1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 405: The Days When Zhai Yuan Was Not in Hong Kong

In the past two years, as Zhai Yuan's business in Ngau Tau Kok increased, the office floors were transferred from leasing to acquisition.

He used the hot money earned from the stock market crash to buy the entire office building.

It was officially renamed the Jiuyi Building.

The new record company is located on the third floor of the building.

"Mr. Zhai is not in Hong Kong during this period, but the company's business needs to continue to develop, so he asked me to help with the opening of the record company."

Li Zhi had her hair permed and dyed short to shoulder length, and she was wearing a smart black suit. She walked into the building accompanied by the company's legal department.

The decoration of the new company was in accordance with Zhai Yuan's previous plan, combining modern and musical elements. The office area was designed in an open style, and posters of artists such as Girls' Generation were hung on the walls.

The recording studio was renovated and equipped with the most expensive sound insulation materials and professional equipment, with the main goal of not seeking the best but the most expensive.

Lizhi still spoke in poor Cantonese.

However, the scene of Zhou Runfa being hit with cake at a concert not long ago is still vivid in people's minds. Now no one dares to make fun of her accent anymore.

It’s early November, and today is the day the record company opens.

She was responsible for organizing the opening ceremony and had to arrange the signing procedures for new employees one by one. Fortunately, most of the musicians who were interested in switching over had been screened by Zhai Yuan, which saved her the trouble of interviews. She only had to control the process and archive the documents.

Independently divided leisure area.

There are several new and old singers waiting to be signed.

There are also managers in charge of various departments who are ready to take up their posts, all of whom are Hong Kong music behind-the-scenes talents of the level of Dai Sicong.

From time to time, more people came.

Girls' Generation's captain, Ye Yuqing, squeezed in next to Li Zhi to join in the fun, and next to her were Huang Zhan, Gu Jiahui and others who came to help.

The Hong Kong music circle is smaller than the Hong Kong film circle, and everyone is mostly familiar with each other, so the process of connecting new employees is carried out in an orderly manner.

It was the first time for Secretary Li to handle formal business alone, so he was somewhat nervous.

We haven't finished our work here yet, but news media are coming to interview us.

Li Zhi was a little overwhelmed, so she said to Ye Yuqing beside her, "Ah Qing, I'm going to go outside to greet the media, can I leave this to you?"

"let's go."

Ye Yuqing was very concerned about the record company's affairs. She lowered her head to look through a file, waved her hand without even looking up, with an attitude of "I'm doing things for my idol."

At the end, he reminded Lizhi: "Remember to bring the press release to the reporters, so that they won't ask boring questions and disrupt the rhythm."

Lizhi reacted after hearing what he said, hurriedly thanked him, and went back to the office to get the outline.

Ye Yuqing looked at Li Zhi who was in a panic, shook her head and muttered: "You can't even do such a small thing, you are really big-breasted and brainless~"

After leaving the office, Li Zhi took the outline and went downstairs to greet reporters. At the door, she ran into Zhou Huimin, Li Moon and Sakai Noriko who were arranging wreaths and ribbons. The three girls were well-behaved. When they saw Li Zhi, they stopped what they were doing and called her Miss Li.

Go down to the first floor.

Li Lizhen was holding Bai Anni's hand and answering the first group of reporters' interviews.

"What's the name of the new record company? You guys guess, it's boring to spoil the topic in advance. What's the relationship between Mr. Zhai and me? I think we are close friends who share the same interests in music. We often discuss music creation in private, and I also provide him with ideas for composing. Did Annie confess her feelings at the concert? I don't know either, but Mr. Zhai probably didn't take it to heart afterwards. We both treated her like a younger sister..."

Li Lizhen faced the camera with a harmless, naive smile and chatted in a teasing manner.

Ann Bai, who was standing next to her, was treated as a foil. She took a deep breath to suppress her unhappiness, and rolled her eyes in her heart.

"Ah Qing? He has a good family background and doesn't make a living by singing. He is often absent from rehearsals..."

Li Zhi had just walked downstairs when she heard Li Lizhen talking to her teammates. She quickly pulled her behind her and stood in front of the reporters, saying with a smile, "Dear friends from the media, the ceremony hasn't started yet. We have prepared some tea upstairs. Please move over and follow me..."

Li Lizhen behind him pouted: "Another big busty girl, Brother Yuan can't get enough of it. I'm going to get breast augmentation tomorrow, too. ABCD... to Z cup!"

……

We were busy until noon.

Guests who came to congratulate also arrived one after another, even Ye Zhiming showed up at the company. Miss Fang from TVB and Mr. Qiu from ATV sent flower baskets respectively, followed by the popular stars of 91 Entertainment.

Li Zhi, on behalf of Zhai Yuan, received various bigwigs. Just when the situation was stabilized, a Rolls-Royce stopped at the door.

The car door opened and Li Lu Yanqun, dressed in jewels and precious stones, walked out of the car, instantly causing a sensation in the media.

Fang Yihua, who was standing at the door enjoying the flattery of the star, saw this and her smile froze, then immediately widened further and she hurried to greet him.

