Hong Kong variety show: I can boost loyalty, the most generous boss.

Chapter 223, 222. A meteoric rise to fame, the idol of illegal immigrants!
Yang Jun plans to also get Leung Wing-ki into the Legislative Council. Leung Wing-ki is a top barrister, and it wouldn't be difficult for him to be elected as a Legislative Council member representing the legal profession. In this way, the Yang family would have three members, plus other left-wing members, making a total of seven or eight comrades, which would be quite a force to be reckoned with.

Unfortunately, this is the British colonial era in Hong Kong. Although Chinese people have an advantage in the business world, they are at a complete disadvantage in politics.

Of course, there are exceptions, such as the "banana people" (people who are Westernized but not culturally advanced), who still thrive. Banana people are those who are outwardly yellow but inwardly white, pretending to be foreigners.

"Mr. Yang, the road ahead is blocked. There's a large gathering of South Asians!"

Yang Jun glanced around and saw a group of South Asians gathered in the street ahead. He cursed under his breath.
"Damn, there are more and more Indians in Hong Kong, and fewer and fewer Chinese!"

Yang Jun said to the driver, Da Dong:
"Going to Giant Interactive, not going back to headquarters."

He Xinqiong has been promoted to chairman of Giant Media Group. The original film company has been assigned to another senior executive, and she has not been to the film company recently.

Giant Film Company.

As soon as Yang Jun stepped into the company's gate, General Manager Liu Xing led a group of directors, actors, and celebrities to greet him. Only a few of the big stars got to meet their two bosses, while the minor characters could only see the backs of their heads from behind.

Guan Zhilin watched with envy as Yang Jun, arm in arm with He Xinqiong, stood behind Zhou Ruifa and the others.

"Ah Xing, congratulations! The movie 'Fight Back to School' has once again topped the box office."

Even though Stephen Chow was wearing a suit and tie, he was still quite reserved and not very talkative in front of Yang Jun!
"Thank you!"

Zhou Ruifa, however, put his arm around Zhou Xingxing's shoulder and teased him with a smile:
"You're more famous than me now, every movie you make is a hit!"

Zhou Ruifa is not exaggerating. Zhou Xingxing became famous overnight with "All for the Winner", and then starred in "Fight Back to School" and "God of Gamblers II" which were both huge hits, winning the box office champion for two consecutive years. He already had a nonsensical performance style.

"Brother Chow, you're joking. You're very famous too!"

Yang Jun then looked at familiar faces such as Andy Lau, Wong Cho-yin, and Brigitte Lin, and greeted them one by one.

"Zhengying, your film Mr. Vampire was also good. There are a lot of copycat movies on the market now!"

Yang Jun turned to look at Lin Zhengying, who was standing next to Hong Jinbao. Lin Zhengying, flattered by Yang Jun's praise, replied:

"Thank you, Mr. Yang, for giving me this opportunity. Also, thank you to the director and CCTV."

Yang Jun shook his head, both amused and exasperated. Lin Zhengying, that guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, also knew how to flatter.

After its release, "Mr. Vampire" grossed 2500 million yuan at the box office, earning Yang Jun a large sum of money.

Basically, all of Giants' movies are made for profit; they are mostly commercial films with low artistic value and are quite vulgar!

"Mr. Yang, this is Leung Chiu-wai. He has a great talent for acting."

Director Wang Jiawei introduced the male lead he had chosen to Yang Jun.

Liang Chaowei was not tall, a head shorter than Yang Jun, and looked up at Yang Jun.

"Young man, you're quite handsome. If you keep acting well, you'll definitely become famous!"

Hearing his boss's encouragement, Liang Chaowei blushed with excitement and flattered Yang Jun:
"Although I'm handsome, I'm still far from being as good-looking as Mr. Yang~"

"Haha! You have good taste, kid!"

Yang Jun was amused and said to the directors with a smile:
"Make him famous, even more famous than Chen Long, that's what I said!"

