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

Two days later, on the third floor of Kowloon Tong Baptist Hospital.

Chen Tianfang's head was wrapped in gauze, his arm was bandaged, and one leg was hanging in the air.

Yi Sheng's long hair looked at Chen Tianfang's pitiful state on the bed and felt a little sorry for him.

"Young Master Chen, who beat you up like this? Tell the brothers, and we'll skin him alive!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Tianfang felt a lump in his throat and almost burst into tears.

He had no idea who hit him; he didn't even see their faces. All he knew was that those two guys had broken his arm and kicked his leg.

He had to hold onto the wall to stand up that day.

He forced back the pain and said, "I don't know. I saw you guys beating up that bastard the other day, why didn't he come out for so long?"

The men with the long hair looked at each other in bewilderment. After a while, the long hair finally spoke up: "That scoundrel has no martial ethics. Before he even made a move, he used seasonings to ambush us. We brothers were careless and made a mistake."

Chen Tianfang frowned deeply. He hadn't expected Li Jiangbo, this scoundrel, to be so formidable. He had thought that beating the scoundrel up and forcing him to sign a contract of servitude would be the end of it...

"Young Master Chen? Young Master Chen?"

The shouts interrupted Chen Tianfang's thoughts. "What's wrong?"

Long Hair chuckled twice. "Young Master Chen? My brother didn't suffer a huge loss this time, but he still needs to see a doctor. I wanted to ask about this..."

He rubbed his fingers together and made a gesture that everyone understood.

Chen Tianfang said, "Don't worry, once I recover, I will naturally give you the compensation you deserve. Now, help me investigate the people who beat me up that day."

His voice grew increasingly deep, the last few words sounding like the murmur of a vengeful ghost: "After I find them, I'm going to sell them to miners in Africa!!!"

Those present were already used to this, especially Changmao, who had long seen through Chen Tianfang. He knew that this guy was all talk and no action, and he wouldn't bother with him if there was no profit to be made.

After a while, Longhair and his henchmen left the ward. On the way, one of the henchmen asked, "Boss, shall we go check on the person later?"

Longhair smacked the henchman on the head. "What are you investigating? We haven't been paid, where would we get the money to investigate people?"

The underling was so frightened by the long-haired man's rebuke that he shrank back and dared not utter another word.

......

In early March, thanks to the efforts of Wang Tianlin and Li Jiangbo, the Shanghai Bund crew finally started filming.

Li Jiangbo didn't have to worry about the pre-production process; he used all the people suggested by Wang Tianlin. Tao Yonghua was the cinematographer, Zhou Zhi was the lighting designer, and Yu Huahai was the sound recordist...

The actors were all people found by Wang Jing, except for Feng Chengcheng's best friend, who was played by Li Jiangbo's actress, Cherie Chung.

The entire crew was Wang Tianlin's people, so what could Wang Tianlin say? These young people were giving him so much face, so this old guy couldn't just ignore it!

Therefore, Li Jiangbo basically didn't have to worry about anything on set, he just focused on filming. The only thing he could worry about was Chung Chuh-hung's acting skills.

This girl, filming for the first time, took 20 takes in a row, leaving the photographer and makeup artist speechless. But they didn't lash out because of Li Jiangbo.

Li Jiangbo also understood that it was a bit much to ask a newcomer to play an important supporting role.

Fortunately, Ah Hong was hardworking and spent all her spare time learning from Zhao Yazhi. After only a few scenes, Ah Hong was able to easily grasp the character's personality traits.

Li Jiangbo looked at Zhong Chuhong, who was performing energetically in the theater, and a smug smile appeared on his face.

......

"Click!"

"Let's stop here for lunch, Jing-ge! Tell the stagehands to bring us lunch. After you eat, rest for a bit, and then we'll come back."

Wang Jing, standing next to Li Jiangbo, nodded, picked up a megaphone, and called out to the stage manager to serve the food. Everyone dispersed in a flurry and went to the stage manager to collect their meals.

Li Jiangbo put down the projector tube, dusted off his clothes, and got up to ask Wang Tianlin about the broadcast time.

He hadn't walked more than a few steps when someone handed him a boxed lunch. He took the lunch and realized it was from Lü Liangwei, who played the second male lead, Ding Li.

Li Jiangbo nodded his thanks and sat down in the director's chair to eat. Anyway, there was no rush to find Wang Tianlin; he could do it after he finished eating.

He had barely taken a couple of bites of rice when actors and assistant directors he knew all crowded around him.

Among them are Zhou Runfa, Zhao Yazhi, Chung Chuh-hung, Wong Jing, and Johnnie To.

