HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 107 [107] The Era of the Four Heavenly Kings Comes to an End
In one night, Qi Yuan received nearly two million Hong Kong dollars in donations, while Li Ming only received a little over one million.

This is already rare.

Most wealthy people are stingier than poor people.

The idea of ​​installing wire mesh in the company's squat toilets during working hours to prevent employees from taking paid toilet breaks, and setting time limits for toilet use, were all their ideas.

It was especially difficult for Qi Yuan and Li Ming to get money out of the pockets of the rich, particularly those wealthy men. They would donate hundreds or thousands of yuan at a time, but one stingy man only donated ten yuan and looked pained.

In previous years, Li Ming even performed acrobatics to encourage wealthy people to donate money, doing all sorts of things like piercing his throat with steel bars and wrapping wire around his neck.

The two of them together secured more than three million Hong Kong dollars in donations tonight, which is already the most lucrative donation Li Ming has ever received.

Afterwards, Lai Ming exclaimed, "Yuanzai, it was definitely the right decision to invite you. You truly deserve to be Hong Kong's new darling of wealthy women. You received twice as many donations as I did. You're not in a hurry to leave Hong Kong these next few days, are you? If you're not in a hurry, you can wait a couple of days. I'll announce something very important, but not that important."

Qi Yuan was a little curious, but Li Ming kept her in suspense and patted her on the shoulder.

The second time, Hong Kong's media once again demonstrated their expertise.

Li Ming and Qi Yuan worked together to solicit donations from wealthy individuals, raising a total of over three million yuan.

[Shocking! A wealthy woman paid 500,000 yuan to keep Qi Yuan as her sugar daddy, but Qi Yuan only lasted four minutes]

[Length doesn't matter, quality does. Qi Yuan puts in four minutes to make the rich woman's heart flutter.]

……

Qi Yuan found the news headline outrageous.

Isn't it just that a rich woman donated 500,000 yuan and asked him to sing a song with her?
In the hands of these people, it's made to seem as if he had an unspeakable affair with a rich woman.

Soon, Qi Yuan finally found out what Li Ming was going to announce.

7 month 20 day.

At an event, Li Ming, who has already signed with Sony Music, announced a major piece of news: "Starting today, I will no longer accept any awards from the Hong Kong music scene. I made this decision not because I am dissatisfied with the major award organizations in Hong Kong, but simply because I feel that I have received enough awards and it is time to give opportunities to younger people."

The news shocked the entire Hong Kong music scene, as well as the other three Heavenly Kings and their record companies.

If Li Ming doesn't accept the award, won't the era of the Four Heavenly Kings come to an end?

Later, Li Ming's activity and popularity were far less than the other three, which confused some netizens. They wondered how Li Ming could become one of the Four Heavenly Kings when he was not as good at singing as Zhang Xueyou, acting as good as Andy Lau, and dancing as good as Aaron Kwok.

In fact, in the early 1990s, Li Ming was the most popular and famous.

His debut TV series became the highest-rated show in Hong Kong that year, and his albums were also the best-selling.

At the time, Andy Lau and Lai Ming were forcibly paired together, giving rise to the term "twin stars".

"Goodbye Kiss" was a huge hit, and Jacky Cheung rose to fame, turning the Gemini stars into a trio.

It was only after Aaron Kwok joined that the Four Heavenly Kings were formed.

The group of the Four Heavenly Kings started with Li Ming, and it also came to an end when Li Ming withdrew from accepting the award.

Qi Yuan remembered that in her previous life, Li Ming held 23 consecutive concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum in 1999 before announcing that he would no longer accept awards in the Hong Kong music scene. Now, he had announced it a year earlier.

Could it be that he caused the butterfly effect?
The real reason is indeed somewhat related to him. Li Ming is from Beijing and came to Hong Kong with his family when he was a child.

Because he was from out of town, he was often bullied by Hong Kong kids when he was in school. After becoming famous, as the only one of the Four Heavenly Kings from out of town, he also faced competition at work and didn't have a good relationship with the other three.

He himself said that he and the other three people were just colleagues who would greet each other when they met. In recent years, he has focused his career on doing business and charity, and both have been very successful.

In the past two years, he has been gradually fading out of the entertainment industry and plans to treat singing and acting as hobbies.

In the past year, Qi Yuan and Ren Xianqi have risen to prominence and are challenging the status of the Four Heavenly Kings.

Qi Yuan and he were both from the mainland. In his early years, he and three other people competed because they were not convinced that Hong Kong people were superior.
He didn't want to compete with Qi Yuan anymore. They were both from the mainland, so there was no need. He already had enough honors, and he was the richest of the Four Heavenly Kings.

Let Qi Yuan and the other three fight it out; he's leaving.

He didn't care what kind of impact his retreat would have on the other three Heavenly Kings.

They're not even friends, why should he care about the feelings of the other three? If Qi Yuan really beat them to death, it only proves that the three of them are weak.

To avoid conflict between his fans and Qi Yuan's fans, Li Ming also said, "It is a blessing for the Chinese music scene to have such a talented, capable, and compassionate newcomer as Yuan Zai."

I have a good relationship with Yuanzai in private. I admire him and I am also glad that I was born more than ten years too early.

If I had debuted in the same year as him, I, someone who is average-looking, average-singing, average-acting, average-dancing—average in everything—would definitely not be as good as him.

Li Ming's words were humble and dignified, showing the demeanor of a senior figure in the music industry.

Li Ming is happy, but Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, and their record companies are not.

Qi Yuan and Ren Xianqi's new album is poised for release and is about to launch a full-scale attack on the Four Heavenly Kings.

The Four Heavenly Kings should unite to jointly resist the challengers.

You, Li Ming, have betrayed the camp. Not only did you announce that you would not accept the music award in Hong Kong, but you also publicly praised Qi Yuan.

The four corners of the Four Heavenly Kings have already broken one corner, how can they play like this?
While some are sad, others are happy.

Zhang Hao looked at the newspaper excitedly and said, "Great news! Li Ming has withdrawn from accepting the award. The era of the Four Heavenly Kings of Hong Kong is truly over. This is great news for you; your opponents have gone from four to three."

You should never underestimate Li Ming. He was at his peak in his early years, and he had the most die-hard fans.

If he doesn't back down, his fans' fighting power will definitely be among the top of the Four Heavenly Kings.

The Hong Kong entertainment industry has been rocked by a major earthquake these past few days.

Lai Ming's speech became the hottest news in Hong Kong and one of the most important news stories in the Hong Kong entertainment industry in 1998.

The team behind "Storm Riders" was grumbling and cursing.

Why did you choose to withdraw before our movie was released? Was it intentional?
Despite a large portion of the attention being drawn away by the news that Lai Ming would no longer accept awards, "The Storm Riders" remained the top-grossing film in Hong Kong for both daily and weekly periods.

With such great success in Hong Kong, it's estimated that the box office will also be good when it's released in mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, and other places.

This big-budget production with an investment of HK$1 million will not lose money; it may even make a small profit.

Don't even think about making big money; the film market in various regions has been sluggish since the financial crisis.

In this environment, it would be considered a success if a film with such a large investment could break even.

Qi Yuan and Zhang Hao set off back to Taiwan at this time.

New changes have emerged in the Taiwanese music scene. After years of recruiting and developing, Sony Music has begun to take action, releasing an important piece of information.

(End of this chapter)