Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 472: I Can’t Compare

Hong Kong people celebrate Christmas and New Year's Day. At the end of December, the whole city seems particularly lively and busy, and so does Lam Films.

First, the filming of "Autumn Fairy Tale" directed by Ann Hui started. The investment of this film is said to be 1000 million Hong Kong dollars, and it invited Chow Yun-fat and Cherie Chung, which is definitely a big cast in the current Hong Kong film market.

With such a large investment, a box office of 2000 million can only cover the capital expenditure. To make money, it must rely on income from other places.

Fortunately, after the release of "A Better Tomorrow", Chow Yun-fat has become very popular in Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea.

As long as the movie doesn't turn out to be a bunch of crap, making money isn't a problem at all.

After the filming of "Autumn Fairy Tale" started, Wang Jing's new film "Best Friends" is also being prepared for filming. He is filming a new film with the momentum of the huge success of "The Romance of the Condor Heroes", which has also attracted the attention of many colleagues.

Not only peers, but many newspapers and magazines are also paying close attention to the developments of Lin's Pictures. Now paparazzi have begun to appear downstairs in the Prince Building.

In addition to these two directors, Lin recently added another director.

Johnnie To jumped from Cinema City to Lam Films. He was eager to show himself, so he came to the company with a script that day.

Tao Yushu was of course very happy about his enthusiasm. Just as she opened the script and was about to take a look, her mobile phone on the table rang.

"Mr. Huang, I have already informed Mr. Mai about this matter. We at Lin's also want to develop, and we are not deliberately trying to poach people from your Cinema City.

You guys at Cinema City are full of talented people, but A-Du isn’t that famous, and he hasn’t had a movie for over half a year…”

When Johnnie To heard Tao Yushu calling the person opposite him "Mr. Huang", he immediately became a little uneasy.

After hanging up the phone, Tao Yushu smiled at Johnnie To.

"Mr. Huang thinks highly of you and doesn't want to let you go!"

"Yes, he talked to me before he left. But Mr. Huang doesn't have much say in the company, and the box office of my last movie was really not ideal."

Johnnie To explained, and then asked, "Mrs. Lam, I won't cause any trouble for you, will I?"

Tao Yushu looked relaxed, "We are all in the film industry, so it's normal for people to move around. We are all in the same industry, and we are competitors. Why would we cause any trouble?"

Ever since the sequel to "A Better Tomorrow" failed to be agreed upon, the relationship between Lin and Cinema City has become delicate.

Although it has not reached the level of hostility, it is obviously impossible to return to the previous relationship.

Seeing this, Johnnie To said nothing more, but continued to explain the script to Tao Yushu.

At Cinema City, making comedy films is a task that every director has to do. Unless you are awesome enough to make the three bosses think you can make a movie independently, then you have to make comedy films.

Johnnie To could have replicated the development paths of Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam at Cinema City and become one of the mainstay directors.

Unexpectedly, the third installment of "Happy Ghost" failed at the box office, which made him lose the opportunity to star in a solo movie, which was a serious blow to his development in Cinema City.

At this critical juncture, Lam Films invited him to join with full sincerity, and Johnnie To certainly would not refuse.

The script given to Tao Yushu this time had nothing to do with comedy, nor was it written by him, but by his former colleague and good friend Zheng Zhongtai, the short and fat man who appeared at the celebration banquet that day.

Zheng Zhongtai coveted Lam's generous treatment, but Johnnie To was worried that if the two of them left together, it would cause dissatisfaction in Cinema City, so he asked Zheng Zhongtai to wait for a while.

After listening to Johnnie To's explanation, Tao Yushu smiled and said, "Lam's is in need of a screenwriter right now. It's a good thing that Mr. Zheng can come. There's no rush for time, so it's convenient for him. I'll take a look at the script first. Come to the company next Tuesday and we'll discuss it in detail."

After seeing Johnnie To off, Tao Yushu handled company affairs for half a day. After get off work, she put Johnnie To's script into her bag and returned to Mid-Levels.

In the evening, Lin Chaoyang was sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper. Tao Yushu handed him the script he brought back and asked, "How about you help me take a look at this script?"

"Ah Lang's story? Where did this script come from?"

"It was brought by Johnnie To. One of his colleagues also wants to come to our Lam Group. Is this script considered... a token of allegiance?"

Tao Yushu's tone was somewhat teasing, and Lin Chaoyang also chuckled. Then he pretended to look at her for a while and said to her:

"The script is good, it can be used as a new film for Johnnie To."

Tao Yushu has always trusted her husband's vision. Hearing him say this, she felt relieved and counted on her fingers the shooting cycles of the company's projects.

