Chapter 10

Yu Zuzhang nodded thoughtfully and turned to Wang Zuxian, "Joey, what do you think?"

"Me?" Wang Zuxian was taken aback for a moment, then covered his mouth and smiled, "Earning a bit more is naturally good. But I wonder what kind of price he will offer."

Mr. Xu was extremely dissatisfied, "Joey, look at the games now, * violence! What else do you need to do? He is just tarnishing your image! I bet if you take this endorsement, no one will dare to hire you for the next one! And according to the principle that you can only endorse one product of the same type, if we have to choose, we should choose Namco! He makes games? Can he compare to the Japanese?"

"Hmm." Yu Zuzhang didn't say anything more and walked into the car with the two of them.

"Mr. Xu, Zuzhang, you go ahead. I have something to take care of," Wang Zuxian suddenly said as he was about to get in the car.

"What is it?" Mr. Xu frowned, "You are a big star at Shaw Brothers now, and you have an event with Leslie Cheung the day after tomorrow. Any action must be reported."

"Personal matters," Wang Zuxian smiled slightly, "Don't worry, I'll be back to the company in a few hours and call Brother Xu then."

In the teahouse, Qin Yuanfeng was rubbing his chin, recalling everything that had happened today.

Talking big and not being reliable, this was his biggest flaw. If he were in his thirties or forties, even if he knew nothing, Uncle Xu wouldn't oppose him finding Wang Zuxian for an endorsement so strongly.

"Age is a matter of time," he muttered, "Since I can't be an elder, I'll show you what a genius can do!"

His gaze turned to the window. This was a teahouse by the window, and outside, the streets were bustling. Hong Kong, one of the Four Asian Tigers, was in an era where it was most capable of absorbing the best from all over the world.

"You, are my first target to conquer."

"Sir, the total is 56 yuan. Thank you," the waiter said politely as he opened the door.

"What?!" The man who had just declared he would conquer Hong Kong was suddenly shocked.

Paying the 56 yuan painfully, which was equivalent to 560 yuan in the future, the intense debate had made Uncle Xu forget about treating them, making his teeth hurt.

Just as he walked down the stairs, he was surprised to find a familiar woman waiting for him in the lobby.

She sat in a corner, her face mostly covered by sunglasses, but her presence was impossible to ignore. Her calm and elegant aura blended perfectly with the café, inseparable from it.

"Surprised to see me?" The woman stood up, smiled faintly, and extended a hand, "Qin Yuanfeng from Shucheng High School?"

"How do you know I go to Shucheng High School?" Qin Yuanfeng was genuinely surprised.

"Do you want a beautiful woman to stand and talk to you in a café?" The woman covered her mouth with her white hand and smiled.

"Uh... sorry," Qin Yuanfeng was full of doubts, "Miss Wang Zuxian, shall we order another coffee?"

Wang Zuxian giggled, "Junior, I didn't expect you to drink so much."

Indeed, coffee had filled his entire stomach. Qin Yuanfeng smiled awkwardly, "Then, shall we find a place to eat?"

It was almost quitting time, and the café was getting more crowded. The two decided to walk out and talk as they went.

"No," Wang Zuxian sighed slightly, "This is Tsim Sha Tsui... I..."

Qin Yuanfeng nodded sympathetically. The life of an artist, which seemed so glamorous to the public, was far from the secret it would become in the future. Two to three hours of body shaping exercises every day, constant cramming, attending various parties—truly, smiling in front of people and suffering behind the scenes.

He looked around. Many places were plastered with huge posters of "A Chinese Ghost Story." If he and Wang Zuxian were seen eating together, they would probably make the front page of the newspapers the next day.

"Let me play a game with you," Wang Zuxian suddenly said, smiling, "I didn't understand what you said earlier, but it sounded interesting."

She glanced at Qin Yuanfeng, "At first, I thought you were a conceited college student, but the ideas you proposed later were quite intriguing."

"Okay," Qin Yuanfeng smiled, "But you have to tell me first, how did you know I go to Shucheng High School? Shucheng County, Lu'an City, Anhui Province, isn't even easy to find on a map."

Wang Zuxian gently flicked her hair and smiled, "It's strange... now Hong Kong fans are almost crazy... haven't you seen 'A Chinese Ghost Story'?"

"Of course I have." The two walked along the street, chatting slowly.

Not only had he seen it, Wang Zuxian was his dream goddess. But when he faced her in person, he felt no love, only admiration.

Like a long-desired toy from childhood, which he finally bought as an adult but no longer wanted to play with.

It was a sense of spiritual fulfillment, unrelated to love or hate. Things remained the same, but feelings changed.

