RBCT Chapter 22 Deceiving Hu Jing
Chapter 22 Deceiving Hu Jing
The store became lively the day after the poster was put up.
First, a few girls from the affiliated high school of Beijing Dance Academy passed by on their way home from school. They saw the Andy Lau poster in the shop window, screamed, and rushed in. The regular version cost forty or fifty yuan, and they readily paid, grabbed it, and left.
The handwritten signature version hung up for a week without anyone touching it. At 298 yuan a piece, that's enough for an average student's living expenses for two months; not everyone can afford it.
The real big clients haven't arrived yet.
One afternoon in late October, a young woman came into the shop.
Li Si'an was standing behind the counter unpacking newly arrived cassette tapes when she heard the door open and looked up.
A little girl wearing a dark blue school uniform and with her hair in a ponytail stood in front of the poster wall, looking up at the poster of Aaron Kwok.
She looked at it for a while, her gaze finally settling on the price tag next to it that read "handwritten signature version"—298.
Li Si'an glanced at her a few more times. She had a round face, fairly large eyes, and fair skin. While not strikingly beautiful, she was pleasant to look at. Her school uniform was from the Affiliated High School of the Central University for Nationalities.
A scene suddenly flashed through his mind. What was the name of a TV series he'd watched in his past life?
"The Secret History of Xiaozhuang"? No, is it "The Imperial Palace of the Qing Dynasty"? That doesn't seem to be it either. Anyway, one of his faces matches the girl in front of him.
He remembered. This girl should be from the Central Academy of Drama's class of '96, the same class as Zhang Ziyi.
She acted in quite a few plays, and later married a Malaysian tycoon. What was his name again... never mind, the name doesn't matter. What matters is—this person is a star, uh, a future star.
"Boss, how much is this?"
The voice wasn't loud, it had a slight accent from another region, and it was soft and pleasant to listen to.
Li Si'an walked to the poster wall and glanced at the one featuring Aaron Kwok.
"The regular version is 45. This handwritten, signed version is 298."
Hu Jing bit her lip, reached into her pocket and rummaged around for a while before pulling out a handful of change, which she placed on the counter. Ten-yuan notes, five-yuan notes, one-yuan notes, and a few coins. She counted them once, then again.
"How about 150? I don't have enough money."
Li Si'an glanced at her, then at the handful of change on the counter. The largest denomination was ten yuan, crumpled and crumpled.
"Judging from your outfit, you must be from the dance department of the High School Affiliated to Minzu University of China, right?"
Hu Jing was taken aback: "How did you know?"
"I could tell. I'm from the affiliated high school of Beijing Dance Academy, and dance students walk differently than ordinary people."
Hu Jing looked down at herself, then looked up at him: "You're quite capable."
Li Si'an chuckled and pulled out a printed autographed copy of Aaron Kwok's album from under the counter—those were genuine printed autographed copies, not ones he had drawn himself. The price was one hundred and fifty.
"This one, 150. It's a printed signed copy, not handwritten, but it's still an original Hong Kong edition. I'll sell it to you at the listed price if you want it."
Hu Jing took it and looked at it, then looked at the price tag.
"Didn't you say the handwritten autographed edition was only 298? This one is 150?"
"Yeah, what do you think? These autographed prints are limited editions, and they all require celebrity authorization to print, so of course they're worth the price." Li Si'an blurted out without even blinking.
"But it's definitely cheaper than a celebrity autograph. Do you want one?"
Hu Jing hesitated for a moment, then glanced at the change on the counter. She had enough money, just enough. She rolled up the poster and took a rubber band from her bag to secure it.
"I'll take it."
She neatly stacked the 150 yuan bills on the counter, one by one, ten yuan bills, five yuan bills, making a small pile.
Li Si'an took the money but didn't put it in the drawer right away.
"What's your name?"
"Hu Jing".
"My name is Li Si'an. We both study dance. Let's be friends. Come by often."
Hu Jing glanced at him and smiled. When she smiled, the lines on her face softened considerably, and her eyes curved into crescents.
"You run a shop and you still make friends?"
"Making friends doesn't interfere with doing business. If you come to buy something, I'll give you a discount; if you don't buy anything, we can just chat."
"You're quite an interesting person." Hu Jing tucked the poster under her arm. "I'm off then. Thanks."
Take care.
The poster business was even better than Li Si'an had expected.
The first batch of dozens of posters sold out in less than three weeks.
Andy Lau and Aaron Kwok's were the most sought-after, Leon Lai's was so-so, and Jacky Cheung's was on the shelf for over a week before someone finally bought it—and sure enough, it was a guy wearing glasses who went straight to Jacky Cheung's, paid, and left without saying a word.
