National Tide 1980.

Zhang Shihui sent Manager Sha and his wife to a reception room to wait for a while and did not stay for long.

After a few polite words asking them to sit patiently for a while and saying that he would go and inform them, Zhang Shihui walked out of the reception room again and went straight to the garden inside.

After entering the second gate, there is a long row of houses along a long corridor.

Only half of these rooms are now used as warehouses because there are too many visitors. The other half have been converted into guest rooms, just like the place where Manager Sha and his wife were accommodated just now.

Therefore, when passing by here, Zhang Shihui could clearly hear the noise of chatting and the sounds of making tea and pouring water coming from these rooms.

It has to be said that the years he spent at Tangong Restaurant were not in vain.

With his current level of cognition, he could tell who was in which of these reception rooms just by the noise.

The two quietest rooms, one was occupied by people from the government office, and the other was occupied by teachers and students from the Agricultural University and the Academy of Fine Arts.

These people are either people of status or intellectuals. What they have in common is that even when they are talking or chatting, they speak in a low voice.

The noisiest room was filled with media reporters talking loudly.

This group of people have some of the temperament of literati but lack their introverted cultivation. They are all passionate young and middle-aged people who care about the country and the people and love to chat.

There is also the happiest room, where there are often bursts of unbridled laughter mixed with a few women's coquettish voices.

This is not surprising, as models and people from the arts and entertainment industry gather here.

As far as Zhang Shihui knows, Chen Peisi, Liang Tian, ​​Chen Baoguo, Zhang Qiang, Jiang Wen, Liu Xiaoqin and several other well-known models are all in there, just like a small Spring Festival Gala tea party.

Needless to say, their private exchanges are definitely more exciting than the real Spring Festival Gala.

Just at this moment, the door curtain of the room opened and a waiter came out carrying two empty thermos bottles.

Zhang Shihui looked at him for a few seconds.

The boy was obviously very satisfied with his job of serving celebrities. He smiled and nodded at Zhang Shihui, and winked at him in a sophisticated manner.

Zhang Shihui couldn't help laughing at the mischievousness, and suddenly remembered how he got beaten when he was working at the front desk of Chongwenmen Hotel and was disrespectful to his leader and teasing him.

However, because of this, his heart was immediately filled with an indescribable confusion and a bewilderment that made him lose consciousness for a moment.

You know, at that time he and Ning Weimin were obviously similar.

How come the gap between them has become so big in just a few years?

Especially the time when Ning Weimin sacrificed himself and left Chongwenmen Hotel.

He had felt sorry for his brother countless times and couldn't help but worry about Ning Weimin's future.

Unexpectedly, from that time on, Ning Weimin began to rise step by step and became a big shot that he could not catch up with even on horseback.

Not to mention that the wealth this guy has now is already a number that he cannot imagine.

The power he holds and the network of relationships he has with all parties are beyond his imagination.

He is so young, yet so many important people come to visit him and wish him a happy new year.

The people in these few rooms almost include all the celebrities from all walks of life.

Among them are not only intellectuals and big stars, but also many powerful people in the government.

Look at how capable this guy is. It seems like there is no one in the entire capital that he cannot contact, and no things that he cannot accomplish.

To be honest, if I hadn't seen with my own eyes how Ning Weimin got to this point step by step.

He certainly couldn't believe that there really were geniuses in this world who could start from scratch and make a great success.

He is already so successful now, and it is hard to imagine how far he will be able to go in another ten or twenty years...

After walking past the rows of houses and bypassing the courtyard wall that was once covered with morning glories and trumpet pines, Zhang Shihui finally arrived at Kang Shude's courtyard.

This small courtyard is now very different from what it was before Xia Jingtian.

Except for the removed ceiling, all the windows were covered with red window grilles, and lanterns were hung under the eaves in the courtyard to embellish the New Year scene.

The patterns of window grilles can be simple or complex. The simple ones are nothing more than kittens, puppies, and roosters.

The complex ones include "Lotus gives birth to a noble son", "The two immortals of harmony and unity", "Old Man Guo riding a donkey", "Two dragons playing with a pearl", "Phoenix playing with Peony", and "Lion rolling an embroidered ball".

The shapes of the lanterns are also different, with flowers, birds, fish and insects, competing for novelty and beauty.

Its colors include red, orange, yellow and green, and are gorgeous.

