Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 928 is waiting

Hong Kong, Struggle Film Company.

Struggle Film Company may not be well-known in the Hong Kong film industry in later generations, but another name has influenced the Hong Kong film industry for a whole decade, and that is the most golden decade, namely "Cinema City".

Cinema City was established by adding Tsui Hark, Eric Tsang, Teddy Robin, and Nansun Shi to the original "three-person team" of Struggle Film Company, forming a "seven-person team".

This group of seven is the core of Cinema City, and the core of the core are the three partners of Struggle Film Company: Karl Maka, Raymond Wong, and Dean Shek.

In the general manager's office, Maka, Raymond Wong, and Shi Tian each smoked a cigarette, filling the room with smoke.

The three were discussing the company's development plan when, just now, a special person delivered three invitations, leaving them somewhat undecided.

Shi Tian walked to the window, opened it to let in some fresh air, and watched the smoke billow and drift out. After a while, he turned back, looked at the three invitations on the coffee table, and frowned, saying, "They say only the fiercest dragons cross the river. Qianfan Group is a giant among giants in the United States, with a net income of over one billion Hong Kong dollars a year. They suddenly came to Hong Kong and sent us invitations. I'm afraid they have ill intentions."

Huang Baiming remained calm, twirling a playing card in his hand, but his eyes were fixed on the telephone on his desk, clearly indicating that his inner state was not as calm as it appeared.

Mai Jia looked at the two of them, then suddenly touched his bald head and said loudly, "Now I'm not afraid of anything else, I'm just afraid they'll come in and open a film company, using high salaries to lure people in. We've been in contact with Teddy Robin, Tsui Hark, and Eric Tsang for a while now, and we're just waiting to finalize things. If they're snatched away by Qianfan Company, Lei Sheng will probably be very disappointed in us."

From Struggle Film Company to Cinema City, Lui Kok-kwan, another major figure in Hong Kong entertainment, was naturally involved behind the scenes. He was the one who first established Golden Princess Cinemas, then took over Struggle Company with 51% of the shares, and reorganized Struggle Company into Cinema City, which led to Cinema City's ten years of glory.

Golden Princess Cinemas has now been established, and the investment matters have been basically finalized; only the final reorganization remains.

If things go wrong at this crucial moment, who knows if Lei Juekun will hold a grudge against them.

No, it's certain that they have opinions, but whether or not they will continue to strongly support the three of them is the question they need to face.

Hearing what Karl Maka said, Raymond Wong finally raised his head and said with a wry smile, "Lei Sheng is one thing, but what I'm worried about is something else that's even more terrifying."

Upon hearing this, Shi Tian immediately turned to look at him, "What?"

Raymond Wong sighed, "The Government Information Office."

This information bureau is not the Hong Kong Information Services Department, which is in charge of film and entertainment, but rather the information bureau of Taiwan.

Before martial law was lifted in 87, the Government Information Office of Taiwan, relying on Taiwan being one of the largest markets for Chinese-language films, exercised extremely strict control over Hong Kong artists and film companies. It was a zero-sum game, leaving no room for ambiguity.

But what does this have to do with Qianfan Company?
Just as this thought crossed his mind, a sudden inspiration struck Shi Tian, ​​and he stared blankly at Huang Baiming, "Qianfan Company has connections with the North?"

This left Maka stunned.

Raymond Wong sighed, took out another cigarette, lit it, turned to look at the two men, and said seriously, "Do you know about Saint Seiya?"

They both nodded.

Just kidding, these days, who in the entertainment industry doesn't know Saint Seiya?

Some media figures in Hong Kong even shouted the slogan, "Jin Gu is dead, only Chen should stand."

This "Chen" refers to Chen Fan, the author of "Saint Seiya," which is a publication of the Qianfan Group.

Thinking of this, Shi Tian immediately blurted out, "Could it be related to Chen Fan, the author of Saint Seiya?"

Raymond Wong took a drag of his cigarette and said with a stern face, "Many people only know that Saint Seiya was initially published in a small book and that the author was Chen Fan, but they don't know that Chen Fan has written many other works besides Saint Seiya."

Karl Maka quickly walked over, plopped down on the desk, and asked in confusion, "Are there many other works? How come we've never heard of them?"

Raymond Wong snorted coldly twice, "Because he was originally a writer of serious literature, of course you wouldn't know that."

Ok?
Mai Jia and Shi Tian looked at each other, both feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Touching his bald head, Karl Maka turned to look at Raymond Wong, his eyes filled with disbelief. "Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Raymond Wong tapped the table and said seriously, "My original profession is screenwriting. Reading books is my job, and finding good original works is also my job. After reading Saint Seiya, I asked my friend at the bookstore to help me find other works by Chen Fan. I didn't expect that I didn't need to look at them at all. He told me which works Chen Fan had published and which works sold very well at the bookstore. He is one of the well-known foreign authors with a good market."

