1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 300 For the Tomorrow of Yuen Long

"This year, Yuen Long has seven constituencies, and the number of seats has increased to 10. There are currently 32 candidates in the seven constituencies, and you are one of them."

Ho Tsz-long, the deputy head of Xiawan Village, was conscientious in his duties and had compiled all the data for Zhai Yuan in advance: "There are currently 55466 registered voters in Yuen Long. In theory, as long as you get more than 4 votes, you can be successfully elected as an elected district councillor for a term of four years."

After that, he smiled and reminded, "In addition, you have to pay a 5 yuan election deposit. If the number of votes is less than % of the total, the yuan will not be refunded."

Zhai Yuan concluded: "That's the registration fee! Three thousand yuan, for a four-year term, to go to college?"

He Zilang was amused by his example, and after thinking about it carefully, it seemed to make some sense.

"But this university is more aggressive than other schools. If you are elected, every word you say in the four years regarding the environment, culture, publicity and community activities in Yuen Long will be valuable suggestions to the Hong Kong government. In addition to paying you a monthly salary, the Hong Kong government will also provide you with a special fund of 40 yuan each year to cover the cost of operating public facilities during your term."

Ho Chi-long briefly mentioned the powers of district councillors.

Zhai Yuan counted the number of candidates and seats and said, "It doesn't sound difficult to select 32 out of 10 candidates."

He Zilang shook his head and said, "Strictly speaking, 32 are selected from 8 people, because two district councillors were automatically elected this year, one is the principal of Yuen Long Pat Heung Tung Yik School, and the other is the president of the Pao Zhang Fang Fude Association. These two are both local super gentry and do not need to participate in the canvassing and voting activities, so there are 2 seats left now."

“It feels like I was chosen.”

"It's just hand-picking. If you can get the support of more than ten or twenty villages in advance, you can still be automatically elected."

Zhai Yuan said helplessly: "Then 32 will compete for 8. How many votes can I get now?"

He Zilang took a list and said, "There are currently 826 employees of Qvod, and these votes are almost certain to win. I visited the villages around Xiawan Village and found that there are probably more than people who are eligible and willing to vote, but the total number will not exceed votes."

Zhai Yuan stroked his chin and said, "It's still a long way from 8,000 votes."

Ho Chi-long said: "There is still one month left to canvass for votes. Winning or losing depends on this month. Otherwise, we will have to wait another four years, or some legislator may resign and leave the seat vacant."

Zhai Yuan stopped talking, hugged his shoulders and looked at He Zilang.

He Zilang smiled and said, "Of course I have prepared a vote-gathering plan for Mr. Zhai in advance. The details are all written in this report..."

…………

It’s just March.

News about the Hong Kong government’s second district council election has come out.

The three major districts of Hong Kong, Kowloon and Singapore began to set up polling stations one after another.

The area 30 meters away from the polling station is a no-canvassing zone.

30 meters away, the teams of each candidate were doing their best to introduce their policy ideas to the citizens.

Yuen Long District, New Territories.

The cheerleading team consisted of several beautiful girls dressed in bright clothes. They all wore shirts and short skirts with a pattern printed on the back, which was also Zhai Yuan's campaign slogan.

'For the future of Yuen Long.'

Led by Moon Lee, Ann Bridgewater, and Loletta Lee, they set up a booth outside the polling station and performed shows on it.

Either dance or kung fu.

Below was a group of villagers watching and joining in the fun.

Zhou Huimin and Ye Yuqing were holding flyers with Zhai Yuan's headshot and moving among the crowd.

"Please vote for candidate No. 16, Mr. Zhai Yuan~"

In addition to wearing T-shirts printed with campaign slogans, the two girls also put the QVOD company logo on their pretty faces, doing everything possible to expand their influence.

Zhai Yuan, He Zilang and others sat in a pickup truck and observed secretly.

"Mr. Zhai's way of canvassing votes is very unique."

The speaker was a village representative from the southern suburbs of Yuen Long. He was too weak to run for election, but this time he was working with Xiawan Village to fully support Zhai Yuan.

Zhai Yuan looked at the group of pretty girls working hard to promote the project and sighed, "We do this so that we can do good things for the citizens after we are elected."

There was silence in the car for a moment.

Another village representative who is on good terms with me asked, "Will it be considered a violation if I hire a celebrity to do publicity and canvassing for votes?"

He Zilang shook his head and said, "It does not involve any monetary transactions, and this is completely in line with the regulations."

There is a special set of "Election Fraud and Illegal Conduct Ordinance" regarding the election of members of parliament, which lists dozens of criteria.

It clearly stipulates that the election expenses of each member of parliament cannot exceed the prescribed amount, and the amount also varies according to different regions.

