Hong Kong Entertainment 1979: A Beating Up the Manager at the Start

Chapter 140 The Crew is Ready

Li Jiangbo quickly reached an agreement with the TV station to invest 20 million yuan for the broadcasting rights to the Four Great Classical Novels.

Lin Qingxia had already recorded the missing person notice.

The TV station had secured such a large deal, so naturally they wanted to treat their major client to a meal to build rapport, but Li Jiangbo politely declined.

After leaving the TV station, the two didn't wander around but went straight back to their hotel.

For the next week, Li Jiangbo worked from dawn till dusk every day on matters related to "Shaolin Temple" and investment surveys.

When it comes to the movie, Li Jiangbo has a very firm stance. He's neither proactive nor overly eager.

He's the kind of person who won't ask Zhang Xinyan unless she comes to him.

Li Jiangbo put a lot of effort into the investment and exploration, but unfortunately, China was too backward at the time and there was nothing to bring to Hong Kong.

This disappointed him somewhat, and he thought to himself: I should go to Japan and see if I can get the copyright for the second-generation VCR sorted out.

After all, Hong Kong's video king will only secure the rights from JVC next year, and will subsequently become one of Hong Kong's richest men.

Now in Hong Kong, he wouldn't say he has connections in both the legitimate and criminal worlds, but he can still run a factory and make some money, which will allow him to accumulate wealth quickly.

By next year, if Shao Daheng has his own cinema chain, he will be confident in setting up a temporary chain while simultaneously acquiring large amounts of land and building cinemas through negotiations between John Bull and Rabbit.

Location scouting for a film project is not something that can be done in just a couple of days.

After all, China is too big, and transportation is not very developed, so the production team did not have enough funds.

This afternoon, Zhang Xinyan came to the hotel as usual to report the progress of the film crew to Li Jiangbo.

When he knocked on Li Jiangbo's door, he saw Li Jiangbo, still sleepy-eyed and yawning, opening the door.

"Sit down, I'll go wash up first."

Zhang Xinyan didn't mind and sat down on the sofa to drink tea.

Five minutes later, Li Jiangbo finished tidying up and sat down opposite Zhang Xinyan.

Zhang Xinyan took a stack of photos out of his briefcase and handed them to Li Jiangbo.

"Director Li, the location scouting results are in. Take a look."

Li Jiangbo nodded. "Go on."

Zhang Xinyan nodded. "The site surveyors here have visited several places, almost all the temples in the country. Only Fengxue Temple in Ruzhou looks good."

"I think we can make this a filming location."

"The Zhongyue Temple on Mount Song is also quite nice; it has many buildings and is well-preserved."

Li Jiangbo nodded without saying anything.

Seeing that Li Jiangbo remained silent, Zhang Xinyan continued, "Tiantai Mountain in Zhejiang is also quite nice. Places like Shiliang Waterfall, Guoqing Temple, and Huagang Park are all very good."

"The Shaolin Temple on Mount Song is really dilapidated, a complete ruin, and there aren't many monks left. Most of them are old monks, some of them in their seventies or eighties. I really don't know how to film here."

Li Jiangbo pondered for a moment and put down the photo in his hand.

"That's simple, just build a gatehouse and make it look nice."

Zhang Xinyan nodded. "Hmm! It won't cost much, we can build one. But, Director Li, what do you think?"

Li Jiangbo didn't say anything. He felt very familiar with the photo he had just looked at; it looked like the scenery from the movie "Shaolin Temple" filmed in later generations.

"No problem, we'll film the Shaolin Temple scenes in Songshan and the outdoor scenes in Zhejiang. That's perfect."

Zhang Xinyan was stunned for a moment, then nodded subconsciously.

Actually, there's a reason why he's been reporting so frequently lately.

After all, Director Lee is a renowned director who can produce blockbuster films even in tiny Hong Kong, demonstrating his exceptional talent.

He really wanted to hear some advice from Li Jiangbo, but unfortunately Li Jiangbo always seemed indifferent, as if it were none of his business.

Zhang Xinyan was somewhat disappointed, but couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong.

Li Jiangbo saw through his thoughts, put down his teacup and said, "Director Zhang, the script is yours, you know better than me how to shoot it."

I'm here to offer you some guidance, not to make decisions for you. If you think it's okay, then there's no problem.

Zhang Xinyan paused for a moment, then nodded and said decisively, "Okay! We've chosen our roles here too."

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Then, he took out a stack of photos from his bag and handed them to Li Jiangbo.

This time, Li Jiangbo didn't look through the pages; instead, he listened attentively to Zhang Xinyan's words.

"The male lead will be played by Jet Li. The female lead is played by Ding Lan, an actress from the HEN Provincial Song and Dance Troupe. She has a dance background, so filming shouldn't be a problem."

"For the supporting roles, we found Yu Hai, the sixth-generation successor of Mantis Boxing, and Yu Chenghui, a graduate of the SD Provincial Sports Academy. After selecting a few more people from various film and television schools, the remaining roles were all played by members of the Beijing Martial Arts Team."

"No problem. When will it be turned on?" Li Jiangbo asked.

Zhang Xinyan said, "Let's go the day after tomorrow! We'll go to Songshan tomorrow, the train is at 11 o'clock."

Li Jiangbo nodded. "We'll do it together then."

The two chatted for a while longer, then Zhang Xinyan checked his watch, got up and said goodbye.

"Director Li, I'll be going now. I'll send someone to pick you up tomorrow."

Li Jiangbo nodded, "Okay! I'll get ready in advance and wait for you at the hotel."

After Zhang Xinyan left, Li Jiangbo sat down on the sofa again and boiled the water once more.

Before the water boiled, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in, the door's unlocked."

The door was pushed open, and Lin Qingxia ran into the room, shouting as she ran, "Director Li, I found it! I found it!"

Before Li Jiangbo could even stand up, Lin Qingxia grabbed him and hugged him tightly.

This hug, however, caused Li Jiangbo to fall onto the sofa.

Lin Qingxia exclaimed in surprise, and then the two embraced each other in a strange posture.

How to describe this posture? It's like Guanyin sitting on a lotus, or like a woman on top of a man.

However, Lin Qingxia didn't care at all. She shouted, "Director Li, my uncle has contacted me!"

"Oh! Where is your uncle?"

Lin Qingxia spoke urgently, "I received a call at the hotel front desk. He said his name was Lin Weiyun. He said that if the information on the missing person notice was correct, he was my uncle."

"And what about your older sister?"

Lin Qingxia gently nudged Li Jiangbo. "Director Li, please let me finish!"

"My grandparents passed away very early, and my eldest sister was raised by my uncle. For a period of time, the family was so poor that they went to Heilongjiang."

"So, your eldest sister is in Heilongjiang?"

Lin Qingxia shook her head. "No, my eldest sister got married later and went to Henan with her husband."

Li Jiangbo said "Oh," and then added, "So your older sister is in Henan? That's a coincidence. 'Shaolin Temple' is going to be filmed in Songshan, Henan. Do you want to come along?"

"Yes, yes, I want to see my older sister as soon as possible."

"Okay, then I'll call Zhang Xinyan and ask him to buy an extra ticket."

At this moment, Lin Qingxia realized that their posture was inappropriate, and her face instantly turned red.

She turned her head away, not daring to look at Li Jiangbo, but couldn't help turning her head back to look at him again.

The two were facing each other, very close.

Suddenly, a strange magnetic force drew their heads together.

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