Exciting 1979!

Chapter 381 Zhou Huimin's Legs, After One Night

Because of the extreme silence at the scene, the song "Birthday Song" sounded even clearer, and everyone heard it clearly.

Jackie Chan whispered to Yuen Biao beside him, "Is that Adam Cheng and Sister Ah?"

Yuen Biao: "A pleasant surprise, isn't it?"

Hong Jinbao also thought that the original singer of this "Birthday Song" had come to celebrate his birthday, and he even craned his neck to look at the door.

At this moment, Ah Hu panicked. He had accidentally opened the music greeting card, and the song started playing automatically, right when the big boss was about to speak.

However, just as he was about to turn it off, his hand trembled and he dropped it on the ground, where he is now picking it up.

Hong Jinbao didn't see any new customers and looked in the direction of the singing: "Who brought the tape recorder?"

Ah Bao, who was usually quiet, said, "Boss, this is a birthday gift that we brothers prepared for you."

Big Bear also stood up: "Yes, yes, yes."

Finally, Ah Hu closed the greeting card and stood up, his face flushed.

"What is this? Bring it here and let me see."

Three henchmen walked up to Hong Jinbao, and a reporter who came to the banquet even took a picture.

The three greeting cards had posters of movies he had acted in on the cover. Hong Jinbao picked up the one with "The Monk Sande" on it, and when he opened it, music started playing automatically. It was the Cantonese song "Birthday Song". When he closed it, the music stopped.

Then I opened that album, "Fat Dragon Crossing the River," and it played the English version of "Happy Birthday."

The last song sung was the Mandarin version of "Happy Birthday": "Happy birthday to you."

Everyone looked on with curiosity, having never seen such a musical greeting card before. Hong Jinbao looked at Cheng Long and asked, "Big Nose, you travel abroad often and are very knowledgeable. Do the US and Japan have these kinds of things?"

Jackie Chan shook his head: "If it were true, my fans would definitely send it to me."

Upon hearing this, the tiger-leopard-bear was overjoyed, never expecting it to be a one-of-a-kind gift.

From then on, Hung Chin-po could not only boast that he was the first person in the Hong Kong entertainment industry to use a mobile phone, but also that he was the first person to use a musical greeting card.

Hong Jinbao was also very happy. This thing shouldn't be very expensive. What's rare is that these three newcomers put a lot of effort into it. There were even their crooked congratulatory messages in the greeting card. Fortunately, they left their names on the back, otherwise Hong Jinbao wouldn't have been able to tell who was who. This is a consumable item that can be replaced at any time, belonging to the lowest level of newly joined martial arts practitioners.

"Alright, alright, the three of you will come with me tomorrow," Hong Jinbao said, indicating that he intended to personally mentor the three young men.

This made the other members of the Sammo Hung Stunt Team extremely envious, and even a little angry. Usually, the boss would give us perks on his birthday, but now you three brats are giving him gifts. Doesn't that make us seem heartless?

Countless resentful and hateful gazes were cast upon the three, but they were too caught up in their immense joy to notice.

Afterwards, Hung Chin-po gave a speech, mentioning everyone's hard work in completing "The Prodigal Son." His words were full of optimism and anticipation for the film, and he encouraged the company to achieve even greater success in the new year. Then, amidst the cheers of his friends, he began to eat and drink.

Jackie Chan even went out of his way to find Ah Hu and the others and asked, "Where did you buy that musical greeting card?"

He was thinking of buying these for his girlfriends later, as it would save money, be convenient, and show that he was thoughtful.

Ah Hu dared not hide the truth: "This was prepared for us by a Mr. Wei Ming."

"Wei Ming? Mr. Why?"

"Correct."

Jackie Chan was overjoyed: "He's in Hong Kong! That's my friend!"

~
At this time, Jackie Chan's friend and Vivian Chow had already entered a Golden Harvest cinema.

Amin changed out of her school uniform on the bus. Of course, Wei Ming wasn't in the bus or under it; he was outside watching over Amin.

Golden Harvest was out of films at the moment, so they used this Bluebird production to compete with Shaw Brothers' "The Red Powder Moves the Jianghu". It was a traditional martial arts film starring Michelle Yim, Chen Kuan-tai, Yuen Tak and Wai Tin-chi.