Yang Jun said domineeringly, "In the entire Hong Kong entertainment industry, whoever I want to become famous can become a superstar!"
Even if someone is a pig, Yang Jun can still make him famous; that's how domineering capital is.

Congratulations, Tony!

"Yes, you're treating us!"

The surrounding actors and directors offered their congratulations, which made Leung Chiu-wai very excited. The big boss publicly said that he would make him famous.

On the other side, a group of actresses were eyeing the scene eagerly, planning to take the opportunity to go up and say hello.

"Boss, this is Mr. Li Lianjie~"

Wang Jin brought along a young actor, who was also short and had a delicate appearance. He was very nervous when he met Yang Jun.

Li Lianjie has been terrified lately. His agent has been shot repeatedly, and his former agent, Boss Cai, was also shot and killed a month ago, leaving him riddled with bullets.

Rumor has it that the man behind this shocking crime is none other than Mr. Yang!
"Ah Jie, don't be nervous, Mr. Yang is very easygoing~"

Seeing Li Lianjie trembling, Wang Jin quickly offered a word of comfort, but inwardly he smiled bitterly, knowing that Mr. Yang was only easygoing with his friends.

Li Lianjie nodded woodenly and said cautiously:
"Boss, please take care of me from now on~"

Yang Jun sat on the sofa, picked up the brewed tea, took a sip, and said with a smile:

"A mainland Chinese? I heard you won a martial arts championship in mainland China?"

Li Lianjie nodded and said nervously:

"Yes, it's all just routine martial arts; it's all about looking good."

Yang Jun laughed heartily and said to Li Lianjie:
"We're making movies to show impressive action, not to have you act like a gangster, going out and hacking people to pieces!"

"Don't worry, I treat all mainlanders the same. As long as you focus on your acting, no one will dare to bully you!"

When Yang Jun saw Li Lianjie's timid and hesitant appearance, he knew that Li Lianjie had been bullied badly in Hong Kong. People in Hong Kong looked down on artists who came from the mainland.

Li Lianjie has no powerful backing and has been repeatedly kidnapped by gangs over the past few months, which has made him question his existence!

If you give him another chance, he will definitely never come to Hong Kong again.

"Yes, Mr. Yang."

The surrounding artists looked at Li Lianjie as if he were watching a monkey show, though they didn't show it on the surface, their eyes revealed their disdain.

Yang Jun saw this and understood that this mindset couldn't be eliminated overnight.

There are always some people in every place who inexplicably have a sense of superiority! They look down on people from other places, feeling that they are being taken away from their job opportunities.

"Director Tsui Hark, here's a script that's perfect for you to direct, and this young man will be the lead!"

Sure enough, when Mr. Yang decided to promote this mainlander, many male actors showed hostility.

Even director Tsui Hark frowned. He had never worked with mainland actors before, but since the boss had spoken, he had to obey.

Yang Jun turned to look at General Manager Liu Xing and said to him:

"Li Lianjie's salary is 20 yuan. We'll pay him 10 yuan upfront so he can settle down in Hong Kong."

Liu Xing nodded in surprise. He had originally wanted to ask for 5 yuan for Li Lianjie, who was from the mainland. After all, 5 yuan was a lot of money for the standard of living in the mainland. He wanted to save money wherever possible.
Li Lianjie never expected that the company's big boss would personally inquire about his pay and even give him a 10 yuan advance payment.

"Thank you, Mr. Yang!"

Li Lianjie said, flattered, that he had been bullied for a long time and that someone cared about him, which filled him with gratitude.

What a benefactor! Mr. Yang is definitely a benefactor to his film career. Kung Fu superstar Li Lianjie is determined to make good films to repay the kindness of the big boss, Mr. Yang! Yang Jun has no idea what Li Lianjie is thinking. After making these arrangements, Yang Jun remembered something.

