So what if I work with celebrities?

To see if there was still a market for Huangmei opera films, Hsu Tsan bought the screening rights to Shaw Brothers' "The Kingdom and the Beauty" and showed it in his own theaters in Taiwan.

You won't know until it airs, and once it airs, it's astonishing how much it sold at the box office in just one week.

According to data provided by Jiao Yinghui, the average age of people who came to see this movie was 53. One elderly lady watched it at the Panda Mall Cinema for a whole week.

Ding Ze of the magazine "Gunstone" interviewed this old lady and was surprised to find that she was a fan of the late superstar Linda Lin Dai.

Moreover, I feel that movies with alternating acting and singing are the real movies; the others are just too ugly.

Xu Zan watched this film at the Shaw Brothers screening room. It was very well made. Li Hanxiang filmed extremely beautiful scenes amidst the crudely made ancient buildings.

In addition, Lin Dai was a striking beauty, and her every smile and frown perfectly matched the aesthetic standards of the 1950s and 60s.

The resurgence in popularity of "The Kingdom and the Beauty" has shown many business opportunities. Huang Zhuohan, the owner of First Film Studio, immediately called Li Hanxiang.

"What? Your contract hasn't expired yet? Six years and it's still not expired?"

"No, I still have a few years left!" Li Hanxiang returned to Shaoxing in the early 1970s and had no choice but to sign an eight-year contract to make a living.

After abandoning his artistic pursuits, he continued to thrive in Shaw Brothers' erotic films, becoming the company's most prominent director.

Even Zhang Che had to give way at this moment, because erotic films were cheap to produce.

"Oh dear, what a pity. How about we collaborate? We can split the profits, or we can work together. We could hire a top Taiwanese actress to sing a song about 'Dream of the Red Chamber.' It would be hard for it not to be a hit," Huang Zhuohan said.

"You're too late. Xu Zan has already partnered with Shaoxing and asked me to direct 'Dream of the Red Chamber'!" Li Hanxiang said.

"Huh? Cooperating with that leech, the Shao family?" Huang Zhuohan shook his head, thinking to himself that young people are always impulsive, only looking at the surface and not pursuing the substance.

Partnering with a giant like the Shao family means being devoured without even spitting out a bone.

"Shaw Company's strategy has changed too," Li Hanxiang also found it strange, since distributors nowadays mostly buy out films on a buy-out basis.

I don't know how Xu Zan managed to persuade the stingy Miss Fang to share the profits with Shao's family.

In the past two years, Li Hanxiang had indeed inquired about it. According to Ms. Fang, Xu Zan's movies were very profitable, and he never failed to make a profit in any of his films.

He secretly curled his lip. This was nothing more than an external force that Miss Fang had created to counterbalance the complex factions of directors within the Shao Group, giving those inside a sense of crisis.

If it doesn't make money, then pack your bags and leave. It's not like the Shao family can't hire big directors from outside to make movies.

"Hehe, the Shao family..." Li Hanxiang had long seen through the Shao family. Although they were now a giant, their internal organs had already deteriorated.

As long as there is a good subject matter, the directors within the organization will compete for it, which may even lead to the unfortunate situation of filming at the same time.

In this situation, what kind of subject matter won't be filmed to death?

As soon as Li Hanxiang hung up the phone, Zhu Mu rushed over and told him something: "You've offended someone."

He was completely bewildered, not knowing what had happened, and wondered if it was Master Shao Liu.

Zhu Mu mentioned that someone called him, questioning Li Hanxiang's qualifications to direct Dream of the Red Chamber, asking if this was being unreasonable.

"No, are you talking about me? How come I don't know?" Li Hanxiang thought and thought, only Huang Zhuohan said that she wanted to ask him to film, no one else said that?

Zhu Mu chuckled and recounted the whole story, mentioning that Jin Han had called this morning to question him. This man was married to Ling Bo, who was personally mentored by Li Hanxiang.

Back when she was a voice actress for a summer film, Li Hanxiang defied public opinion and cast Ayanami in "The Butterfly Lovers," which made her an instant star.

When Li Hanxiang "defected" to the Shao family, he wanted to take Lingbo with him, but she asked He Guanchang and was kept by the Shao family for HK$300,000.

