章節 157: Chapter 157: Having the Dragon-Slaying Technique but Lacking the Dragon-Slaying Sword
By the time noon came and Xia Ming returned home from school, he discovered that his comic book was missing. He immediately realized that his brother must have taken it.
Feeling uneasy, Xia Ming looked down and, as Xia Yu came home, confessed, "Brother, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been reading comics and even used the money you gave me to buy them. I know I was wrong."
"But I promise, I only read it at home and didn't take it to school or let it affect my studies."
Seeing Xia Ming's worried expression, Xia Yu smiled and patted his shoulder, saying, "It's okay. Reading comics isn't a big deal. People aren't machines; you should study hard when it's time to study and have some fun when it's time to relax."
"However, this comic is quite violent and bloody, which isn't suitable for you. That's why I took it away."
Xia Ming nodded silently, not arguing.
"Do you like reading comics?" Xia Yu asked, looking at Xia Ming with a serious expression.
Seeing his brother's earnest look, Xia Ming hesitated for a moment before nodding and saying, "Yes, there's not much to do after school, and there's nothing interesting on TV—just dramas for adults. Comics are more fun."
Seeing that Xia Ming wasn't lying, Xia Yu gave a gentle smile and said, "For now, you should stop reading them. You've just started at a new school, so you need to catch up and study hard."
"Okay." Xia Ming responded somewhat dejectedly, feeling a bit disappointed. He had hoped that his brother would return the comic to him, but it seemed he had been overly optimistic.
"Don't be sad. I didn't say you can't read comics at all. I just said this one isn't suitable for you. I'll return a more age-appropriate comic for you later."
Seeing his brother's disappointed face, Xia Yu felt both amused and exasperated. Kids really wear their hearts on their sleeves. But he didn't want Xia Ming to be too upset, so he smiled and comforted him.
"Really?"
Unexpectedly, Xia Ming's face lit up, and he looked at Xia Yu with hopeful eyes, asking, "Really?"
"Of course! When have I ever lied to you?" Xia Yu immediately nodded.
"Yay! Thank you, Brother!" Xia Ming said with joy, flashing a big smile.
"A Ming, A Yu, what's making you so happy?"
Their mother, Chen Mei, who was tidying up the table, turned around and looked at Xia Yu and Xia Ming curiously.
"Nothing, nothing," Xia Ming hurriedly answered, afraid that his brother would reveal his secret.
"Is that so?" Chen Mei asked, looking at Xia Ming with suspicion.
"Mom, it's nothing," Xia Yu said with a chuckle, seeing his brother's nervousness. He didn't think it was necessary for their mother to know about it, as it might complicate things.
Seeing that Xia Yu had dismissed it, Chen Mei finally relaxed and returned to cleaning the table.
Seeing Xia Ming breathe a sigh of relief, Xia Yu smiled and said nothing more.
...
In the following days, Xia Yu was busy running between the securities company and the media company, keeping a close eye on the company's specific details.
At Nine Ding Securities Company, with Wang Qi handling the task of purchasing stocks from Kowloon Warehouse, things were relatively relaxed. The only task was to buy these stocks quietly. In his spare time, Wang Qi began setting up a securities research institute and started contacting relevant talents.
Meanwhile, Jin Jiajun and Ai Le Wen's teams had officially started buying stocks of the companies Xia Yu designated. They had already seen some results after a few days.
With the company on the right track and effective subordinates working hard, Xia Yu had a much easier time. He only needed to oversee the major direction to ensure nothing went wrong.
Next, Xia Yu went to Nine Ding Media Company.
After a few days, the data on the Hong Kong comic market had been thoroughly compiled by Yan Wenhan's team. Since Hong Kong's market was relatively small, it was easier to compile the data.
The progress of the team sent to the island nation was slower and would take some time to report.
But Xia Yu wasn't in a hurry. To invade the island nation's comic market, he first needed to dominate the Hong Kong comic industry to have a solid foundation for entering the island nation's market. For now, the investigation of the Hong Kong comic market was sufficient.
