1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 191 War of words
"Who is that theater owner you're talking about?"

When the press conference ended, Chen Lan and Zhai Yuan stood together and saw them out the door.

Each person received a red envelope of 888 yuan and a gold membership card worth yuan.

Zhai Yuan glanced at the woman beside him who was smiling like a flower and kept saying "please take care" and almost thought he was hallucinating.

He whispered, "It hasn't appeared yet, but I can tell you first. Putting aside the facts, don't my colleagues have the same idea?"

Chen Lan was speechless. As expected, he didn't even tell the truth. It was unnecessary for her to ask this question.

"Please take care. Please report this matter truthfully when you return."

"sure."

Reporters from more than 30 newspapers couldn't wait to go back and write their articles. They thought today's press conference was very interesting and Zhai Yuan left a good impression on everyone.

But 1024 fans haven't left yet.

"Mr. Zhai, please say a few more words!"

"I've never had a membership card before, but today I'm holding on to 1024, so give me the most expensive one!"

"The ticket price for 1024 is still too expensive..."

"Pick! I got a diamond card and each ticket is only 25 yuan, how can it be expensive? Are you sent by the theater next door?"

Zhai Yuan listened to the chattering and nodded with satisfaction.

Not bad, it has the flavor of a fan club.

"Everyone asked me to say a few words, but there's really not much to say. If you support 1024, we will present our best works to everyone."

As soon as Zhai Yuan spoke, the crowd quickly quieted down. He continued, "Tomorrow, the theater will be showing three pornographic films in rotation. The more they say no, the more I'm going to release them. And I'm going to release them in other theaters that have partnerships with 1024. Even if my peers try to ostracize me, I still hope that everyone in the film industry will do their best!"

There was a burst of applause from the audience; Boss Zhai's loud and firm attitude boosted their emotions very much.

Chen Lan and Wang Jin looked at each other, and both saw surprise in each other's eyes.

Zhai Yuan's last words were a bit hurtful. Once they were spread out, any theater that refused to schedule the three movies "Crazy Love", "Borrowing Seed" and "Shocking Change" would undoubtedly become the one suppressing 1024's colleagues.

This move is too dirty!

…………

The controversy surrounding the removal of 1024 caused quite a stir, and that evening many people in the film industry called the newspapers that attended the press conference to inquire about the situation.

The purposes are different.

Zuobian Cinema has a cooperative relationship with 1024, exchanging film sources for screening, and most of them are concerned about it.

The theaters on the right are hoping that 1024 will close down as soon as possible. Even though the Oriental Daily has released the news in advance, they are still hoping for a reversal.

After the 70s, political films were not allowed to be shown in Hong Kong because they would damage relations with neighboring regions. As a result, the left-right boundary in cinemas became more blurred, and everyone was all about money.

Therefore, more neutral theaters, led by Jiahe and Silver Princess, want to know in advance through this incident what the Film Censorship Office’s attitude towards the review of pornographic films is. As for whether 1024 will die or not, it doesn’t matter. Of course, it would be better if it died.

However, a group of cinema and theater owners called the newspaper to get information, but most of them got nothing.

The most common responses were:
"Have you ever reported anyone who has defamed 1024?"

"of course not!"

"That's great. This young boss is extraordinary. Don't offend him. As for the rest, we'll just have to watch the news tomorrow."

Reporters witnessed with their own eyes the scene where Zhai Yuan received overwhelming response and gave earnest advice.

The next day.

The news of October 1024th appeared in more than newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong.

Ranked first on the hot search list this month!
Even passers-by who are not paying attention to this matter are unconsciously affected by the information.

"After the controversy surrounding the cancellation of Zhang Guorong's "Youth in Flame," his joining Nine One Entertainment led to the cancellation of "Unstoppable Passion." Central's Third Prince may become the nemesis of the film industry."

Zhang Guorong, who was holding a concert in a Southeast Asian country, was unreasonably blamed.

'On October 1024th, three pornographic films, "Crazy Love," "Borrowing Seed," and "Shocking Change," were screened consecutively. Boss Zhai Yuan fiercely criticized the moralists, saying elegance was not an act, and called for the creation of a steamy Mayday.'

"The reason why 'Unstoppable Passion' was withdrawn from theaters has surfaced. The film industry is plagued by internal strife and vicious competition, which is despicable."

