Hong Kong variety show: I Am a Tycoon

Chapter 220 Who wouldn't want to be Boss Cao?
Inside a luxury villa in the Mid-Levels of Hong Kong Island.

After washing up, Pan Disheng went to the dining room, where his father, Pan Jinxi, was already sitting and reading the newspaper.

Seeing her son approach, Pan Jinxi took the briar pipe from her mouth, tapped off the ash, and said, "Now that you're back, you should finally be at the company, right?"

The Pan family runs a watch shop, and Pan Jinxi is getting old, so he naturally hopes that his son can start working in the company as soon as possible and gradually hand over the company's affairs to his son.

But Pan Disheng didn't appreciate it. This young master returned from studying in America last year and actually worked as a salesman in the family's watch shop for half a year, and then went to work as an apprentice in a famous watch and jewelry store.

Pan Disheng, who has been an apprentice for a year and a half, can now assemble clocks on his own, but he has never mentioned working for the family company.

Upon hearing Pan Jinxi's question, Pan Disheng finally revealed his thoughts: "Dad, I want to borrow 600 million yuan from you to open my own watch and jewelry store."

Upon hearing this, Pan Jinxi glared and said unhappily, "I'm in the watch business. You have so many watch shops at home, why don't you manage them and instead want to open your own? Are you out of your mind? Do you think you can only use your abilities by starting your own business?"

Pan Disheng composed himself and said, "Daddy, I'm not going to open an ordinary watch shop, but a brand-name watch shop."

Pan Jinxi chuckled and said, "You're at it again with your designer brand stuff. In Hong Kong these days, you'd be hard-pressed to find even one person out of ten thousand who loves buying designer brands. I guarantee your store will be closed within a month of opening; you won't get a single customer."

What Pan Jinxi said was absolutely true.

In Hong Kong in the early 1980s, very few people liked to buy designer brands.

Take the brands under Guojun Garment Factory as an example. Apart from the craze that swept through last year because of "A Better Tomorrow", they can barely break even in the following period.

Hong Kong's wealthy, with purchasing power, prefer to have their clothing custom-made.

Pan Disheng thought for a moment and said, "Dad, let me give it a try. If I fail, I'll go back to my company and work honestly."

"Really?" Pan Jinxi looked up and asked.

Pan Disheng nodded and said, "Really."

"Fine, then I'll just wait for your watch shop to close down."

Pan Jinxi smiled and said that although HK$600 million is a large sum, it would be worth it if it could make Pan Disheng settle down and return to work in the family company.

After the deal was finalized, both father and son were in a good mood.

Pan Disheng picked up a copy of the Oriental Daily News and opened it. He had been reading the Oriental Daily News every day for the past two weeks, not to read the serialized version of "A Step into the Past", but to read the advertisements in the supplement.

Yes, it's an advertisement.

Starting a week ago, the Oriental Daily News has been dedicating an entire page every day to just four large characters in bright red: "Fashion Oriental," without publishing any articles or advertisements.

[Oriental Daily News] Sales had already skyrocketed recently, attracting a lot of attention. Now that such a bizarre thing has suddenly happened, it will naturally lead to countless speculations.

On the first day, people saw that a certain page of the Oriental Daily only had four large, incomprehensible characters and thought it was a typesetting error or a mistake by the layout staff.

The next day, the page was still entirely red, with the same four large characters: "Oriental Fashion." However, below these four characters, a new line of smaller text appeared: "What is Fashion?"
Now, no one thought that the Oriental Daily News had made a basic mistake; instead, they assumed it was intentional.

The problem is that this version only has a few words, no advertising slogans, no contact number, and no explanation.

Human psychology is so strange; the less we explain, the more people want to know the truth.

As a result, a phenomenon emerged that left people in the press both amused and exasperated: the first thing many people did after receiving the Oriental Daily was to rush to the bright red "advertisement" section to see how many more words had appeared that day.

It wasn't until the twelfth day that readers finally understood that Oriental Weekly was going to be rebranded as Fashion Oriental, aiming to become Hong Kong's first fashion magazine.

On the thirteenth day, the newspaper featured a subscription hotline, but the price of "Fashion Oriental" was outrageously expensive, costing 6 yuan a copy, almost double the 5 yuan of "Ming Pao".

After returning to Hong Kong, Poon Tik-sang conducted market research on the watch and jewelry industry. However, he read the Oriental Daily News every day because the words "Fashion Oriental" attracted him.

What is fashion?
Different people have different understandings of fashion.

As someone who wants to return to Hong Kong to create a luxury brand, Poon Tik-sang's understanding of fashion is luxury brands, using fashion to stimulate people's desire to buy luxury watches and jewelry.

