At the Lu family mansion, Lu Yuanhai chuckled. "Tell me that isn't hilarious. Ling Miaoying made such a huge fuss, only for that movie of his to go up in flames! I've been laughing about it for a solid hour."
Lu Yuanshan didn't laugh. He was older than Lu Yuanhai and took the longer view on these matters.
"Uncle Qiu, do you think this might be an opportunity?"
Qiu Zhiheng looked at Lu Yuanshan. "You want to get into the film business, too?"
"Ling Miaoying's idea was solid—shooting ten films all at once. If we pull this off..."
The first madam, Duan Shaoxia, chimed in from the side, "Yuanshan, have you ever made a movie? If you don't know what you're doing, you shouldn't go sticking your hands into it."
Lu Yuanshan replied, "It's precisely because we aren't sure that I'm discussing it with Uncle Qiu, isn't it?"
Qiu Zhiheng didn't rush to speak; this was something he needed to weigh carefully as well.
Lu Yuanhai said, "I think it could work. These things are all about the actors. As long as the cast has big names, the movie is bound to sell."
Duan Shaoxia shot Lu Yuanhai a glare. "Easy for you to say. Where are you going to find actors like that? The Ling family had the clout to bring in a diva of song, and word has it they even turned an on-screen romance into reality. Do you have that kind of pull?"
Lu Yuanhai sneered. "What kind of pull is that? Those so-called divas and screen empresses will do whatever you want as long as you pay them enough. Forget turning pretend into reality—you could have them do it from start to finish..."
Lu Yuanshan frowned. "Stop talking nonsense and stick to business. Ling Miaoying plans to reshoot the movie. If we can beat them to the punch and finish ours first, this fat piece of meat belongs to us!"
"Is it really that fat?" Lu Yuanhai didn't think a single movie could bring in that much money.
Lu Yuanshan sighed. "It's exhausting talking to you. I'm not just talking about this one movie—I'm talking about the entire industry! There's an incredible amount of grease to skim in this trade! It's just that this would be our first time testing the waters. If the venture fails, losing a bit of money is trivial; my fear is dragging the Lu family's reputation down with it. After that, sticking our hands into this business again would be next to impossible."
Monkey Qiu understood the stakes, but he didn't feel confident either. "Since we lack confidence, let's find someone who has it to handle this."
Lu Yuanshan pondered for a moment. "As for someone with experience, the only one who comes to mind is Ma the Fifth."
Lu Yuanhai nodded. "He actually is cut out for it! I heard he made movies in the past, only ordinary theaters didn't dare screen them, claiming they offended public decency!"
Duan Shaoxia urged from the side, "Stop always plotting to fleece Junyang. I've heard that if you slip up in the film industry, you lose every copper you put in. Junyang's foundation can't compare to our family's. How could he withstand that kind of tumble?"
Lu Yuanshan said impatiently, "How is this fleecing him? We're helping him. We can front some money for him, and both families profit."
Qiu Zhiheng nodded. "We put up half the capital and have Ma the Fifth raise the other half himself. If we lose money, our losses will be modest and the Lu family's reputation will remain unharmed. If we turn a profit, we split the spoils of this industry together, and he won't be shortchanged either."
Lu Yuanshan threw on a coat. "I'll go find Ma the Fifth right now."
***
Inside Xiaoyaowu, Ma the Fifth was discussing the movie business with Li Banfeng.
"Old Seven, do you think I should agree to this?"
"Agree, of course. Why wouldn't you? Haven't you made movies before?"
"The movies I made weren't entirely proper."
"I've watched them. Seemed quite proper to me."
Ma the Fifth remained uneasy. "The Ling family poured a bloody fortune into this movie. If we beat them to the punch, I'm afraid Ling Miaoying will pull out all the stops to kill us."
"They've already been trying to kill us." Li Banfeng didn't recount everything that had happened; he only described Ling Miaoying's typical methods and techniques.
Right now, he was more concerned with something else. "How exactly did our feud with the Ling family start in the first place?"
Ma the Fifth had been turning that over in his mind as well, but aside from Lu Xiaolan, he couldn't think of any other lead.
"Over Lu Xiaolan? Is she worth that much?"
To claim Ling Miaoying targeted Li Banfeng and Ma the Fifth over Lu Xiaolan's looks was something Li Banfeng would never believe. What kind of woman hadn't Ling Miaoying seen?
"It could also be that we rose too quickly, and the Ling family wanted to move early to suppress us."
"Are we even worthy of that?" Li Banfeng shook his head. "You once said the Ling family is the fifth greatest family in Puluo Province. Does the fifth greatest family have such a narrow breadth of mind, going all out to destroy two small fry who just got their start? They run newspapers, make records, and produce films—none of which we've ever meddled in. Where would we get the prestige to catch their eye? There's something more to this. There's someone behind them, and we need to get to the bottom of who it is!"
That wasn't the only matter that had been overlooked; there was also a person Li Banfeng had neglected.
As evening lanterns began to glow, Li Banfeng went to Miaosheng Gramophone Shop.
The storefront was as small as ever, but small had its perks.
Ever since Ling Miaoying's misfortune, the Miaosheng Gramophone Shop had been vandalized and ransacked over a dozen times. Fortunately, only the front hall had been smashed; the shop's interior was far too labyrinthine for ordinary people to force their way in, and those capable of doing so wouldn't stoop to such acts.
Behind the battered counter, Ling Miaosheng was dozing off as usual. Seeing a customer enter, he raised his head, a faint smile surfacing.
