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

The next morning.

Li Jiangbo got ready early, preparing to go to Marino School to see if he could run into Rosamund Kwan.

If they can't reach her, then they can only ask Wang Jing to contact Rosamund Kwan's father, Kwan Shan. After all, Kwan Shan is in the industry, so it's easy to communicate with him.

Marino School is located near Boundary Street in Kowloon Tong, not far from Chungking Mansions. It takes about 30 minutes by bus to get there.

Around 10 a.m., Li Jiangbo boarded the Kowloon bus bound for Maryknoll Seminary.

The bus kept stopping and starting along the way, making Li Jiangbo feel dizzy and disoriented.

Li Jiangbo only got off the bus, swaying unsteadily, after the ticket seller announced that the Boundary Street stop had arrived.

As soon as he got out of the car, a wave of heat hit him and woke him up.

He randomly picked a newsstand, asked for the exact location, and then hurriedly headed towards the school.

Five minutes later, Li Jiangbo arrived at the Marino School, where he was greeted by a variety of buildings in different styles, such as Romanesque and Gothic Revival.

Li Jiangbo paid the price of a pack of cigarettes to successfully enter the school.

He wandered around and looked at the school environment, and thought it was pretty good.

Although there are relatively few teaching buildings, the school has a very large playground with complete facilities, including basketball courts, soccer fields, and more.

What puzzled him was why the playground had facilities like kindergarten slides, and why there were almost no boys in the school.

What he didn't know was that Marinough School was a famous girls' school in Hong Kong and one of the 114 English-language secondary schools in Hong Kong.

Li Jiangbo looked at the school's environment and felt that this was the perfect place to film.

The main reason is that the environment is quite good, and the playground is quite large, which is very suitable for the school sports meet scene in "Happy Ghost".

But with such great facilities, I wonder what the price is?

He immediately found a middle school student and asked where the principal's office was.

When Li Jiangbo arrived at the principal's office and was about to knock, the door opened silently, and a girl with slightly red eyes walked out.

The girl lowered her head, seemingly lost in thought, and then buried her face in Li Jiangbo's arms.

Li Jiangbo helped the girl up with both hands and looked her over carefully. Wasn't this the Rosamund Kwan he had been longing for? It was truly an effortless stroke of luck.

Rosamund Kwan exclaimed in surprise and quickly apologized to Li Jiangbo, "I'm...sorry."

Hearing the noise, Principal Liu from the principal's office came out and saw an unfamiliar man at the door.

She looked at Li Jiangbo warily, and only after confirming that he meant no harm did she ask, "Jiahui, how are you? Are you alright?"

Rosamund Kwan lowered her head and whispered, "Principal Liu, I'm fine."

Principal Liu looked Guan Zhilin over and, after confirming that she was alright, said, "You can go now. Remember to do well on your exam this afternoon."

Goodbye, Principal Liu.

Principal Liu nodded, and after Rosamund Kwan left, she asked, "Sir, is there something you need?"

Li Jiangbo's attention was entirely on Guan Zhilin, and he didn't notice Principal Liu's appearance at all.

It wasn't until Principal Liu asked him that he realized what was happening, and he quickly took out his business card and handed it to Principal Liu.

"Hello Principal Liu, my name is Li Jiangbo, and I am a director at Time Pictures."

Principal Liu took the business card from Li Jiangbo with a puzzled look, glanced at it, and asked, "Director Li, is there anything I can help you with?"

Li Jiangbo didn't waste any time and got straight to the point: "It's like this, our company is planning to shoot a movie about students and would like to rent your school's facilities for filming. I wonder if that would be convenient?"

After a moment of contemplation, Principal Liu asked, "I'm sorry, Mr. Li, as you can see, the students are taking their exams right now. If you come here to film, it will disturb them."

Li Jiangbo smiled slightly and said, "We can wait until all the students have finished their exams before we start filming."

Upon hearing this, Principal Liu silently considered the situation. Marino School's financial situation wasn't great; they hadn't received any funding from the Ministry of Education for three consecutive years. If they could secure a donation, lending it to them wouldn't be out of the question.

With that in mind, she cautiously asked, "How much money can you offer?"

Li Jiangbo held up his hand and gestured, "Fifty thousand yuan! However, my movie has a scene set at a sports meet. Could the middle school students at the school help with filming?"

Principal Liu considered it for a moment, then shook his head. "I can't make that decision. The students all want to go home after their exams. It's not appropriate to keep them filming any longer."

