Chapter 123: Mong Kok Carmen

Xiao Ran nodded. He had known Chen Musheng would make such a choice. It wasn’t surprising—Chen was one of the few great action film directors in Hong Kong, and his passion for action films was almost unimaginable. Xiao Ran had always felt that Chen Musheng’s later attempts to improve action films weren’t very successful, mainly because he wasn’t good at emotional scenes; for example, “Two Heroes” was a complete failure in that regard.

However, he found the new concept of using action to frame romance quite interesting. Of course, this wasn’t something the current Chen Musheng could handle. In the original timeline, Chen had had to direct some films unrelated to action due to the needs of the film company, taking many detours. Now that Chen Musheng was part of Shadow Company, Xiao Ran saw no reason for him to take similar detours.

Xiao Ran nodded and turned to Du Du. “Du Du, do you think your half-disciple is capable of directing a film on his own? I want a definite answer. You both know the company’s rules—once a director fails three consecutive commercial films, it becomes very difficult to turn things around!”

Xiao Ran was referring to an unwritten rule he had established some time ago. Artistic and experimental films with small budgets could fail, but commercial entertainment films couldn’t afford to. If a director failed three consecutive commercial films, it would be hard for them to take on larger projects, and their salary would be reduced, unless they found another way to recover.

Xiao Ran had considered this issue before. He had initially thought it might lead to too much commercialization, as directors might hesitate to give their best efforts after repeated failures and end up making identical films. But after some thought, he felt relieved.

Hong Kong cinema started by being highly commercial. Although it eventually failed, that was due to overall strategic mistakes, not the commercial atmosphere. Still, to prevent directors from being too cautious about developing their own styles, Xiao Ran set other rules, striving to avoid the kind of mass-produced, formulaic films seen in Hollywood.

Du Qifeng clearly had great confidence in Chen Musheng. He nodded at Xiao Ran and said, “He can do it. Just give him a chance!”

Xiao Ran smiled. That was exactly what he wanted to hear. He turned to the nervous Chen Musheng and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll assign you a film in the second half of the year! But this time, you’ll work with Du Du. You must try to gain experience and hone your skills.”

After they left, Xiao Ran reviewed the script while waiting for Wang Jiawei. Finally, Wang Jiawei and a female producer named Miao Miao arrived. Seeing the two strangers, Xiao Ran smiled slightly, introduced them to each other, and then said, “A Wei, this is your chance. I’ve decided to start shooting this script. Tell Miao Miao what team you need, and she’ll arrange everything for you.”

Miao Miao and Wang Jiawei were overjoyed. Miao Miao, after undergoing producer training since joining Shadow Company, had been working under Chen Kexin. Now that she could handle production independently, how could she not be happy? Wang Jiawei was even happier. After waiting a year, he had finally written the script he envisioned, and the boss agreed to produce it.

