A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 26 Rosamund Kwan

"Does it look good?"

On April 28, in the early evening, as dusk was falling, the entire venue for the Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony was already brightly lit, with a dense array of cameras and microphones outside the dozens of meters long red carpet.

There were two to three thousand fans, who were held hand in hand by security personnel and firmly held back in the viewing area.

While waiting to walk the red carpet, Lin Jianlu arrived late, but Lin Qingxia found him immediately. Together with Zhang Aijia, who had come from afar to present the award, they twirled around and showed off their evening gowns.

The dress features a low-cut back, a shallow V-neck in the front revealing cleavage, and a deep V-neck in the back, almost reaching the buttocks.

Sylvia Chang rolled her eyes, while Leung Wing-ki, who was not far away with the cast and crew of "Full Throttle," looked unpleasant—both of them were dressed quite conservatively.

Sylvia Chang is only one year older than Brigitte Lin, but she has already retired from acting and now mainly works as a director and agent, rarely taking on film contracts. She is considered a veteran actress. Brigitte Lin, on the other hand, has been receiving a constant stream of film offers since "Swordsman" and "New Dragon Gate Inn." Although she has also voluntarily reduced the number of films she takes on, she is still an actress.

Actors need attention, so their outfits have to be eye-catching on the red carpet; directors, on the other hand, don't care.

Brigitte Lin's outfit is not only daring to show skin, but it is also truly eye-catching.

Mainly, from a distance of one meter, she did appear to have gained some weight, but she was still far from being considered fat. Her proportions remained harmonious, and her waist was quite slim. Moreover, her skin was incredibly smooth, like porcelain.

However, Lin Jianlu turned her head and pretended to whisper, but her voice was not quiet as she said to Zhang Aijia, "You have indeed gained weight!"

Sylvia Chang laughed heartily.

Lin Qingxia was both angry and amused, "Hey! That's so mean of you!"

In the end, Lin Jianlu walked the red carpet with Zhang Aijia on his left arm and Lin Qingxia on his right arm.

They've both gotten old, but Lin Jianlu is at the peak of her popularity. As she walked down the red carpet, shouts of "Ah Lu!", "Lu Zai!", and "Lu Zai, I love you!" reached record high decibels. Even the cast and crew of "Full Throttle" who hadn't yet stepped off the red carpet couldn't help but turn around. The Hong Kong Film Awards officials aren't exactly saints either; they're all insiders and probably know something. This order of events is clearly designed to stir up trouble!

However, the two veterans, plus Lin Jianlu, who, though not a veteran, had long since become indifferent to these matters and only wanted to finish quickly so he could go home and cook braised pork knuckles, didn't take the scene seriously at all.

As they walked, Sylvia Chang even took the initiative to tug on Lin Jianlu's arm. When Lin Jianlu turned to the side and lowered his head, she whispered in his ear with a smile, "Tomorrow there will definitely be reports saying that you only love older women!"

Lin Jianlu laughed heartily, acting as if he were in his own backyard, not at all like he was walking a red carpet.

When we got to the interview area, sure enough, he started stirring things up again. "No, Gigi and I are good friends, we're really close. She even starred in my music video, 'Ten Years,' which will be released soon. But I'm not dating anyone!"

"Huh? Hahaha, Brigitte Lin, of course I love her! What does age have to do with it!"

As he spoke, he put his arm around Brigitte Lin and kissed her on the cheek in front of everyone. Then he put his arm around Sylvia Chang and kissed her on the cheek loudly as well. He was extremely unrestrained and seemed to have no regard for the organizers and reporters at all!

As a result, both Brigitte Lin and Sylvia Chang burst into laughter.

For a moment, everyone present, including those who hadn't yet entered and those who were about to step off the red carpet and into the interview area, were speechless with astonishment.

Enter the venue.

Liang Yongqi was in a bad mood. She glanced around a few times, knowing that there were definitely people watching them in the dark, but she couldn't help herself. She used a small napkin in her hand to wipe Lin Jianlu's lips very hard. She was very depressed and worried. She said, "Don't deliberately play the bad guy!"

Lin Jianlu laughed and waved his hand, "No! What kind of bad person is this!"

At best, it's just a rising star showing off his personality! Or maybe he'll be labeled "high-profile and flamboyant"—whatever!

In the end, she walked away. As a newcomer attending such an important ceremony for the first time, Ge Fuhong, as her agent, was supposed to take her to meet the bigwigs and exchange pleasantries—but Lin Jianlu had no intention of doing so and politely declined.

Others, on the other hand, would come up to him and ask to get to know him.

Suddenly, Jackie Chan walked over and shook hands with him, saying, "Your album is selling like hotcakes! I had someone buy one to listen to, wow, it's great! Let's have dinner together sometime!"

