When Liu Zhanfu used Wang Zhuo’s computer to log onto a Japanese website, searching for the release announcement to show Wang Zhuo, everyone was stunned to find that the announcement had already become a formal notice, complete with a paid download link!
“Holy crap, this is expensive—NT199!”
Liu Zhanfu exclaimed, and seeing that the classmates, including Wang Zhuo, hadn’t understood, he explained with professional fluency, “NT stands for New Taiwan Dollar. The exchange rate is roughly five to one against the RMB. NT199 means about forty RMB.”
“Forty RMB is expensive?” Wang Zhuo sounded surprised.
“Of course it’s expensive! Just look at the other films!” Liu Zhanfu quickly switched the webpage to show him, “See? These are NT60, NT90. The priciest ones are only NT150—and those even come with a bonus photo booklet! Your friend’s film is selling for NT199? I’ve only seen that price in the Da Qiji series.”
“You sure know your stuff, kid,” Wang Zhuo said dryly, pointing at him. “Enough nonsense. Find this film for me so I can watch it.”
Liu Zhanfu chuckled nervously and agreed, quickly starting his operations to search major sites for the film. However, he soon returned empty-handed because the film had just premiered, and no underground operator had copied and uploaded it for sharing yet.
“Why bother with all that trouble?” Wang Zhuo said with a wry smile. “Find a site with fast internet speed, and we’ll pay to download the genuine version.” Geng Bin chimed in with a laugh, “Boss, you’re rich! We’re just poor students. Paying for mainstream movies is out of our budget, even if we can afford to read legitimate online novels.”
“A legitimate site?” Liu Zhanfu grinned sheepishly. “I only know of one... because the Taiwanese sites use Traditional Chinese, and this one syncs directly with the Japanese releases.”
“Then let’s use that one,” Wang Zhuo nodded. “Do they have a US Dollar payment gateway?”
“You are wise, Boss.” Liu Zhanfu grinned. “They actually do.”
It cost Wang Zhuo forty-nine US dollars, and the download rights for the blockbuster starring Fat Dragon were secured. With a decent download speed of one megabyte per second, everyone settled in to wait.
A student named Shi Yonghe asked, “Boss, what exactly does your friend do that he ended up as a male actor in the Island Nation?”
“That scoundrel, I don’t even know how to describe him,” Wang Zhuo scratched his head and looked at Geng Bin. “You tell them.”
Ever since they started using the “Big Man” platform, Wang Zhuo’s friends had found common ground. At everyone’s suggestion, Wang Zhuo had created a QQ group and invited them all in.
Fat Dragon and Geng Bin were two of the most active members and got along very well. After a few offline meetups involving food and drink, the two became quite familiar.
What kind of person was Fat Dragon? He wanted the whole world to know about his exploits. Since Geng Bin was already well-acquainted with Fat Dragon, Wang Zhuo entrusted him with recounting Fat Dragon’s glorious achievements.
The tales of “Thousand-Man Slayer,” “Private Shoot Master,” “China’s Hairy Pig,” “Beijing’s Hot Future Producer,” and “Forever 199 Jin” left everyone awestruck. Every time Geng Bin finished an anecdote, Liu Zhanfu and the others would eagerly ask Wang Zhuo, “Is that true?” and Wang Zhuo would nod weakly.
When Geng Bin finished, Wang Zhuo asked with some surprise, “Is that all you know?”
Geng Bin blinked. “Yeah, just that.”
“Oh, I see. You two haven’t been in touch for at least a month,” Wang Zhuo realized.
Geng Bin nodded. “Didn't he go to the Island Nation for promotions? He must be too busy to get online.”
“Busy my foot,” Wang Zhuo waved his hand, laughing and annoyed. “Guess what he’s been up to? I don’t know how much actual work he’s done this past month, but he managed to collect the entire Ebisu lineup!”
Zheng Peng asked foolishly, “What’s Ebisu?”
“Ebisu?!” Liu Zhanfu’s triangular eyes instantly widened into perfect circles. “Boss, are you talking about the Ebisu Kaori Kudo series?”
“What Kudo?” Zheng Peng hadn't understood a thing.
“Search it yourself,” Geng Bin pushed the computer toward him, effectively silencing his tendency to stir up trouble.
Seeing that the gang was energized as if they’d had an injection, Wang Zhuo patted his forehead. “I’ll just have him tell you himself.”
He checked his phone for the time. Fat Dragon should have landed by now. He dialed his number, and it connected.
“Boss, Hu Hansan is back!”
“Get back to your head! Get to my school immediately! Call me when you arrive!”
“Wait a minute, Boss! I brought you a gift, and I have a few Japanese guests with me?”
“Japanese guests?” Wang Zhuo was stunned. “What Japanese guests?”
“Guests are gifts, and gifts are guests!” Fat Dragon laughed obscenely. “Are you sure you want me to bring them to your school?”
His voice was incredibly loud, and the male students sitting next to Wang Zhuo heard everything clearly, their expressions instantly becoming priceless.
“What kind of scheme are you pulling?” Wang Zhuo had an urge to deliver a hard kick to that fat backside of his. “I don’t want your gift! You roll over here by yourself!”
