1977: The beginning of the blind date with the daughter of the king

Chapter 650 Many Friends, Few Enemies

After listening to Shao Weiming's explanation, Li Changhe recalled that although he hadn't paid much attention to the Hong Kong film industry this year, Jackie Chan did indeed have no works in Hong Kong this year.

Logically, with the great success of "Junior Brother's Actions," he should have continued his efforts, but his silence for more than a year is clearly due to external factors.

So it's because of Lo Wei?
However, Li Changhe knew very well that this matter probably wouldn't bother Cheng Long for long. After all, in the 1980s, Golden Harvest was able to compete with Cinema City mainly because of Cheng Long.

"It's not that Zou Wenhuai can't solve this problem, it's just that he doesn't want to pay the price."

"And as you said, he stole Luo Wei's wife before, so it's obvious that Zou Wenhuai doesn't want to bow down to Luo Wei."

“In fact, Zou Wenhuai should know that the price he paid for cooperating with us was much higher than that he paid for Luo Wei.”

"But people fight for pride, and even Buddhas fight for incense. He used to be Luo Wei's boss, and then he poached his employees. Even if it costs more, Zou Wenhuai doesn't want to bow down to Luo Wei."

"This is the same mentality as Empress Dowager Cixi in the late Qing Dynasty: she would rather give gifts to foreign friends than to her own servants."

Li Changhe then said with a smile.

With Zou Wenhuai's abilities, is it really impossible for him to deal with Luo Wei?
He was able to succeed despite the suppression from Shaw Brothers back then, so it's not like he couldn't handle Luo Wei.

The real reason why Zou Wenhuai didn't want to take action was probably because he didn't want to fight to the death with Luo Wei. Moreover, from a moral standpoint, he would damage his reputation by stealing Luo Wei's man, since Luo Wei was a meritorious contributor to the success of Golden Harvest.

Of course, she didn't want to bow down to Luo Wei, since that would make him lose face even more. That's why Zou Wenhuai wanted to pass the matter on to Shao Weiming and let Planet Cinema help him resolve it.

Even though he knew that collaborating with Planet Films was like asking a tiger for its skin, and that the losses would be even greater.

But sometimes that's just how it is; saving face is more important than anything else.

This is why the actions of some wealthy people are often incomprehensible. They would rather spend more money to smooth things over and suppress others than simply solve the problem with money.

To put it bluntly, no reason matters; it all boils down to one thing: not wanting to lose face in front of someone weaker than oneself.

After listening, Shao Weiming shook his head: "I guessed so. With Zou Wenhuai's strength, there must be a way to deal with it. Even if it's Sun Kee over there, Sun Kee doesn't have a monopoly in Hong Kong."

"So, Ah Yang, should we take on this task?"

"Of course I'll accept it, but the conditions can't be that simple."

“Since Zou Wenhuai wants to leverage my influence, he has to pay a price. You can name your terms. See if Jiahe has any resources that we can use. Just name your price.”

Li Changhe smiled and said that helping Cheng Long solve this problem was really a trivial matter for him, but the benefits were there.

Even disregarding Jackie Chan's future achievements, Golden Harvest's current resources are several times stronger than those of Planet Cinema.

Planet Cinema has reached its current size thanks to Li Changhe's forceful promotion, but in reality, it is outwardly strong but inwardly weak. Relying solely on Wang Jing and Shi Nansheng, it may be enough to be a powerful force in Hong Kong, but it is still far from reaching the world stage.

"Now that you mention it, I do remember something. Shi Nansheng contacted me before."

"She said that Hung Kam-po from Golden Harvest had someone talk to her, wanting her to join Planet Cinema. Shi Nansheng wasn't familiar with Hung Kam-po, so she asked me to talk to him."

"Of course, I don't think she's very enthusiastic. After all, Sammo Hung has his own team. If he joins Planet Cinema, it will be a blow to her status as a man."

Shao Weiming recalled what he had discussed with Shi Nansheng during their previous meeting, and then pondered before speaking.

"Oh? Hung Kam-po wants to leave Golden Harvest? That makes sense. I guess he's not as valued as Jackie Chan over there!"

Li Changhe said with a smile.

Sammo Hung is considered a veteran at Golden Harvest. He has both acting and directing abilities, and he is also Jackie Chan's senior brother, so he has mentored his junior brothers in many ways.

But precisely because of this, his former underlings have risen to prominence over him, and it's impossible for Hung Kam-po not to have any thoughts about it.

