1991: The Era of Hong Kong Dramas

"Boss, three more bowls, please!"

As the night deepened, the three of them started talking more.

Yuan Yingming seemed to suddenly remember a very interesting topic and asked with great interest, "Ah Sheng, do you know how Jia Hui filmed movies a few years ago?"

"I don't know." Huo Sheng shook his head.

Yuan Yingming put down his wine glass and said with a smile, "When he was writing 'The Unyielding Spirit,' he told Uncle Six that he wanted the protagonist, Ding Youkang, to personally push his girlfriend off a train."

Huo Sheng was stunned.

"Uncle Six immediately asked him: 'Are you crazy? That's the female lead!'"

Yuan Yingming mimicked their tone: "Jiahui was completely unyielding, and replied, 'It would look better if you just pushed it away.'"

"Uncle Six asked again, 'Then how will we film the rest of the scenes?'"

"Then this guy said, 'We'll talk about the rest of the scenes later, let's just push it out for now!'"

"Pfft—"

Huo Sheng was sipping his wine when he suddenly spat it out and stared at Wei Jiahui.

This is so typical of him.

Wai Ka-fai retorted, "Didn't that scene later become a famous one?"

Yuan Yingming smiled and said, "A classic is a classic. The day after it was released, Uncle Six called to scold us, saying that the audience had sent letters to complain."

Jia Hui replied, "It's the right thing to complain; it proves they remembered!"

"Sixth Uncle was speechless and asked him, 'Why didn't you kill Ding Youkang's foster mother as well, so that their whole family could go to hell?'"

"And do you know what Jia Hui said?"

Yuan Yingming asked.

"have no idea."

Huo Sheng shook his head.

Yuan Yingming laughed, "At the time, Wai Ka-fai was very surprised and said to Uncle Six, 'How did you know? I was just about to write it like that!'"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Huo Sheng was completely bewildered. He asked, "So how will this play end? We can't just keep killing each other, can we?"

"What kind of ending?"

Wai Ka-fai picked up his glass and took a sip. "In the end, I couldn't stop myself. I might as well sentence Ting Yau-kang to death and get it over with."

"Didn't any more audience members complain?"

Huo Sheng is like a curious child.

Wai Ka-fai shook his head and said with a wry smile, "Why didn't I look for it? Although this film is popular, everyone says it's a terrible movie!"

After he finished speaking, he became a little emotional. "I took the TVB scriptwriting training class twice before I got in. After graduation, I worked in a parking lot for three years, copying scripts until the early hours of the morning every day, and I didn't even have time to eat."

When I was writing "The Rogue Tycoon," we only had the budget left for the last scene. The producer insisted on cutting the ending, so I rewrote it for three days and three nights without sleep to save the show!

Yuan Yingming understood his feelings, patted him on the shoulder, and the two of them took a swig of draft beer.

With a loud bang, Wai Ka-fai slammed the cup down on the table.

Huo Sheng was startled, but Yuan Yingming waved his hand and said, "It's alright, he can't hold his liquor."

Wai Ka-fai seemed to be talking to himself, yet also to the two people, "Last year when I left TVB, everyone criticized me for being greedy for ATV's high salary and benefits. Actually, I just wanted to make things I wanted to make, regardless of whether it was commercial or not. Was that wrong?"

I went to ATV and filmed "Looking Back at Today" and "Burning Rain," but nobody watched any of them. "The Great Era" was the last one. Ah Sheng wrote the script, which was exactly what I wanted to film.

If I fail again, I'll go out and try my luck elsewhere, I'll go make movies!

"Ugh!"

Yuen Ying-ming had some understanding of the situation and knew that this was due to the prevailing circumstances. What Wai Ka-fai wanted to express was not accepted by TVB, so he could only sigh.

Huo Sheng was completely unaware of the situation. He looked around, unsure how to comfort him.

Nine jugs of fresh liquor can weigh about ten kilograms. Wei Jiahui has a low alcohol tolerance, and after drinking a little over two jugs, he couldn't hold on any longer. He slumped onto the table, drank a glass of water, and took a break.

Yuan Yingming drank most of the rest, while Huo Sheng kept him company, taking sips here and there.

