Hong Kong Entertainment 1979: A Beating Up the Manager at the Start

April 14, the crew of the TV series "Shanghai Bund".

With a burst of low-quality gunfire, Xu Wenqiang fell to the ground, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, staining his entire white suit. He was still muttering Feng Chengcheng's name.

Immediately afterwards, Ding Li and his group got into a fight with the foreigners outside.

Seeing that Ding Li's firepower was very strong, the foreigners withdrew immediately.

Ding Li slowly moved closer to Xu Wenqiang, listened carefully to the name, and gently closed Xu Wenqiang's eyes.

"Click!"

"I hereby declare filming wrapped!" Li Jiangbo shouted.

The crew members shouted with joy as filming of "Shanghai Bund," which had lasted for a month and a half, finally wrapped up the day before its broadcast.

Li Jiangbo clapped his hands, signaling everyone to be quiet.

After things quieted down, Li Jiangbo said with a smile, "It's been a very pleasant time working with everyone. I hope there will be another opportunity to work together. The company has arranged a wrap party in the cafeteria. Let's all go together after we finish filming."

After speaking, Li Jiangbo went off to watch the editing process on his own, focusing all his attention on the editing work.

When Li Jiangbo finished his work and arrived at TVB's canteen, he found that the entire crew had already arrived.

As soon as they entered the cafeteria, Wang Jing and Johnnie To immediately stood up to greet Li Jiangbo.

After greeting the others, Li Jiangbo sat down at the main table, where Wang Tianlin, Wang Jing, Johnnie To, Zhou Runfa, Zhao Yazhi, and Lu Liangwei were among those present.

After Wang Tianlin finished her opening remarks, the wrap party officially began.

After several rounds of drinks and several dishes,

Wang Tianlin couldn't hold his liquor and went home. The others had almost finished eating and said their goodbyes, leaving only Li Jiangbo's table.

Li Jiangbo put down his wine glass and cleared his throat.

The others quickly put down their chopsticks and waited for Li Jiangbo to give them a speech.

Li Jiangbo smiled slightly, "As everyone knows, I haven't signed a contract with the company; I'm planning to start my own business..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lü Liangwei stood up and said in a firm and resonant voice:

"Director Li, I was mentored by you. If there's anything I can help you with, just let me know."

The others echoed his sentiments, but Li Jiangbo knew that most of them were just saying polite things.

He waved his hand and smiled slightly, saying, "I've prepared a movie script and am going to make a movie to test the waters. Take a look and see if there are any roles you'd like to play."

After saying that, he took out several scripts and handed them to the people present.

Wang Jing looked at the manuscript in his hand, which read "Happy Ghost" and was written by Li Jiangbo.

He flipped through a few pages, frowned, put the notebook down, and said, "Why is there only an outline? Director Li, this isn't like you. The script for 'Shanghai Bund' was so detailed, and this is so perfunctory?"

The others also looked at their scripts and found that they were only outlines. They put down their scripts and looked at Li Jiangbo.

Li Jiangbo laughed and scolded, "You idiot, all you have now is an outline. But the story is already in my mind; it's just a matter of time before I write it down."

Everyone laughed and then lowered their heads to continue reading the script.

In fact, Li Jiangbo had already written the script and drawn the storyboard. As for why he didn't provide the original script, the reason is quite simple:

In this era, Hong Kong films are made with an outline, and then they are written and filmed simultaneously, completing a film in two or three weeks.

Moreover, Hong Kong films are very prone to copycatting. Basically, as soon as they see you making money, the next copycat film will be released within a month.

Many film crews don't write scripts; they just get started with an idea or outline, and while they're working, they have someone write down the rest of the plot.

Seeing that everyone had seen enough, Li Jiangbo said, "Brother Jing, why don't you continue being my assistant director? And Aqi, come help me too?"

Wang Jing pursed his lips and muttered, "I almost died working as your assistant director this time, leaving everything to..."

Before he could finish speaking, Li Jiangbo's sharp gaze silenced him. Only then did he remember that the two of them had beaten up Chen Tianfang before!

If this loser were to tell Chen Tianfang about this, which would have caused him immense harm, his future at TVB would be bleak.

Thinking of this, Wang Jing quickly said, "Sure, why not!"

Johnnie To cautiously asked, "Director Li, it seems you're preparing to make a campus ghost movie?"

Li Jiangbo nodded. "That's right, what can you do when you don't have money? Otherwise, I would also go and make kung fu comedy films."

Everyone laughed upon hearing this, except for Zhou Runfa and Lü Liangwei, who silently put down their scripts. They both understood that this script was not suitable for them, after all, they were getting older, and if they tried to act young, it would be easy for them to break character.

Seeing that Johnnie To was still hesitating, Li Jiangbo said, "Ah Feng, don't you want to make movies in the future?"