"Mr. Liu, do we have a movie in our film library called 'Snake Fighting'? It was produced by Shaw Brothers, and we bought the rights to it."

Snake-slaying? Liu Xing, who had worked in the film industry for over ten years, immediately remembered: Wasn't this a Category III film produced by Shaw Brothers?
It was pulled from theaters just a few days after its initial release due to its excessive gore and violence.

It wasn't really about the gore and violence; the main issue was that the film's content hit a nerve with the Hong Kong government, subtly criticizing the immigration policies in Hong Kong under British rule. This led to the film being taken down by the enraged British.

"It seems so. Shaw Brothers sold the film rights to us!"

Yang Jun nodded. The film rights and VCD rights were both there, so that was fine.

"I plan to re-release the film 'Snake Fighting' at Giant Cinema for three screenings, and make 200,000 copies of the film on CVD discs, with a uniform price of 1 yuan."

Good heavens! Liu Xing didn't say a word after hearing this. The discs were priced at one yuan. Was he losing money to gain publicity?

However, Liu Xing didn't say anything. The boss was rich and could do whatever he wanted, selling it for whatever price he wanted.

Liu Xing nodded and could only comply, saying:
"Okay, I'll arrange it right away. Three days of promotion, and the film will be released this Friday."

Riding the wave of trending news about illegal disposal, this movie is being released based on this hot topic, so it's bound to be a decent film!

Therefore, Giant Media Group went all out to promote a unique film, calling it a masterpiece that directly touches people's hearts!
Citizens of Hong Kong and Macau have all seen the newspaper advertisements about "snake-catching."

"Does shooting a snake really need to be a movie? This director is a bit odd!"

"Dude, it's human smuggling, that's mainland illegal immigrants. Wasn't this movie banned?"

"There's been a lot of commotion in the Legislative Council lately, with Councilor Yang trying to amend the law. This movie just happened to be released, so I'll go see it when I have time!"

Hong Kong people have a sense of curiosity and want to see just how perverse and bloody this movie is!
Many Hong Kong residents plan to try out the movie theater on Friday. The re-release of "The Snake" has resulted in a packed house!

After the one-hour movie ended, the Hong Kong residents who had watched it walked out of the cinema in shock, still in a daze.

The reason is simple: the scene was too realistic and bloody, which shocked them too much.

“Those despicable snake catchers, those pitiful mainland illegal immigrants, we should relax immigration restrictions, especially those on the mainland.”

"I'm disgusted. I strongly suggest lifting the restrictions so they can live in the New Territories!"

"That's right! Why don't capitalists allow the development of the New Territories? Isn't it because they want to hoard and speculate?"

Those damn capitalists deliberately bought land but didn't develop it so that we couldn't afford houses, causing housing prices to rise!

Through the manipulation of public opinion, the conflict between locals and mainlanders was successfully transformed into hatred towards unscrupulous capitalists.

The phrase "buying land but not developing it" clearly doesn't refer to Yang Jun, but rather to companies like Jardine Matheson, China Merchants Group, and Li Ka-shing's companies.

Giant Empire Group's real estate business accounts for a small proportion of its business. It does not hoard land and instead builds commercial residential communities and office buildings directly, and the prices are lower than the market price.

The public housing built by the Giant Empire Group is not only inexpensive but also of high quality, and has a very good reputation in Hong Kong!

Public opinion is like a tiger; for a time, Hong Kong was extremely concerned about illegal immigrants!

Governor's House.

Edward also saw the news reports in the newspapers and on television, most of which were critical of him.

"Fuck you, what are you film censors doing?"

Edward was furious. He had already led the Legislative Council in rejecting the proposal, and the release of this movie would be a slap in the face to him.

How could this be tolerated? He was the Governor of Hong Kong, the only local tyrant!

“Mr. Edward, I will immediately have the relevant authorities order them to remove the film from the shelves.”

