money player

The stall owner was eager to steam new buns even though the ones that had already come out of the oven hadn't been sold yet, naturally because he was confident in his business. And indeed, business was good; every ten seconds or so, a customer would come in to buy one or two, three or four, and occasionally a whole basketful.

Perhaps because small xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) don't sell well, the xiaolongbao sold at the stall are quite large, about the size of meat buns sold by weight in northern China. They can be stuffed into one bite, but they would trigger the phrase "wolfing down" in people's mouths.

Customers come and go. Just as Yang Jingyi's chosen basket of food was almost cooked, another female customer arrived at the stall. She was about eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing a floral dress and a very thin cardigan sweater over it.

The female customer was clearly from Fujian, a classic Fujian beauty. Because the fabric of her sweater was not easily discernible, Xian Yaowen stared at her for a few more moments. He accidentally met her gaze, and she hesitated, as if she wanted to ask for help.

At the steamed bun stall, a man, seemingly from the same province, needed help, probably because of a language barrier.

Sin Yiu-man said in Japanese, "Miss, do you need any help?"

Upon hearing this, the female customer's face lit up with joy, and she replied in Japanese, "I would like to buy xiaolongbao (soup dumplings)."

"Can't you speak Mandarin?"

The female customer said shyly, "I can only write Chinese characters, not speak Mandarin."

Sin Yiu-man was slightly surprised. The female guest's shy expression was very clear, so clear that it was unreal. It didn't seem to be driven by innate instinct, but rather seemed to have a bit of an acting element to it. Moreover, her speech was very clear, and her voice was very penetrating, easily carving clear sound waves in the air.

Based on these two characteristics, he suspected that the other person was a stage actor who had only recently entered the industry and was prone to overacting and not yet able to control his emotions.

He couldn't speak Mandarin, so he couldn't be a member of the Recreation Corps of the General Political Department of the Ministry of National Defense, nor could he be a member of the Women's Youth Work Team established by Sun Liren. He could only be a member of a for-profit theater troupe in the province, which involves his blind spots in knowledge, so I couldn't deduce further.

“I can hear you very clearly, just like watching a theatrical performance.”

"I am a stage actor."

"No wonder," Sin Yiu-man said, feigning surprise. "How many do you want to buy?"

"One cage."

"I'll pass on your message."

"Thank you."

Sin Yiu-man waved his hand and said to the stall owner, "This young lady wants one basket."

Upon hearing this, the stall owner opened his mouth briefly and then closed it again. He quickly took a basket of steamed buns, poured them onto the cut newspaper, tucked in the four corners, twisted them, and handed them to the female customer.

"One yuan and two jiao," Xian Yaowen said in a timely narration.

The female customer smiled slightly at him, took out a handkerchief from her pocket, unfolded it in her palm, took out change and paid the stall owner, then nodded slightly to him and prepared to leave.

Which theater company are you with?

"The Bell Theatre Troupe".

Sin Yiu-man chuckled and asked, "Can I get a discount if I go to see your performance?"

"My name is Xiaoxue. You can get a free ticket if you mention my name."

Xiaoxue's words were completely insincere. The Zhong Sheng Opera Troupe tours central and southern Taiwan year-round, and since she joined the troupe, they have never performed in Taipei, the stronghold of mainlanders.

"Thank you, I will definitely go and support you."

"I'm leaving now, goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Xiaoxue is gone, but Xian Yaowen's mind is still on it. When he first had the idea of ​​establishing a friendly Taiwan, he was already thinking about a problem: Mandarin films do not have a large market in the south. First, there is a language barrier, and second, there are differences in tastes. If he wants to capture the box office of the whole of Taiwan, it is necessary for the friendly Taiwan to produce Taiwanese films, or even more directly, to customize Taiwanese films for the local people.

However, this is not a simple business decision-making question; it is likely a political one. In order to decolonize, politically integrate, and facilitate governance, the Nationalist government is fully promoting the national language movement. Going against the grain and promoting local culture at this time may lead to trouble.

But trying is a must. The friendly station needs a group of actors with stage experience and a fan base, but who have not acted in movies during the Japanese occupation. This is also why he cares about Xiaoxue. In terms of appearance alone, Xiaoxue has the potential to be a leading lady.

"Our xiaolongbao are ready." Yang Jingyi, who had been feeling a little jealous, woke up Xian Yaowen.

Sin Yiu-man looked at the stall owner, who picked up Yang Ching-yi's basket and poured it onto the oil paper. He carefully wrapped the four corners and cleverly folded a button to turn the oil paper into a pastry packaging style.

He offered to pick him up and paid the bill. Just as he was about to leave, a sound came from his left rear.

"Mr. Xian."