The themes include "Three Yangs Bring Good Luck", "Peace in Four Seasons", "Five Sons Winning the Championship", "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea", "Abundant Wealth and Honor", and "Deer and Crane in Spring".

Even during the day, the window grilles and lanterns reflect each other, with bright colors and a festive atmosphere, which is already very beautiful.

At night, when these lanterns are lit, the light from inside the house shining through the window grilles will illuminate the building, creating a beautiful sight.

It’s easy to imagine that people in it feel like they are traveling in a fairyland.

In this regard, the envious Zhang Shihui could only comment with two words - good at having fun!

In his eyes, the most popular lantern riddle gallery at the Temple of Heaven Park Garden Party was just like this.

Ning Weimin can actually enjoy this kind of pleasure in the place where he lives for a long time, and it is a daily pleasure. Who can compare to it?

This was no ordinary blessing; it was enough to make all those who claimed to be rich in the capital ashamed, including himself.

To be honest, there is no use in being envious.

He is worth a small million, but living such a godly life every day is just a dream for him.

Besides, having money alone is not enough.

Not to mention whether you can buy such a house or not, and whether you can afford it for daily consumption.

Take leisure and elegance for example. This kind of wealth and leisure is not something that everyone can have.

You need to be cultured and knowledgeable to know how to enjoy life.

As the saying goes, if you compare goods, you will throw them away; if you compare people, you will die.

There are many people in Beijing who like to brag.

Each of them has a prominent background. They are either the president of a group company or the manager of an investment and development company. It seems that everyone has a powerful background.

But he believed that no matter who it was, as long as they were brought here to discuss matters, they would definitely shut up and not dare to make big moves...

This was absolutely true, because before Zhang Shihui pushed the door open, he had already heard Ning Weimin's voice coming from inside.

Although he couldn't hear it clearly, as the voice was sometimes high and sometimes low and intermittent, he was still surprised by what was talked about.

"...Mr. Lin, don't be so polite. You are a senior in the film industry and the head of the Hong Kong City Leftist Film Company, Silver City Organization. It is my honor to meet you here today under the recommendation of the leaders of the Film Bureau. I don't deserve your "beg". If you need anything, just tell me..."

"...Actually, even if you didn't say anything, I can probably guess your intention. You probably want to take the Japanese film market into consideration. You hope that I can help sell the films produced by the Silver Metropolis Organization to Japan, right? I think that should be no problem. I personally am willing to support the film industry of domestic films, whether they are shot in mainland China or in Hong Kong. After all, after 1997, we are all one family..."

"...Please don't say that. We are so rich. The reason why Mist Studios spent 30 million Hong Kong dollars to buy "A Chinese Ghost Story" and its sequel is mainly because the Japanese like ghost culture and the box office in Hong Kong is high, so we made such an attempt. We are not impulsive."

"To be honest, the only theaters we can offer in Japan right now are the Shochiku Theater Chain and a few independent theaters in Tokyo. If it's a really good movie that's a hit, we can only get more than 300 screens. If it's an art film, I'm afraid it will be halved. So I wonder which movie you want to work with me on? What kind of cooperation do you hope for..."

Thirty million Hong Kong dollars!

Silver City Organization!

These nerve-wracking keywords entered Zhang Shihui's ears and simply scared him.

Even though he claimed to know Ning Weimin well, he was also aware that both "Li Xianglan" and "Crazy Rich Asians" cost Mist Studios tens of millions of dollars in filming and production.

But it was also the first time that I could see Ning Weimin and a well-known Hong Kong film company face to face and discuss such a big deal in the presence of the film bureau leaders.

Therefore, he hardly dared to breathe when he entered the room, and dared not make any sound after entering, for fear that some guests would be distracted by him and interrupt such an important conversation. So when Ning Weimin looked at him, he just nodded, and then consciously found a seat in the corner and sat down like Luo Guangliang, who was responsible for serving tea and water.

Wait patiently for the conversation to end, or for the guest to take a break before talking to Ning Weimin.

At this time, Lin Bingkun, the general manager of Yindu Organization, also stated his purpose directly, which was to sell a big-budget movie directed and starred by Jet Li to Ning Weimin.

It turned out that in 1986, Jet Li and Liu Jialiang collaborated on "Shaolin Temple of North and South", which was a box office hit as soon as it was released and was listed as one of the top ten best-selling films in Hong Kong that year.

