Chapter 87: The Trip to Taiwan

Thus, finding another spokesperson was undoubtedly necessary. Coincidentally, earlier at the Golden Horse Awards, Xiao Ran had talked with the manager of Yin Du, subtly expressing his desire to collaborate. Xiao Ran was immediately investigated, and it was found that before 1985, he had been quite lazy and even nearly became a gangster.

However, after that, Xiao Ran seemed to wake up from a dream, showing talent that surprised everyone. This was highly commendable, and the investigation report affirmed his talent and abilities in absolute terms. With sufficient talent and ability, along with favorable political tendencies, Xiao Ran naturally became a candidate for evaluation, though he himself was unaware of this. Since Guan Xin happened to be by Xiao Ran’s side, the task of evaluation was naturally assigned to him.

Xiao Ran wasn’t aware that Guan Xin had been frustrated because of him for quite some time. Even if he had known, he probably wouldn’t have cared, as he was even more frustrated himself. During the day, he would spare time to learn music from Huang Zhan, while at night and in the morning, he was forced to practice martial arts, which was extremely painful.

In addition, he was also learning to drive. His catchphrase these days became, “To think that I, a big shot making hundreds of thousands per second, am here practicing martial arts—what a failure.”

Fortunately, such days didn’t have to be endured every day, as he sometimes had to fulfill his contract with film producers and lead a team to places like the Philippines for promotions. For example, one day they went to Taiwan. Strictly speaking, Xiao Ran still had reservations about going to Taiwan, as Wang Yang’s father was a wealthy businessman in Taiwan with considerable influence.

Fortunately, Taipei was under the control of the Chuh Liang Bang, and Xiao Ran had previously checked with Xing Jiafeng, the head of the anti-gang unit, and found that Wang Yang’s father, Wang Minggui, had never had any dealings with the Chuh Liang Bang, so he dared to go.

Xing Jiafeng had also informed the Taipei police in advance, asking them to protect this important figure—of course, an important figure! Just kidding. Many newspapers had reported on Liang Jiabao’s “God’s Hand” skill. In Southeast Asia, where Hong Kong movies were popular, no one didn’t know about the “God’s Hand” Xiao Ran, the great screenwriter.

Although *The God of Gamblers* didn’t feature Lin Qingxia, she still came with Xiao Ran. Along the way, Fa Ge would often glance sideways at Xiao Ran and Lin Qingxia whispering to each other, then give a creepy grin, continuing until the two felt embarrassed.

Before getting off the plane, Xiao Ran cast a longing glance at Lin Qingxia before finally releasing their hands. Neither of them wanted to be exposed to the media too quickly, as they weren’t mentally prepared yet. Moreover, if their relationship became public now, the whole world would see Lin Qingxia as an infamous third party.

Lin Qingxia didn’t want such a reputation, and Xiao Ran certainly didn’t either. So, it was necessary for them to keep their distance in public. Now, Xiao Ran understood why celebrities always hid their relationships. Though the reasons varied, the situations weren’t very different.

Upon arriving at the airport, they were immediately surrounded by reporters. Especially when they saw Lin Qingxia there as well, the reporters went wild, forgetting about these main characters and focusing their cameras on Lin Qingxia.
Fa Ge was clearly frustrated by this situation; he had experienced it before. Currently, there were only two women in the entertainment industry who could captivate the global Chinese community: Deng Lijun and Lin Qingxia. In other places, Fa Ge’s charm was no less than Lin Qingxia’s, but in her stronghold of Taiwan, it was far inferior.
Police arranged by the Taipei authorities escorted Xiao Ran and the others to the hotel. It wasn’t Xiao Ran’s first time in Taipei, but he still found everything there very new. Unnoticed, two well-dressed men left quietly after seeing Xiao Ran enter the hotel.
After talking with Fa Ge and Huazai, Xiao Ran sneaked into Lin Qingxia’s room like a thief. As soon as he entered, he sensed a unique, delicate fragrance in the room and immediately praised her, “Qingxia, why is everything so beautiful wherever you are? How about this—I need to find a way to keep you in my home for the rest of your life, because my place isn’t very attractive at all!”
“You’re just being smooth-talking. What’s so special about it?” Lin Qingxia gave Xiao Ran a glare, though she felt sweet inside. No woman could resist the compliments of a man she liked, not even Lin Qingxia.
“No, my lips are very dry—they’re not smooth at all. How about you moisten them for me?” Xiao Ran smiled and gradually approached Lin Qingxia, who was packing her luggage. Suddenly, he wrapped his arms around her from behind, inhaling her intoxicating scent, and said in an extremely playful tone, “Please help me!”
If Lin Qingxia hadn’t liked Xiao Ran, she might have felt disgusted, but for a woman in love, it was different. Lin Qingxia stopped packing and leaned back against Xiao Ran, worriedly saying, “Don’t joke. It’s fine now that our relationship isn’t exposed, but I’m afraid…”
“What are you worried about?” Xiao Ran felt intoxicated and unable to extricate himself. Suddenly snapping out of it, he saw the expression on her face and understood. “Don’t worry. There’s always a way. Although you’re five years older than me, I think everyone can accept it. Look, even Fa Ge and Hong Gu agree, right?”
“You know those are different!” Lin Qingxia’s worry grew deeper. “They’re our friends, so they can accept it, but society can’t. Especially since… we’re both public figures.”
Xiao Ran sighed. He knew all too well that society found such a sibling relationship hard to accept, but he had no solution for now. He simply said softly, “If possible, I really want to retire together and spend the rest of our lives in a place where no one knows us. That would be great. But unfortunately, I still have one wish and a difficult task left unfinished!”

