimistic about Ishihara Seiji and pessimistic about Mishima.

The relationship between news media and traffic is like fish and water.

After discovering that Hei Mishima has traffic, all the media will flock to him, wishing to kill Mishima with just a tap of the keyboard.

The more impatient literary critics started to criticize directly, and their pessimism and ridicule were spread all over everything related to literature.

Takahashi Keisuke is very familiar with this situation.

When the Ministry of Culture suppressed Mishima, these conservative literary predecessors came out to attack Mishima, and Mishima was blackened by the entire network... In the current situation, he knew with his butt that someone was buying up Mishima's negative information behind the scenes.

The time that Keisuke Takahashi experienced was when the Tachibana family bought the black quantity.

This time, it was simply the Ishihara family that had greater power and deeper background.

Last time, Mishima used the explosive popularity of "Shiosai" to strike back against his literary predecessors and the Tachibana family.

What about this time?

Will there be another miracle in "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion"?
Keisuke Takahashi thinks that there is a high probability that there is no such thing.

First of all, in terms of connections in the literary world, ten Tachibana families are no match for one Ishihara family, and the opponents on both occasions are of completely different levels.

Secondly, the quality of "The Sun and the Tower" is very high, and its sales volume has surpassed Mishima, temporarily achieving a double kill of Mishima in terms of reputation and sales.

Under such circumstances, if Mishima wanted to turn the tide, he would have to be able to produce a masterpiece that could only be described as "top-notch" in the Japanese literary world, as Shincho had said during his promotion.

Can a young writer in his early twenties write a masterpiece?
Keisuke Takahashi thought it was unlikely.

In his heart, he still recognized Mishima's level and believed that Mishima had the ability to write a masterpiece, but he had to wait until he reached middle age and had experienced enough life and had enough experience and insights before he could write it, rather than at his current age.

Therefore, considering all factors, Keisuke Takahashi has already come to a conclusion in his heart.

——If nothing unexpected happens, Mishima will lose this round.

"Teacher Takahashi, the master asks you to go to the private room." The servant's voice interrupted Takahashi Keisuke's thoughts.

He stood up and followed the servant to the elegant seats in the side hall, where a group of authors from the "Bungei Shunju" faction were sitting on the tatami, and each of them was gently served by two beautiful women in kimonos.

One of them is responsible for pouring wine and serving food, while the other is responsible for cleaning up and serving the guests.

In the middle, there are geishas performing.

The owner of the salon, Shintaro Ishihara, sat in the main seat like an emperor, enjoying the service of two beautiful geishas.

Seeing Takahashi Keisuke coming in, he raised his hand and greeted politely: "Come on, Takahashi, sit down over here and have a couple of drinks with me..."

"Then I won't be polite." Takahashi Keisuke nodded slightly.

There are generally two types of writer factions in the Japanese literary world.

One is to divide factions according to publishing houses, such as the Shincho school, the Bungeishunju school, etc.

The second is to divide factions according to the university where the author graduated or taught, such as the University of Tokyo faction, the Waseda faction, etc.

Keisuke Takahashi was one of the leaders of the major factions in Kyoto and had a very high status in the literary world, so it was natural that he received a warm reception from Shintaro Ishihara.

After everyone takes their seats, the geisha performs a dance in the middle.

The sound of the shamisen is elegant and creates a refined atmosphere.

The guests at the table were discussing their latest works, with the focus on "The Sun and the Tower".

Most of the people present were right-wing writers. They were so excited to see the plot of Japanese youths killing American soldiers that they started to praise Ishihara Shintaro crazily in front of him.

People of Shintaro Ishihara's level would not care about other people's flattery.

He sat at the main seat at the banquet, holding a wine glass, and looked at Takahashi Keisuke who was closest to him: "I wonder what you think of the situation?"

"I think it's a sure win." Takahashi Keisuke drank his wine and enjoyed the massage from behind by a beautiful maid. "The candidates put forward by other publishing houses are far inferior to Seiji. Mishima, the only contender, is in a disadvantageous position now. I don't think he can produce a masterpiece."