Li Jiangbo's mind raced, and he came up with a good idea. "Principal Liu, don't rush to refuse. Listen to my thoughts."

Principal Liu nodded, signaling Li Jiangbo to continue.

"You see, our filming will definitely not disturb the students, Principal Liu can rest assured about that. Secondly, if our filming takes place on your campus, we will pay the location rental fee, which will also benefit your school."

Principal Liu asked疑惑地问道, "What benefits?"

Li Jiangbo said unhurriedly, "Didn't I just say we needed a student sports meet? If the movie becomes a hit, your school can use it to promote itself, such as your school's educational philosophy, faculty and student resources, etc. This will help your school recruit more students and also allow your school to gain recognition within the Ministry of Education..."

Principal Liu's eyes lit up. The venue rental fee they had discussed earlier suddenly seemed less appealing, and he became interested in the publicity that Li Jiangbo had mentioned.

Just as Li Jiangbo said, if Maryknoll School or her achievements were properly promoted, she could openly ask the Ministry of Education for funding and also receive substantial donations from successful graduates.

After weighing the pros and cons in her mind, she asked, "When does your company plan to film? If it's too late, I won't be able to get the students to cooperate with your work."

Li Jiangbo did some calculations and said, "We can start filming after the students finish their exams. As for the rental fee..."

Principal Liu waved his hand, "That doesn't matter. As long as Mr. Li can promote our school well, we can do it for free."

Li Jiangbo extended his hand, "Principal Liu is truly a straightforward person. Don't worry, I will definitely promote your school well in the movie."

Principal Liu also reached out and shook Li Jiangbo's hand, laughing heartily, "Okay! I'll pass on the notice right away. You can come and film after the students finish their exams."

When will the students finish their exams?

"There should be one more day. The elementary school students will be on holiday after their exams tomorrow."

The two chatted for a while before Li Jiangbo said, "My film needs two students with good looks and temperament to play the leads. I wonder if Principal Liu has any suitable candidates?"

After a moment's thought, Principal Liu named two people: Lin Shanshan and Guan Zhilin, whom he had just spoken of.

Li Jiangbo pondered for a moment, then asked, "Could I meet these two classmates?"

"No problem!" Principal Liu glanced at the time. "The exam is about to end. I'll have someone call them over after the exam."

Li Jiangbo stayed in the principal's office for a while longer before finally seeing Guan Zhilin, whom he had been longing to see.

But the more he looked at Lin Shanshan beside him, the more familiar she seemed.

Suddenly, he slapped his thigh and realized who Lin Shanshan was.

She's the future chairman of a famous Hong Kong record company! She's also a graduate of TVB's 82 class and Ti Lung's niece!

Just as he was about to question the two men in detail, the buckle on his waist beeped.

He picked up the phone and glanced at it; it turned out that Zhao Yazhi had called him for something.

Li Jiangbo borrowed the phone in Principal Liu's office to call Zhao Yazhi back.

When the call connected, Zhao Yazhi's soft voice came from the other end.

"Bo-zai, you're back in Hong Kong?"

"Um!"

Zhao Yazhi remained silent for a moment, unsure of where to begin. She recounted how she had been embroiled in a custody battle with her ex-husband, only to ultimately fail to gain the child.

She remained silent for a long time after that, until she learned from Wang Jing that Li Jiangbo had returned. As if possessed, she turned off Li Jiangbo's pager.

After a while, Zhao Yazhi slowly spoke, "Director Li, has your film crew started work yet?"

Li Jiangbo said, "It's still in the preparation stage."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Li Jiangbo pondered for a moment, "Right now, all that's left is the actors. I'm in talks with people."

"I wonder if I could work on Director Li's film?"

Li Jiangbo laughed heartily, "Of course! But Sister Zhi, I can't give you the lead role, only a supporting role, how about that?"

"I'm fine!"

"Okay, I'll contact you then. The filming is expected to take place the day after tomorrow."

The two chatted for a while longer before hanging up.

Li Jiangbo checked the time and said to Guan Zhilin and Lin Shanshan, "Let's go have lunch together. You have exams this afternoon. Principal Liu, would you like to join us?"

Principal Liu waved his hand, "No need for that trouble, let's just eat in the cafeteria. I'll have someone bring the food over."

Li Jiangbo didn't refuse, "Then I'll try the food in our school cafeteria."