Exciting 1979!

Chapter 330 Charity Funds Exceed 100 Million, and We Can Continue!
Even though Governor Murray MacLehose's wife, Tang Lai-ping, was dozing off, she instantly perked up when she heard the familiar melody intro.

Not only her, but not long ago, all the TV and radio stations in Hong Kong were playing a song called "Only Time" and people jokingly called it the "red carpet anthem".

This song became known worldwide due to its stunning performance at the wedding of the Prince of Wales, and its subsequent release and marketing were also very professional, so it immediately topped the music charts in various countries. The combination of Mr. Why and Sarah Brightman once again amazed the world.

Li Ka-shing's two sons, Victor Li and Richard Li, Hui Sai-fun's son Julian Hui, and Lim Por-yen's son, Peter Lam, were all students studying in the United States at the time. Their willingness to come was partly due to the fact that the initiator was Mr. Why, a Chinese who had penetrated the Western cultural sphere. This would be something to brag about when they returned to school.

They are also more familiar with Western pop culture than the average person. As soon as the intro starts, they can immediately tell that a hit song is coming!
Michael Kadoorie, who had been bored all day, finally perked up and was eager to hear if it was as amazing as the old man had said.

Although the sound quality might be somewhat compromised due to the outdoor venue, Sarah Brightman's talent is undeniable. She is exceptionally gifted, with a vocal range spanning over three octaves at a young age, and her voice is clear, ethereal, and extremely penetrating.

Even the spectators at the very edge of the stadium heard the heart-wrenching line: "Who can say, where the road goes, where the day flows, only time..."

Of course, those in the VIP seats can hear more clearly, since they're counting on making money from them, they definitely want to give them the best experience.

Even though those few people weren't very good at English, the older gentlemen kept nodding in approval. It was really good, much better than those messy, rambling nonsense performances.

The song has a soothing style, and older audiences can feel the elegance within the tranquility, and the power within the elegance.

Even more clearly than the VIPs were the artists backstage, some of whom possessed singing abilities comparable to Sarah's. However, at her age, it was impossible for her to combine talent and skill so perfectly; she was truly gifted.

When Zhou Huimin saw Sarah's composed and elegant performance, she felt that this was the goal she was striving for. She thought it would be great if she could have such stage presence when she was 20 years old.

Her hands were sweating with nervousness as it was about to be her turn to perform.

"You're going to be the lead singer later, right? Are you nervous?" Melinda walked over to Vivian Chow and handed her a tissue.

Zhou Huimin was taken aback, pursed her lips, and accepted it, saying, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Melinda also looked towards the stage.

Vivian Chow stole a glance at Melinda; she seemed like a really nice person.

Amin glanced at Amin waiting in the wings, the melody of "Melinda" flashing through her mind. Could it be that first love is truly irreplaceable?

When the song ended, Wei Ming and his sister came up, and Wei Ming took the stage himself for this part.

As the performance drew to a close, everyone—whether watching on TV, attending in person, or being a big spender in the front row—was undoubtedly curious about Wei Ming, the initiator. He was there to satisfy their curiosity.

Wei Ming had already met several tycoons when he entered the venue, but after listening to the entire concert, they became genuinely interested in Wei Ming and developed a slight suspicion of him.

It's only been a month since the major floods in Sichuan, yet he has written so many excellent songs, most of which are in Cantonese. Apart from one song where he only wrote the lyrics, he also wrote the lyrics and composed the music for the others. This is an extraordinary amount of work.

Therefore, they couldn't help but suspect that the most outstanding musicians on the entire continent were behind Wei Ming, creating hype for him; otherwise, this would be too extraordinary.

"First of all, thank you for Ms. Sarah Brightman's wonderful performance." Liza Wang led the applause to become even more enthusiastic, and it lasted for a long time.

"Would you all like to hear another song?" Wei Ming pointed the microphone at the audience, and sure enough, he received a chorus of "Yes!"

If you want to hear it, then of course you'll need the wealthy to be generous.

Liza Wang: "But to be honest, I'd rather hear you sing one, Ah Ming. I've already sung them all. You've written so many songs, but you haven't sung any of them yourself."

