1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 221: Praising People
Xu Jiayan was sitting in the detention room, the ashtray in front of him was full of cigarette butts and there was a wisp of smoke rising from it.

Across a square table, Xu Jiaqiang sat opposite him, head down, silent.

Xu Jiayan still had a half-smoked cigarette in his mouth. He glanced at the social lawyer who was standing by and stared at Xu Jiaqiang: "Aqiang, look me in the eye and tell me again, was Uncle Lin killed by Axe Jun's men?"

Xu Jiaqiang raised his head and looked directly into Xu Jiayan's eyes: "Yes! Only by killing Uncle Lin can he sit firmly on the leading position."

Xu Jiayan remained silent again, took a few deep puffs of his cigarette, and then spoke again: "Did the society's underground account book fall into the hands of the police?"

Xu Jiaqiang shook his head and said, "No, my people got it in advance, and now I am keeping it temporarily."

"your people?"

Xu Jiayan grinned. Everyone knew that Xu Jiaqiang came from Taiwan and had no soldiers under his command.

He laughed and sighed deeply: "It seems that you must fight for this position? How many years do you plan to let me stay in the cell?"

Xu Jiaqiang felt a little frightened when his elder brother stared at him. He stammered and said nothing.

Xu Jiayan smiled and said, "Then let me ask it another way. How many years do you think it will take to turn Xin Ji into an iron barrel, so that even if I come out, I can't get involved?"

Xu Jiaqiang lowered his head: "Boss, that's not what I meant..."

Xu Jiayan knocked on the table to interrupt and asked, "Is it enough for me to give myself a three-year vacation?"

Xu Jiaqiang was startled, and said slowly: "I want to try it."

Xu Jiayan laughed again. He pushed his gold-rimmed glasses and said, "You can't handle it. No matter you or the fourth brother take charge, Xinji will be reduced to a small fry in three years. Ask Ah Sheng to come back. Among all the brothers, I am most optimistic about this twelfth brother."

The trigger for Xinji to become what it is today was Shi Er Shao Jia Sheng.

As soon as he arrived in Hong Kong, he conspired with Su Long and his group of veterans to rebel, which directly led to Xu Jiayan being arrested for shooting himself in the back, and Huang Jun taking over, which caused a host of subsequent problems.

But in terms of courage and scheming, ten Xu Jiaqiangs put together cannot beat Xu Jiasheng.

Xu Jiaqiang asked: "Don't you blame him?"

Xu Jiayan shook his head: "After all, we are brothers, the winners are the kings and the losers are the bandits. Now that something has happened at home, he should come back."

Xu Jiaqiang frowned and did not answer. He was thinking about the last time Xu Jiasheng asked Xie Hushan to threaten Zhai Yuan and try to steal his theater business, but he ended up losing more than he gained and offended Zhai Yuan. If he let him come back, what would his current big boss think?
Also, if Xu Jiasheng returns to Hong Kong, where will he be placed? Will they have to adopt a dual-decision system like He Liansheng?

…………

"I don't care. He's just Xu Jiasheng. But I have to make it clear to him before he comes back. If I praise him highly, I will bring him down low."

When Zhai Yuan received Xu Jiaqiang's call, he had just finished recording his statement at the police station and was being escorted out of the station by a senior inspector.

"Mr. Zhou, when I was recording my statement just now, I found that the tables and chairs in the police station are very old. Tomorrow I will donate 500,000 yuan to the Police Foundation. Whether it is police-civilian cooperation or serving the citizens, I will help make a contribution."

Sir Zhou smiled widely and automatically ignored the content of Zhai Yuan's phone call in front of him.

As soon as Zhai Yuan walked out of the police station, a pickup truck was parked outside. Wei Xing was leaning against the car door smoking. When he saw him come out, he opened the door.

Xu Jiaqiang's voice came from the receiver, and he asked tentatively: "Mr. Zhai, do you want Xinji to have two people in charge?"

Zhai Yuan got into the car and said, "Choose! Xu Jiasheng is still wanted. Even if he returns to Hong Kong, he can't show up. He can only hide behind the scenes. What? If you have the ability, Xinji will always be yours. When you give birth to a son, let him succeed you. That's it!"

hang up the phone.

Satellite held the steering wheel and asked, "Boss, where are we going?"

Zhai Yuan asked back: "Did you bring a gun?"

Satellite nodded and opened the drawer, inside which lay two shotguns with sawed-off barrels.

The Vietnamese guy went to Panama for a while and came back to form a security company. He has now obtained a gun license. Although the control is still strict, there is a lot of room for maneuver as long as you get a license. At least Zhai Yuan can fire a shot when he is being chased, and he will not be like Xu Jiayan who did not even have a chance to appeal.

Zhai Yuan thought about the things he had done recently and was afraid that someone would do something desperate, so he said to Wei Xing: "Be my full-time driver for the time being. Carry a gun with you and protect my safety."

Satellite grinned, "Don't worry. Where are we going now?"

