Chapter 31: Discs

"Di Ye, is *One Husband, Two Wives* a Category III film?"

"No, it's a comedy released in 1987, starring Chen You, Mei Yanfang, and Xia Wenxi."

"What about *The Reincarnation of Golden Lotus*? That one definitely is, right?"

"That's not one either; it's a fantasy drama released in 1989, starring Wang Zuxian, Ceng Zhiwei, and Lin Junxian."

In early 1995, the pirated VCD industry chain was not yet mature. Most of the discs that Fan Dazhi and Bi Wanxi bought back were old movies transferred from videotapes. The covers were blank, with only a name written in marker pen. If one were not very knowledgeable about the history of Hong Kong cinema, one would have no idea what the specific content was.

Di Ye sat in front of a power outlet in the corner of the warehouse, placed his Notebook Computer on a folding dining table, and while using Excel to create an inventory list to record the names and quantities of the discs, he directed Bi Wanxi to categorize the movies and pack them into different boxes to prevent the blunder of recommending Category III films to customers as family-friendly entertainment.

Before the appearance of VCDs, the Chinese film market had been stagnant for many years. Because pirated videotapes had high production costs, low efficiency, high prices, and were bulky and inconvenient to transport, the supply of films in inland video parlors was limited. They often played the same movies over and over, resulting in very low viewing volume for film enthusiasts at the time.

Bi Wanxi was a down-and-out man who couldn't even scrape together a few thousand yuan. The reason he was able to connect with Fan Dazhi and go to Guangdong Province to buy pirated discs, besides having relatives in Hong Kong, was that he had spent years hanging around video parlors, had watched over 100 movies, and knew the ropes.

However, to a film fan from the internet age like Di Ye, a viewing volume of a mere 100-plus movies was not worth mentioning. As long as Bi Wanxi reported a movie title, he could immediately state the release date, general plot, main actors, and even related gossip, crushing this so-called "expert" until nothing was left.

"Di Ye, have you seen all these movies?"

"Of course not."

Excluding the time wasted on the round trip, Di Ye had stayed in Pengcheng for 5 days. During these 5 days, he was alone, so he could make up whatever lies he wanted. He said casually, "I was idle in Pengcheng a few days ago, so I found an old book stall and read many back-issue magazines about Hong Kong entertainment."

"You remembered them after reading them once?"

"I can even memorize tens of thousands of English words; why wouldn't I be able to remember the synopses of a few hundred movies? Besides, the names of people like Cheng Long, Zhou Xingchi, and Zhang Manyu are much easier to remember than those Hollywood stars like Buluosi Weilisi, Tangmu Kelusi, and Meilier Sitelipu."

"Damn, I give up on you..."

"*A Chinese Odyssey*."

"You're awesome!"

With Di Ye as his cheat code, the statistical work was completed very smoothly. When Fan Dazhi arrived at the warehouse around 10 o'clock, he found that not only had all the discs been categorized, but the movie catalog and advertising flyers had also been printed out.

"Xiao Ye, you are a genuine genius. Your brain is too good; no wonder you could earn over 200,000 in one day in Pengcheng."

"Did Uncle Fan see my dad this morning?"

"Yes, I just went to your house and discussed with your dad whether we should hire a few more people."

Upon hearing this, Di Ye quickly said, "We must hire. Not only must we hire, but we also need to rent a larger room to use as a workshop."

Fan Dazhi was very shrewd; he understood the implication behind the words and asked with a smile, "Do you have some new ideas again?"

Di Ye took a disc labeled *Once Upon a Time in China* from a box beside him and said, "Uncle Fan, on the day we went to Guangdong Province, a disc cost 40 yuan, but on the day we came back, a disc only cost 30 yuan. At this rate, it won't be long before the price of a disc might drop to around 10 yuan."

"I thought the same, so I didn't dare buy too many this time; I only bought 2,000."

"If the price of discs drops to 10 yuan, more people will buy VCD Players, and more people will sell and rent discs. So, why don't we hold an event during the Spring Festival? On one hand, we can sell those 600 Decompression Cards as soon as possible, and on the other, we can build a reputation for the rental shop, grab customer resources, and recoup some funds."

Fan Dazhi was thoughtful and asked, "What kind of event?"

Di Ye held up the disc in his hand, shook it, and said, "Pay 200 yuan to get a Membership Card. 100 yuan of that is the rental fee, and 100 yuan is a deposit. During the first month of the lunar new year, members can watch all discs as they please. If they stop renting after the first month, the 100 yuan deposit will be fully refunded. If they continue to rent, they get a 20% discount on the rent."

Fan Dazhi was stunned and instinctively said, "Renting one movie costs 10 yuan. Even if we only rent out one a day, we could earn 300 a month. Isn't it a big loss to let people watch whatever they want for a month for 100 yuan?"