The Chief Secretary for Administration was sweating profusely after being summoned by the Governor of Hong Kong and given a severe dressing-down.

As the head of the three departments in Hong Kong, he was second only to the emperor, yet he was in such a sorry state immediately.

It's that damned Yang Jun again, the die-hard leftist. These foreigners have tried to win him over, even offering him honors like Justice of the Peace and knighthood, but Yang Jun just won't take the bait!
The Chief Secretary for Administration called the Director of Film and Television Management, Ma Jiahua, and told him to immediately notify Giant Cinemas to stop showing the film, or else Giant Cinemas' cinema license would be revoked.

Ma Jiahua was also in a difficult position. He had received a lot of benefits from Giants Movies. Although he was a foreigner, he had given Giants Movies a lot of convenience.

There was no way around it; a higher-ranking official can have absolute power, especially the Chief Secretary for Administration. How could Ma Jiahua dare to disobey orders?

So they called Giant Movies to pull the film from theaters and fined them HK$10 for showing a restricted film.

Giants Movies cooperated by immediately pulling the film from theaters. Seriously! Movie theater licenses are incredibly valuable; losing them would be a huge loss!

However, the day after the film's theatrical run ended, the media launched another attack, stating that the film "Snake Fighting" had been pulled from theaters due to force majeure. Giant Films apologized to all movie fans and thanked Hong Kong moviegoers for their support!
Furthermore, a host of influential celebrities, including Sammo Hung, Chow Shui-fat, and Andy Lau, have also spoken out in support of amending the regulations concerning illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, the VCD version of "Snake Fighting" sold like hotcakes because it was so cheap that almost everyone had a copy. Every family that had ever bought a VCD player bought a disc to watch at home.

Governor's House.

Edward's face darkened again. In his hand was a disc, a disc of the movie "Snake Slayer," which his servant had bought.

"How do you do things?"

The Chief Secretary for Administration felt wronged and explained to the Governor:
"VCD discs are an emerging industry, and we haven't yet included them in our regulations. We can't control the distribution of VCD discs."

This is a legal window of opportunity for new things. Once VCD players become widespread, relevant departments will soon regulate VCD discs.

Governor Edward slammed his fist on the table and said angrily:
"Then bring it under management as soon as possible. Do I have to teach you that?"

Outside the door, the secretary rushed in, handed Governor Edward an official letter, and said with a grim expression:
"Mr. Edward, the mainland has issued a statement demanding our proper handling of illegal immigrants, urging us to listen to public opinion and not act arbitrarily, lest we make a grave mistake!"

Governor Edward was dumbfounded. The mainland had also gotten involved in this matter. This Yang Jun was indeed closely connected with the mainland.

"Fuck! How could this happen?!"

Edward sat on the sofa, smoking a cigar with a grim expression. After thinking for a long time, he finally decided to compromise.

"Notify the Legislative Council to reconsider Councilor Yang Jun's motion."

The Chief Secretary for Administration was taken aback. Was this a compromise? But upon reflection, it made sense. With the current public outcry, compromise was the best course of action.

The Legislative Council held a new meeting, mainly to discuss illegal immigrants from the mainland. At the meeting, more than 90% of the members agreed to the bill proposed by legislator Yang Jun, and illegal immigrants from the mainland who were stranded in Hong Kong obtained legal status.

In addition, illegal immigrants who enter Hong Kong by smuggling need to register with the Immigration Department in the city center to obtain legal status.

This bill only targets immigrants from mainland China and does not apply to immigrants from other South Asian and South Vietnamese countries, who are still low-status illegal workers.

Yang Jun's victory in the Legislative Council made him famous, and the more than 20 illegal immigrants from the mainland in Hong Kong cheered, finally free from their fearful lives.

In Kowloon Walled City, tens of thousands of residents beat drums and gongs, creating a festive atmosphere!
They received good news today: they finally have legal status and no longer have to live in hiding like rats in the street.

(End of this chapter)