Chapter 21

In the cinema, a movie called *Huang Shishi* was being screened. It was an old Hong Kong comedy directed and starred by Wu Yaohan. Unfortunately, the cinema was sparsely populated, with a low occupancy rate.

Li Xuan and Zhong Chuhong, like other couples, chose a corner seat. They watched the movie while whispering and chatting intimately. Li Xuan's attention was not on the plot; he held Zhong Chuhong in his arms, and his mischievous hand, under the cover of the dim light, sneaked into her clothes, touching her inappropriately.

"Stop it!"

Zhong Chuhong realized that the bad hand of the stinky man had already pushed aside her bra, kneading her firm breasts and teasing the two round nipples with his fingertips, making her feel weak all over. She could only softly scold the bad man.

Li Xuan also felt that his actions were a bit too much, considering they were in a public place. He took his hand out and kissed her cheek affectionately.

Coincidentally, the movie was nearing its end. Zhong Chuhong struggled to sit up from Li Xuan's embrace and quickly tidied up her clothes, which had been disheveled by his wandering hands before the lights came on.

"This movie is not bad!"

After a ninety-minute movie, Li Xuan chuckled, which earned him a glare from the beautiful woman beside him. The popcorn and drinks they had bought before the movie were still in the convenience bag, unopened.

"Let's go!"

Li Xuan extended his arm to pull Zhong Chuhong up. She naturally linked her arm with his, and the two walked out with the crowd.

"Where are we going next?"

"You'll see!"

Li Xuan led Zhong Chuhong to his newly bought Chevrolet Camaro sports car and gentlemanly opened the passenger door for her. He had fallen in love with this familiar yellow sports car at first sight when he went to the dealership a few days ago. Yes, this was the Bumblebee from *Transformers 1*. The car was reasonably priced at 45,000 Hong Kong dollars, and Li Xuan had no reason not to buy it.

Li Xuan quickly started the car and drove out of the parking lot, heading for their destination. About ten minutes later, they arrived in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. Li Xuan found another parking lot, parked the car, and then led Zhong Chuhong through a series of turns to an electronic game arcade.

The arcade was on the second floor. As they climbed the stairs and entered, Zhong Chuhong wrinkled her nose at the smoky, sweaty air and kept looking at Li Xuan.

Li Xuan smiled at her, signaling her to be patient.

"Xuan Shao, you're here!" A man with a beer belly and a slightly receding hairline approached and greeted Li Xuan with a smile.

"Mr. Cao, business is booming!" Li Xuan scanned the bustling scene inside and congratulated the owner, Cao Mingfa.

"Hehe, it's okay!" Cao Mingfa modestly waved his hand, but his smile never left his face.

"How is the new machine that my big brother sent over a few days ago?"

A few days ago, under Li Xuan's strong urging, Du Wenqiang finally debugged the Hong Kong Blocks arcade version. The game's program was very simple, not even requiring a graphics processor. The sound chip used was the same as the one in the Galaga arcade game, and with the available components in the factory, they managed to assemble a prototype of the Hong Kong Blocks arcade machine.

After the machine was completed, Li Xuan had his big brother deliver it to Cao Mingfa's arcade for players to try. The machine had been in operation for several days, and Li Xuan had specifically arranged to meet with Cao Mingfa to gather some feedback.

"This new game is very good and interesting!" Cao Mingfa pointed to a game machine on the left side of the arcade, surrounded by a group of people. "That's the one. It's been popular for several days, and even the motherboard has burned out!"

Li Xuan walked over with Cao Mingfa and squeezed through the crowd. A student was playing the game, and he was quite good, with only two or three rows of blocks at the bottom of the screen.

"Mr. Cao, do you have any suggestions for this new machine? If the price is right, would your arcade be willing to buy it?" Li Xuan watched for a few minutes and then returned to the cash register with Cao Mingfa.

"This game is very interesting, but there is a serious problem! It's too easy to play. A group of students can play for a long time with just one game token. Xuan Shao, I'll be honest with you. If the difficulty of the game can't be increased, I'll buy at most one to boost the popularity, but I won't buy more. For the same amount of money, a Galaga machine can earn hundreds of dollars a day, while your Hong Kong Blocks can earn at most twenty to thirty dollars. It's not cost-effective!" Cao Mingfa took a puff of his cigarette and shook his head as he explained.

