National Tide 1980.

As we were talking, the elevator had already taken us directly to the hotel's VIP floor.

Once the door opens, you'll find yourself in a private corridor leading to the business suites.

Yao Peifang swiped her card to open the door, and the moment she pushed it open, a sea breeze carrying a moist scent rushed towards her.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the waterfront view of Victoria Harbour is fully visible, and the evening glow paints the sea with a golden-red hue.

In the distance, the Star Ferry and cargo ships slowly shuttle back and forth, outlining the most classic silhouette of the port city.

"Mr. Ning, please have a seat. I'll call the hotel reception right away."

While greeting them, Yao Peifang quickly walked to the phone next to the sofa to negotiate with the hotel about changing rooms.

Ning Weimin did not sit down immediately, but instead, attracted by the scenery, he walked to the terrace and stood there.

His gaze swept over the beautiful seaside scenery before him, his eyes calm and profound.

His two assistants stood quietly at the entrance to the living room, placing their suitcases and backpacks on the low cabinets beside them.

Although they also longed for the terrace with its scenic views, they were well aware of their place and had no intention of disturbing Ning Weimin. They maintained a proper distance from him at all times.

"Mr. Ning, your room has been arranged with the hotel, but you'll need to wait a bit for the room key to arrive. Let me make you a cup of tea first."

After finishing the call, Yao Peifang first reported to Ning Weimin. Before long, she came over with three cups of tea.

She first handed two of the cups to her two assistants, then went to the terrace and placed a cup of warm jasmine tea next to Ning Weimin.

"President Ning, you must be tired from your journey. Have a cup of tea to relax."

Ning Weimin was pleasantly surprised to smell the comforting and familiar aroma of tea.

"Oh, it's jasmine! It's not easy to find this drink here. I appreciate your thoughtfulness."

Yao Peifang, however, did not take credit for his achievements.

"It would be a huge oversight of me not to know that you like jasmine tea. I brought it over in advance; it's just a small thing."

Ning Weimin turned around, took the teacup, and took a sip. The warmth slid down his throat, and he felt increasingly satisfied.

He looked up at Yao Peifang and couldn't help but smile as he spoke.

"Regardless, you've been working hard for me in Hong Kong these past two months, and even if you haven't done anything outstanding, you've certainly put in a lot of effort. I heard you say on the phone that things were going very smoothly with the entertainment and business circles. As your boss, I not only want to thank you, but I also want to reward you."

Yao Peifang was taken aback for a moment, then smiled somewhat embarrassedly.

"It's alright, it's all part of my job. It's just that the business in Hong Kong has just started, and there are definitely more things to deal with. Sometimes I feel like I can't be in two places at once. I'm quite worried about the affairs in Beijing and Hainan."

When faced with praise from superiors, humility is a basic professional quality, while appropriately sharing one's grievances is a way to "complement" one's high emotional intelligence.

The combination of these two elements will not arouse jealousy, but will also make your achievements stand out and allow your superiors to better understand your contributions.

Yao Peifang's response can be described as a standard answer with extremely high emotional intelligence.

To be honest, she was just saying it casually, but she never expected that Ning Weimin would immediately offer a solution upon hearing it.

“I know your difficulties. I brought these people with me to lighten your workload. Peifang, come, let me formally introduce these two to you. They will be your colleagues from now on.”

As he spoke, he turned to his two assistants standing to the side and beckoned them over.

He first pointed to the slightly taller, older man on the left, wearing black-rimmed glasses, his tone carrying a hint of approval. "His name is Chen Mo. He used to work at the Land Bureau in Sanya, Hainan. I had two construction projects underway there, and that's how I got to know him. I saw he was capable but couldn't fully utilize his abilities at the Land Bureau, so I recruited him. He'll be in charge of those two Sanya projects for me, serving as the general manager of the real estate development company. But his role isn't limited to that. He can also help with the daily procedures and management work for my other companies in Hainan. For example, Daguo Travel Agency, our Dachuan Entertainment, and Yixiaodafang Film Company—their headquarters are essentially just branch offices. So, if there are any registration, filing, or annual inspection procedures—basically any administrative processes involving dealing with the government—he can handle them all. He's been in Hainan for several years, and he knows people in every government office in Sanya. He can smooth things over with most of the connections, even the local city god. If you're looking for him in Hainan, I guarantee you won't have any problems."

