Chapter 39

On December 25th, Christmas Day, this is the most important festival of the year for Westerners. However, in Hong Kong, the number of foreigners is still a minority. For most Chinese people, Christmas is just an extra day off.

Li Xuan woke up in the morning and looked at the clock; it was already past nine. He quickly got up. Last night, on Christmas Eve, he had planned to find an opportunity to get Zhong Zuhong into bed, but he didn't expect this girl to bring two 100-watt light bulbs to dinner.

What was supposed to be a romantic candlelit dinner turned into a chattering discussion among a few young girls. She must have done it on purpose! So Li Xuan didn't get to enjoy the beauty and could only sulk while eating a red apple.

When Li Xuan was dressed and ready to go out, his father had already returned from morning exercise and was reading the newspaper in the living room. His mother had gone to the market to buy groceries. Only his younger sister, who had played late last night, was still sleeping. As for his older brother, who knew which woman he was cuddling with and where he was fooling around; he hadn't slept at home for several nights in a week.

"Your mother left a bowl of millet porridge for you in the kitchen!" Li Haichuan looked up and said when he saw his son get up.

His life had become increasingly enjoyable recently. Every morning, he would take his newly bought birdcage to the park for a walk, then go for morning tea with a few newly acquainted friends.

After finishing his morning tea, the old man would buy another newspaper on the way back and read it slowly at home. After taking a nap in the afternoon, he would go to the mahjong parlor to play a few rounds with his mahjong buddies.

On the contrary, Li Xuan's mother was always busy. Li Xuan had originally planned to hire a Filipino maid to take care of the family's daily life, but his frugal mother strongly refused.

She went to the market to buy groceries every day, prepared lunch for the old man, did housework in the afternoon, and lived a very fulfilling life, without the awareness of being a wealthy old lady.

"I'm in a hurry, I'll eat out!" Li Xuan replied to his father and hurried out.

Li Xuan drove in a hurry to the entrance of the Lido Cinema in Kowloon and was immediately startled by the bustling scene in front of him.

Two long lines of people extended from the cinema entrance, stretching out on the street for about forty to fifty meters. More people kept coming out of the cinema in twos and threes, joining the queue.

Li Xuan walked into the cinema's ticket hall, which was packed with people. Two arcade machines that the Oriental Electronics Company had delivered yesterday evening were surrounded by a crowd, and cheers and sighs of regret could be heard from time to time.

"Xuan Shao, you finally made it! How many people did you hire? The scene is too grand!" Du Wenqiang, drenched in sweat, walked over and whispered to him.

"There must be at least three or four hundred people here. Do you think I hired that many? Where is my brother?" Li Xuan looked at Du Wenqiang, somewhat helplessly.

"Ke Shao, he's outside having a smoke!" Du Wenqiang said, "Did we become an overnight sensation?"

"Did you buy today's newspaper? Let me see!"

From the moment the two arcade machines were delivered to the Lido Cinema's ticket hall, Li Xuan had planned a brilliant marketing campaign. He first had his older brother arrange for fifty to sixty little brothers to keep queuing and playing games in the cinema, creating some commotion to attract attention.

Then he secretly contacted two reporters from the Oriental Daily and the Daily Daily, giving them enough money to write soft articles that would be published in today's newspapers.

The Oriental Daily is the largest mainstream newspaper in Hong Kong, selling over 300,000 copies daily. If the report about the arcade machines causing a sensation in the cinema could be published, it would definitely arouse the curiosity of many people. Although the Daily Daily sells less than 100,000 copies, it has gained considerable influence in recent years due to its creative and eye-catching front-page reports.

Li Xuan took the newspaper from Du Wenqiang and first flipped to the Oriental Daily. The soft article he had pre-arranged only occupied a small section on the social news page.

"Last night was Christmas Eve. Although I didn't have a companion, I still went to the cinema alone. Seeing all the couples holding hands in the cinema, I felt a bit lonely.

Suddenly, the conversation between a young couple in front of me caught my attention. The girl was complaining that the boy lacked responsibility and didn't pay attention to the time, causing them to miss the movie's start time and have to buy new tickets.

The boy retorted, 'I reminded you several times, but you kept saying to wait a bit longer to finish the game. How can you blame me?'

The girl replied, 'You were the same! I finished playing, but you kept playing. Who else could be blamed?'"

The small article used the conversation between the couple to introduce the topic. The young couple missed the movie because they were playing games and had to buy new tickets. In front of the two new arcade machines in the Lido Cinema's ticket hall, a crowd of young people was playing games, and the machines were even more attractive than the movies.

Li Xuan read the entire article and shook his head, neither confirming nor denying. The reporter had accepted the money happily but was rather perfunctory, and the writing was quite average. However, the soft article was published, so Li Xuan couldn't be too demanding.

In comparison, the reporter from the Daily Daily had put in more effort. Not only did he get a large space on the second page, but the headline was also very eye-catching: "Christmas Eve: Two Groups of Young Men Brawl, Not for Girls but for Games?"

What else could cause two groups of passionate men to clash on Christmas Eve except for a beautiful girl? No, it was for an arcade machine. The game was so fun that one group wanted to play, but the other group wouldn't give up their spot, leading to an argument that almost turned into a fight!

Readers who saw such a report would surely wonder how good the game must be to make a group of young people willing to fight over it.

Li Xuan was very satisfied with this report. The two groups who had the argument were actually arranged by him, and the actors were the little brothers that his older brother, Li Ke, had arranged in advance. They didn't really fight; they just made a commotion to attract attention.

"Little brother, do you still need the people you arranged to come and support the scene today?" Li Ke, holding a cigarette, walked over to his younger brother and asked.

"How many of them are yours?" Li Xuan asked.

According to his plan, yesterday and this morning were just warm-ups. The climax was scheduled for this afternoon. Li Ke was supposed to find two to three hundred thugs to pretend to be players and create a scene, and then invite a few reporters to write articles. Li Xuan had prepared 100,000 Hong Kong dollars for the entire plan.

"Only thirty or forty people! You said we didn't need too many people in the morning. The cinema opens at nine, and we only came at 8:40. We didn't expect so many people to be queuing already!" Li Ke explained.

"Okay, big brother, there are already enough real players now! You can let your people leave in batches. Just leave a dozen or so smart ones to help maintain order and prevent any accidents!" Li Xuan instructed his older brother.

"Du Wenqiang, quickly take the people back to the company and bring four more arcade machines. Now that the scene is set, the queue will get longer, and the people at the back won't know when they can play!" Li Xuan then arranged with Du Wenqiang on the other side.

PS: Thank you, **丶欧尼酱°, for the generous tip of 588 starting coins. A bow is not enough to express my gratitude. Do I really have to offer a chrysanthemum? Hehe! I continue to beg for recommendations and favorites!

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