Chapter 108: The Winner Takes All

Fang Ruohai and Fang Ruoshan now wanted to die. Just this morning, they thought they could earn over a billion, but in the blink of an eye, 6 billion turned into a debt of 17 billion. Such a huge contrast would drive even God mad, let alone ordinary people.
Fortunately—or perhaps not—they didn’t faint but instead muttered to themselves in an idiotic tone. They never imagined they could lose 17 billion in just one afternoon, an amount their father would take decades to earn. It was as if God was playing tricks on them. The only good thing was that they could file for bankruptcy, so the remaining 11 billion in losses wouldn’t have to be covered by the Fang family. Perhaps that was the only thing they could be grateful for.
Anyway, they were utterly confused and even more distressed. They couldn’t understand how such a huge swing could occur in the stock market, nor why there were no signs at all. But now, they couldn’t even bear the thought of losing 400 million to Xiao Ran with just 6 billion—such a lifetime of shame. All they could do was mourn those 6 billion and their lifeless expressions.
In this luxurious room, gloom reigned, almost dead silence. As for the trader, he had already fainted from the sharp drop in the Hang Seng Index. Without exaggeration, this place was hell.
For the Fang Ruohai brothers, it was already hell. But for all Hong Kong stock investors, what happened today was far more than just hell—it was as if heaven itself was playing tricks on people.
Probably, every stock investor would rather see Hong Kong sink than witness such scenes. As soon as the market closed that day, at least twenty people rushed to the rooftop to jump, without even having time to pack their belongings. Among them were securities brokers, billionaires who suddenly became penniless with billions in debt, and skilled professional speculators. Even Soros, if he had experienced this, might have thought of jumping off a building.
A cloud of sorrow covered Hong Kong’s skies. From the 26th to the 27th, as the market reopened, sixty to seventy people committed suicide—by jumping, burning themselves, poisoning themselves with gas, or drowning. In short, that day, Hong Kong was littered with corpses, and the number of bankrupts was countless. Everyone treated it like the end of the world.
When Xiao Ran learned about all this, he realized that reality was even more brutal than what was shown on screen. Whether it was the bankrupt broker played by Zhang Guorong in “Meteor Talk” or the thrilling scenes in “The Big Wave,” nothing compared to the reality, which was far more intense, tragic, and miserable.
But by then, Xiao Ran had already learned about it. When the mournful bell rang at the close of trading on the 26th, Fang Xiaoqiang, Rong Xiaoyi, Lin Yongqiang, and the others could hardly believe they had really won.
Everyone was stunned for a full minute, seeing the aura of victory in each other’s eyes. After confirming they weren’t dreaming, they all shouted “We won!” and hugged each other wildly, regardless of gender.

Xiao Ran stood aside, quietly watching the three mad men and women, a happy smile on his face. Guan Xin also was stunned for a while before realizing what was happening. Unable to contain his excitement and joy, he stepped forward and stretched his hand toward Xiao Ran, saying, “A Ran, congratulations! You won—completely and utterly.”

The three men and women didn’t forget Xiao Ran. They all rushed at him, pressing him down and shouting wildly, “We won! We really won!”

It wasn’t a hallucination—they had won, decisively and thoroughly. They had won over 1,500 points, which amounted to 1.8 billion. Compared to before they lost, they still made hundreds of millions. Xiao Ran finally couldn’t help but laugh, though he thought to himself that the other over 4 billion was invested in the stock market, which might help stabilize it a bit.

Anyway, this was the only thing he could do. At least he had reduced the losses for stock investors while making money from the stock crisis, though the amount per person wasn’t much. But he quickly forgot about that. If this had happened in the past, he would have blamed himself for a long time. Change was happening unnoticed, making him more in line with his status and identity.

In fact, Xiao Ran was ten times happier than them because this victory was almost entirely due to his own abilities, not history. This was the only true victory that belonged to him, aside from the prequel to “Heroes in Their Prime.” Of course, one might also include his victory through love with Lin Qingxia.