Upon hearing this, Yao Peifang was overjoyed and immediately responded enthusiastically, "Oh, President Chen, then I'll really be troubling you a lot in the future. I never expected you to have such connections in Sanya."

To be honest, what bothers her most right now is that she has to travel frequently for work and fly around all the time.

Especially going to Hainan, where there isn't much actual business, but it happens to be where several of Ning Weimin's companies are registered, and every year there are a lot of "official paperwork" to do, including tax filing and annual inspection.

These chores used to be her tasks, but now that Chen Mo is here, she's free.

However, Chen Mo dared not accept such praise, much less claim to be some kind of City God. Upon hearing this, he waved his hand and quickly clarified to Yao Peifang with a smile.

“Miss Yao, please don’t be so polite, just call me Chen Mo. As for the City God, please don’t take it seriously. President Ning was just joking with me. I do have some connections, so handling small matters is no problem. But for big matters, I still need President Ning’s influence. If we’re talking about real benefactors, it has to be President Ning. I’m just taking advantage of his position, at most I’m just borrowing his power. Anyway, if you need anything in Hainan in the future, just let me know, and I’ll do my best.”

His tone was calm and scholarly, and his self-deprecating yet humorous remarks created a wonderful atmosphere.

Ning Weimin then pointed to the young man on the right, who had sharp eyes and a sturdy build, but was only in his early twenties, and softened his tone.

"This is Xiao Qin, Qin Jun, a top student at the University of Political Science and Law. He's good at English, specializing in economic law and international economic law, and was also the champion of the university's boxing club. He was originally going to be either a lawyer or a judge. Unfortunately, his family wasn't well-off, and an elder in his family passed away. To support his younger sister, he had no choice but to drop out of school. I met him in the lobby of the Pierre Cardin Building at the end of June. This guy was dressed smartly and chatting away with the lobby manager. The funniest thing was that the lobby manager mistook him for a customer complaining about the cleanliness of the building's restrooms and patiently chatted with him for a long time. In the end, he found out that he was a salesman from a foreign company, there to sell disposable toilet seat covers. If it were anyone else, the lobby manager would have had security kick him out, but this guy was so charming that he chatted with everyone for a long time without bothering anyone, and even got to drink several cups of coffee in the lobby. I thought he had potential, so I recruited him. Didn't you say I should have a secretary? I'm planning to let him try it out."

Upon hearing this story, Yao Peifang naturally found it amusing, but dared not show it on her face.

She knew perfectly well that the boss's secretary was the person she absolutely couldn't afford to offend.

Being well-informed, having influence, and maintaining good relationships can make many things much easier.

So she deliberately softened her tone, put on a gentle and sincere smile, took a half step forward, and spoke in a polite and friendly manner.

"Secretary Qin, from now on, I'll be relying on you to take good care of President Ning. We're all working for President Ning, so please continue to look after me and let's have a pleasant cooperation."

Qin Jun felt a slight flush on his face and his ears turned a little red, whether it was because she treated him so politely or because Ning Weimin had revealed his embarrassing secret.

“Miss Yao, you can just call me Xiao Qin or Xiao Jun. Please take care of me in the future. What President Ning said earlier... is all in the past. I will definitely work hard in the future.”

Yao Peifang sized up Qin Jun. Although he was young, he was composed and appeared to be a capable and reliable type.

To do something like that, one must be quick-witted; the only thing lacking is perhaps a bit of naivety.

