1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 648 The human heart is sinister
When later generations talk about Li Lianjie, they all think he is cunning and scheming, but you can't really blame Li Lianjie for that. The repeated losses he suffered forced him to be more shrewd than others.

As mentioned earlier, Li Lianjie opened a martial arts school in the United States, but the Americans didn't buy it, so the business was poor and he was basically in a state of losing money.

At this time, Lo Wei invited him to return to Hong Kong to make a comeback, and Li Lianjie agreed. He then met Lo Wei's son, David Lo.

David Luo, on the other hand, has lived in the United States since childhood and speaks fluent English.

The father and son were very close, so David Lo volunteered to be Li Lianjie's agent and helped him film "Dragon in the World" in the United States. He also invited Stephen Chow, who was not yet famous, to the United States to work with Li Lianjie on "Dragon in the World". It was because of this movie that Li Lianjie met the female lead, Nina Li Chi, and they quickly fell in love.

With the release of two films featuring Li Lianjie at "Lo Wei Film Company," David Lo solidified his position as Li Lianjie's agent.

At this point, David Luo represents Lo Wei; David Luo is Lo Wei, and the two are one.

Besides Luo Wei, David Luo also has a mother named Liu Lianghua.

This woman is incredibly capable.

With the assistance of Liu Lianghua, Lo Wei once firmly held the title of "Golden Harvest's No. 1 Director," directing films such as "The Big Boss" and "Fist of Fury," which not only made Bruce Lee famous but also made himself famous.

The signing of Bruce Lee in the US was orchestrated by Liu Lianghua, proving her to be an absolutely outstanding and capable woman.

Liu Lianghua is such a remarkable woman, a fact that Raymond Chow, the big boss of "Jiahe," has also taken notice of.

Then, as time went by, feelings developed between Raymond Chow and Liu Lianghua, and Chow secretly began a relationship with Liu, cheating on Luo Wei and stealing his girlfriend.

Lo Wei was naturally furious. He left Golden Harvest and founded his own company, Lo Wei Film Company. He then discovered Jackie Chan, brought him back to Hong Kong from the kitchen of the American consulate in Australia, and gradually made him a popular actor in Hong Kong.

Liu Lianghua successfully married Raymond Chow and became the capable assistant to the big boss of Golden Harvest, much like Mona Fong was to Run Run Shaw, greatly helping Raymond Chow's career development.

By the time David Luo became Li Lianjie's agent, Luo Wei and Liu Lianghua had already divorced.

David Luo secretly told Li Lianjie, "My dad is a miser and never pays actors high salaries. My mom works at Golden Harvest. Go sign with my mom's company."

Li Lianjie said that this was not a good idea.

It's important to understand that Li Lianjie signing with Golden Harvest was tantamount to betraying Lo Wei Film Company and marrying into a wealthy family; Lo Wei certainly wouldn't forgive him easily.

But David Luo said, "I am your agent. An artist's affairs are decided by the agent. The agent can work with whomever he wants. Besides, it's not my dad's 'Lo Wei Films' who is unwilling to spend a lot of money to sign you."
So Li Lianjie was taken by David Luo to his mother's company, Golden Harvest, to sign a contract. David Luo then broke off relations with his father, Luo Wei. Luo Wei was humiliated in front of his own son, David Luo, who easily snatched away his golden job. He was furious and had to suffer in silence.

Li Lianjie thought that he had arrived in Jiahe and that everything would be fine.

But if the father is like that, how much better can the son be?

David Luo had a gambling hobby. He said early on that he would take Li Lianjie to "broaden his horizons," and then took him to Las Vegas to gamble. As a result, after losing tens of thousands of dollars, he asked Li Lianjie for money.

Li Lianjie said he didn't have that much money, so David Luo said, "Won't you make money making movies in the future? Here's what you can do: borrow $10 from Golden Harvest first, and then pay it back to Golden Harvest after I pay you back."

Li Lianjie was too naive; thinking that he and Luo Dawei were good friends, he decided to lend it to him.

However, what Li Lianjie didn't know was that there was a saying among Hong Kong artists at the time, known to everyone in the industry: never borrow money from Golden Harvest.

Borrowing money from Golden Harvest is essentially equivalent to signing a contract of servitude.

Li Lianjie, a boy from the mainland, had no idea about these things. He thought everyone was reasonable everywhere.

As a result, they fell into David Luo's trap.

Teacher Li borrowed $100,000. After paying off his gambling debts, he still had tens of thousands of dollars left. David Luo said, "Why don't you just give it to my girlfriend to open a clothing store? I'll pay you back later."

A few days later, Luo went gambling again and lost tens of thousands of dollars. He asked Li Lianjie for help, and Li Lianjie had no choice but to borrow another $100,000 from Jiahe to help him pay it back.

