money player

Around ten o'clock, Eileen Chang arrived at Long Xuemei's office.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Long Xuemei took out a stack of printed papers. "Ms. Zhang, I would like to ask you to write a script about Empress Xiao of the Liao Dynasty. The main characters are Xiao Chuo, Emperor Jingzong of Liao, Yelü Xian, and Han Derang."

She picked out a sheet of printed paper and handed it to Eileen Chang. "These are the songs prepared by the gentleman. 'Longing' is used when Xiao Yanyan and Han Derang were childhood sweethearts; 'Irresistible Love' is used when Yelü Xian and Xiao Yanyan first met."
"Laughing and Embracing the Dream of the Empire" is used on the wedding day of Yelü Xian and Xiao Yanyan; "The Empress" is used when Yelü Xian dies and Xiao Yanyan begins her regency; "Forgetting Each Other" is used for the ambiguous relationship between Xiao Yanyan and Han Derang; "The Earth Is Under My Feet" is used for the Treaty of Chanyuan, which is the end of the story.

Eileen Chang took it, looked at the first page, "Longing," and scanned three lines. Her heartstrings were touched, and she realized that the lyrics came from Wang Wei's "Longing."

Looking down and reading the whole piece, she understood that the lyrics, beginning with red beans, lamented the demise of traditional feelings of longing and yearning. In the midst of material prosperity, people shun true feelings, replacing longing with indulgence, and masking their vulnerability with mockery.

"Holding onto love for fear of being laughed at" is the most poignant confession, revealing the common psychology of modern people who love but dare not express it, and highlighting the hidden loneliness.

"Was this written by Sin Yiu-man? His inner confession?"

Eileen Chang was shocked and suspicious.

"Secretary Long, this was written by Boss Xian Yao?"

Long Xuemei's gaze gently fell on Zhang Ailing's face, and she said softly, "In the handwritten version I received, the gentleman had made a note in the margin: 'If Ailing asks who wrote it, you should answer: Words on paper should not be taken seriously. Who would write their true feelings on paper?'"

Instantly, Eileen Chang's face darkened.

"Oh."

She was lost and blank, mechanically turning to the next page. The lyrics were still amazing, but her mind was already muddled. No matter how amazing they were, they were still tasteless.

He quickly flipped through the pages, placed the printed paper on the table, lit a cigarette to calm himself, and said, "What kind of story does Secretary Long need?"

"The story of Xiao Yanyan's journey to becoming an empress is light on love and heavy on the country, but it describes three relationships. In her youth, she and Han Derang were childhood sweethearts. Once, when they went hunting, she was wounded in the face by an arrow shot by Emperor Muzong of Liao, Yelü Jing, and was almost disfigured. Fortunately, Han Derang's father, the imperial physician Han Kuangsi, treated her with a secret palace prescription. Not only did the wound heal, but her skin was also better than before."

Long Xuemei handed Zhang Ailing another sheet of printed paper. "This is historical material about the Han family. The Han family is not simple. Their ancestors produced the Sima of Jizhou, and their descendants served as Han prime ministers in the Jin Dynasty. If Xiao Yanyan's story is popular, we may expand on the story of childhood sweethearts. Han Kuangsi is one of the key figures, and we will focus on describing his medical skills."

"Why does the love story of Xiao Yanyan and Han Derang focus on Han Kuangsi's medical skills?" Zhang Ailing asked, puzzled.

"Baota Pharmaceuticals will soon launch a beauty product. Ms. Zhang, you might want to help me think of a name when you're writing the story."

Eileen Chang wanted to complain but was powerless. Product placement was nothing new to her. She had written many scripts for product placement and participated in many discussions on how to do it. This was the style of Friendship Film Studio: if you want to make a living, you have to write; if you can't stand it, you can quit and leave.

She couldn't stand it anymore, but she didn't plan to resign. Friendship Film Studio paid her well enough to guarantee her comfortable life. If she left, she couldn't guarantee that she would still have her current income. The literary market in Hong Kong was not doing well, and there were too many struggling writers outside.