“Don’t do this for me; I’ll feel guilty!” Lin Qingxia tilted her swan-like, snow-white neck to look at Xiao Ran, speaking sincerely, “You’re so talented. If you retire like this without pursuing a career, I think you’ll blame me for the rest of your life. So, please don’t do this!”
Holding Lin Qingxia tightly in his arms as if afraid she might be taken away, Xiao Ran felt her dependence and suddenly became filled with ambition. He said solemnly, “As long as I can control the direction of Hong Kong’s film industry, no one will dare to say anything to us.”
His strong confidence could be heard in his tone. Hearing Xiao Ran’s words, Lin Qingxia was shocked. She hadn’t expected him to have such ambitions to control Hong Kong’s film industry. But when she looked into his determined eyes, she knew he wasn’t joking. Lost in this sense of security, she whispered, “You can do it, you definitely can!”
Of course he could! Xiao Ran didn’t know when Microsoft had become successful, nor did he know what major changes had occurred in the world economy that could benefit him. But as long as he understood the specific trends in Hong Kong films and world cinema, he had the right to control them.
What he wanted wasn’t just control—it was mainly support, to help Hong Kong films replace Hollywood. And to have influence in Hong Kong, he needed sufficient control. Previously, his goal and task had been to help Hong Kong films escape the brink of extinction, but now he believed he had the full ability to make them replace Hollywood.
Xiao Ran never thought much of the age difference between him and Lin Qingxia—referring to actual age, not physical age. In that sense, they complemented each other perfectly. He gave her a gentle kiss and sat down beside her on the bed. After a moment of thought, he said, “My influence isn’t strong enough yet. It’s better to be cautious and keep a distance in public.”
How long would it take to control Hong Kong’s film industry? As soon as he said those words, he began to calculate. Judging from the speed at which Golden Harvest caught up with Shaw Brothers, it had taken just ten years. New Art City had indeed established itself as one of the top three studios in just five years, but in terms of scale, it couldn’t compete with Golden Harvest.
Golden Harvest had taken over a decade to grow, thanks to superstars like Bruce Lee and Cheng Long, to reach its current size. Its influence lay not only in production but mainly in distribution. Golden Harvest was a powerful distribution agency in Southeast Asia and also had significant distribution networks in Europe and America—this was the gap.
Ten years—ten years were needed! At the thought of this figure, Xiao Ran broke into sweat. Even if he was willing to spend so much time, what about Lin Qingxia? Would they have to wait until they were both old to be together?
After further consideration, he made a promise that seemed far from achievable at the moment, staring into Lin Qingxia’s eyes like the moon: “Give me three years, at most four, and I’ll definitely be able to control Hong Kong’s film industry!”
Seeing Xiao Ran’s determined gaze, Lin Qingxia felt a wave of warmth in her heart: “It’s not urgent. I can wait!”

There’s no time to wait—absolutely no time. This was the calculation Xiao Ran made after gritting his teeth tightly. If a stock market crash occurred at the end of the year, he could make a fortune in the stock market and use that money to expand the company. With capital as a foundation, Phantom Company’s growth rate would undoubtedly be astonishing.

Xiao Ran’s greatest confidence and hope didn’t lie in stock market crashes but in the fact that Phantom Company had an advantage that no other company could match: with his insight, he knew exactly which films would be successful and which would fail. This meant the company didn’t need to finance films to reduce risks. No Hollywood company would cover the full cost of a big-budget film on its own; instead, they tried to raise funds to minimize risks. Even the most promising films only had a 50% success rate.

Financing meant sharing profits, and here Xiao Ran’s advantage became very clear. Take “The God of Gamblers” for example—if he hadn’t borrowed funds from Fang Ruohai earlier, all 80 million in profits would have gone to the company. With such a pace, Xiao Ran hoped to accumulate enough funds for expansion within just a year.

*****

Cinema City Company
Cinema City’s owner was Chow Man-Wai, with key executives like Ho Kwan-chang. Before founding Cinema City, they had been pillars of Shaw Brothers, but they left due to disagreements, leading to hostility between the two companies for many years afterward. Cinema City’s first move was to secure Bruce Lee, and later they made Jackie Chan famous. What Cinema City did best was identifying talents that Shaw Brothers had overlooked—Hsu Guan-wen was one such example. The artists under Cinema City were probably the most popular at the time, and even New Art City couldn’t argue against this; it had to admit that Cinema City produced countless outstanding talents. However, after 1997, Cinema City largely scaled back its film production and focused on other areas. “The Drunken Monkey” was Cinema City’s only film in the previous two years. Mr. Ho Kwan-chang passed away in the late 1990s, and the Golden Horse Awards held a special tribute for him.