In short, Luo Dawei used gambling as an excuse to repeatedly ask Li Lianjie to lend him money. In Li Lianjie's eyes, he was a friend, but in Luo Dawei's eyes, there was no such thing as a friend; they were just tools for him to make money.

Later, Li Lianjie became famous at Golden Harvest. He signed a two-year contract with Golden Harvest for four films, with a salary of HK$1.5 million for each film.

At the end of the contract, Golden Harvest proposed to renew it for another 2 years.

Li Lianjie agreed, but the remaining 3 million yuan in film remuneration had to be paid first. Although this film wasn't finished yet, the contract stated that even if he didn't finish filming four films in two years, he could still receive the full amount.

At this point, Jiahe started to cheat.

Li Lianjie said, "How could you do this? Quickly find your agent, David Luo, for help."

David Luo arrived immediately and said to Li Lianjie, "How could you be so unreasonable? You must renew your contract first. If you don't, not only will you not get your salary, but you will also have to compensate Golden Harvest several million dollars."

David Lo is indeed worthy of being the son of Lo Wei. When Lo Wei hired someone to attack Jackie Chan after Jackie Chan switched to Golden Harvest, David Lo confiscated his passport in order to force Li Lianjie to comply. He even threatened that Golden Harvest had the best legal team and that they could ruin a mainland guy like Li Lianjie in Hong Kong.

David Luo also took advantage of the situation, listing three conditions:
1. The hundreds of thousands of US dollars the casino lent him were wiped clean. 2. He would still take a commission from Golden Harvest films. 3. For the next ten years, he would take a commission from all the films starring Lee.

Forced into this situation, Li Lianjie had no choice but to agree to postpone filming for another six months for two more movies, on the condition that Golden Harvest would first compensate him with his daily pay.

As a result, the company only paid 5 yuan in the past six months, and Luo Dawei also deducted 2 yuan of his commission.

In the end, Li Lianjie's films became hits throughout the Chinese-speaking world. After deducting $20 in gambling debts and his agent's commission, he only received a few hundred thousand dollars. First, there was the rogue company Golden Harvest that didn't pay him according to the contract, and then his agent took advantage of both sides. Although Li Lianjie seemed to have a great reputation, he was actually quite miserable in Hong Kong.

Later, Li Lianjie kept trying to get rid of Jiahe and Luo Dawei, and that's when he ran into Cai.

This Mr. Cai is the owner of Fuyi Film Company. Mr. Cai has a powerful background, a generous personality, and is backed by the most powerful 14K gang. He has won over many stars and his business is developing rapidly.

Cai, a man with a background in the underworld, was known as "Glacier Angry Man." He came to Hong Kong alone from Guangzhou in the 70s.

He was ruthless and quickly made a name for himself. During this time, he met Bearded Yong, who was about the same age and had a similar personality.

The two later separated; Bearded Yung continued to work in Hong Kong, while Cai went to the Netherlands.

Years later, through repeated battles, Bearded Yong actually became the leader of the 14K triad.

With his own abilities, Cai's business in the Netherlands grew bigger and bigger, and he also gained a certain status in the industry.

Later, when Bearded Yung came to the Netherlands for vacation, he talked with Cai about the booming Hong Kong film industry and its unlimited potential for profit. Both of them were extremely eager for wealth and hit it off immediately, deciding to join forces to enter the film industry. So, Cai temporarily handed over his business in the Netherlands to others and returned to Hong Kong, eager to throw himself into the film industry. Upon arrival, he held a gun to Andy Lau and others and forced them to film a movie on set, which unexpectedly turned out to be quite profitable.

This man was very loyal and principled. Every time he met Li Lianjie, he neither asked Li Lianjie to join the company nor asked Li Lianjie to make movies. He only talked about his admiration for Li Lianjie's martial arts talent and the sentiment of appreciating heroes among heroes.

Then he said to Li Lianjie:

“I know about the troubles between you and Golden Harvest, and I can help you resolve them. After those issues are resolved, we can sit down and talk about the film. Let’s be friends first, then talk about business. If you like Golden Harvest, you can sign them; if you don’t, you can ignore them. We’re brothers in arms, loyal to each other.”

Li Lianjie, who was standing alone on the edge of a knife, was deeply moved by Cai's way of doing things. Although they had not known each other for long, they felt quite compatible, so he entrusted Cai with handling his affairs with Jiahe.

Cai then forced Li Lianjie to stop performing "A Man Should Be Self-reliant" and hid him away.

This move directly targets Golden Harvest's Achilles' heel.

Li Lianjie once lacked the resources to compete with Jiahe, but now, with Cai as his backer, the situation is completely different.

Because Golden Harvest was in a hurry to release "A Man Should Be Self-reliant," if Li Lianjie did not act in it, he would suffer great losses in terms of both finances and reputation.