"Mrs. Li, are you coming to the ceremony as well? I haven't received any news."

"I came up with this idea on a whim. I heard that my adopted daughter is in charge of the situation, so I came to help her."

Li Lu Yanqun spoke with a smile.

There was a hint of surprise in Fang Yihua's eyes. Adopted daughter?

Before he could figure it out, Li Zhi's surprised voice rang out from behind him: "Godmother, why did you come here in person without even telling me in advance to pick you up?"

Li Lu Yanqun smiled and pulled Li Zhi's wrist, showing a loving mother and filial daughter.

Everyone behind them looked at each other.

What’s going on? Why does this Miss Lizhi have such a powerful background?
Some people who originally thought that Lizhi relied on Zhai Yuan to get to the top and still looked down on this northern girl in their hearts, when they faced Lizhi again, their smiles were obviously brighter than before.

Everything was ready at twelve noon.

Officially opened.

Although Li Zhi was Zhai Yuan's spokesperson at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, she did not dare to stand in the C position and gave the position to Ye Zhiming and Li Lu Yanqun.

The six girls of Girls' Generation squatted in front of the ribbons, each of them looked at the camera with a beautiful smile and made a heart shape with their hands using the gesture taught by Boss Zhai.

The two music directors, Joseph Koo and Dai Sicong, as well as the heads of the lyrics, composition and mixing departments stood in a row. Even Professor Du Qinlan from Hong Kong University was invited.

Liu Dehua's contract expired and he performed on the same stage with several newcomers including Dai Yunhui and Zhang Xueyou.

After the Thousand Stars concert, Chen Shufen was persuaded by Zhai Yuan to terminate her contract with Huaxing and first joined the Jiuyi Entertainment Company. Later, she brought Zhang Guorong and Mei Yanfang from the company to the company, and now she is standing in the C position among the singers.

Overall, the new record company has a decent number of singers, but the quality depends entirely on Zhang Guorong and Mei Yanfang.

However, the team behind the scenes is already considered top-notch in the Hong Kong music circle.

As the sound of firecrackers rang out.

The gold-painted signboard of the third-floor studio covered with red cloth was unveiled.

Jiuyi Good Voice Records Company,
Officially opened.

…………

"Good luck in opening the business, good luck in opening the business."

Business is concentrated in one building, making it much more convenient to visit each other.

Zhang Guorong went down to the third floor playing with cassettes, said hello to a few friends in the music industry, and pushed open the recording studio.

"Uncle Hui, Uncle Cong, two uncles~"

Young Master Rong embraced Gu Jiahui and Dai Sicong from behind and placed the cassette in front of them: "The theme song of my new movie was written by Yuan. His accompaniment was too bad. The two uncles helped me compose a new song~" "Mr. Zhai has a new work?"

The two music industry bigwigs are composing music for the newcomer, and plan to adapt several popular songs by Girls' Generation, converting Mandarin into Cantonese and Cantonese into Mandarin, and then release them for a second time.

This is also a common tactic used in the Hong Kong music scene.

After a song has been tested in the market, the composer will be bought and the lyrics will be rewritten, and it will become another new song.

It’s just that in the past everyone purchased their products from the Japanese music market, but now all of them are copyrights of their own company, saving a lot of licensing fees.

In the past, in addition to the convenient circulation of copyrights from international companies such as PolyGram and Universal, the Hong Kong music scene now has another company called "The Voice of China".

Seeing Zhang Guorong coming with Zhai Yuan's new work, Gu Jiahui and Dai Sicong stopped their work.

Turn on the machine and listen.

The recorder soon rang with Zhai Yuan’s singing: “The road of life is as long as a beautiful dream, and there is wind and frost on the road~ The wind and frost blow on the face, and in this world, how many directions does a beautiful dream have…”

“Awesome!”

Joseph Koo and Dai Sicong looked at each other and did not discuss Zhai Yuan's singing skills. The melody and lyrics were at the level that Zhai Yuan consistently performed in their impression.

"I think it's good too. I'm going to use this song of the same name when I'm filming A Chinese Ghost Story."

Zhang Guorong laughed and said, "Ayuan specifically asked me to tell the two uncles that this song should be accompanied by traditional instruments such as the guzheng, erhu, and pipa. The middle part should have a bit of murderous aura, and it should also be sad and graceful..."

Young Master Rong discussed the post-production of "A Chinese Ghost Story" with two musicians, Gu and Dai, in the recording studio.

Shi Nansheng also came to the third floor to visit. When he walked into the boss's office, he saw Lizhi sorting out the information sent by the marketing department.

"Zhizhi, your part in A Chinese Ghost Story has been sorted out, but seeing how worried you are now, I know you don't have time to shoot it for the time being."

Shi Nansheng came in and greeted Li Zhi, then sat opposite her with a smile: "Let Zhang Guorong and Wang Zuxian shoot the male and female roles first, and save your part for last, okay?"

Li Zhi quickly said, "Sister Nan, you take charge. I will follow the company's arrangements."

Shi Nansheng nodded and asked, "Is it so busy right after opening?"

