Hong Kong variety show: The mastermind behind the scenes is emerging.

1983 1 Month 18 Day.

Kowloon, Cheung Sha Wan.

A gloomy sky was shrouded in a light, cold rain, casting a gray, misty haze over the bustling industrial area.

Headquarters building of Kowloon Motor Bus Company (KMB).

Gao Tianli was wearing an inexpensive gray suit, clutching a black briefcase tightly in his hand, but his forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat.

He was a typical honest man. In this era filled with speculation and violence, he was like a donkey that only knew how to pull the millstone. He worked as an accountant at Kowloon Motor Bus for seven years, working diligently and never being late or leaving early. Because of his mild-mannered and helpful nature, his colleagues called him "Ah Li" or "Brother Li".

"Ali, this is a large sum of money, be careful," the finance manager patted him on the shoulder. "Boss Lei specifically instructed that five million in cash must be deposited before the bank closes."

"Don't worry, supervisor, I've delivered it several times already."

Gao Tianli wiped his sweat and gave a simple, honest smile.

Five million Hong Kong dollars. In this day and age, that's a fortune enough to drive anyone crazy.

Gao Tianli got into a company car, accompanied by two security personnel and a driver.

The car drove out of the company and headed towards Mong Kok along Cheung Sha Wan Road.

However, less than ten minutes after the car started moving, Gao Tianli suddenly experienced a sharp, cramping pain in his abdomen.

"Well……"

Gao Tianli clutched his stomach, his face turning deathly pale. For the past few days, to save money for supplements for his pregnant wife, he had been eating leftovers, and today he finally developed an upset stomach.

"Stop the car...stop the car now..."

Gao Tianli was in so much pain he couldn't straighten up. "I can't take it anymore... I need to go to the toilet..."

"What's going on, Ali? We're almost there!" the driver complained.

"I really can't go on... I'll just stop at that gas station for a bit..."

The car stopped at a gas station by the roadside. Gao Tianli didn't even have time to grab his briefcase; he rushed into the toilet, clutching his backside.

Just as he rushed into the bathroom and closed the door...

"boom--!!"

A series of screeching brakes and crashes rang out outside.

Then came several muffled gunshots.

"Bang! Bang!"

"Robbery! Don't move!!"

Gao Tianli was so scared in the toilet that he was trembling all over. He didn't even have time to pull up his pants before he pushed open the door and looked out.

Two unlicensed vans sandwiched the company car, blocking it completely. Four hooded robbers, armed with AK-47s and Black Star pistols, skillfully knocked out the security guard, smashed the car window, and stole the black briefcase containing five million yuan in cash.

The whole process took less than two minutes.

When Gao Tianli rushed out, pulling up his pants, all that remained were broken glass scattered on the ground and his groaning colleagues.

The robbers had long since disappeared.

……

Two hours later.

Cheung Sha Wan Police Station, Major Crime Unit Interrogation Room.

A blinding table lamp shone directly on Gao Tianli's face, making it impossible for him to open his eyes.

Sitting opposite him was Sergeant Chen Sen of the Major Crimes Unit, who was in charge of the case. He was a seasoned veteran with a sinister look in his eyes, a cigarette between his fingers, staring at Gao Tianli with the disdainful gaze one might give someone trash.

"Tell me, how much did you get?" Chen Sen asked coldly, exhaling a smoke ring.

"Officer, I really don't know!" Gao Tianli cried, his hands cuffed to a chair. "I just went to the toilet because of a stomachache... When I came out, they had already run away!"

"Stomach ache?" Chen Sen slammed his hand on the table. "How could it be such a coincidence? Your stomach ache just ten minutes after the car left? You barely stepped into the restroom before the robbers showed up? And they even knew who had the keys in that car, heading straight for the briefcase!"

"If there wasn't a mole, how could the robbers have been so accurate?"

Chen Sen stood up, walked behind Gao Tianli, grabbed his hair, and slammed his head against the table.

"Bang!"

"That tycoon (Dai Fuqiang) robbed an armored truck a few days ago, are you trying to copy him? Are you imitating him?"

"No! I really didn't!" Gao Tianli cried out, blood streaming from his forehead. "I've worked at the company for seven years! I've never done anything dishonest! You can investigate!"

"Investigate? Of course we should investigate."

Chen Sen sneered, "But until we find out the truth, you'd better stay here."

The door was pushed open, and Mr. Lui, the owner of Kowloon Motor Bus, walked in.