So, he could talk so calmly with this currently red-hot Asian actress.

"Do you need an autograph?" Wang Zuxian smiled faintly, neither too close nor too distant, like a snow lotus blooming in the sky, visible but unattainable.

"Once we become friends, I won't lack an autograph, will I?"

"Are we friends now?" Wang Zuxian rested her white hand on her oval chin, her lips curling up, "You're so cunning, I haven't agreed yet."

"Miss Wang Zuxian, you haven't answered my question..."

"Alright." Wang Zuxian and Qin Yuanfeng sat on a bench by the roadside. Her long legs were together, and at this moment, she was not the dazzling star of press conferences and premieres, but her true self was revealed to Qin Yuanfeng.

"I am also from Anhui."

"You?! Aren't you from Taiwan?!" Qin Yuanfeng was surprised. Everyone knew Wang Zuxian had debuted in Taiwan and moved to Hong Kong, how did she become from Anhui?

Wang Zuxian flicked her long hair to one side, thought for a moment, and let it fall. On a bench by the roadside in Tsim Sha Tsui, a woman in dark sunglasses, no one would associate her with Wang Zuxian.

"My ancestral home is in Anhui," her voice was soft, "Lu'an City, Shucheng County..."

"My great-grandfather was named Wang Renfeng..." The two watched the streetlights come on one by one, the busy pedestrians and rushing vehicles blending into a bustling night scene, listening to this Nie Xiaoxian tell her story, "He was also from a military family..."

"Back then, my great-grandfather joined Mr. Sun in the uprising in Nanjing, and later went to Taiwan. He lost his left arm in an accident while making ammunition for the Nanjing incident, and was called 'Wang Yishou'..."

Hearing this, Qin Yuanfeng turned his head, looking at Wang Zuxian in surprise, "Shucheng School... was it your grandfather who founded the school?!"

Everyone knew that the founder, Wang Yishou, had a statue at the school gate!

Coincidence is the essence of life, and without coincidence, there would be no story.

Qin Yuanfeng sighed in amazement, it was really a coincidence.

"I remember, my great-grandfather... was also from that era... and my uncle joined the military because of his advice..." He looked at Wang Zuxian for confirmation.

"That's right, so they knew each other," Wang Zuxian smiled and turned her head, "Both elders went through that era of blood and fire. They were comrades-in-arms, but later, we went to Taiwan, and you stayed on the mainland, and the friendship gradually faded. Otherwise, do you think I would come just because you want to cooperate with Mr. Xu?"

"My uncle still remembers you," she smiled genuinely, not the habitual smile from before, but from the heart, "He called me, and I decided to come and see."

Qin Yuanfeng suddenly understood why Qin Siyuan had encouraged them to chat more.

He also understood why Wang Zuxian had come. Being alone, a girl, wandering in an international metropolis like Hong Kong, the suffocating loneliness, no wonder she portrayed Nie Xiaoxian so vividly, completely embodying the sorrow of dancing alone in a cage. She had put herself in the character's shoes.

One of the three great joys in life is meeting an old acquaintance in a foreign land. Despite the layers of separation, it provided a temporary haven for this lonely heart.

This sense of loneliness and reliance made her insist on staying and talking to Qin Yuanfeng alone.

"Miss Wang..."

"Call me Joey. Junior, do you have an English name?"

Seeing Qin Yuanfeng shake his head, she smiled, "In Hong Kong, it's best to have an English name. How else should I call you?"

"Xiao Qin?" Not suitable, "Yuanfeng?" Too intimate, "Mr. Qin?" Too distant.

"You can call me Romeo," Qin Yuanfeng joked.

Wang Zuxian giggled, "Junior, you're really... naughty. If you're Romeo, what is Andy Lau?"

"I couldn't think of anything else," Qin Yuanfeng laughed with her, then stretched out his legs, hands on the bench, and looked up at the sky, "The newspapers and magazines call you the 'Queen of Jade Maidens,' I never thought I would meet you, but now I realize, you're just like a big sister next door... no, how to put it, you seem more lively than in the newspapers... or, even more jade-like than a jade maiden?"

Wang Zuxian lowered her head slightly, "I don't like that name."

"Huh?"

"I don't like the term 'jade maiden,'" she sighed, "Now everyone likes to call me that. I used to be on the women's basketball team. Once I became an artist, I lost all my freedom."

Qin Yuanfeng nodded. Artists must adapt to the market, or they will be put on ice.

"Don't think too much. Didn't you say you wanted to play games? Let's go, I'll take you!"

It was the late 1980s, and arcade games were already widespread in Hong Kong, but it would take another year or two to become popular on the mainland. However, there were already many, and they quickly found a secluded arcade and went in.