"Red Powder Moves the Jianghu" was released a day earlier and grossed around 30 yuan on its opening day. It seems that this kind of old-fashioned action movie, with its back-and-forth fighting, can no longer satisfy the audience. The current action movie is dominated by Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung. Of course, kung fu movies from mainland China also have the potential to compete.

Shu Qi, a famous film critic and founder of Film Biweekly, just watched "Red Powder Moves the Jianghu" yesterday. He found it uninteresting. While the plot was innovative, the filming techniques were too old-fashioned. He was too lazy to even write a review for the film. If it weren't for the fact that it was based on a novel by Gu Long and adapted by Ni Kuang, he wouldn't have bothered watching it at all.

After finishing his work at the magazine today, he made a special trip to watch "Seven Days of Wrong Love," and his biggest motivation was the screenwriter, Wei Ming.

In the first half of the year, his work "Heroes Have Always Been Born Young" was unprecedented, casting a boastful kid as the male lead in a martial arts film, which was truly refreshing.

I wonder what new things he'll bring this time.

Wei Ming hadn't expected to sit in the same theater as a famous film critic, and the theater was quite full. Before coming in, he asked the ticket seller, who said that "The Wrong Seven Days' Love" sold well during the day.

Of course, it's not bad, but it's not wildly popular yet.

The movie opens with the protagonist, Kenny Bee (钟镇涛), a rookie police officer, messing up his job and being scolded by his superior, Tam Yung-Lin. The original version of this film was produced by Shaw Brothers, and the role was played by Wong Jing (王京).

Then the male lead suffers another misfortune when his girlfriend cheats on him with two women. The girlfriend is played by Zhao Yazhi. In the original timeline, Anita Mui made a cameo appearance in this role, but she didn't have many scenes and wasn't very likable.

Zhang Guorong made a cameo appearance on Zhao Yazhi's other boat, while George Lam played the wealthy husband of the female lead. The film was shot before they went to Hainan to film "Boat People". Although Wei Ming did not charge them for the lyrics and music, it was not entirely without benefit. This cast can be considered a bit luxurious.

If Wei Ming had known earlier that Zhao Yazhi had been cast, he would definitely have suggested she play the female lead. What a quintessential charming young woman! He even wanted her to play the male lead, or perhaps Ye Tong!
With the explosive popularity of "Let Everything Go with the Wind", Kenny Bee's popularity in the music scene has finally narrowed the gap with Tam Yung-Lin. In addition to making a cameo appearance, Tam Yung-Lin also sang an interlude for him. Chen You, one of the Wynners, also played an important role.

The high attendance on the first day, along with the somewhat eye-catching cast, was also a major reason.

Since Wei Ming had already seen it once, he wasn't paying much attention; he was more focused on the reactions of the audience around him.

The cinema wasn't too far from Holiland. A couple even came in carrying a Holiland family bucket. They ate chicken drumsticks and spicy chicken wings one after another, and the aroma wafted far and wide. Wei Ming regretted not buying a bucket in advance and could only eat popcorn and drink cola.

Film critic Shu Qi was sitting in front of Wei Ming, but unfortunately he didn't recognize what the famous Shu Qi looked like. If it were another Shu Qi, he would definitely recognize her, even if she took off her clothes and covered her face.

Besides watching the audience, Wei Ming also paid attention to Amin's reaction. She was very engrossed in the film, after all, this was Wei Ming's first romance film. However, it seemed to be a romance film with a married woman, a forbidden love!
However, it seemed quite relaxed. The male lead was a bit simple-minded, and Ah Min, who knows Kenny Bee, said he's not that kind of person at all, so he acted really well.

Moreover, Tam Yung-lun, Chan Yau, Cheung Kwok-yung, and Lam Chi-cheung are all acquaintances that Ah-min met at her concerts. Her connections in the entertainment industry were all built through Ah-min, and watching familiar people act has a unique charm.

Ye Tong isn't exactly a great beauty, and her skin is dark, but she acted really well. Ah Min was certain in her heart that she just couldn't act. There's a drama club at school, but acting seems so difficult.

The romantic scenes between the two leads were portrayed with great subtlety, progressing gradually and logically, and were full of humor.

As the relationship between the two gradually improves, the female protagonist encounters another problem: her parents want to visit her and her husband from abroad, since their marriage was not approved or blessed by them.