"In my opinion, this year's Akutagawa Prize will undoubtedly go to Seiji," said another person.

"Oh, it's still early, don't relax too much." Ishihara Shintaro also laughed and sipped sake. "Winning in sales and reputation doesn't necessarily mean you can win. We still have to rely on you to speak out more..."

Someone below shouted, "These are all trivial matters. As writers, we have the responsibility to spread truly good works. Governor, don't worry..."

"Hey, literary salon, don't refer to titles!" Ishihara Shintaro glanced at the man and said, "Just call me teacher."

"Hahaha~"

There was laughter from below.

The people present gradually began to praise Seiji Ishihara, flattering his grandfather by praising his grandson.

Almost everyone is confident.

This is the Ishihara family. From a political perspective, the head of the family is a powerful official like the governor of Tokyo. In terms of political influence, he ranks among the top ten in Japanese politics.
In terms of financial strength, the Ishihara zaibatsu's assets amounted to hundreds of billions of yen, which also ranked among the top ten in Japan.

In terms of their status in the literary world, the Ishihara family has produced a family that has won the Akutagawa Prize and is an academic family with great appeal within the faction.

A family like this wouldn't know how they would lose if they were to attack a tiny island like Sandao.

"Even at this point, Shincho still hasn't helped Mishima with publicity. From this we can see that Shincho knew it couldn't compete with the Ishihara family, so it admitted defeat in advance..." said a fat man.

This fat man named Guqiao is the famous book reviewer and freelance writer who said online that "if Mishima can turn the tide, he will eat the computer screen." He has more than 200,000 followers on Twitter.

Because he was the main driving force behind online public opinion during this period, he was lucky enough to get the opportunity to come here this time, considering his hard work even if he had no credit.

This also made him firmly believe that as long as he licked the chaebol well, he would have a bright future.

"I see. I was wondering why Shincho was so quiet."

"Only Mishima refused to admit defeat and tried his best to attend autograph sessions in the hope of gaining some popularity..."

"He is just a fool after all."

"Maybe he thinks he can't lose."

"He is a newcomer with no background, but he really thinks of himself as a superhero who can save the declining literature..."

"Let's see how he behaves in the future..."

When discussing these things, many people present laughed.

Some time ago, many people said that Mishima saved the declining Japanese publishing industry and treated him as a savior.

Listening to these people's ridicule, Takahashi Keisuke remained silent.

They had never been slapped in the face, so they dared to open champagne at halftime. He was different. He had truly been cleared of accounts...

"Teacher Takahashi, you seem to be worried about something?" Fatty Guqiao looked at him.

Takahashi Keisuke shook his head: "I'm just a little curious about the entire content of Mishima's book."

"We got the book in advance, but Qingsi never read it because he wanted to keep the excitement." Ishihara Shintaro laughed, took another sip of sake, and said quietly, "Young people think differently from us old guys."

"Governor, I wonder how to deal with Mishima in the future?" Fatty Guqiao asked curiously.

"This person does have some talent. I would like to get in touch with him and have him become my disciple." Ishihara Shintaro said lightly.

"what?"

Many people present were puzzled.

Only Takahashi Keisuke knew why he thought so, and at the same time he secretly spat at the old fox.

In Japan, the "master-apprentice culture" is very popular in all walks of life.

The Japanese master-disciple culture, which evolved from Chinese culture, is more distorted and extreme.

For example, masters in some workshops and restaurants do not need to pay their apprentices a salary, as long as they provide them with food and accommodation.

After an apprentice completes his apprenticeship, if he wants to open a shop using the skills he has learned, he must get his master’s approval. Otherwise, it would be considered disrespectful to his master, and if the news gets out, he will be collectively boycotted by the industry.

In the geisha industry, the money earned by the apprentice must even be handed over to the master for management.

In some more traditional theater industries, there is even a saying that the master-apprentice relationship is closer than the father-son relationship, and the master will only accept the apprentice as a disciple if the apprentice breaks off his relationship with his father.

In the literary world, the relationship between master and apprentice is equally confusing.

There are many cases where masters use their status to take advantage of their disciples.

