Chapter 61: Ivory Evening News

  Ivory Coast Evening News Agency?

  Looking at the wooden sign with white background and black letters, Marquis de Gramont suddenly felt that his brain was not enough. Each word on this wooden sign he knew separately, but when combined together, it made him feel inexplicable and impossible to understand.

  Evening News Agency? Evening News? Who can tell me what this evening news agency does and what the evening news is?

  You ask me who I ask? The steward's eyes widened and his mouth opened, the only thing he could be sure of was that this thing called an evening paper seemed to be very popular.

  In fact, it was very popular. Many ordinary people and businessmen who bought the evening paper were reading while walking, to the point of bumping into walls. There were also many people gathered in front of the newspaper office, intently reading again and again.

  "Good heavens!" exclaimed a middle-aged gentleman who had just opened his newspaper, his face filled with shock. "Last night, a fire broke out at the Ivory Island dock, killing seven people and injuring twelve others. The cause of the accident was reportedly..."

  Before he could finish reading the news, the person next to him couldn't wait and stretched out his hand, snatching the newspaper: "No way, let me take a look, don't snatch it, I'll lend it to you after I'm done."

  No sooner had the words left his lips than a blond-haired man, who had just caught sight of the second edition in the crowd five or six meters away from them, suddenly let out an exaggerated cry of surprise: "My God, look at this! Mr. Philip went to make a date with a dancing girl last night and was caught red-handed by Mrs. Philip with a group of maids, and his face was scratched with five marks. No wonder he didn't dare to come out and receive guests today."

  Really? The crowd around immediately ignited the gossip fire, those who bought the evening paper quickly flipped to the second edition, and those who didn't buy the evening paper hurriedly gathered around: "Where is it? Where is it? Mr. Philip, as a big merchant, would be so afraid of his wife, could it be fabricated?"

  "How is this possible?" The blond man opened the evening paper with a smug expression, pointing to the big headline on the second page. "Look at this... Hmm, it should be called news, right? It's written very clearly here, and there are even clear pictures of the scene. You can take a look for yourselves."

  No mistake, the headline of the second edition used a full 500 words to describe this matter, and next to it was attached a clear picture. On this black-and-white photo, you can see very clearly that poor Mr. Philip is fleeing with his head in his hands, behind him is his stout wife chasing after him, plus a group of female servants holding brooms.

  What the hell, how did this picture end up in the newspaper?

  A group of people looked at each other in confusion, completely not understanding the principle behind it. But since they didn't care about that, they were puzzled for only a few seconds before shifting their attention to gossip and starting to discuss whether Mr. Philip was caught after climbing into bed or before he had a chance to get into bed.

  In the midst of chaos, a stout businessman suddenly rushed to the evening newspaper office, waving a newspaper with gleaming eyes: "Brother, I saw in your evening paper that Honghai Business Firm is heavily indebted and plans to sell several shops at low prices. Is this news reliable?"

  "What do you think?" Lin Taiping slowly and calmly took a sip of coffee, "If I'm not mistaken, the Red Sea Trading Company is not too far from here. You can go there yourself to verify it."

  That makes sense. The fat merchant was taken aback, and immediately left in a hurry, only to rush back ten minutes later with a flushed face, shouting from afar: "My goodness, it's incredible! Red Sea Trading Company initially wanted to conceal the loss, but as soon as I took out the evening paper... Good heavens, Mr. Lin, how did you get this information?"

  No answer, Lin Taiping just smiled and showed eight white teeth, but in this instant, the businessmen present suddenly rushed to find the evening paper. They finally realized that apart from news and gossip, there was more important business information on this evening paper, perhaps bringing a large profit.

  As a result, just a moment later, the already crowded entrance of the evening newspaper office suddenly became even more chaotic and lively. The swarming crowd surrounded the cow-headed man who was selling the evening paper, layer upon layer, inside and out. Even the defective copy that Lin Taiping was holding in his hand was snatched away by someone at several times its price.

  Some people are for browsing major news, some people are for gossiping, and some people are for collecting business information. However, in any case, the newly released Ivory Island Evening Post has become a fashionable trend after just a few hours of trial operation, rapidly radiating from the commercial street to surrounding areas.

  "Good heavens, what are they staring at?" Marquis de Gramont gazed out of the carriage window, his puzzlement growing with each passing moment, his eyes bulging as if about to pop out. "Damn it, Galli, go get me a late edition newspaper, now!"

  "What can I say, the unlucky butler couldn't help but sigh, looking at the crowded scene in front of the evening newspaper office, he could only close his eyes, grit his teeth and charge forward fiercely. After another ten minutes, he grabbed a copy of the evening newspaper and returned triumphantly, with a bruised nose and swollen face, mumbling: "Sir, sir, I got it, it was really tough."

