1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 269 Barbara Yung

Because the 83 version of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" was introduced to the mainland in the previous life, it had a viewership rate of over 90% once it was broadcast.

This made Zhai Yuan have a deeper impression of the name Weng Meiling than the Four Heavenly Kings.

There are not many stars in film history whose names are remembered by the audience.

When most people see a familiar face on the screen, they will say: Oh, this is the guy who played so-and-so.

The reason why Weng Meiling has been remembered for decades by Zhai Yuan's generation, apart from her screen image as the Beautiful Huang Rong, is more importantly because of her legendary story of committing suicide at the peak of her career.

"Let TVB's most popular leading actress come to guest star in Mr. Vampire this year?"

When Zhai Yuan heard the name, he was distracted for a moment, looked up at Moon Lee, and asked with a smile.

The 83 drama The Legend of the Condor Heroes not only became a huge hit in mainland China, but also achieved a 99% viewership rate in Hong Kong in the first two years.

In 84, Barbara Yung starred in another drama, "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber", which was equally popular in Hong Kong. It not only became the ratings champion of that year, but also crushed all the dramas adapted from the martial arts novels of Jin Liangyong and Gu Long in the past decade.

However, due to its supernatural theme, this TV series was not introduced to mainland China and is not well known to the audience.

But at that time in Hong Kong, the average number of viewers for each episode was over 3 million, and Miao San Ge's Situ Wenwu and Weng Meiling's Lin Chuyan were household names.

"She's famous in TV dramas, but she's still a newcomer in movies, especially when it comes to your drama, Mr. Zhai."

Moon Lee feared being rejected, so she gave a few compliments and then started playing the victim: "TVB actresses earn less than male actors, and Mei Ling is alone in Hong Kong with no one to rely on, so we want to help her."

"I don't think so." Zhai Yuan shook his head. Seeing Moon Lee's frustrated expression, he added seriously, "I made this zombie movie specifically to promote you. I will never allow other women to steal your limelight."

"Me?" Moon Lee's expression suddenly turned into surprise, and her heart skipped a beat.

A generation of female fighters were thrown into disarray by Mr. Zhai's words.

Finally, I left the office in a daze.

When Hui Yinghong and Yang Qingqing saw her coming out in a daze, they quickly approached her and asked, "What did Mr. Zhai say?"

Moon Lee looked at the two female martial arts directors and said with a chuckle, "He said he would take me to Yanjing City to see the sea."

Hui, Yang: "..."

Hui Yinghong cursed: "What are you talking about, you devil? Have you ever seen the sea? What sea is there to see in the north? The Chinese Sea!"

Yang Qingqing said helplessly: "Ask you about Sister Meiling!"

Moon Lee responded with a silly smile, "Mr. Zhai disagreed at first, fearing that Meiling would overshadow me. I didn't know he was so considerate. He said he had noticed me when I was filming Zu Mountain, and that I was prettier than Lin Qingxia in that movie. No one has ever told me this before..."

Hui Yinghong said with a dark face: "Can you please get to the point?"

Li Saifeng said with great joy, "Listen to my story! Afterwards, I told her that Meiling was my best friend, and he reluctantly agreed to let her play the maid next to me in Mr. Vampire. However, she had to dress ugly to set off me. Actually, I didn't care, but he insisted on asking her to do so, and he always considered me. Do you think he wanted to woo me?"

Hui Yinghong and Yang Qingqing both looked at her with a hopeless look.

"Auntie is your supporting maid, you are so awesome this time!"

"I don't know if Meiling would agree. I'll ask her out tonight to play four rounds and test her opinion."

"By the way, call Lan Juying too. They are good friends. Having one more person to comfort her is better for her. It's better to go to the mainland to relax than to stay in Hong Kong and face Kent Tong and Sandra Ng all day long..."

The two female martial arts directors brought the topic back to Barbara Yung and even brought up her ex-boyfriend's rumored girlfriend Sandra Ng.

Moon Lee took advantage of the break in the conversation and asked Yang Qingqing: "Qingqing, you were in a martial arts team in the mainland before. What do you need to prepare to go to the mainland?"

Yang Qingqing glanced at her from head to toe: "Prepare a few more condoms, in case you come back pregnant..."

…………

There was a most photogenic lady named Xia Shuling who participated in the Miss Hong Kong pageant at the same time as Barbara Yung.

Last July, it was reported that Miss Xia committed suicide due to a broken heart, which caused a sensation in the newspapers.

Later, a reporter found her good friend Barbara Yung and asked her what she thought. Barbara Yung said to the camera: "I will never be so stupid as to commit suicide for love. Is it worth sacrificing for someone who no longer loves you?"

However, less than a year after Weng Meiling said this, she turned on the gas at home...

"Although the martial arts area cannot be without Huang Rong, just like the 3D area cannot be without Tifa, this woman is still a little scary."