He recognized Li Banfeng. Though Li Banfeng's outward appearance had changed somewhat, as a high-tier Scrying Cultivator, he still recognized this old patron.
"Are you here to buy a gramophone, or to seek revenge? If it's revenge, go right ahead. Unfortunately, I don't have much left here to smash."
Li Banfeng glanced at the door curtain behind Ling Miaosheng. "If I remember correctly, the good stuff is all inside, isn't it?"
Ling Miaosheng shook his head slightly. "I can't let you smash what's inside. That is my life."
"I'm here to buy a gramophone. You at least have to let me see the goods."
Ling Miaosheng nodded and led Li Banfeng into the back rooms.
The clerks who once swept and dusted the various rooms were nowhere to be seen; no one dared work for Ling Miaosheng anymore.
Li Banfeng examined several gramophones and selected a hand-cranked model, intending to pay for it.
This gramophone had decent sound quality—nowhere near the wife's, of course, but it was manufactured in Amikan, and its parts were interchangeable with hers.
Ling Miaosheng refused Li Banfeng's money. "This gramophone is a gift to you, as an apology for before. Rest assured, I inspected it thoroughly; there are no hooks on it."
Li Banfeng turned the crank handle, and the gramophone began to play a soothing violin piece.
"May I ask you a few things?"
Ling Miaosheng guessed what Li Banfeng wanted to ask and answered directly, "Most of what Eldest Brother and Third Brother do is unknown to me. As for them planting hooks in my shop and gramophones, I genuinely didn't know much about it."
Li Banfeng was skeptical. "You're a Scrying Cultivator, too, and a high-tier one at that. You really couldn't detect their hooks?"
Ling Miaosheng smiled wryly. "You're right. I am indeed a Scrying Cultivator, and not to boast, but my cultivation is higher than both Eldest Brother's and Third Brother's. Yet finding hooks isn't just a matter of cultivation; it requires calculating minds. In a shop this massive, with so many gramophones, a hook is like a needle. I truly couldn't imagine where they might stick them. Even now, there are still quite a few hooks inside the shop that I can't locate, and I may never know where they planted them. All I know is that they are doing work for an important figure, and that important figure is currently in the Outer States. I don't know their ultimate purpose, nor do I know what they plan to do next."
Li Banfeng remained silent. Ling Miaosheng packed up the hand-cranked gramophone himself and handed it to Li Banfeng.
"You probably still don't believe me. That's fine. If you want a fight, we can take it outside. Just don't break my gramophones."
Li Banfeng tipped his fedora down, picked up the gramophone, and left the shop.
Ling Miaosheng removed his hat, placed it against his chest, bowed, and watched Li Banfeng walk away.
***
Back at Xiaoyaowu, Li Banfeng hummed "Night Fragrance" to the gramophone. No sound of snapping hooks came from the machine.
Ling Miaosheng had in all likelihood told the truth. No further information could be gleaned from him; the lead remained with Ling Miaoying.
An important figure in the Outer States.
Who could that important figure be?
***
"Jiaqing, that friend of yours went to my second brother's gramophone shop today and bought a machine."
"Just to buy a gramophone? I doubt he has that kind of leisure," He Jiaqing laughed. "He must have gone to ask your second brother questions."
"I suspect he asked some things as well, but Second Brother cleared out most of the hooks. What they said isn't clear for now. I plan to go ask Second Brother."
"You know your second brother's temperament—asking him is pointless. That brother of mine has come to dig to the roots. Your second brother didn't know much to begin with, so I'm worried his next move will be coming for you."
Ling Miaoying nodded. "It would be for the best if he came for me. I suspect the fire had something to do with him, and this would be the perfect chance to settle things with him once and for all."
"No!" He Jiaqing's tone was resolute. "Focus on reshooting the film properly. Nothing can be allowed to go wrong with this again. Replace the male lead and find another actor."
"Zhou Changhong is the best actor, as you well know."
"Precisely because he's the best actor, there are other things he needs to do."
***
The next day, news that Ling Family Pictures was reshooting Bloodblade Detective appeared in the newspapers. Ma the Fifth frowned. "They move fast. I haven't even finished assembling my cast, and they've already started filming."
Li Banfeng had visited the filming location a few times and was relatively familiar with the lead actors. After reading the newspaper, he noticed a change in the cast list. "Why did they replace the male lead?"
Ma the Fifth looked closely. "They swapped out Zhou Changhong. He's a good actor—I could recruit him under my wing. But he's been with Ling Miaoying for seven or eight years; I don't know if he'd be willing to jump ship to me."
Ma the Fifth immediately dispatched men to contact Zhou Changhong, only to learn that he had left Lüshuiwan yesterday.
Where did he go?
That evening, Ma the Fifth gathered intel from the Garrison Commissioner: Zhou Changhong had gone to the Outer States.
"If he isn't shooting films here, what's he running off to the Outer States for?" Ma the Fifth couldn't quite make sense of it. "Could he be looking to act in movies in the Outer States?"
After following Ling Miaoying for seven or eight years, right when Ling Miaoying was rushing to reshoot the film, he had darted off to the Outer States.
The Outer States...
Li Banfeng said to Ma the Fifth, "Keep a close watch on his movements at all times. Let me know the moment you have news."
Two days later, word arrived.
Ma the Fifth said, "Zhou Changhong is back, but he hasn't taken on any roles. Word is he's currently applying for a travel permit, preparing to head out again in a couple of days."
Li Banfeng said, "Keep your eyes on where he's headed, and arrange the same travel permit for me. Let's see whether he's just a courier or that important figure from the Outer States himself."
Chapter 237