In the 1960s, HK$300,000 was enough to buy a whole street of shops.

It is evident how wealthy the Shao family was in that era.

Zhu Mu held up a six on his finger to his ear and vividly imitated what happened that morning.

"What? I heard Li Hanxiang is going to film a Huangmei opera version of 'Dream of the Red Chamber'?" Jin Han said with dissatisfaction.

"I don't know?"

"Didn't he know that Ayanami and I were going to film 'Dream of the Red Chamber' a long time ago?"

"Did you tell him?"

"No, he should know!"

Why should he know?

"Okay, even if Li Hanxiang didn't know, he should know by now, right?"

"have no idea!"

"What don't you know?"

"I don't know if he knows, but you and Li Hanxiang are acquaintances, so why don't you just tell him directly? Also, stop calling him Li Hanxiang all the time. Isn't your success all thanks to his help?"

"..."

The first person within Shaoxing Film Studio to propose adapting "Dream of the Red Chamber" has emerged, and the next one won't be far behind.

Xu Zan received a call from Hu Yinmeng. The two had a brief affair, but they hadn't seen each other for a long time because of filming.

"A director is pursuing me."

Who is it?

Xu Zan didn't really care. He'd seen so many beautiful women that few could catch his eye anymore. But the fact that the other person called showed that she cared a lot about their relationship.

Unsure of what the other person meant, Hu Yinmeng said, "It's Mu Dunfei."

Xu Zan thought for a while before remembering who the director was. He had directed "Men Behind the Sun 731" and was quite capable.

"How are you feeling?" Xu Zan asked.

Hu Yinmeng hesitated for a moment, "I don't really like him, he's not as handsome as you." She reminisced about their last good time, "By the way, Zan-ge, what have you been up to lately?"

"We're filming a movie in Hong Kong, this time in collaboration with Shaw Brothers, preparing to film 'Dream of the Red Chamber'."

"Huh? How many movies are Shao's going to make?" Hu Yinmeng was dumbfounded.

"How many? Just this one?"

"Mu Dunfei, he said he wants to collaborate with three directors to make a film about 'Dream of the Red Chamber'!" Hu Yinmeng thought Shao had gone mad.

It's not enough to compete with Jiahe; why must there be internal infighting as well?

Xu Zan was furious when he heard this. Wasn't this bullying an honest person?

That's outrageous! Co-producing a movie with other companies while simultaneously creating competing products within the company. That's incredibly unethical.

"Sure enough, the reason a company can grow so big is that it doesn't care about appearances," Xu Zan thought, and then asked Hu Yinmeng about the cost of her fiancé's film.

Hearing that it was only 500,000, I breathed a sigh of relief. It was a small investment, so there was probably no threat.

However, he was still unhappy about this, so he called Huang Jiaxi and Li Hanxiang over. The Shao family had to give an explanation for this matter.

"What? You don't know? You're from the production department, how could you not know what kind of film Shaw Brothers is making? Old Huang, it's not very courteous of you to be a guest like this!"

Huang Jiaxi knew he was in the wrong and stood there awkwardly, looking repeatedly at Li Hanxiang, hoping he would speak up and help him out of the predicament.

Li Hanxiang acted as if he hadn't heard anything, staring intently at the rim of the cup, completely ignoring the situation.

"Director Xu, my dear Boss Xu!"

Shaw Brothers is a film empire, like a factory with several workshops. Only the manager knows what each workshop will produce that day; the workshops themselves can only get a general idea.

If this workshop temporarily replaces a part, how would the other workshop foreman know?

Once any company evolves into a behemoth, it inevitably becomes bloated and mired in internal strife. Everyone wants to stand out, and every team leader also wants to climb the ladder.

"I just got the news that Rei Ayanami is going to film one too, Mu Dunfei and the others are going to film one, it seems there's also one in Singapore, and one in mainland China..."

"Holy crap!" Xu Zan never expected to stir up such a hornet's nest, with so many competing products appearing.

He was the one who started all of this. If he hadn't made "The Kingdom and the Beauty" re-released in Taiwan, it wouldn't have attracted this group of people's attention to "Dream of the Red Chamber".