Zhai Yuan's sweet talk made Li Saifeng feel dizzy when she walked out of the office. She knew that she would not be lonely on this trip to the mainland.

Then I started to think again about the person she mentioned, Barbara Yung.

To be honest, they didn't know each other very well, and Zhai Yuan didn't have any intention of helping others.

What's more, this woman always uses suicide as an excuse, which is really unbearable.

When she was studying at Cambridge College, her mother forbade her to socialize with her classmates and forced her to take sleeping pills.

When she returned to Hong Kong and was dating Kent Tong, she took sleeping pills when they had a fight, when they didn't want to get married, and when there were rumors about them.

In the end, Kent Tong couldn't stand it anymore and asked for a breakup, so she simply turned on the gas to end her life. As a result, Kent Tong's career plummeted and he was scolded by the audience for more than ten years.

Zhai Yuan felt that Lan Juying among the Four Crazy Kings should be crossed out and replaced by her.

Later reports and analyses said that she was suffering from severe bipolar disorder, which caused her mood swings to be extreme. Her foreign boyfriend in the UK wanted to take her to see a psychiatrist, but her mother felt that if her child was diagnosed with a mental illness, it would affect her reputation, so she refused to allow her to go for treatment. When she returned to Hong Kong, the medical care was backward and there were no conditions for diagnosis and treatment, so her condition became more serious.

"Forget it. If she's willing to go to the mainland, it'll make up for her regrets. If she's not willing to go, there's nothing I can do."

Zhai Yuan briefly thought about Weng Meiling's matter and decided to let things take their own course. He only gave her a few more scenes as a maid in "Mr. Vampire", and there wouldn't be much she could do no more.

Moreover, Maggie Cheung is different from actresses like Anita Mui and Moon Lee. It is not easy to borrow the current popular actress of the Zhao family.

…………

April passed quickly.

The movie "God of Gamblers 2" has once again set off a gambling movie craze this month.

In just over half a month, copycat works have emerged one after another.

Jiuyi Entertainment's "God of Gamblers" just buried an Easter egg. A film company had already filmed it in advance, and they had the audacity to show it in 1024 theaters.

"For those movies related to 'God of Gamblers', I have asked the legal department to send a lawyer's letter asking them to change their names. However, if they use titles like 'God of Gamblers XXX', it will be difficult to hold them accountable."

When Shi Nansheng was summarizing at the beginning of the month, he reported to Zhai Yuan with the movie's growth chart and mentioned the copycat movies outside: "The box office of God of Gamblers 2 has exceeded 1400 million. Judging from the current growth trend, it can be shown for at least another half a month. It is only a matter of time before it exceeds 2000 million."

Zhai Yuan asked: "Have the three of them finished shooting their Category III films? When the popularity of God of Gamblers 2 slows down this month, we can arrange for the simultaneous release of three Category III films."

Shi Nansheng nodded to show that he understood, and then said, "Wang Jin has communicated with Xingjiapo. The bloody scenes in God of Gamblers 2 need to be cut, and the ending needs to be changed to the international policeman Long Wu teaming up with Gao Jin to arrest Qiu Xiaochi before it can be released. In addition, the script of Huang Feihong was submitted for review. Xingjiapo has no problem, but the Malaysian film censorship department read the script but was not satisfied. It may be difficult to release it later."

It was already decided that two versions of God of Gamblers 2 would be made, but Zhai Yuan did not expect that Huang Feihong would not be allowed to be released either. He asked in surprise, "Why?"

Shi Nansheng said helplessly: "The Malaysian censors said that our play has too strong a Sinocentric tone."

Zhai Yuan was speechless for a moment, and finally cursed him as a psycho.

The first film in the Wong Fei-hung series, "Top Gun", was already quite restrained. If we filmed "A Man Should Be Self-reliant", wouldn't it scare the other party to death?

But there is no way around it. This is the consistent attitude of the Malaysian government. Later films such as "Changjin Lake" are also not allowed to be released there, and the reasons are very complicated.

Seeing Shi Nansheng's worried look, Zhai Yuan waved his hands and said, "Go ahead and shoot! I can even give up Taiwan's vote bank, so what does a Malaysia matter?"

There was a knock on the door.

Moon Lee walked in with Barbara Yung.

She first greeted the housekeeper Shi Nansheng in a somewhat reserved manner, then smiled sweetly at Zhai Yuan: "Mr. Zhai, I'll bring Sister Meiling to see you."

Zhai Yuan met Weng Meiling in person for the first time.

She has short hair, an oval face, and is dark and thin. In terms of appearance, she is not very attractive, and there is some difference between her image of the beautiful Huang Rong on the screen.

Shi Nansheng looked around at her and asked in surprise, "Miss Weng?"

Zhai Yuan nodded: "There is a role in Mr. Zombie that we would like to invite Miss Weng to guest star in. What do you think, Miss Weng?"