This not only made the ordinary audience laugh, but even the VIP audience nodded slightly, as it seemed to be a good idea.

Wei Ming: "Sister, don't tease me! I'm tone-deaf. Let's see if any of the big shots want to make some more contributions to charity."

In the VIP area, Carol Cheng held a microphone and waved to Lee Siu-kei first. Everyone thought he was going to bid, but he said, "Mr. Wei, it's almost the end, can you be a little more lenient? How about we give you two songs with each bid? One for Miss Brightman and one for you, everyone agrees?"

He started cheering, and the other audience members followed suit. Liza Wang had just mentioned it, which also aroused everyone's curiosity about Wei Ming's singing. Even the other wealthy people nodded in agreement.

This was exactly the effect Wei Ming wanted. Sarah was a foreigner, and he was afraid that the established tycoons wouldn't be interested in her, while the young rich second generation couldn't afford to bid. So Wei Ming included himself as well. Regardless of who was who, it would look like a very worthwhile addition to bidding, and this was the last time he would bid.

The older sister immediately egged them on, saying "Come on, come on!" Even Sarah next to her chimed in with broken Chinese, saying "Come on," which elicited bursts of laughter.

But actually, Liza Wang, who was acting as a shill, was a little worried: was Ah Ming really a terrible singer?
Unable to refuse everyone's earnest invitation, Wei Ming reluctantly agreed.

At this point, Li Ka-shing, who had already spent 1100 million but was still unsure if he could win, took the microphone and said, "Mr. Wei is a creative genius rarely seen in the world. I heard that you wrote all these new songs tonight, and that you wrote them in just a few days. I wonder if it's true or not?"

Wei Ming then offered an explanation: "There are a total of 16 new songs today. About ten of them were created after I decided to do a charity concert. However, a few others had lyrics or melodies before, which were improved after I came to Hong Kong. Throughout the creative process, the singers also provided me with a lot of help. Almost all the singers revised their lyrics or melodies before the final result was achieved."

“I would especially like to thank Mr. Lai Siu Tin, the music director of this concert, and Mr. Cheng Tung Han of PolyGram Records. Without these excellent musicians, there would be no songs that are loved by the audience, or even if there were, they would be imperfect.”

Wei Ming's words were watertight, and he even attributed some of the credit for the composition to the singers, which is indeed true. Some Cantonese words were basically changed during their auditions, since they understand Cantonese better. Li Xiaotian also contributed a lot to the composition and arrangement.

Li Ka-shing nodded: "I really like these new songs tonight, they're all classics, except for that one called 'I'm the Best.' I wonder if you'll be singing a new song or an old one later?"

Run Run Shaw joined in the mischief, asking, "Does that mean songs that have already been sung are considered old songs?"

Li Ka-shing: "Of course."

With a smile, Liza Wang saw through the two bigwigs' intentions: "Ah Ming, they want you to write a song on the spot."

Wei Ming said nonchalantly, "No problem. Actually, I have a lot of unreleased songs that they don't know about."

His candid remark drew laughter from the audience. Tan Yonglin then addressed Danny Chan, Chan Pak-cheung, and others beside him.

“Ah Ming really has a lot of songs, definitely more than a dozen. I saw a notebook full of lyrics!”

Wei Ming did write quite a few songs before coming to Hong Kong, but they were all lyrics at first. After arriving in Hong Kong and confirming who would be participating, he then chose suitable sheet music to set to music.

Li Ka-shing was eager to continue competing to secure his title as the world's most charitable man tonight, but he felt somewhat frustrated because he had no idea that there would be a surprise guest. So he decided to make things more difficult for Wei Ming.

Tens of millions in donations aren't so easy to get. If you're not going to break a boulder on your chest or have a gun pointed at your neck, you'd at least have to compose a poem in seven steps.

Wei Ming: Isn't it just composing a poem in seven steps? I'm very familiar with that. We started out by composing poems in seven steps!
So Li Ka-shing said, "We definitely can't just use any song; we have to assign a theme. What do you all think?"

All the tycoons agreed, except for Old Master Huo, who shook his head, saying it was too much of a bully on a child.