To appease her parents, the female protagonist, Nai Dong, asks the male protagonist, Yang Jun, to impersonate her husband to get away with it, as she doesn't want her parents to see her current predicament.

As a result, their relationship deepened, and they even ended up sleeping in the same bed. Yang Du's honesty and kindness won the approval of his parents, who agreed to and blessed their marriage.

Seeing their relationship growing stronger, Amin couldn't help but hold Wei Ming's hand, their fingers intertwined.

Hmph, if you don't even know how to take the initiative, then I'll just have to do it myself. Amin's hobby is domineering.

However, Amin panicked a little in the next scene because the male and female protagonists were about to go to bed.

She thought it would just be a kiss and then "one night," but the director filmed it very carefully, making Amin blush, but she still held his hand tightly.

Although it didn't show any nudity like the original, director Patrick Tam's version was even more stimulating. He even managed to make Ye Tong, with her dark skin and flat figure, look so alluring that the entire audience held their breath, and some couples even openly kissed.

Amin wanted to, but she knew that Amin was principled and very restrained. So, after a struggle, she placed Amin's hand on her lap for some comfort.

There's an old saying in Hong Kong: Chan Wai-man's fists and Chow Wai-man's legs are both deadly weapons!

Fortunately, Amin was wearing pants, which was like putting this sharp sword into its sheath, greatly reducing its lethality.

Fortunately, this phase is finally over. However, the two, whose relationship has taken a turn for the better, become even more awkward, and the female lead feels guilty.

However, the story takes a light and cheerful turn when a group of thugs appear and kidnap the female protagonist in the villa.

"puff!"

"Hahaha!"

"What's with the water spraying in the back?!"

The male protagonist vaguely heard the female protagonist calling for help. At this moment, he was lost in thought, and a scene reminiscent of a Shaw Brothers martial arts film flashed through his mind: a hero rescuing a damsel in distress.

Kenny Bee and Cecilia Yip changed into ancient costumes, while Brother B wore a white robe and held a long sword. However, this scene was meant to be funny, so the style of Shaw Brothers martial arts films was amplified. Wei Ming felt that director Patrick Tam directed a better version than the original, with more jokes and the whole audience laughed non-stop. It was probably similar to "The Master of the Sword: Lu Xiaoyu".

I never imagined that Shaw Brothers martial arts films could be made into comedies.

Even Shu Qi, who isn't particularly interested in comedies, couldn't help but burst out laughing when she watched this scene again, having just seen a typical old-school Shaw Brothers martial arts film yesterday. It was even more exaggerated than when she watched "Security Unlimited" earlier this year.

Based on this alone, Shu Qi felt he needed to write a film review for the movie, and he also wanted to have Cecilia Yip shoot the cover for the next issue of "Film Biweekly"—she acted so well, and she looked so young. This reminded Shu Qi of something he and his magazine colleagues were planning to do: establish a film award to encourage Hong Kong films and filmmakers.

After cosplaying a Shaw Brothers martial arts film, the male protagonist finally came to his senses and realized that the female protagonist was really in trouble. He immediately rushed upstairs and saw several strongmen.

Then he said "excuse me" and went back inside. After struggling with his thoughts for a while outside the door, he took out all the money he had, closed his eyes, and rushed in, intending to exchange all his money for the female lead.

However, by then those strongmen had already run away, and the female protagonist quietly watched his performance.

In the original version, the strongman here was a Big Circle Boy. Although Wei Ming knew about the Big Circle Boy phenomenon, he was from the mainland, so he was replaced with a Vietnamese gang.

After this, the two who had been arguing kissed again.

Just when Amin thought it was going to be another explosive sex scene, and just as Amin started squeezing his legs hard, the movie cut to "After One Night," and that part of the story was over in a flash.

However, after waking up, the audience heard George Lam's deep voice coming from downstairs. They knew that something was wrong; the female lead's husband had returned!
She had even prepared herself for her husband to flee overseas and never return. In fact, her husband did not do it to evade taxes, but because he had an affair and had some trouble with his mistress, he suddenly left without saying goodbye. Now that the problem has been resolved, he is going to be a good husband again.

The relationship between the male and female protagonists, which had reached its peak, turned into a regretful memory with the return of the main character.

Although the director didn't intentionally try to evoke emotions, when Kenny Bee (钟镇涛) walked along the road in the hilltop villa area with his bag and looked back in the direction of the female lead, many female viewers, including Ah Min, still quietly sobbed.