For example, as a candidate for Yuen Long, in order to prevent Zhai Yuan from buying votes, the expenses spent on the election cannot exceed HK$60,000 in accordance with the local economy, and any expenditure over HK$100 must be reported.

Normally speaking, 60,000 yuan is not enough to invite a celebrity to endorse your campaign, especially for an election that involves political stances.

However, Zhai Yuan is the boss of Jiuyi Entertainment. Even if the Supervisory Bureau and the Independent Commission Against Corruption conduct a thorough investigation, Moon Lee and Ye Yuqing can still say with an innocent look that they merely agree with Zhai Yuan's ideas and come here to promote and canvass for votes free of charge. If you don't believe them, they can always take out their bank accounts and let you check the flow of funds.

"As long as they are not given money, this is a normal campaign rally. Just report to the police in advance to requisition the venue."

He Zilang saw that the crowd outside the window had almost gathered, so he turned to Zhai Yuan and said, "Mr. Zhai, you can go up on stage and say a few words."

Moon Lee and the members of the group "Bawanghua" and "Happy Girls" finished a passionate dance on the stage.

Zhai Yuan took the stage holding the microphone and gave an impassioned speech.

"Hello, dear voters. I am candidate No. 16, Zhai Yuan..."

The speech was written and prepared in advance by Ho Chi-long and his professional team, focusing on the areas of education, medical care, and social security in Yuen Long District.

Zhai Yuan slightly polished it.

"…My vision is to build an innovative Yuen Long, a strong Yuen Long during my term of office, to strive for the interests and welfare of the villagers, to attach importance to education, to promote employment, and to strengthen social security. As we all know, Qvod Technology has created nearly a thousand jobs in less than a year. In the future, the company will recruit more talents in Yuen Long around technology and entertainment, and raise salaries to the average level of the urban area…If I am successfully elected, I will establish a new school in Yuen Long to develop education during my term of office…Qvod currently has the top security team in Hong Kong. As long as the company is still in Yuen Long, it will continue to implement strict security measures to solve the problem of community groups that disturb the villagers…"

I said a lot of blah blah.

Zhai Yuan finally spoke out his campaign slogan: "For the future of Yuen Long!"

……

The month-long campaign continues.

Jiuyi Entertainment sends a celebrity to the countryside every day to serve as its spokesperson.

Zhai Yuan traveled around Yuen Long and exchanged all of his 60,000 yuan campaign funds for rice, eggs and vegetables, which were given away for free to anyone who came to listen to his speeches.

When the election is in full swing.

Wu Yusen returned to Hong Kong with the crew members of "Across the World".

Wan Ziliang, Zhong Chuhong, Zhang Guorong.

The three big names took a day off and were immediately arranged to perform their talents in Yuen Long.

This is when Wan Ziliang's appeal was apparent.

As soon as he appeared, his popularity surpassed that of all the stars in the past period of time. "The Gangster Tycoon" is also a well-known TV series in Hong Kong. Facing a group of rural fans, Wan Ziliang patted his chest and adapted the lines in the play in a bossy way: "Supporting Mr. Zhai Yuan is supporting my Fang Jinchang (a character in the play). We are all family members, and I, Achang, will not cheat my fellow villagers!"

Zhai Yuan’s high-profile election style.

Frequently making news headlines.

There were supporters, critics, and those who reflected. As the other candidates saw his support rate rising sharply, they began to protest openly and secretly, believing that this was unfair competition and demanded that Zhai Yuan be disqualified as a candidacy.

The Municipal Council quickly spoke out:

"After investigation, the current behavior of candidate No. 16 Zhai Yuan has not violated the relevant regulations of the current election."

This should be the election behavior in the history of Hong Kong legislator elections that perfectly circumvents the restrictions of regulations while actually playing a strong propaganda role.

The reason is just one word: money.

1024 and Jiuyi Entertainment are powerful and wealthy, so no one dares to refuse when they ask their artists to appear on their platforms for free.

Xiawan Village.

In the village representative's office.

He Zilang looked at the poll in his hand and sighed, "At first I just wanted to get votes from voters who didn't have a strong desire to vote, but I didn't expect that those voters who were wavering and didn't know who to vote for would also be won over. It seems that we don't have to wait for the votes to be counted in a month. Mr. Zhai will be one of the eight seats for the council."

Zhai Yuan crossed his legs, and the TV in front of him was playing the newly burned CD of "Jaws".

An American thriller from the 1970s, it was regarded by the distributor as a watershed in film history. KuaiBo bought the copyright of this old film from ten years ago for US$150,000. Unexpectedly, it became quite popular in Hong Kong, and its sales even surpassed that of "Once Upon a Time in China".

Guan Weiming next to him flattered him, saying, "The most important thing to do in life is to have the ability. Mr. Zhai is running for election, and he wants to expand the Qvod company to provide jobs and build schools to promote education. Which candidate would dare to make such a boast?"

