Chapter 225: Third-Tier Actress

“Come on, Fa Zai, Xiao Li, have some soup. This soup is very good for your health…” Seeing Reeves staring at the soup for a long time, his mother couldn’t help but smile and explain, “These are all very nourishing. Have some!”
Reeves also appeared in this film, though of course he wasn’t playing a villain. Even Xiao Ran might not agree to that—playing a villain in such a commercial film meant limiting his own roles, and Xiao Ran certainly didn’t want to waste such a good actor.
In the film, Reeves played a young CIA agent who discovered the plot of the main villain, the Doctor, and others. Later, he became friends with the character played by Fa Ge. However, Reeves’ role in the second part wasn’t very significant; the real action was in the third part. It was in the third part that they fought for their beliefs and nations, with intense scenes that were definitely difficult to shoot.
Xiao Ran had already decided not to let Director Liang Jun direct the third part, as he knew Liang Jun couldn’t handle the substantial amount of emotional drama required. Reeves wasn’t yet famous in Hong Kong, but at the beginning of this year, Xiao Ran had the writing team create a script specifically for him. In that film, Xiao Li played an international criminal investigator, while Zhen Zidan played a local police officer, showing their conflicting perspectives.
That film did well at the box office, earning around 15 million. Xiao Li’s second project was an English-language film. Xiao Ran gathered many Western actors in Hong Kong and moved the shooting to Europe; it was a romance movie. That film is still in post-production, so its box office performance is unknown for now.
Xiao Ran prepared a fourth film for Xiao Li titled “Wolf Pack,” based on a story he had read on Qidian before. If it was well received, it could be turned into a series. The only thing that worried him a bit was that he had contacted Coppola, asking his nephew to come to Hong Kong—there was a role in “Wolf Pack” specifically meant for Uncle Cage.
Unfortunately, although Coppola agreed, he still hadn’t given a response. Reeves wiped his mouth, savoring the lingering taste, and said to Xiao Ran in his still-rudimentary Mandarin, “Auntie’s soup is really great. I’ve been in Hong Kong for almost a year, and Auntie’s soup is the best I’ve had!”
Hearing this, his mother was overjoyed and wanted to make another pot of soup right away. Xiao Ran couldn’t help but laugh. “Actually, there are many good things in China as long as you know how to enjoy them. How long have you been here? Are you used to it now?”
Xiao Ran asked this needlessly—Xiao Li could already handle the language barrier, so what could there be he wasn’t used to? Xiao Li was actually quite satisfied with everything here, except that Chinese was too difficult to learn, and those damned chopsticks were hard to master.
Apart from the language, nothing else seemed to be a problem—after all, there were plenty of Western restaurants in Hong Kong. When Xiao Li first came to Hong Kong for his first film, he was surprised by how fast filming went here compared to Hollywood. In Hollywood, not to mention working all night, even working an extra hour would lead to lawsuits from actors, which would be a burden on the film company.

However, after the film was released, he gradually understood why sometimes it was necessary to work all night even when there was no rush to meet a deadline. It was because of inspiration—Hong Kong films could rise rapidly precisely because they were more flexible, unlike Hollywood, where everything had to follow strict rules, being rigid and formulaic, restricting even the most creative ideas. If a director got inspired, working for a whole day, let alone three consecutive days, wasn’t a problem. When shooting “Spy Change,” Xiao Ran once worked for over thirty hours straight because he needed to turn his fleeting inspiration into reality before it vanished. “It’s not bad, it’s just the language…” Xiao Li showed a sunny smile. Sometimes, Xiao Ran thought Xiao Li was really suitable to play that rebellious boy. An idea struck him—he might write a story about a rebellious boy who came to Hong Kong to settle down. Xiao Li also knew this wasn’t a problem at all; as long as communication was possible, it would work. For dubbing, there were the best professionals in Hong Kong to provide voices in various languages other than English. He was quite satisfied with the treatment here too. Initially, Shadow offered him only 300,000 Hong Kong dollars, but by the time of the third film, the amount had increased significantly. Speaking of foreign actors, Shadow had quite a few under its umbrella, but few as promising as Xiao Li. Daisy could be considered the highest-paid foreigner so far, with earnings reaching 1.8 million, barely reaching the top tier of second-tier actors. Simply put, Shadow was now somewhat like the United Nations—there were not only Westerners but also filmmakers from Japan and Southeast Asia who came to Hong Kong at the invitation of its local branches. Xiao Ran’s strategy was to use foreigners against each other, letting them use their own abilities to help Shadow conquer their own countries—a tactic commonly used by Hollywood. “Coincidentally, Brother Fa, you also need to learn English, and Xiao Li needs to learn Chinese. You two should communicate more,” Xiao Ran said, glancing at Brother Fa and Xiao Li before smiling. Now, all actors and filmmakers in Hong Kong knew one thing: if they wanted greater success in the future, they had to learn Chinese. Especially those in behind-the-scenes roles were told that there would surely be more foreigners in the future, so it was best to know some English for communication. Under such circumstances, Brother Fa had learned Mandarin to a decent level, only slightly better than Xiao Li. Just as Xiao Ran was thinking, the phone rang—it was Wei Dongling, sounding very frustrated: “The attempt to acquire Land Development failed. We lost over 600 million, and Li Ka-shing lost over 700 million!” Xiao Ran was shocked and then shook his head in disappointment. The acquisition of Land Development wasn’t just for the company’s prime land but also for its renowned infrastructure company, so as to enter the mainland market in the future. Since it had failed, they could only turn their attention to other options. “It’s okay. We can afford to lose this amount. Besides, Fang Xiaoqiang is using the Gulf crisis to make money for the company!” After some thought, Xiao Ran realized that in terms of infrastructure companies, Li Chao Ren’s Yangtze River Infrastructure hadn’t been split up yet. If they could get ahead of him in developing infrastructure, they would have a greater advantage when entering the mainland in the future.

