1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 239 Junior Brother
Facts have proven that the Hong Clan is not a monolithic group.

Just after Lin Zhengying rejected the sky-high salary offered by Zhai Yuan.

Before Zhai Yuan finished his bowl of pork trotter noodles, Shi Nansheng's phone started ringing one after another. Several of her friends in the circle acted as mouthpieces and passed on the news.

"XXX from the Hong Family Class is very skilled. He asked me to find out if 91 Entertainment is still short of actors. He can leave the Hong Family Class at any time and join 91 to sign a long-term contract."

Zhai Yuan was both amused and confused when he found out about it. He simply asked for the names of those people. Fortunately, there were no actors of the Yuan generation that he was familiar with among them, otherwise he would have had a few more failed artists in his mind.

Although Lin Zhengying did not give face to Mr. Zhai, at least he acted manly and preserved his loyalty.

These people secretly wanted to transfer to Jiuyi without telling Hong Xinbao, and they were deeply despised by General Zhai.

The most depressed person in the whole incident was Hong Xinbao.

After Zhai Yuan did this, if he could not give Lin Zhengying enough compensation this year, he, as the eldest brother, would not be able to face his brothers in the Hong Clan in the future.

"Is there a possibility that Zhai Yuan is deliberately trying to sow discord between us brothers?"

At the dinner table, Yuen Wah held a cigarette in his left hand and a glass of wine in his right hand, and expressed his guess about the matter with a wise look in his eyes.

After coming out of Tsui Wah Ice House, Hong Xinbao took them to catch up with Lam Ching-ying, and the group went to another place to drink and relax.

What Yuen Wah said makes sense.

In fact, not only the creators of 91 didn't understand, but the Hong Clan themselves didn't understand either. Even though Lin Zhengying was a good brother who had grown up together, Yuen Wah and the others still couldn't help but ask: Why?
Everyone knew that Lin Zhengying was not worth 200,000 yuan in salary, not to mention that Zhai Yuan later offered 300,000 yuan.

There must be something wrong when things are abnormal. Zhai Yuan definitely has no good intentions.

Junior brother Meng Hai looked around at his fellow brothers and said silently, "But they are indeed willing to pay to support Brother Ying, and why would he want to sow discord between us..."

Before he could finish his words, Yuankui, who was standing next to him, kicked him hard under the table.

Can you hold your tongue? It took a lot of effort for your brother Yuen Wah to make this thing right!

Lin Zhengying drank one glass of wine after another.

His condition today is very different from usual.

In the Hong Clan, Lin Zhengying was well-known for his worst drinking behavior. Although he was usually taciturn, he would immediately turn into a violent maniac once he touched alcohol, and fighting was common for him. When he was drunk, even if a dog on the street barked at him, he would chase it across three blocks.

But today, after he drank, he was surprisingly quiet.

"Aying, I've thought about it carefully. I shouldn't hinder my brother's future just because of a fight with Zhai Yuan. The fact that Wushuang beat Dumbo was because they had the ability, and the collision between Mr. Zombie and the female action team was probably just a coincidence."

Hong Xinbao broke the silence. He rubbed his face vigorously, looked at Lin Zhengying and said seriously: "I don't want to make things difficult for my own people. If you have other ideas, you can go to Jiuyi Entertainment to show your talents. Even if you leave the Hong Family Class in the future, we will still be good brothers."

After that, he raised his glass and clinked it with Lin Zhengying's, and added: "If you don't want to go, no matter how much the film company offers for my new movie this year, I will pay you 200,000 yuan out of my own pocket."

These words were well-spoken and quite like those of a big brother.

Lin Zhengying raised his head and drank the wine in the glass. He said with a breath of alcohol: "Brother Sanmao, you don't have to be like this. You know your own business. How can I be worth two hundred thousand? Besides, I have no intention of leaving the Hong Clan. Just pretend that this incident never happened."

…………

At nine o'clock in the evening, the drinking party ended.

Lin Zhengying returned home drunk. When his mother opened the door and saw him drunk, she couldn't help nagging him.

"You're back so late? You're in your 60s and still don't know anything. Your wife is pregnant and can't see you every day. If your father knows that you went out to get drunk again tonight, he will definitely take a minibus to come over tomorrow to teach you a lesson."

There are six brothers and sisters in the Lin family, and Lin Zhengying is the third oldest. His parents and youngest brother usually live in the New Territories. Now that his wife Zheng Bingbing is pregnant, Lin's mother has rushed to Kowloon to take care of her daughter-in-law's daily life.

Lin Zhengying didn't dare to talk back, and asked with a wry smile: "Is Bingbing asleep?"

Mother Lin pointed in the direction of the bedroom: "She couldn't wait for you to come back, so she just entered the room."

Lin Zhengying didn't say anything more. He went to the bathroom to wash up briefly, sent his mother back to the room, and then stepped forward and opened the bedroom door.

In the not very spacious bedroom, Zheng Bingbing was lying on the bed, not yet asleep, stroking her bulging pregnant belly.

