Chapter 130: Diamond No. 5

The post-production was finally completed, and the final version of the two-and-a-half-minute trailer was ready. Xiao Ran submitted this film, along with “The Ghost Story,” which had also just finished production, to the Berlin Film Festival. Entering the European and American markets was clearly very important.

However, trouble struck. Chen Kexin and Miao Miao, along with other producers from the company, delivered some truly bad news to Xiao Ran and Wei Dongling: “Not many production companies or agencies in Hong Kong dare to take on our projects anymore. It seems the top executives of the four major companies have united and declared that anyone who takes on projects for ‘Phantom’ won’t be able to work with those companies in the future!”

Xiao Ran and Wei Dongling exchanged a glance. Now they finally understood what the second point mentioned at the last film association meeting meant! Xiao Ran suddenly stood up and sneered coldly, “They really are very far-sighted!”

This clearly didn’t cause too much damage to “Phantom,” as there had always been several small companies relying on it for work. Now, it just meant “Phantom” had fewer options. It had to be admitted that this measure was quite effective in restricting “Phantom.”

But Xiao Ran didn’t think this would have a significant impact on “Phantom.” Most people in the industry worked independently, making it difficult to control their actions. So, the four major companies could only resort to this half-threat, half-warning approach.

Fang Xiaoqiang finally returned from the United States and did an excellent job on Xiao Ran’s behalf, acquiring a significant portion of Microsoft’s shares for 200 million Hong Kong dollars. As soon as Fang Xiaoqiang returned, Xiao Ran immediately summoned Rong Xiaoyi and Lin Yongqiang for a meeting to assign him tasks in the financial market. Xiao Ran only said two words: “Japan!”

Xiao Ran had only heard vaguely that Japan had experienced a stock market crash or something similar in the 1980s and 1990s, but he wasn’t sure exactly when. So, he didn’t need to pay too much attention to it—just instruct Fang Xiaoqiang and the others to carry out the task. For Xiao Ran, stocks were something that would eventually ruin him; the film industry was what he wanted to develop.

On January 25, 1988, the preview of “A Family Affair” ended. Having watched pornographic films, Xiao Ran knew how crucial the makeup artists’ work was in such movies—they managed to make actors like Xing Zai and Wu Junru look older, making the plot more believable.

Family-themed movies were always the best-sellers in the film market. Within three days of the previews, the box office revenue had already reached over 2 million. Yet, during this period, the four major companies released their New Year’s films one after another. Tianluo Company’s “Mirage” was released a week before “A Family Affair.” Fortunately, it wasn’t as good as expected and failed to compete with “Phantom.”

But what followed was truly a disaster. New Art City’s “Heroes 3” and Deppa’s “Wealth Pressures Again,” along with Golden Harvest’s “Flying Dragons,” which featured Cheng Long and his three brothers, all converged to surround and attack “A Family Affair.”

Regarding “The Dragon Warrior,” there is indeed an interesting story. One of the highly skilled foreigners in the film was a renowned fighting champion in the United States, nicknamed “Jet.” He aspired to promote kung fu on screen just like Bruce Lee. After appearing in some second-rate movies in the U.S., he played villainous roles several times in Stephen Chow’s films.

The opening-day box office for “A Family Affair” was quite impressive, reaching over 2.5 million, almost breaking a record. However, by the next day, the box office figures started to decline. The four major film companies tried every trick in their arsenal to counter “Shadow,” and as a result, “A Family Affair,” which was originally expected to run for a month, was forced to withdraw due to daily box office earnings falling below 300,000.

There were indeed reasons for this. One reason was the collaboration among the four major companies, and another was the limited number of theaters showing the film. Although the four companies showed great cooperation, and the four theater chains united like never before, even they couldn’t avert the film’s poor fate.

In the end, “A Family Affair” ended with box office earnings of 11 million, marking the biggest failure since the establishment of Shadow Company and one of the lowest-grossing New Year’s films in recent years. Meanwhile, “The Dragon Warrior” achieved box office earnings of 39 million, ranking second in history. “Rich Man, Poor Man” scored just over 20 million, making it one of the losers in this competition. New Art City’s “Heroic Spirit 3” did relatively well, with earnings of 28 million.

Xiao Ran really had nothing to say. With the four major theater chains working together against him, he was utterly helpless. Fang Ruohai using Xiao Ran’s script for “Heroic Spirit 3” as a weapon was clearly meant to provoke him.