"Foreign writer?"

Shi Tian quickly grasped the key point, "You mean, this Chen Fan isn't a Chinese person in the small book?"

Because of the nature of "Saint Seiya" and the fact that it was first published in a small bookstore, even though the author's name was clearly written as "Chen Fan," no one suspected that this Chen Fan was from somewhere else. Everyone assumed that he was a Chinese person from the small bookstore, otherwise it would be inexplicable why the first publication would be in a small bookstore.

But to my surprise, it wasn't?
Recalling what Huang Baiming had just said, his pupils dilated, and a thought that he himself could hardly believe came to mind: "He's from the North?"

Raymond Wong pursed his lips, met their gazes, and nodded vigorously.

Seeing that they still couldn't believe it, he couldn't help but sigh softly, "That's right, who would have thought that a novel like 'Saint Seiya' was written by someone from the North?"

In the minds of Hong Kong people, people from the North are very serious, and their literary works either sing praises or criticize certain people or things.

Saint Seiya?
That's a fantasy masterpiece that's been hailed as being on par with "The Legend of the Dragon Knight," and it's something that people from the North could write.

After a long while, Mai Jia finally came to his senses. Then he suddenly thought of another question, "But what does this have to do with Qianfan Group?"

Shi Tian also realized what was going on and immediately said, "That's right, although the Saint Seiya series is published by Qianfan Group outside of the booklet, what does that have to do with them coming to Hong Kong and inviting us to a banquet?"

Raymond Wong sighed and said, "I'm a very curious person, so when I asked my friends about Chen Fan's work, I asked them a few more questions."

He looked up, turned his head, and glanced at the two of them. "This isn't exactly a secret in the world of pamphlet publishing."

The reason why Qianfan Group was able to obtain the distribution rights of "Saint Seiya" in regions outside of the official book is because their boss, Zhou Yali, the lucky heiress, is Chen Fan's cousin. The Zhou family, a well-known Chinese family in New York, is the maternal family of Chen Fan's biological mother.

Two years ago, they returned to China to find Chen Fan and successfully reunited as relatives. Chen Fan, in addition to being a writer, was also a high-ranking official and enjoyed a very high reputation in the literary circles of the north.

Now you know what I'm worried about, right?!

Shi Tian and Mai Jia looked at each other, speechless.

Before Raymond Wong explained the matter clearly, they were worried about the Qianfan Group's aggressive expansion. After hearing the explanation, they realized that the seriousness of the matter was ten times more terrifying.

Even if a powerful dragon crosses the river, one can still use their wisdom to write a good script and make a good movie to cope.

No matter how rich Qianfan Group is, they can't force audiences to go to the cinema. In the end, it still comes down to the movies.

But if they were to be forced to take sides by overwhelming public opinion, that would be horrifying.

In the past two years, Hong Kong newspapers have been constantly speculating about the future. Whether they are optimists or pessimists, they all share a common view: the money will definitely be taken back.

The discussions revolved around how the property would be taken back and what would happen after it was taken back.

The most influential of these were the articles Jin Yong published in Ming Pao, in which he listed numerous points of evidence and asserted that the articles would definitely be revoked within the next decade or so.

His views have also gained the most recognition.

Therefore, as long as Hong Kong film companies want to continue developing in Hong Kong, they have to consider avoiding offending the North as much as possible. Would it be better to offend the mainland instead? Sorry, offending the mainland is even more unacceptable.

Offending the North might only mean potential future consequences, but offending the other side of the strait could immediately result in the loss of a major voting bloc several times larger than Hong Kong's.

Who can have trouble with money?
If it weren't for making money, who would start a film company?

"so,"

Shi Tian picked up the invitation from the coffee table, turned to look at the two of them, and asked, "Should we go to this trap?"

After several seconds, Maka forced a smile and said, "Don't jump to conclusions too soon. What if it's not a trap?"

After saying that, she covered her face with her hand and said, "What else could it be but a trap?"

Shi Tian scratched his hair hard and said blankly, "I knew it. Team Zuo came with ill intentions this time. They missed a ten-year opportunity and now they intend to take it all back in one go."

Mai Jia looked left and right, then said with a bitter face, "Before, when the North didn't say they wanted to take it back, we only needed to appease the Information Bureau. Back then, we could handle things with ease. Now we're in trouble. We can't play both sides, and we didn't build a good relationship with the North beforehand. We can only scramble and crawl in a hurry."

I guess in the end I'll just have to lie through my teeth, and I don't even know if I can get away with it, sob sob..."

Raymond Wong looked up at him and said irritably, "What are you crying for? You're so pathetic."

He pointed to the telephone and said, "Can't you see I'm waiting for a call?"

