Volume One: Days in the Shantytown - Charging in Naked (Part One)

The Director pulled on a bathrobe and stepped onto the expensive camel-hair carpet with his wet, bare feet. He opened the door to find a well-dressed Chinese man outside. "Who are you looking for?" he asked in English. Luo Qian checked the room number. This had to be the place. "Are you Director Wolslo?" he asked in his halting English.

Wolslo nodded. He noticed the Givenchy cufflinks on Luo Qian's sleeves, their tortoiseshell gleaming. Wherever they went, wealthy people commanded respect. Wolslo believed that directors needed money to live, and he lived by that principle himself. So although he looked down on China, he reserved a measure of respect for someone who could afford to wear Gucci.

"Good." Luo Qian smiled in relief, walked in without an invitation, and dropped onto Wolslo's sofa. He frowned. "I'd better get an interpreter." He called Room Service and asked the hotel to send up a Lobby Manager.

Wolslo was stunned by his brazenness. Thinking he had run into the Chinese mafia, he stood to one side, too afraid to speak. When the Lobby Manager arrived, he began apologetically, "Mr. Wolslo, I'm terribly sorry..." Luo Qian cut him off. "I have business to discuss with the Director. Translate each sentence as I say it."

The Lobby Manager froze for a moment, then obediently translated. Wolslo nodded, his face dark. Luo Qian said, "I have some money I'd like to invest. I hear films make good money. You're a good director, and I hear funds are a little tight for you lately. How about we work together?"

Wolslo's eyes lit up. He might look down on China, but its economic rise in recent years had drawn the world's attention. If he could strike gold there, his trip to this desert of art would not have been wasted!

He nodded eagerly and told the interpreter, "Please tell this esteemed gentleman that I would be delighted to accept his investment. We can split the returns sixty-forty: sixty for me, forty for him." Wolslo put on the airs of a great director.

Luo Qian spread his hands. "No problem! I can put up two billion yuan. At the current exchange rate, that's about three hundred million US dollars. How does that sound?"

Overjoyed, Wolslo sat down beside Luo Qian and seized his hand. "My dear sir, you are the greatest discovery of my trip to Asia!" He hurried off to pour two glasses of Brandy. "To a happy partnership!" "A happy partnership!" Luo Qian's smile was so sly that he looked for all the world like an old fox spirit with a thousand years of cultivation.

"If possible, I hope we can sign a contract soon," Wolslo said. Luo Qian nodded. "No problem. Tell me what terms you want, and my lawyer can have the contract drafted in three days." Wolslo could barely contain his excitement. "Oh, that's wonderful!" He still wondered whether this man who had appeared at his door was really so rich, but Luo Qian's next move swept away his doubts.

"Now that we're partners, I'll cover all your expenses in China. Once you've finished shooting the commercial, I'd like to discuss a longer-term partnership. I can reserve this suite for you for a year, and whenever you want to come to China, I can send my Private Plane to pick you up."

Luo Qian wrote a check and handed it to the Lobby Manager. The man hurried downstairs to verify it, then returned shortly and nodded to Wolslo. The check was good.

A year in the penthouse imperial suite of a five-star hotel cost enough to build a villa. Wolslo finally believed the man before him was an Asian chieftain.

"Well, my dear partner, my name is Luo Qian. Once you've finished the commercial, I hope we can find time for me to treat you to a Chinese feast. For now, I'll be going." Luo Qian stood. Wolslo escorted him all the way downstairs, took his hand, and said, "Mr. Luo, I'd like to invite you to watch me shoot the commercial tomorrow. You must want to see how I work?" Luo Qian nodded. "Of course. I'll be there."

A piercing wail of sirens rang out. Five police cars screeched to a stop outside the hotel. Under the protection of the Armed Police, Pei Sefei and a middle-aged man in his forties rushed inside. "Luo Qian! Luo Qian, are you all right?"

"Mr. Wolslo and I had a very good talk," Luo Qian said. "Why wouldn't I be all right?" Seeing him still holding that foreigner's hand, Pei Sefei flew into a rage. She had been afraid he would do something rash for her sake, yet here he was, so close to the man who had bullied her!

The middle-aged man behind her asked softly, "Xiao Fei, what is going on? If your grandfather asks, how is your uncle supposed to explain this..." A wave of hurt washed over Pei Sefei. Fighting back tears, she glared at Luo Qian's smiling face and said through gritted teeth, "It's nothing, Uncle Xiao Liu. I'm sorry. I was just stupid enough to think..." She could say no more. She turned, covered her face, and ran out.

The middle-aged man looked Luo Qian up and down for a while. Then, his face dark, he waved a hand. "Fall back."