Watching the two guys so excited they couldn’t speak, Xiao Ran suppressed his laughter and said sternly, “Miao Miao, this is an opportunity. If you mess it up, you’ll have many fewer chances in the future. Remember what I said in the training sessions—producing isn’t just about running around; you need to have enough imagination and planning skills to do a good job. Your position is very important.”
“President Xiao, don’t worry. I definitely won’t disappoint your high expectations!” Miao Miao was eager to pound her chest to show her determination.
“Discuss it with Wei. Bring out the budget report and the team!” Xiao Ran secretly chuckled. Wang Jiawei wasn’t slow in shooting “Carmen in Mong Kok,” but it still exceeded the budget. And that was exactly the effect Xiao Ran wanted—he hoped Wang Jiawei would go all out to exceed the budget even more, the more the better.
Xiao Ran’s goal was simple: he wanted to use “Carmen in Mong Kok” to show the whole of Hong Kong that no matter how many films Wang Jiawei made, the budget was always worth it. Otherwise, how could he use Wang Jiawei to frame his rivals in the future?
After they left, Xiao Ran finally relaxed. Luo Wenqiang was discussing the preparations for the new film “School of Demons” with the producers. As for Liu Zhenwei, he was reportedly writing a script of his own. After the success of “The God of Gamblers,” Xiao Ran had specially allowed Liu Zhenwei to make a personal project.
As for the “The God of Gamblers” series, Xiao Ran wasn’t interested in starting production for now—he didn’t want the trend to become even more intense. But not starting production didn’t mean giving up on the series. Xiao Ran had already spread the word, and everyone in the industry knew that Phantom Company had another such film in development, so no one could take the title without permission. That was just how things worked.
Regarding “The God of Gamblers” and “The God of Gamblers II,” Xiao Ran’s plan was simple: one film every two years for the former, and one this year to secure a spot on this year’s top ten box office lists for Phantom Company. Right now, he was considering the Spring Festival holiday season, which he absolutely couldn’t afford to miss.
Family-themed films were New Art City’s forte. Unless Xiao Ran brought out “Home for the Holidays,” it would be difficult to defeat them. As for Golden Harvest, their Spring Festival films were almost always Cheng Long’s works, which were highly reliable. Depple didn’t have much of an edge in the Spring Festival market in previous years, but this year they had the comedy “Wealth Forces Us Together,” both of which were extremely tough opponents.
Time was extremely tight—the film had to be completed from preparation to shooting to post-production within a month to fit the schedule. Yet, so far, none of Phantom Company’s films had been produced in less than two months.
Completing a film in a month wasn’t really difficult. Normally, it took no more than three months to produce a Hong Kong film, and many people could finish one in a month. But Xiao Ran didn’t want to do that. Otherwise, he’d lose the chance to compete in the Spring Festival season.
Ugh! Xiao Ran sighed deeply. Being a boss wasn’t easy. It seemed he needed to pay more attention to such issues going forward and clearly mark all the schedules. Before there were cinemas, he hadn’t paid much attention to this, but now he had to.

The only option was “A Family Celebration.” Other than this film, Xiao Ran couldn’t think of anything else that could claim the top spot at the Spring Festival box office. After some thought, Xiao Ran sighed deeply—this was a complete mistake!
Having brought Mo Tianxin along, along with a comedy-skilled screenwriter from the writing team, Xiao Ran felt extremely frustrated looking at these three subordinates. If it weren’t for his lack of planning, things wouldn’t have gotten so chaotic.
“The company overlooked the Spring Festival season this time, so everyone must go all out to help the crew finish the film in the shortest time possible! It definitely can’t take more than a month!” Xiao Ran glanced around and asked, “Does anyone have any questions?”
“I do!” Mo Tianxin stood up, walked up to Xiao Ran, and asked sternly, “President Xiao, you said the company’s works must be of high quality. But isn’t this approach going against your production standards?”
Xiao Ran was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter. He thought Mo Tianxin was really good—although the company encouraged employees to have freedom in their work, few were as conscientious as Mo Tianxin.
Xiao Ran had certainly considered Mo Tianxin’s concern. If he hadn’t thought things through thoroughly, he wouldn’t have dared make a decision so casually. With the screenwriters and Mo Tianxin still confused, Xiao Ran suddenly stopped laughing. “It’s not a problem. The setting for this film is very limited, and it’s relatively easy to shoot. The only challenge is finding an excellent makeup artist to create suitable makeup for the actors!”
Mo Tianxin rolled his eyes and realized that filming could indeed be done in just one villa. Relieved, he thought to himself that finishing it in a month might not be that difficult after all.
“I’ll give you the script before I go to Macau tomorrow!” After speaking to Mo Tianxin, Xiao Ran turned to the screenwriter. “You go with the crew to ensure any necessary revisions are made!”
Both nodded, and Xiao Ran’s mood improved significantly. Making a decision always made things easier. After some thought, he quickly decided on the lead actor and director: “Mo, let’s use Liu Zhenwei as the director. For the leads, we need a strong cast. Let Xing Zai play the third brother, and Ren Dahuo play the second brother.”
He then finalized some of the main actors from the original story, such as Mao Shunjun and Wu Junru. However, Zhang Manyu and Huang Baiming were still missing. After some consideration, Xiao Ran asked Mo Tianxin to select actors from those who had graduated from acting schools, thus ending the discussion about the New Year’s film.
Only after finishing all this did Xiao Ran relax. But before he could enjoy himself, he remembered that promotion was also needed. He quickly asked An Yuxuan to call Bai Wenjing over.
Bai Wenjing lived up to his name—he was a very handsome young man, likely able to attract many girls easily. Xiao Ran had no time for nonsense. As soon as he entered, Xiao Ran instructed him, “Wen, send two capable people to work with the ‘A Family Celebration’ crew to identify their selling points at any time. Also, come up with a promotion plan right away—we need to start promoting from today to seize the Spring Festival box office.”

