Chapter Thirteen: Beyond Expectations

If Xiao Ran only wanted to live a comfortable life, he wouldn’t have to worry about anything else—simply plagiarizing future scripts would suffice. Yet, sometimes in life one must choose what to do and what not to do. Anyone in such a favorable position would make the same choice rather than settle for mediocrity.

Plagiarizing future scripts was by no means a long-term solution, and Xiao Ran understood this better than anyone. He was plagiarizing these scripts now merely to carve out a path for himself in the film industry, to meet as many important people as possible, and to secure advantageous conditions for himself.

A few days later, he met Huang Baiming from New Art City and Hong Jinbao from Baohe to discuss scripts in detail. Of course, thanks to Xiao Ran’s efforts to win them over, they all developed a favorable impression of him. By this point, Xiao Ran had essentially established himself as a screenwriter in the industry.

Don’t think it’s easy to gain recognition, especially for a freelance writer like Xiao Ran. Yet within just two months, he had established connections with several major film companies and even negotiated future terms—this meant the film companies and industry professionals had accepted this newcomer who had boldly entered the field.

Under these circumstances, Xiao Ran gradually felt more at ease. If nothing went wrong, his network of relationships was solid. Now, what needed focus was funding—he had to solve this damned money problem to start his own film company.

The four scripts earned Xiao Ran 190,000, but he had only received 100,000 upfront; the remaining amount and royalties hadn’t been paid yet. That was expected, as the filming of these scripts hadn’t begun, so there were no royalties to be had.

In the following half month, he leisurely wrote “The Female Warrior” and “The Best Partners: Saving the Police Officer Across a Thousand Miles.” Wei Dongling was now working at Jiahe, while You Zhi and Wei Jiahui were very busy and only called to check in.

Xiao Ran often visited Liang Jiahui, encouraging him and telling him he would be able to return to work soon. He also left some money, either as support for Liang Jiahui or to win his loyalty. After Liang repeatedly refused, he eventually accepted it. During this half month, A Qiang and Xiao Yi both learned his address and came to see him several times.

It wasn’t exactly leisurely for Xiao Ran—he was constantly thinking about ways to make money. Five million was no small sum in this era, equivalent to 50 million in 2000. This posed a huge challenge for him. Still, he found time to visit A Biao in prison and bring him some gifts.

Half a month later, “Mr. Zombie” officially began filming. As a screenwriter, Xiao Ran naturally had to attend. The opening ceremony was lively and broadened his horizons. There were rules for the pre-filming ritual—although lion dances weren’t required, the devotion shown was considerable.

Xiao Ran stared at the offerings on the table, including roasted pork, and couldn’t help but laugh. This opening ceremony had only been popular in Hong Kong for years, but after the 1990s, even the mainland adopted it. The busy and lively worship ceremony finally led to some clarity, and when it came to the final worship segment, Hong Jinbao, who was both the boss and producer, stood at the front. The others took their positions according to their status, showing a clear hierarchy. Hong Jinbao explained all this to Xiao Ran after realizing his confusion. After all this, Xiao Ran understood that the purpose of this worship was to seek peace of mind and divine blessings for a smooth filming process. Hong Jinbao, who wasn’t as overweight as he would become in the future, already had some weight to him. He smiled and walked up to Xiao Ran, saying, “A Ran, you’re the screenwriter—stand with Situ in the second row!” Situ’s name was Situ Zhuohan; he was the real screenwriter of “Mr. Zombie,” and in fact, Xiao Ran had plagiarized his work. Interestingly, history didn’t seem to change easily. Hong Jinbao thought Xiao Ran’s script was good, but its length was only enough for a 90-minute film, which was clearly insufficient. So, Situ Zhuohan became the screenwriter to add more plot elements. Under normal circumstances, they would be equals, but during filming, Situ acted as Xiao Ran’s assistant. This made Xiao Ran feel extremely uneasy—plagiarizing someone’s work was one thing, but treating them as an assistant was simply unfair. Situ noticed Xiao Ran’s strange expression but didn’t delve into it. However, if he had known that Xiao Ran had plagiarized his future work, he probably wouldn’t have believed it even if told. In the first row were actors like Lin Zhengying and Xu Guanying. There weren’t any true top-tier stars in this film, except for Li Sifeng, who was very attractive. Lin Zhengying was someone worth befriending; although he became famous for zombie movies, he was also a good action choreographer. Xu Guanying was one of Hong Kong’s famous Xu brothers, usually playing comedic roles, though he didn’t resemble the other brothers much in appearance. Shortly after the worship, filming officially began. As screenwriters, he and Situ only needed to follow the director. The director of this film was Liu Guanwei, who was almost forgotten 20 years later, but he had directed many films during that era. Mentioning Liu Guanwei made Xiao Ran extremely curious. He had even wondered in his dreams whether Liu Guanwei was actually Liu Zhenwei’s brother—after all, their names were so similar! Of course, he didn’t have time to figure this out for now. On the set, the most popular person was probably Xiao Ran. To win people over, he even brought delicious treats to the set every day. But this comfortable life would soon end when Cheng Long called—“Police Story” was starting filming. “Mr. Zombie” was scheduled for late shooting, while “Police Story” was for daytime. This put Xiao Ran in a difficult situation. He wasn’t someone who liked hard work, and with less and less time to rest, he was naturally unhappy. However, the only thing that pleased him perhaps was that through filming this movie, his relationship with Cheng Long gradually improved.