"Luo, what was that about?" Wolslo asked in surprise. Luo Qian chuckled. "Nothing. That girl is a friend of mine." Wolslo was an old hand at this sort of thing. He gave Luo Qian a knowing smile. "Oh, I understand. Luo, I'll arrange an important role for the young lady in our film." He assumed Luo Qian was investing to make Pei Sefei a star. He did not think much of her, but for three hundred million dollars, he could reluctantly give her a supporting role.

"No!" To his surprise, Luo Qian rejected the offer at once, his words firm and final. "Absolutely not!" Wolslo stared. "Luo, are you serious?" Luo Qian nodded solemnly. "I am, Mr. Wolslo. In the film we make together, I want you to use no Chinese actors. That is my only condition, and it must be written into the contract. Otherwise, I'm sorry to say our partnership is off."

Wolslo had not wanted to use Asian actors in the first place. This was exactly what he wished for. "Very well. We'll put it in the contract."

The next day, Pei Sefei arrived at the shoot after crying all night. Her agent and makeup artist frowned at her swollen, red eyes. Fortunately, the makeup artist had plenty of experience with panda eyes and puffy eyes. With some medicine or other, the swelling soon went down. Then came makeup and a change of clothes. The delay pushed the start of filming an hour past schedule.

Her agent had worried that the temperamental Director would lose his temper again and had braced himself to be caught in the middle. Unexpectedly, the Director was remarkably pleasant that day and did not blame Pei Sefei at all. She, too, seemed to have forgotten the previous day's unpleasantness and cooperated throughout the shoot.

At noon, a Bentley stopped outside the studio. Dressed head to toe in designer labels, Luo Qian climbed out with a showy flourish. Wolslo opened his arms and welcomed him with an enthusiastic embrace. "Haha, Luo, you made it!" Luo Qian hugged him back. "My friend, how could I refuse your invitation?"

Pei Sefei watched the scene without expression, as though she did not know Luo Qian at all.

The shoot went smoothly. When work wrapped, Luo Qian found a chance to approach Pei Sefei. "Can I take you to dinner tonight?" She walked straight past him as though she had heard nothing. Quite a few people around the studio saw it. Luo Qian awkwardly straightened his clothes and walked away as if nothing had happened.

He had borrowed the car from the owner of Long Hair House Jewelry. At the same time, he had asked the Jewelry Shop to raise two billion yuan for him. The request nearly sent the owner diving under his desk. He was worth around three billion, but most of that was tied up in property. Producing two billion all at once was beyond him, even if his life depended on it.

But once Luo Qian produced three pieces of standard Immortal Jade, the owner's difficulty turned into a solemn promise. He was a man of nerve. He first borrowed one piece from Luo Qian, then quickly contacted the other two major Jewelry Shops. The heads of the country's three biggest Jewelry Shops gathered, examined the standard Immortal Jade, and immediately decided to pool two billion yuan to buy the three pieces of Divine Jade. Then the three firms would invest together to establish a giant Jewelry Company. With those three pieces of Divine Jade, they would first unite the Asian market, then march into the global jewelry industry!

Immortal Jade was unlike ordinary Mortal Jade. In the lower world, its effects were beyond measure. Any object kept within a certain distance of Immortal Jade for long enough would turn to jade. In other words, with those three pieces of standard Immortal Jade, they could produce countless pieces of fine jade.

Standard Immortal Jade was the lowest grade of Immortal Jade in the Immortal Realm. Because its quality was not high, there was also an exceedingly small chance of finding it in the Mortal Realm. Luo Qian felt safe bringing it out because of that tiny possibility. Even if the Immortal Realm learned of it, no one would pay much attention. It did not violate his principle of "never selling things from a higher-level world in a lower-level world."

The two billion yuan arrived three days later. The Law Firm Luo Qian had engaged also drafted a contract within those three days. Luo Qian took it to Wolslo.

The commercial was finished, and Wolslo had spent the past two days waiting anxiously for Luo Qian. As a veteran director, he understood contracts that were legally binding worldwide. After carefully reviewing the terms, he signed his name without delay. Smiling, Luo Qian used his Personal Computer to transfer three hundred million US dollars into Wolslo's account.

Pop! Wolslo opened the Champagne he had prepared in advance.

"To a happy partnership!" "A happy partnership."

(The webpage won't open. It's as slow as a snail. How frustrating.)

(It's the weekend! I hope everyone's in a good mood and has a great time! To those of you working overtime, on behalf of all the readers, I offer my deepest sympathy and my strongest contempt for the cruel exploiting class!)