Return to Hong Kong Island for a Century

Chapter 88 The Cooperation with Golden Harvest (Fifth update, please subscribe and vote)

My income is more than enough to cover my investments in my own business.

“I’ve been very busy lately. The emails are being delivered to us by truck every day. It’s making my head spin. I haven’t seen any truly outstanding works yet, or anything that’s wildly imaginative. And some of them don’t even follow the rules when writing. Some even plagiarize your Ghost Blows Out the Light, just changing the adjectives or something…” Liu Jiale continued.

"Thank you for your hard work."

"Boss, don't say that. You're the one paying our salaries. If we don't produce some results, we'll feel bad," Liu Jiale said.

"Hmm!" Li Song felt relieved upon hearing this.

Liu Jiale finished his meal quickly, left the documents, and left. These documents contained a detailed record of his income.

Li Song glanced at the secondhand platform in his mind again; there was still $7168 million left. Although it seemed like a lot, the subsequent investment would be substantial.
The following items are currently offered with rewards: 4 million for a ship-mounted outboard motor, 400,000 for a Tomb Raider Chronicle, 400,000 for a Treasure Mystery, and 500,000 for a 10,000-ton hydraulic press.

The outboard motor for the ship will be completed in five days, and the 10,000-ton hydraulic press will be available this Friday. The Tomb Raider Chronicles and Treasure Mystery will also be completed this week.

Because these two books are in my mind, the second-hand platform relies entirely on handwriting. AI technology is ahead of reality, so even if you write them down, you still can't get them; they need to be specially printed.

Of course, Mr. Ni designed the Chinese character card this year, which made Chinese input commercial.

"Semiconductors, huh? It's a pity I don't have the energy right now, and I don't have enough money."

"This time, we'll exchange the 50,000-ton hydraulic press for gold and have it shipped from the mainland to Hong Kong. We want to give the mainland the illusion that for money, I and the people behind me would sell anything." Li Song was also thinking of offering more bounties on a few novels to prepare for entering the game world later, such as World of Warcraft, but he decided against it because such Western fantasy novels couldn't generate value quickly in Hong Kong, and the investment for such fantasy blockbusters was still a problem.

It would be better to smuggle some sensitive equipment into the mainland; the technology brings in money much faster.

Although Li Song's total income did not exceed ten million, rumors have circulated that he has earned hundreds of millions, including several million from providing feng shui services to this wealthy man.

The main reason is that Beipai Sanshu is too popular; he's everywhere—in newspapers, TV dramas, novels, and on the radio!

Li Song was doing fine in Hong Kong, patiently waiting for the second-hand platform to complete the reward. He had considered having someone else write the two novels he was writing, but the writing styles were different, and besides, this was his first pot of gold to make a fortune, so he decided to finish writing them himself.

There's a lot of tension on the mainland because it involves a 50,000-ton forging hydraulic press. Once they get the technical data, hydraulic presses, and all tonnages, will be on the easy path to success.

This is a crucial piece of equipment, a vital national asset.

On Thursday, March 27, 1980, the first volume of "The Grave Robbers' Chronicles: The Mystery of the Treasure" was completed. Li Song rented a car and drove from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon and then Sai Kung, making a long detour before returning to call Liu Jiale.

"Boss!" Liu Jiale rushed over as soon as he heard the good news.

Because the Ghost Blows Out the Light magazine is waiting to be cooked.

“Take a look!” Li Song said.

"Okay!" Liu Jiale sat down to read, while Li Song continued writing his interstellar mercenaries and Ghost Blows Out the Light.

"Boss, this is great! This Tomb Raider Chronicles is fantastic! It feels even more mysterious than Ghost Blows Out the Light. The Treasure Mystery is also well-written, especially the religious and customary aspects. Does Brother San really have no one who knows Sanskrit?" Liu Jiale asked curiously.

“Yes, Buddhism is almost gone over there.” Li Song nodded. “The rest is up to you. This is the outline of the second volume of Tomb Raider Chronicles and Treasure Mystery. Find someone to write it for you first, and I’ll step in if that doesn’t work.” Li Song said.

“Okay, Golden Harvest, Raymond Wong, and Shaw Brothers are all getting impatient,” Liu Jiale quickly said.

“Boss, I’m afraid they’ll need you again. They might want you to draw the storyboards for the scenes in those two novels. Even I can’t imagine what the temple actually looks like,” Liu Jiale said.

"As long as you're willing to pay, anything is negotiable." Upon hearing this, Li Song realized that in the pre-internet era, the only way to find out what a temple looked like was to consult a professional, especially since other things were involved. So he spoke up.

Moreover, the reason why the movie "Treasure Hunt" could be a huge success for Li Song is that the gold actually exists. However, it is too difficult for outsiders to obtain it because the temple is very sacred in the area. It took the government and the army to forcibly open the temple and then enact laws to confiscate it.

Film companies on Hong Kong Island are used to churning out scripts. They come up with an idea today and start filming tomorrow. If it weren't for the fame of Beipai Sanshu, he would have been scrambled to make a living by film companies long ago.

Golden Harvest was willing to give 8% of the box office, even though they hadn't seen the script and only had a rough idea.

Liu Jiale first signed a contract with the Xinwanbao newspaper with the first volume of "The Mystery of Treasure", with the same manuscript fee. Li Song authorized the magazine to handle related matters on his behalf, and of course, the magazine also received a certain agency fee.

Only then were Golden Harvest notified to come and see the script and discuss what to do next.

Golden Harvest is currently obsessed with turning Bruce Lee into the next Bruce Lee, but finding a good script is too difficult because no screenwriter dares to guarantee that their script will be popular in the West.

The executives of Golden Harvest, along with Big Nose Dragon, came to the Ghost Blows Out the Light magazine office and met Liu Jiale. They first signed a confidentiality agreement, which is sometimes not very effective, as others can read the script and make changes, but it's better to have one than nothing.

“We’ve already registered this script with the Hollywood Script Association,” Liu Jiale said. The Script Association registration is just a general outline; it doesn’t go into too much detail.

"Mr. Liu, you underestimate us. We are Jiahe!" Boss Zou shook his head and said with some dissatisfaction.

This is actually a business tactic, used to prepare for later negotiations.

In February, Big Nose Dragon directed and starred in a movie that grossed over ten million at the box office. He was riding high and wanted to enter Hollywood and become an international superstar.

"Mr. Liu, may I take a look at the script first?" Big-Nosed Dragon had been itching to read the novel for a long time.

"Of course." Liu Jiale then took out a novel and showed it to Big Nose Dragon.

Big-Nosed Dragon also knew that this was a series of international adventures. The first volume, The Golden Temple, was set in a state in southern India, in a temple with gold worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

The main characters in the movie "Big Nose Dragon" are three people: two men and one woman. The men are a famous adventure hunter, the woman is an international archaeologist, and the fat man is a firearms and explosives expert. The three of them are hired to search for mysterious items in this temple.

The novel no longer features the traditional Eastern tomb raiding methods, but instead incorporates elements such as constellations, crystal balls, witchcraft, tarot cards, hexagrams, and ancient legends.

After reading it, the big-nosed dragon scratched his head: "Mr. Liu, this temple and the treasure-hunting methods inside, what should we do?"

Big Nose couldn't figure out how to set up the scenes inside, because this time he was directing and acting himself.

(End of this chapter)