Today's Oriental Daily News is no longer a full-page bright red; instead, it features a magazine cover printed in full color. The cover depicts a glamorous woman in a black evening gown, with bold lettering beside it proclaiming: "Warmest congratulations on the official launch of Hong Kong's first fashion magazine, Fashion Oriental."

Pan Disheng looked at the newspaper and chuckled in surprise, but inwardly he admired the person who planned this series of promotions; the advertising was simply brilliant.

After piquing the curiosity of over 100,000 readers across Hong Kong, the magazine's true nature was gradually revealed, to the point that "Fashion Oriental" was already a household name in Hong Kong even before it was printed and distributed.

Just then, the Filipino maid placed a leather bag in front of Pan Disheng and said, "Young Master, your magazine has arrived."

Pan Disheng knew it was the magazine "Fashion Oriental" that he had ordered. When he opened it, he was also deeply shocked by the photo of Zhao Yazhi on the cover.

He wasn't struck by Zhao Yazhi's beauty, but rather by the superb styling and photographic technique of the photo.

Opening the magazine, the first thing you see is a revamp declaration, which roughly means: Hong Kong is a modern metropolis, but its fashion has not kept up with global trends. The magazine "Fashion Oriental" aims to lead the trend in Hong Kong and create an oriental fashion capital.

Next is the catalog page, and then the advertising page...

Then came a long article about Zhao Yazhi, titled "[Hong Kong Goddess, Fashionable Beauty, TVB's Popular Actress - Zhao Yazhi]".

The article lavishes praise on Zhao Yazhi, yet it doesn't evoke any sense of disgust. Even women who read it would only feel envy and wonder how they could dress to look more beautiful.

The following pages are Zhao Yazhi's photo album, featuring different styles of clothing, hairstyles, and jewelry, creating a perfect woman who transcends the aesthetics of this era.

In particular, Zhao Yazhi's set of professional women photos created a strong visual impact—it turns out that women can be so beautiful in professional attire.

Before Pan Disheng finished reading the magazine, he started looking for the copyright page and made a phone call to discuss reserving advertising space. At the same time, he also started looking for Zhao Yazhi's contact information. He decided to ask Zhao Yazhi to be the spokesperson for his future branded watch and jewelry store.

……

Because of its high price, "Fashion Oriental" gained considerable fame despite days of advertising in the newspaper, but the first issue only sold a little over 1000 copies.

Another 8000 copies of "Fashion Oriental" were directly distributed to the market. Ma Chengkun originally thought it would take a week to sell all 8,000 copies. However, just the second day after the magazine's release, the distribution department received requests from markets and bus stops to reprint the magazine.

Those 8000 copies of "Fashionable Oriental" sold out in just one and a half days.

There are several types of people who buy magazines:
One type is men, who buy the magazines to look at them as photo albums of beautiful women.

Secondly, there are Zhao Yazhi's fans, who naturally want to collect her beautiful photos;
Thirdly, women buy magazines to learn how to dress themselves; fourthly, tailors buy magazines to study the characteristics of the clothing featured in them.

Most of the clothes worn by ordinary citizens in Hong Kong are made by tailors. After seeing the beautiful clothes in "Fashion Oriental", some women rushed to the brands under Guojun Garment Factory to make large purchases.

As a result, the sales of Guojun Garment Factory's brands increased several times over.

Immediately afterwards, a whirlwind seemed to sweep through the streets of Hong Kong, and women everywhere started wearing new styles of clothing.

The clothes were simple and refreshing, with a strong independent female style, and were both androgynous and feminine.

Zhao Yazhi, who sparked this fashion trend, quietly increased her net worth, transforming from a popular TVB star into a female fashion icon, becoming synonymous with elegance, independence, and gentleness.

……

On the third day after the launch of [Fashion Oriental], Chen Jiajun arrived at Zhao Yazhi's upscale apartment in Xiangjiangzai with a lunchbox.

Chen Jiajun placed the lunchbox on the table, then took out a magazine: "This is the first issue of [Fashion Oriental] magazine. I specially asked Oriental Ma to save a copy for you as a souvenir."

"Ah Jun...you're so good to me."

Zhao Yazhi took the magazine casually, her eyes reddening. "Hehe, you're my employee. Whether the movie is a big hit depends on your performance."

As he said this, Chen Jiajun had already sat down on the sofa and took out a cigar box from his pocket: "Want to have a cigar?"

"Don't ask next time."

Zhao Yazhi picked up the cleaned cigar ashtray and placed it in front of Chen Jiajun, then brought him the blowtorch lighter that he had left there last time.

"Thank you."

Chan Ka-Chun took the lighter, picked up the remote control, and turned on TVB.