Although Golden Harvest once wanted Vincent Zhao to replace Li Lianjie in the filming, his image and action were far from Li Lianjie's, so Golden Harvest had to make concessions, obediently pay his salary, and have David Lo apologize to Li Lianjie before bringing him back.

After filming "A Man Should Be Self-reliant", Li Lianjie finally broke away from Golden Harvest and decided to sign with Fu Yi, asking Cai to be his agent.

The two were discussing the filming plans for the movie "New Dragon Inn" the day before, and the next day, Cai was shot and killed.

The truth is still unknown, but Li Lianjie was terrified and stayed in a hotel for nine months under police protection.

Afterwards, Li Lianjie had his brother-in-law in Beijing take over as his agent. However, a year later, his brother-in-law died in a car accident while he was filming in Inner Mongolia.

In his grief and anger, Li Lianjie decided never to sign with any company again and to become his own boss.

However, lacking funds to start his own business, he sought out a powerful figure in the provincial underworld named Yang, whose most well-known identity was as the godfather of Barbie Hsu and Dee Hsu.

Li Lianjie founded a film company called "Zhengdong," changed his name to Li Yangzhong, and produced a series of films including "Fang Shiyu" and "Zhang Sanfeng."

Although Boss Yang was a generous man, all crows are black; even after the film was made, Li Lianjie still didn't earn much.

Finally, when Mrs. Xiang came to visit, Li Lianjie's hard times finally came to an end. At first, he discussed with Mrs. Xiang that he would not ask for a salary, but they could split the film's profits in half.

Mrs. Xiang said, "Don't worry, I know you're having a hard time." She signed Li Lianjie to a three-year contract for six films, totaling 72 million yuan in salary. Considering Li Lianjie's special circumstances, she directly paid him 36 million yuan in advance.

This also led to Li Lianjie being very grateful to the Xiang family and having a very good relationship with them.

Incidentally, because of Cai's incident, Li Lianjie was not able to film "Dragon Inn". Later, Tsui Hark kept this matter in mind and finally invited Li Lianjie to film "Dragon Inn 2".

In any case, Hong Kong films during this period were basically in complete chaos. There were all sorts of gangs, and everyone was rushing to make films on the same subject until they were sick of it and nobody wanted to watch them anymore. The great damage to Hong Kong's film industry later on was inextricably linked to this period.

Therefore, if Jiang Xian wants to make a living in Hong Kong, having good judgment is not enough; he also has to be careful at all times, because he might step into someone's trap at any moment. These people are too unscrupulous.

Of course, finding a good backer is also very important.

Jiang Xian met with Chen Rongmei again. This time, Chen Rongmei also brought Feng Bingzhong, another boss of Xinbao.

"Mr. Jiang told me about the drawbacks of that satellite company system," Chen Rongmei said with a smile as she explained to Feng Bingzhong.

"I see."

Feng Bingzhong looked Jiang Xian up and down. "Mr. Jiang, have you been to Hong Kong before?"

"I transited through Hong Kong when I returned to China, but I never stepped outside the airport area."

"How come you are so familiar with Hong Kong?" Fung Ping-chung asked, somewhat surprised.

"Well, that's mostly hearsay. I've spent a lot of time in the US, and there are quite a few Hong Kong people there. I even bought a house from one of them."

"I see."

Feng Bingzhong suddenly realized what was going on and lit a cigar.

After the two parties sat down, Jiang Xian made his purpose clear: "I would like to ask the two bosses for Xinbao's Lunar New Year film slot."

"Lunar New Year film season?"

Chen Rongmei and Feng Bingzhong exchanged a glance; the Lunar New Year film season was a big deal.

"I'd like to ask the two bosses to reserve Xinbao's Lunar New Year slot this year. Could Xinbao schedule only our film during the Lunar New Year period?"

"This"

Feng Bingzhong narrowed his eyes. "Mr. Jiang, it's not that I don't want to agree, but the Lunar New Year film season is the peak time of the year for moviegoers, and it's of utmost importance to any cinema chain. If you're only going to screen your film, then we'll have to see how it goes."

Chen Rongmei didn't finish her sentence, but Jiang Xian understood what she meant. The subtext was asking if their newly established film company was qualified.
"Both of you, bosses."

Jiang Xian leaned forward slightly, "I heard that Golden Princess gave the Lunar New Year slot to Cinema City's 'Aces Go Places' this year. My film was made to directly compete with Cinema City's 'Aces Go Places,' and I can guarantee you the quality of the script."

"You guarantee the quality of the script?"

Feng Bingzhong asked doubtfully, "What's the use of your guarantee?"

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Rongmei interrupted him, kicking his shoes and whispering in Feng Bingzhong's ear, "Mr. Jiang won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay."

"Oscar?"

Feng Bingzhong's expression immediately changed.

That can definitely be guaranteed!

Because you probably can't find a single screenwriter in all of Hong Kong who has won an Oscar!
(End of this chapter)