Thinking of this and then recalling Wharf, he said in a deep voice, “Take a break. We’ll launch an acquisition bid at Wharf in a month. After acquiring that company, we’ll consider CK Infrastructure! See you tomorrow!”
Wei Dongling wasn’t as disheartened as Xiao Ran had imagined, because their loss in this battle was mainly due to their British ally, Landmark. If Landmark hadn’t allied with other British-funded companies, he and Li Ka-shing would definitely have succeeded. Neither he nor Xiao Ran was entirely confident about this; they just saw it as a practice run. After all, Xiao Ran had several larger acquisition plans in mind, such as acquiring Hong Kong Telecom, worth over $30 billion.
There were four major traditional British-funded companies in Hong Kong. Hopewell was a sensation across the city when it was acquired by Li Ka-shing, and Landmark was one of the few stocks that held its value during various stock market crashes. As for Jardine, its value dropped significantly after Clarks was acquired by Peter Kow. The only remaining target was the fourth traditional British-funded company, Wharf. This company had strong cash flow, but its issued shares were only worth two to three billion. Acquiring it wasn’t difficult.
Moreover, Wei Dongling had already done most of the preparatory work and was just waiting to announce the acquisition bid. After experiencing this classic anti-acquisition case against Landmark, Wei Dongling and Li Ka-shing had learned a lot from each other. He believed he could succeed.
That evening, after dinner, while Xiao Ran was thinking about which director to pair with Leung Jun, he finally decided to have Liu Mei give it a try after some consideration. Lin Qingxia, sitting next to Xiao Ran, said softly, “Something happened this afternoon. Yang Yuejie asked me for help!”
Immediately, both his mother and Xiao Han became very curious. Xiao Ran turned to look at Lin Qingxia in surprise. Lin Qingxia gave her a disgusted look and glanced at Xiao Han. His mother immediately realized it wasn’t appropriate to talk about it in front of Xiao Han and reluctantly sent her back to her room. Only then did Lin Qingxia say sternly, “The day before yesterday, Yang Yuejie went to Macau with that Chen Dezhong, and she was forced to sleep with someone else…”
Now not only did Xiao Ran understand, but even his mother was clear. She spat in disdain, stood up, and left, saying, “I’m too lazy to listen to such filthy nonsense! Aran, as an older brother, you must protect Xiao Han well. If even one of her hairs falls out, I’ll make you pay!”
“Okay, then you can punish me now!” Xiao Ran sighed lightly, trying to cheer his mother up by pretending to be relaxed. “Because today I saw one of her hairs fall out, so you can punish me twice!”
His mother and Lin Qingxia couldn’t help but laugh, forgetting their earlier displeasure. As they chattered their way upstairs, Lin Qingxia explained the whole situation to Xiao Ran. It was actually quite simple. Yang Yuejie was a former Miss Asia who hadn’t made it to the top rankings. She was very plump and beautiful, with a restless personality and extreme vanity. As a result, she was kept as a mistress by a wealthy man named Chen Dezhong.
Chen Dezhong wasn’t a good person. His affairs were often exposed, yet he had thick skin and never cared. This time, when Yang Yuejie went to Macau with Chen Dezhong, she was forced to sleep with someone else and was even abused. Yang Yuejie immediately thought of Xiao Ran, but given her status and character, it was obviously impossible for her to get to know him.