“Okay! But I have to go back to the capital tomorrow. When are you going to the capital, brother? I’ll treat you to a meal.”

"No problem! It's a deal then, you treat us in the capital, and I'll treat us in Hong Kong!"

"It's a deal!"

This person has incredibly high emotional intelligence. After a few words, everyone got to know each other, and he turned and left to continue socializing.

A moment later, Sylvia Chang came over with Sammo Hung, Joshua Tsang, and Yuen Biao, and introduced them to Lin Jianlu. Sammo Hung didn't shake hands normally, but instead put his hand on hers and pulled it, saying, "Wow, you've trained before?"

"I learned a little Bajiquan and Piguazhang from my comrades. I practiced military boxing."

"Shall we spar sometime?" "Sure!"

Sammo Hung exuded the air of a big boss, and indeed he was. "What a handsome young man! It's time for Hong Kong to promote new talent. Have you ever thought about acting in a movie? I can help you get a role in one."

While laughing, Lin Jianlu took the initiative to shake hands with Zeng Zhiwei and Yuan Biao before answering, "I'm useless, all show and no substance, I can't film action scenes!"

Hung Kam-po laughed heartily, "You'll only make films when you're short of money, of course you don't want to make films now!"

Then he turned to Zhang Aijia and said, "Hey, you're the agent, swindle him out of his life! Trick him into buying stocks, real estate, hoarding wine, and buying a yacht, and he'll spend it all in a year, then he'll come to me for a movie!"

However, Zhang Aijia, a longtime friend, didn't buy into this at all and directly confronted him head-on, saying, "If he's short of money, I'd rather he record an album, sell it for 100 million or 200 million at the box office, he can do it easily! Why should he risk his life for you!"

Hung Kam-po laughed heartily.

Yuan Biao suddenly raised his hand, not very tall and from a distance, and patted Lin Jianlu on the chest, winking at him, "Hey, bro, I go to the capital often, and lately I've been getting a lot of action choreographer jobs for mainland films, wanna have a drink?"

Lin Jianlu raised an eyebrow, extended his thumb and pinky, and made a phone call gesture to his ear, "One call! Food and drinks are on me!"

"Thumbs up!"

They quickly left, and Lin Jianlu started looking for the damn food again—wasn't it supposed to be an awards banquet? At least give us some buffet, why can't we find it?
Suddenly, everything blurred before his eyes, and Lin Jianlu turned around instantly.

"Wow, hello Ms. Guan!"

Rosamund Kwan is freaking beautiful—she reached out and shook hands with Lam Kin-lu, “Kin-lu, I really love your songs, could you sign one for me sometime?”

"Your Mandarin word order is wrong. You should say, 'Could you sign my name later?'"

"Then... could you sign my autograph later?"

"No problem, I'll sign three for you!"

"Hahaha, you're so funny! Everyone says you're very interesting!"

"Who?"

"what?"

"To those who said I was funny, please tell them that praising someone behind their back doesn't make you a friend! Next time, please praise them to my face!"

Rosamund Kwan covered her mouth and laughed heartily.

After laughing, with tears welling up in his eyes, he looked at Lin Jianlu and said, "Everyone in Hong Kong loves your 'Cold to the End' and 'Ten Years' the most, but let me tell you, I'm different. I love your song 'The You of the Past' the most. Wow, I think there's a Buddhist quality in that song! And... it's especially... expansive!"

Ah... Buddha-nature...

This topic, unusually, stumped Lin Jianlu.

But it doesn't matter. Rosamund Kwan didn't notice at all. It seemed that she had finally met Lin Jianlu and wanted to express all her love for "Once Upon a Time" in one go, so she kept talking about it.

Lin Qingxia walked by not far away, staring in their direction. Lin Jianlu turned her head slightly, saw her, blinked, and Lin Qingxia chuckled before walking away.

"So, I just can't sing well. Actually, a lot of people have written songs for me, and I've worked very hard to learn to sing, but I just... can't become famous! You sing so well, is it possible for you to give me some pointers?"

Lin Jianlu took a deep breath, "How about... you disfigure yourself!"

Rosamund Kwan paused for a moment before appreciating the sophisticated compliment, and her face immediately lit up. Although she had never lacked compliments about her appearance in her life, she said, "Thank you!"

"Do you have time to have tea together tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? No, tomorrow won't do. I have to go home! I miss the braised pork knuckle in the capital!"

"Braised pork knuckle? You mean pork knuckle? Is it delicious?"

"Delicious! I'll treat you when we go to the capital sometime!"

"Okay! It's a deal! In Hong Kong, I'll treat you; in the capital, you treat me!"

"make a deal!"

(End of this chapter)