When she heard the door open, she turned her head and looked over. She said to Lin Zhengying in a dissatisfied tone, "Going out to drink again?"

Lin Zhengying smiled and came forward, leaning on the bed and caressing his wife's belly: "I went to the bathroom to take care of it, and you could smell it?"

Zheng Bingbing snorted: "How can I wash off the smell of alcohol?"

Lin Zhengying said embarrassedly: "Brother Hong treated me to a meal and I couldn't get away. I only drank a few glasses. I promised you that I would stop drinking after the baby is born."

Zheng Bingbing sighed and said, "I have heard this sentence for nine months since I became pregnant. I was afraid that I would enter the delivery room and you would still be drinking with your fellow apprentices at the table."

Lin Zhengying knew he was in the wrong, so he smiled awkwardly and changed the subject.

"Do you think the baby in your belly is a boy or a girl?"

"I hope it's a girl. Boys are too naughty like you."

"When the boy grows up, he can learn Kung Fu from me!"

"Yes, that's what I'm most worried about. If you wield swords and guns like you do, you'll end up in trouble."

After a few words, Lin Zhengying was speechless.

He hugged Zheng Bingbing and said with a smile: "Then let's have two children, one boy and one girl, wouldn't that be nice?"

Zheng Bingbing laughed and said, "Just give birth if you want. How can we support two children?"

Another sentence hit Lin Zhengying in the throat.

After Bruce Lee passed away, he retired from Hollywood to Hong Kong. His income has been declining, and his current financial situation is indeed not good.

He said to Zheng Bingbing: "Today a boss wants to invite me to act in a movie. He is willing to pay 200,000 yuan for one movie."

Zheng Bingbing was surprised and asked, "Is this true? Then you are going to be rich, right?"

Lin Zhengying sighed: "But they offered me a condition to quit the Hong Clan and sign a long-term contract with his company."

Zheng Bingbing was silent for a moment, then said helplessly: "You must not agree to it again? But I support you in this matter. Brother Hong has always been good to us. We can't do anything that forgets our principles for the sake of profit."

Lin Zhengying hummed: "I think so too... Oh! It would be great if there was a way to have the best of both worlds."

…………

"There are ways to have the best of both worlds, so why do we have to change people?"

Zhai Yuan once again used his veto power to reject Shi Nansheng's suggestion to replace Lin Zhengying.

He said arrogantly, "I will handle this matter. It's nothing more than me bowing to Hong Xinbao, or Hong Xinbao yielding to me. Unfortunately, I am born stubborn and can't bow, so I can only let Hong Xinbao bend down." Shi Nansheng snorted and laughed without commenting, "These martial artists are famous for their face in the circle, especially the two big brothers Hong Xinbao and Chen Shilong. If you mess with one of them, the other will bite you in minutes, and it will be very troublesome then."

If we really talk about the relationship between brothers, Hong Xinbao and Chen Shilon may not be close, and they are still competitors now.

But that was an internal conflict, and since Zhai Yuan was an outsider bullying them, they would definitely unite against him.

Shi Nansheng didn't think Zhai Yuan had the ability to subdue Hong Xinbao or Chen Shilon now.

In terms of cinema chains, distribution, and production, Jiahe is still firmly in the top position in the local market. It does not have to look at the face of Jiuyi Entertainment. Moreover, they also have the big box office of Baodao. How could they allow their cash cow to be controlled?

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "If I can't subdue them, is there no one else who can subdue them?"

Shi Nansheng frowned: "Others? Zou Wenhuai or He Guanchang? It is even more impossible for them to help you bully your own people."

Zhai Yuan asked her in return: "Do you know who Hong Xinbao's master is?"

Shi Nansheng recalled: "The brothers had a nickname called the Seven Little Fortunes, and their master was a senior opera singer named Yu Zhanyuan, who was reported in newspapers before."

Zhai Yuan asked again: "Then do you know who Lin Zhengying's master is?"

Shi Nansheng obviously didn't understand much, so he asked, "Is it Yu Zhanyuan too?"

Zhai Yuan shook his head and said, "He can only be considered half a disciple of Yu Zhanyuan. His real master is another senior female opera singer, Pink Chrysanthemum Sun Ruixin. She founded the Spring and Autumn Drama School. Yu Zhanyuan has to call her Senior Sister."

Peking Opera is indeed in decline. Even though Shi Nansheng has been in this circle for many years, this is the first time he has been taught about this subject.

She nodded thoughtfully, frowned and asked, "But what does this have to do with you? Can Yu Zhanyuan or Fen Juhua help you bully your own apprentice?"

"Of course it has something to do with me."

Zhai Yuan showed an unfathomable smile: "Do I have to tell you that I am the junior brother of the two old seniors, the uncle of Hong Xinbao and Chen Shilong?"

Shi Nansheng widened his eyes in horror: "Ah?"

