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

Chapter 144 Fairies Appear

The filming of "Shaolin Temple" is progressing very slowly.

The main reason is the various location transitions, and secondly, there's the issue of improvisation and filming.

This is because Li Jiangbo is involved, and the phenomenon of impromptu editing and filming has become less common.

At this point, Li Jiangbo understood why a movie in later generations could take a year to film.

The reasons for this include changes in directors and lead actors. However, the bigger reason is the issue of writing and filming on the spot. Coupled with the lack of a script and all the actors being novices, it's already quite an achievement that the filming could be completed in a year.

At first, Li Jiangbo was patient and waited, but a month passed and the movie was less than half finished, which made him quite distressed.

During this month, Li Jiangbo spent a lot of time training and refining the actors, helping these newcomers adapt to performing in front of the camera more quickly.

Although Lin Qingxia's eldest sister's problem was resolved, the two secretly went to the address given by her second uncle, but still couldn't find her eldest sister.

In mid-July, Li Jiangbo received a call from Zhao Yazhi in mainland China.

Zhao Yazhi told him on the phone that Hong Kong was starting to fall into chaos, with stock prices, the economy, and immigration all changing daily, and things were also starting to get chaotic at ATV.

Upon hearing this news, Li Jiangbo decided to go back to collect the fruits of his labor.

Also, he was afraid that if he went back too late, that old man Qiu Deliang would steal the fruits of his labor.

After all, this old guy still controls the Far East Bank, which has abundant funds and is a veritable money tap.

Before leaving, Li Jiangbo once again discussed the issue of developing his career in Hong Kong with Li Lianjie.

By this time, Jet Li was no longer the same person he used to be.

During this time, whenever he had free time, he would use the excuse of discussing scripts to chat with Zhang Xinyan about Hong Kong's entertainment circles and Li Jiangbo's films.

He already knew about the various bans imposed by Taiwan on actors and films from mainland China, and he also knew how large Li Jiangbo's company was, and how many Barbies it was.

Unsurprisingly, Li Lianjie declined Li Jiangbo's invitation.

Li Jiangbo gave up and returned to Yanjing with Lin Qingxia.

The two returned to Yanjing a day later, and Li Jiangbo immediately booked a flight back to Hong Kong.

However, the flight was booked for noon the day after tomorrow.

The two booked a room at the foreign guest hotel for two days, but this time they didn't waste money and only booked one room.

The next day, Li Jiangbo took Lin Qingxia to the TV station, wanting to see how his investment in "Journey to the West" was progressing.

Upon arriving at the television station, the two were led by staff to Wang Feng's office once again.

As soon as Wang Feng saw Li Jiangbo arrive, he immediately greeted him warmly.

"Didn't Director Li go to film 'Shaolin Temple'? Why is he back? Has filming finished?"

Li Jiangbo shook his head. "It's not finished filming yet. Something happened in Hong Kong, and I have to go back and check on it."

Wang Feng nodded and shook hands with Lin Qingxia again.

"Master Wang, thank you so much. I've found my uncle."

Wang Feng responded with an "Oh," and said, "Really? Congratulations!"

After the three of them sat on the sofa and chatted for a while, Li Jiangbo revealed the purpose of his visit.

Wang Feng was very open and honest, explaining the progress of the preparations for "Journey to the West" to everyone. He concluded by saying, "Director Li, we've already cast the four main characters, and Director Yang Jie is still casting. Would you like to go and take a look?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jiangbo immediately became interested and asked, "Is it convenient?"

"It's convenient, what's inconvenient about it? Maybe you can even give us some feedback."

"7

Li Jiangbo heard this but didn't take it to heart. After all, how could a national television station tolerate an outsider pointing fingers?

The three of them soon arrived at a rehearsal room, and Wang Feng led the two of them directly into the room.

"Director Yang, come here, let me introduce you."

When Yang Jie saw Wang Feng arrive, he stood up and walked over as well.

"This is director Li Jiangbo, a director from Hong Kong, and the investor for our TV series 'Journey to the West'. This is Ms. Lin Qingxia, from Taiwan, who is here in mainland China to find her relatives."

Yang Jie shook hands with the two of them. When he saw Lin Qingxia, she suddenly asked, "Ms. Lin, would you be interested in acting in 'Journey to the West'?"

Lin Qingxia was stunned. What was going on? She had only come to accompany Director Li to check on the project's progress.

This sudden invitation caught her completely off guard.

Wang Feng realized Lin Qingxia's embarrassment and quickly smoothed things over, "Director Yang, Ms. Lin is about to leave."

Yang Jie was a little disappointed when he heard this. "Oh! Is that so?"

They then warmly welcomed the two to sit down, without mentioning again the earlier invitation to Lin Qingxia to participate in Journey to the West.

Li Jiangbo secretly chuckled to himself, unable to imagine what it would be like if Lin Qingxia played that role in "Journey to the West".

Lin Qingxia reached out and pinched Li Jiangbo's soft flesh hard.

Li Jiangbo stopped laughing instantly and coughed twice.

"Director Yang, what roles are you planning to cast?"

Without turning his head, Yang Jie said, "We'll select the male lead this morning and the female lead this afternoon." After saying that, he gestured to the staff to let the actors in.

A moment later, an actress with two braids walked in with small, square steps.

Li Jiangbo glanced at him, but couldn't quite recognize who he was. He guessed he must be one of the eliminated contestants.

But when he heard the actress's self-introduction, he was momentarily stunned.

"Good morning, leaders. My name is Ma Lan. I graduated from Anhui Provincial Art School and currently work at the Anhui Huangmei Opera Theatre. My specialties are..."

""

Holy crap! Isn't that Tang Sanzang's mother? This person is so explosive?

Lin Qingxia, who was standing nearby, noticed Li Jiangbo's unusual behavior and reached out to tug at him.

"What's wrong? Can't take your eyes off a pretty girl?"

Li Jiangbo shook his head and remained silent.

After Ma Lan performed a segment of "The Female Imperial Son-in-Law," director Yang Jie told her to go back and wait.

Another actress walked in, and the more Li Jiangbo looked at her, the more familiar she seemed, as if he had seen her somewhere before.

It wasn't until the actor introduced himself that he realized who he was.

"Hello, leaders. My name is Li Lingyu, and I currently work at the Yanjing Yue Opera Troupe."

Upon hearing this name, Li Jiangbo couldn't help but think of the song: Who Is It...

However, at this time, Li Lingyu was still a member of the Yue Opera Troupe, so the programs she performed were also related to Yue Opera.

Director Yang Jie's expression remained unchanged; she simply scribbled in her notebook before letting Li Lingyu go home.

As time slowly passed, Li Jiangbo saw countless familiar figures.

Looking at Zhang Qing, who played Princess Wansheng, and Wei Huili, who played Gao Cuilan, his aesthetic sense has become numb.

But the surprise often comes to the next person, and a short-haired actress walked in gracefully.

When Li Jiangbo saw it, he almost blurted out "You bastard!"

Isn't this He Qing, who has acted in all four classic Chinese novels?

After He Qing finished her performance and left the stage, another actress appeared, whom Li Jiangbo would later admire most.

That's Qiu Peining, who played Chang'e.