"Yeah, I don't know when Mr. Zhai will come back." Li Zhi smiled helplessly and said, "The songs released by Girls' Generation are selling well, especially Noriko Sakai's song "aLIEz", which has sold over 30,000 copies. It should be no problem for them to get platinum."

Shi Nansheng was surprised and said, "Sharp, I remember she was only sixteen years old?"

"Otherwise, how can I be Mr. Zhai's adopted daughter?"

Lizhi blinked. He became more confident as he was respected recently, and even started to joke with his boss.

"But the most incisive one is Li Lizhen's song "Night Color". Although the sales volume is only a few thousand copies, many nightclubs have come to discuss the copyright. Just now, a disco called and asked us to name a price."

"I don't like that song. It's noisy and noisy. Ann Bridgewater's song 'Annie' is pretty good."

Shi Nansheng chatted with Lizhi for a while about the record company, then got down to business and told her the purpose of his visit.

Shi Nansheng: "Is The Voice of China short of staff now?"

Lizhi: "It's okay. Mr. Zhai has basically arranged it. There are quite a few singers, but there are more newcomers. We can train them slowly."

Shi Nansheng: "What about Girls' Generation?"

Li Zhi: "The six of them can hold on for now, but Mr. Zhai told me that he is planning to recruit a group of trainees and expand the size of the girl group."

Shi Nansheng smiled and nodded when he heard this.

"Well, two days ago, 91 Entertainment interviewed a pretty girl, she's not that old, but if she's asked to act in a movie, she can only start as a minor role, and she may not be able to be promoted."

Shi Nansheng looked at Li Zhi and said in a bewitching tone, "What a coincidence that you are now hosting 'The Voice of China'. Please help Sister Nan and let her try out for Girls' Generation. A new group will have more opportunities since it has just been formed!"

The person she was talking about was naturally Li Zi, the granddaughter of the founder of Hong Kong films.

As a teenager, Li Zi had no acting talent. Apart from his pretty face, he had no other strengths. Shi Nansheng found it difficult to even play supporting roles.

It just so happened that Girls' Generation debuted as a group, so naturally they set their sights on The Voice.

…………

Jiuyi Good Voice opened for half a month.

Zhai Yuan still did not return to Hong Kong.

However, Shi Nansheng, Li Zhi, Wei Jianbang and others heard that during this period, Shen Wei brought a team of lawyers to Taiwan and was discussing the site selection for the opening of the business.

It’s late November here in Hong Kong.

The comics company under Jiuyi Entertainment is also preparing for its opening.

The company's address was chosen in Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate, in the property building left by Lai Chi-ying during his lifetime.

Similar to The Voice of China, the opening day was also bustling with activity.

In addition to local people who came to the platform, there were also Japanese cartoonists led by Akira Toriyama.

He Zilang, who was serving as the acting village chief in Xiawan Village, was also busy.

Following Zhai Yuan's instructions, a bill was drafted and submitted to the Legislative Council.

'Strengthen copyright education, create a social atmosphere that respects originality, curb pirated comics from the source, and enhance public awareness and education promotion programs...'

On the day the draft was submitted,
The comic book company officially opened for business.

Under the watchful eyes of many people, Li Huizhen, a senior in the comics industry, lifted the company sign to reveal a golden plaque:
912 Newt Comics Company!
The guests looked at each other curiously.

Axolotl? What is that?

Two companies opened in succession within a month. Although Zhai Yuanren was not in Hong Kong, he made two entries popular.

The first one is naturally the puzzling unknown creature, the two-spined newt.

The second was when the Voice of China opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Girls' Generation got rid of the scissors hand gesture and instead made a heart shape with their hands, which became a trend among young people, especially female compatriots.

Relying on her status as a senior in the industry, Li Huizhen also began to recruit people for Ershili.

High salary, voice, and careful guidance from Japanese cartoonists are the three tricks.
A trend of switching jobs has been secretly brewing within Hong Kong's Yulang Group.

In addition to its three tricks, Ershili has another advantage that attracts many cartoonists, that is, its works have the potential to be adapted into cartoons or movies, thereby obtaining more distribution channels and profits.

No one doubts that this is just empty talk. Although New Vision mainly focuses on special effects, it has also developed animation business since "BabyBus".

The news that Jiuyi Entertainment invited Chen Shilon to shoot "City Hunter" also appeared in the entertainment section.

June 11.

There were rumors in the industry that Ma Rongcheng, the top writer of Yulang Group, had terminated his contract with the company and contacted Li Huizhen, the person in charge of Newt. During this period, someone also took pictures of his girlfriend shopping with Chen Shaomei and Takeuchi Naoko of Newt.

11 month 24 day.

Ma Rongcheng confirmed the rumors that he had terminated his contract with Yulang Group, but he is still considering whether to join Ershili and does not rule out the possibility of setting up a new company.

That night,

On their way home, Ma Rongcheng and his assistant Cui Yuanfa were ambushed by unknown persons in the underground parking lot. Ma Rongcheng was injured in his right hand, and his assistant Cui Yuanfa had his tendons cut in both hands...

(End of this chapter)