1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 399: Sorry, Togashi, the old thief
"This opening dance is quite unique."

Golden House Club.

Ma Jingyi and Shi Nansheng sat side by side on the sofa to rest.

Listening to the heavy bass drum beats on TV hitting the eardrums, accompanied by the magical melody of "da~da da~da da~da da da da~" of a girl's voice.

Ma Jingyi actually shook her neck unconsciously.

Shi Nansheng: "What are you doing?"

Ma Jingyi: "Don't you think this melody has a felt feel?"

Shi Nansheng restrained the small movement of shaking his head along with her, but his calves subconsciously shook slightly to the beat of the drum.

She introduced it to Ma Jingyi: "This piece of work, which should be called a song, was written by my boss."

"No wonder, it's obviously the DJ rhythm that young people like. Mr. Zhai is really good at it."

Ma Jingyi nodded gently, raised her chin towards the six pretty zombie girls on the stage in the live broadcast, and asked curiously, "Hey, I see these pretty girls are all pretty. Does Mr. Zhai have any close friends?"

Shi Nansheng didn't respond, but gave her a look that said 'you know what I mean'.

Ma Jingyi understood and couldn't help but sigh: "Young people are in great health, unlike that dead guy in my family..."

Women over 30 have seen a lot of things, so when they talk about this topic, they mainly talk about both meat and vegetables.

The two married women started talking about Zhai Yuan and Girls' Generation, and then talked about the heroic deeds of their men, and finally they both sighed.

It is true that men will inevitably get worse after they turn thirty.

"Girls' Generation, wow, Mr. Zhai has really good taste."

After expressing her regret, Ma Jingyi commented on the group of beautiful women on TV, saying, "Pick any one of these six pretty zombie girls out, and they'd be qualified to participate in a beauty pageant. They'd definitely be in the top three. No wonder he looked down on that little girl named Li Yunqin."

Shi Nansheng asked curiously, "Who is Li Yunqin?"

"That was the pretty girl who was so arrogant to you last time, acting like a mistress." Ma Jingyi reminded him, "The daughter of the Legislative Council member is now a special reporter for the September 1st Daily. Do you remember her?"

Shi Nansheng frowned, a rare hint of disgust flashing in his eyes, obviously he had a bad impression of the daughter of an official.

The main reason is that Li Yunqin felt that she had the help of her brother-in-law Yang Sen and people like Situ Mingzhu, and she regarded herself as the future Mrs. Zhai.

Some time ago, when Jiuyi Entertainment released a new film, it needed newspapers to promote it.

Shi Nansheng personally contacted the other party, but not only did he have no say, he was also treated like an employee by Li Yunqin in every way. He was still not satisfied with a plan after revising it several times, so angry that Shi Nansheng called Zhai Yuan to report it, and finally got Li Yunqin to say, "Okay, put the plan on the table, and pay attention next time."

If Zhai Yuan hadn't said a few words of comfort over the phone, Sister Nan might have turned against the other party right then and there.

"You are so arrogant at such a young age. Is it so great that you are the son of an official?"

Shi Nansheng rolled his eyes: "You still want to be my boss's wife? I would scold Mr. Zhai for being blind if he likes her. How can she compare with Girls' Generation?"

Ma Jingyi spit out her tea: "Wow! You can even say such things!"

Shi Nansheng remained calm and asked, "Then tell me yourself, is she qualified?"

“Eat one?” Ma Jingyi smiled and covered her mouth, waving her hands repeatedly: “Not enough, not enough!”

The car was driving very fast on the broken road.

The "Zombie Dance" on TV also came to an end.

The six girls of Girls' Generation introduced themselves one by one, and then they launched a promotional slogan to raise funds for the Handicapped and Mentally Retarded Foundation. Such a privilege of being on camera is not afforded to other celebrities.

Among the six pretty girls, only Noriko Sakai spoke poor Cantonese.

"Miss Ma, what time does the museum close tonight?"

Suddenly a man's voice was heard in the hall.

A cleaner in uniform stood not far away and gave Ma Jingyi a flattering smile.

Ma Jingyi quickly stood up and said, "Uncle Li, you can go home after you clean up. Sister Nan and I will watch the show for a while, and maybe we'll stay here tonight."

Shi Nansheng noticed that Ma Jingyi was very kind and polite to the cleaner named Uncle Li.

When Uncle Li was listening to her speak, he leaned forward slightly and tilted his head, as if he was trying very hard to hear clearly what she said.

"I understand, Miss Ma." Uncle Li nodded: "Then I'll come again tomorrow."

Ma Jingyi smiled and said okay.

After a moment's silence, she found that Uncle Li was still standing there, looking hesitant, and glancing at Shi Nansheng beside him from time to time.

Ma Jingyi seemed to be thinking about something, and took the initiative to ask: "Anything else?"