Sitting in his office, Xia Yu took out the thick stack of statistical reports and began to review them.
After reading through them, Xia Yu gained a general understanding of the Hong Kong comic industry.
Currently, the Hong Kong comic industry was essentially divided between two dominant figures: Shangguan Xiaobao and Huang Yulang, with almost no room for others to survive.
These two were the leading figures in Hong Kong's comic scene.
Shangguan Xiaobao, originally named Kuang Dongyuan, first worked as an apprentice in Huaxia Publishing House under his older brother Shangguan Xiaolong, then advanced to become a lead artist.
At the age of 17 in 1963, he became a lead artist for the *Daily Comics* newspaper, creating four-panel comics.
In the early 1970s, he co-founded Shenghuo Publishing House with three friends, publishing 32-page comics. His first major work was *Black and White Little Demon King*, followed by *Little Bar Girl* under the pen name "Shangguan Siwei." It was well-received, gaining significant popularity in erotic and soft-core comics.
During the 1970s, amidst the kung fu craze led by Bruce Lee across Southeast Asia, Shangguan Xiaobao capitalized on this by producing the highly stimulating martial arts comic *Bruce Lee*, which became a hit in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. To this day, each issue of *Bruce Lee* sells around 100,000 copies.
In addition to comics, Shangguan Xiaobao's Shenghuo Publishing House also published the serialized comic newspaper *Happy Report*.
Huang Yulang was even more formidable compared to Shangguan Xiaobao.
During the Bruce Lee kung fu craze, Huang Yulang also launched a major martial arts comic—*Little Rogue*. However, due to its excessive violence and bloodiness, it was renamed *Dragon Tiger Gate* in 1975 due to Hong Kong government policies, and the violent and bloody content was significantly toned down.
In 1974, *Little Rogue* had already surpassed 100,000 copies in average sales per issue, outperforming Shangguan Xiaobao's *Bruce Lee* in sales speed. This marked the beginning of an era where Hong Kong comics consistently sold 100,000 copies per issue.
Even now, Huang Yulang's *Dragon Tiger Gate* still outsells Shangguan Xiaobao's *Bruce Lee*.
Besides this comic, Huang Yulang also founded Yulang Book Company and launched the daily comic newspaper *Life Report*, which achieved daily sales of 50,000 copies. He was a significant figure in the newspaper industry.
As for what wasn't included in the statistics but Xia Yu knew, Huang Yulang later incorporated Shangguan Xiaobao into his company, establishing Yulang International Company and consolidating control over Hong Kong's comic industry, though Huang Yulang later ended up in prison.
Thus, if Xia Yu wanted to enter Hong Kong's comic industry, he would have to confront these two figures. They were the only significant obstacles.
Under the brilliance of Shangguan Xiaobao and Huang Yulang, other figures in the industry were overshadowed and couldn't stand out.
This led to the issue of comic talent training in Hong Kong, which Xia Yu also had to address.
Every industry relies on talent, but the talent issue was a challenge for Xia Yu!
At that time, Hong Kong's comic talent training was still based on apprenticeships without specialized training schools or institutions, unlike the industrialized comic industry in the island nation.
Thus, comic talent in Hong Kong was extremely scarce!
Moreover, among the few available talents, most well-known comic talents in Hong Kong were concentrated in Shangguan Xiaobao's Shenghuo Publishing House and Huang Yulang's Yulang Book Company as their apprentices. Finding and recruiting them would be very difficult!
The scattered comic talents were also extremely few!
Without comic talent, how could one enter the comic industry?
Even though Xia Yu had many valuable ideas, he needed people to help realize them!
But now…
"I have the dragon-slaying technique but no dragon-slaying sword!"
"Oh, no, not just lacking a dragon-slaying sword but even finding the iron and blacksmith to make one is difficult…"
Looking down at the statistical report, Xia Yu sighed with a wry smile, muttering to himself.
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榜單 
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