But that was later. While these films were competing fiercely for the top spot during the Spring Festival season, the Golden Horse Awards ceremony began. This time, Xiao Ran didn’t attend, as he wasn’t very interested in the Golden Horse Awards.

Shadow Company’s “A Fairy Tale in Autumn,” “The God of Gamblers,” and “Prison Story” were all nominated for Best Picture, as well as Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress. Aaron Kwok was nominated for all three of his films, successfully displacing Mo Shaocong from “The Last Eunuch.” Leung Ka-fai, due to a ban, wasn’t nominated at all.

Xiao Ran received two nominations for Best Original Screenplay, for “The God of Gamblers” and “A Fairy Tale in Autumn.” Shadow Company also had nominations for categories such as Best Cinematography. However, the main competitors were still “Red Rose” and the Taiwanese film “Scarecrow.”

Yet, the results surprised Xiao Ran. “Scarecrow” won Best Picture once again, while Best Director went to Zhang Wanding. With three nominations, Aaron Kwok easily won Best Actress for “A Fairy Tale in Autumn,” leaving Zhong Chuhong without a chance to become the queen of cinema.

Interestingly, “The God of Gamblers” won Best Original Music, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography, while Best Art Direction went to “Red Rose in the Snow”. In short, Shadow Company won the most awards at this Golden Horse Awards ceremony. Xiao Ran also won the Best Screenplay Award for “A Fairy Tale in Autumn”, and his popularity in Hong Kong and Taiwan was truly enviable at that time.

A celebration party was held for all the winners. At the party, Xiao Ran jokingly teased Lin Daoyun, saying that since he had won an award on his first try, his future prospects were boundless. Lin Daoyun was well aware of who had helped him win the award; besides being happy, he was also extremely grateful.

About half a month after the Golden Horse Awards, the competition among New Year’s movies had largely settled. Seeing this situation, Wei Dongling eagerly consulted Xiao Ran about how to deal with the pressure from the four major companies.

Xiao Ran smiled. He hadn’t predicted this situation, but he had at least been mentally prepared. However, he hadn’t expected “A Family Happy Event” to fail so miserably. Nevertheless, this didn’t stop the distribution department from releasing the film in places like Malaysia.

Since negotiations with Taiwan for distribution were still in progress, the film could only be sold to Lin Guiyun. Together with sales in Japan and South Korea, the film still generated over 50 million in profits for the company, after deducting costs.

Tianlai had been losing money, but not much, while Shadow Company made huge profits. Three days after the Golden Melody Awards nominations were announced, after going through a crisis, Shadow Company finally received performance reports from various departments.

In Shadow Company’s large meeting room, Peng Ge from the Audio-Visual Department stood up smiling and said, “Since the Audio-Visual Department was established not long ago, its performance hasn’t been great. Since its founding, it has sold 1.2 million videotapes, with sales revenue of 183.6 million and a profit of 133 million. The development and sales of related products have not been successful, with sales falling short of 2 million and a loss of 14 million. In total, the Audio-Visual Department has made a profit of 119 million.”

Liu Qing, the new head of the Production Department, was shocked. He had never heard such figures before—no company’s audio-visual sales had ever reached such levels. Realizing that the Production Department’s results weren’t his responsibility, Liu Qing stood up dejectedly and reported, “Last year, the Production Department released five films, with total box office earnings of 168 million. After deducting splits with theaters and other expenses, the profit was 48 million!”

As for the Planning and Marketing Departments, they basically only had expenses and no income. Ge Wenqiu from the Distribution Department looked the most proud, as he suddenly realized his department’s performance was the best: “Last year, from the distribution of five films throughout the year, the total revenue was 190 million!”

Xiao Ran and Wei Dongling exchanged a glance and held back their laughter. Ge Wenqiu was proud now, but he would surely be disappointed later. In fact, the profits of each department couldn’t be attributed solely to their own efforts but were the result of overall collaboration, so there was nothing to be proud of.

Tang Yan, who had a good command of Chinese, stood up smilingly and said, “The Investment Department has been established for less than three months, but so far it has generated 240 million in profits for the company through real estate projects and other ventures!”

This is undoubtedly a late-convened meeting, but it doesn’t matter. The goals for 1988 have already been set, and everyone is aware of them. In fact, after deducting all expenses, Phantom Company still made a profit of over 400 million in 1987. This figure would make Fang Xiaoqiang grin from ear to ear, as he suddenly realized that the 100 million he invested had appreciated significantly.

