Reborn in 1970, I thrived in Hong Kong.

Wang Tianlin ultimately chose a twelve-story office building on Broadcast Drive as the office space for Phoenix Television, Phoenix Film Company, and Phoenix Records.

Seeing that he had chosen this place, Li Huai-ren thought about it and decided to discuss with his fourth uncle, Li Zhao-ji, to buy the entire building in installments and rename it Phoenix Building.

Subsequently, he converted the first and second floors of the Phoenix Building into a shopping mall and a theater, gave the third floor to Phoenix Records, the fourth and fifth floors to Phoenix Film Company for office use, and the sixth to twelfth floors to Phoenix Television.

Wang Tianlin was responsible for everything from recruiting TV station staff and preparing programs to operating the film company.

At 4 p.m. on April 23, Li Huai-ren arranged to meet Huang Zhan for afternoon tea at the Peninsula Hotel through Jin Yong.

In his previous life, 1970 was a pivotal year for Wong Jim.

That year, he turned thirty, a turning point in his life. He had just ended his first marriage and officially transitioned from the gay scene to the entertainment industry.

First, there's GG's main business.

He served as the creative director at Grand GG and handled many classic cases, such as the "Lucky Cigarettes" song for British American Tobacco, which used Cantonese slang to write lyrics, pioneering the Cantonese song genre.

This experience greatly helped him later write lyrics with a strong sense of everyday life.

Secondly, it was his first foray into the music scene.

Although he hasn't yet written his representative works like "Shanghai Bund," he has already begun experimenting with film scores. This year, he composed the score for Chang Cheh's martial arts film "Vengeance," and his interactions with directors King Hu and Chang Cheh have helped him build a considerable network of connections.

In his personal life, he had recently divorced Hua Wa, but the workaholic used his creative work to numb himself. He later wrote in his autobiography that he was "writing lyrics by day and composing musical scores by night," which shows how hard he worked.

Also this year, he started a sexology column in Ming Pao:

He wrote "The Uncivilized Collection" under the pseudonym "Bu Wen Zhan"; he used the I Ching to interpret erotic pictures (his newspaper was burned by moralists); he supported the Cantonese movement, and forcibly used the colloquial Cantonese words "咁" and "嘅" in his GG vocabulary (resulting in a boycott by British clients); he secretly funded the compilation of "The Correct Pronunciation of Cantonese"...

In addition, he was also exposed for collaborating with triads to write a congratulatory message for the birthday banquet of the 14K leader, "Eternal Loyalty," in exchange for the right of safe passage through Kowloon Tong (free from protection fees).

In this life and the next, when James Wong was pouring whiskey over his documents in Glen GG's office, smoke from Lucky Strike cigarettes drifted through Victoria Harbour outside the window;

In room 1302 of the Peninsula Hotel, the ink on the lyrics written on the back of Lin Yanni's perfume bill was still wet—that year, Wong Jim was struggling on the three battlefields of love, music, and lust, and would eventually forge the magnanimity of "A Laughter in the Vast Sea".

When it came to choosing a candidate for general manager of Phoenix Records, Li Huai-ren naturally favored Wong Jim. Wong Jim, nicknamed "Old Eccentric Wong," was also one of the Four Great Talents of Hong Kong in his previous life.

You can say he's a chivalrous person, a man of strong emotions, a madman, outspoken, frivolous, and so on, but you absolutely cannot say his musical talent is lacking.

The reason Li Huai-ren chose Huang Zhan as the general manager of his record company was partly due to his talent, but also because of his connections in Hong Kong's arts and entertainment circles.

As soon as Wong Jim joined Phoenix Records, the other of the "Two Saints of Brilliance" who was as famous as him and inseparable from him—Koo Ka-fai—would come to join him as soon as Wong Jim asked.

More importantly, both James Wong and Joseph Koo have a large number of musical friends and relatives who would immediately come to vote for them whenever they asked.

The television station is preparing to launch, and the record company is also preparing to be established. What Li Huai-ren lacks most right now is talent, all kinds of talent, which naturally includes talent in music production.

Closer to home.

Li Huai-ren had just arrived at the Peninsula Hotel in his pre-booked private room when Huang Zhan arrived shortly after. A waiter led him to Li Huai-ren's private room.

Upon entering the private room, Huang Zhan glanced at Li Huai-ren and, before Li Huai-ren could speak, said:

"Hey, Mr. Li, you asked me to meet through Jin Yong, so be honest, tell me what you want to have afternoon tea with me for, so I don't feel uneasy even while having tea."

Li Huai-ren knew that this was his nature all along, so he smiled and said:

"I'll call you Brother Zhan."

"Brother Jim, it's like this, my newly established Phoenix Records company is planning to invite you to be its general manager. What do you think?"

Wong Jim was taken aback, then shook his head and said:

"I knew there was no such thing as a good banquet since ancient times. It turns out they wanted me to manage their record company."

Honestly, you can't expect me to work my ass off just because you offer me a high salary.

Actually, even if you hadn't invited me, I was planning to start my own GG company or music company and go it alone.

Upon hearing this, Li Huai-ren laughed heartily:

"Haha, that's great! Brother Zhan, I love people like you the most."

How about this? You won't have to put up a single penny in the record company; I'll invest two million Hong Kong dollars and give you a 20% stake!

Wong Jim was taken aback for a moment, then smiled:

"Mr. Li, you trust me so much that you're letting me get 400,000 for nothing?"

Li Huai-ren waved his hand and said:

"What's the most important thing for a record company? Of course, it's having good songs. As long as you have good songs, you can turn an ordinary person into a superstar just by using good songs. That's what it means to promote someone with songs."

"And I have plenty of good songs!"

After saying that, he took out two pieces of paper from his pocket and handed them to Wong Jim:

"Brother Jim, these two songs are 'Under the Lion Rock' and 'A Man Should Be Self-reliant'."

I've written dozens of songs of this caliber in the past few months.

Wong Jim took the two pieces of paper and looked at them, then his heart skipped a beat:

"Throw you that star, why do these two songs sound so familiar?"

He not only felt a strong sense of familiarity with the two songs, but also a sudden feeling of loss welled up inside him. Yes, it was like something wonderful was no longer his!

Seeing that he was lost in thought and remained silent, Li Huai-ren thought for a moment and then said:

"By the way, more than half of the songs on the album that Teresa Teng is currently recording were written for her."

Furthermore, after Teresa Teng releases this album and completes its promotion, she will join Phoenix Records, the company I founded, becoming its first artist!

Just as Wong Jim came to his senses, he heard some big news, which shocked him greatly:

"What? Teresa Teng is switching to Phoenix Records?"

Seeing Li Huai-ren nod, Huang Zhan immediately said:

"Okay, I agree to take on the position of general manager of Phoenix Records. The terms will be as you just mentioned."

However, I want to poach my old friend Joseph Koo from TVB to serve as the deputy general manager of Phoenix Records.

But as you know, it's not easy to get old friends to work for you just by talking the talk, cough cough, could you spare some shares...?

Li Huai-ren was overjoyed upon hearing this!

He thought to himself, just as he expected, that old devil Wong Jim really wanted to bring Joseph Koo into Phoenix Records!

With the "Hui-Huang" duo now on board, Phoenix Records is all set!

He immediately interrupted Wong Jim:

"No problem! Brother Jim, I trust you. If you say Gu Jiahui is capable, then he must be very good."

Okay, I'll allocate another 10% of my shares. You can use those 10% to poach Gu Jiahui, the guy you mentioned!