Chapter 40: The Prodigal Son

Tianma Cinema is located in a prime area in the city center, only four or five hundred meters away from the Department Store Building. In the 80s, it was one of the most bustling places in Yuncheng, but by the 90s, due to the rapid decline of the film market, the cinema lost its ability to draw crowds, causing business at the surrounding shops to become quite sluggish, no longer as lively as in the past.

However, this situation changed in 1995, because after Cheng Long's "Red Sorghum" was released on the first day of the Lunar New Year, it triggered a movie-watching craze, from then on creating the concepts of "New Year films" and the "Spring Festival slot" in the mainland.

"17, 21, 22..."

While waiting for the shop landlord at the entrance of the cinema, Xia Jianwu was bored and counted the audience members coming to buy tickets for a while, saying: "This movie by Cheng Long should be very exciting. The next screening doesn't start for another half hour, and there are already more than 20 people here to buy tickets."

Di Ye examined the large posters for "Red Sorghum" pasted on both sides of the ticket window and said: "This movie is indeed good. If you have time, you can watch it."

"You've seen it?"

"Not yet, but people have been coming to the rental shop these past few days asking if we have this movie, wanting to watch it again at home, so the quality must be good."

Upon hearing this, Xia Jianwu asked with interest: "For popular movies like this, how long does it usually take for pirated versions to appear?"

"They appear on the day of release."

Xia Jianwu was startled and asked: "How can it be so fast?"

Di Ye was still looking at the "Red Sorghum" poster, feeling that there was a business opportunity here, and explained somewhat distractedly: "The underworld in Hong Kong is rampant. On the day of release, they will take a video camera into the cinema, film the entire movie, and then press it onto discs to sell everywhere."

"The picture quality of something filmed like that shouldn't be very high, right?"

"The resolution of VCDs is very low, and the audience can't see clearly anyway, so they don't care. Once DVDs come out in a few years, this kind of bootlegged piracy won't work anymore."

Xia Jianwu was slightly stunned and asked: "What is a DVD?"

Seeing his reaction, Di Ye immediately summoned Xiao Honghua to check and discovered that DVD was a name that only existed after Sony and Toshiba reached an agreement in September 1995, so he patched it: "VCD uses the MPEG-1 standard. The MPEG-2 standard came out last year, and the next generation of video disc players will definitely use this new standard, so I just made up a code name, calling it DVD, which means Digital Video Disc."

Xia Jianwu was very knowledgeable about the MPEG standard and said thoughtfully: "MPEG-1 was released in 1990, and VCD only became commercially available in 1994. Following this timeline, MPEG-2 was released last year, so the DVD you mentioned should be commercially available in 1998, right?"

"That should be about right."

According to the memory information organized by Xiao Honghua, DVDs began to be commercially available in 1996, but they only started to become popular domestically in 1998, so this inference had no problems from a commercial perspective.

"Then we have to hurry and sell more VCDs while we have this two-to-three-year time gap."

"That's what I'm thinking too."

After the two chatted for a while, the landlord finally arrived and opened the shop next door. This shop previously sold cheap clothing, so it basically had no renovation; all four sides were gray, dusty cement walls. Di Ye walked around inside twice, felt the size met his needs, and immediately made the decision to rent it.

Xia Jianwu felt it was too crude and asked: "How long will the renovation here take?"

"No renovation. Tomorrow I'll find someone to clean it up, then just cover the walls with movie posters."

"Didn't you just say you wanted to make the storefront look good?"

Seeing the landlord nearby pricking up his ears to eavesdrop, Di Ye prevaricated: "Making a storefront look good doesn't necessarily mean it has to be magnificent. We can hold lucky draws, give away gifts, invite celebrities to perform, raise membership qualifications, and so on. In short, as long as the location is good enough and the place is big enough, there are many ways to play."

"You have so many devious ideas. Then I'll wait and see."

At this time, the ticket inspector at Tianma Cinema used a loudspeaker to announce that "Red Sorghum" was about to be screened, urging the audience to hurry and buy tickets to enter. Xia Jianwu was struck by a whim and decided to watch the movie.

Before going to buy a ticket, he gave the Audi keys to Di Ye and said: "I'll take a taxi back to the hotel myself later. You use this car for two days to keep up appearances, but don't break it; I borrowed it too."

Di Ye did not stand on ceremony with him, put the keys away, and said: "Fangfei will probably be pestering me tonight, so I won't accompany you for dinner. I'll treat you to a good meal tomorrow."

"She has been energetic since she was a child, and once she starts pestering, there's no end to it. You're on your own. I'll be left in peace, which is exactly what I want."

Xia Jianwu walked out of the shop gloating, then remembered something, turned his head and asked: "What is the name of your rental shop?"