In order to avoid shooting too many movies at a time, she plans to start filming "A Lang's Story" in February.

"We've only released two plays, and now we're releasing a new one. Does the company still have that much money?"

Lin Chaoyang didn't care much about the company's financial movements. Tao Yushu smiled and said, "You are really a master who doesn't care about worldly matters. You are only concerned with foresight."

After teasing Lin Chaoyang, she began to speak seriously.

“Even if we put aside all the funds needed for “An Autumn’s Tale” and “Best Friends”, we still have nearly 2000 million Hong Kong dollars in our account, and the local box office dividends of “The Romance of the Condor Heroes” have already arrived.

The drama performed well overseas, and Ah Fa is indeed very popular now. It can bring back at least 1500 million overseas, and he has made a great contribution.

Now in Hong Kong, making movies is really profitable.”

At the end, Tao Yushu couldn't help but sigh from the bottom of his heart.

"Yes."

Lin Chaoyang's eyes fell on the newspaper on the coffee table, which reported the thrilling game of Liu Luanxiong's third stock market sniping a few months ago.

In two years, he targeted the stocks of three Hong Kong-listed companies, and each company was a behemoth to him.

Along with these three stock market attacks, Liu Luanxiong quickly became famous in the Hong Kong business world, but his reputation was not so good.

What did Liu Luanxiong gain from his three attempts, which cost him hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars, and even his own reputation?
In November 1985, he attacked Nengda Technology, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chuang's Group, and made a profit of HK$11 million;
In April 1986, he attacked Chinese Land and became its largest shareholder, but his profits are unknown.

In December 1986, he targeted China Gas Company Limited and sold 12 million shares of China Coal at a high price of HK$20.2, making a profit of HK$800 million.

If the previously estimated stocks are included, the profit is nearly HK$100 million.

Liu Luanxiong made three stock market attacks, risking his life and fortune. The one with the highest profit is the China Coal attack, but the profit was only nearly HK$100 million.

It is not even as much as the total revenue from a hit movie like "The Truman Show" or "A Better Tomorrow".

Lin Chaoyang was distracted when he heard Tao Yushu say:
"It's a pity that Golden Harvest and Cinema City are too unruly. They haven't given us the second overseas revenue from The Truman Show and A Better Tomorrow. Otherwise, we should have 3000 million in our account now."

"Their style of doing things won't last for many years."

Lin Chaoyang was not very angry about being owed overseas earnings.

He knew the character of these two families from the beginning, and the previous profits were given to him in order to win him over.

Now that the two companies saw that he had no intention of cooperating, they naturally could not settle the overseas income so easily, even though the money was what Lin's Pictures deserved.
But it doesn't matter, everyone is using each other. Now that Lin's reputation has risen and its development momentum is rapid, the two families do this largely because they feel threatened by Lin's.

"Huang Baiming called me today..."

Tao Yushu talked about the incident where Wong Jing called her because Johnnie To changed jobs.

Lin Chaoyang said: "Hong Kong's film market is so small that disputes are inevitable when a company develops to a certain stage."

As the company developed, Tao Yushu could feel this constraint more and more. She asked thoughtfully, "Do you think that the internal problems of Xinyicheng seem to be a bit serious now?"

The conflicts among the three giants of Cinema City are no secret in the Hong Kong film industry today, but Cinema City has been developing in full swing in recent years and no one thinks there is anything wrong with it.

"Why do you say that?"

“Two things.

The first is that Zheng Zhongtai is a long-time employee of Cinema City. He wrote the scripts for films such as "Wesley" and "Why Me?". Logically, he is highly valued by the company and should not change jobs so easily.

But he actually came to our Lin's just because Adu wanted to change jobs.

Either he didn't make enough money at Cinema City, or the internal conflicts among them made Zheng Zhongtai feel that he could no longer stay there.

The second thing is the phone call from Wong Jing today.

I informed Mai Jia in advance that Adu was coming to Lin’s.

Whether or not Mai Jia told him about this, it exposed the communication problems between them. "

Listening to Tao Yushu's logical and meticulous analysis, Lin Chaoyang gently put his arm around her shoulders and joked, "You are really a female Zhuge Liang!"

"I'm talking to you about serious matters." Tao Yushu hit him.

"I have something to say to you, the donor."

Tao Yushu rolled his eyes at Lin Chaoyang and said, "What are you talking about?"

"Cinema City fell, and Lin's was full."

Hearing this, Tao Yushu's eyes lit up, and he immediately understood what he meant, and asked, "Please tell me more."