The singers backstage were also worried for Wei Ming. To be given a topic on the spot was too difficult. Although there are people in the music industry who can finish a song in a few minutes, those are rare and hard to come by.

Amin was alright, although she was also on edge, but Melinda gave her some tissues.

All the television sets in Hong Kong focused on a close-up of Wei Ming's face, where he calmly stated, "I'm fine."

The bigwigs were satisfied and eager to compete; whoever won would get to set the question.

Liza Wang also gave Wei Ming a song's worth of time so that he could sing the last song of the night after the chorus, and everyone agreed.

Two songs, only ten minutes long. If this could be written, it would either be unlistenable or people would suspect that the wealthy were shills for him.

Michael Kadoorie was the first to bid, starting at 500 million, and after bidding, he smiled and waved to Sarah.

Then Li Zhaoji doubled it, reaching 1000 million.

Li Ka-shing did the math and realized, "Oh no, they've surpassed me!"
He immediately placed the bid: "1100 million."

To everyone's surprise, Y.K. Pao directly asked for an astronomical price of "1500 million".

Tonight, the shipping magnate was very aggressive in his bidding, but ultimately failed to reach the top spot even once. This was his last bid, and he was giving it his all.

Then Li Ka-shing gritted his teeth and shouted "1600 million!"
However, this did not scare anyone else.

It's true that these wealthy people like to do charity, but they mostly do it in their hometowns. For example, Bao Yugang donated to Ningbo, Li Shau-kee and Cheng Yu-tung donated to Shunde, and Li Ka-shing donated to Chaoshan. They are now donating tens of millions of dollars, all hoping that the people of their hometowns will remember them well and leave a good name before and after their death.

It is unprecedented to invest such a large sum of money in a completely unfamiliar province like Sichuan.

This is normal. When Wei Ming had money, he started donating from his own village before expanding to the county.

But things started going in an unpredictable direction after Robert Kuok won the first round with 500 million, and with those catchy new songs, it seemed like things were spiraling out of control.

The thing about songs is that even the best songs become less exciting after listening to them too many times. But the first time you hear a song is always when your emotions are at their peak and your reaction is the most intense.

Moreover, the total amount raised has now approached 100 million, which is quite an achievement.

At least in the history of China after the founding of the People's Republic, this figure has set a record for the highest amount raised through a charity performance. This will not only be recorded in history, but it will certainly be known to the authorities in Yenching, just in case, just in case, Britain cannot retain Hong Kong.

That's on a grand scale. On a smaller scale, it could even pose a question that would make a great talent compose a song in seven steps, so everyone got even more excited in the last round.

In another VIP section, the celebrities from the entertainment industry stared wide-eyed at the difference in status—it was simply too vast! Even Boss Shao and Boss Zou, whom they revered like gods, remained silent, unable to participate at all.

Those rich kids also clenched their fists, dreaming of the days when they could do whatever they wanted after inheriting the family business.

When the shipping magnate bid 2000 million, Wei Ming, holding the small hammer, felt that the bigwigs seemed to have sobered up a bit. Even Li Ka-shing shook his head. If he bid again, the total amount would exceed 3000 million.

3000 million! I bet your fellow Chaozhou natives are cursing themselves for being heartless and ungrateful. Who do you think you are in Sichuan?!
That's roughly the number. Although it's a bit short of breaking 100 million, it has already far exceeded Wei Ming's expectations.

Just then, the eldest son of the Dong family, who seemed to have been offline for a while, returned. He brought with him the message from the shipping magnate Dong: to fully support the post-disaster reconstruction in the Sichuan disaster area.

“2100 million,” he said.

The shipping magnate glanced at the Dong family's young man and thought, "Good lad, you're trying to mess with me, aren't you?"

"2200."

"2300."

"2400."

"2500 million." The young eldest son of the Dong family was not at all intimidated, displaying the demeanor of a great general.

Both companies are in the shipping business. The Dong family started earlier, while Bao, the shipping magnate, transitioned from the financial industry to shipping. However, the rising star was more aggressive, using financial means to raise funds and loans to quickly buy ships, thus overtaking others and becoming the world's number one shipping magnate.