A master with high status, who has formed his own school of thought, may lose his enthusiasm or become old and weak, resulting in a decline in his creative ability. However, he still wants to maintain his exposure in the literary world, so he needs an excellent apprentice to act as a "gunman" for him!
Shintaro Ishihara obviously took a fancy to Mishima's abilities and wanted to win him over and make him a member of his faction.

If necessary, he can also be used as a gunner.

If Mishima disagrees...

Then, considering the influence of the Ishihara family, he will almost certainly not be eligible for any local literary awards in the future. The people present were all elites, and after a little thought, they understood what Ishihara Shintaro was thinking, and they all flattered him.

They said frankly that Mishima was a talented person with great potential, but he was young and energetic and lacked discipline, and he really needed a respected senior like Shintaro Ishihara to discipline him.

A large group of writers were chatting, boasting and flattering here, and time gradually came to ten o'clock in the morning.

After dealing with his colleagues outside, Seiji Ishihara walked in with a pile of books.

Takahashi Keisuke looked over there immediately.

That is a single volume of "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion".

"Send them all to everyone." Ishihara Shintaro ordered.

"Yes, Grandpa."

Seiji Ishihara distributed the book in his hand to everyone in the private room.

There are a few lines of words printed on the cover of the book.

【When the enemy of life is burned, there is a reason to live;】

【When false illusions are destroyed, beauty will last forever. 】

"Finally here..."

"Let's take a look at this masterpiece of 'Youth Redemption'..."

"See how talented he is..."

Amidst whispers, everyone slowly opened the books in their hands.

Ishihara Seiji also found a place to sit down, opened the book, opened his lips slightly, and read silently.

Fatty Guqiao didn't open the book, but stretched his neck to look around.

...Hurry up, finish reading this book and then criticize it with me. My big house and luxury car depend on this.

however……

A long, long time passed and no one spoke in the private room.

The grandfather and grandson of the Ishihara family, who were sitting in the main seat, gradually changed their expressions, opened their eyes wide, and their mouths were so surprised that they couldn't close.

"No, what happened?" Fatty Guqiao looked confused.

Everyone present seemed to have a solemn expression on their faces as they looked at the single volume of "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion", as if they had seen a work they had never seen before, or even something beyond their cognition.

"Teacher Takahashi..."

Fatty Guqiao swallowed and looked at Keisuke Takahashi with uneasiness.

Keisuke Takahashi bit his lower lip, his hand holding the book trembled slightly, and his eyes were complicated and indescribable.

Surprised, shocked, unbelievable, and a little relieved... Fortunately, he did not diss Mishima by name these days, otherwise he would have been held accountable again.

Everyone here has a very high level of literary literacy.

When "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" was brought over, everyone's expression changed after a quick glance at it for the first time.

The whole novel, centered around Mizoguchi and Kinkakuji Temple, is divided into five sections and tells a story of beauty and destruction.

The first stage: Under the indoctrination of his father, Mizoguchi, who was sensitive and inferior, imagined that the Golden Pavilion was the representative of absolute beauty and the synonym of all the beauty in the world.

During this period, Mizoguchi used loneliness as his weapon, and frequently fantasized about the magnificent outer walls and ingenious eaves of the Golden Pavilion.

The beauty of the Golden Pavilion lies in its inability to be touched. It is more like a comfort to the soul.

Therefore, although the Kinkakuji Temple during this period was empty, it was a kind of salvation for Mizoguchi's heart.

The second stage: When Mizoguchi first saw the Kinkaku-ji Temple, he saw only a small, old, gray, three-story building. He felt very disappointed. The fantasy of the beauty of the Golden Pavilion that he had imagined in his mind was shattered for the first time.

Can the beauty gained through fantasy last?

unable.

Thinking he had beauty in his heart, Mizoguchi boldly confessed his love to the girl he admired, Arimiko, but he did not expect to be ruthlessly rejected.

At this time, he realized for the first time that no matter how beautiful he was inside, others could not ignore his external ugliness and flaws. This incident dealt a heavy blow to Mizoguchi.

Later, he saw the Golden Pavilion with his own eyes.