"This kind of thing is not something that should be told to outsiders. Let's go into the bedroom and talk about it."

Lin Chaoyang narrowed his eyes and said meaningfully, which attracted Tao Yushu's charming gaze. The couple walked into the bedroom in a loving manner.

The conversation between the two was overheard by Tao Yumo, who was coaxing Yanyan to sleep. She said to Yanyan in a faint voice:
"Did you hear that? We are all outsiders! You two brothers and sisters will have to rely on your aunt in the future."

Yanyan looked at her aunt with confused eyes and blew a bubble.

After New Year's Day, Tao Yushu's work was as busy as usual.

Lin Chaoyang had been idle for a few days and had his own things to do, so Dong Qiao from Ming Pao Publishing House invited him to meet.

The two of them met at Lin Heung Tea House in Central for morning tea. Having morning tea was definitely not the purpose of the meeting. The purpose was to discuss the publication of Lin Chaoyang's new novel.

Lin Chaoyang has been working with Ming Pao Publishing House for several years and the relationship is quite harmonious. Ming Pao Publishing House is still the first choice for publishing new novels.

“I have read the manuscript of Parasite, and it is very well written!

Although it doesn’t have the shocking imagination of “The Truman Show”, its ingenious layout, ruthless writing and tragic ending are chilling and unforgettable. ”

As soon as they met, Dong Qiao gave a very high evaluation of the novel.

After ordering, he began to sigh again.

"I don't know if my idea is right, but from Parasite, I really saw the difference between Hong Kong writers and mainland writers."

Lin Chaoyang took a sip of tea and asked, "What's the difference?"

Dong Qiao did not answer his question immediately, but asked: "Have you ever noticed what is published on the pages of newspapers every Spring Festival?"

Lin Chaoyang said without hesitation: "A whole page with four big characters: Congratulations on your prosperity."

"That's right. Newspapers have a full page with 'Congratulations on your prosperity', shops have signs saying 'Congratulations on your prosperity', every household burns incense to welcome the God of Wealth, and the first thing people say when they meet is 'Congratulations on your prosperity'.

When ordering a dish at a dinner party, people would ask for good luck, and the dish of dried oysters and fried seaweed would be called "good luck and fortune".

People die for money and birds die for food. This saying is fully reflected in the people of Hong Kong.

People work hard to get more money, because it is connected to fame, status and power. If you have money, you have everything. The rich try every means to show off their wealth, and the poor don't want to look shabby when they go out.

Showing off one's wealth, being extravagant, and living a life of luxury, I don't know when it has become the social trend in Hong Kong..."

Dong Qiao's tone is full of depth. As a writer, his insight and concern for society always exceed that of ordinary people.

Normally, Dong Qiao seldom cares about these things, but today, perhaps stimulated by the content of "Parasite", he talked incessantly about the various injustices in Hong Kong society today, and was filled with indignation.

A pair of TV stars got married, and the bride's wedding alone cost HK$10;
When rich people entertain guests, abalone and shark fins must be on the table, and only the crispy skin of suckling pig and roast duck will be eaten to show the host's wealth;

The rich live in garden villas and houses halfway up the mountain, but the poor have no place to live and cannot even afford to rent a house, so they can only rent a bed.

Dong Qiao talked for a long time, and after venting his anger, he showed a bit of apology on his face.

"Sorry, Chaoyang, I just felt a little uncomfortable after watching your movie Parasite."

Lin Chaoyang had a faint smile on his face. "It doesn't matter. The fact that I can resonate with you proves that my novel is very successful."

Dong Qiao nodded heavily, unable to suppress his excitement.

"Success, of course it is successful! Lao Jin's family is the epitome of the poor people in Hong Kong!
Your novel is giving voice to the lower classes of Hong Kong!"

Dong Qiao's heartfelt evaluation suddenly elevated the significance of "Parasite". He looked at Lin Chaoyang with serious eyes.

“That’s why I said, this is the difference between you and Hong Kong writers.

They have lived in this society for too long and have become integrated into it, losing their insight into society and its suffering.

But you are different. You have a keen and profound vision that transcends this society, without the slightest bias or partiality.

Chaoyang, to be honest, I used to think that I might have become numb to this society.

But now I understand that it’s not that I’m numb, or that people like me are numb.

It’s that our society lacks ‘doctors’ like you who can deeply analyze the bloody reality before our eyes.”

Lin Chaoyang quickly said modestly: "That's too much, too much."

"It's nothing to be overstated. Your movie "Parasite" deserves all the praise!" Dong Qiao said sincerely, his eyes full of admiration.