"Yingfeng, meaning 'Film and Television Pioneer'."

"Film and Television Pioneer? That's a good name. Later, when I start my company, you can help me think of some good names too."

Di Ye laughed and agreed: "I'll try my best."

Fan Dazhi and Bi Wanxi felt that Di Ye was a university student with a high level of education, so they insisted he name the company. Di Ye, with a sense of dark humor, chose the name of a classic weapon from "World of Warcraft" to fill the quota—this "Yingfeng". Its upgraded version is called "Shadowmourne", which happens to correspond to the entire process of VCDs going from a fashion pioneer to a tear of the times.

After Xia Fangfei finished pretending to be a female secretary at Computer City and had her fill of role-playing, she couldn't muster any interest in small matters like renting a storefront and took a taxi to Chenghuang Temple to find Huang Ya. After Di Ye signed the contract with the landlord, seeing that it was still early, he drove the Audi home and reported his gains in Jinling to Di Yongchang.

"Dad, I'm accompanying President Xia for dinner tonight, so I might not come back to sleep."

Di Yongchang was still in the surprise of suddenly having 3,000 CD Players and didn't even ask who President Xia specifically was, saying: "Alright, you entertain him well."

Di Ye didn't rush to leave, but instead made a phone call to Di Yan's house. Learning that Lu Hanming hadn't returned from the "Yuncheng Evening News" office, he had no choice but to say: "Sister, ask Brother-in-law to take a day off tomorrow and help me with the shop renovation."

Di Yan had a strong career drive and said dissatisfiedly: "Tomorrow is the first workday of the New Year; taking leave isn't appropriate. Wait until the day after tomorrow; the day after is the weekend."

Di Ye planned to open on the sixth day of the first lunar month and didn't want to waste a single day, so he persuaded her: "The publishing house isn't the Post and Telecommunications Bureau; business volume won't accumulate during the holiday. The first day of work will definitely have nothing to do. Besides, if that shop is done well, I can earn at least over a hundred thousand, and the dividend I give Brother-in-law will be more than his annual salary."

"I was always worried that your brother-in-law would lead you astray, but now I find that you are the one leading your brother-in-law astray. Fine, I'll talk to him tonight."

Seeing that she had relaxed on matters of principle, Di Ye decided to take the opportunity to resolve another matter. He ran to close the bedroom door and said: "Sister, Xia Fangfei has come to Yuncheng. I'll bring her to see you tomorrow night, and we'll have a meal together."

Di Yan was the only person in the family who knew about Xia Fangfei and also knew that Di Ye had gone to Jinling yesterday. Upon hearing this, she was both shocked and happy, and hurriedly asked: "Have you confirmed your relationship?"

"Basically confirmed."

"Either it's confirmed, or it's not. What does 'basically' mean?"

"The situation is like this..."

Di Ye used brief words to describe his current situation of facing a Shura field. After listening, Di Yan was furious and sternly reprimanded him for several minutes, finally summarizing with one sentence: "I really want to take a feather duster and beat you to death!"

"Sister, don't be agitated. I wanted you to help me..."

"I can't help you with this kind of mess, and I won't! They are both good girls; they can't just be ruined by you like this."

"I'm not asking you to help me deal with them; I'm asking you to help me hide it from Mom and Dad, and not let them know for the time being."

Di Yan sneered and mocked: "For the time being? Are you planning to keep one foot in each boat forever?"

"Of course. Didn't you just say it yourself? They are both good girls. I can't just ruin them and then walk away without caring."

"How could I have a brother as thick-skinned and shameless as you!"

Although Di Yan was extremely angry, she had no way to deal with Di Ye. After scolding him for a while, she said helplessly: "You should settle down in the future and stop messing around."

"I won't."

"Then when I see Xia Fangfei tomorrow night, what should I say?"

"You don't need to say anything, just meet her. Because I've met her brother, you have to meet her; it's a matter of courtesy."

After all, he was her own brother. Once Di Yan calmed down, her heart involuntarily leaned toward him, and she said: "Then I must prepare a more valuable gift to comfort Xia Fangfei, so she doesn't get angry at you."

Di Ye was no gentleman. From the first day after his transmigration, he knew that he would eventually have to keep one foot in multiple boats, and he never fought an unprepared battle. Therefore, after earning a sum in Pengcheng, he bought many emergency gifts and said: "Sister, you don't need to prepare anything; I have them all here. Skincare products, perfume, bracelets, rings, necklaces, clutches, ladies' watches... which one do you think is appropriate?"

Di Yan was completely numb; after a long silence, she asked, "How much money did you spend buying these things?"

"About 40,000 yuan."

"You... you really are a super spendthrift!"