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“Jea… jealous? How could I be jealous?” she said, her voice faltering.

“Don’t talk nonsense!” She huffed, crossing her arms defensively, her gaze wandering off to avoid his eyes. “Humph, how could I be jealous of you? You’re so full of yourself.”

Unfazed, Yang Yi flashed her a knowing smile.

“Your Highness didn’t happen to peek at my letter, did you?”

“Huh?” Wu Mingyue’s eyebrows arched in disbelief, her lips parting slightly. She pointed at herself with her slender fingers.

“You don’t actually think I’ve fallen in love with you, do you?”

Her face flushed a deeper shade of pink.

“Of course not! How could I look at your letter? Whatever you and that woman talk about has nothing to do with me! Humph, I’m not the type to snoop into other people’s letters!” Her voice wavered, even though she tried to sound confident.

Despite her indignant tone, Wu Mingyue found herself fidgeting, unable to meet his eyes. She hadn’t read the letter—but she had been tempted. Her guilt stirred briefly, and she couldn’t help but feel a little exposed.

Why should I feel guilty? she thought, trying to brush the feeling away.

Bolstered by this self-reassurance, she straightened her posture, her chest rising and falling with a renewed sense of dignity.

Yang Yi’s smile deepened, his gaze calm yet teasing.

“I was just saying, Your Highness. No need to react so strongly. Someone who didn’t know better might think you actually read it.”

Wu Mingyue’s delicate brows shot up, her lips curving downward in displeasure. This guy was impossible! She fumed inwardly, glaring at him with renewed annoyance.

Humph! I’ll write something terrible about him later, just wait!

Ignoring her increasingly sour expression, Yang Yi stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“So, how are the sales of the Great Zhou Bao going?” he asked, swiftly shifting the conversation.

Wu Mingyue finally calmed herself down, suppressing her irritation. At his question, she let out a light snort.

“Oh, so now you’re interested in the sales of the Great Zhou Bao, Deputy Editor? I haven’t seen you since the first issue hit the stands!”

Yang Yi replied with mock solemnity, “Your Highness, you’ve misunderstood my dedication entirely.” He straightened, feigning righteous indignation.

“Although I haven’t been physically present at the office, my heart is always there. You see, Dream of the Red Chamber and Romance of the Western Chamber are works born of sweat and tears.”

His voice softened dramatically.

“You don’t know the effort I put in. I stay up late every night, rise before dawn, and pour my soul into those manuscripts. All this, just to help boost our newspaper’s sales.”

He paused, lowering his voice to a pained whisper.

“Lately, I’ve been so exhausted, I’ve even found a few strands of white hair. Yet here I am, misunderstood by Your Highness.”

Wu Mingyue blinked, momentarily caught off guard by his lament. A pang of guilt hit her as she remembered how brilliant those stories truly were. Dream of the Red Chamber and Romance of the Western Chamber

 were both extraordinary works that garnered widespread praise.

For Yang Yi to create them while managing his official duties… he must have been working tirelessly. She bit her lip, her earlier annoyance giving way to guilt. Maybe I’ve been too harsh on him.

But then she noticed the slight twitch at the corner of Yang Yi’s mouth, as if he was barely holding back a laugh.

Wu Mingyue’s eyes narrowed. “???”

Wait a second. Her eyes widened in realization. He’s messing with me again!

Her face flushed in indignation as she stomped her foot in frustration.

She glared at him, her cheeks puffed with anger.

“You… you’re so bad!” Her chest trembled slightly with each angry breath.

Yang Yi, struggling not to laugh, couldn’t help but notice how her tone sounded less like a reprimand and more like a playful scold.

Why does it sound like she’s flirting with me instead of actually being mad?

Wu Mingyue probably realized at that moment that she wasn’t scolding Yang Yi at all, but instead flirting, like a lover caught in a teasing game.

Her pale, delicate face flushed a deeper red, like a light layer of rouge suddenly applied to her cheeks. She pouted and snorted softly, trying her best to maintain her composure.

“Currently, the sales of the Great Zhou Bao in Luoyang reach two hundred thousand copies per issue,” she began, with an air of professionalism.

“As for other regions combined, it’s somewhere between seven hundred thousand and eight hundred thousand copies. A significant portion even comes from neighboring countries.” Her voice was steady, but her reddened face betrayed her lingering embarrassment.

“But,” she continued, still somewhat distracted, “even though we’ve already published over a dozen issues, many people still come to the office to buy the first and second ones.”

Yang Yi nodded, completely unsurprised. The speed of information dissemination in this era was vastly inferior to that of later generations. Even though the Great Zhou Bao had reached its tenth edition in Luoyang, people in more distant regions hadn’t yet seen the first issue. This created a natural information gap, one that people were eager to fill.

“Scalpers must have appeared,” Yang Yi mused aloud, noting how it paralleled markets in later eras.

Wu Mingyue nodded. “Yes, there’s been quite a few.”

This, Yang Yi thought, only further proved the paper’s immense popularity. Smiling to himself, he snapped his fingers.

“Next, we should consider opening branches of the Great Zhou Bao in various regions across the Great Zhou. And why not expand into the capitals of neighboring countries as well?”

Wu Mingyue blinked at him, taken aback by the idea.

“Opening newspaper offices within the Great Zhou isn’t an issue… but expanding into other countries? That might be difficult.”

Yang Yi gave her a confident smile, as if he had anticipated this concern.

“I know. But let’s try it anyway. If we fail, no harm done. At the very least, we should maximize the paper’s influence within the Great Zhou.”

He raised a hand, gesturing toward the ceiling as if marking the sky with his ambition. “Let’s set a small goal: double the sales by next month.”

Wu Mingyue was stunned, her mouth slightly agape, her rosy lips parting in disbelief. The surprise was so palpable that Yang Yi could even glimpse the pink tip of her tongue as she struggled to form a response.

“Double the sales?” she asked incredulously, her dark brows knitting together in confusion. “How could that be possible?”

Yang Yi, ever the picture of confidence, leaned in slightly.

“Why not? I have a strategy. If everything goes according to plan, not only will sales double, they might increase several times over.”

Wu Mingyue blinked, her eyes wide with curiosity.

“What strategy?” she asked, leaning forward.

Yang Yi met her gaze, his expression dead serious.

“The time is not right yet…” he said cryptically, before flashing her a teasing grin.

Wu Mingyue’s eye twitched in frustration. She clenched her fists, fighting the urge to hit him. This scoundrel!

One joss stick later, Yang Yi had already left the palace. Only Wu Mingyue remained in the Shu Yu Palace, her earlier frustration simmering just beneath the surface. She snorted lightly, pulling out a thin booklet from her drawer, followed by her pen and ink.

As she dipped her brush into the ink, she hesitated for a moment, her mind replaying Yang Yi’s smug smile.

Humph, let’s see if you can get away with this!

With a determined huff, she began to write vigorously.

Miss Wu Xiaoyue, universally acknowledged as an incomparable genius and the world’s most beautiful strategist, is a master of human nature and calculation. She knows astronomy above and geography below, making her the greatest strategist of all time!