Hunger had taken hold of her deeply; even someone like Eileen Chang would have to bow down for a meager living, unless she was willing to be a caged canary and submit to that man.

"What kind of medicine is it? Pills? Ointment? What color is it?"

Long Xuemei gestured towards the tattered scroll on the table, "It's not decided yet. We're looking for a suitable prescription in ancient books. We'll notify Miss Zhang as soon as we decide."

Zhang Ailing nodded, and Long Xuemei went on to tell the stories of the other two relationships, explaining the gist of each story in a few rounds.

After seeing Zhang Ailing off, Long Xuemei held a short meeting with Chen Hetang, the factory manager of the Hong Kong factory.

In Guangzhou, there is a business called Chen Li Ji, which was jointly founded by Chen Tiquan and Li Shengzuo in the 27th year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty. Each of them held half of the shares. Through more than 350 years of ups and downs, the two families have never broken up, which is a well-known story.

However, more than three hundred years have passed, and the family has grown to twelve or thirteen generations. One begets two, two begets four, and the family has become incredibly large. If they were to sit in a row and divide the spoils, the family property would have been divided into tiny pieces long ago. Since Chen Liji is still alive, it is impossible for either family to be egalitarian. They will continue to kick out collateral branches from the direct line to control the number of people who can share the benefits.

Chen Hetang was a collateral branch of the Chen family who had been kicked out in the previous generation. He had a family tradition of learning but no family property. When he arrived in Hong Kong, he could only make a living by selling medicine at a stall. His small stall was decorated with the sign "Chen Hetang", determined to compete with Chen Liji's Xinghetang.

HK Consulting has recruited Chan Wo Tong to temporarily serve as the factory manager in Hong Kong. In the future, when a different candidate is found, he will be put in charge of establishing a directly operated pharmacy called "Chan Wo Tong".

"Secretary Long, these are the selected formulas." Chen Hetang pointed to a dozen or so pagoda-shaped candies on the tray on the table and said, "They all contain sucrose, but use different colorings and different types of gelatin or starch."

Long Xuemei glanced at the colorful pagoda-shaped candies and asked, "Do they cost the same?"

"Use less expensive raw materials and more cheap raw materials. The cost difference in large-scale production is negligible."

"Didn't you add the mountain road year?"

"No."

Long Xuemei picked through the candies, then took one of her favorite colors, put it in her mouth, licked it a few times, and then bit off a corner to suck on. "What are the prices of isoamyl acetate, ethyl butyrate, and methyl anthranilate?"

“Prices fluctuate greatly. Isoamyl acetate is as cheap as $5/kg and as expensive as $10/kg; ethyl butyrate is as cheap as $6/kg and as expensive as $12/kg; methyl anthranilate is as cheap as $8/kg and as expensive as $15/kg.”

"How much pagoda-shaped candy should be added to both mask the flavor of the sago pearl and have a fruity taste?"

"About 0.1 mg. If you want the fruit flavor to be more prominent, you can add up to 0.5 mg, but there's no need to add more than that."

Chen Hetang has been working for more than three months and has also been studying on his own for more than three months, so he has a very good reserve of relevant knowledge.

Long Xuemei pointed to the tray, "From 0.1 milligrams to 1 milligram, we'll mix these together, prepare a batch, and also try color mixing. Once the finished product is ready, we'll find a group of children to test it. It's useless if we think it's good ourselves; we still need to hear the children's opinions."

"It seems there are no stock available in Hong Kong. If you place an order now, it will take at least a month to receive the goods."

"Let's borrow some food too."

"Ok."

Has the Macau Health Bureau approved it?

"approved."

“I’m going to Taipei in a couple of days. I’ll handle the paperwork in Taiwan.” Long Xuemei tapped the table. “The first batch of pagoda-shaped sugar must be on the market by the end of this month.”

"clear."

At lunchtime, Long Xuemei went back to the Xian family home for lunch, where Su Lizhen was.

"Madam, Baota Pharmaceutical will launch Baota Sugar at the end of this month. Please help us make contact in mainland China."

"Payment or exchange?"

"I need some ephedrine and quinine semi-finished products, and the rest, Madam, will handle the rest."