But this was definitely the victory that made Xiao Ran happiest. This time, he only used a little historical knowledge as reference, not relying on it entirely. He made the right judgments, took timely decisions, and tricked the Fang brothers into losing all their money—this was a real victory for him.

After having fun and celebrating, it was time to divide the profits. When Xiao Ran intended to give Fang Xiaoqiang 180 million according to their prior agreement, Fang Xiaoqiang firmly refused, saying, “No, I can’t take that much. This victory is entirely thanks to your correct judgments. I didn’t do anything at all.”

“Well…” At this point, Fang Xiaoqiang smiled slyly, rarely showing such enthusiasm, “But I want all the money. How about I take 100 million?”

Xiao Ran smiled generously and agreed to Fang Xiaoqiang’s request. After pondering for a moment, he looked at Xiao Yi and A Qiang, whose joy was evident, and said, “I plan to leave 400 million for the fund’s development. I’ll control 60%, and you two can split the remaining 30%. The last 10% is for Ah Biao! What do you think?”

Of course, Xiao Yi and the others had no objections. After all, they had made 60 million in just a month—what could be more profitable than that? Seeing their joy, Xiao Ran smiled and shook his head. “I don’t think you’re suitable to manage this fund. It’s better to find professionals to do it. We can just be responsible for taking the money!”

For Xiao Ran, this fund was just a treasure hidden in a corner, to be used when needed. His main goal was still to build an entertainment empire—that was what truly mattered to him.

On this day, Xiao Ran finally got a good night’s sleep—only this time, he slept with Lin Qingxia in his arms. Both of them slept peacefully, even showing happy expressions in their dreams.
“Do you really not plan to get involved in the stock market anymore?” Wei Dongling hardly believed Xiao Ran’s words, as he said it with a smile. Most importantly, he couldn’t believe that someone with such a strong desire for control could give up the stock market: “I don’t believe it!”
“If you don’t believe it, you’ll regret it!” Xiao Ran chuckled. He indeed didn’t plan to get involved in it anymore—it was truly life-threatening, just like what Xing Zai said in “Tang Bohu Points to Qiu Xiang”: “Life’s ups and downs are too rapid…”
However, nothing in the world is absolute, and Xiao Ran was well aware of this. Although he said he wouldn’t get involved, during the panic-driven exodus across Hong Kong over eight or nine years and the 1998 financial crisis, if he had the strength, he would definitely intervene. But then, his intervention wouldn’t be for profit—it would be for stability.
Especially during the 1998 financial crisis, Xiao Ran absolutely couldn’t let such a scenario unfold, otherwise, Hong Kong’s economy would decline and unemployment rates would remain high. The consequences would be evident in the film industry, with tremendous impacts at that time.
To be honest, after going through such a near-death experience, Xiao Ran had become indifferent to money. What had grown instead was his desire for power—he wanted to have everything under control. Still, money was still important.
For example, right now, Xiao Ran was discussing a very important matter with Wei Dongling and Fang Xiaoqiang. It was something he had thought about for a long time—the issue of movie theaters. He had always imagined the grand scene of “Kung Fu” being shown in 100 theaters across Hong Kong in 20 years. With such strong support, Xiao Ran was confident that his works would be unbeatable.
The key was that controlling movie theaters meant being able to keep Hollywood movies out. In the future, “Jurassic Park” wouldn’t be able to enter the Hong Kong market. Of course, Xiao Ran knew this was a negative approach; the real goal was for Hong Kong films to produce equally good, or even better, movies.
Still, controlling movie theaters was essential. Hollywood separated distribution from theater operations to prevent monopolies, but Asia didn’t do that, and Hong Kong didn’t either. Acquiring a movie theater wasn’t easy, but given Xiao Ran’s current financial strength, it wasn’t particularly difficult.
“Hong Kong has five major movie theater chains—Jiahe, Golden Princess, and Shaw Brothers go without saying!” Wei Dongling tapped the documents on the table. He made a good point—the three giants would never sell their theaters. “So, our targets are Yonggao and Xinbao.”
“But Yonggao isn’t easy to deal with—it’s part of a large company! That company is financially strong, not much worse than us. Forcing an acquisition there would definitely not be cost-effective!” Wei Dongling’s elimination method wasn’t very clever. Finally, he pointed at the map of Xinbao Cinema’s locations and said, “So, the only option we have is Xinbao!”

