Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 357 Wasn't he lacking inspiration?
The next morning.

In Beijing, Feng Xiaogang, who was playing golf with friends at a club, suddenly received a call from Wang Zhongjun, the CEO of Huayi Brothers.

"Director Feng! What are you doing? Haven't you been getting enough rest lately? Have you come up with any ideas for the new film yet?"

Upon hearing this, Feng Xiaogang knew that Wang Zhongjun was urging him to start a new film, practically saying that even the donkeys in the production team wouldn't dare to rest like him.

Feng Xiaogang: "It's just that we haven't found a suitable script yet! Without a good script, even a skilled cook can't make a meal without rice! Right?"

Wang Zhongjun: "Our company has so many scripts, have you looked at any recently? Isn't there a single one that satisfies you?"

Feng Xiaogang couldn't help but sigh, "Don't even mention the notebooks in the company! My assistant spent almost half a month picking out the best of the best notebooks for me, but I really don't like any of them! I think I'll look for some other notebooks!"

Wang Zhongjun: "..."

After a moment of silence, Wang Zhongjun said, "No problem! Why don't you try contacting Zhongyuan Yidianhui again? You two have a good relationship, right? With your relationship, you should be able to get him to write you another note, right? What do you say?"

Feng Xiaogang nodded slightly, "Yes, definitely! My relationship with him is great, it's just that he seems less willing to write scripts lately. Otherwise, given our relationship, he would definitely write one for me. Okay! I'll talk to him again and try to get him to write one for me again."

Wang Zhongjun: "Okay! Then I'll wait for your good news."

Feng Xiaogang: "You're right! He can't possibly refuse to give me face, can he? Right?"

……

call ended.

After thinking for a moment, Feng Xiaogang simply found Cao Sheng's number and dialed it.

Today is Saturday, and it's morning.

Based on his understanding of Cao Sheng, Cao Sheng's phone should not be on silent at this time, and he should be able to get through.

Sure enough, Cao Sheng answered the phone.

"Hey bro! What have you been up to lately? How about coming to Beijing for some fun? Food, lodging, and entertainment—I'll cover everything for you. How about it? Come on over!"

Feng Xiaogang was very enthusiastic.

Cao Sheng arrived at his parents' villa last night and is currently reading a book in the living room on the second floor.

Upon receiving Feng Xiaogang's call, Cao Sheng glanced at the blazing sun outside on the balcony, smiled, and politely declined, saying, "It's been too hot lately, I don't want to go out. Thank you for your kind offer."

Feng Xiaogang: "I see! Then you can come over when the autumn weather is nice and clear?"

Cao Sheng: "We'll talk about it later! Did you need something from me?"

Feng Xiaogang: "Hey! It's nothing much, I just wanted to invite you to Beijing for a visit, and also to ask you to write a script. Writing a script is a piece of cake for you, right? You don't want to go out lately, so could you spare some time to write one for me? Don't worry! I'll do my best to get you the script fee. Does that sound good to you?"

Cao Sheng was too lazy to move.

I wrote "The Mistake" a few days ago simply because I suddenly thought of this story, and I was also moved by the fact that Andy Lau had made a special trip to Huizhou to invite me to dinner, showing me great humility and respect. On a whim, I wrote "The Mistake".

However, writing this script also took him two or three days off, affecting his writing of "The Legend of the Primordial Era" and his preparation of his new book "The Legend of Chinese Martial Arts".

Therefore, he doesn't want to write any more scripts for the time being.

Even though he had thought about a movie like "Infernal Affairs" these past few days, and knew that the movie hadn't been released yet and hadn't even started filming, and that he should have a chance to snatch it away, he was too lazy to write about it for the time being.

Laziness is certainly not the main reason.

The main reason is that it takes a lot of mental effort.

He watched "Infernal Affairs" many years ago. He remembers the general plot, but many of the details are blurry.

If he were to write this script, it would definitely be a lot of work.

Of course, without much effort, one can recreate about 60-70% of the script.

But he didn't want to ruin such a classic work.

Either don't write it at all, or if you do write it, try to recreate at least 90% of the original content.

So he simply stopped writing.

A secondary reason is that, in the original timeline, after the release of "Infernal Affairs," there were many rumors about the film, some of which were spoken by the director himself.

For example, this movie was inspired by John Woo's Hollywood film "Face/Off".

After watching "Face/Off," the screenwriter felt that the face-swapping between the protagonist and the villain was not feasible in reality. Instead, directly switching identities, having the protagonist do the villain's job and the villain do the protagonist's job, was much more feasible.

Thus, the script for "Infernal Affairs" was written.

For example, it is said that after the script for "Infernal Affairs" was written, it took a long time to find an investment company and no one was willing to invest in the film.

There are many reasons. First, the Hong Kong film market was in severe recession at the time, and many people said that Hong Kong films were dead. Major film and television companies in Hong Kong reduced production significantly. Directors, stars, and behind-the-scenes staff either went to Hollywood to seek opportunities or went north to the mainland to make money. During this period, very few companies in Hong Kong dared to invest in big-budget films.