After a moment's thought, Su Lizhen said, "I will exchange pagoda-shaped sugar for agricultural products, and I can only settle the payment with you in installments."

"Could you provide a deposit to cover the costs first? Baota Pharmaceuticals' cash reserves are almost depleted, and they can't afford a long payment period."

Su Lizhen smiled and said, "If you need money, come to me. We're all family. I'll give you a discount on the interest rate."

Long Xuemei chuckled, "I'll have the master find the madam."

“Calling me ‘Master’ won’t help. The accounts are separate. If the Master wants money, he’ll have to pay interest.” Su Lizhen pointed to a plate on the table with her chopsticks. “Yangtze River knife fish. I brought it back from Shanghai. It’s a pity I couldn’t bring back fresh ones.”

Long Xuemei scooped a piece of fish into her dish with a spoon. "Why are there children's graffiti all over the walls of that new building?"

"That's Qianzhi's building; she drew it herself."

"She moved in?"

"No, I took a flight to France early this morning."

"Summer vacation travel?"

"Ah."

“That’s great. When I was her age, I only frequented two streets in Macau.”

“You can still go out on the street, but I can only go out of the courtyard for a short walk. Every day I look forward to the middle or end of the month when my father comes back from the city so that we can have a dry meal and a decent dish.”

Long Xuemei glanced behind her and said, "I'm fine. My dad always has a job, and I can have two dishes at every meal."

Long Zhenbang, standing behind her, said with a faint smile, "You were young and didn't understand back then. Actually, there was a period when the family was going through a tough time, and your mother even pawned her jewelry."

"Ah? How come I don't know?"

“You only know how to eat, how would you know anything?” Long Zhenbang said indulgently.

"I feel a little better now that Butler Long says so. My memory of being ten years old is just being hungry. I would eat thin soup and water and then feel hungry again, rubbing my stomach and thinking about the next meal."

Long Xuemei said to Long Zhenbang, "Dad, you've worked hard. I'll take care of the Long family from now on. Old Long, come and help me get a bowl of soup."

Lung Chun-pong glared at Lung Hok-mei. "The Sin family doesn't have this rule. The master has never eaten the soup I served. Who are you?"

"I am your daughter."

Long Xuemei wanted to act cute after not seeing each other for a long time.

Su Lizhen didn't disturb the father and daughter, and ate her food by herself, feeling sad. Her family was long gone, those damned Japanese devils.

Camilla, sitting in the highchair next to her, sensed her change in mood and stretched out her hand towards the Yangtze River knife fish, "Fish, fish."

Upon hearing this, Su Lizhen brought the plate to her side and carefully removed the fish bones for the little girl.

Finished eating.

She took the little girl back to her building, first glancing at Xian Renmei who was sleeping, and then going up to the rooftop to see another little girl, Aisha.

Aisha hangs upside down on the parallel bars, hooking her feet onto the steel pipe. Someone randomly places a photo under her nose, removes it after three seconds, and replaces it with a blank sheet of paper. She is to draw the person in the photo.

Aisha was getting on in years, and Sin Yiu-man wasn't willing to gamble on raising her as a goddaughter. Instead, he used her to try and instill hatred in her. Given her own troubled past, it wouldn't be hard to intensify her hatred towards Arabs.

Too many Arabs are like lucky koi fish, enjoying wealth and luxury without any effort, indulging in a life of extravagance and shirking all social responsibility. Such people should be hung up with a Marxist rope and whipped hard with a Leninist whip until their mouths open and close like koi fish spitting out gold coins.

The Middle East is a land of plenty, with oil lying deep beneath its surface. The wealth of the world belongs to the virtuous, and the only virtuous person in the world is Xian Yaowen. One should not be pretentious or arrogant, nor should one wait for others to come to one's door. One should be proactive, and if others do not give it to one, one should take it.

Having anger in one's heart can easily lead to internal heat, which is detrimental to health. Aisha's inner fire is raging, and she needs an outlet for it. She should hone her skills and go to the Middle East to vent her anger to the fullest.