Li Changhe knew that Hong Jinbao would later leave Golden Harvest, cooperating with New City and joining Pan Disheng's D&B, thus indirectly creating a three-way balance of power between Golden Harvest, New City, and D&B.

However, Shaw Brothers' cinema chains have now been sold to Li Changhe, so it's unlikely that Poon Tik-sing's D&B Cinemas will ever appear again. It's not surprising that Hung Kam-po has come to this side.

"Sammo Hung's stunt team is pretty good. You can contact him first. If he's interested, you can have him join Planet Films, just like Jackie Chan did. It would be nice to open a branch for him. We don't care about the box office revenue sharing."

"What I need is a large number of high-quality films to promote the company's real estate, properties, clothing, and luxury products."

"I also had this idea when I helped Jackie Chan. Jackie Chan's international influence, especially in Southeast Asia, is very helpful for the expansion of our businesses."

"Since Zou Wenhuai has come to me, I won't stand on ceremony."

Shao Weiming nodded, then asked curiously, "So how do you plan to resolve this? Luo Wei is actually easy to deal with, but there's some trouble with Xinji. Su Long is very powerful, and even the Xiang family doesn't want to offend him."

"You should say, does Xinji dare to mess with me?"

"Although they would back down if I said just one word, in business, harmony is the key to making money."

"Here's what we'll do. Have someone send a check for ten million to Luo Wei. He's asking for Cheng Long's breach of contract penalty, right? We'll cover that for Cheng Long."

"Go see Four-Eyed Dragon and Su Long at Xinji's place and tell them it was my decision to protect Cheng Long! As for Su Long, tell him that I've given him an operating slot in a regular casino at SJM Holdings as compensation."

"This person seems to be intelligent. If he knows how to appreciate it, you might as well get to know him better in the future."

"Many powerful figures in the New Journal are his disciples. The entertainment industry will inevitably have to deal with triads in the future. Your contact with him will be beneficial to our entertainment group in the future."

Li Changhe tapped his fingers lightly on the table as he spoke to Shao Weiming.

After hearing Li Changhe's words, a look of astonishment appeared on Shao Weiming's face.

"Isn't this cost way too high?"

Lo Wei's ten million was one thing, but he also had to give it to the casinos of SJM Holdings.

He had vaguely heard rumors that A-Yang had a close relationship with the current SJM Holdings, and now it seemed that it was indeed true.

He had also gambled at SJM Holdings and knew the profits of a single casino there; this was truly a goldmine.

“Let’s do it this way, Weiming. All I can say is that Xinji is more important than you think, especially in a few years. These gangs will become quite formidable.”

"Moreover, I plan to take a break for the next two years, so there are some things that need to be arranged."

“Actually, even if I called Xiang Yan, Xinji wouldn’t dare to disobey, but I don’t think it’s necessary. There are many triads in Hong Kong, and our companies will inevitably encounter similar issues in the future. We can’t always rely on me to handle things.”

"Take this opportunity to get in touch with Xinji. You can use them in the future if needed to protect your subordinates."

Li Changhe casually explained the reason to Shao Weiming.

After listening, Shao Weiming nodded in understanding: "I understand, A-Yang. I'll go talk to Xinji then."

After Shao Weiming left, Li Changhe smiled. He had arranged for Shao Weiming to contact Su Long not only to save trouble, but also for the future political landscape of Hong Kong.

He couldn't possibly tell Shao Weiming outright that the rise of triad power after the Sino-British negotiations would affect the political landscape of Hong Kong.

In the future, Hong Kong Island will have three major triad organizations: Sun Kee, Alphabet Group, and Wo Kee. He has Huo Jun on Wo Kee, Alphabet Group is a disorganized mess, and more importantly, they are connected to the island, so Li Changhe is not very willing to get in touch with them. That leaves Sun Kee.

Judging from the future performance of Xiang Qiang and his wife in China, Xinji should be a group that is good at changing its stance and has a good sense of the situation, but Li Changhe is not clear about the process in between.

However, now that Li Changhe has arrived, it would definitely be beneficial for the national strategy to make some prior contact with the new organization.

Just like the strategy that the great man said, make as many friends as possible and as few enemies as possible.

Simply applying pressure is not a solution; it will only lead the other side to defect, just like before when the people from the New Journal were helping Li Jiacheng.

However, Xinji was quite perceptive and sent someone to apologize, which made Li Changhe think that the Xiang family was smart.

Previously, Li Changhe hadn't paid much attention to Xinji. Even when it came to the auction of Aussie Entertainment, he didn't show up. At that time, Xinji wasn't even on the list.