Everyone sat together chatting and laughing until the meal was finished. Then, Chung Chu-hung walked up to Li Jiangbo and whispered:

"Brother Li, my parents would like to invite you to dinner after work tonight."

Li Jiangbo looked at Zhong Chu, whose lips still had grease stains, and laughed, "We're all neighbors, so let's skip the meal, shall we?"

Chung Chor-hung tugged at his arm and shook it, saying coquettishly, "Oh, you're alone at home anyway!"

This made the actors and staff around them laugh and look at the two of them, which made Li Jiangbo a little embarrassed, and he had no choice but to agree.

After receiving a response from Li Jiangbo, Chung Chu-hung picked up Li Jiangbo's lunchbox trash and skipped away.

Everyone looked at the youthful and beautiful Cherie Chung and smiled kindly.

Li Jiangbo watched Chung Chuh-hung's departing figure, shook his head, and got up to find Wang Tianlin.

When they found Wang Tianlin, he was slowly eating his boxed lunch.

"Uncle Tianlin, has our broadcast date been set yet?"

Wang Tianlin stuffed the last of her food into her mouth, chewed slowly, wiped her mouth, and then said, "Hmm! It's set for mid-April. By the way, Bo-zai, have you found someone to compose the opening theme song yet?"

Li Jiangbo patted his forehead, realizing he had forgotten about it.

He took the script out of his pocket and wrote on the back, "Uncle Tianlin, no need to find anyone, I can write a song myself."

"You can write songs too?" Wang Tianlin asked in surprise, and the assistant director, Johnnie To, also looked surprised.

Li Jiangbo laughed and said, "Don't forget, I composed the music for all my erotic films."

Actually, Li Jiangbo doesn't know how to add music now, but that doesn't stop him from being a cheat code.

Just a few days ago, Li Jiangbo, adhering to the principle that one cannot make money solely through stocks, tried his hand at music simulation. Who knew that he would fall into a contract trap set by PolyGram Records and be blacklisted by the company.

He was unwilling to give up and did another simulation. This time it was a little better; the company didn't blacklist him, but his income was still very low.

In these two simulations, he gained the Cantonese version of the Shanghai Bund lyrics and music and a year of music experience, but his popularity score was only 30 points.

In less than 15 minutes, Li Jiangbo handed the melody and lyrics to Wang Tianlin.

Wang Tianlin looked at the words on the paper, grinned, and read them aloud as she laughed:

"Waves surge, waves flow, the mighty river never ceases its flow. It washes away all worldly affairs, merging them into a single, surging tide..."

After reading the lyrics, Wang Tianlin nodded in satisfaction. "The lyrics are good. I don't know anything about music. Go find Old Li from the production team and record the song."

Upon hearing this, Li Jiangbo smiled and asked, "Uncle Tianlin, how much are you prepared to pay for this song, including the lyrics and music?"

Wang Tianlin was taken aback by Li Jiangbo's words. He didn't quite understand what Li Jiangbo meant and rubbed his hands together, asking, "Bo-zai, shouldn't you talk to the company about this money?"

Li Jiangbo shook his head and said, "Uncle, I'm no longer a member of the company."

After saying that, he told Wang Tianlin how he had offended Chen Tianfang and how he had used the script to persuade Wang Tianlin not to sign the contract.

Wang Tianlin was stunned by this. Finally, she sighed and whispered, "Bo Zai, let's use whatever money the production team has left to pay for your song. If there's nothing left, then just quote ten thousand yuan."

Upon hearing this, Li Jiangbo expressed his gratitude repeatedly.

......

In the afternoon, Li Jiangbo handed over the directing duties to Wang Jing, then went to find Lao Li from the production team and specifically asked Ye Liyi, the female singer, to record a song.

Old Li didn't say anything; he just did what the director asked.

Li Jiangbo didn't return to the film set in the afternoon; instead, he took a car directly to the Exchange Tower in Central.

I overheard some rumors circulating among investors in the trading hall:

"Nanyang Industrial's prices have gone up two levels! Sigh! It's my fault for not buying more."

"HSBC shares dropped two levels this morning. When are you planning to buy at the bottom?"

......

He squeezed through the crowd to the front of the large blackboard, looked at the stock price of Cheung Kong Holdings, and saw that it had gone up by two cents, from 5.6 yuan to 5.8 yuan.

Li Jiangbo smiled slightly as he looked at the large blackboard, then turned and left.

Anyway, I bought it at 5.2 yuan, so as long as it doesn't drop to 5 yuan, I won't be liquidated.

After checking the stock information, Li Jiangbo took a bus directly back to Chungking Mansions.

As soon as Li Jiangbo stepped out of the elevator, he saw Chung Chu-hung standing at the elevator entrance waiting for him.