With no other choice, they put out a call for people to volunteer. After several rounds of screening and testing the girls in various ways, they finally selected three slightly sleazy-looking men who met the requirements.
Now that the male lead had finally been chosen, filming continued. This time, Wang Xuan did not join in. After learning the filming process, he had lost interest and instead went to arrange the production line and sales channels for the videotapes.
The main sales targets were Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia. This was precisely the era when video halls and videotape rental businesses were taking off, so Wang Xuan was not worried about sales.
The filming went smoothly. Three days later, the finished film had been edited. After watching it once, Wang Xuan expressed great satisfaction. He had two versions made—censored and uncensored—to facilitate sales in different countries.
The only thing that displeased Wang Xuan was that videotapes cost too much, had too little storage capacity, and lacked sufficient clarity. Compared with VCDs, they were far inferior.
After the master tape was sent to the factory, large quantities of videotapes were quickly produced. At first, they were distributed to every video hall and videotape rental outlet on Hong Kong Island.
Wang Xuan did not believe these small shops would dare cheat him, so he did not require them to pay immediately. Instead, he gave them a week to sell the stock before payment was due.
However, he had not expected the film to become so popular the moment it hit the market. The first batch of ten thousand tapes sold out in less than three days, and the market response was enthusiastic. This also proved the appeal of the uniform temptation. Moreover, the filming costs were not actually high. After deducting equipment rental and labor expenses, the sale of ten thousand tapes had almost recovered the production costs—even without opening up any other markets.
At present, Wang Xuan's influence in the underworld was still insufficient, and he had no way to contact forces in other countries, so the videotape sales channels had not yet been established.
Still, the Hong Kong market alone was enough to make him rich. Although his current income was low, if the market could be fully opened, a single year's profits would definitely exceed those of Portland Street.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last. Just over ten days after the second film entered the market, Ah Wai noticed that sales had suddenly leveled off. They were no longer rising as sharply as before. Although he did not know what was wrong, his instincts told him there was a problem, so he immediately reported it to Wang Xuan.
After hearing the situation, Wang Xuan knew without even thinking that someone had secretly made pirated copies.
Damn it!
How bold could they be? Had their guts swollen, or had they come down with cholecystitis? They even dared pirate something belonging to the triad. Were they looking to die?
Thinking of piracy, Wang Xuan thought of the clothes he had designed. He wondered whether those had been pirated too.
He might as well investigate everything at once. Anyone who dared pirate his businesses had to be taught a proper lesson.
The triad was much more convenient than the police when it came to investigations. Although everyone used torture to extract confessions, the triad did not need to worry about evidence. There were only a few factories in Hong Kong that produced videotapes. Once the person in charge was captured, the other party confessed everything before they even had time to be questioned.
The people behind the piracy were also acquaintances of the videotape factory, but with their lives on the line, they could not afford to worry about that anymore.
Wang Xuan was stunned for a moment when he heard the result. He had never expected his first encounter with someone from Hung Hing to be him—the arrogant, domineering, and perverted Liang Kun.
That made things rather troublesome. Many methods were completely useless against Liang Kun. He had also risen to prominence by making pornographic films, and his distribution channels were larger than Wang Xuan's. At that moment, Wang Xuan entertained the thought of simply killing Liang Kun, but after careful consideration, he ultimately gave up on it.
Liang Kun was a key figure in Young and Dangerous. Wang Xuan was afraid that killing him rashly would cause inexplicable changes to the world.
Unable to think of a particularly good solution for the moment, Wang Xuan set the matter aside and turned his attention to the clothing factory.
The clothing factory had also encountered piracy. Several small factories that did not know their limits had been secretly producing counterfeits. Wang Xuan directly ordered Zhu Libo to sue them. The evidence was already available, and the Hong Kong British government could only order them to stop production and pay compensation, though the amount was not large.
Once the official judgments had been issued, Wang Xuan took action. More than a hundred underlings charged over, sealed the factories, and hauled away everything from raw materials to finished products. The owners were also arrested and forced to pay ten times the profits they had made from selling the counterfeit uniforms.
Although this did not bankrupt the two small factories, it had still left them severely crippled. Even so, everyone thought Wang Xuan had shown mercy. They had dared counterfeit products belonging to the triad—were they so desperate for money that they had gone insane?
They should have been secretly grateful that they had not been killed and thrown into the sea to feed the fish.
As soon as this happened, word spread throughout the industry. It had served as a warning to others, and from then on, no one dared imitate the clothing produced by Wang Xuan's factory.
Just as the matter concerning the clothing factory had come to an end, news came from the film company: Liang Kun had arrived!
The moment Wang Xuan received the call, his anger flared. In the several months since arriving in this world, this was the first time someone had forced him into such a helpless position. He immediately took dozens of underlings with him. He wanted to see just how arrogant Liang Kun really was.
As for bringing so many people, that was also to guard against the unexpected. After being ambushed last time, he still felt shaken whenever he thought about it.
The distance was not far. In less than half an hour, Wang Xuan arrived at the film company with his men. Even in the corridor, he could hear a hoarse voice coming from inside. "The film is pretty good. I have high hopes for you. Come work with me. What does Blood Dragon amount to? He's merely a manager of a minor district under East Star. He can't make any waves in front of Hung Hing."
"Beautiful girl, very pretty."
The entire room fell deathly silent. Everyone looked at one another, and even Wang Xuan's underlings and the girls did not dare speak.
Hearing Liang Kun's hoarse voice, Wang Xuan's anger burned even hotter. He swore inwardly, I'll show you exactly what I amount to!
He turned his head and signaled everyone to draw their knives, then led the way inside.
Hearing the dense footsteps, everyone stared at the doorway. Then they saw Wang Xuan walk in with a cold expression.
After sweeping his gaze around the room, Wang Xuan saw that Liang Kun was not yet thirty. He had brought seven or eight underlings to block the doorway. With his short hair and suit, he looked nothing like a good person. Even standing there in silence, his temperament alone made it clear that he was a violent, bad-tempered man.
He had none of Wang Xuan's refined young-master bearing.
The two men met each other's gaze, and neither spoke first. Liang Kun continued blocking the doorway, not treating Wang Xuan as the host in the slightest and showing no intention of moving aside.
Wang Xuan gave a cold snort. He could not be bothered to play a game of patience with Liang Kun. Suddenly, he stepped forward and kicked one of the thugs flying.
"Hack them to death!"
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