Chapter 188: Visiting the Set

Xiao Ran was shocked, almost jumping three feet in the air. Mingxuan was the company run by Xiao Shaohao; it originally dealt in trade, but later Xiao Ran invested 200 million in it personally, so it shifted to real estate.
Facing near bankruptcy meant that Xiao Ran’s 200 million investment was almost lost, and Tianxia Fund’s 150 million was also at risk. But what exactly was going on? Could it be that someone in Hong Kong still didn’t know that Xiao Shaohao was Xiao Ran’s father?
After asking around, Xiao Ran learned that his father had fallen for some so-called insider information. However, the insider info Xiao Shaohao received came from the government’s planning department, stating that the government intended to develop a certain area. After careful consideration, Xiao Shaohao decided to gamble everything on one of those plots.
A few days ago, at the auction, many buyers appeared, driving up the price significantly. Eventually, it was bought by Xiao Shaohao, but only today did he hear that the government never had any such development plans—he had been framed.
In the afternoon, the price of that plot plummeted. Upon hearing this, the bank immediately sent people to collect the loan. In short, if Mingxuan couldn’t repay the loan within a month, the bank would apply to the government for a seizure order. Since Mingxuan had already spent all his money on the land, he had none left to repay the loan.
It was a trap—definitely a trap! Xiao Ran was no longer the clueless fool he used to be. After hearing his father’s account, his first instinct told him this was definitely a conspiracy.
However, he didn’t plan to tell his father. He had already suggested earlier that his father retire. But his father insisted on continuing to run the company, leaving Xiao Ran unable to persuade him. This situation actually suited Xiao Ran’s wishes—wasn’t it a good chance to urge his father to retire?
“Don’t lie to me. I know I’ve fallen for someone’s scheme!” Xiao Shaohao looked gloomy. He never expected to fail in business after all.
In fact, given his personality, Xiao Shaohao wasn’t suited to running such a large company. Moreover, he hadn’t risen step by step but had climbed to success with Xiao Ran’s help, lacking much experience along the way, so it was only natural for him to be deceived.
Xiao Ran was momentarily stunned and couldn’t help but sigh. “How much does Mingxuan owe the bank? How about this—take this opportunity to step back and rest. Tell me about the rest, and I’ll help you handle it!”
“Mingxuan owes 500 million to Korea Liyou Bank!” Xiao Shaohao smiled bitterly. He had never earned 500 million in his life, yet he was about to lose it in just a few days. “I already want to retire. Enough talk. Go deliver soup to Qingxia quickly.”
Xiao Ran nodded, stood up, took the soup from his mother, and drove to the set. Lin Qingxia had to work late shooting scenes, and his mother was worried she might get tired, so she always found time to bring her soup. Since Xiao Ran was free today, it was only right that he take on this sacred task.

However, this time they went to the Fox Mountain Road film set. Shao Lao Liu was extremely dissatisfied with Xiao Ran due to ATV’s issues, and by renting his set for filming, Xiao Ran was worried about any potential problems. Jiahé was different; it focused mainly on movies, unlike Shaw Brothers, which focused on television and couldn’t afford to ignore the opinions of its stars.

This film is titled *Eastern Heroes*. Its setting is a blend of reality and fantasy, giving it a sense of authenticity while also making it seem like a virtual world. It’s similar to that film that used metaphors related to Beijing, only its box office performance wasn’t very good.

Xiao Ran has always been puzzled by *Eastern Heroes*. Historically, Du Qifeng’s version was released in 1993. At that time, Zhang Manyu, Mei Gu, and Yang Ziqiong were all very popular, yet the film’s box office barely reached two million—something truly unimaginable.

Not to mention the three highly appealing female leads, even Du Qifeng himself had gained considerable fame through *The Story of Ah Lang* and *The Judge*. With Du Qifeng’s appeal, the box office should have been much higher than two million. If it had been twenty million, that would have been more believable.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ran immediately remembered Du Qifeng’s other 1993 film, *Barefoot Boy*. Starring Wu Qianlian and Kwok Fook-shing, it had a strong style, and its depiction of a cannibalistic martial arts world could be considered a classic.