However, during the filming of the movie, there were many unpleasant things happening because of the huge difference in treatment between the mainland and Hong Kong crew members. This made Jet Li dislike making movies and even thought about giving up his film career.

Needless to say, Yindu Organization will definitely strongly oppose it.

After all, Jet Li is the most famous action actor launched by the Leftist Film Company in Hong Kong. His Shaolin trilogy was a box office hit. How could the company's top executives let him go?

So in order to retain Jet Li, Lin Bingkun directly proposed to invest in him to be a director and shoot movies according to his own ideas.

This condition worked, and so we had the movie "Chinese Hero" directed and starred by Jet Li.

The story tells that after the end of the Anti-Japanese War, a group of wounded Kuomintang soldiers, led by Xiao Jie, were sent to Qingdao for "retirement resettlement." However, although they were all people who had just walked out of the battlefield, the Kuomintang soldiers and American soldiers received different treatments.

In the end, in order to resist the tyrannical American soldiers stationed in China, avenge his relatives and safeguard national dignity, Xiaojie fought with his fists and sacrificed his life.

In order to make this movie a big hit, EGYPT even specially designed a long war scene for Jet Li at the beginning of the movie. Not only did they mobilize a large number of actors to shoot the group battles, but they also borrowed tanks and cannons from the mainland troops to help.

This is something that is simply unimaginable in Hong Kong. No one, whether it is Golden Harvest or Cinema City, can create such a scene.

Jet Li also incorporated his experience of unfair treatment on the crew into the movie story.

The film uses the conflict between Kuomintang soldiers and American soldiers to express this dissatisfaction, so the film's martial arts scenes are extremely explosive and full of angry power.

Coupled with Xu Xiaoming's martial arts design, the effect displayed is extremely shocking, completely different from the "Shaolin" trilogy, which only presents the beauty of martial arts moves and routines.

Therefore, both EGTV and Jet Li have high hopes for this film.

During the 1988 Lunar New Year holiday, this film finally hit theaters in Hong Kong's major leftist cinemas, competing with the Lunar New Year films of the three major film companies: Golden Harvest, Cinema City, and D&B.

But what the EGTV organization and Jet Li could never have imagined was that due to the lack of comedy elements and being too tragic, the film was completely defeated under the joint attack of Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-fat and Sammo Hung.

The box office is not good at all. It has been released for a week and has only earned over 6 million Hong Kong dollars. It is estimated that it will only make 10 million Hong Kong dollars at most after it is released.

This result is even worse than the movie "Shaolin Temple" six years ago when Jet Li just made his debut.

It can be said that Jet Li's first time as a director ended in a miserable failure.

Moreover, because the subject matter of this film involves multiple sensitive issues, it has never been approved by the mainland authorities, and the response given to Silver Capital is that it cannot be released in the mainland for the time being.

As a result, the Silver Capital Organization, which invested tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars in the filming of this movie, suffered heavy losses, and is expected to lose at least six million Hong Kong dollars.

This is why the leader of the Film Bureau helped to introduce Lin Bingkun to Ning Weimin to discuss the distribution in Japan.

Needless to say, for Lin Bingkun, Ning Weimin is probably his only hope. He now wishes that Ning Weimin would be his savior so that he can get back some of his costs.

But no one is a fool. Even Zhang Shihui and Luo Guangliang understood it, so how could Ning Weimin not understand it?

The protagonists of this film are anti-Japanese soldiers, and they have to clash and compete with the US military.

Considering the feelings of the Japanese, it would probably be difficult to show a movie like this in Japan, and even if it was shown, there probably wouldn't be many viewers watching it.

For this reason, Lin Bingkun naturally did not dare to make too many demands and took the initiative to lower his posture.

He didn't have high expectations for the box office in Japan, so he hoped to buy out the copyright and sell it to Ning Weimin.

The asking price is only 6 million Hong Kong dollars, probably just to protect the capital, to break even.

However, I didn't expect that after patiently understanding all the circumstances, Ning Weimin not only did not bargain, but instead added a lot of money.

"How about 10 million Hong Kong dollars? Mr. Lin, Yindu has to make some money."

"What? Did I hear you right, Mr. Ning? Are you... kidding?"

