Reborn in 1970, I thrived in Hong Kong.

Leslie Cheung has returned to England. After settling everything in England, he will immediately return to Hong Kong for the Lunar New Year. After the New Year, he will stay in Hong Kong to study, learn music, and learn to sing.

Li Huai-ren stood beside his car in the Kai Tak parking lot, watching the Cathay Pacific plane carrying Leslie Cheung disappear into the western horizon before opening the car door, getting in, starting the engine, and driving away from the parking lot.

He went home, picked up Ye San Niang, and immediately went to Hong Fu Lou to keep his appointment with Bruce Lee for morning tea.

Outside the private room on the second floor of Hongfulou Restaurant, which Li Huai-ren had reserved in advance, Li Huai-ren, Ye San-niang, and Li Xiao-long arrived ten minutes early. Upon seeing each other, Li Xiao-long and Ye San-niang exclaimed excitedly in unison:

"Third Sister!"

"Brother Jun Fan!"

Rewinding to half a month earlier, after Ye San Niang learned that the person Li Huai Ren had been inviting but had refused was none other than Bruce Lee, she finally revealed a secret to Li Huai Ren:

She knew Bruce Lee. In 1956, to save her, Bruce Lee single-handedly and with his bare hands defeated eight thugs wielding daggers.

The person who instigated these scoundrels was none other than her cousin Ye Chenyu, who had come from Shunde to Hong Kong to seek refuge.

Ye Chenyu is the leader of the 14K Temple Street gang. Due to huge gambling debts, this scoundrel set his sights on Ye Sanniang and planned to sell her to Ming, the biggest pimp in Temple Street.

Fortunately, Ye San Niang overheard him and She Zai Ming haggling over the phone and immediately escaped.

This led to the incident where Bruce Lee single-handedly defeated eight thugs armed with daggers, saving Ye San Niang.

This led to Ye San Niang selling herself to the Li family as a self-combed woman who would never marry, raising money to help Ye Chenyu pay off his debts, and the two sides severing all ties.

The relationship between Ye San Niang and Bruce Lee was not that complicated. Ye San Niang was Bruce Lee's neighbor in Jun'an, Shunde. Bruce Lee's father and Ye San Niang's father were childhood friends.

When Ye San Niang first arrived in Hong Kong, Bruce Lee's family took good care of her.

When Ye San Niang learned that Li Huai Ren wanted to invite Bruce Lee back to Hong Kong to make a movie, she wrote a letter to Bruce Lee, which was then delivered to him by someone from Phoenix Film Company.

Therefore, Bruce Lee's return to Hong Kong this time can actually be said to have been invited back by Ye San Niang.

Meanwhile, Ye San Niang introduced Li Xiaolong and Li Huai Ren to each other, and the three fellow villagers from Shunde then went into the private room together to drink morning tea and chat.

Bruce Lee first caught up with Ye San Niang before turning the conversation to the purpose of his return.

He looked up at Li Huai-ren and said:

"Ah Ren, to be honest, besides you, two other film companies in Hong Kong have approached me, one is Shaw Brothers, and the other is Golden Harvest."

The two companies offered me the lowest salary, but they had the strongest film distribution capabilities in Asia; Golden Harvest offered the highest salary, but their film distribution capabilities were very lacking. Therefore, I did not agree to either of them.

"What advantages does your Phoenix Film Company have over Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest? What are the terms of cooperation? Please tell us!"

Li Huai-ren smiled, not rushing to answer him, but reaching into his briefcase and pulling out several scripts, handing them to Bruce Lee, and saying:

"These are a few scripts I've written. Take a look at them first. If you're interested, we can discuss further collaboration."

Bruce Lee took it and saw that there were four scripts in total: The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Enter the Dragon, and The Way of the Dragon.

He casually flipped through "The Big Boss of Tangshan" and was immediately captivated by the script, leaving Ye San Niang and Li Huai Ren aside, and read the entire script in one go.

Then he picked up the other three scripts and flipped through them one by one, liking them more and more as he read them.

Bruce Lee reluctantly placed the four scripts on the table, pushed them in front of Li Huai-ren, and said:

"Okay, your script is indeed very appealing to me. Now let's seriously discuss the terms of our collaboration."

