Against the Current Hong Kong 1979

Chapter 112 First Trip to Taiwan (4th Update, Please Subscribe)

Zhang Shuai'an originally thought that Zhao Yazhi might prioritize her pregnancy and decline the invitation.

To everyone's surprise, Zhao Yazhi readily agreed.

This woman is truly a workaholic; she must be showing some signs of pregnancy by now.

The news of her pregnancy naturally couldn't be kept from Shao Yifu and the other executives. For safety reasons, they insisted on bringing in two more people: Lü Liangwei and Chen Yulian.

Lui Leung Wai is currently filming "Shanghai Bund 2," where he is playing a leading role alongside Chow Yun-fat. This opportunity is very important to him, so he is putting in a lot of effort in his performance.

At this moment, he really didn't want to be distracted by anything else.

But this was a task assigned by the station, and he had no choice. Besides, the reward for this trip was quite substantial, a full 50,000 yuan, something he never dared to dream of before.

It's worth noting that when he took on the role in "Young Detective Bao Qingtian," he was only receiving a fixed monthly salary of two thousand yuan, with no film remuneration whatsoever.

When he played Ding Li in "Shanghai Bund", it was Zhang Shuai'an who asked TVB to improve his treatment, which is why he now earns a monthly salary of five thousand yuan.

Lü Liangwei already regarded Zhang Shuai'an as his greatest benefactor. If it weren't for his contract with Shaw Brothers, he would have wanted to join Zhang Shuai'an directly.

Even though Zhang Shuai'an's company doesn't seem to have a bright future right now, Lü Liangwei believes that with Zhang Shuai'an's talent and ability, it won't be long before it rises rapidly.

Because she had to take care of Chow Yun-fat's mother, Chan Yuk-lin didn't take on any acting roles at the beginning of the year. She only had one drama, "Wind and Cloud," which aired in January. This drama was filmed at the end of last year, and her role was not very big.

However, Chow Yun-fat's mother didn't like her at all and would often make things difficult for her for no reason, making her feel suffocated.

Unfortunately, Chow Yun-fat is a very filial son, and he basically sided with his mother, advising Chen Yulian to be more patient.

She agreed to the trip to Taiwan without hesitation, mainly because she wanted to get some fresh air; otherwise, she would go crazy from being cooped up for so long.

However, before going to Taiwan, Zhang Shuai'an had one more important thing to do.

That means going to the cinema to watch "Young Master".

The movie had already been released when he was editing it, and its box office performance was quite impressive.

Firstly, with Jackie Chan's brand name, people only enjoy his action comedies and his pathetic, defeated appearances.

Secondly, there was the unexpected bonus of Zhang Shuai'an, because "Shanghai Bund" was being broadcast at the same time, and after Xu Wenqiang became popular, it directly boosted the box office of "Young Master".

Originally, the box office on the first day was around HK$800,000, but it eventually broke the HK$10 million mark, reaching HK$11 million.

In this time-traveling version of "Junior Brother Takes the Field," Zhang Shuai'an not only streamlined the plot but also made the action scenes more dynamic and entertaining. Moreover, Zhang Shuai'an also made a cameo appearance, showcasing extraordinary skills that greatly surprised and delighted audiences.

The box office on the first day exceeded one million, and many newspapers and magazines exclaimed that "a monster has arrived".

Based on this growth trend, it's a certainty that the total box office will exceed ten million. Everyone is now guessing just how high it can reach.

If we're talking about who felt the most pressure after "Young Master Takes the Field" became a hit, it would naturally be Sanmao Hung Ching-pao.

Hung King-po released two films during this period, one of which was "Lam Sai-wing," which filled in for Jackie Chan's original Christmas release last year. "Lam Sai-wing" actually performed reasonably well at the box office, earning close to four million Hong Kong dollars.

In late February 1980, Hung Ching-po released another movie called "Helpless", which he starred in with "King of Kung Fu" Leung Ka-yan. It was also an action comedy set in the Republican era, but unfortunately it flopped and only grossed 2 million at the box office.

To outsiders, he was Jackie Chan's senior brother and had entered the industry many years earlier than Jackie Chan, yet his two films didn't even reach half the box office of "Young Master".

Even when others bring it up, Hong Jingbao's pride is still hurt, and he's holding back his anger right now.

At this point, Corey Yuen suggested, "Brother Sanmao, how about we ask Anzai for a script too?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Zhengying suddenly raised his head; he thought it was a good idea.

The others remained silent, turning to look at Hong Jingbao and awaiting his opinion.

"No need, it's not like we can't write scripts."

Hong Jingbao has his own pride, and for now, he doesn't admit that he is inferior to others: "You all should think carefully and see if you have any good ideas. Even if we are all mediocre, we can still outwit Zhuge Liang if we put our heads together."