He Zilang paused for a moment and said, "We still need to continue the publicity. We made the promise in the first half of the month, and in the second half of the month we need to let voters see that Mr. Zhai has the ability to fulfill his promise."

After that, he asked Zhai Yuan: "What do you think, Mr. Zhai?"

Zhai Yuan watched the bloody scene of sharks eating people on the screen and said, "Jaws sold so well. I'm wondering if we should recruit some directors to make this kind of cult movie."

He Zilang said helplessly: "How about we take care of the current election first?"

Zhai Yuan retracted his gaze and said with a smile: "Okay, I want the voters to see if I have the ability, simple~"

……

3 month 22 day.

The yen broke through the exchange rate of 1 yen to the dollar.

In just half a year since the Plaza Accord was signed, the Japanese yen has appreciated by almost 100 yuan.

The U.S. Treasury Secretary finally came out to make a speech: "The relationship between the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen has been fully adjusted, and the U.S. Treasury will not continue to suppress the dollar."

The Japanese yen gradually stabilized its appreciation and got a chance to catch its breath.

the same day.

Zhai Yuan "accidentally" was discovered by reporters about his investment returns in the stock market over the past six months.

Newspapers immediately began a round of overwhelming publicity.

'Prodigy Yuan invested in Japanese yen and made a net profit of 27 billion Hong Kong dollars in half a year!'

"According to an exclusive interview with Forbes Magazine, Zhai Yuan is currently ranked 262nd among the world's richest Chinese. "

"Politics and business are inseparable. Forbes billionaire Zhai Yuan is running for Yuen Long District Councillor, shouting slogans for the future of Yuen Long."

Newspapers are sold from the urban area to Yuen Long.

Zhai Yuan appeared in front of voters again, with banners around him reading "Forbes Chinese Super Rich".

"Other candidates will paint a rosy picture for voters, just to get votes, but I won't."

Facing the voters and reporters in the audience, Zhai Yuan said frivolously: "Recently, many candidates have attacked me for bribery and unfair competition. They are just short-sighted. Since the newspaper has revealed the news, I will not show my cards. Spending several million to build schools and other public facilities is just a drop in the bucket for me. I don't need to be so pretentious in front of everyone. The votes are in your hands. You can choose who to vote for."

There is less than a week left until the ticket opening date.

Zhai Yuan's series of high-profile speeches not only did not cause any resentment, but his approval rating soared again...

……

“The filming of Across the World was good this time, but the cost was a bit high.”

Jiuyi Entertainment, housekeeper Shi Nansheng finished watching "Once Upon a Time" in the film review room and expressed her opinions.

Wu Yusen had a lot of fun this time.

The entire film "Along the Way" was shot on location in Paris. Both the texture and scenes of the film are more than one level higher than the original film in the parallel timeline.

Production costs naturally rise.

The filming took more than half a year, and cost more than 20 million Hong Kong dollars, not counting the actors' salaries.

Wu Yusen himself felt a little guilty. In fact, many scenes in the film could have been shot in Hong Kong. In order to achieve better effects, he applied for funds from the company to continue filming in Paris.

"Mr. Zhai is worth billions now, he won't care about the small amount of money I spent, right?"

Wu Yusen grinned.

Zhai Yuan squinted at him and cursed: "Bullshit! I was too busy some time ago and didn't pay attention to you. If I had known that you were so expensive, I should have sent someone to Paris to cripple your legs and bring you back!"

With the current box office in Hong Kong, even if "Once Upon a Time" is sold for 30 million, it will not be able to recover the cost.

Zhai Yuan said helplessly: "Let's schedule it for the summer release. It's a flop. I don't know how many discs I have to sell to make a profit this time."

Wu Yusen hurriedly flattered him, "Mr. Zhai's discs are very good. I have seen CD shops on the streets of Paris. It won't be long before they are sold all over the world."

Zhai Yuan snorted and laughed, and said to Shi Nansheng, "Sign a contract for Old Wu to sell himself. When the cost of "Across the World" is recovered for his next movie, I will pay him the director's fee."

Wu Yusen immediately hugged Zhai Yuan with an exaggerated expression: "No, boss! I have contributed to the company!"

There was a low laugh in the screening room.

at the same time.

The voting day for the 2nd District Councillor Election is getting closer.

4 month 3 day.

Three days before the billing date.

Qvod Company issued another announcement:

Qvod Technology will cooperate with the Hong Kong education department to burn teaching materials in the form of CDs. This is a public charity. Qvod will donate CDs to all schools in Yuen Long for free to develop education. In order to prevent people with ulterior motives from slandering Mr. Zhai Yuan for suspected bribery, only one thousand CDs will be distributed before the district councillors' vote count. If Mr. Zhai Yuan is successfully elected, Qvod will provide more CD teaching materials for donation...

(End of this chapter)