Huayu 1999: Starting with nothing but getting something for nothing

In a Lingnan-style private room on the second floor of Yung Kee, Yang Che smiled and raised a glass of Hennessy XO.

"Filming wrapped up perfectly on the day of Lidong (the start of winter), a very auspicious sign. This means our movie will be a huge success, and it also means everyone has a bright future! Cheers!"

Although the six or seven foreigners didn't understand what the words meant, seeing their boss Yang Che raise his glass, they naturally shouted Chinese phrases like "Cheers!" and "Brother Che is awesome!" and raised their glasses together.

"Ray, Galli, thank you for your wonderful performance."

"......"

"Old Wen, you'll become a Hollywood director."

"......"

"Ah Ming, thank you for taking care of me during this time. Without you, the crew wouldn't have been able to make it so smooth. Good job."

"Brother Che, please take good care of me."

Yang Che remained sincere, enthusiastic, and considerate in every aspect.

Midway through the meal, Yang Che, slightly drunk, went to the restroom.

Then he ran into Liu Jialing in the corridor. Yang Che was stunned for a moment, then nodded in acknowledgment, but did not strike up a conversation, because she was not to his liking.

Liu Jialing was also stunned. She only realized who it was when the man in the black shirt with medium-length hair, who looked familiar, passed by. She then asked in Mandarin, "Hey, hello, are you Yang Che?"

Yang Che paused and turned around: "Does Sister Jialing know me?"

Looking at his taut pectoral muscles as he turned to the side, Liu Jialing smiled brightly: "It really is you! I've seen your photos before. What are you doing in Hong Kong?"

Yang Che's lips twitched, and he pointed towards the WC: "I'm sorry, I drank a bit too much soup while filming a movie. Jialing, which private room are you in? I'll go toast you later."

Liu Jialing was taken aback, then covered her mouth and laughed, also mentioning that her private room was two seats away from Yang Che's group.

Yang Che nodded and quickly walked towards the bathroom.

Yang Che wasn't surprised that Liu Jialing looked at him with no sense of unfamiliarity, and even seemed curious and mischievously delighted.

If a woman is completely serious and proper in front of a man from beginning to end, it can only mean two things: either the man is poor, or the man is both ugly and poor.

Yang Che went back and said something to his friends, then stood up with his wine glass. Lin Mu looked at him warily: "You're not going to leave us like this, are you?"

"roll."

Wu Shixian glanced sideways and said, "When we were filming in Huairou, we ran into Hu Huizhong, and you didn't offer her a toast."

Yang Che roared, "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were my girlfriends! What the hell, am I some kind of big brother?"

Everyone burst into laughter, while some realized what was going on and looked down on them, asking, "What kind of word is 'girlfriends'?"

Yang Che waved his hand, picked up half a glass of XO and went to Liu Jialing's private room. After knocking on the door and entering, he exclaimed, "Wow!"

The man in the lead was fair-skinned and plump; he was none other than Wang Jing.

A quick glance revealed eleven people at the table. Besides Wang Jing and Liu Jialing, there was Zhou Haimei (wearing black-rimmed glasses), Li Yaoxiang (who is a jerk, Liang Feifan), and Fang Zhongxin.

There were a few familiar faces, but I didn't know their names, such as the Queen of Ten Thousand Demons in Dicky Cheung's version of "Journey to the West", and Gao Yi, the necrophiliac in "God of Gamblers".

There were also two people I had absolutely no recollection of; they must have been working behind the scenes.

Upon seeing Yang Che enter, Liu Jialing immediately stood up and introduced him with a smile in Cantonese: "This is Yang Che, the producer of 'My Sassy Girl,' the one who sold the Japanese rights for $265 million."

Wang Jing reacted immediately, and after a moment of realization, he said warmly in Mandarin, "It's you! Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Wang Jing, please have a seat."

As he spoke, he personally moved a stool from the corner, clearly indicating that his words were not just simple polite formalities.

Some people at the table realized what was happening, such as Wayne Lai, who was explaining to Zhou Haimei, who looked completely bewildered.

"Hello Director Wang, hello Sister Jialing, hello everyone. I just ran into Sister Jialing and said I'd like to come over and offer a toast. I apologize for disturbing you all, but I won't sit down."

Little did he know, Liu Jialing had already grabbed his arm. Her soft, warm body surprised Yang Che greatly. Even if you're very outgoing, we've only just met for the first time.

Just as Yang Che was wondering if Liang Chaowei's increasing introversion and social anxiety was because she had taken away all his social skills, Wang Jing walked around the table and very warmly and politely invited him to sit down.

And so, Yang Che sat down between Wang Jing and Liu Jialing.

After some introductions, I learned that the Queen of Ten Thousand Demons was named Zhang Huiyi, Gao Yi was named Long Fang, the other two actors were named Tao Dayu and Lin Wei, and the assistant directors were Tan Youye and Zheng Weiwen.

Yang Che could sense that most people were indifferent to him, but out of consideration for Wang Jing and Liu Jialing's attitude, he put on a smiling face.

After chatting for a bit, I learned that this group of people were going to make a TV series based on Run Run Shaw, called "The Movie Tycoon".

Yang Che had never seen the show and wasn't particularly interested at the moment, since his school didn't have the Yifu Building when he was a student.

He was interested in Tam Yau-yip, and only learned who he was after hearing his name. Tam Yau-yip was one of the Hong Kong TV drama directors who started going north to make a living last year. He had already directed "Young Hero Fong Sai-yuk" and would be directing many well-known TV dramas in the future, such as "Listen to my orders, line up at the back"—oops, I mean "Heroes of Sui and Tang Dynasties".

She also starred in a German orthopedic drama called "Royal Baby," in which Shao Feng played the male lead, the son of Emperor Qianlong and a Han woman, while Li Xiaoran played the female lead, a princess in the palace. The story follows their journey together through numerous hardships.

By the way, Fan Bingbing plays the male lead's mother in this drama, the Han woman who was ruined by Emperor Qianlong...

How explosive! Absolutely explosive!

Therefore, Yang Che specifically said to Tan Youye, "I hope to have the opportunity to work with Director Tan."

After nodding to everyone, Liu Jialing asked, "You just said you came to Hong Kong to film a movie. What movie is it that requires you to come to Hong Kong?"

"A suspense thriller, it wouldn't pass censorship in mainland China."

Wang Jing tentatively asked, "Is it a Hong Kong film? Are you planning to screen it in Hong Kong?"

Yang Che laughed and said, "No, it's an American film. I didn't think about whether it would be released or not. After the story was formed, I really wanted to make it, so I got a bunch of Americans to film it. We just wrapped up filming this morning, so there's still a group of people waiting for me next door. Please forgive me."

These words sounded like something a spendthrift rich kid would say to show off, but looking at Yang Che's smiling face, no one felt anything was out of place.

After speaking, Yang Che raised his glass in acknowledgment, clinked it with the two people next to him, then drank it all in one gulp, stood up and took his leave.

A hint of displeasure flashed in Wang Jing's eyes, and he felt that Yang Che was not giving him any face.

The men present all raised their eyebrows, their expressions showing displeasure.