The shipping magnate was very dissatisfied at the time, and told foreign media that half of his ships were mortgaged to banks, while all of his ships belonged to the Dong family, so why was he number one?

Therefore, the competition between the two companies is very direct and sharp; the tension is palpable.

The shipping magnate seemed to realize that this young man from the Dong family was determined not to give him any face, and that if things continued like this, it would never end.

He can afford more than 2000 million, but what if it's more than 2000 million?

Last year, Y.K. Pao donated US$2000 million to the mainland, all in the name of his father, Pao Siu-lung. Half of the donation was used to build a hotel in Beijing, named Siu-lung Hotel, and the other half was used to build a library at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, named Pao Siu-lung Library.

But if you donate this money yourself, at least you'll have the right to name it. This time it's over 2000 million yuan, so you can't just let Sichuan be renamed Gangchuan.

He paused for a moment, and Wei Ming also felt that it was about time; any further and it would easily escalate into a heated argument. Just as he was about to bring down the gavel, Bao, the shipping magnate, waved his hand and said, "3000 million!"

The audience watching on television felt a unique kind of excitement. In the past, when they heard such large sums of money, it was usually big shots bidding for land. Now, they never expected that people would be so eager to participate in charity. It was truly rare!

The shipping magnate glared at the Dong family's son, but the eldest son of the Dong family seemed not to notice, holding the sign in his hand and raising it slightly.

Other bigwigs almost exclaimed in disbelief, "Are these two shipping magnates about to go to war?! Will this affect Hong Kong stock prices tomorrow?!"
Wei Ming was unwilling to bear the infamy of causing a complete break between the two shipping magnates, but he was too insignificant to do anything. Fortunately, Governor Murray MacLehose stepped forward, and the Tung family's name was not brought up.

Murray MacLehose is 64 years old this year. Among the VIPs present, only Run Run Shaw is older than him. Both his political achievements and age are enough to overshadow these tycoons.

He laughed and said, "I just heard a magnificent concert, and Miss Brightman's singing touched my soul. We're all doing this for charity, so there's no need to get angry. I have a suggestion, and I wonder if you two would like to hear it."

Both of them looked at him, and MacLehose continued, "How about we stop at 3000 million? But the 3000 million will be split equally between the two of you, and each of you can request a song."

The branch office staff behind the scenes felt regretful after hearing this, and scolded Old Mai for meddling in other people's business. What a great opportunity! Maybe he could raise a hundred million later, which would allow so many people to eat and have a place to live!
Wei Ming breathed a sigh of relief and immediately echoed, "I think what you said makes sense, and I hope that the two gentlemen can value peace."

Since both the governor and the initiator had said so, and each of them was contributing 1500 million, making them the biggest benefactors of the night, the two shook hands and made peace, jointly cutting the price down to 3000 million.

However, their rivalry will continue. In 97, the second son-in-law of the shipping magnate and the eldest son of the Dong family will have another earth-shattering competition, in which the Dong family will win decisively.

At this point, people discovered that the total amount of donations from the wealthy tonight had reached an astonishing HK$102.9 million!
Huge sum of money, an enormous sum of money!
Several of the invited wealthy individuals at the event didn't even have a combined net worth of that amount.

In addition, there are concert ticket sales and record sales, so raising more than 110 million in total donations is not a problem.

Next, the shipping magnate and the eldest son of the Dong family discussed who would choose who would request the song.

Wei Ming thought he would be contested by the two, since he could set questions, but the shipping magnate Bao directly chose Sarah Brightman, and the Dong family chose Wei Ming.

Now it's time to set a topic for the essay. The eldest son of the Dong family looked at Wei Ming and said, "This is Hong Kong, and the donations are the heartfelt wishes of the people of Hong Kong. Why don't we use Hong Kong as the topic?"

"You have a good vision; no wonder you rose to the top in the end," Wei Ming said thoughtfully. "Hong Kong, Hong Kong."