Here’s how it works: although Phantom Company isn’t a publicly listed firm, it still released its annual profit total after having its accounts audited by external accounting firms. Moreover, according to the calculations of these professionals, Phantom Company’s market value is 3.2 billion Hong Kong dollars. This figure isn’t exaggerated—it’s actually on the low side, considering it’s not yet listed. Yet, given Phantom Company’s investments in real estate and buildings, its control over newspapers and magazines, plus its 400 million in liquid assets, this valuation is more than justified. In less than a year, 100 million turned into 160 million—how could Fang Xiaoqiang not admire his own investment acumen?

Hale Group is controlled by Haisen Group at 47%, while Fang Ruohai holds the remaining shares. According to the accounting firms, since Hale Group isn’t involved in investments like real estate, its market value is lower than that of Phantom Company. But when including the liquid assets under Fang Ruohai’s control, its market value rises to 4.8 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Tianluo Company, Jiahé, and Debao have not disclosed their financial details, but under Xiao Ran’s indirect encouragement, the media calculated their market values as well. As a veteran film company, Jiahé alone is worth at least 700 million Hong Kong dollars just from its Fox Mountain Road studio, and with its other assets, its total market value is 5.7 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Debao and Tianluo are far behind—Debao’s market value is only 200 million, while Tianluo’s is less than 100 million. However, this clearly doesn’t mean Pan Disheng lacks money; his other businesses outside Debao are worth as much as several Debos combined. As for Yang Qi, he’s the most mysterious of the five company bosses. Although many media outlets haven’t yet classified Tianluo as a major company capable of competing with Phantom Company, Xiao Ran’s intuition tells him that Yang Qi’s assets are far greater than that.

When the media compared the bosses of these four major companies, they were surprised to find that both Xiao Ran and Fang Ruohai were extremely wealthy. Xiao Ran, owning 90% of Phantom Company, has a net worth of 2.9 billion. Fang Ruohai, owning 53% of Hale Group, has a net worth of 2.5 billion. Pan Disheng, also a young talent, has a net worth of 800 million, while Yang Qi has at least 100 million.

It’s hard to imagine what drove the media to do this—perhaps because recent changes in Hong Kong’s film industry have been so dramatic, with it now dominated by young talents. So, they’re eager to rank them.

As a new year began, the media was even more excited to rank Hong Kong’s richest people. Among those under 35 years old, Xiao Ran topped the list, attracting the attention of all unmarried women in Hong Kong with his 2.9 billion in wealth.

Of course, Fang Ruohai also had the same appeal, but unfortunately, he was already married. However, it wasn’t long before the whole of Hong Kong learned that his relationship with his wife didn’t seem to be very good—she wasn’t even brought to Hong Kong with him. This rumor quickly made all the women in Hong Kong who considered themselves attractive start scheming, especially those who had access to high society.

But compared to Fang Ruohai’s family business, the media was more interested in Xiao Ran’s rise to success. For anyone, amassing billions of wealth in just two years was undoubtedly sensational, and Xiao Ran undoubtedly became the center of this sensation. Countless journalists flocked to Shadow Company, with some even going straight to Xiao Ran’s father, Xiao Shaohao, and mother, Liang Wenhui, in an attempt to uncover the story behind his success. They were even more surprised when they learned that Xiao Shaohao had started his business just over a year earlier than Xiao Ran, and his company was only worth tens of millions (Xiao Ran had secretly had Tianxia Fund invest some money in his father).

Interestingly, both father and son pursued their own businesses and achieved considerable success. Such news was clearly popular among readers, so the media was even more eager to cover it. Fortunately, An Yuxuan was capable and managed to ward off almost all interviews.

Yet the media persisted in their investigations, uncovering even more astonishing facts. It turned out that over two years ago, Xiao Ran’s family was so poor they lived in public housing. This revelation shocked the entire city, who marveled at what seemed like a miracle.

“A miracle! A miracle created by God’s hand!” Lin Qingxia gently tapped Xiao Ran’s forehead and said with a smile, “Now everyone in Hong Kong wants to marry you!”

“Really? Let me think… which family has a pretty daughter…” Xiao Ran pretended to count on his fingers for a while before smiling and saying, “After thinking hard, I still think you’re the best fit for me. What do you say? Marry me—after all, I’m the richest bachelor in Hong Kong!”

“You’re not a bachelor!” Lin Qingxia laughed heartily. “You’re Xiao the Bachelor…”

*****

Dear readers, my new book, *The Legend of the Gambling God*, really needs your support. Go vote for it now!