Zhai Yuan leaned back, rubbed his brows and said, "Let's go back to the company first."

The pickup truck drove towards the 91 Entertainment in Ngau Tau Kok.

The road became congested as we passed the surrounding streets.

Zhai Yuan looked out the window and saw hundreds of gangsters in mourning, holding the registration photos of the brothers Lin Shihua and Lin Shixia, walking towards the funeral home.

The scene was so spectacular that many police officers along the street were dispatched to maintain order at the scene.

Zhai Yuan curled his lips and smiled disdainfully: "He is indeed a generation of Chow Chow, respected by everyone."

…………

The renovation work on the 1024 Theater progressed quickly. The broken gate and splashed red paint looked scary at the time, but after the renovations, it returned to its former bustling state.

The movie "A Time to Live and a Time to Die" produced by Yindu Entertainment was completely withdrawn from the theaters after being released for more than half a month.

This film, which explores the differences between the two places, stars the mainland film star Siqin Gaowa, and other stars are paid at a friendly price. The investment cost was 42, and the final box office in Hong Kong reached a staggering 760 million, with a very high return rate.

After the statistics came out, it was found that the audience of Zhaiyuan Theater alone contributed more than 760 million out of the million box office.

The fact that an art film could achieve such a result has made more people realize the advantages of the 1024 Cinema Chain's multi-screening system, and many theater owners have begun to consider transforming into mini theaters.

"Should we put up an advertisement and ask them to pay a franchise fee so that the new theater can hang a sign with the number 1024?"

Zhai Yuan sat at his desk and pondered the problem. He felt that it would be a bit troublesome to implement. He was now a big shot and would attract a lot of attention. If the franchisee did something about the copyright, 1024 would have to be held responsible in the end. It would be a loss if he earned this little franchise fee but damaged his reputation.

At this time, Ye Yuqing pushed the door open and walked in: "Idol, have you finished the Cantonese version of "Pearl of the Orient"?"

After "Pearl of the Orient" was introduced to Hong Kong, word of mouth spread quickly. As Zhai Yuan's fan leader, Ye Yuqing solicited fans' opinions and asked Zhai Yuan to write a Cantonese version of the lyrics. She mentioned this matter two days ago.

In fact, the Mandarin version of this song is already perfect, but the Cantonese version is not very popular, so Zhai Yuan didn't take it to heart.

Seeing Ye Yuqing asking, Zhai Yuan patted his head and said, "I forgot. I'll write it now."

Ye Yuqing walked around the desk and got into Zhai Yuan's arms, sitting on his lap and grinning, "Then I'll watch you write, don't try to be lazy, I'll keep sitting on you until you finish."

Zhai Yuan got angry when he heard this. Who was he looking down on?

Pick up the pen and brush it:

Looking back at the past, there have been many vicissitudes over the past century, and there have been many bitter and rainy days. The Pearl of the Orient has endured many hardships and changes...

Five minutes later, Zhai Yuan put his pen on the table and slapped Ye Yuqing's hips hard: "Get off!" Ye Yuqing looked back at him with resentment, turned her plump thighs in another direction, hugged Zhai Yuan's neck and said: "You are too fast."

…………

The Cantonese version of "Pearl of the Orient" was pretty much as expected, it didn't make much of a splash despite the excellent performance before it.

However, there was still a frenzy among the fan community, which was largely due to the promotion by Ye Yuqing, the fan leader.

At the end of October.

A piece of news quietly appeared on the pages of a few newspapers in Hong Kong, but did not attract the attention of readers at first.

Within a few days, it was obvious that someone paid for the front page, and the news' popularity suddenly skyrocketed.

"The crew of the sequel to "A Better Tomorrow" encountered an accident overseas. Director Wu Yusen was caught using counterfeit banknotes and may be sentenced to ten years in prison." - Oriental Daily.

"The director went crazy while shooting a movie about counterfeit money, knowingly breaking the law, and 91 Entertainment is caught in another public opinion storm." - Ming Pao.

"It is rumored that director Wu Yusen lost all his fortune in gambling and took the risk of using counterfeit money. Our special correspondent went to Thailand to find out the truth." - Overseas Chinese Evening News.

"When a company employee was arrested for counterfeit money, 1024 boss Zhai Yuan changed his previous style and stopped making any comments." - Sing Tao Daily.

A series of reports followed one after another, and the key points all revolved around the sequel of "A Better Tomorrow", occasionally interspersed with keywords such as 1024, , and Zhai Yuan.

Soon after, an anonymous person submitted a photo to the newspaper, which contained a picture of Wu Yusen looking dejected when he was arrested.

The incident immediately became a hot topic.

Public opinion can be roughly divided into two forces:
A group of die-hard fans who blindly supported 1024 took the initiative to help Zhai Yuan draw a clear line between himself and Wu Yusen.

Another wave of condemnations of 1024 for being crooked from top to bottom also brought up the news that Wu Yusen had previously used a real gun as a prop to injure crew members, and attributed it to Zhai Yuan's poor management.