With just a few strokes, Aisha captured the essence of the person in the photograph on the paper. Before she could finish drawing, the paper was taken away, and a picture of a kitten appeared right under her nose. An embroidery hoop was then stuffed into her hand.

"Take a 15-minute break after you finish embroidering."

As soon as the cold words fell, a tap was turned on, and a stream of water shot into the air and then fell back down, just enough to cover Aisha's entire body.

The phonograph was turned on, and non-musical noise filled the entire rooftop.

Annoyed, Su Lizhen couldn't bear to watch any longer and took Camilla downstairs. She bought a popsicle at a convenience store, gave it to Camilla, and, holding the little girl's hand, strolled towards Beihe Street.

The entrance to the Tangshan company was still bustling.

In order to advertise, a few lucky ones among the first batch of passengers who set off in debt enjoyed the benefits of air travel at the price of a ship ticket, and were given the opportunity to send airmail to convey their "experience" to their relatives, friends and companions who were waiting for news as quickly as possible.

Regular customers with some means understand that they can't all rush off together; someone has to scout ahead and find out the situation before others follow.

The news arrived, and it was much better than expected. Those waiting for the news should hurry up and set off, arrive as soon as possible, start paying off their debts as soon as possible, and then start working hard for themselves as soon as possible.

Su Lizhen bought a small dumpling for the little girl at the door and was about to go upstairs when she heard a commotion coming from the shop on the first floor. She glanced over and listened for a moment.

It turned out that a northerner had no guarantor and insisted on completing the formalities.

She didn't intervene and went straight upstairs.

Unless it's full payment, Tangshan companies generally don't do business with northerners because it's difficult for northerners to find guarantors. Without a guarantor, if they run away overseas, who can Tangshan companies collect the debt from?

Let alone bringing the person back and using swift and decisive measures to establish authority, that would cost money and damage our image. We can't even finish doing business in Lingnan alone, there's no need to do business with the northerners as well.

Upon arriving at the office upstairs, Su Lizhen took out a "Superhero" comic book, flipped to the page featuring the "Fan Man" series, and handed it to the little girl.

The Fan Man story is a bit silly, but it's quite popular, driving the sales of "Superheroes" to a respectable 2,000 copies, which should put the Superheroes comic book company on track to break even.

Comics are popular, but not many children in Hong Kong have pocket money. Even if they do, it's not enough to buy comics, so they can only enjoy them at rental stalls. Children's comics don't have much potential for development in Hong Kong. If the next issue doesn't improve, "Super Heroes" will be revamped, reducing children's comic content and adding sub-magazines "Xitang Romance" and "So Big".

"Xitang Romance" is primarily aimed at female readers. The serialized comic focuses on the theme of love, revolving around "free love" in the short term, and the emotions of a strong female protagonist will be added later depending on the situation.

"So Big" is primarily aimed at male readers and features superheroes, but the art style is more gory and erotic.

"Superheroes" was bundled with "Xitang Romance" and "So Big Guy". Newsstands that wanted the latter had to bring along "Superheroes", one book for each other, and they were determined to keep "Superheroes" going no matter what.

In addition, Superheroes will also partner with Hong Kong's top tabloid newspaper, "Thirteen Orphans," offering a discount on Superheroes when you buy a copy of "Thirteen Orphans."

The little girl was engrossed in reading comics, which freed up Su Lizhen's hands to work. Frozen eggs and sausage casings from the mainland would soon arrive in Shekou, and the group needed to contact clients as soon as possible.

To be honest, bulk trade is a bit easier than general foreign trade. The customer base is narrower, and you can only deal with a few customers in each country. Putting aside political factors, if there is demand, you can move on to the second step of price negotiation, and once an agreement is reached, you can ship the goods immediately.

Even if political factors cannot be eliminated, business is not difficult, since it is a seller's market right now, and some goods are easy to sell.

Furthermore, Su Lizhen only requested the frozen eggs and sausage casings because she saw a promising market. Customers had already been contacted, and Su Lizhen simply wanted to deliver the limited stock to as many customers as possible to facilitate future expansion of trade. (End of Chapter)