But it's already 81, and soon it will be 82. The Sino-British negotiations are about to begin. At this time, it would be appropriate to let Shao Weiming take the lead and make contact with Xinji.

The best approach is to try diplomacy first, then resort to force. If the other party listens, that's fine; if they don't, Li Changhe wouldn't mind destroying Xinji.

Moreover, Li Changhe also knew that in a few years, Xiang Yan, the head of Xinji, would be imprisoned after being reported by an undercover agent, and Su Long was a rebel.

Su Long rebelled because no one supported him. If he had, it wouldn't have been impossible for the New Journal to have split apart.

For now, let's let Shao Weiming make contact and see how it goes!

After arranging all these things, Li Changhe returned to Guan Zhilin's villa.

"Yes, darling, you're back?"

Inside the villa, Rosamund Kwan saw Li Changhe and said with surprise.

"Yes, I'm planning to go to the US in a couple of days. Do you have time? Would you like to come with me?"

Li Changhe asked Guan Zhilin in a gentle voice.

"Go to the US?"

“Sure, I don’t have any filming projects right now. I’ll let the company know when.”

She is now free to act, and she is a candidate for the lead role in many scripts in the company. However, she does not monopolize all the scripts. She will act in the ones she likes and will not act in the ones she does not like. She is quite Zen.

The main reason is that she's supported by Li Changhe now and doesn't lack money, so she doesn't have much ambition anymore.

"By the way, honey, that thing you told me about before, it's about the investment."

"Many people have asked me about this, and they've also signed up and set their amounts. Now, it adds up to about 30 million. What's the next step?"

At this moment, Rosamund Kwan again asked Li Changhe, trying to take credit for her work.

Don't underestimate the significance of over 30 million for Li Changhe; in Hong Kong in 1981, it was a considerable sum.

After all, celebrities don't actually have much money these days, except for Jackie Chan.

Most celebrities only earn tens of thousands of dollars per film, and a few hundred thousand if they become famous. Only Jackie Chan earns millions per film, making him unique in Hong Kong.

More than 30 million is not a small amount.

Li Changhe smiled and looked at her: "So many people are voting?"

Rosamund Kwan nodded: "Of course, you're so famous. As soon as they heard you were going to bring them to invest, a lot of people joined in. The combined share of just a few companies accounted for more than half."

“Wang Jing took three million yuan by himself. I heard that he even mortgaged his newly bought house. Many employees didn’t have enough money, and I heard that they had to pool their money to use one spot.”

"Then there are people from other companies, even Zhao Yazhi and the others have come to ask."

Rosamund Kwan told Li Changhe with a smile about how some celebrities had come to her for advice, saying that she had been extremely busy lately, attending dinner parties every day.

If Ah Hu hadn't informed her earlier today that Li Changhe was back, she would definitely still be busy.

Of course, a side effect of being busy is that she is very happy, and being praised and complimented by so many people makes her feel elated.

"I'll arrange for someone to help you register a company tomorrow, and then you can leave the operations to them."

"Also, I will arrange a few lawyers for you. For those who pooled their money to join, have them all sign an agreement. If any disputes arise in the future, we can recover the profits and avoid these people getting into arguments over the division of spoils and damaging our reputation."

“Especially for our subsidiaries, we only collect money after we have them all signed internal agreements.”

"Okay, I'll tell them then."

Rosamund Kwan didn't understand these things, but she had one advantage: she was obedient, especially to Li Changhe.

So whatever Li Changhe asked her to do, the girl did it, which was quite amusing.

After spending two days in Hong Kong and dealing with these matters, Li Changhe then led his men to the United States.

Now that the cooperation agreement with the mainland has been finalized, he naturally needs to talk to the Luo family first, since he can rely on their support later on.

Soon, the plane landed in Los Angeles, and Li Changhe took Guan Zhilin all the way from the airport back to Beverly Hills.

"It's much cooler here in Los Angeles than on Hong Kong Island."

Upon arriving in Beverly Hills, Rosamund Kwan quickly changed into her swimsuit and jumped into the estate's swimming pool to swim.

Li Changhe, meanwhile, lay on a sun lounger nearby, pondering something.

Now Guan Meiren has come to Los Angeles, and Adjani is still here.

So how should he persuade Xiao Guan to accept this?

Well, although he initially treated Rosamund Kwan as a kept woman, after spending so much time together and seeing how obedient she was, he had developed some feelings for her.

So how can we get Guan Meiren and Adjani to have a pool party together?

After lying there and thinking for a while, Li Changhe quickly came up with an idea!

(End of this chapter)