Upon hearing this, Mai Jia stopped crying, and Shi Tian immediately stood up and walked over, their eyes filled with surprise and delight. "You have a solution?"

Raymond Wong wiped his face with both hands, looked up and said, "It's hard to say right now. When I received the invitation, I called some friends outside and asked them to help me check the information."

He picked up the invitation and waved it around, his eyes narrowing slightly. "First, who received this invitation? Second, will the recipients actually attend?"

Shi Tian frowned slightly. "They can find this out too?"

Raymond Wong spread his hands and said, "Give it a try, it's better than waiting to die."

……

Time flew by, and it was already the evening of the second day.

June 24th, the 12th day of the fifth lunar month, Tuesday, rain.

Suitable for travel and making alliances.

A little over a hundred meters from the Peninsula Hotel, a Mercedes-Benz was parked on the side of the street. In the back seat, Yuan Lou tossed a calendar aside listlessly and said with a pout, "Rainy days are good for traveling. This almanac is completely unreliable."

He shook his head, gripped the back of the seat in front of him, craned his neck to look out the window, and asked, "Sanmao, has anyone arrived yet?"

Yuan Long, sitting in the front passenger seat, immediately turned around and glared at him, "How dare you call me Sanmao? You have no manners."

Yuan Lou replied insincerely, "Alright, alright, big brother, has anyone arrived yet?"

Yuanlong picked up the binoculars and continued observing. "Yes, Uncle Shao just arrived, bringing a lot of his trusted men. They've already gone inside."

Yuan Lou raised an eyebrow slightly. "Has this old man made a decision so quickly?"

Two years after he became famous for "Drunken Master", Uncle Shaw wanted to poach him. At that time, he had not yet fallen out with Lo Wei and was flirting with Golden Harvest. He clearly would not agree, but he agreed to go to the meeting anyway, and deliberately dressed in a slovenly manner, which made the old man furious.

Thinking about it now, I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Hearing the laughter, Yuanlong immediately turned around to look at him. "What are you laughing at?"

Yuan Lou immediately stopped smiling and shook his head with a serious expression. "No, you must have misheard."

Yuan Long glanced at him and continued to observe the hotel entrance.

Two seconds later, Yuan Lou couldn't hold back any longer, "Hey, big brother, didn't Zou Sheng say that this company might be pro-North? Why haven't the companies from the North arrived yet?"

Yuan Long didn't reply, "How should I know?"

Two seconds later, he whispered again, "Maybe they don't want to make it too obvious."

He had barely finished speaking when he suddenly perked up, "They're here, they're here!"

Yuan Lou immediately stepped forward, "Who's here?"

Yuan Long, holding up his binoculars, exclaimed, "It's people from Guotai, along with Zhang Che and Li Hanxiang. Ah, Lei Juekun actually came in person?"

Yuan Lou strained his eyes to look ahead, only to see a line of cars stop in front of the Peninsula Hotel, drop off passengers, and then slowly drive away.

Just then, Yuanlong suddenly shouted again, "The left team is all here, those Jettas are all here. Great Wall, Phoenix, Xinlian, wow, they have a lot of people, almost all the main actors are here."

Although Yuan Lou couldn't see clearly, it didn't stop him from trying his best to look in that direction. At the same time, he said, "Since Zou Sheng said that Qian Fan was invited by Zuo Dui's company, they must be going to give him their full support. It would be strange if they came so late."

Just then, Yuanlong suddenly shuddered and patted the driver next to him, "Awei, drive."

Awei turned to look at him, "Where are you going?"

Yuan Long slapped him on the back of the head in an annoyed tone, "Going to a hotel? Where are you going, you idiot?"

The car started immediately, and Yuan Lou was about to ask a question when he suddenly noticed that at the same time, as if someone had given a signal, several luxury cars started from the side of the street and drove towards the entrance of the Peninsula Hotel.

Yuan Lou's gaze suddenly froze, and he pointed to a car in front of him and said, "Sanmao, look, it's Zou Sheng's car. Godfather must be in the car too."

"Not just that."

Yuan Long raised his binoculars again, pointing with his other finger, "See that? That one belongs to Mai Jia and his company from Fendou, that one belongs to Tsui Hark, and those other cars belong to so-and-so..."

After counting for a while, Yuanlong couldn't help but curse under his breath, "Damn it, these bastards are really cowardly, they're all waiting on the sidelines, waiting for others to go first."

Yuan Lou's eyes suddenly widened. "My godfather is here too."

Yuanlong turned to look at him, "Isn't your godfather in Zou Sheng's car?"

The next second, he suddenly realized, "It's Luo Sheng?"

Before becoming the godfather of Robert Ho, Yuen Lo had another godfather, Lo Wei, who had once worked with Bruce Lee. Unexpectedly, he also came.

However, this godfather had already fallen out with Yuan Lou.

(End of this chapter)