"I'm not kidding, but my requirements have increased. I don't just want the Japanese copyright, I want the copyright for the entire Asia, including the mainland. Even the copyright for Europe and the United States, is that okay?"

"Mainland China? Mainland China, this movie has not been approved, have you forgotten..."

"That's just now. I can wait, maybe ten years, or maybe just five years, before it can be released. I don't believe such a good movie will never be released."

"Well... I can only say that you are gambling on your luck."

Lin Bingkun shook his head in astonishment. "What about Europe and the United States? Mr. Ning, you don't mean to say that you also have distribution channels in Europe and the United States, right? As far as I know, Golden Harvest is the only one in Hong Kong that can do this..."

"To be honest, I can only discuss cooperation with French film companies at the moment, but I can wait. As I said before, I believe that our films, especially excellent ones, will not be trapped in the current situation forever and will sooner or later enter the international market..."

Lin Bingkun had never seen anyone doing business like this before, and he didn't know whether to say that Ning Weimin didn't know the business or was too idealistic.

I was speechless for a moment and didn't know how to respond.

Ning Weimin smiled and raised his hand casually, "Mr. Lin, I know you are worried about me. However, no one likes to lose money. I have seriously considered it before I offer you this price. An elder has always told me that few people can make money from it, and this is a big business. If many people can make money from it, it is not a big business. I am optimistic about Jet Li as an actor, I also like this subject matter, and I believe in the filming ability of Silver Metro. In my opinion, the failure of this movie is not a problem with the quality. I am afraid there are still problems with the subject matter and the broadcast time. Excuse me, what Hong Kong people lack most at present is the feeling of home and country. After being colonized for too long, it is difficult for them to find emotional resonance from such movies. Especially during the Chinese New Year, most people must like festivities and hate pessimism and. So I think this movie will definitely sell well as long as it finds the right market. And from my personal point of view, I also hope that Silver Metro can support Jet Li to continue filming movies, not only because he is my fellow Beijinger. Also because the more places lack the feeling of home and country, the more they need such movies to change them..."

Lin Bingkun was stunned for a moment, and finally showed an expression of joy and submission.

"Mr. Ning, hearing about you is worse than meeting you in person. Thank you very much for helping me a lot."

"No way! The fact that Li Xianglan can be shown in Hong Kong is also thanks to your help. If we have to thank someone, we should all thank the leaders of the Film Bureau."

"Yes, that's right. Then 10 million, and I'll give you all the copyrights you want. We've settled it."

"That's a deal."

Lin Bingkun nodded vigorously, almost bursting into tears of gratitude.

He had not imagined that such a big task could be accomplished without any effort.

This goes without saying. For him, there is no way to recover 10 million Hong Kong dollars through market operations.

Regardless of whether, as Ning Weimin said, he was really optimistic about this movie, or it was purely out of national support for the creation of trendy movies, he remembered this favor anyway.

In this way, Ning Weimin accompanied Lin Bingkun and several cadres from the Film Bureau to the door and repeatedly asked them to rest assured.

He said that a check would be issued when the contract was signed, and then he appointed Luo Guangliang to continue to send these guests to the car on his behalf.

As for Zhang Shihui, although he had the opportunity to report Manager Sha's matter to Ning Weimin at this time, he completely forgot about it because of the mental shock.

Having watched the conversation just now, he couldn't help but feel awe for Ning Weimin.

You know, no matter the leader of the Film Bureau or the general manager of the Yindu Organization, they are all unattainable big shots in Zhang Shihui's eyes.

Such people actually came to Ning Weimin's door today and asked him to buy Jet Li's movies so politely.

Ning Weimin said he would buy it if he wanted to, without worrying about losing money or breaking even.

Spending 10 million Hong Kong dollars was as easy and natural as trading 1,000 foreign exchange certificates.

What kind of psychological quality is this?

What does this mean?

Just thinking about it makes me sweat...

He would never be able to do it anyway, and this scene impressed him more than the exaggerated ceremony when he saw Ning Weimin’s wedding.

This buddy of his has grown to be so amazing now, and always brings him amazing discoveries.

It's impossible to look straight at it, it's like a mountain in the sky.

Even Zhang Shihui himself did not realize that his attitude towards Ning Weimin had undergone a fundamental change, from simple admiration to worship and respect. (End of this chapter)