The tension in the room shifted. It was no longer an interrogation; it was a negotiation.
Xiahou Di finally sat down. She removed her gauntlets, revealing hands that were calloused from the spear.
"Your newspaper," she said, tapping the table. "It spreads rumors. Yesterday, a riot nearly broke out because you claimed a bakery was using sawdust in their bread."
"They were using sawdust," Xue Mu countered. "We fact-checked it. The people have a right to know."
"It caused chaos."
"It caused accountability," Xue Mu corrected. "Before, they would have just suffered. Now, the bakery is closed, and the others are scared straight. That is order, is it not?"
Xiahou Di was silent. She couldn't argue with the logic, even if she hated the method.
"What do you want, Xue Mu?" she asked bluntly. "You didn't start this paper for charity."
"I want legitimacy," Xue Mu said. "I want the Six Fan Gate to officially endorse the Capital Morning Post."
Xiahou Di laughed, a sharp, incredulous sound. "You want the police to endorse a tabloid run by a brothel? You are mad."
"Am I?" Xue Mu pulled out a blank sheet of paper. "Think about your problems, Constable. You have a list of wanted criminals. Killers, thieves, rapists. They hide in the sea of people. Your constables can't be everywhere."
He drew a square on the paper.
"Give me the list," he said. "The 'Most Wanted'. I will print their faces, their crimes, and the bounty on the front page of every issue. I will put ten thousand copies in every teahouse, every market, every home."
Xue Mu's eyes gleamed. "I will turn every citizen in this capital into your informant. No criminal will be able to buy a bun without someone recognizing them. I will make the Six Fan Gate omnipresent."
Xiahou Di froze.
She imagined it. The power of mass surveillance, outsourced to the public. It was... brilliant. And terrifying.
"And in exchange?" she asked, her voice low.
"In exchange," Xue Mu smiled, "you give us the official seal. You protect our distribution rights. And... you stop harassing us about the 'fiction' section."
Xiahou Di looked at the newspaper again. She looked at the serialized novel, The White-Haired Maiden. She remembered how she had stayed up late last night, reading it by candlelight, furious at the cliffhanger.
She sighed, a long, defeated exhale.
"The story," she said, avoiding his eyes. "Does Lian Nishang survive the ambush?"
Xue Mu grinned. He knew he had won.
"Sign the deal, Constable. And I'll give you an advance copy of Chapter 3."