Yet, despite Kwok Fook-shing’s and Wu Qianlian’s appeal, the film’s box office ranked among the lowest of 1993, at only two hundred thousand. Xiao Ran couldn’t believe such a result, but all the data he remembered confirmed it, leaving him no choice but to accept it. Of course, despite his disbelief, he was puzzled by the actual box office figures for these two films.

In Xiao Ran’s opinion, both of Du Qifeng’s films were excellent, though aside from a few die-hard fans, they were rarely mentioned later on. *Eastern Heroes* was highly fantastical and pioneered the genre of urban female martial arts films in Hong Kong, making it a film worth paying attention to.

*Barefoot Boy* was also remarkable. While it wasn’t as grand in scope as *Eastern Heroes*, thanks to the genius scriptwriting of Yau Hoi, meticulous planning and detailed descriptions, along with Du Qifeng’s strong command of the film, it conveyed a deeply tragic atmosphere, making it another film that made one feel disillusioned with life. Xiao Ran dared to watch it only once, fearing he might lose faith in society.

The first film’s graceful and creatively designed action scenes were truly grand, especially in terms of rhythm and emotion, with excellent control. As for the second film, what impressed Xiao Ran the most was the scene where the protagonist brought out several carts of gold, shouting frantically that killing him would give them the gold, and the final scene of Kwok Fook-shing failing to put on shoes even in his death throes.

Strictly speaking, from his own perspective, Xiao Ran believed that “Three Heroes of the East” had a good chance of achieving solid box office results. After all, following films like “Dark Flowers” and many others that emphasized individual styles, audiences’ tolerance had increased significantly, indirectly allowing Xiao Ran to influence the market—this was why he decided to produce this film.

The key lay with “The Barefoot Boy.” To be honest, Xiao Ran really didn’t dare have any hopes for this film. It was too dark and twisted, especially with its blatant betrayals, violence, and conspiracies, which could chill anyone’s heart.

If possible, it would be better to change the setting; that way, there might still be some hope. Otherwise, with such a plot, there was a 90% chance of losses. Xiao Ran didn’t mind losing money, but the film had to achieve something, like winning an award or something.

Xiao Ran thought that if the setting were changed to modern times, it wouldn’t be impossible for it to win an award at Cannes. With that thought, he suddenly remembered his father’s situation and felt anger. He still didn’t know who had framed his father, but once he found out, that person would surely meet a bad end.

As he thought about this, he arrived at the set. The crew had clearly just started working, perhaps after shooting one scene, and the director was thinking about how to shoot the next scene, so they were taking a break now. Xiao Ran greeted the crew with a laugh. At once, he saw Zhang Manyu walking over with a smile: “Such a considerate husband, bringing soup so late!”

“Drink it yourself. Stop talking so much!” Xiao Ran placed the soup pot on the table before approaching Lin Qingxia. The makeup artist was retouching Lin Qingxia’s makeup. When she saw Xiao Ran, she glanced over with a smile: “How did you find time to come?”

“I came to see my wife. What does ‘time’ matter?” Xiao Ran smiled gently. “By the way, I’ll go over there for a moment. I’ll talk to you later!”

Adu was currently thinking about how to shoot the next scene and didn’t even notice Xiao Ran’s arrival. It wasn’t until Xiao Ran sat down on a chair and called out softly that he woke up: “Brother Ran, you’re here! Perfect timing. I’m wondering now if the special effects team can really do it well.”

“Theoretically, there’s no problem!” Xiao Ran shrugged. Nowadays, Hong Kong film directors weren’t very familiar with special effects, especially trendy ones like computer-generated effects. “They’ll tell you where special effects can be used, and you just need to tell them the concept for each part and how to execute it. By the end, you’ll realize they can actually do a lot! In the future, computer-generated effects will enable us to do many things that are impossible with human effort, and we must try to embrace them.”

Adu nodded thoughtfully before frowning again. “Brother Ran, do you think this film is a bit strange? It feels like it’s happening in a parallel world similar to ours! And in terms of scenes, cinematography, and art design, I think the style you mentioned might be…”

Xiao Ran couldn’t help but laugh. This project was indeed not easy to pull off. But obviously, that wasn’t his goal—he wanted to turn “Three Heroes of the East” into a series. For that, he had even asked the publishing house under Shuxiang to find someone to create the comic. While others adapted comics into movies, he aimed to adapt movies into comics.