Sin Yiu-man looked in the direction of the voice and saw Chang Cheh, with Mu Hong standing beside him, and another woman. After a moment's recognition, he realized that she was Wu Ching-hung, the actress who played the female lead in "The Legend of Alishan".

He stopped where he was, waited for the three of them to approach, and smiled, "Have you come over for dinner?"

As he spoke, he nodded slightly to Wu Jinghong.

“We’re here to scout locations for ‘The Happy Couple’ which is about to start filming,” Chang Cheh explained.

He had previously conceived a story between two restaurants, but after being reminded by Sin Yiu-man that it might cross the line of "extravagance and waste," the story background was slightly modified to become a story between two stalls. The script was officially completed, and the "Happy Enemies" project was born.

"You're planning to film here?"

"The scenery in this small park is beautiful; 90% of the shots can be taken here."

"Oh, Ms. Wu and Mu Hong are playing the sisters Brigitte Lin and Feng Jiao?"

Chang Cheh gestured to Wu Jinghong, "Jinghong will play the older sister Qingxia, and Mu Hong will play the younger sister Fengjiao."

Xian Yaowen nodded slightly, his gaze meeting Wu Jinghong's. "Does Miss Wu have a contract in place?"

Wu Jinghong replied with a smile, "I just agreed to sign with YouTai by Yi Yang. I hope Mr. Xian will take good care of me in the future."

"I will definitely take care of you." Xian Yaowen extended his right hand and shook hands with Wu Jinghong. "To show how much I value Miss Wu, I will personally sign the contract with her and present her with a generous signing bonus."

Wu Jinghong laughed and said, "Mr. Xian, I am truly flattered."

Sin Yiu-man withdrew his hand and said, "Don't be alarmed, Taiwan will certainly not disappoint Miss Wu."

As he spoke, he looked at Zhang Che and said, "Manager Zhang, let me know before you start filming, and I'll treat everyone to a meal."

"Ok."

"You may continue; I shall take my leave."

As soon as they parted, Yang Jingyi tugged at Xian Yaowen's arm, "You have a film company in Taipei?"

"Ah."

Yang Jingyi asked hopefully, "Can I go take a look?"

"What are you looking at?"

"Making a movie."

"You should have heard it just now, they'll be filming here in a few days, you can come and see for yourself."

"I don't know when we'll be filming," Yang Jingyi pouted.

I will tell you.

"Okay!" Yang Jingyi said excitedly, "Give me a small steamed bun."

Sin Yiu-man opened the oil paper package, handed one to Yeung Ching-yee, and then handed one to Lee Lai-chun.

the other side.

Wu Jinghong asked Zhang Che, "Is the girl holding Mr. Xian's arm Mr. Xian's girlfriend?"

“I have only met Mr. Xian once before, and I do not know anything about his situation.”

Wu Jinghong then asked Mu Hong, "Do you know?"

"I do not know either."

Mu Hong dislikes Wu Jinghong and also has grievances against Zhang Che. Zhang Che knows that her relationship with Mr. Xian is unusual, but he doesn't let her play the lead role in the company's opening performance. Instead, he brings in Wu Jinghong, making his intention to control her obvious.

Wu Jinghong is over thirty years old, yet she claims to have never been married. She has a flirtatious look on her face. Who would believe that? She inquires about Mr. Xian, clearly wanting to offer herself as a bedmate. Bah, what a slut.

Mu Hong was resentful that she hadn't slept with Xian Yaowen, not because she was cheap, but because she felt uneasy. Xian Yaowen's verbal claim that "their relationship was special" was completely unreliable. Zhang Che was already trying to control her now, and once he figured things out, he would surely ostracize her.

She planned to take the initiative to go to their door; she absolutely had to get some sleep.

In the entire last year, only three feature films were produced locally in Taiwan: "Nightmare Awakens," "Alishan Storm," and "Springtime in the World." The first was an anti-communist film, and the third was a land reform propaganda film. Both were products of political needs.

The only film that can be considered a purely commercial film project was initiated before the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan. However, once filming began, its nature changed. The project received strong support from various military drama troupes and performing arts troupes and became a propaganda tool to reassure the public—Taiwan has Alishan, with beautiful scenery, beautiful girls, and strong boys, and it's quite nice to live here.

Regardless of the nature of the film, the sheer volume of production already indicates a shortage of job opportunities and a situation where there are far more actors than available roles. Actors' salaries simply cannot be very high, and only a very small number of people can guarantee a stable income.

Given this situation, the remuneration strategy of friendly TV stations tends to be a stable base salary. Once a basic actor contract is obtained from a friendly TV station, there is a guarantee that they can make a living. On this basis, they can receive different bonuses depending on the importance of their role in the project. The male and female leads and the director are eligible to participate in the box office profit sharing.

Simply put, actors' salaries are finite, and the difference in income is only slight, but it doesn't meet the standard of crossing social classes. Being a lead actor is an important dividing line.

