Chapter 100: The Return of Ruo Hai

There are undoubtedly many people who can perform well, but they lack such an opportunity. Xiao Ran provides just such an opportunity. For now, he is merely an artist, but once he gains enough skill, he will begin training others to become filmmakers.

What sets his training program apart is its specialization. Artists must choose either to be singers, actors, or models—no other options exist. Of course, artists can try to learn all three at once, but that would be extremely difficult.

Xiao Ran seeks professionalism. Whether acting or singing, one must devote themselves wholeheartedly to their chosen field. In this world, those like Liu Hua who achieve success in all three areas of film, music, and singing are extremely rare. In the future, only professionalism will ensure success.

The training programs are divided into beginner and advanced classes. The beginner class serves as a screening to identify the most promising artists. Only those who advance to the advanced class receive specialized training, and only then are they eligible to sign with Mirage. After signing, agents provide highly targeted training, and that’s when a star is born.

Xiao Ran isn’t worried that these artists will switch to other companies. Initially, he might have been concerned about creating competition, but once Mirage grows large enough, he actually looks forward to that. So, he is quite lenient when signing artists.

When he met Hai Lulu, he asked her to send the twin sisters to the advanced class for training. After completing the courses, she should find the best agents for them and develop the most suitable career paths. After that, they would undergo secret training for a while, after which Xiao Ran would produce a high-budget film to make them famous. This is the joy of creating gods—although it hasn’t succeeded yet, Xiao Ran can still experience the pleasure of being a “god.”

A few days later, “The Ghost Bride” officially began filming, followed by “Ghost Police Station,” and then “The God of Gambling.” The simultaneous start of these three films shocked the media, and the three major companies were even more astonished, especially when they learned that Mirage had started filming without any financing.

He Guanchang was very puzzled—he had always wondered why Xiao Ran was so confident that his films would be successful. It was one thing for “The God of Gambling” and “Prison Storm” to lack financing, as Fang Ruohai’s funds were considered external investment. But what he couldn’t understand was how Mirage could start filming three films at once, all with production costs averaging six million each, without any financing, relying only on seeking advertisements.

Of course, Golden Harvest doesn’t finance every film. For example, Cheng Long’s works are guaranteed to be profitable, so they are invested in independently. But compared to those, it’s not as easy as imagined. He Guanchang understood this, but he still couldn’t figure out Xiao Ran—without financing or selling movie posters, how could he be so confident?

Xiao Ran didn’t care about what other companies thought. As time passed to August, “A Fairy Tale in Autumn” was successfully submitted to the 44th Venice Film Festival. This was what he was focusing on now. If they could win an award, breaking through Golden Harvest’s monopoly and entering the European and American markets would no longer be difficult.

Actually, this film could have been sent to compete at the Montreal International Film Festival in Canada, but regulations didn’t allow it, so Xiao Ran had no choice but to go to Venice. During this time, Wei Dongling finally found a beautiful female secretary for Xiao Ran.

It wasn’t that Xiao Ran wasn’t interested in Venice; he simply didn’t have the time or need to go in person. The Venice Film Festival is a paradise for art films, but Xiao Ran was well aware that “A Fairy Tale in Autumn” would likely achieve nothing at this edition, as it was the same year a masterpiece of gay cinema, “Morris’s Lover,” was released.

He had other things to attend to. This time, Zhong Chuhong and Fa Ge mainly went there just to make an appearance. Next year would be the time for Xiao Ran to really make a move. It was a pity that the mainland market couldn’t be opened up yet; otherwise, he would definitely have turned his attention to the mainland.

In addition to the main crew, Xiao Ran also sent the head of the distribution department to discuss potential deals with interested distributors. This was only logical—during post-production, Xiao Ran spared no expense to hire excellent translators to ensure the subtitles remained as authentic as possible.

That said, translation has always been one of the weaknesses of Hong Kong films. Due to short production cycles and limited investment, they are often sent to unremarkable subtitle studios for translation. The results are naturally disastrous—worse than translating into English is when even converting Cantonese to Mandarin proves problematic.

In fact, many Hong Kong films with Mandarin dialogue that Xiao Ran watched as a child were smuggled in from Taiwan, as Taiwan hired its own voice actors, resulting in all versions available in the mainland being in Mandarin.

Xiao Ran didn’t want to make such mistakes, so he paid close attention to every aspect of film production, even increasing the budget from around four million to six million. While costs rose, the quality and impact of the film also improved—this was the real long-term benefit.

One early September day, Xiao Ran put aside all his work and glanced at Guan Xin, who was boredly watching TV. He wondered whether to tell Guan Xin about it, but considering Guan Xin’s status, it seemed impossible to keep it secret. After some hesitation, Xiao Ran finally sat down next to Guan Xin, watched TV for a while, then said, “Master, I want to take you to a place. But we need to keep it a secret!”