"The film industry reported and smeared the 1024 Cinema because it provided better service and environment. Zhai Yuan: If you have the ability, use it. If you don't, die."

"A housing estate boy was brutally bullied at school, but two years later he became a movie star. Zhai Yuan had a difficult journey with no one to help him, but today he has become a prodigy."

……

The overwhelming coverage attracts readers' attention from various tricky angles.

There is a term in public opinion dissemination called the "halo effect". The public uses stereotypes to excessively label the parties or events, giving them a halo, so that they no longer care about the truth of the matter.

Zhai Yuan is now standing in the halo.

…………

Jiahe Office Building.

Zou Wenhuai and several key members were sitting in the conference room, expressing their opinions on the matter.

"Lei Juekun has gone too far. He actually resorted to such a despicable method as reporting him."

Managing Director Liang Feng, as Vice Chairman of the Freedom Federation, actually spoke up for Zhai Yuan this time, which shows the extent of the public opinion fermentation.

But he went on to say, "But those audience members at the 1024 Theater are also crazy. They actually ran to the entrance of the Freedom Association to protest and demand the lifting of Zhai Yuan's ban. They don't even understand the principle of judging the matter objectively!"

"How can ordinary audiences have such a high level of awareness? They just love the whole thing."

He Guanchang said with a smile, then frowned and said, "But I still feel that this matter is strange. Lei Juekun doesn't seem like the kind of person who would resort to such an unconventional trick."

"It's a bit strange indeed... Never mind. Jiahe never did this, so we have a clear conscience."

Zou Wenhuai said this, then glanced at Cai Dusheng beside him and asked, "It's not a woman. This director is your apprentice Wang Jin. Didn't he tell you some inside information?"

Although Wang Jin's family has three generations of filmmakers, the rule in the Hong Kong film industry is that a father cannot teach his son. Therefore, he turned to film industry giants such as Chu Yuan and Cai Dusheng.

"This guy is actually going to make a Category III movie. He's embarrassing me. Luckily he even knew to change his pen name."

When Zou Wenhuai asked about his apprentice, Cai Dusheng cursed him a few times and then said, "I asked Ah Jin, but he was only responsible for the filming of the movie and had no right to interfere with the script, let alone know the inside story. But according to him, it is true that 1024 was reported and defamed, but he didn't know who reported it."

"Wang Jin has no right to interfere with the script, so I guess Pretty Girl Jiao Jiao is Zhai Yuan's pen name. He has always been famous for his scripts. I wonder what the stories of these three pornographic films are like."

Zou Wenhuai finished speaking, glanced at the other three giants, and asked with a smile: "Are you interested in visiting?"

A burst of laughter suddenly broke out in the conference room. The four people sitting there were over 200 years old in total, but they were still very interested in watching X-rated movies.

He Guanchang said, "Shall I tell my assistant to buy a few tickets for 1024?"

Zou Wenhuai waved his hand and said, "No need. We can split two theaters from our theater chain and schedule a round of screenings for Zhai Yuan's three plays every day. We can just watch them in our own theater."

Liang Feng was dissatisfied with his praise of Zhai Yuan and asked, "Brother Wen, why should we help our competitors?" Zou Wenhuai smiled but said nothing.

Cai Dusheng, who was standing nearby, glanced at Liang Feng and said, "Now the outside world is full of righteous people, all wanting to expose the mastermind behind the smear campaign against 1024. I wonder how many eyes are on us. What's wrong with Brother Wen using two crappy theaters to distance himself from the issue?"

Liang Feng nodded in understanding, then snorted coldly: "The newspaper said that he had a rough road, but I don't see where his rough road was. Pick it!"

at the same time.

The Silver Princess meeting room located in the Capital Building.

Lei Juekun flipped through the newspaper in front of him with a look of disdain on his face, saying, "It's obvious that Zou Wenhuai did this despicable trick. He has been hanging around with Zhao Yifu for so many years, but he hasn't learned anything good at all!"

Military advisor Feng Bingzhong wanted to say that might not be the case, but seeing Boss Lei's unhappy expression, he swallowed his words back.

He said to Lei Juekun, "I just received news that Jiahe's two theaters are simultaneously showing three of Zhai Yuan's pornographic films."