She smiled, about to respond.

At this moment, Ning Weimin's voice rang out again, with a hint of gentle laughter.

"I decided to bring them both along this time after listening to your advice. You mentioned on the phone before that you were already quite busy with business development in Hong Kong, so I thought I'd bring them along. Firstly, it can help relieve some of your pressure, and it can also let them experience the business and external cultural environment of Hong Kong, accumulating some experience for their future work and development in the mainland. Secondly, it can also allow you to get to know each other and reduce any sense of unfamiliarity, which will be more conducive to your communication and cooperation in different places."

Yao Peifang felt a warmth in her heart and instantly understood Ning Weimin's intention.

"President Ning, you've thought of everything so thoroughly... Thank you so much."

Yao Peifang's tone was tinged with emotion, "Actually, I just said it casually at the time, I didn't expect you to take it so seriously."

"Well, listening to both sides leads to clarity, so I should thank you instead."

Ning Weimin waved his hand, his tone serious, "You're right. Our business is growing bigger and bigger, and we need reliable people in both the mainland and Hong Kong. You're capable and can handle things independently, but I can't push everything onto you. You'll be in charge of mentoring Chen Mo and Qin Jun in Hong Kong, helping them familiarize themselves with the business processes there." He then turned to Chen Mo and Qin Jun and instructed, "During your time in Hong Kong, you'll follow Miss Yao's arrangements. I hope you'll fully cooperate with her in handling all matters, understand?"

"Understood, President Ning!" the two replied in unison, turning their gazes to Yao Peifang with a hint of solemnity.

Yao Peifang took a deep breath, suppressed her emotions, and nodded solemnly.

"President Ning, don't worry, I will definitely lead them well. With their help, I have more confidence in the work ahead." She could clearly feel that Ning Weimin was not only sharing her burden, but also considering the long-term development of the team. This ability to recognize and utilize talent made her even more determined to follow him.

Ning Weimin nodded in satisfaction, picked up his teacup and took another sip, then changed the subject.

"Alright, let's leave the personnel matters at that. Tell me, how's the business progressing over the past two months? Especially the copyright cooperation with Mr. Jin Yong, and the project coordination with Art City—have there been any obstacles?"

Yao Peifang immediately composed herself, walked to the sofa in the living room, sat down, and took out a notebook from her handbag.

"Mr. Ning, Mr. Lin from Sil-Metropole Organisation has already arranged everything for me regarding the copyright cooperation. We've scheduled a meeting with Mr. Jin Yong the day after tomorrow morning. However, there's a slight issue with strengthening our cooperation with Cinema City..."

"What's the problem?"

"Regarding your suggestion to use their connections to find theaters to screen 'The Peony Lantern' in Hong Kong, Director Tsui and Ms. Shi had no objections and agreed to help. Collaborating with them on a series of kung fu films featuring Jet Li is also no problem. 'A Chinese Ghost Story 3' has also finished filming and is currently in editing. However, selling trailers is popular in Hong Kong now, and Director Tsui Hark is too enthusiastic, giving me a list of several films and asking us to invest. I really don't know which one to invest in."

"Just this?"

"Also, to help our compatriots on the mainland, Hong Kong artists have decided to hold a charity performance for disaster relief and want to make a movie. They need to raise funds, and Director Xu hopes we can help. This money is definitely not going to be recovered..."

As Yao Peifang spoke, she handed over a stack of papers filled with film titles and actors' names.

Ning Weimin casually took it and flipped through it.

The paper read:

The Chess King

Uncle Cai's Sweeping Across the Army

Monster City

Blue Thunder

Beach Boy and Mrs. Chow

Wild Fairy Tales

"The Grand Banquet"...

He originally thought that, given the current state of affairs in Hong Kong, with stars like Stephen Chow, Jackie Chan, Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Andy Lau, and Leon Lai, any one of them would be a good choice for a film.