Sometimes when filming fight scenes, Cheng Long would even seek Xiao Ran’s opinion. Of course, Xiao Ran, being inexperienced, could only offer what he knew. After enduring this for about a week, he felt overwhelmed.
That day, as soon as work was done, before he could bring it up to Cheng Long, Cheng Long came to him and said, “A Ran, I’ve noticed you’ve been covering for me and my senior these past few days; you seem very tired. How about this—if there’s nothing much to do on set, you don’t need to come! What do you think?”
What could Xiao Ran say? This was already considered generous treatment. These days, who isn’t working multiple shifts a day to make money? It just so happened he couldn’t do that, so naturally, he had no right to complain. That day, after finishing a shoot with Hong Jinbao, it was already 11 p.m. When he explained his situation to Hong Jinbao, he received the same promise as from Cheng Long.
Exhausted to the point of almost falling asleep in the taxi, Xiao Ran gave half-hearted directions and accidentally got off early, having to walk a while to reach Xiaoyao Wo. As he was dazed, he suddenly heard angry shouting not far away and quickly opened his eyes to look.
It was two young men fighting—no, upon closer inspection, it wasn’t a fight at all; it was a one-on-one duel. Three against one, with the one being attacked rushing toward Xiao Ran. Xiao Ran immediately frowned; he didn’t want to cause trouble and quickly stepped aside.
As the young man escaped, Xiao Ran heard the angry voices of the three chasing after him. For some reason, he suddenly felt annoyed and tripped them with his foot. One of them flew far away and fainted on the spot.
But as soon as Xiao Ran tripped them, his head cleared up, and despite feeling uneasy, he rushed in the direction of the young man. He soon caught up with him and got rid of the two pursuers. The young man, still shaken, patted his chest and reached out to Xiao Ran, saying, “Hi, I’m Yang Qi. Thank you for helping me…”
Before he could finish speaking, he saw Xiao Ran’s body collapse to the ground. Alarmed, he thought something terrible had happened to him. When he checked Xiao Ran’s breath and examined his body, he found no injuries at all—the boy had simply fallen asleep. Yang Qi could only smile bitterly and decide to take the boy home.
By the time Xiao Ran woke up, it was already the next afternoon. He was awakened by the sound of a door slamming. He shook his head vigorously to clear his foggy mind and immediately realized it wasn’t his Xiaoyao Wo. As he tried to figure out what had happened, he suddenly smelled a strange, pleasant fragrance coming from the blanket…
Before he could react, he heard rustling sounds. Xiao Ran peeked out of the blanket and saw something that left him stunned…
A woman was in front of the wardrobe—no, it should be a girl. The girl stood in front of the wardrobe, taking off her clothes one by one. But with it being so hot in Hong Kong, who would wear many clothes? Soon, she was left wearing only…

Her fair and delicate skin, along with her graceful curves, made Xiao Ran feel dizzy from the beauty of her body. With a thud, his head hit the headboard. The girl turned around in confusion, her expression instantly turning pale with terror. Her beautiful eyes widened, and she let out a scream that seemed to shake the heavens and move the ghosts. She quickly grabbed her clothes to cover her nearly exposed body.

Xiao Ran wasn’t seriously hurt from the collision, but the scream almost shattered his eardrums. His face turning blue, he shouted, “Stop screaming! I mean no harm!”

It was unclear whether the girl heard Xiao Ran or recognized him. Gradually, the terrifying screams stopped. With a blue-faced expression, Xiao Ran thought to himself: Maybe I should write a script titled “Screeching Fear” based on this?

“You… weren’t you sleeping in my brother’s room? How did you end up in my room?” Recalling what had happened, the girl felt both angry and a bit shy, her snow-white face gradually turning red.

Xiao Ran scratched his head, an action that seemed innocent, though he wasn’t exactly innocent himself. He didn’t quite understand what the girl was saying, but from his perspective, after what had happened, he had to respond. So, he carefully lowered his gaze and said, “Um, I woke up and found myself here. Could you tell me what exactly happened? How did I end up here?”

The girl quickly explained what had happened the previous night. It turned out that the young man had taken Xiao Ran home. Seeing that Xiao Ran wouldn’t wake up, he decided to let him sleep with him. But Yang Qi was very uncomfortable sharing a bed, so he kicked Xiao Ran off the bed in the middle of the night.

After the girl went to school, Xiao Ran, feeling uncomfortable sleeping on the floor, found a bed for himself… This guy was really a pervert; even in his confusion, he managed to find a fragrant bed.

(This chapter is dedicated to my friend Feng Jian Yang, who is about to take the college entrance exam. Wishing him success and admission to his dream school. Let’s all pray for him!)