Weng Meiling's voice sounded cheerful and straightforward, and she said with a smile: "Xiaofeng and the others have been persuading me recently, so I came to see Mr. Zhai today."

Zhai Yuan could not see any sign of suicide from her, so he teased, "Can a big star like you play the role of a maid?"

Weng Meiling smiled, revealing her slightly buck teeth: "Just think of it as a trip to the mainland on public expense."

Zhai Yuan asked: "No TV series this year?"

Barbara Yung said: "It's such a coincidence. TVB was planning to let me film a drama called Chor Lau Heung this year, with Sammo Hung or Lau Tak-wah as the male lead. But these two suddenly refused to renew their contracts, and now it's causing a big fuss at the TV station. I guess we have to wait until their issues are resolved before we can start filming this drama."

Zhai Yuan said "oh" thoughtfully.

Michael Miu and Andy Lau’s refusal to renew their contracts was a trigger, and the real-life version of “The Five Tigers: Breakup” is about to be released.

After learning that Weng Meiling was willing to go to the mainland for a guest appearance, Zhai Yuan called Shi Nansheng and said, "Sister Nan, please help me contact the TVB department and borrow Miss Weng to go to the mainland to film for a few days."

Shi Nansheng responded and said to Weng Meiling, "Miss Weng, shall we sign a contract first?"

Barbara Yung said hello.

Zhai Yuan smiled at her and said, "Hey! Once you sign a contract, you can't go back on your word. No matter how big the problem is this month, you have to go to the mainland to fulfill the contract."

Weng Meiling was slightly startled and nodded to Zhai Yuan: "Sure!"

…………

5 month 11 day.

The box office performance of "God of Gamblers 2" has gradually declined.

On October 1024, three Category III films, led by "The Evil Killer", were released simultaneously, bringing joy to the male compatriots who had been eagerly waiting for the "Sexy May Day".

"Mr. Zhai really keeps his word. Sure enough, a pornographic movie will be released this month!"

"As expected of an idol, even the joint report from the film industry last year did not bring him down."

"The film industry has joined forces to report this, is this true or false?"

At the entrance of 1024 Theater, the legend about Zhai Yuan continues.

In the cinema, Xia Wenxi's performance in the second episode of "The Massacre of a Family" was equally good and a feast for the eyes of the audience.

The adopted daughter was raped and went crazy, killing her adoptive father and his entire family, then turned herself in and went to jail.

This family ethics plot alone has attracted the attention of a group of viewers.

Xia Wenxi gives a stable performance in the film, and she controls her weakness in the early part and her ferocity in the later part very well. Her bold and unrestrained scenes are especially unobstructed. Together with Wang Jin, who is the best at filming women's scenes, the quality of the film is much higher than the previous one.

It is worth mentioning that her last popular movie "The Fantastic Woman of Tang Dynasty" ended with her being beheaded. At the end of "The Evil Killer", she was still shot after revenge, which made many viewers sigh.

In comparison, the two Category III films that Liu Zhenwei and Wu Yusen casually shot to make up the numbers were considered by the audience to be of poor quality.

And on the same day.

Kent Tong and Sandra Ng went swimming together in Repulse Bay. The photos were taken by reporters and later published in the entertainment sections of major print media.

Later it was reported that Barbara Yung and Kent Tong had a heated argument in TVB's dressing room.

5 month 15 day.

After Zhai Yuan finished handling all matters in Hong Kong, he prepared to leave for the mainland.

Xu Qi, Jet Li and members of the Yuen Clan from the "Once Upon a Time in China" crew are ready to go.

Liu Zhenwei, Lin Zhengying, and Zun Long from the "Mr. Vampire" crew also packed their luggage.

A group of people walked out of the company in a mighty procession and headed towards the airport.

Zhai Yuan glanced at the crowd and asked Shi Nansheng, "Where is my Guan Zhilin?"

Shi Nansheng automatically ignored his first two words, and spoke of Rosamund Kwan in a sarcastic tone, "She's a very busy beauty! She won't have time to go to the mainland until the end of the month."

Zhai Yuan looked at Wang Jin who was standing beside him again: "Didn't you mention my name to him?"

Wang Jin said innocently: "I mentioned it, but she insisted on waiting until the end of the month before going."

Zhai Yuan rolled his eyes in displeasure, looked at the crowd again, and asked Hui Yinghong, "Hey, Sister Hong, why don't you see Moon Lee?"

Hui Yinghong pointed behind him and said with a smile: "It's right behind you."

Zhai Yuan turned around and saw Moon Lee and Barbara Yung jogging towards them. When they saw Zhai Yuan, they gave an embarrassed smile.

Moon Lee stuck out her tongue and said, "Sorry for being late. I stayed up too late last night talking about the script with Mei Ling."

Zhai Yuan looked at Weng Meiling and smiled, "I thought you would break the contract."

With a calm smile, Barbara Yung said: "No, we have signed a contract and we will honour it no matter how big the problem is..."

(End of this chapter)