“The parent company of Xinbao isn’t very wealthy, but it’s listed on the stock market. Simply put, they can’t threaten us!” Wei Dongling summarized it in one sentence: “Xinbao has thirty-two cinemas, the fewest among the top five theater chains! Based on estimates, Xinbao is worth 130 million, and to buy out its parent company as well, at least 300 million would be needed.”
“No need to acquire it entirely!” Xiao Ran smiled. He was gradually realizing one thing: even when eating meat, he had to leave some soup for others, otherwise, he’d incur everyone’s anger. “We just need to take control! Xiao Qiang, given your abilities, how long do you think it will take to complete the acquisition? I want an absolute controlling stake of 51%.”
Fang Xiaoqiang flipped through the listing information of Xinbao’s parent company. The company had a large number of shares available on the market, and its performance had not been good in recent years. Without Xinbao’s support, it would likely have gone bankrupt long ago. After calculating, he calmly gave Xiao Ran an answer: “It’s a stock market crash right now, so it’s easy to buy it out. I guess it will take at most 80 million to get it done! It can definitely be accomplished within a week.”
“Great, then this is up to you!” Xiao Ran smiled. He liked hearing such answers. “You can start preparing now. I’ll give you 100 million!”
But Fang Xiaoqiang didn’t leave right away. After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and said, “Brother Ran, I want to invest in Shadow!”
Xiao Ran broke into a sweat, while Wei Dongling was even more surprised. Seeing their expressions, Fang Xiaoqiang awkwardly explained, “No, I just think Brother Ran is someone who can achieve great things, so following you must be the right choice!”
“Do you really trust me that much?” Seeing Fang Xiaoqiang nod affirmatively, Xiao Ran gave Wei Dongling a provocative smile, implying that since others trusted him, there was no reason not to. After thinking for a moment, he said, “No problem. How much money do you want to invest?”
Fang Xiaoqiang raised one finger, and Xiao Ran immediately burst into laughter. “100 million? You’re really brave. I agree, but I’ll only give you 5% of the shares!”
“5% is fine! Anyway, the money is from you!” On the surface, Fang Xiaoqiang seemed indifferent, but inside he was extremely excited. However, after seeing Xiao Ran’s performance that day, he realized he truly admired him, and out of this blind trust, he decided to join.
“Great, Ah Dong, let’s talk now!” Xiao Ran’s cheerful appearance didn’t resemble that of a boss at all; he looked more like a hippie. “You’re a founding hero of the company. If I don’t show some appreciation, you might beat me up when we get home. How about this? You get 5% too. Are you satisfied?”
Wei Dongling nodded indifferently. He wasn’t really concerned about money; he just preferred having space to express himself. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have resigned from so many jobs—after all, wasn’t it to showcase himself?
At Shadow, Wei Dongling was very happy. He was also one of the few who dared to call Xiao Ran “Ah Ran.” The others either called him Boss Xiao Ran or Brother Ran. The only thing that annoyed Wei Dongling was that Xiao Ran completely ignored administrative matters, leaving them all to him—purely abusing his employees.

Although he didn’t care much about money, he couldn’t help but be moved when he realized that five percent equaled 100 million. If not for his sense of masculinity, he might have immediately burst into tears and punched Xiao Ran hard, shouting, “Idiot, why are you being so good to me?” Of course, that didn’t happen; otherwise, given Xiao Ran’s current skills, it was hard to say who would win. Simply put, both of them were amateurs. Xiao Ran nodded at Fang Xiaoqiang, signaling that he could leave, then turned to Wei Dongling and asked, “So, any progress with the computer effects team? I’ve been waiting for a long time.” Upon hearing the words “computer effects,” Fang Xiaoqiang trembled slightly and immediately thought of his friends. He quickly turned to Xiao Ran and the others and said, “Brother Ran, if you’re looking for experts in computer skills, I know a few!”