Chapter 72: The Mysterious Master

“I just happen to know!” The middle-aged man smiled faintly, but even a blind person could tell it was a blatant lie. Xiao Ran could only force a bitter smile. If the other party didn’t want to talk, could he force them? He’d likely be stopped before even getting close.
“If you work in movies, why don’t you have your own influence?” The middle-aged man seemed curious and a bit puzzled. “Other companies have martial artists who can intimidate people in the underworld.”
“It’s not that simple. Most people in boxing clubs are from the underworld, and most other martial artists are under the control of Shaw Brothers or Golden Harvest. For a small company like Phantom, it’s hard to establish connections without enough connections!” What Xiao Ran said was true—martial artists are usually a key asset for each film company, and they’re not likely to hand them over.
It’s not that you can’t buy them, but that would probably anger everyone. Xiao Ran had been thinking that he should use Hong Kong as a film base to use it as a springboard to take over Hollywood. So, he needed good local connections. Otherwise, why would he have tried to get to know as many people in the industry as possible over the past two years and deliberately compete with other companies? That would easily offend people.
“Now you can tell me who you are, right?” After hesitating for a moment and confirming once again that he hadn’t suffered from dementia, Xiao Ran asked, “I believe we’ve never met. Why do you want to help me?”
The middle-aged man laughed cheerfully and blinked his eyes interestingly. “Before answering you, I want to ask you a question. If you saw someone seriously injured lying by the road, would you save them? Why?”
Was such a question too unusual? Xiao Ran felt a strange sensation—it seemed like he had encountered this scene somewhere before. After thinking for a while, he gave the middle-aged man an answer, “I don’t know. Maybe I would if I was in a good mood!”
“Wait…” Suddenly, Xiao Ran had an epiphany and shouted, “I know who you are! You’re the person who was injured by the road that day!”
The middle-aged man nodded in approval. He had asked that question mainly to test Xiao Ran’s character and didn’t expect him to recognize him so quickly. “That’s right. You saved me that day. So now you know why I want to help you, right?”
After introducing himself, Xiao Ran learned that the middle-aged man’s name was Guan Xin. Hearing this name, he immediately smiled. Guan Xin also looked helpless. “There’s nothing I can do. Everyone reacts the same way when they hear this name. I’ve gotten used to it!”
“What exactly do you do? How could you knock out three people at once?” Xiao Ran was extremely curious about this, his curiosity growing beyond measure.
“I’m a bodyguard. I’m unemployed now!” Guan Xin gave Xiao Ran a serious look and gave him this answer. But Xiao Ran clearly saw in his eyes that he didn’t want to be asked further.

Bodyguard? Xiao Ran would never believe it even if beaten to death. Even the bodyguards in Zhongnanhai probably don’t have such skills, at least that’s what he thought. However, according to the novels by Ni Kuang, Guan Xin does seem quite like an alien. But Xiao Ran really didn’t buy Ni Kuang’s ideas, so Guan Xin’s identity became a mysterious question that lingered in his mind.

For now, Xiao Ran wasn’t aware of how much pain Guan Xin’s presence would cause him in terms of thought. He figured that since Guan Xin could uncover things from two or three years ago, he surely wasn’t an ordinary person. If it were a police officer, it might be possible—relatively speaking, it made more sense.

But since Guan Xin went to Xinhua News Agency that night, he couldn’t be a police officer. After racking his brains, Xiao Ran came to only one conclusion: Guan Xin wasn’t an ordinary person. This conclusion was basically nonsense—any fool would know that someone who could knock out three people wasn’t ordinary.

Guan Xin, seeing Xiao Ran’s deep thoughts, began to worry that his identity might be guessed by him. Meanwhile, Xiao Ran, after contacting Xinhua News Agency in Hong Kong, also came up with an answer, though he firmly refused to believe such coincidences existed in the world.

It was Guan Xin’s turn to have a flash of inspiration. Since he still didn’t have a “job” and needed an identity, why not act as Xiao Ran’s bodyguard? It seemed like Xiao Ran really needed one. Smiling, he said to Xiao Ran, “Interested in hiring a bodyguard? It’s very cheap—you won’t lose out. Besides protecting your safety, I’ll also handle dealing with gangsters. You probably can’t find such a deal anywhere else.”

Xiao Ran’s eyes widened. With someone like this, he would be willing to pay a million yuan per year just to keep them. Of course, he agreed immediately, wishing he could sign a 100-year contract right away.

During their subsequent conversation, Xiao Ran learned from Guan Xin why he got injured that night. Apparently, Guan Xin ran into old enemies and was attacked, resulting in injuries. Xiao Ran didn’t believe it—absolutely not—but there was nothing he could do about it.

Back at the company, Xiao Ran proudly announced to Wei Dongling that Guan Xin was his personal bodyguard. Needless to say, Wei Dongling’s jealous expression was spectacular. But something frustrating was about to happen to him soon.

Wei Dongling bowed respectfully to Guan Xin and said solemnly, “Mr. Guan, please teach me kung fu! I won’t mention money—surely someone as great as you doesn’t care about such a small amount!”

Guan Xin was stunned, and Xiao Ran even more so. He hadn’t expected Wei Dongling to beat him to it. So, he quickly said, “I also want to learn kung fu. Old Guan, don’t forget—I’m your boss now. You have to do as I say!”