He was very enthusiastic and hoped to see the most beautiful thing in the world, but the moment he saw the Kinkakuji Temple with his own eyes, the standard of beauty disappeared.

The spiritual sustenance I have always had is nothing but such a mediocre existence, without any glitter or recognition by everyone.

Therefore, Mizoguchi developed an unrelieved resentment towards the Kinkaku-ji Temple, and even his father, who died of illness, became hateful to him.

The third stage: After his father's death, Mizoguchi moved into Kinkaku-ji Temple. Both Kinkaku-ji Temple and Mizoguchi were under the shadow of war and could be destroyed in the flames at any time.

Here, Mizoguchi met Tsurukawa.

Tsurukawa is simple and kind-hearted, and doesn't mind Mizoguchi's stuttering. This kind of "warmth" makes Mizoguchi feel the "pleasure of being stripped naked".

For Mizoguchi, Tsurukawa's fortitude, sunshine, gentleness and purity all make him feel happy.

However, Tsurukawa eventually committed suicide, which completely severed Mizoguchi's connection with Guangming.

The girl he liked rejected Mizoguchi's love and ended her life with death.

Tsurukawa, who represented light, eventually left the world.

After Mizoguchi came into contact with beauty twice, he was immediately exposed to the destruction of beauty.

The world in his heart began to collapse, and the balance finally tilted towards the ugly and dark side...

The fourth stage: The war ended, but the Golden Pavilion was not destroyed in the flames of war and still "stubbornly" existed.

Kashiwagi, who also has physical defects and represents ugliness and evil, appears.

Kashiwagi has an ugly clubfoot and walks with a limp, but he deliberately shows his ugliness to others instead of choosing to remain silent to hide it like Mizoguchi.

Kashiwagi's view on "beauty" is exactly the opposite of Mizoguchi's.

Kashiwagi desecrated all the beauty in the world, played with beautiful girls, deceived their feelings, and squandered their property.

Under Kashiwagi's temptation, Mizoguchi began to degenerate and imitated Kashiwagi's contact with women, hoping to achieve spiritual comfort through physical satisfaction.

But whenever he was intimate with a woman, the Golden Pavilion would always appear in his mind, suppressing Mizoguchi's male impulses.

As a result, the Golden Pavilion was no longer Mizoguchi's spiritual sustenance, but became his obstacle.

After the visions of the Kinkaku-ji Temple repeatedly prevented him from having sex with women, Mizoguchi truly made up his mind to burn down the Kinkaku-ji Temple himself.

The fifth stage: Mizoguchi burned down the Golden Pavilion.

The ugly behavior of the abbot of Kinkakuji Temple in hiring prostitutes completely destroyed Mizoguchi's faith and pushed him into the abyss.

His obsession with the Golden Pavilion stems from his own ugliness.

He wanted to possess beauty, but knew that he was incapable of truly possessing it, so he chose destruction.

Beauty should be illusory and should not have substance.

Because entities will be destroyed one day, but beauty is eternal and indestructible.

So, Mizoguchi planned a fire, and the flames burned the Kinkaku-ji Temple. The dazzling gold foil was turned to ashes in the flames, and the beautiful building that had existed for hundreds of years was destroyed.

Mei was free, Mizoguchi was free, and they could finally survive on their own.

"This……"

All the writers present were shocked.

"Mizoguchi's desire is the possession of beauty, the confinement of beauty... In essence, it is a mentality that if it cannot be possessed, it is better to destroy it, right?" someone asked the people around him.

The man did not answer, but murmured to himself: "What does Kashiwa want? Beauty is consciousness, and it lives willfully. Kashiwa's teasing, blasphemy, or appreciation of beauty can actually be seen as a kind of catharsis..."

"The protagonist is not the protagonist! No, it should be that the protagonist Mizoguchi represents the ego, and Tsurukawa is the superego... and Kashiwagi is the most primitive side, Kashiwagi represents the ego..."

"There is also a dark and complicated side behind Tsurukawa..."

"Oh my god, how could he write such words..."

It was originally a gathering of a group of upper-class people who disliked Mishima, but after watching "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion", it quickly turned into a literary exchange meeting to discuss "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion".