But after looking at the list, he found that most of the films listed on the paper were mass-produced films that followed trends and rushed to release, and he was not familiar with any of the names.

It's important to know that the early 90s were the most frenzied years for Hong Kong films, with dozens of movies released every year, including many classics and even more bad ones.

What Tsui Hark gave us is clearly the latter.

There's really nothing profitable in it; most of them are just copycat creations with no long-term value.

Aside from the art film "The Chess King" starring Tony Leung Ka-fai.

However, this film is rumored to have also suffered huge losses.

Ning Weimin placed the papers on the coffee table and gently shook his head. "None of these will do."

Yao Peifang was taken aback. "President Ning, there are quite a few big stars in these films..."

“I know,” Ning Weimin pointed to his eyes, “but I just don’t feel a connection with them.”

Yao Peifang hesitated for a moment, then took out another piece of paper from her bag, her expression somewhat subtle. "Well... there are these too. But we have a limit on these movies; we can only invest one million in each, with a maximum of two million."

Ning Weimin took it, glanced at it, and a slight smirk appeared on his lips.

It was written on the paper:

The Saint of Love

Fight Back to School

This is just what I want...

"Hey, where did you get this? Did you meet Stephen Chow?" Ning Weimin asked, his eyes filled with confusion.

"Yes, I ran into him on the set of Cinema City a few days ago. He heard I was there to invest in your film. He gave me a few movie titles. He's very famous now, already a leading actor. But I still remember the favor you showed him when you cast him in 'Crazy Rich Asians.' He said you were the first person to specifically request him for a film. And these are all the movies he wants to make. He said he guarantees a profit, but he said he can only get this much; any more than that and his boss won't allow it. And we need to make a decision quickly. He said the deadline is the day after tomorrow; after that, there won't be any more shares..."

These words caused Chen Mo and Qin Jun to exchange a glance, both revealing a dismissive expression.

They hadn't seen any of Stephen Chow's movies back in China, and they were even less aware of the large number of people coming here with cash, hoping to launder money through Hong Kong's film industry.

Chen Mo couldn't help but ask, "President Ning, does this person look down on you? You're paying for it, and you still have to put up with his attitude? He even dares to set rules for you?"

Ning Weimin glanced at him and smiled. “You can’t say that. If he didn’t have some talent, why would people be scrambling to invest in his movies? Of course, it’s because it’s profitable. That’s how it is with stars in Hong Kong. If they’re not famous, nobody cares. Once they’re famous, they soar to the top. He’s a conscientious person. He’s repaying a favor to me.”

He took the paper back, looked at it again, and then simply pushed it to Yao Peifang.

"I've invested in all of these. Then I told them I also want the rights for Japan, France, and mainland China. Let's see what price they'll offer."

This surprised not only Chen Mo and Qin Jun, but also Yao Peifang.

"President Ning, these films only have names and lead actors. Are you really going to invest so much money in them?"

Ning Weimin nodded, his tone calm but firm, "Yes, as long as it's Stephen Chow, it's guaranteed to make money. He's right about that. You'll understand when you see his movies later."

He paused, then looked at the three of them. "Also, how much is still needed for that charity movie featuring Hong Kong stars? We'll cover it all. You can contact Director Tsui later and give him a direct quote so they don't have to bother anyone else. Hong Kong people contribute their time, and I'll provide the money—it's all for our compatriots."

Yao Peifang, Chen Mo, and Qin Jun were all stunned.

Looking at Ning Weimin's nonchalant demeanor, they all had the same thought in mind.

Their boss, whether it's his vision or his courage, is truly on a different level from ordinary people.

Outside the window, the night in Victoria Harbour was gradually deepening, while the lights in the suite were bright and quiet.

No one knew that in this seemingly ordinary sea-view suite, the few films Ning Weimin casually planned to invest in would soon become a part of Hong Kong cinema's history, representing the era of 90s films. (End of Chapter)