Hong Kong people hate counterfeit money because 500 and 1000 Hong Kong dollars are too easy to counterfeit, and everyone has tacitly agreed not to accept large-denomination banknotes.

Therefore, in this confrontation, the condemnation faction had the upper hand and directly drove the die-hard fans back to their base camp.

After Zhong Chuhong, Wan Ziliang and their team finished filming and returned from Thailand, they were surrounded by reporters as soon as they landed, wanting to get first-hand information from them.

The actors kept Zhai Yuan's previous words in mind, put on sunglasses, lowered their heads and kept silent, then hurriedly got into the car and returned to the company to reunite.

Nine One Entertainment.

The crew members of "A Better Tomorrow 2" were all dejected.

Wan Ziliang said: "Boss, Director Wu definitely didn't do it on purpose. We need to explain this to the outside world as soon as possible."

Chung Chu-hung said: "When the filming was finished, everyone drank a little and each person was given a few prop banknotes as souvenirs, and the rest were all destroyed. Director Wu must have spent the prop banknotes mistaken for real money in a daze. The most urgent thing is to contact the local police to explain clearly, otherwise he will really be sentenced to prison."

A group of props and photography staff also chattered and spoke up for Wu Yusen.

Everyone's eyes were on Zhai Yuan, who was afraid that his boss would get mad if he got into such trouble while filming.

"A Better Tomorrow" is a big IP. If it is shelved because of public outrage caused by this incident, all their efforts over the past six months will be wasted.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Zhai Yuan sighed: "Alas! How could I be so careless?"

Zhong Chuhong blamed herself and said, "It's all my fault. Director Wu knew that I couldn't drink much, so he helped me block a few drinks. Otherwise, I wouldn't be so drunk that I couldn't tell the difference between real money and fake money."

Zhai Yuan glanced at her and sighed again, and Zhong Chuhong's face became even more remorseful.

"I will ask the legal team to find out the specific situation. Please do not respond to the media during this period. Just keep silent."

There were scattered voices of agreement.

Zhai Yuan frowned, left a copy of the movie, and waved his hand to let the group of people go home.

The crowd dispersed, and Zhai Yuan smiled:
This wave of publicity is stable!
If the current public opinion continues to develop, let the people outside criticize enough and get some black and red traffic, and then after getting Wu Yusen back, do another reversal to whitewash the film, and finally start promoting the release date of "Wushuang".

perfect.

But the prerequisite is to bring Wu Yusen back and not really sentence him.

Zhai Yuan called Shen Wei into his office and said, "Take a few big lawyers to Thailand and get Old Wu out of this. Try not to make it so troublesome that he has to go to court. Spend money when it's time to spend it."

Shen Wei was one of the few people who knew about this matter. He was very calm from beginning to end. After reading the news, he packed his luggage in advance: "Boss, don't worry, I have already bought the plane ticket and can leave tonight."

After explaining the matter to Wu Yusen, Zhai Yuan went straight into the editing room with a bunch of copies brought back from Thailand.

Several editors began to get busy.

There don't seem to be many classic music produced by Hong Kong films after the millennium. I have the impression that "The Myth" is pretty good, but unfortunately the sequel "Legend" ruined this song, so it's better not to mention it.

This is even more true for the movie "Wushuang". Apart from having some understanding of the movie's plot, Zhai Yuan had no memorable points in the movie's soundtrack and theme song.

At this time, he couldn't just force a "musical genius" persona, so he quickly invited the two big guys, James Wong and Joseph Koo, to take charge, and picked a few well-known composers to help. He asked them to stay in the editing room, watch the entire film production process from beginning to end, and at the same time work on the music behind the scenes.

"Hui Min, you should also get familiar with the behind-the-scenes music with Uncle Zhan and the others. After the post-production is completed, you will be credited as the music director."

When Zhai Yuan found Zhou Huimin, she was wearing headphones and doing some insignificant creative work.

Hearing that there was such a good thing, Zhou Huimin opened her mouth in surprise: "Mr. Zhai, is this possible?"

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "I signed you to the company, so of course I have to support you. Last time I promised to write two new songs for you to sing. Remember to remind me after you finish the post-production of the movie."

Zhou Huimin's eyes showed some emotion, and she didn't know what else to say except thanking him, so she handed over the headphones and smiled, "I'm listening to your song."

Zhai Yuan took it and listened to the music of "Pearl of the Orient" playing.

He smiled and said, "This song is quite popular in the mainland."

Zhou Huimin hesitated and asked a little embarrassedly: "I may not have the talent for songwriting. If you have time, can you teach me how to write songs?"

Zhai Yuan raised his eyebrows: "So you want to take me as your master?"

Zhou Huimin frowned, thought for a moment, then nodded vigorously.

Zhai Yuan looked at her pretty face, and suddenly remembered a sage's words:

A teacher is one who teaches and imparts knowledge, and relieves heat.

There’s a long way to go!
(End of this chapter)