The two continued chatting, avoiding those unpleasant things and turning to a very pleasant topic, talking about the upcoming filming.

Damian Lau has finished filming and returned to shoot "The Deer and the Cauldron". It has officially entered the stage where Lau Ching-wan is the lead actor. Amy Kwok can't act at all, and the set is in chaos every day.

After eating and drinking for a while, from a little after nine o'clock until a little after eleven, Wei Jiahui regained his senses and felt a little embarrassed about his rambling earlier.

Since they had to work the next day, director Yuan Yingming suggested they call it a day.

Huo Sheng and Wei Jiahui both stayed in the dormitory. He helped Wei Jiahui, whose legs were still a little weak, back to his room, and then went back to the next room and lay down on the bed, but he couldn't fall asleep no matter what.

He had always thought Wai Ka-fai was a very quiet and reserved person, but he never expected him to have so many things on his mind.

If they fail tomorrow, wouldn't I be the one who harmed them? After all, if I hadn't interfered, they probably would have gained more trust from TVB executives and wouldn't have needed to go through all this trouble to compete for scheduling, right?

As for myself, if this big era moves to late-night slots and I can't achieve the results I want, how should I proceed?

Huo Sheng thought about it more and more deeply, and couldn't fall asleep no matter how much he tossed and turned.

He came to Hong Kong and felt lonely in this foreign land. Now he has become friends with Wai Ka-fai and others, and from any perspective, he doesn't want everyone to waste their efforts.

But this is a situation that no matter how much he plans and executes it diligently, he cannot resolve.

He could only hope, just like that first night, that tomorrow would be a sunny day.

……

December 29, 92, morning.

Wei Jiahui slept fitfully last night, but the next day, he still arrived at the conference room of the broadcasting building early with the black box.

After waiting at the door for a while, Liang Jiashu finally arrived late.

After a while, several people arrived one after another, including General Manager He Dingjun, Deputy General Manager He Shunren, Director Zeng Lizhen, and veteran producers such as Wang Tianlin.

Finally, Mona Fong actually helped Run Run Shaw to the scene.

This small screening meeting has officially begun.

The first show to air was "Human, Ghost, and Fox".

The story tells of the chivalrous Yan Caichen who takes it upon himself to eliminate demons and protect the righteous path.

He met Leng Qiulian, who was disguised as a man, and fell in love with the fox demon Hu Xiangxiang, who came to assassinate him. In the end, Xiangxiang sacrificed herself to save him.

Meanwhile, the assassin Shi Sanlang, disguised as a ghost, falls in love with the female ghost Nie Ainong.

Later, the leader of the Sky Eagle Cult appeared and turned Leng Qiulian into a bird. To save his lover, Yan Caichen embarked on a journey to fight against the leader of the Sky Eagle Cult.

Simply put, it's a story about a human falling in love with a demon, a demon falling in love with a fox, a fox falling in love with a ghost, and a ghost falling in love with a human...

Ten episodes is too long. When reviewing a film, people usually watch the first episode in its entirety, then fast-forward or randomly select another episode, and finally watch the tenth episode.

Even so, it took two or three hours for "Human, Ghost and Fox" to finish airing.

The people in the meeting room were all a bit tired; some started flipping through booklets, while others lowered their heads to drink tea.

"Change it," Fang Yihua said.

The staff efficiently took out the tape and replaced it with one from "The Greed of Man".

The screen lit up again.

The story begins with the day of the great miracle and ends with the love story of Ding Xiaoxie and Fang Ting.

The screen dimmed and fell silent.

Wai Ka-fai sat nervously at one end of the sofa, wondering what the ending of this work would be.

It's impossible to predict—in terms of quality alone, he has no worries. But this thing also involves certain factions and office politics.

There are too many people who dislike Wai Ka-fai, Leung Ka-shu, or even Tsang Lai-ching. They'll seize any opportunity to annoy you; it's become commonplace.

Moreover, the resources for the anniversary film season are already being eyed by a few companies. They might be waiting for you to finish filming and get on the competition stage, then they'll pull off a series of maneuvers to bring you down.

In TVB, actors as pure as Wai Ka-fai are ultimately a minority.