Shortly after, the phone in his office rang.

After listening for a few minutes, Hong Jingbao hung up the phone and said, "I'm going out for a bit. You guys stay here and brainstorm plot points and ideas. I'll be checking when I get back."

After Hong Jingbao left, the people in the office looked at each other, all with bitter expressions.

They've been martial arts performers since childhood; they're fine with pushing themselves to the limit, but asking them to come up with ideas or scripts is a real challenge.

Lam Ching-ying scanned the crowd: "What do we do?"

Yuan Hua casually said, "Just ask someone for help. You can ask Deng Sheng, Tian Ci, or Chen Xunqi. Isn't Aqi hanging out with Zhang Shuai'an lately? He's probably been influenced by him."

Even without any exposure, if Ah-Chi got one or two script ideas from An-Zai, San-Mao wouldn't have noticed.

"Good idea." The others nodded.

That evening, Zhang Shuai'an brought Chung Chu-hung to the Ocean Terminal Cinema, a subsidiary of Golden Harvest Cinemas.

Ocean Terminal Theatre is the flagship theatre of the Golden Harvest Theatres chain. Since its opening in 1969, this theatre has become a cultural landmark in Tsim Sha Tsui and even Hong Kong.

Initially, the cinema had only a single screening room, but it had over 1700 seats, making it the largest cinema in Hong Kong. Many film premieres were held here as the preferred venue.

This cinema, along with the "Chinachem Cinema" in Tsim Sha Tsui East, is a popular choice for many film companies to screen midnight screenings before the main theatrical release.

Zhang Shuai'an is a celebrity now and doesn't dare to act recklessly, so he dressed quite conservatively, wearing a hat, a mask, and even sunglasses.

Chung Chor-hung was alright, she was just wearing a hat.

As the two bought their tickets, the ticket seller couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "Damn, wearing sunglasses so late at night, acting all high and mighty."

The movie "Young Master" is indeed better than the original timeline, so it's normal that it performed better at the box office.

Chung Chor-hung's beautiful eyes were fixed on Zhang Shuai-an. She felt a little sad when she saw the villain played by Zhang Shuai-an being beaten to death on the screen.

"It's just a movie, why are you taking it so seriously?" Zhang Shuai'an saw Chung Chu-hung's expression and gently comforted her.

As a result, he got too close, stared at Chung Chor-hung's lips for a while, and couldn't help but kiss them.

"Huh?" Chung Chor-hung was stunned for a moment, and then she was completely captivated.

"Damn, you can't resist going to a hotel."

The people in the back row watched for a while, then couldn't take it anymore and kicked the back of their chairs: "You guys can get horny watching kung fu movies? I'm impressed. If you want to get horny, wait until after midnight for erotic movies."

The two gave an awkward smile and parted ways, finishing the movie as usual.

After watching the movie, the two went to Zhang Shuai'an's place.

Three days later, at night.

Zhang Shuai'an, Zhao Yazhi, Lü Liangwei, Chen Yulian, and Ms. Yang, a department manager from TVB, were also present. She was responsible for planning the two-day itinerary and liaising with the person in charge of Taiwan's CTS.

Accompanying them was another person who surprised Zhang Shuai'an: Pan Yingzi.

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(Pan Yingzi)

Pan Yingzi was born in Shenzhen in 1945. In 1953, she moved to Hong Kong with her parents and grew up there.

Before Zhang Shuai'an traveled through time, he always thought she was from Taiwan, and he had only ever seen her in Taiwanese dramas.

Unexpectedly, she was actually a graduate of the Shaw Brothers Southern Experimental Drama Troupe training program. After graduation, she became an actress at Shaw Brothers Studio, debuting as a child star in 1963 and continuing to make movies for Shaw Brothers ever since.

It wasn't until last year that he filmed his first TV series, "The Famous Swordsman".

She came to Taiwan for two reasons: first, to act as a mediator between Zhang Shuai'an and the people on Taiwan; and second, to be invited to Taiwan to film the movie "Moonlit Night Slash".

This is adapted from Gu Long's novel "The Magic Blade", but of course, it has been changed beyond recognition. Unless they say so, the audience basically cannot tell where it is similar.

On the plane, Pan Yingzi took the initiative to chat with Zhang Shuai'an for a few minutes, and they left a good impression on each other.

The flight took off from Kai Tak Airport and landed at Taipei Taoyuan Airport in less than two hours.

This airport has only been open for a year, and of course it is not yet called Taoyuan Airport, but rather Chiang Kai-shek International Airport.

After they exited the terminal, they saw people holding signs to welcome them.