My Mandarin - Prologue

Hey guys, so we're going to start translating My Mandarin (我的曼达林 or Wo De Man Da Lin) a new story by Mo Bao Fei Bao. The title is a play on words since Man Da Lin sounds like My Darling. Anyhow this is a teaser chapter with no set release schedule yet, we'll keep you updated on that.

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“I heard that both you and Tong Fei have your own studio?”  The person at the other end of the phone asked her with amazement.

“Nowadays everyone in the entertainment business has a studio, be it a screenwriter or a director.  It’s not a big deal; it’s just the invoices now have a title on it.”  Chu Jian spoke casually while she was watching the screen in front of her.

Darn it, she had lost the last 50 dollar chip.

The other end rambled some more.  She checked her backpack after the call ended and found she had run out of Hong Kong dollars…...Should she go to the second floor to exchange some more from the black market agent?

The feeling of being penniless was rather depressing.  She did not know when Tong Fei would come back after she left her here by herself. There was nothing for her to do here if she did not keep betting.

A man sat down beside her while she was hesitating.

He wore a pair of black framed glasses with flat lenses.

He was very young, dressed in dark gray casual pants with black sports shoes and white cotton short-sleeved sports shirt, he looked just like a college student. He was very photogenic with a clear-cut contour, but slightly slim.

Jian Bianlin?

Chu Jian was a little surprised.  She covered her face with the back of her hand and peeked around the surrounding. she whispered to him, “Aren’t you afraid of being photographed by somebody?”

He did not speak.  He turned the hat in his hand in a half circle then put it on.  The brim covered half of his face.

“Do you have Hong Kong dollars?”  Chu Jian jumped straight to the point.

He still did not speak.  He took out the wallet from his pants pocket, but he had only two thousand Hong Kong dollars.

“This casino is so weird.  It is located in Macao, but the slot machine only accepts Hong Kong dollars.”

Chu Jain muttered and took the two paper bills to insert into the machine one by one.  She turned her chair a half circle around and turned her head to look at the young man beside her.

Uhm…...a little bit thirsty.

But it was too unrealistic to ask him to walked across half of the casino to get a drink.

There were numerous slot machines behind them and several hundreds of gambling tables in the distance.  It was very noisy.

Chu Jian had to move close to him to talk to him,  “You sit here and watch this machine for me.  Make sure that you don’t get photographed by anybody.  I am thirsty. I’ll go get two cups of milk tea.”

He slightly furrowed his eyebrows.

Chu Jian already left and ran to get the milk teas.  He watched that little body moving away.  He turned the vibrating cell phone off in his pants pocket.  Then he waved to a waitress not far away------

The chair was already empty when she came back holding two cups of milk tea.

“Miss, here.  That gentleman already inserted the membership card for you.”  Waitress pointed to the screen.

Quite a large amount of money was displayed at the right upper corner of the screen.

Chu Jian stayed in the casino for another three or four hours with the support of this card.  It was well past midnight when she went back to her room.

She took a quick shower and turned on the TV.  It was showing the replay of the Chinese military parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII. She never got tired of watching it.  She embraced a pillow and leaned her chin on it; she prepared to watch the replay while waiting for Tong Fei to come back.

Two minutes later, Tong Fei finally called after disappearing for the whole night.  Her first sentence was to ask Chu Jian whether she was bored tonight?  Before Chu Jian even had time to complain, Tong Fei’s second sentence was, “Quick.  Get ready.  I am bringing in a group of people to discuss work.”

…...Get ready for what?  I was not in your circle.  Chu Jian complained silently.

In the end, their room was bustling more than the casino at one o’clock in the morning.

Tong Fei gathered all her acquaintances in Macao, both those she socialized and worked with.  They started a new round of discussions on new projects in this hotel room.  They talked from the new project’s director to the soaring payments of actors.

“I heard that Jian Bianlin was in Macao, too?  I have sent the outline and the script to his agent, and am still waiting for his reply.”  Somebody spoke suddenly.

Several producers were laughing after the name Jian Bianlin came up.

More than one or two people here had sent him scripts and outlines.

Unfortunately this idol, whose popularity began to grow since last year, was looking for new roles to play.  He was very picky when selecting the script.  Nobody in this room had ever obtained confirmed commitment from him.  They talked about him for a while.  Someone said his price was too expensive, someone else said he did not like to do the promotions, and someone said he was too picky in choosing scripts.  Anyway they just complained enough about this popular idol.

Chu Jian silently boiled a pot of water among these intensive accusations.

Actually------

His personality was fine.  He was not bad……

Tong Fei signalled to her with eyes while Chu Jian was pushing down the switch of the water pot.  This beau of yours who has lived across from you since you were four is really in the limelight now.