From the perspective of the overall strategy of Friendship Films, Friendship Taiwan is a breeding ground for young actors. Before other Hong Kong film and television companies discover promising talents, they will be recruited and kept in Taiwan. After several rounds of fierce competition, the best performers will sign with Audrey Films and achieve their dream of success.

After gaining sufficient popularity in Taiwan, Taiwanese actors are exported to Hong Kong, where they film Hong Kong movies and then sell them domestically, achieving their goal of dominating the Taiwanese box office.

The sky was completely dark, there was no sunlight to draw upon, and the starlight had not yet come into play, so more carbide lamps were lit.

Upon encountering a Kai dog with a natural stray appearance, judging from its coat color, it had clearly been a stray for quite some time, yet it was neither emaciated nor so thin that even a deity could not stand steadily. Xian Yaowen generously gave it the meat dumpling he had not finished eating.

After a hearty meal of rice cakes, oyster omelets, stinky tofu, and plain noodles, we enjoyed some dessert: aiyu jelly and plum juice. Before leaving Huaining Street, we bought two cups filled with soy milk from a Shandong vendor selling sesame cakes.

Yang Jingyi just wanted a simple and romantic moment of sharing a cup of soy milk on the road, but Xian Yaowen paid five times the price of the cup. They sell soy milk by the cup; if you buy the cup, who else would they rip off if not you?

Back at the pool hall, the table was occupied, not officially, but someone just took advantage of the empty space to poke around a few times. This was common in pool halls, and when the person who was supposed to be there arrived, they would politely move aside.

Sin Yiu-man acted as the scorekeeper, letting Yang Jingyi and the other girl play first. Five seconds later, he was glad he had made the brilliant move. As soon as the two girls took their positions, their beginner status was exposed.

When you have no romantic feelings for girls, playing pool with a beginner can be quite a painful experience.

It's good to be an observer. The scorekeeper is just for show. Sin Yiu-man focused his attention on the American pool table. There were two people betting on the game. He had seen one of them before. He was standing in the private area where insiders would stand. He was obviously an insider or a regular there. The other looked to be seventeen or eighteen years old. He was wearing a suit that didn't fit him very well. It was probably "adult clothes".

After listening to their conversation, I learned that the two players' stakes were 5 yuan per ball, and if they cleared the table in one shot, they would be out of 7 balls x 2, meaning they could win a maximum of 70 yuan per game.

This is quite a big bet. It happened in the billiard room right in front of us, like playing mahjong on a broken table in a graveyard, losing your entire fortune. Bras and black fish, houses collapsed, you lost half your house, and before leaving, you didn't forget to collect some "wages" from the lookout. In a word, it's ridiculous.

After watching two shots, he roughly understood the skill level of the player in the suit. Very good, the level of a seasoned billiards player. If he were to play, he would most likely lose the first game. It had been almost thirty years since he last played on such a bad table, and he would need some time to get used to its characteristics.

Oriental.

On September 8, the Treaty of San Francisco was signed, formally ending World War II, restoring sovereignty over the East, and ending the Allied occupation.

On the same day, the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty was signed, which allowed the United States to maintain military bases in the East and provide security guarantees for the East in exchange for the demilitarization of the East.

This was a response from the conservative faction in Japanese politics, led by Shigeru Yoshida, to their security concerns following the "imminent departure" of the United States, aiming to ensure that Japan would receive American protection during the Cold War.

With the signing of the two treaties, Japan entered the post-American era.

Inokaino, Osaka, is a predominantly Korean-populated area.

Xian Yaowen’s nominal subordinate, an agent of the Youmo Agency, was watching a North Korean who was giving a passionate speech in an open space.

"Fellow countrymen, go back, go back to Korea, join our own army, drive out American imperialism, recover South Korea, and establish our independent, prosperous, and strong Democratic People's Republic of Korea..."

"Mr. Morita, how many Koreans are leaving this time?"

"Taniguchi-kun, the number of confirmed cases is 237."

"How many should be kept?"

"12."

"Not much, it can be finished tonight."

"Taniguchi-kun, the simplest way is to wait for their ship to set sail and then blow it up. If the bomb is placed cleverly, there will be no way to find out the truth afterward."

"Mr. Morita, this involves political maneuvering. The death of a dozen or so people is a minor issue, but the death of hundreds is too much. If we have a subordinate organization, we are easily made scapegoats. The Americans are about to leave, and we need to think about our future."

Morita sighed, "Where will we collect our monthly allowances after the alliance disbands?"

“This is not a problem we can worry about.” Taniguchi sighed. “If only we could be transferred to Watanabe’s department, we wouldn’t have to worry about our monthly salary.”

"Taniguchi-kun, I heard that Watanabe-kata is transferring a group of people to Taiwan." (End of Chapter)