Upon hearing this, Johnnie To hesitated for a moment before gritting his teeth and agreeing.

After securing the services of Wong Jing and Johnnie To, Li Jiangbo didn't invite anyone else; he had already gotten the people he wanted.

As for the lead actors, he plans to use Cherie Chung as one of them, and for the other actors, he will try to find younger and cheaper ones.

As for the crew, he still planned to hand it over to Wang Jing, since that guy had a much wider network of connections than he did.

Time passed day by day, and "The Bund" was broadcast during TVB's prime time slot.

The TV series caused quite a stir as soon as it aired, mainly because the buzz surrounding Zhao Yazhi and Huang Yuanshen hadn't cooled down yet.

The subsequent issue of the magazine "Oriental Fashion Figures" further fueled the popularity of the TV series.

At some point, people started asking each other when they greeted each other, "Have you watched 'Shanghai Bund' today?"

Meanwhile, a fashion whirlwind began to sweep the streets of Hong Kong. Men flocked to buy trench coats and white scarves in the same style as Xu Wenqiang, while women went to tailors, pointed to Zhao Yazhi in magazines, and asked them to make the same clothes for them.

Then the streets were full of trench coats and white scarves, as well as clothes similar to those worn by Zhao Yazhi in magazines.

In this environment, the magazine "Oriental Fashion People" saw a surge in sales, even exceeding 10,000 copies at one point.

In literature, there is another corner, namely Li Jiangbo's "Those Things of the Ming Dynasty".

This book has a small but very loyal readership. Those who enjoy Ming Dynasty history consider it one of their essential readings.

Li Jiangbo, meanwhile, was painfully typing away in his small room in Chungking Mansions.

He planned to finish the novel, which was over 1.6 million words long, in two months, and then take the money north to do business.

In any case, his popularity has been soaring during this period, and he has already upgraded the system to intermediate simulation.

In early June, Li Jiangbo walked out of the Oriental Building with the settlement money given to him by Chairman Ma, totaling 6 yuan.

Of the 130,000 yuan, more than 90,000 yuan came from the novel, and the rest came from the money earned by Li Jiangbo from the magazine "Oriental Fashion Figures".

He had intended to reinvest this money in the stock market, but this morning he discovered that Cheung Kong Holdings had already risen to over nine dollars.

Keep in mind that this price is less than four dollars away from the stock's peak. Investing in the stock market now will not yield much profit, but it will drag you down.

He plans to finish filming the movie between July and September, so that it can be released during the summer vacation.

Back home, Li Jiangbo began simulating doing business in the north.

Li Jiangbo brought up the simulator and simulated three years directly. After deducting 60 popularity points, the simulation proceeded smoothly.

In mid-June 1979, you accompanied director Li Hanxiang back to the mainland to investigate the market. You discovered that the mainland lacked everything; money was everywhere, but there were very few places to do business because the mainland had too little foreign exchange.

In mid-July 1979, with the help of the Beijing Film Academy, you successfully connected with the Huayuan Group and started a waste paper business.

[In early August 1979, after successfully completing the transaction, you returned to Hong Kong with one million in cash and a five-hundred-thousand-dollar IOU. However, while filming, you encountered trouble from the Yi Sheng triad, hired by Chen Tianfang. You displayed incredible bravery, wielding two knives, and fought your way from south to north, frightening the entire Yi Sheng triad into not daring to openly cause you any trouble.]

[At the end of August 1979, filming wrapped up. Due to a moment of carelessness, you gave the thugs from Yi Sheng an opportunity to burn the film negatives in front of you. In a fit of rage, you killed the scoundrel and were subsequently wanted by the police.]

In September 1979, Hutchison Whampoa took over your business, and you fled to Taiwan.

In September 1980, after making some quick money by changing your identity and starting a business, you returned to Hong Kong and were immediately arrested by the Hong Kong police as soon as you got off the plane.

In early 1981, you were sentenced to ten years in prison and incarcerated at Stanley Prison. Due to your violent and aggressive behavior, your sentence was increased to fifteen years.

[Simulation complete. Do you wish to claim your reward?]

[A: Add 1 for nourishing the kidneys]

[B: One year of business experience in northern China]

At the end of each simulation, you can only choose one of the two rewards.

Li Jiangbo was speechless. He knew that people from Shaanxi had this problem: they would rather fight than talk. But he never expected that this bad habit would land him in jail!

Is there no justice in this world? I just want to make money quietly and honestly, is that so hard?

And there were also burnt film negatives?

Well, these days there really are cases of film being burned. Huang Baiming's film "All's Well, Ends Well" will be stolen in the future!

Thinking about this, Li Jiangbo felt relieved. But why was Yi Sheng always making things difficult for him? It seemed that only by resolving his worries once and for all could he film in peace.