The art of regret is the most touching. This film has earned Shu Qi a higher evaluation. The first collaboration between Patrick Tam and Wei Ming was a pleasant surprise and was amazing.

Wei Ming showed no signs of awkwardness in his first foray into Hong Kong local themes, while Patrick Tam, a representative figure of the New Wave, also balanced commerce and art very well. Highly recommended!

The 90-minute movie ended there, and Wei Ming finally couldn't hold back anymore. "Hey, you chubby guy in front of me, you and your girlfriend went too far! You really ate for the whole movie!"

Wei Ming pulled Amin outside: "Let's go eat at Holiland too."

Amin immediately exclaimed, "Yes, Holiland's fried chicken family bucket is the best!"

This girl, even at a time like this, doesn't forget to advertise for her own company.

As a newly emerging local Western-style fast food brand, Holiland has been advertising, but its exposure is far from saturated; every bit of publicity it can get is a bonus.

The couple around them, tempted by the little fat man's words, nodded in agreement, and were indeed a little tempted. So quite a few people followed Wei Ming and Amin.

The drive was short, only enough for Wei Ming to ask one question: "If you were the male protagonist in a movie, and you met someone you liked who was already married, what would you choose?"

This is a strange question. Usually, when you ask a girl, you should ask her to imagine herself as the female lead, but Wei Ming actually asked her to imagine herself as the male lead.

Amin's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that Amin and Melinda...? Amin was conflicted. Giving up was easy if it were the male lead in a movie, but it was too difficult if it was Amin, a living, breathing person in front of her.

When Wei Ming parked his car outside Holiland, seeing that Amin hadn't answered, he was about to let the matter drop. At that moment, Amin said to him, "If it were me, I would wait for her to get a divorce, and then be with her openly. I even think you could write a sequel, about Yang Du and Nai Dong eventually becoming a couple."

Wei Ming nodded: "Great idea. Let's go eat."

Old Ghost wasn't in the shop; he must have gone on a date with his stepmother. With his stepmother around, Old Ghost couldn't focus all his energy on the business. Wei Ming was really afraid that another uncle might suddenly appear in his life.

At this moment, Lao Gui and Lin Ni had just returned from their date, and they were watching "Seven Days of Wrong Love," which made them both very angry. After returning home, they immediately closed the door and squandered their energy.

Although Lao Gui is almost sixty years old, he is still quite vigorous, so Wei Ming's worries are not unfounded.

~
Fried food is definitely not healthy, and Wei Ming and Amin are both people who are very conscious of their figures, so they didn't eat the family bucket. Instead, they ordered a kids' meal and got a historical cat figurine of Xiang Yu, the King of Chu. A little kid next to them stared at them intently.

Wei Ming asked, "You need this?"

The other party immediately nodded: "Can I have the handsome brother? I have some extra Cao Cao here, I'll trade with you."

Wei Ming: "Okay." I absolutely adore Cao Cao and the like.

After dinner, he drove Amin home. In the car, Amin asked, "What are your plans for tomorrow?"

Wei Ming thought for a moment and said, "I'll probably visit Mr. Jin Yong, but that shouldn't be anything else."

"How about we go to Ocean Park for the rest of the time? Tomorrow is my weekend."

Wei Ming: "Okay."

He felt a little embarrassed. He should have reserved the entire weekend for Amin; he should have visited Lao Jin first during the day.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning. Wait for me downstairs. I’ll say a few words to Jin Yong and then we’ll go to Ocean Park. I also need to check on the progress of the panda enclosure.”

When they arrived at the location, Wei Ming saw that the lights in Lao Gui's room were off, so he didn't go up to disturb him, as it was indeed inconvenient for him to receive guests at that time.

Under the cover of night, Amin changed her clothes again in the car, returning to her school uniform. This time, she didn't let Wei Ming go out, since she was wearing something underneath anyway. But why did the temperature inside the car suddenly rise?

When Amin got home, Zhou's mother had already put away the binoculars. She stared at her daughter's face and looked her up and down: "Why did it take you so long to come home from school?"

"I watched a movie, Mommy, I'm going to sleep now. I have to get up early to go to Ocean Park tomorrow."

“I also want to go to the Ocean Park,” said Mrs. Zhou.

Amin: "Then I'll go with you another day." Anyway, tomorrow is out of the question.