The words in this book seemed to have magical power, making everyone present indulge in it.

Fatty Guqiao felt a bad feeling in his heart and quickly opened "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" himself.

After only glancing over half of it, he was already pale and sweating profusely... How dared he criticize this book in the first place?
At the top, Shintaro Ishihara sighed slightly after reading the entire book.

He raised his glass and took a sip. He felt a little uncomfortable and then closed his eyes.
Seiji Ishihara opened his mouth slightly with an expression of surprise, shocked by the depth of the plot of this book.

The entire private room became quiet, with only people discussing the contents of the book in low voices, and the noise outside came in.

"Grandpa?" Seiji Ishihara looked at Shintaro Ishihara.

"Ah..." Ishihara Shintaro sighed, opened his eyes, and said tiredly: "Everything depends on human efforts..."

This sentence made Seiji Ishihara realize the seriousness of the matter.

Takahashi Keisuke held the book in his hand, his eyes fixed on the last line of words, and sighed softly: "There are not many peaks in the history of Japanese literature. From today on, there will be one more, and it will be the most beautiful one..."

"..."

At this moment, Seiji Ishihara felt uneasy and no longer confident.

The situation in this literary melee also reversed at this moment, and the balance gradually tilted towards Mishima.

■

Tsutaya Books Ginza store attracts many customers.

In the past, the average daily passenger flow was about 20,000 to 30,000 people, and it looks like it can double.

More than half of the readers who rushed in went for these two books.

Thanks to his previous fame, Mishima's popularity remained undiminished even though Shinchosha did not promote "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" much.

But after a whole morning of frenzy of buying, the scene strangely cooled down in the afternoon.

"Hey, how about The Temple of the Golden Pavilion?"

"Well, I haven't finished watching it yet, so it's hard to judge..."

"Is it still the same style as before? Is the standard still there?"

"Of course, the standard is higher, that's the plot..."

"What's wrong with the plot? Didn't it talk about youth redemption? Mr. Mishima is a healing writer..."

"Ha~"

The reader in the discussion looked up with gritted teeth: "Healing writer? I don't trust him!"

"Ah? Isn't it sweet and healing?"

"It's not a question of whether it's sweet or not, it's... well, I don't know how to put it, you can go online and read the book reviews."

Many readers who were on the sidelines picked up their phones and searched for book reviews online.

But what's strange is that the book reviewers who usually get traffic every day are surprisingly silent today...

“Why hasn’t anyone commented?”

"it's wired……"

"Let's wait and see..."

Readers who do not have a strong desire to buy choose to wait and see.

In addition, according to some readers' comments on the Internet, this book does not seem to be a "healing" book, and it has nothing to do with "sweet" love, let alone "youth redemption."

Uh... he saved nothing, just burn it down.

Readers who were already on the sidelines didn’t want to waste their money easily, so they held onto their wallets, waiting for more professional reviews to appear, and seeing how many points major websites gave the book before deciding whether to buy it.

Due to the superposition of multiple factors, the Kinkakuji Temple fell into a strange state of "poor sales".

The first print run of "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" was 10 copies, all of which were put on the market on the first day of sale, and 4 copies were sold in just one morning... Such sales volume can be described as a huge hit.

But in the afternoon, from noon to six o'clock in the afternoon, only more than 1 copies were sold in six hours, which surprised everyone.

Ignorant people continue to criticize and ridicule on the Internet, saying that Mishima's myth has been shattered since today.

As for real industry insiders, their scalps began to tingle after seeing the almost overwhelming level of horror in "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion". When they thought about the silence during the early promotion and marketing stages of Shincho, an almost certain guess emerged in everyone's mind.

Xinchao did not admit defeat in advance, but concentrated all its publicity and promotion resources, preparing to appear at the most critical moment and end this melee with a thunderous force.

"Sure enough... they are planning to counterattack us... how vicious..."

Inside the meeting room of Bungeishunju's headquarters, Editor-in-Chief Tojo had to exert great effort to suppress the trembling in his voice.

(End of this chapter)