"The more you try to hide it, the more obvious it becomes!" Lei Juekun sneered, "Although Zhai Yuan is a loser, compared to Jiahe's bunch of old bastards, he's still more pleasing to the eye."

Boss Lei has always been resentful about the fact that Jiahe teamed up with Zhao's to fight against the Silver Princess. If it weren't for the fact that New One City was strong enough to stand up to the two major cinema chains, he would have been forced to quit the film industry long ago.

Now that Zhaoshi has stopped production, Boss Lei is venting all his anger on Jiahe.

Feng Bingzhong said, "I think our Silver Princess must also take action. Otherwise, even if we are upright, we will still be afraid of our shadows."

Lei Juekun nodded and said, "Of course. Jiahe opened two rubbish theaters, and Princess Yin will open three dragon-headed theaters to let the outside world know who is the despicable villain!"

Feng Bingzhong felt that he was acting on impulse, but then he thought that New One City and several other film companies had no new films released in May. Instead of showing transitional and second-run movies, the theater might as well put Zhai Yuan's pornographic films in there and take advantage of the popularity to get more share of the profits.

He said, "Then I'll arrange it now."

"Wait." Lei Juekun said, "By the way, buy two news stories in the newspaper to discredit Jiahe. I hate people doing tricks behind my back the most!"

…………

The news industry cannot lose President Zhai, just as the martial arts world cannot lose Huang Rong.

The 1024 downgrade incident orchestrated by Zhai Yuan caused a % increase in newspaper sales in Hong Kong.
Public opinion is still fermenting, and the film industry is in turmoil.

'Silver Princess strongly supports 1024. The three theaters of Lisheng, Kaisheng and Huasheng jointly screened "Crazy Love", "Borrowing Seed" and "Shocking Change". The person in charge of the theater said in an interview: Boss Lei Juekun also faced suppression from Jiahe in the past, and he deeply sympathizes with the situation of 1024 and is willing to overcome the difficulties with it.'

This report brought up old events again, avoiding the Zhao family, another overlord who suppressed Princess Silver in the past, and pointed the finger directly at Jiahe. It overtly and covertly led people to say that it was Zou Wenhuai and his group who reported 1024, and the description was so vivid that it seemed as if they had seen it with their own eyes.

Jiahe naturally did not tolerate the other party. The news was published in the morning, and the newspaper received a lawyer's letter in the afternoon demanding a public apology.

Then, Jiahe clarified in the newspaper that its joint screening of each other's films with Zhao was a normal business practice. Some people with ulterior motives deliberately brought up the past at this time, perhaps as a case of the thief crying "stop thief".

Princess Silver: Bah! Your managing director Liang Feng is also the vice chairman of the Freedom Association. It was he who signed the document that banned Zhai Yuan!

Jiahe: Don't you know what the Freedom Association is like? Besides 1024, which film company doesn't have its people overseeing the process? Princess Silver, don't pretend to be ignorant and confuse the audience.

The Freedom Association, which had been pretending to be dead since the beginning of the year, finally took the initiative to speak out during this turmoil.

The association published a statement on the right newspaper: "When the Freedom Association was founded, it received full support from companies such as Federal, Huaying, and Taiwan Film, and was also cared for by senior officials in Taiwan. It aims to solve the problems of Hong Kong film production and distribution in Taiwan and promote exchanges in the film industry between the two places. Therefore, it should abide by the laws and regulations of Taiwan."

"To further promote Hong Kong films, from today onwards, all directors, actors and other practitioners who have been banned by the Federation need only to publicly repent in the newspaper and actively cut off ties with the mainland, and the ban will be automatically lifted. If practitioners have to go to the mainland for work or life reasons, they can bring relevant materials to the Federation for filing in advance, declare that they are forced to go north due to circumstances, and not voluntarily, and show their loyalty to the Federation to avoid being banned (Note: Those who voluntarily give up their mainland citizenship and join the British, American, Japanese and Korean nationals are not subject to the above restrictions)"

There were some concessions, but not much.

However, at this time, the outside world was not paying much attention to the Freedom Association, and everyone was more concerned about the verbal battle between Princess Yin and Jiahe.

Princess Yin cursed, Jiahe cursed, and after Jiahe cursed, Princess Yin cursed.