"Okay, I'll go back and write it now. Sister, please help me stall for time." Wei Ming cupped his hands to Liza Wang, and the scene burst into laughter again. Some people were looking forward to it, while others were looking forward to seeing him make a fool of himself. It would be funny if he wrote a mess.

Liza Wang gave an OK sign and, in a mischievous, slow manner, said to Mr. Bao, "Please, Mr. Bao, request a song for Miss Brightman to perform, but please note that she doesn't speak Chinese, so we can't force her."

The shipping magnate scratched his head: "How would I know anything about English songs? You're asking me to do something unreasonable."

The younger daughter immediately gave her father a meaningful look, as if to say, "You don't understand, but I do."

However, the shipping magnate pretended not to see it and instead looked at MacLehose: "Why don't you let the governor choose one for me?"

Young Master Dong looked at Old Bao with a surprised expression. He realized he had made a mistake. How could he not have thought of this?

It's still the British Hong Kong government now. Oh dear, I was too young. I should have asked the Governor to set the questions.

The shipping magnate and Hong Kong Governor Murray MacLehose had a good relationship and a long history together.

Foreigners were not very familiar with Y.K. Pao in the past, and only knew about Hong Kong shipping magnate Tung Chao-yung. Ten years ago, Y.K. Pao was chatting with a British man on a plane, and the British man asked him what industry he was in.

Bao Yugang replied, "I have some boats."

The Englishman asked, "How many are there?"

Bao Yugang: "I can't remember."

The Englishman asked, "Is Onassis there?"

That was the famous Greek shipping magnate, who also married Kennedy's widow.

Bao Yugang replied, "That's as much as Niagos and Onassis combined."

The British widened their eyes and exclaimed, "The real shipping magnate is in Hong Kong, not in Greece!"

This Englishman was Murray MacLehose, who then told his Western friends about Bao Yugang's story, and the shipping magnate's name became famous in the West.

Whether this legend is fabricated or not is unknown, but the two did have a good relationship, and Bao Yugang understood that a businessman should not put all his eggs in one basket.

He maintained good relations with the mainland while also trying to curry favor with the British. Later, his four daughters married Austrians, Hong Kongers, Japanese, and Singaporeans respectively. I wonder if this was also due to this theory.

MacLehose initially declined, but when the shipping magnate insisted, he agreed. After consulting with his wife, he requested the song "Memory," as the couple had both seen the wildly popular London musical during their recent trip to London and were deeply impressed by the song.

Before Sarah's performance, Liza Wang continued to stall for time, announcing a hidden perk: "For all the gentlemen and ladies who have just successfully raised funds, we will record the two songs you bid for and the last duet song, a total of three songs, onto vinyl records and deliver them to your homes at a later date."

Joseph Lau thought to himself, "Damn it! The song I bid on is called 'Rogue,' what bad luck!" Luckily, he also had Anthony Chan sing Michael Hui's "God of Wealth Arrives."

Run Run Shaw then reminded him, "I filmed it three times, please record it separately on three separate albums."

Liza Wang: "I know, Uncle Six."

Run Run Shaw proudly stated: Although he wasn't the top philanthropist, he had donated three times, and TVB would highlight this point later.

Sarah Brightman, after a long wait, was finally able to sing again. Although it wasn't her part in "Cats," she had been secretly practicing, and she did eventually cover the song.

This song, "Memory," is a classic among classics. Because it was a song from a musical, it wasn't widely known before. Today, Hong Kong audiences were truly treated to a taste of its beauty, and the Governor and his wife seemed to have returned to London.

After Sarah finished singing, Liza Wang slowly announced a new rule, which was also to buy time for Wei Ming.

“We know there are many kind-hearted people who want to donate, but we didn’t manage to grab any. But that’s okay. Before we finish, Yu-ling will continue to collect donations with the box. Every donor will receive a videotape of tonight as a souvenir.”

The super-rich have gained fame, so the less-rich should also contribute some charity; otherwise, their trip wouldn't have been in vain.
Xia Meng breathed a sigh of relief. She really wanted to donate, but the competition was too fierce, and her wealth didn't allow it. Now, it's good; she can make her move!
……

(Today's guaranteed minimum)
(End of this chapter)