Mrs. Zhou looked worried. She had seen it all. The two of them didn't get out of the car for quite a while after it stopped.

Given Wei Ming's age and physique, he may not be able to accomplish anything significant in this short time, but he can certainly do some lighthearted things like kissing and touching!
Sigh, I really don't know how far they've gotten. I don't want to ask too much, for fear of upsetting my daughter. Children this age are prone to rebellion.

Don't be fooled by Amin's usual obedience; when it comes to Wei Ming, her scales are unpredictable.

That night, Wei Ming found an ordinary hotel to stay in, not far from Amin's house. The next morning, he went to pick her up with breakfast.

Last week, both mothers and Linni used binoculars to witness Amin getting into the car.

Lin Ni immediately looked at the shirtless, muscular old man: "Your grandson and Afen's daughter have gone out again. I don't know if they'll ever come back."

Old Gui blew on the steam from his goji berry tea: "How could they not come back? The two kids know what they're doing."

Smelling a delicious aroma coming from the kitchen, Lin Ni quickly put down her binoculars: "The turtle soup should be almost ready. I'll go get you a bowl."

~
Before arriving at the Ming Pao office building, Wei Ming and Amin bought a copy of today's newspaper. In the car, Amin helped Wei Ming search for related news and found that three articles mentioned Hung Chin-po's birthday. Two of them mentioned a very special musical greeting card that Hung Chin-po really liked.

Wei Ming was very satisfied; it was a free advertisement, a warm-up for the Christmas release.

However, Hong Kong is small and sparsely populated, so these greeting cards have to be targeted at the UK and the US. My aunt has already made preparations, and a few days ago a large number of musical greeting cards were shipped to the US via the shipowner's ship. They will be distributed through my aunt's aunt's channels before Christmas.

As for these newspapers, there were as many as seven articles about "The Wrong Seven-Day Romance," some of which analyzed the plot and judged its merits and demerits.

Most of the reviews were positive, except for one media outlet that had previously been at odds with Wei Ming, which was blindly criticizing the film. Their method of criticism was to tell readers that the film had distorted values, was too explicit, and would corrupt children.

Well, even viewers who weren't initially interested have become curious after reading this article and want to try it out. They really know how to market themselves.

Some of these figures are just publicity for box office momentum. The media can only make estimates now, and we'll have to ask Aunt Xia Meng for reliable numbers later.

However, media estimates suggest that the opening day's momentum is slightly weaker than that of "Heroes from Ancient Times," which was within Wei Ming's expectations. After all, he arrived a bit late, and there wasn't enough time for marketing. Moreover, the December release window is not as favorable as the June release window, and the film market, like the weather, is somewhat cold.

Zhou Huimin was still flipping through the newspaper when Wei Ming parked the car and said, "I'll go up first, and I'll come down to keep you company in half an hour at most."

Amin: "Don't worry, go ahead and do your work. I won't get bored with so many newspapers."

Amin was dressed up very nicely today, and even had her hair in a cute bun, so Wei Ming didn't touch her head, but just pinched her cheeks before going up to her.

"Thank you so much, Master Jin!" Wei Ming said as soon as he came in, expressing his gratitude to Ming Pao for their unwavering support of his new film, helping with promotion before its release and leaving positive reviews afterward.

Old Jin was too embarrassed to admit that he was being a sycophant, so he shook Wei Ming's hand to express his mutual appreciation and pointed to the table, saying, "I've been reading your magazines all along."

He also expressed his love for "Qin's Moon".

Qin's Moon and Wind and Cloud are considered mid-to-high level martial arts novels, with a level of martial arts above most of Jin Yong's novels. He only made a superficial attempt at the high level of martial arts in the character Shi Potian in "Ode to Gallantry".

Upon hearing this, Wei Ming laughed and said, "Then why don't we just authorize all the comic adaptations of Jin Yong's complete works to our Kuangren Comics?"

Jin Yong immediately released Wei Ming's hand: "There's no rush. Let's see how the first book is received first."

If the response is good, his manga adaptation license will definitely go up in price.

Wei Ming laughed and said, "Alright, alright, let's not talk about that now. I'm currently writing a science fiction novel, but it's not really suited to the mainland environment, so I'm looking for a global premiere platform. I wonder if Ming Pao would be interested in science fiction?"

……

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(End of this chapter)