He specifically instructed screenwriter Shao Lijiong to leave clues. For example, the nuclear explosion wasn’t mentioned in the first episode, but in the second, there was a backdrop of water scarcity caused by it—a bug Xiao Ran couldn’t accept. This was a common problem in Hong Kong film scripts: as long as the script was a hit, regardless of the plot, changing the characters and calling it a sequel was fine.

The only thing that confused Xiao Ran was whether he should make this film in the old style—one with a very oppressive tone, which audiences would likely dislike. But since he wanted it to become a series like “Spider-Man,” it had to be more commercial, so he had to abandon that dark style.

“No problem. This is a commercial film. As long as we keep the necessary commercial elements and avoid extreme styles, it’ll be fine!” Xiao Ran understood Adu’s meaning and immediately reassured him.

Glancing over and seeing Lin Qingxia fully made up, Xiao Ran walked over with a smile, pulled her to a corner, and then grew serious. “Dad’s company was set up against him today. Tomorrow, I’m going to find out who did it—how dare they mess with me! But this means I might not have much time to spend with you these days!”

“Dad’s company was set up?” Lin Qingxia was shocked, but quickly resigned herself to it, knowing Xiao Ran didn’t get involved in the company’s affairs. “It’s okay. I can take care of myself. Just help dad avenge this.”

Xiao Ran nodded, glanced back, and suddenly shouted, “What the hell! You guys actually drank all the soup I brought!”

Lin Qingxia was stunned. Looking around, she indeed saw a group of staff members scattering in laughter. Xiao Ran rushed after them but found that some soup was still left. He quickly told his wife to drink it before the thieves stole it all.

At that moment, Xiao Ran glanced around and was shocked—he saw an old actor who was very familiar from the screen: Ren Shiguan. This actor was remarkable; a martial artist who started his career in the 1970s and even appeared in Cheng Long’s “Dragon Soars, Tigers Leap.”

However, after that, his acting career didn’t go well. It wasn’t until he starred in “Huang Feihong,” playing a character that was hard to classify as good or evil, that he became one of Xu Ke’s favorite actors. Unfortunately, Ren Shiguan rarely got leading roles, and such a skilled action actor gradually disappeared as action movies declined.

Ren Shiguan was squatting in a corner, smoking a cigarette. It was his first time joining Shadow Company, so he didn’t dare be too bold, and he wasn’t the type to cause trouble. Xiao Ran walked over, squatted down beside him, and asked, “What’s your name?”

“President Xiao, my name is Ren Shiguan. I’m a martial artist!” Ren Shiguan had long heard from people in the industry that Xiao Ran was extremely friendly. He never expected that, despite having a fortune of hundreds of billions, Xiao Ran would still crouch down and stand beside him like this. He felt greatly honored and wanted to stand up.

Xiao Ran smiled and waved his hand, signaling for him to stay crouched. Then he pretended to be puzzled and asked, “Judging from your appearance and build, are you here as a martial artist or an actor?”

“I’m playing a role in a movie, and at the same time, I’m also doing some work as a martial artist!” Ren Shiguan glanced at Xiao Ran, thinking, “You’ve never done this before, so of course you don’t know how hard it is.” Suddenly realizing that Xiao Ran started his career in writing scripts, he understood that Xiao Ran wasn’t the typical rich kid and felt ashamed.

“How about this? I think you’re quite good,” Xiao Ran said, shaking his head regretfully. In fact, Ren Shiguan relied too much on his identity as a martial artist. Otherwise, if he had been willing to work on his acting skills, he might not have run out of roles in the future. “Take some time to study acting. Xu Ke is going to start a new project soon, and I’ll ask him to give you the lead role.”

Ren Shiguan was stunned. Looking at Xiao Ran’s retreating figure, he couldn’t help but smile bitterly. Acting seemed like a highly complex skill that he probably couldn’t master. Yet, he felt encouraged. Since Xiao Ran said so, there must be hope. Moreover, according to people in the industry, what mattered to Xiao Ran wasn’t an actor’s appearance but their acting skills. He thought it might be time for him to consider this issue…