Guan Xin nodded. His superiors had already sent people to investigate Xiao Ran, and they knew exactly what he had been doing lately. Having read the investigation report, Guan Xin naturally understood why Xiao Ran was acting so mysteriously.

The two left in secrecy and arrived at an ordinary house. Xiao Ran looked at the three people inside, warmly put his arm around their shoulders, and introduced them: “This is my personal bodyguard. These three are Lin Yongqiang and Rong Xiaoyi!”

The two with Xiao Ran were indeed his close friends, Jingjing Qiang and Xiaoyi. As for the other man, who seemed even thinner than Qiang and looked listless with a vacant expression, Xiao Ran introduced him casually: “This is Fang Xiaoqiang, a stock trader— a highly skilled expert we hired at great expense.”

Why are Rong Xiaoyi and Gu Jingqiang here? A long time ago, Xiao Ran had been preparing for this stock market crash. A few months ago, struggling with a lack of enough people, Xiao Ran finally remembered his two close friends. He took out some money from Mirage to set up a fund for Xiaoyi and A Qiang, aiming to prepare for this crash. After months of preparation, it was now about to come in handy. Of course, the reason Xiao Ran didn’t show up in person was undoubtedly his fear that his reputation would be ruined by taking advantage of the chaos during the crash. That’s why he chose these two as representatives; unexpectedly, Xiaoyi and A Qiang handled things quite well. As for the trader, he was truly remarkable—having previously played the role of a counter-seller during the year-end stock market crash. Yet this wasn’t when Fang Xiaoqiang truly became famous. During the panic-driven crash in 1989 due to political reasons, he couldn’t do much; no one could at that time. But during the mini-crash caused by the Gulf War in 1990, he made a fortune using his keen insight, becoming Hong Kong’s top trader. Still, this wasn’t why Xiao Ran valued him so highly. The most important reason was during the Asian financial crisis in 1998, when Fang Xiaoqiang actively contacted several wealthy individuals to team up against Soros, even investing all his own money. Such actions were undoubtedly admirable. Unfortunately, Fang Xiaoqiang still failed to defeat Soros. Before the Chinese government provided funds, he lost nearly 8 billion from those wealthy individuals, leaving him with nothing of his own money. Unable to wait for government aid and feeling deeply guilty for betraying their trust, he jumped to his death—a truly legendary tragic figure. Wei Jiahui’s “The Great Era” was inspired by Fang Xiaoqiang’s influence in the stock market. However, this Fang Xiaoqiang was indifferent to fame and fortune; even after becoming famous, he stayed low-key. It took Xiao Ran a long time to find Fang Xiaoqiang, who was still experiencing countless wins and losses in the stock market. Guan Xin remained expressionless, clearly already aware of this. Xiao Ran smiled slightly—this was a war. If he won, he would have enough funds to expand. If he lost, he would still have a chance to try again. Once everyone sat down, Xiao Ran drank a glass of water before asking, “What do you think of the situation?” Rong Xiaoyi and A Qiang both shook their heads. They knew what Xiao Ran was asking, but they really couldn’t see any problems in the stock market. Xiao Ran turned his gaze to Fang Xiaoqiang. Fang Xiaoqiang’s previously dull eyes immediately lit up as he sat up straight, full of energy: “It’s possible, absolutely possible! The market has risen sharply recently. I’ll investigate—it’s likely that large sums of money have entered the market! But I haven’t yet figured out who they are.” “Good. Is 80 million enough for you to operate?” Xiao Ran stared at Fang Xiaoqiang. This matter couldn’t afford any mistakes; otherwise, he would need another three years to recover. Fang Xiaoqiang’s eyes shone even brighter: “80 million is a bit short, but since we just want to make a quick profit here, we don’t need to go up against the big players! It’s easy to make some easy money.”