Di Ye smiled and explained, "Uncle Fan, do you think everyone has time to watch movies every day? Office workers go to work on the fourth day of the lunar new year, and students go to school after the sixteenth. It's impossible for them to come and rent discs every day. Furthermore, to rent discs, one must first have a Video disc player, and currently, only we have a large number of them for sale. We can raise the selling price a bit."

Fan Dazhi came around and nodded repeatedly, saying, "If we do it this way, we might even earn a little more. I'll listen to you; let's do it!"

At this moment, Huang Ya walked over hurriedly from the street with an umbrella, stood at the warehouse entrance, and asked, "Di Ye, I heard from Bi Wanxi that you've already finished the rental materials?"

"I've only finished the movie catalog. I still need to find my brother-in-law to help with the illustrations and printing for the brochures."

"Give me the catalog first. A few video parlor owners have come to the shop, and I'll take it to show them."

Di Ye handed over a catalog and said, "There are 300 movies and 10 TV series in total. I've marked the better ones with an asterisk. You operate according to what I said last night."

"Understood, you can rest assured."

Huang Ya came in a hurry and left in a hurry. Fan Dazhi looked at her petite back and said with a smile, "Although this girl is a bit short, she has a resilient character, works seriously, and has a flexible mind. She will definitely be a virtuous wife and good mother in the future. Xiao Ye, don't you want to consider it?"

Di Ye didn't like others interfering in his love life, so he directly changed the subject: "Does Uncle Fan have anything else? If not, I'm going home to write my graduation thesis."

"There is one more thing. I originally wanted to discuss it with your dad, but he told me to come find you..."

Fan Dazhi lit a cigarette, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Xiao Ye, this rental business was your idea, and you've helped a lot. Now that we're about to open, we need to clarify the shares. After all, there's a Bi Wanxi between us."

"How much do Uncle Fan and Bi Wanxi plan to invest each?"

"Bi Wanxi has no money and plans to use his family's shop as his stake. That shop is worth about 100,000 yuan, so I'm also prepared to put in 100,000."

Di Ye thought for a moment and said, "I'm still a student and can only help with small things. The overall direction still relies on Uncle Fan to preside over it. I'll just put in 50,000 yuan and take a 20% share for dividends."

Fan Dazhi mainly did wholesale business in smuggled electrical appliances, and his capital chain was tight at the end of the year. Having learned from Di Yongchang in the morning that Di Ye had earned 240,000 in one day in Pengcheng and had over 300,000 in spare cash, he was worried that Di Ye would increase his investment and dilute his own shares, which was why he had hesitated just now. Now that he heard Di Ye only wanted a 20% share, he was overjoyed and quickly said, "Good, then it's settled."

Although the rental business was profitable, it belonged to a gray area and wouldn't last long, so Di Ye didn't attach much importance to it. After finishing the discussion about shares, he asked, "Uncle Fan, how did you manage to apply for your Hong Kong travel permit?"

"Why, do you want to go to Hong Kong to play?"

"I want to go and see for myself next semester."

"There are three ways to apply for a permit: visiting relatives, joining a tour group, and a business visa. Bi Wanxi's grandfather is in Hong Kong, so he can apply to visit relatives. You don't have that connection, so don't even think about it. Joining a tour group is boring; it's strictly managed, and you can't move freely. So, it's best to get a business visa, which allows you to stay in Hong Kong for 7 days..."

Fan Dazhi briefly introduced the types of permits and said, "Permits have annual quotas, and you are a student, so you probably can't get a business visa through normal channels. You'll have to think of another way. I'll find someone to ask for you later."

"Okay."

After chatting with Fan Dazhi, Di Ye took a movie catalog and a few advertising flyers, took a taxi to the Yuncheng Literature Publishing House located on Hengshan Lu, found Lu Hanming in the archives room, and asked, "Brother-in-law, have you gotten the promotional photos of Hong Kong movie stars?"

"I've already contacted a friend who covers entertainment news, and he said he'd give them to me tomorrow."

Seeing him rummaging through a pile of yellowed back-issue magazines, Di Ye was curious and asked, "What information are you looking for?"

"A few days ago, that case at your school made it into the *Yuncheng Evening News*. I mentioned the idea of adapting it into a novel, and the editor-in-chief was very interested and asked me to try writing it. As a result, I haven't been able to write a single word for two days. Just now, I suddenly remembered a crime novel I read before where the plot was somewhat similar to this case, so I wanted to find it for reference."

Di Ye became interested upon hearing this and asked, "What is the name of that novel?"

"I don't remember."

"What about the author's name?"

"I don't remember that either, and I've forgotten which year it was from, so I can only look for it book by book."

Upon hearing this, Di Ye really wanted to pass on Bi Wanxi's "I give up on you" to Lu Hanming.