After praising the novel, Dong Qiao started talking about today’s business.

Lin Chaoyang handed over the manuscript of "Parasite" to Ming Pao Publishing House after returning to Hong Kong. During this period, the publishing house has completed the editing and proofreading of the novel, and it is expected that the novel will be on the market in half a month.

"We must promote Parasite well this time. I plan to write you a long review."

As Dong Qiao spoke, he handed two sample books to Lin Chaoyang.

"Then I'll wait and see." Lin Chaoyang took the sample book and said with a smile.

"By the way, Chaoyang, aren't you planning to adapt your novel into a movie?" Dong Qiao asked.

“I will definitely shoot if I have the chance.”

Dong Qiao's face was full of anticipation. "I really hope your novel can be made into a movie. It will definitely be more shocking than the novel itself!"

Lin Chaoyang has known Dong Qiao for several years, but his behavior today is completely different from before, just like a fanboy.

It was not difficult for Lin Chaoyang to see from his words that Dong Qiao had such a big reaction, in addition to the fact that he liked the novel from the bottom of his heart, the most important thing was that the novel "Parasite" aroused Dong Qiao's inner sense of responsibility towards Hong Kong society.

The most important theme reflected in "Parasite" is the contradictions caused by class differences.

The semi-basement where the protagonist's family lives and the luxurious villa where the chairman's family lives intuitively show the huge material gap between the rich and the poor.

This gap is not only reflected in material aspects such as living environment, food, clothing, housing and transportation, but also goes deeper into the relationships between people, ways of thinking and values.

The differences and contradictions shown in the novel are already very obvious in Hong Kong society at this stage, and will become even more obvious in the future.

"Parasite" analyzes the contradictions at the bottom of Hong Kong society in a sharp way, which brings a huge shock to Dong Qiao.

He has always claimed to be a social elite and always has a sense of responsibility towards society.

This sense of responsibility is sometimes expressed in the form of condescending preaching, but it cannot be denied that their original intentions are good.

“You must take a picture!”

Dong Qiao reminded Lin Chaoyang again, and Lin Chaoyang nodded.

Half a month later, two days before the Chinese New Year, "Parasite" was on the shelves of major bookstores in Hong Kong.

Thanks to Ming Pao Publishing House's promotion over the past half month, many of Lin Chaoyang's loyal readers spontaneously came to the bookstore to buy the novel that morning.

The number of readers certainly cannot be compared with the long queues in China, but the continuous flow of people and readers queuing to pay are already a rare sight in Hong Kong's bookstores.

On the morning of the same day, Ming Pao published a feature article on its front page: "A good medicine for Hong Kong society: on the novel "Parasite"

The article wrote:
“When I first read Parasite, I always had a familiar feeling. After thinking about it for a long time, I remembered that this feeling came from The Metamorphosis, which I read in junior high school.

Although this novel written by Kafka is very different from "Parasite" in content, they have similarities in narrative.

For example, the sensory impact of the poor material life on people, and the two novels both write about the isolation and indifference caused by the environment...

The chairman's mansion represents wealth, status and power, while the semi-basement where Lao Jin's family lives represents poverty, humbleness and marginalization;
The "smell" that appears repeatedly in the novel also represents the class differences and the poverty mark that the lower class people cannot get rid of. The rich people's dislike for the smell of the poor reflects the gap and opposition between classes...

The whole society is immersed in superficial and illusory prosperity, unable to extricate itself, due to extreme extravagance, pursuit of pleasure and wanton waste.

"Parasite" is like a dagger, which pierces the most unbearable side of Hong Kong society with its sharp blade and gives the most profound criticism to this corrupt society.

All readers who have read this novel will have to think about the grand propositions of social fairness and the gap between the rich and the poor. From this perspective, it will definitely become a good medicine for Hong Kong society."

With a daily circulation of over 100,000 copies, Ming Pao is a major newspaper in Hong Kong and has always been sought after by all walks of life in Hong Kong society.

The article "A Good Medicine for Hong Kong Society - Talking about the Novel "Parasite"" caused a huge impact among the vast readership on the day it was published.

The decline of pure literature in Hong Kong has long been witnessed by all sectors of society, and few writers can attract public attention with their pure literary works.

Even many famous writers have to add more popular elements to their works in order to make a living with their writing.

The appearance of Lin Chaoyang is an extremely strange exception. The book review of his new work published by Ming Pao in the form of a front-page feature is enough to show the importance of the work "Parasite".

At the same time, the high praise for this work in the book reviews also aroused these readers' strong interest in the novel.