So, this guy thought of Lin Qingxia. Who in all of Asia didn’t know that Xiao Ran doted on Lin Qingxia? As long as she wanted to take a walk in the breeze, Xiao Ran was willing to step in—then the matter would be settled. Of course, this was what Lin Qingxia guessed; Yang Yuejie wouldn’t be stupid enough to say it out loud.

Xiao Ran shook his head helplessly. Such things were common—candidates for Miss Hong Kong and Miss Asia often ended up like this. The Miss Asia pageant, founded in 1985 and discontinued in 1999, was particularly severe in this regard. Leaving aside matters like patronage, there were countless adult film stars who emerged from it.

Historically, Qiu Yueqing, who started as a fashion model, won awards for her looks, swimming skills, and charm in 1987 and even became the champion. With such a background, there was no reason for her to act in adult films, yet in 1990 she starred in He Fan’s “Three Times Temptation,” revealing her body in scanty clothing—becoming the first Miss Asia champion to do so.

She later faced immense social pressure. Although her subsequent films like “Razor Lover,” “Dance Man on Friday,” and “You Were Once Beautiful” were sensual, they didn’t involve any nudity. Her acting career declined, and in 1994 she appeared naked again in “Kiss Me,” but it didn’t succeed, forcing her to return to television.

Ye Yuqing, who finished third in Miss Asia, was also one of the beneficiaries of the adult film boom in the early 1990s. After starring in several successful adult films, she successfully transformed her career by acting in serious dramas and art films, becoming a top-star actress.

Weng Hong, another Miss Asia champion, starred in many classic adult films with Wang Jing, which led to conflicts with her family. However, her films like “Ten Tortures of the Qing Dynasty” and “Twelve Rooms of the Brothel” are indeed classics of the genre. She later unexpectedly transitioned into comedy acting, ending up fairly well.

Zeng Xiaoyan, who finished second in Miss Asia, Gong Xuehua, who ranked fifth at 47, and Zhang Wencí, recognized for her perfect figure, also starred in several adult films. But they remained sensible and refused to expose themselves. Another example is Chen Yiming, a former Miss Asia contestant, who tried to gain attention by revealing herself on a TV show in 1995. She also starred in the highly revealing film “Crazy Horse Girl: One Night of Passion” and was involved in rumors with Zhou Xingchi and Er Dongsheng—recognized as one of the best at creating publicity.

There were also Zhou Hong, Fan Aijie, and Cai Meilan, who acted in “The Jade Pillow: The Secret of Infidelity.” The most tragic and ridiculous case was Chen Baolian, a actress who later committed suicide. She was initially forced into adult films by her mother. Less than two months after her death, “The Life of the Legendary Beauty Baolian” was released, starring none other than Sun Yali, who had lost the Miss Asia competition.

It’s no exaggeration to say that, given these vast numbers, Miss Asia essentially became a breeding ground for adult film stars. Xiao Ran didn’t want ATV to bear this burden. Shortly after acquiring ATV, he ordered Zhu Guangli to revise the selection rules to better suit choosing actresses for the entertainment industry, adding criteria such as intellectual depth, aiming to turn it into a beauty pageant that brought in fresh talent.

The people who acted in pornographic films didn’t show up, but there were still those who were kept as lovers, and Yang Yuejie was one of them. Xiao Ran didn’t care about who was kept as a lover or not; moreover, it would be excessive to force intervention, as it would be an infringement on their privacy.
“Shouldn’t you help her? She seems really pitiful!” Recalling how Yang Yuejie had knelt before her and cried, Lin Qingxia couldn’t help but feel sympathy.
Xiao Ran burst into laughter, stroking her hair and saying softly, “What’s there to pity about such a person? If she hadn’t gotten involved with them, no one would have forced her. It’s entirely her own choice—why bother with her?”
“You really are…” Lin Qingxia glared at Xiao Ran reproachfully, pushing away his intrusive hand before sighing, “I know it’s her own fault, but I still can’t help feeling sorry when I see her. Fine, you decide!”
“Decide by myself? That’s interesting!” Xiao Ran murmured to himself, then suddenly smiled. He wrapped his arms around his wife and spoke sweetly, “Don’t worry. Since you’re involved, it would be rude of me not to agree.”
Xiao Ran chuckled. He knew he could be a bit harsh on certain matters. After playing the strict role, a kinder one was needed. He thought his wife would be an ideal candidate to play that kinder role.