Secondly, while the script for *Infernal Affairs* was of good quality overall, the subject matter was a police and gangster film, a genre that Hong Kong cinema had already overused, and not even the kind that was likely to be a box office hit. Other police and gangster films featured exciting battle scenes, with frequent shootouts between police and criminals, creating spectacular action sequences. But *Infernal Affairs*? The entire film was almost entirely about scheming and intrigue—both the good guys and the bad guys were playing mind games. There was too much internal drama and almost no action scenes. And, as everyone knows, internal drama is difficult to film, and audiences don't really like it. At least, that's the general consensus among film industry professionals. They've been bombarded with the grand spectacle of Hollywood blockbusters and believe that big-budget action is what audiences crave. Therefore, after the script for *Infernal Affairs* was completed, it struggled to find investors for a long time and almost never saw the light of day.

Cao Sheng remembered these rumors.

Therefore, I lost interest in writing the script for "Infernal Affairs".

He strongly suspects that the script for "Infernal Affairs" has already been written, but no company is willing to film it yet.

With the movie "Infernal Affairs" flashing through his mind, Cao Sheng casually replied, "I haven't had any inspiration lately! It's so hot, I feel like I'm pregnant all day, I just want to sleep, how can I have any inspiration?"

Feng Xiaogang: "If you ever get an inspiration, be sure to write one for me! I'm waiting for your script to be written!"

Cao Sheng: "Okay, okay, I understand. Try to find other notebooks too! You can't rely on me completely."

Feng Xiaogang: "Okay! Okay! You try your best too! You try your best, okay?"

……

call ended.

Cao Sheng put down his phone and continued reading.

In Beijing, Feng Xiaogang was a little disappointed. During their phone call, he felt that Cao Sheng had been listless lately, as if she were pregnant.

This situation left him speechless.

I thought to myself: How can this young man be so lazy? Doesn't he want to make money anymore? Or did he make too much last year? I, a top director in China, haven't even made a fortune of over 100 million, and he, a screenwriter, has made over 100 million? Is there no justice? Is there no law?
in the afternoon.

After having lunch and some drinks with friends, Feng Xiaogang took a car to the headquarters of Huayi.

He is very career-oriented.

Although he was a little tipsy from drinking, he still wanted to come to headquarters to see if there were any good scripts.

I dare not rely entirely on Cao Sheng.

As a result, he had just arrived at Huayi headquarters and sat down in his office.

Then he heard the secretary who was making him tea say, "Director Feng! Are you not satisfied with the script that Zhongyuan Yidianhui wrote for you this time? Is it not good enough? Otherwise, you wouldn't have come to headquarters to look for a script, right?"

Feng Xiaogang was taken aback, then frowned. "What do you mean? When did he write me a notebook? How come I didn't know?"

The secretary was taken aback. "Really? No way! I saw the news online this afternoon that... Andy Lau announced in a media interview today that Chung Yuan Yi Dian Hui wrote a script for him! Chung Yuan Yi Dian Hui wrote one for him, but not for you? Really? Aren't you two good friends? Besides, he wrote two scripts for you before..."

Feng Xiaogang looked at his secretary in surprise.

I was completely bewildered.

He called Cao Sheng this morning. During the call, Cao Sheng clearly said that he had no inspiration lately. How did he end up writing a script for Andy Lau?

"You're not kidding? He really wrote a script for Andy Lau? Are you sure?"

Secretary: "I'm sure! Why don't you search for today's news online? Andy Lau told the reporters himself, so it can't be false, right?"

Feng Xiaogang: "..."

He began to doubt whether he had shown enough respect to Cao Sheng.
I suddenly remembered a few days ago when my friends and I were drinking together, we talked about the rumors that Cao Sheng was dating two beautiful women at the same time. One of his friends joked that if he had arranged for a few beautiful women to entertain Cao Sheng earlier, Cao Sheng might have already written a script for him.

At the time, he thought Cao Sheng wouldn't be so vulgar.

Cao Sheng, at such a young age, has already written so many excellent works, clearly demonstrating his talent as a career-oriented individual. Such a talented person would likely prefer to date on their own, using their own charm to conquer beautiful women, rather than having others arrange for them to throw themselves at them.

So he put the idea aside for the time being.

But now, he's starting to wonder if he's misunderstood something.
Given Cao Sheng's recent lazy state, maybe he just likes having beautiful women arranged for him?
Otherwise, how do you explain it—that Cao Sheng had already written two scripts for him, but suddenly stopped writing for him and instead went on to write scripts for Andy Lau?
"What was the name of the script he wrote for Andy Lau? Did Andy Lau say when filming would begin? Who was the director?"

Feng Xiaogang asked with mixed feelings.

The secretary tilted her head slightly, thought for a moment, and said, "It seems to be called 'The Deception of a Shepherd.' It's said to be a very exciting crime thriller script, and it's already confirmed that Liu Weiqiang will direct it. They also said that it's been approved and they're currently looking for a suitable actress. Director Feng... does Zhongyuan Yidianhui think you're not good at making suspense films, so you didn't give this script to you?"

Feng Xiaogang: "..."

He hoped that was the reason.

But he had mentioned to Cao Sheng on the phone last time that he hoped Cao Sheng could write a script for a kung fu film to start a trend of kung fu films in mainland China.

He's already considered trying kung fu films, so would Cao Sheng really think he's unwilling to try suspense films?

He thought for a moment, took out his phone, and dialed Andy Lau's number.

Because they had previously collaborated on "A World Without Thieves," he had Andy Lau's phone number.

He wanted to ask Andy Lau, "What kind of script is 'Drishyam'? Is it really not suitable for Feng Xiaogang?"

(End of this chapter)