Now it was Wei Dongling’s turn to be frustrated. But soon, they were both frustrated. Because after hesitating for a moment, Guan Xin thought his fighting skills weren’t suitable for teaching these two ordinary people, so he politely refused, “My kung fu is too deadly—it’s not suitable for you. How about this? I can help you find a master from the mainland—definitely an expert.”

“Highly lethal? That’s absolutely wonderful. Xiao Ran was actually afraid of having to learn all those fancy moves.” He said nothing more and simply knelt down, shouting “Master!” His level of respect gave Wei Dongling chills. It seemed to him that this scene was just a clone of “The Smiling, Proud Wanderer” he had watched not long ago, missing only the line “To unify the martial world for eternity.”

“Do you really want to learn?” Guan Xin was still hesitating. Actually, it wouldn’t be a problem for him to teach them—just some basic fighting skills would suffice. “It’s very tough!”

Xiao Ran and Wei Dongling both nodded seriously and firmly, as if facing severe torture. Of course, who wouldn’t want to learn martial arts as skilled as Bruce Lee’s? Anyone who said otherwise must be a hypocrite. Finally, Guan Xin sighed. “Alright, I can consider teaching you, if you really can endure the hardships!”

The next day, Xiao Ran received a mysterious call. It wasn’t actually mysterious—he recognized it as Scar’s voice right away. Scar said he had something to tell Xiao Ran. Accompanied by Guan Xin, Xiao Ran went to a tea restaurant designated by Scar. As soon as they entered, Guan Xin glanced around and nodded at Xiao Ran, signaling that there were no ambushes.

Xiao Ran smiled in satisfaction. He had seen Scar’s behavior the previous day and thought he could be won over. He quickly found Scar and they sat down together. Scar had a cast on his hand and glanced fearfully at Guan Xin before hesitantly saying, “Boss Xiao, it was the brothers who were unwise yesterday. Please forgive us.”

“If you came just for this, I can go back. I never took it seriously!” Xiao Ran resolved to maintain a high stance when dealing with the underworld in the future, so as to put psychological pressure on them.

Scar became anxious and quickly whispered, “Actually, the reason I asked Boss Xiao to come today is that both I and Brother Mao admire your honesty from yesterday. So we decided to tell you something. Actually, our Lianshengying gang doesn’t dare to take so much money, or it would violate the rules.”

“But Brother Mao asked me to tell you that the reason we’re asking for 200,000 this time is because you’ve offended a big shot.” At this point, Scar no longer hesitated and spilled everything: “That person has a close relationship with our Lianshengying’s leader, which is why they’re deliberately targeting you.”

Xiao Ran and Guan Xin exchanged a look and asked in a serious tone, “Who is that person? What’s their status?”

“I’m not sure about that. Brother Mao doesn’t know either.” Scar shook his head and added, “But Brother Mao guesses that person is from Taiwan. Because our Lianshengying has always had business dealings with some small and medium-sized gangs in Taiwan, and it’s said that some of these connections were introduced by a Taiwanese. So Brother Mao says that probably only that Taiwanese person has enough influence for our leader to break the gang rules!”

Taiwanese… connected to the underworld… It seemed the target could be quite broad, but Xiao Ran quickly guessed a suspect—Wang Yang. He had always been friendly and hadn’t offended anyone. If he had to mention anyone he might have offended, it would probably be Wang Yu, whose relationship as friend or enemy was still unclear, and Wang Yang, who was definitely an enemy.

Nodding, Xiao Ran took out his checkbook to write a check for Scar. Seeing this, Scar quickly shook the only hand he could move. “Boss Xiao, there’s no need for this. You already gave us enough face yesterday and left such a large sum of money. We’re already very grateful to you!”
Xiao Ran nodded. He somewhat admired Scar, though he felt Scar’s presence wasn’t strong enough; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been so easy for him to sway Scar’s mind. As Scar got up to leave, he suddenly turned around and said to Xiao Ran, “Boss Xiao, according to Brother Mao, the boss is very angry. He might send someone to deal with you in the next few days. You need to be careful!”
“Wait!” Xiao Ran stood up, pulled Scar back to sit, and asked kindly, “What’s your name? Are you interested in making money with me?”
“My name is Man Gui, but everyone calls me Scar!” Scar wasn’t uninterested, but he hesitated. “Thank you, Boss Xiao, for appreciating me. But I’m part of Lianshengying. If I switch sides casually, I’m afraid everyone in the industry will look down on me.”
Xiao Ran and Guan Xin both laughed. He had no intention of having Scar by his side—having someone with a scar on their face would directly affect his image. “What I mean is, you can stay at Lianshengying, but from now on, you just need to follow my instructions. Of course, we’ll make money together and spend it together.”
After some thought, Scar quickly realized it wouldn’t hurt him at all. Besides, he already admired Xiao Ran greatly. He smiled and agreed, “Thank you, Boss Xiao, for appreciating me. I’m willing to work with you!”
*****
Fictional name — Pan Disheng
Real name — Pan Diansheng
Occupation: Businessman
Debao wasn’t founded by Pan Diansheng, but he acquired it. He was the real boss, though his main business wasn’t in film, so it wasn’t that important. There’s not much to say about Pan Diansheng—just remember that Debao produced many classic films back then, such as “A Fairy Tale in Autumn” and “The Flower Princess,” among others. Art films, romance films, and low-budget urban comedies—many of the films we see when looking back at the past are Debao’s works. Pan Diansheng was once married to Sammi Cheng, but their marriage didn’t last long. Although Pan Diansheng didn’t make any mistakes in his main business, he suddenly stopped operating Debao at its peak, which is truly puzzling.