Uncle Li put on a wry smile, rubbed his rough palms vigorously, and gestured towards Shi Nansheng: "I want to chat with Miss Shi."

Shi Nansheng was stunned and raised his eyebrows in surprise at the cleaner in front of him. He seemed to not know the other person.

Before she could react, Ma Jingyi had already made the decision for her and smiled at Uncle Li, "Okay, come over and tell me."

As he spoke, he patted Shi Nansheng on the shoulder and gave her a wink.

Shi Nansheng inexplicably stood up from the sofa and gave Uncle Li a polite smile: "Mr. Li, do you recognize me?"

"Yes, yes!"

Uncle Li took a few steps closer, his smile becoming more and more reserved: "It's like this, I have a daughter who just graduated from Peizheng Middle School, she is 16 years old this year, she has loved singing and dancing since she was a child..."

At this point, he pointed to the girl group Girls' Generation on TV and said, "Just like these girls, but their families are not well off and can't afford to send them to professional colleges to study."

Uncle Li bowed his back slightly, his tone a little nervous, "It's a rare opportunity to meet Miss Shi today, I have an unwelcome request, can you give my daughter a chance and help her find a job in the industry? Temporary recorder, stage manager are both fine."

Normally, Shi Nansheng would just give a perfunctory response to such a request; she is a producer, not a scout or director.

But today Ma Jingyi was present and acted like she was very familiar with the cleaner.

Shi Nansheng nodded and asked, "Did you bring the little girl with you?"

"No, she's on night shift at the electronics factory, so she probably hasn't finished work yet."

Uncle Li said as he took out a photo from the lining of his uniform and handed it to Shi Nansheng with both hands: "But I brought her photo with me. Miss Shi, please take a look at the conditions first. If you think it's okay..."

Shi Nansheng took the photo, looked at it briefly, and frowned slightly.

The girl in the photo is still wearing her school uniform. At the age of 16, she seems a little dull and unconfident, young and ignorant, and doesn't seem to have any spirituality.

However, when she smiles, there are two deep dimples on her cheeks, which is a unique signature feature.

To be honest, there is a big difference between the little girl in the photo who has just graduated from high school and the Girls' Generation group who already know how to dress themselves.

“This photo is not a good choice.”

As soon as Shi Nansheng finished speaking, he saw the disappointment in Uncle Li's eyes.

She then continued, "But I'm not a casting director after all. We can have her come to Jiuyi Entertainment tomorrow for a tryout, and then ask the company's stylist to help plan it. The effect might be different." Uncle Li's eyes instantly lit up again, and he bowed excitedly repeatedly, "Thank you very much, Miss Shi!"

"You're welcome." Shi Nansheng smiled slightly, took out a business card from his bag and handed it to Uncle Li, then asked: "Yes, what's the girl's name? She can just call me when she comes up tomorrow."

Uncle Li held the business card tightly and said, "Her name is Li Zi, and her English name is Gigi..."

……

On the TV show, the girl group left the stage.

TVB's live broadcast switched to Zhang Guorong. As soon as she came on stage, she was greeted with thunderous screams and applause from fans.

After all, no haters dared to boo at the charity concert.

Uncle Li finished work and went home, and the Golden House Club closed its doors.

Shi Nansheng took off his shoes, sat cross-legged on the sofa in an indecent posture, and asked his new best friend beside him: "Is she your friend?"

"You mean Uncle Li?" Ma Jingyi said with a smile, "I guess so, but you really don't recognize him?"

Although Shi Nansheng did not have occupational discrimination, he thought to himself that he did not have any friends who were cleaners. After thinking about it, he shook his head.

"It's a good thing that you are a gold medal producer in the film industry." Ma Jingyi laughed and teased: "Have you ever heard of Li Minwei?"

"You're kidding, how could I not know about the founder?" Shi Nansheng said, and suddenly realized: "The surname is also Li? No way!"

Ma Jingyi smiled and said, "Yes, that Uncle Li just now is the son of the founder of your film industry."

To be precise, Li Minwei should be the ancestor of Chinese-language films.

The father of Hong Kong cinema, the founder of Chinese-language films, the father of Chinese documentaries...

Lai Man-wai has been awarded many titles, and even the street where he filmed in Tai Hang, Hong Kong was named Screen Street by the Hong Kong government.

Shi Nansheng was incredulous and asked, "How could our ancestor's son end up working as a handyman?"

"Your ancestor had two wives and twelve children. He didn't leave much wealth, so his descendants won't get much of the inheritance."