“Boss!” Fat Dragon immediately wailed. “Do you know how much effort I put into preparing this grand present? If you don’t accept it, all my hard work will be for nothing!”
“Boss,” Geng Bin interjected quietly, “Ask him what the gift is first!”
Wang Zhuo shot him a look, then asked into the phone, “What gift did you prepare?”
“Hehe, it’s definitely a double blessing—I guarantee you’ll be satisfied,” Fat Dragon said triumphantly. “If you’re not satisfied, I’ll lose weight down to ninety-nine jin!”
“You said it,” Wang Zhuo grunted. “Alright, come over then. Call me when you’re near the school.”
“With the gifts?”
“Bring them!”
After hanging up, Fat Dragon and his Japanese companion exchanged knowing, lewd laughs.
The Island Nation has always been famous for respecting strength. Especially when interests are involved, they can adopt an extremely low posture just to enhance their competitiveness and secure cooperation opportunities. Therefore, when Fat Dragon proposed an enticing collaboration proposal, he instantly became a red-hot big shot, treated as an honored guest.
Accompanying him back to the country were the Vice President Sanjo of Hokuto Corporation, eight female stars from a famous video company under the group, and more than ten staff members—quite an imposing entourage.
Why such a large team? Because the cooperation proposal Fat Dragon presented was too tempting, causing Hokuto Corporation to take it very seriously. Fat Dragon’s status was no longer that of the once-obscure commoner; as the momentum behind “Big Man” grew, his standing rose proportionally, making him an influential figure. However, being a newly rich commoner, he hadn’t reached the point of chartering planes for overseas travel, so he was flying first class on this return trip.
Even so, the treatment was extraordinary. One must know that although the female stars of Hokuto appeared glamorous, receiving international travel benefits was not an everyday occurrence for them. Furthermore, their usual perks were only slightly better than economy class; flying first class was a rare privilege.
The group traveled toward the Medical University in a luxurious motorcoach specially prepared by the Japanese travel agency, moving grandly. Wang Zhuo had expected Fat Dragon to bring back perhaps two Japanese girls at most, never imagining such a massive team. Fat Dragon, deliberately playing a prank, intended to shock Wang Zhuo, so he kept quiet, waiting with malicious glee to watch the show.
As for Vice President Sanjo, he was extremely confident in his team, and indeed, confident in Hokuto Corporation. Across all of Asia, few enterprises could compete with Hokuto in this field. Furthermore, since he got along so well with Mr. DNA GON, and was bringing such a sincere gift for Mr. DNA GON’s boss, he was sure the collaboration would succeed.
It is worth mentioning here that Japanese surnames are quite interesting. During Japan’s Meiji Restoration, after declaring equality among the four social classes, common people were finally allowed to have surnames. Before that, only nobles and a small portion of the samurai class were permitted surnames; commoners were forbidden from having them.
Because population censuses and household registrations were required, those without surnames needed to choose one. One widely adopted method was choosing a name based on the surrounding environment!
Those living on a mountain would take the surname Yamagami (literally “mountain top”); those by a river, Kawabe (riverbank); those near a spring, Koizumi or Oizumi...
Of course, surnames were also chosen based on occupation, preferences, or place names, but we will not delve into those here for now.
Vice President Sanjo’s surname also came from a place name. “Sanjo” does not mean the san-shoku hand in Mahjong; it means “Third Street.” Tojo means “East Street,” and Hojo means “North Street.” However, regardless of the “street,” any name ending in jō indicated that the ancestor of the person with that surname was already an urban resident during the Meiji era. Although not nobility, they held a sense of superiority over country folk!
Fat Dragon knew of Hideki Tojo, knew of Tsukasa Hojo, and knew of Makoto Ichijo, but only after going to the Island Nation did he learn what “Jō” meant. Before that, he assumed the Japanese were pathologically obsessed with counting things in terms of “strips” or “rows”!
Sitting in an open-air Western restaurant near the school, Zheng Peng still found it hard to believe.
“Boss, do you think Fat Dragon is bragging? Did he really collect the entire Ebisu lineup?”
Wang Zhuo pondered for a moment, then smiled wryly. “I thought it sounded too fantastical, but thinking it through... it’s probably true.”
“Wow, an idol!” Liu Zhanfu was practically drooling, his face filled with adoration.
Geng Bin guessed with anticipation, “The gift he prepared for you... could it be one of the female stars?”
“That’s possible,” Wang Zhuo shrugged helplessly.
The expressions of the others immediately became ambiguous. The thought of enjoying the services of an Island Nation female star was something they had never dared to dream of—Wang Zhuo was going to be blessed!
Wang Zhuo scanned them and teased, “If that’s the case, I’ll pass her on to you guys. We’ll settle it with rock-paper-scissors.”
“Is that for real?!” Liu Zhanfu’s triangular eyes shone brightly.
“Of course it’s real. Someone of that caliber doesn’t suit our Boss,” Geng Bin immediately started flattering him.
Zheng Peng nodded in strong agreement, then humbly suggested, “Then, should we play rock-paper-scissors?”
Just as they were talking, a few students came down the stairs. Geng Bin quickly nudged Wang Zhuo, “Boss, look! Isn’t that Sister Rong?”