The apartment quickly fell into silence.

Zhao Yazhi focused intently on the food, while Chen Jiajun sat on the sofa watching TV.

Today, she wore a black silk slip dress, revealing her graceful figure. Her exposed shoulders and fair skin exuded a mature and alluring charm.

Sunlight still streamed into the hall through the sheer fabric, illuminating her stunning figure, leaving Chen Jiajun momentarily speechless with irritation.

"Jingle Bell."

The phone rang, and Zhao Yazhi answered it without hesitation.
"Hello, Azhi, this is Hanwei..."

Surprisingly, Huang Hanwei's voice came from the other end of the phone.

Zhao Yazhi's good mood vanished instantly: "How did you know my phone number?"

Huang Hanwei said, "Your sister told me."

Zhao Yazhi has several older sisters, and some of them have come to visit her recently.

She didn't bother asking who had tipped her off, gave a few perfunctory replies, hung up the phone, and unplugged the phone line as well.

Zhao Yazhi has no lingering attachment to her original family, but she is still worried about her son.

"Ugh."

Zhao Yazhi let out a sigh. Her greatest hope now was to get a divorce smoothly.

If Chen Jiajun were willing to marry me, that would be great. But I am a divorced woman, while he is the well-known Mr. Chen in Hong Kong. Would he look down on me?

Zhao Yazhi started to have wild thoughts.

"Sister Zhi, are you flying to Taiwan tomorrow?"

Chen Jiajun stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray without asking who had called.

"Ah."

Zhao Yazhi put down the magazine: "Ah Jun, aren't you even going to ask who called me?"

“I immediately guessed it was Huang Hanwei. When you come back from Taiwan, I’ll find you a good lawyer,” Chen Jiajun chimed in.

"Thank you, Ah Jun, you're so kind to me." Zhao Yazhi's eyes reddened.

"I'll miss you. Go to work without worry." Chen Jiajun moved closer.

"You rascal, all you know how to do is say nice things to coax people," Zhao Yazhi said with a smile, feeling a sweet warmth in her heart.

"Besides coaxing people, I can do other things too."

Chen Jiajun breathed into Zhao Yazhi's ear, his hands already on her waist and hips.

Zhao Yazhi's heart tightened, and she was powerless to resist as he took liberties with her. She gasped, "Ah Jun, don't do this, let's do something else."

Chen Jiajun stroked Zhao Yazhi's swan-like neck and asked, "What are you doing?"

"do what you want."

Zhao Yazhi closed her eyes, realizing that her answer was too vulgar, and her face turned bright red.

"Ding-dong. Ding-dong..."

Just then, the doorbell rang faintly outside.

After ringing the doorbell for a while, the person outside suddenly pounded on the door and shouted, "Ah Zhi, I know you're in there. Please open the door! It was all my fault before, I apologize... I love you, I'll only ever love you, please come home..."

Upon hearing the sound, Zhao Yazhi immediately opened her eyes and whispered, "Oh no, it's Huang Hanwei outside the door."

"what"

"Bang bang bang..."

Caught off guard, Zhao Yazhi let out a scream. Her back kept hitting the sofa with a thud, while Huang Hanwei outside the door was still banging on the door, begging Zhao Yazhi to forgive him.

The morning sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, casting dappled patterns on people's faces, creating a warm, scorching sensation.

Zhao Yazhi shifted her body slightly, and the stinging pain from her lower body immediately woke her up.

Even after sleeping for several hours, Zhao Yazhi was still somewhat tired.

Seeing that the man holding her was still asleep, Zhao Yazhi did not move again, but just smiled and gazed at the handsome face beside her, afraid of waking him up.

Young, rich, powerful, talented, witty, and physically strong, Zhao Yazhi felt that the man beside her was perfect.

Compared to her, her ex-husband Huang Hanwei was not even worth as much as Chen Jiajun's little finger.

No, compared to Huang Hanwei, they all tarnished Chen Jiajun's reputation.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yazhi felt a surge of emotion and pressed her delicate body even closer to the man's strong body.

"what time is it?"

Chen Jiajun was eventually woken up by him, yawning as he opened his eyes.

Zhao Yazhi exclaimed, "Oh dear, it's already ten o'clock! My flight is at one o'clock!"

"It's alright, no rush." ​​Chen Jiajun smiled and suddenly patted her bottom, saying, "Lie down."

"Stop fooling around, I still need to pack my luggage. I'll spend more time with you after I get back from Taiwan."

Zhao Yazhi's moist lips pressed against Chen Jiajun's face with a soft smack.

"Three hours left." Chen Jiajun said sternly.

"You little devil." Zhao Yazhi bit her lip and obediently lay on the bed.

(End of this chapter)