  Completely ignoring his self-congratulatory performance, Marquis Gelong snatched the evening paper and looked at it for only a few seconds before suddenly exclaiming in surprise, revealing an incredulous expression: "Huh? Did I see that wrong? That little white face actually published an apology statement in the evening paper?"

  That's right, on the second edition of the newspaper, in the lower right corner, Lin Taiping published an apology statement, fully expressing his apologies for the injury and even using bold font to highlight it, as if afraid that others would not see it.

  So, after seeing such a sincere apology statement, the first reaction of Marquis Gelongte was that the little white face had water in his brain. Before he could come back to his senses, the butler next to him suddenly exclaimed and pointed at the apology statement with a strange expression: "Wait, master, look here!"

  What's this? Marquis Gelongtai was taken aback, subconsciously turning his head to shift his gaze to the important news next to the apology statement.

  In an instant, the moment he saw that eye-catching title, his face turned from white to red, then from red to purple, and then from purple to black, until finally it was a mess of colors like a dye workshop.

  Compared to the apology statement that was as small as a tofu block, this important news took up at least 500 words and occupied a quarter of the page. Especially with the bold font used in the headline, it was so eye-catching that you could see it clearly from several meters away.

  While ill, he didn't forget to flirt with flowers and provoke grass. A certain noble recklessly used the people's donated funds to recruit dancing girls for entertainment.

  It's imaginable that seeing such a powerful title, everyone can't help but read on. In fact, next to the carriage, several middle-aged men who had just bought newspapers were already eagerly reading them out loud:

  "A source close to the matter revealed to our newspaper yesterday afternoon that a well-known noble who is currently running for parliament, despite being injured and recuperating at home, has recently recruited a group of showgirls to perform... It is understood that the high costs incurred by the noble in recruiting these dancers were entirely funded by donations collected from the public for an orphanage."

  Pfft! After reading just this opening sentence, Ge Lang Tai had already spat out a mouthful of blood. Although the news didn't mention any names, as long as you connect the words "election", "injury" and "donation appeal", even an idiot could guess who exactly was being referred to by that certain noble.

  Slander! This is slander! This is thorough and utter slander!

  The Marquis de Gramont was quivering with rage, his red face smoking, and he looked as if he might have a stroke at any moment. He swore on his honor that during his convalescence he had not touched any of those dancing girls... Well, maybe once, but only once, and yet someone had managed to get the better of him.

  Of course, the pole dancer is nothing, but this news is vicious. It's said that the money spent on finding the pole dancer came from donations to an orphanage collected by the people... This is simply nonsense. That donation was embezzled a long time ago, not even a single cent was left, how could it be used to find a pole dancer?

  But the problem is that this matter can't be explained clearly at all, and in order to prove the authenticity of the news, a picture was specially attached next to the report as evidence.

  In this black and white photo, several heavily made-up dancing girls can be seen twisting their waists, taking advantage of the night's cover to enter the Marquis' mansion. Although the exterior of the Marquis' mansion is not fully captured, just by looking at the decorations in front of the gate, people familiar with it can recognize what place this is at a glance.

  Damn it! Damn it all! It's really damn annoying!

  The Marquis of Glangta was furious beyond control, directly tearing the evening paper to shreds, and then grabbed the butler's collar, his face twisted in a ferocious scowl: "Gali, you fool, didn't I tell you to keep this confidential? Why did someone see this?"

  The poor butler was spat on the face, stuttering and unable to speak, he could swear with his life that at that time he was careful enough, and there was no one around, so why did this picture appear.

  At this moment, the people around the carriage who had read the news were already beginning to discuss it with great interest, interspersed with sarcastic laughter, which kept coming in through the window.

  "Are the gods above? Is this noble mentioned in the news that Marquis?"

  "Nonsense, who else but him? Good heavens, I really didn't expect that such a dignified person would be so despicable behind the scenes. Luckily I've been supporting him to become a congressman all along."

  "It's really, really, he even embezzled our donations. If I see him again next time, I must throw a few tomatoes at him and let that hypocrite know what shame is. This is simply a scoundrel!"

  Pffft! Looking at the fragments of the evening newspaper under his feet, and listening to the continuous jeers and laughter, Duke Glangta finally couldn't bear it anymore, and a mouthful of blood heavily sprayed onto the car window.

  The next moment, he suddenly pushed open the car door and walked towards the evening newspaper office under the gaze of hundreds of surprised and mocking eyes.

  "Mr. Lin, I think you owe me an explanation, an important one that concerns my reputation!"

  ————————————————————————

  Kokoro's evening newspaper agency has been established. Please click to collect and recommend votes, thank you everyone! Here I also recommend a book by a friend, "The Tyrant's Cultivation", the author is an old friend of Shui Shui, who has been very supportive of Shui Shui during this time. Everyone can go take a look. [bookid=2977846,bookname="The Tyrant's Cultivation"]