Bai Wenjing was completely confused by Xiao Ran’s words. Xiao Ran smiled self-mockingly—he had been too hasty. In that case, it would be better to explain things slowly, and only then did Bai Wenjing suddenly understand.
“I think it’s not difficult. Contact a few bus companies to put ads on their vehicles, and advertise on ATV and TVB as well!” Bai Wenjing lived up to Wei Dongling’s expectations, quickly coming up with several common and effective marketing strategies.
Xiao Ran nodded; that sounded great. “In any case, the marketing budget is two million. You must make sure this film becomes known throughout Hong Kong and arouses everyone’s interest!”
“Two million?” Bai Wenjing was shocked. Mirage Company was already the one that spent the most on marketing among all film companies in Hong Kong. But even then, the amount had never exceeded one million. Now, a budget of two million was being allocated—how could he not be surprised?
“That’s right, two million. I’ve always told you that the marketing department is a very important part of the company. Now is your chance to prove yourselves. If you can outdo the other companies, you’ll definitely get a bonus!” Xiao Ran laughed heartily, his authority as a high-ranking executive evident. “Also, this year your marketing department will use ‘Dark Flowers’ as a model for marketing. Make sure you do an excellent job this time!”
Bai Wenjing blinked and smiled. “President Xiao, don’t worry. I’ll personally plan this and go to Macau with the team!”
That night, under Lin Qingxia’s watchful eye, Xiao Ran frantically wrote the script for “A Family Celebration.” It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the company’s screenwriters, but this battle couldn’t afford any mistakes. The New Year film season was always the key battleground for determining the top ten highest-grossing films of the year, with every company releasing its most important film during this time.
Most importantly, only a few companies could compete in the New Year film season. Apart from the three major companies, other companies’ films hardly had a chance. For Mirage Company to get a foothold in this market was a significant leap in status. If they could win the New Year championship, it would prove that Mirage had the strength to defeat the three major companies. After all, the New Art City myth began with three consecutive years of winning both the box office championship and the New Year championship.
Under Yu Yayu’s arrangements, the crew went to Macau in an orderly manner the next day, bringing all the equipment with them. Macau clearly welcomed Xiao Ran and his team to shoot there, even sending important officials to greet them.
The public relations department of the Macau police also sent two officers to take care of them and assist with filming. Xiao Ran was very pleased. Although the film depicted the Macau police in a negative light, no one seemed to mind—it was after all a movie, and people knew the difference.
This made Xiao Ran think of the situation on the mainland. Thinking about the film censorship system in twenty years, it seemed like a stifling of filmmakers’ creativity. Xiao Ran absolutely disagreed with such practices, but now he had a great chance to change everything.

After inspecting the shooting location arranged by Yu Yayu, Xiao Ran returned to the hotel satisfied. Yu Yayu was extremely capable and not rigid at all; Xiao Ran even considered promoting him to manager of the production department. However, after careful thought, given Yu Yayu’s potential, it would be better to keep him close and train him well for future use.
As soon as he returned to the Grand Lisboa Hotel, Xiao Ran remembered something and quickly asked, “Ayu, have you been to the dock?”
“I have!” Yu Yayu laughed. He knew Xiao Ran would ask this. He thought Xiao Ran was a boss who liked to do things personally—authoritative yet approachable, making it easy for subordinates to respect and follow him. “But I didn’t see Old Master He. It was Jiu Ge’s top horse that met me!”
“Well…” Xiao Ran pondered for a moment before suddenly looking up with a smile and saying, “Help me make contact. I want to visit Old Master He!”
*****
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