"That is indeed a problem!" Li Xuan frowned. "This is just a prototype. I'll have someone take it back tomorrow and modify the game program to increase the speed of the falling blocks and make it more challenging!"

Hong Kong Blocks, in essence, was a puzzle game for killing time. In his previous life, it was popular on handheld game consoles and computers, but adapting it to an arcade machine might not be suitable, a problem he hadn't considered before.

This less-than-ideal result dampened Li Xuan's originally pleasant mood. He remained silent and frowned as they left the arcade.

He suddenly realized that he had been a bit too presumptuous. Previously, he had always thought from the perspective of a game enthusiast and a tech enthusiast, assuming that what everyone loved would be a popular game. However, business has its own rules. Only products that can create profit, and maximize it, are the ones that manufacturers and distributors are willing to promote on a large scale.

Just like his Hong Kong Blocks, no one would deny that it was a good game. However, a shrewd businessman like Cao Mingfa was unwilling to buy more because his only criterion for selecting game machines was not how classic the game was, but which game machine could help him recoup his investment faster.

"Hey, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Zhong Chuhong asked with a worried look on her face.

"Ah!" Li Xuan finally snapped out of his thoughts and realized they were already back in the car. He had been so engrossed in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the details.

Li Xuan affectionately touched Zhong Chuhong's beautiful face, and his confident smile returned. "Nothing, just a small problem! How was the arcade today? Was it fun?"

Before leaving the arcade, Li Xuan had specially taken Zhong Chuhong to try a shooting game called Commander.

"It was so smelly, all secondhand smoke!" Zhong Chuhong made a face of disgust.

"Ha ha!" Li Xuan laughed. "Ah, video games are always a boy's world. You girls should just stay in bed and read romance novels!"

"Do you know how much money Mr. Cao makes from running this arcade?" Li Xuan said mysteriously. He had brought Zhong Chuhong there for a specific purpose.

"How much?" Zhong Chuhong wasn't too interested and asked casually, flicking her hair.

"At least two to three hundred thousand a year!"

"Wow! That much?"

Li Xuan saw that Zhong Chuhong was finally paying attention and said smugly, "Red Bean, what if I suggested your father open an arcade? What do you think?"

Red Bean was a pet name Li Xuan had recently given Zhong Chuhong, which only he was allowed to call her. The enchanting woman named Red Bean from *A Better Tomorrow* was his favorite, but after that, Zhong Chuhong retired from the film industry and became someone else's wife. Now, this beautiful woman was in his arms.

"Ah, is that possible? My father only knows how to run a clothing store; he doesn't know anything about game machines! Besides, I saw that the arcade has a lot of complicated people, and it's easy for trouble to happen!" Zhong Chuhong thought for a moment and shook her head.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of everything! Mr. Cao, although he is the boss, doesn't go to the arcade more than a few times a month. I specially arranged to meet him there today!"

Li Xuan played with Zhong Chuhong's hand and explained, "Arcades are crowded and attract a lot of troublemakers, but as long as you find a powerful gang leader to help manage it, all problems will be taken care of as long as you pay the monthly fee. Your father just needs to invest the money and can stay at home to collect the profits without even going to the arcade!"

"Is it really that good? Why don't the gang leaders open arcades themselves and keep all the profits instead of sharing them with someone else?" Zhong Chuhong was still skeptical.

Li Xuan playfully flicked her forehead when she wasn't paying attention. When Zhong Chuhong tried to retaliate, he tightly held her in his arms, his lips close to her delicate ear, gently blowing hot breath. "Do you think all gang leaders are rich? They have a lot of underlings to support!"

"Mm!" Zhong Chuhong felt her ear tickle and struggled a bit.

"Talk to your father about it. As long as he invests the money, at least 100,000 Hong Kong dollars, I'll have my big brother take care of the rest. I estimate it will take about six months to recoup the investment. You have two younger sisters and a younger brother, and your father and mother have a heavy burden. Do you want to live in a small house forever?"

As he spoke, Li Xuan gently nibbled on Zhong Chuhong's delicate earlobe, slowly kissed her white collarbone, and then kissed up her smooth neck, finally covering her luscious, tempting lips.