On the second day after the book review was published, more readers came to bookstores in Hong Kong to buy "Parasite".

Some of these people were already readers of Lin Chaoyang, while others came because of the book review in Ming Pao.

Thanks to the pursuit of thousands of readers, a serious literary work like "Parasite" has generated a response that exceeds that of ordinary popular literature, and its sales have continued to rise.

Within three days of the novel's release, sales had reached an astonishing 9500 copies.

This figure is not impressive in other countries and regions, but for a port city like Hong Kong with a population of only a few million, it is almost a sales miracle.

The unprecedented popularity of "Parasite" is largely related to "The Truman Show".

At the time, "The Truman Show" won international honors for Hong Kong. Many citizens were proud of the film. Because of their love for the film, they naturally had a great innate liking for Lin Chaoyang and his new work.

In addition to being well received by citizens and readers, "Parasite" also quickly attracted the attention of the Hong Kong literary world after its release.

The article "A Good Medicine for Hong Kong Society - Talking about the Novel "Parasite"" in Ming Pao was written by Dong Qiao. Although there are many praises in the article, they are not exaggerated.

After reading Lin Chaoyang's novel, many of their literary colleagues looked back at Dong Qiao's article and felt a deep sense of identification.

In the past two decades, the rapid development of Hong Kong society has created an economic myth and benefited millions of ordinary people.

But what people cannot ignore is that a considerable number of citizens have been left behind by this rapid development.

Not to mention anything else, just the "semi-basement" where the Jin family lives as described in the novel, which Hong Konger would not feel sympathetic when seeing it?

For many Hong Kong people, even a semi-basement is considered "good" housing.

The economy has developed, but the wage increase of ordinary citizens is far from keeping up with the rising speed of housing prices.

Over the years, the government and developers have been grabbing land and implementing a high land price policy, relying on land sales to maintain huge expenses. To date, they still have a surplus of tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars in inventory.

High land prices enrich the government and developers, but make life difficult for the poor.

Over the years, Hong Kong has seen the emergence of numerous billionaires, most of whom made their fortunes in real estate.

How much of the money earned by these real estate tycoons is the hard-earned money of the people throughout their lives.

Even so, ordinary people who can buy a place to live with their life's hard-earned money are already considered lucky in this city.

The abnormal housing prices of thousands of yuan per square foot have left more people with nothing more than to sigh and watch.

On the one hand, there are tens of thousands of empty units with no one living in them, while on the other hand, millions of people still live in dangerous shantytowns and slums like Kowloon Walled City.

There are also those homeless people sleeping under the docks and overpasses, whose plight tells the bloody history of the lower-class people in this city.

In those film and television works, Hong Kong in the 1980s seems to be always so prosperous and peaceful, but no one has ever paid attention to the scars behind this city.

In just a few days, many well-known writers such as Liu Yichang, Shu Xiangcheng, and Xixi published articles in many newspapers praising "Parasite".

The 1980s was not only the golden age of mainland China’s literary world, but also the golden age of Hong Kong’s literary world.

After going through the "dark period" in the 1970s, Hong Kong's literary scene has seen a rare opportunity for vigorous development since the 1980s.

A series of literary groups including the Hong Kong Literary and Art Association were established, literary magazines such as "Wenyi", "Contemporary Literature and Art" and "Suye Literature" were launched, young writers emerged one after another, and the Hong Kong literary scene was full of vitality.

In such a positive environment, the voices of these writers can be heard by the public more clearly and vividly than before.

Among the many writers who published articles, Liu Yichang's articles published in Ming Pao won recognition and praise from many readers.

In his article he said:

"In the movie Parasite, the father, Lao Jin, hid in the basement of a mansion and became a 'parasite'. His son wrote a letter saying that he would plan a new life, buy the mansion, and let Lao Jin walk out openly.

But all this was just his son's beautiful imagination. The collision between that beautiful imagination and the bleak reality was a hundred times more shocking than the previous explosion of killing.

After reading it, one's heart cannot calm down for a long time, as if swept by a sudden storm, leaving shock and contemplation all over the place.

I thought Mr. Lin was from the mainland and it would be difficult for him to get close to or care about Hong Kong society.

However, the book "Parasite" presents a penetrating and profound analysis of Hong Kong society that many so-called "local writers" born and raised in Hong Kong cannot even dream of.

Like a sincere and good doctor who wields a scalpel, he accurately dissects the abscess of the gap between the rich and the poor in Hong Kong society, and exposes the complexity and struggle of human nature, and the contradictions and conflicts between social classes to readers.

I can't even compare to you!"

(End of this chapter)