This man is not only a bus tycoon and the owner of Golden Princess Cinemas, but also the financial backer of Cinema City. He wields immense power in Hong Kong Island.

"Lei Sheng, you've arrived." Chen Sen immediately put on a smiling face.

Boss Lei didn't even glance at Gao Tianli, but coldly said to Chen Sen, "Inspector Chen, five million is no small sum. I don't want my money to go down the drain. This guy... you should take good care of him."

"Understood." Chen Sen understood immediately.

The next five hours were the darkest five hours of Gao Tianli's life.

"I need to use the toilet...please...I need to use the toilet..."

The urge to defecate was suppressed by the fright at the gas station, but after several hours of torment, Gao Tianli feels like his intestines are about to explode.

"Hold it in."

Chen Sen sat next to him reading the newspaper without looking up. "If you haven't explained where the five million is, you might as well have soiled yourself."

"Officer... I'm a human being..."

"You're a thief!" Chen Sen walked over and kicked Gao Tianli in the stomach.

"Ugh—!!"

This kick became the final straw that broke the camel's back of the Luo Ke Dao Dam.

A foul stench filled the interrogation room.

Gao Tianli lost control of his bladder in front of all the police officers.

He slumped into the chair, tears streaming down his face. As a man, as a man who valued his reputation, his dignity had been utterly trampled into dust at that moment.

"It stinks!" Chen Sen covered his nose, looking disgusted. "Drag him to the shower room and rinse him with cold water! Once he's clean, continue the interrogation!"

……

The interrogation continued late into the night.

Unable to find any direct evidence, and with media involvement, Chen Sen had no choice but to release the person.

"Get out of here! Don't give me any evidence against you!"

Gao Tianli dragged his heavy steps, his body reeking of a foul odor, as he walked out of the interrogation room.

I had just stepped out the door.

"Tenryu!!"

A mournful cry.

On a bench in the hall, his wife, eight months pregnant, lay pale as a sheet, clutching her chest and gasping for breath.

She waited there for a full ten hours. She didn't eat or rest; she just endured the torment of extreme anxiety and fear.

"Wife!"

Ignoring the filth on his body, Gao Tianli rushed over.

"What's wrong? Don't scare me!"

"My...my heart...it hurts so much..." His wife gripped Gao Tianli's hand, her nails digging deep into his flesh. "The child...the child..."

The next second, a stream of blood flowed down her skirt.

"Doctor!! Call a doctor!!!"

Gao Tianli let out a heart-wrenching roar.

……

Outside the emergency room of the hospital.

Gao Tianli sat on the ground like a wooden man, still wearing the same suit that was covered in excrement and sweat.

"Who are the family members?"

"Yes, I am a doctor, I am a family member!"

The doctor came out, took off his mask, and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, we tried our best."

"The patient was already congenitally weak, and the combination of prolonged overwork and mental stress triggered heart failure..."

"The adult couldn't be saved."

boom--

Gao Tianli rushed to the bedside and lifted the white cloth.

His wife's pale face was bloodless, and her eyes were tightly closed, as if she were denouncing the injustice of the world.

"Where are my children? Where are my children?!"

"The baby survived, it's a girl," the doctor sighed. "But because of premature birth and oxygen deprivation in the womb, her condition is very dangerous. She must be placed in an incubator for observation and treatment. The cost... could be very high."

"How much?" Gao Tianli asked, his voice trembling.

"The initial cost will be at least 200,000. If complications arise later... it could double."

Two hundred thousand.

Gao Tianli looked at the empty corridor and let out a desperate roar.

"ah--!!!"

……

Two days later, after handling his wife's funeral arrangements, Gao Tianli became increasingly taciturn.

He entrusted his daughter, who was still hospitalized, to his mother-in-law and then went to the KMB headquarters.

He was fired.

This was within his expectations. After all, he had lost five million, and it was already a great favor that Boss Lei hadn't killed him.

But he needs money.

My daughter is in the ICU and we're spending money every day. We also haven't settled my wife's funeral expenses yet.

"Boss, I know I'm ashamed to face you."

Gao Tianli stood in front of Lei Juekun's large desk, head down, "But I really need money. I've worked at the company for seven years, and with my housing provident fund and this month's salary, I have about 230,000 yuan."

"Please, give me this money. I'll take it and leave immediately, and I'll never show my face in front of you again."

Boss Lei was smoking a cigar while looking at the stock prices in the newspaper.

Upon hearing this, he slowly raised his head, his eyes as cold as if he were looking at a bug.

"Two hundred and thirty thousand?"