Ah Ren, I'd like to see what conditions you've offered.

Li Huai-ren smiled slightly and held up three fingers with his right hand, saying:

"Brother Xiaolong, I can offer you three cooperation options:"

The first plan is for us to collaborate on these four scripts. I'll pay $10,000 for the first film, and double that for the second...

The second option is a base salary of $5000 per film, but you can take 10% of the profits…

The third option is for you to establish a film company, which will be affiliated with Phoenix Film Company, with Phoenix Film Company holding a 60% stake…”

After saying that, he glanced at Bruce Lee, who was already tempted, and added fuel to the fire:

"When it comes to film distribution capabilities, Phoenix Film Company is probably the strongest in Hong Kong. I also own a cinema chain called Phoenix Cinemas."

Phoenix Cinemas now has 17 renovated theaters ready to open, plus an 1100-seat theater on the first floor of Phoenix Tower, and six theaters on the sixth floor of Phoenix Plaza scheduled to be handed over at the end of the month, for a total of 24 theaters with more than 30,000 seats.

In addition, 36 Phoenix Plazas across Southeast Asian countries will be completed and put into use by the end of the month, housing a total of 36 cinemas. Distribution of our films in Southeast Asia will not be a problem…”

Bruce Lee grew increasingly surprised as he listened. He turned to look at Ye San Niang, and seeing her nod, he immediately stood up and took the initiative to shake hands with Li Huai Ren.

"I've made up my mind. I'll collaborate with Phoenix Film Company. Furthermore, I don't like being controlled, so I've decided to choose the third collaboration option you mentioned: establishing a film company under the Phoenix Film Company name..."

Li Huai-ren smiled happily, stood up, reached out and shook his hand firmly, saying:

"It's my pleasure, and I'm happy to cooperate with you!"

On January 10, 1971, Phoenix Film Company reached a cooperation agreement with Bruce Lee.

Subsequently, Bruce Lee established a film company in Hong Kong called Jun Fan Film Production, which was affiliated with Phoenix Film Company and became a satellite company of Phoenix Film Company.

After signing the cooperation agreement, Bruce Lee registered a film company and hurriedly returned to the United States. He needed to take care of other matters in the United States before he could bring his wife and children to Hong Kong to make movies.

In fact, on August 13 last year, Bruce Lee suffered a serious lumbar spine injury during a weightlifting training session, with his fourth lumbar vertebra dislocated. He had to rest in bed and undergo treatment for half a year before he basically recovered.

He was not fully recovered when he came to Hong Kong.

Knowing that he died three years later in his previous life, Li Huai-ren worried that it might be related to his filming before he had fully recovered from his illness. So he advised him to rest for a few more months and return to Hong Kong in the second half of the year to film "The Big Boss".

Bruce Lee still had many things to take care of in the United States, so after thinking about it, he agreed.

On January 12, primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong officially started their holidays, but Li Huai-ren became even busier from that day on.

In ten days, the six Phoenix Plazas in Hong Kong will be completed and ready for use, and the preparations for the six Phoenix Supermarkets and six Phoenix Shopping Malls have entered the most critical stage.

Also delivered and put into use are 36 Phoenix Plazas in Southeast Asia.

Li Huai-ren focused his attention and energy on Phoenix Supermarket, holding meetings almost daily with the management team of Phoenix Supermarket and the management of a certain Run Company.

The entire company was also very anxious. Upon learning that Li Huai-ren had a way to help the mainland export light industrial products to Southeast Asian countries, the higher-ups immediately instructed the company to fully cooperate and ensure that no accidents occurred, so as to generate more foreign exchange.

That day, the two teams met again at a certain company to communicate, and Li Huai-ren was invited to Ye's office alone.

General Manager Ye opened a drawer, took out a paper package, handed it to Li Huai-ren, and said with great envy:

"This is half a jin of Da Hong Pao tea that my father and his family each chipped in to thank you for helping to sell various goods to Southeast Asia and help generate foreign exchange..."

Li Huai-ren was taken aback, then asked in surprise:

"From an old tree?"