What truly made the store popular wasn't the posters themselves, but the people.
Who are the girls who chase after the Four Heavenly Kings? Young girls. From the affiliated high schools of Beijing Dance Academy, Minzu University of China, Capital Normal University, and nearby middle schools.
One person told another that there was a video store here that sold original Hong Kong posters, including limited editions with handwritten autographs, so people started flocking there.
With so many little girls around, the shop became lively. They chattered away, pointing and flipping through the posters on the wall, sometimes almost getting into arguments over who was more handsome, Andy Lau or Leon Lai.
With more girls arriving, boys followed suit.
I initially came with my girlfriend, but later I heard there were many pretty girls here, so I came by myself.
When the boys came, they didn't just look at posters and girls. They also looked at cassette tapes and videos, asked if there were any albums by Emil Chau or Jacky Cheung, and asked what movies were playing that night.
The number of people walking in front of the store has more than doubled. Sometimes, around the time school lets out, the store is so crowded that you can barely move, and there are still seven or eight people standing at the door, craning their necks to look inside.
Tape sales also increased. We used to sell forty or fifty tapes a day, now it's common to sell sixty or seventy, and on weekends we can sell over a hundred.
Needless to say, the video arcade used to have forty or fifty people every night, but now it's always packed. Chen Dong has to open the doors half an hour early to let people in and reserve seats.
Tang Yun couldn't handle it all by herself. Li Si'an sometimes had a lot of classes and could only come to the shop in the afternoon, so during that period, Nan Jie and Tang Yun had to take care of everything.
Tang Yun was busy collecting money, giving change, and Nan Jie was handing out tapes and greeting customers. She didn't even have time to drink water.
Chen Dong sometimes came over from the video arcade to help out, but he was tongue-tied and would get stuck after a few words with the customers. At most, he could help move goods or set up the store.
Chen Nan often looked at him and sighed, worried that he would have a hard time finding a wife in the future.
Li Si'an said to him, "With so many young girls hanging around you every day, can't you even chat with one of them for a bit?"
Chen Dong asked, "What should we talk about?" Li Si'an replied, "At least we can ask them what they want to buy."
Chen Dong said, "I asked, and they said they wanted Andy Lau's." Li Si'an said, "And then?" Chen Dong said, "Then I gave her Andy Lau's."
Li Si'an glanced at him and sighed, "Alright. You'll be in charge of moving the goods."
Recently, more and more boys have been coming to the store. At first, he thought they were all coming for the girls, but later he found out that it wasn't all of them—several boys walked in and looked around, circled around, and then awkwardly approached the counter.
"Boss, why don't you sell posters of Hong Kong female celebrities here?"
Li Si'an glanced at him and asked, "Which female celebrity's poster do you want?"
"Do you have any of Vivian Chow's?" The boy blushed and hurriedly added, "I'm asking for a classmate."
"Okay, I asked for a classmate." Li Si'an nodded, not calling him out on it.
That night, Li Si'an called Chen Dong over, and the two of them squatted at the store entrance and counted the number of people coming into the store.
The proportion of male customers is much higher than before, and most of them will linger in front of the counter for a while, glancing at the wall before leaving.
"Who do you think they want to buy?" Li Si'an asked Chen Dong.
Chen Dong thought for a moment and said, "It's Maggie Cheung, I guess. My sister likes her."
Li Si'an asked several male friends who frequented the place, and the answers were varied—these four names appeared most frequently: Vivian Chow, Michelle Reis, Rosamund Kwan, and Joey Wong.
Occasionally, people mention Maggie Cheung and Chingmy Yau, but not as often as those four.
He wrote it down in his notebook and made a phone call to Hong Kong that very evening.
"Mom, I'll have to trouble you again."
"Another poster?" Zhou Weilan was already used to it.
"Yes. This time, it's not just the Four Heavenly Kings anymore, we're also looking for female celebrities."
Who is it?
"We need more copies of Vivian Chow, Michelle Reis, Rosamund Kwan, and Joey Wong. Both regular and autographed prints are welcome. Also, get a few copies of Maggie Cheung and Chingmy Yau, just to test the waters."
Zhou Weilan chuckled on the other end of the line: "Are you trying to move the entire Hong Kong entertainment industry over there?"
"Absolutely! This place is practically a gathering place for celebrity fans in Beijing." Li Si'an leaned back in her chair, legs crossed.
"Mom, could you keep an eye out for me? If there are any really nice limited editions, I'm willing to pay a bit more so if they can fetch a good price."
"Okay. Mom will go shopping for you tomorrow."
"Thank you, Mom. By the way, when you ship it, please lay it flat and don't roll it up. If it's rolled up, it'll get damaged and won't sell."
"Okay, okay."