The two sides exchanged opinions in the newspapers, gradually blurring the cause of the incident.

But in this round of verbal battle, people inside and outside the film industry saw clearly that after Zhao's, Zhai Yuan's 1024 firmly took over the baton and truly became the third largest cinema chain in Hong Kong.

…………

Portland Street, in front of 1024 Theater.

With her younger brother clearing the way for the pretty mother, she dragged her fat body and walked out of the theater with Chen Lan and Wang Jin.

"Is Mr. Zhai still mad at me? I rejected him last time, and now he refuses to give in and comes to Portland Street?"

The pretty mother smiled so hard that her face was full of fat. She looked back at the huge poster on the wall of the theater and sighed, "If I had known that he would take such a beautiful picture of my top star, I would have sold my family property to support him in thirty movies, let alone three!"

Tina and two other women are very popular in the Hong Kong entertainment world. Yesterday, a real estate boss commissioned a middleman and spent 100,000 yuan to take them on a cruise.

Before this, the price of a top star like Tina was around two thousand dollars. Although it was half a month's salary for Hong Kong people, it was obviously incomparable to now.

The pretty mother felt that these three horses would no longer have to accept orders from poor guys in the future. The wealthy boss not only gave them money, but also bought them jewelry. Moreover, they were generally older and the battle ended in a few minutes. This money was earned easily.

Chen Lan pointed at Wang Jin standing nearby and said with a smile, "This is the director filming. Although Mr. Zhai isn't here, you should take good care of the director. We'll still have opportunities to work together in the future."

The beautiful mother said yes repeatedly and eagerly held Wang Jin's hands.

When the two of them stood together, Wang Jin was already considered fat, but he was still a size smaller than her.

The pretty mother held onto Wang Jin's hand and said with a smile, "Director, there's nothing to say. I'll take you to play all over Portland Street tonight! I don't have anything else here, but pretty girls. There are a few girls like Tina. I'll introduce them all to you later. One king and two queens are no problem! Of course, if you have fun, it would be even better if you can help them shoot two more movies."

Wang Jin was intimidated by the ferocious younger brother beside the beautiful mother. Knowing that he could not afford to offend this fat woman, he did not dare to speak carelessly and kept saying words like "I dare not, you're welcome".

"Don't worry, my pretty mom wants you to play. Even if you don't help her film, she won't catch you."

Chen Lan noticed Wang Jin's reservedness, glanced at him, and then changed the subject: "But if you keep talking nonsense, do you see that tall, thin guy over there? He likes men the most, so be careful."

The three pornographic films were labeled as produced by Sanhe Film Company. Without Zhai Yuan's instructions, Chen Lan took the initiative to criticize Wang Jin and Huang Minghui who were involved in the hype.

Wang Jin's face froze when he heard this, but he quickly forced a smile and said, "Sister Lan, my master Cai Dusheng asked me what happened, but I didn't tell him the truth. Don't scare me!"

Chen Lan smiled and said, "I'm not trying to scare you. Actually, no one would believe you even if you told them. I'm just afraid you might make a mistake."

Wang Jin smiled dryly and shook his head, saying that he promised not to say anything nonsense. He thought that this woman was good-looking, but much more troublesome than Zhai Yuan.

…………

Zhai Yuan, who did not go to Portland Street to accept the hospitality of the beautiful mother, was sitting in the study room at this time, hugging Zhou Haimei and reading the newspaper.

"Cousin, I only knew that you made money by making movies and running a theater. I didn't know it was so hard."

Zhou Haimei was wearing a floral dress. She sat on Zhai Yuan's lap, leaning against his shoulder and whispering.

In every report, it is mentioned that Zhai Yuan was born in a housing estate and had experienced many hardships along the way, which is also consistent with the public's perception of grassroots people who have suffered a lot.

Zhou Haimei felt very distressed and rubbed her face against Zhai Yuan's neck twice to comfort him.

Zhai Yuan didn't feel it was hard.

The last few days of May ended with a heated verbal battle between Princess Yin and Jiahe.

The three pornographic films in 1024 became the most screened movies in Hong Kong's history.

With more than fifty theaters jointly releasing the films, the number of moviegoers has skyrocketed. By the time the three films are released in mid-June, the box office will surely be considerable.

(End of this chapter)