Zhai Yuan laughed, stood up proudly, and pretended to be profound and sang two lines of "Changbanpo" in a tuneless way: "The fish caught in the net has no place to go, Xuande must be captured tonight. I lead the troops to watch the battle, and the gongs and drums sounded continuously..."

Damn it! You will meet my Senior Brother Yu Zhanyuan and Senior Sister Fen Juhua in two days. If Hong Xinbao dares to show his teeth again and Lin Zhengying refuses to change the film, I will directly write a 16-character comment on you two in the newspaper:

Deceiving the heaven and destroying the ancestors, defying human ethics! Shameless, cruel and vicious!

…………

Yanjing City.

At eight o'clock in the morning, a call came from the Hong Kong Malaysia Exchange Office into the Propaganda Office.

"This matter was commissioned by Comrade Xia Meng of Silver Capital Organization. It will have a positive publicity effect on the development of entertainment culture in Hong Kong. I hope that comrades in the mainland will take more care of it..."

After the call from Hong Kong was hung up.

A powerful person in the propaganda department called the cultural department.

"This is the situation. I am just delivering a message to them. The comrades in Hong Kong are still waiting for news. You can see how you communicate with the people below. Anyway, we need to resolve this matter as soon as possible..."

The influential person in the cultural field hung up the phone.

He then called the leader of the National Peking Opera Theater: "President Jian, I have a task to convey to you now..."

Following a series of phone calls.

Ten o'clock in the morning.

In the meeting room of the Peking Opera Troupe.

The honorary dean, the dean, the vice-dean, this secretary, that consultant... all the important leaders of the institute gathered together.

There were more than a dozen elderly artists present.

Seeing that everyone was present, the vice president in charge of presiding over the meeting coughed twice and said, "There is some cultural propaganda work in Hong Kong that requires your cooperation. Let me briefly say a few words. The current situation is like this. There are three southern Peking opera artists in Hong Kong. Their artistic level is very high, but they have never had a master. In the words of the old times, they are all Haiqing."

"We all know that Hong Kong is backward in thought and places more emphasis on seniority. So this time they want to be recognized as a teacher through some of the elders in our Peking Opera Troupe. Fu Liancheng currently has seven divisions: Xi, Lian, Fu, Sheng, Shi, Yuan, and Yun. These three southern artists want to become disciples of the Fu division and take the Sheng generation, getting rid of their long-standing Haiqing identities. Is there anyone willing to claim these three places?"

The vice president had just finished speaking.

The dean at the side coughed twice and said, "Comrades, let me add two more words. The master-apprentice system is certainly a feudal dregs, but we must analyze specific issues specifically. In terms of Hong Kong cultural promotion, this matter is a special matter, but the institute still firmly does not support this kind of behavior."

Under the watchful eyes of the leaders.

The old artists looked at each other.

Apprenticeship?

This kind of thing hasn't happened for many years. Nowadays, people focus on teachers and students. How can there still be a master and apprentice?

And we have to worship the Fu family. How many old masters of the Fu family are still alive?

An old artist was the first to ask: "Leader, what are the specific situations of these three Southern artists you mentioned?"

Several leaders exchanged glances, and it was the vice president who spoke up: "One is Yu Zhanyuan, an 80-year-old gentleman, and the other is old lady Sun Ruixin, who is 85 years old this year. They both performed on stage in Huangpu City. Strictly speaking, they should be the founder of the Wang School, Wang Xiaonong, but they also have some friendship with Mr. Qilin Tong, so the situation is more complicated."

There was a murmur among the artists.

Everyone present was around 60 years old. Yu Zhanyuan and Sun Ruixin, who were mentioned by the leaders, were both over 80 years old and could indeed be considered to have extensive experience.

In particular, he is friends with Qilin Tong, who performed on stage with Master Mei Lanfang in the past. In terms of seniority and experience, he crushes the group of veteran artists in the conference room now.

"It's not too much for a Southern artist of this age to become a disciple of the Fuzike School."

"That's true. How can there be any old master in the Fu family? Mr. Tan has been dead for almost ten years. We don't have the rules of the crosstalk world to ask for apprenticeship on behalf of others."

"It's hard to find one inside the Great Wall, but there should be an old gentleman of this generation outside the Great Wall."

The old artists whispered to each other, discussing the feasibility of this matter.

Someone figured it out and asked the leaders sitting in the front row, "That's not right. Yu Zhanyuan and Sun Ruixin are the only two candidates. Wasn't there a total of three places?"

Several leaders looked at each other, all with embarrassed expressions on their faces.

Finally, the vice president was pushed out to speak: "Indeed, there are three. The identity of the third artist is a bit special. He is also the protagonist of this apprenticeship event... Forget it, I will tell you directly. His name is Zhai Yuan, he just turned 20 this year, and I don’t know whether he has learned Peking Opera."

As soon as he finished speaking, the whole room burst into an uproar.

A 20-year-old veteran artist from the Shengzi family? The first person to do so!

(End of this chapter)