Hong Kong 1990: From stuntman to King of Kung Fu

Chapter 92 Gunshots at Midnight

The following day, news related to the Hong Kong Film Awards dominated the main pages of most media outlets.

News of Tsang Chi-wai winning Best Actor, Cecilia Yip winning Best Actress for the second time, and "To Be Number One" winning Best Film... was everywhere.

But Liu Jialing stole the show.

This year, unlike last year when Zhang Xueyou failed to win the Best Actor award, there was no regrettable incident, which sparked a huge discussion.

Therefore, Liu Jialing's crane costume became the sole focus of discussion among the media and audiences at this year's Hong Kong Film Awards.

The popularity of the Best Actor and Best Actress is far less than that of the Best Actress.

Seeing this, Liu Jialing seized the opportunity and attended several public events in succession.

However, her moment in the spotlight didn't last long.

The sound of a gunshot instantly attracted the attention of all the media.

On the evening of April 25th, Fu Yi Film Company.

"Ah Jie, go ahead and film 'Once Upon a Time in China III'. After you finish this movie, your contract with Golden Harvest will be completely over."

I heard that Win's Entertainment is preparing a martial arts film called "Golden Yong". I know Charles Heung, and I'll help you get the male lead role.

"I'll invest in you to go to Hollywood and make you an international kung fu superstar like Bruce Lee."

Having resolved his contract dispute with Golden Harvest, Li Lianjie now appears relaxed.

Upon hearing that Tsai Tzu-ming wanted to help him break into Hollywood, he couldn't help but laugh and say, "Brother Ming, breaking into Hollywood is too far-fetched. I'd rather focus on making movies in Hong Kong first and accumulate experience for a while before making any moves."

Tsai Tzu-ming may not be aware of the difficulty of breaking into Hollywood, but as an insider, he knows it all too well.

Cheng Long has been trying for more than ten years but has not yet succeeded.

But he could sense that Cai Ziming valued him.

Despite Tsai Tzu-ming's complicated background, there's nothing to say about him.

Therefore, he was genuinely grateful to Tsai Tzu-ming, and he felt very relaxed while staying at Fu Yi Film Company.

"Ah Jie, don't think I'm just bragging. I have money, and I have connections in North America too."

"Next year I'll send you to Hollywood to make a movie."

"Brother Xingming, let's make it to Hollywood together next year."

"Haha, that's right, we've made it into Hollywood."

Although it may seem a bit far-fetched, it feels pretty good to envision the future with business partners.

Li Lianjie was infected by Cai Ziming's laughter and also laughed out loud.

"Ah Jie, it's getting late. You should go back and rest. I still have some work to do."

"Then I'll be going now."

"9

Li Lianjie understood that he had businesses other than movies, so he didn't ask any more questions and left directly.

The lights at Fu Yi Film Company stayed on until the early hours of the morning.

Cai Ziming stretched and slowly walked out of the company gate.

He saw two cleaners cleaning, but his mind was still a bit heavy from what he had just finished, so he didn't think too much about it.

But as soon as he pressed the elevator button, he, who had been walking on the edge of danger for many years, suddenly felt something was wrong.

How could there still be cleaners cleaning so late?

He turned around and pretended to go back to the company to leave.

But it is already late.

He had just turned around when he saw a dark gun barrel pointed at his forehead.

"Damn it."

"Bang!"

Cai Ziming had barely uttered a word when he was plunged into darkness.

As a precaution, another cleaner fired three more shots into his chest.

Just then, the elevator doors opened, and the two slowly stepped into the elevator without saying a word.

As the elevator descended, only Cai Ziming remained, lying in a pool of blood.

Before long, the sound of sirens grew louder as they approached.

On the other side, Li Lianjie had just finished a phone call with Li Zhi and was about to go to sleep when there was a knock on the door.

He was a little puzzled as to who would come looking for him so late. Could it be Cai Ziming?

He looked through the peephole and was surprised to see three uniformed police officers. He quickly opened the door.

"Is this Mr. Li Lianjie?"

"it's me."

"Were you spending time with Tsai Tzu-ming before?"

"That's right, but I came back around 10 o'clock, and he was still at the company."

"You stayed in the room after you left?"

"Yes."

"Who can prove it?"

"My girlfriend, Li Zhi, can testify that I was on the phone with her after I returned to my room."

Finally, unable to contain his curiosity, Li Lianjie asked, "Officer, what exactly happened?"

The officer, perhaps having already ruled out Li Lianjie as a suspect, closed his notebook and said, "Cai Ziming was shot dead at the company entrance a little over an hour ago. He was shot four times and died on the spot."

I came to find you because you were the last person Cai Ziming had contact with before his death, and I'm just routinely checking in on things.

At this point, Li Lianjie could no longer hear what the officer was saying; a single voice was echoing in his mind.

Tsai Tzu-ming was shot dead!

"Mr. Li, Mr. Li?"

Li Lianjie only came to his senses after being patted on the shoulder by the police officer.

"What?"

Are you alright?

"I'm fine, no, I'm in trouble, I need police protection."

At this moment, Li Lianjie's face was deathly pale, his eyes were glazed, and his lips trembled involuntarily.

"Do you feel like someone wants to hurt you? Or do you have suspicions about the person who shot Tsai Tzu-ming?"

"No, I don't know. I'm a contracted artist with Tsai Tzu-ming's film company, and I'm worried that the murderer might also harm me."

The first thing that came to his mind was Golden Harvest, then Deng Guangrong, and 14K.

No matter who it was, he dared not say.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Li, we cannot provide you with protection in your situation."

"Can I leave Hong Kong?"

"Not at the moment."

"What can I do then? Just stay here and wait to die?"

Li Lianjie was somewhat taken aback.

"Mr. Li, if you are worried about your safety, you can hire a bodyguard."

"Yes, I can hire bodyguards, I can hire more bodyguards."

He immediately pulled out his phone and dialed a number: "Ah Zhi, get me four, no, eight bodyguards right now, the sooner the better, money is no object."

"Ah Jie, don't panic, what happened?"

"I'll talk to you later. First, get this done for me, the sooner the better."

With the backing of her financial power, despite it being late at night, Li Zhi still arrived at Li Lianjie's residence with eight bodyguards.

Seeing those eight burly men, Li Lianjie finally felt a little safer.

He then took Li Zhi to the room and told her about Cai Ziming's shooting.

"Ah Jie, do you suspect someone might still be targeting you?"

"I don't know, but Cai Ziming had just helped me sort out the trouble not long ago, and then he was gone. I don't have time to think about it."

"You suspect Golden Harvest? They've built such a big company, they wouldn't do something like this."

"Who knows? You know what the Hong Kong film industry is like right now; there's no one who isn't involved with organized crime."

"Don't scare yourself. Tsai Tzu-ming has many other businesses and has offended many people. He wasn't shot because of the movie."

"I want to go back to the mainland as soon as possible; it's too dangerous here."

"I'll go find a lawyer for you tomorrow and ask if there's any way to help."

Just as Li Lianjie was filled with anxiety, the news that Cai Ziming had been shot dead in front of his own company spread like wildfire.

Major media outlets scrapped their original front-page headlines and replaced them with news articles that were still wet with ink.