Boss Lei sneered, "Gao Tianli, are you out of your mind?"

"You made me lose five million! The police haven't solved the case yet, and the shareholders outside are all cursing me! How dare you ask me for my money back?"

"But that's my hard-earned money! It's my housing provident fund accumulated over so many years!" Gao Tianli cried out in desperation. "Boss, my wife just died, and my child is still in the hospital being treated. I'm truly desperate, please..."

That's your problem.

Boss Lei waved his hand, as if shooing away flies, "Company policy dictates that anyone who causes huge losses to the company due to gross negligence will be dismissed and all bonuses and benefits will be deducted. You're already being lenient by not having to pay this five million."

"Security! Throw him out!"

"Lei X Kun!!"

Gao Tianli finally snapped.

He rushed forward, slammed his hands on the table, his eyes bloodshot.

"That's my life-saving money! How could you be so heartless?! You have billions, and 200,000 is just the cost of a meal for you, but for me it's two lives!!"

"Bang!"

Two burly security guards rushed in, grabbed Gao Tianli from both sides, and dragged him out.

"Throw him out! If he dares to cause trouble again, break his legs!"

"Bang!"

Gao Tianli was thrown onto the concrete ground in front of the Kowloon Motor Bus building like trash.

The rain has started again.

The cold rain lashed his face, mixing with his tears as it flowed into his mouth, the bitter taste making him want to vomit.

……

evening.

Gao Tianli wandered the streets of Yau Ma Tei like a lost soul.

He was soaking wet, and his glasses were fogged up.

"No money...no money..."

My mind is filled with the doctor's calls urging me to pay the bill and my mother-in-law's desperate cries.

"Why? Why don't good people get good rewards?"

"I worked diligently and honestly, I was never greedy or corrupt, so why did my family end up ruined?"

"And those rich people, those police officers, can look down on me and trample on me?"

Gao Tianli stopped in front of a grocery store.

His gaze fell on a fruit knife in the counter.

Sharp, cold.

Since there's no way to make a living by being a good person, then I'll become a thief.

In this world, being a bad person might allow you to survive.

With trembling hands, Gao Tianli took out the few dozen yuan he had left in his pocket and bought the knife.

He planned to take a knife and fight Boss Lei to the death, to get back the 200,000 yuan that was rightfully his.

Once he got the money and paid the hospital fees, he would turn himself in.

The rain is getting heavier.

Gao Tianli's hand gripping the knife hilt trembled. After all, he wasn't a born criminal; his inner moral compass still tormented him.

Just then, a cold wind blew by.

A newspaper, soaked by the rain, drifted over from somewhere and landed right at Gao Tianli's feet.

That's today's Oriental Daily News.

Gao Tianli subconsciously glanced down.

He originally intended to kick it away.

But the huge, red, and enticing headline on the front page of the newspaper seemed to have a magical power, firmly grabbing his attention.

Do you want to become a millionaire?

Knowledge is wealth! Open selection process across Hong Kong with no entry requirements!

[Answer 15 questions correctly and take home 100 million yuan in cash on the spot!]

Gao Tianli was stunned.

He slowly bent down and picked up the wet newspaper.

By the dim light of the streetlamp, he could make out the details below:

"I don't care about your background or your origins. All I care about is your brains and your knowledge."

Registration Location: Broadcast Drive Asia Television Station

Date: January 23.

Gao Tianli was a scholar. Besides work, his only hobby was reading. He knew a little about history, geography, literature, and even entertainment gossip.

"Knowledge...is wealth?"

Gao Tianli muttered to himself.

He looked at the cold fruit knife in his arms, then at the newspaper in his hand that was already soaked with rainwater.

If he actually went to Boss Lei, he would most likely be beaten to death by the security guards or arrested and imprisoned by the police. His daughter was still left unattended.

But if...

What if this guy is real?

One million.

That would not only save his daughter's life, but also buy back the dignity he had lost.

"I'm a good person...I don't want to be a thief."

Gao Tianli loosened his grip on the knife handle.

In his eyes, the light that had been extinguished was rekindled by a faint but stubborn flame.

That was the last rope in the abyss of despair.

"ATV...Millionaire..."

Gao Tianli gripped the newspaper tightly and slowly stood up.

He threw the fruit knife into the nearby trash can.

Then, he turned around, facing the cold rain, and walked towards the broadcast drive.

His back was no longer hunched, and although his steps were still heavy, they carried a newfound resolve.

Even if it's a scam, he's willing to give it a try.

This was his last chance before he fell into hell.