On the way back, Guan Xin suddenly said something that made Xiao Ran frown slightly: “By doing this, you’re harming the interests of the local citizens. Is it really worth it?”
“It’s not a matter of whether it’s worth it or not!” Xiao Ran gave a faint mocking smile. “To enable Shadow to expand quickly, we need money. This stock market crash is a good opportunity. I have no choice. If we go slow, we won’t have enough time at all.”
Guan Xin had nothing to say. After all, he didn’t understand stocks. Xiao Ran also didn’t know much about securities, so he left this battle entirely in Fang Xiaoqiang’s hands. All he cared about was victory; he didn’t care what methods Fang Xiaoqiang used.
“However, I want to remind you of one thing!” Guan Xin remembered the orders from above. He was frustrated to be assigned to work alongside Xiao Ran. Some time ago, he had obtained some information related to Shadow and Xiao Ran: “Fang Ruohai is back!”
“What?” Xiao Ran’s mouth dropped open, his eyes filled with shock. Soon, he calmed down and looked at Guan Xin, who was driving the car. “When did that happen?”
“Quite a while ago. We first detected his presence in June, when you were in Taiwan.” Guan Xin smiled faintly, thinking this would surely be useful to Xiao Ran. “Fang Ruohai met with Wang Minggui, and later with Wang Yu! I think you know what he’s planning!”
Xiao Ran couldn’t help but shake his head. Suddenly, he realized everything wasn’t as easy as he had thought. Why had Fang Ruohai returned? Of course, to seek justice. But what exactly did Fang Ruohai want to do? Xiao Ran had no idea.
Having such an enemy lurking in the shadows was extremely dangerous, especially since this enemy was both sharp-minded and wealthy. Xiao Ran had worked with Fang Ruohai before and knew he wasn’t an easy opponent. The problem was that he didn’t even know what Fang Ruohai intended to do. “There’s one more thing you might be interested in!” Guan Xin glanced at the pondering Xiao Ran and dropped another bombshell: “There’s a traitor sent by Fang Ruohai inside the company—someone from the issuance department! I think you know how to use this pawn.”
This time, Xiao Ran wasn’t surprised. Given Fang Ruohai’s habit of knowing both himself and his opponents, it would be strange if there weren’t any traitors in the company. Remembering the humiliation he had suffered when he pursued Fang Ruoxin as if she were Lin Qingxia, Xiao Ran sneered coldly. If Fang Ruohai wanted to come, let him come. This battle wasn’t necessarily a loss for either side. If Fang Ruohai could hide in the shadows, Xiao Ran could force him to come out.
“Force Fang Ruohai to settle this in the stock market!” This brilliant idea flashed through Xiao Ran’s mind. Indeed, the stock market was his greatest advantage at the moment. As long as he could force Fang Ruohai into the stock market, he would surely win this battle.
He was now in Lin Qingxia’s bedroom. One always needs a friend to listen to their troubles. To Xiao Ran, Lin Qingxia was not only someone he deeply loved but also a respected friend. So, it had become Xiao Ran’s habit to turn to Lin Qingxia when faced with difficulties.
Leaning against Xiao Ran, Lin Qingxia asked doubtfully, “Although I don’t understand securities, I still know that in the stock market, whoever has more money wins. The Fang family has nearly a billion dollars in assets. How can we compete?”

How to force him? Of course, by using an insider. Closing his eyes and meditating for a while, Xiao Ran did some calculations. He couldn’t give Fang Ruohai too much time; he had to force him to act hastily, so as to take advantage of the situation to defeat the financially powerful Fang Ruohai.
“It’s okay, I have a way!” Xiao Ran quickly reassured Lin Qingxia before analyzing the situation to himself: “Although Fang Ruohai likes taking risks, he’s also very cautious. He definitely wouldn’t do such a thing if he rushed in. What should I do?”
“I’ve got it!” Overjoyed, Xiao Ran tightly hugged Lin Qingxia and kissed her before exclaiming excitedly, “As long as I can make him think I’ve invested all my money in the stock market, he’ll surely be eager to take this once-in-a-century opportunity to wipe me out at once!”
“How can we create such an illusion?” Lin Qingxia was happy for Xiao Ran, though she really didn’t understand stocks much: “I’ve always thought Fang Ruohai isn’t ordinary. He’s a businessman; he’s likely not to fall for such a trick!”
“I have a way!” Xiao Ran came up with a plan in an instant. Feeling a bit uneasy, he gritted his teeth and made up his mind: “Use Phantom as collateral. If I fail in the stock market, I’ll definitely not be able to repay the debt and go bankrupt. That should probably achieve the outcome he wants!”
Lin Qingxia almost jumped up. She had never seen such a ruthless businessman who would put himself in danger just to lure his enemy into a trap. But Xiao Ran didn’t seem worried; after all, he was quite confident.
After solving this problem, Xiao Ran hugged Lin Qingxia, whose body was soft, and gently blew in her ear, “If I fail and go bankrupt this time, will you still want to be with me? I might even end up relying on others for support!”
Lin Qingxia obediently rested her head on Xiao Ran’s forehead, projecting her sincerity into his eyes: “As long as you don’t leave me, I won’t leave you, my God-hand!”
*****
Dear readers, I’ll be a guest at Sanjiang Pavilion at 8 p.m. on September 10th. Please come and support me! Otherwise, it might be awkward if no one shows up!