Ma Jingyi sighed and continued, "The uncle Li just now is Li Minwei's ninth son, Li Yuan. He suffered from an illness when he was a child and now has hearing and vision problems similar to those of a disabled person. His family of four lives in the resettlement estate in Tung Tau Estate. His wife drives a truck to support the family, and they have two children who are not yet adults. I only met him when I went there as a volunteer a few years ago. Otherwise, I would never have thought that Li Minwei's descendants would fall into such a situation."

"Tsk tsk, the world is really unpredictable."

After listening to Ma Jingyi's story, Shi Nansheng couldn't help but sigh.

The environment in resettlement estates is even worse than that in public housing, especially in old areas like Tung Tau Estate, where rats and cockroaches are the only companions. Just imagine what kind of life Li Yuan's family lived.

He lowered his head and looked at the photo of Li Zi in his hand.

Shi Nansheng suddenly felt that the little girl was not that bad after all, she was quite pretty!

If she comes for the interview tomorrow and her performance isn't too bad, I'll just let her pass.

Shi Nansheng thought to himself: "These days, extras can earn a few hundred yuan a day, so whoever I hire won't matter."
On TV shows.

Zhang Guorong was singing hard on the stage, and the song "Can't Sleep" was accompanied by his tap dance steps, moving lightly on the stage.

"Melancholy runs towards the cold sky ~ knocking down every little raindrop ~ opening its mouth like a lifebuoy ~ experimenting with the sourness and sweetness of the rain..."

…………

"Woo~ Can't sleep~Woo~ Brain war~"

Hung Hom Stadium.

The neon lights on the stage flickered, and Zhang Guorong, wearing a silver sequined suit, performed tap dance steps that blended perfectly with the music.

You can hear slight panting between singing and dancing.

Not lip-syncing.

"Compared like this, wasn't it obvious that Girls' Generation just lip-synced?"

Sitting in the first row on the left in the inner field, Zhai Yuan turned his head and asked Chen Shilon.

After all, it was the first time for the girls to go on stage, and the performance was mostly dance by Girls’ Generation. In order to avoid a car accident scene, they simply chose the simplest lip syncing.

Chen Shilong said indifferently: "It's good-looking, I see the audience is very enthusiastic, you chose those pretty girls well, each of them has the qualifications to be the heroine."

"That's right, the audience response was very good."

Zhai Yuan nodded.

What he didn't tell Chen Shilong was that among the more than 10,000 audience members, there were at least 200 hired helpers. The new reporters picked out the people, excluding those who were ugly or had no acting talent, and they were specifically responsible for creating the atmosphere when Girls' Generation took the stage.

Those who are lucky enough to be chosen by the camera need to perform even harder, so that they can get an extra two hundred yuan after the show.

Zhai Yuan grinned and immediately reminded Chen Shilong: "But Ah Long, I am your uncle, and they will all be your elders in the future. Don't call them pretty girls all the time. Be polite."

Chen Shilong: “…Throw it!”

Zhai Yuan stopped looking at him and turned to look at Nishixie Michiko on the other side, saying, "After the show, help me arrange for the person in charge of Shueisha and these comic artists to check in at the Peninsula Hotel. Tomorrow, Lizhi will send a car to pick them up to the company. You come along, and I will discuss business with Dongyangzai in the class."

"I understand~" Michiko giggled and asked, "You want to publish Japanese comics in Hong Kong?"

"That depends on what price you Japanese people will offer me. If you ask for too much, I might as well work hard to build my own team."

Zhai Yuan glanced at the several Japanese cartoonists in the same row.

At this time, Akira Toriyama should be the one with the highest value, and the copyright fee of "Dragon Ball" must be the highest by a large margin.

The commercial value of "City Hunter" and "Fist of the North Star" combined is not as high as that of "Saint Seiya".

Therefore, the focus should be placed mainly on these two major IPs.

Another thing is talent pool.

Long serials are not like the four-frame comics like "A Shuai". They require at least a main writer and a few assistants to form a behind-the-scenes team.

Nowadays, the comic talents in Hong Kong are basically monopolized by the Yulang Group. If they don’t want to poach them, they need to think of ways from Japan.

It just so happened that Zhai Yuan was very interested in the two new cartoonists who were traveling with him today.

The first one is Hojo Tsukasa's assistant, Takehiko Inoue. Although it is not known how much of his master's skills he has learned so far, with some guidance, it may not be impossible for "Slam Dunk" to be released earlier.

The other is the manga award newcomer, Takeuchi Naoko.

Zhai Yuan glanced across the crowd and looked at the Oriental girl with long black hair sitting in the corner. She was also the only female cartoonist visiting Hong Kong this time.

We have already found Noriko Sakai, the prototype of Ami Mizuno, so how can we miss the original author of "Sailor Moon"?

Looking at Takeuchi Naoko's profile, Zhai Yuan inexplicably thought of a flop manga author in the future who married her and then simply gave up on updating his work.

I'm sorry, old thief Togashi, I'll lend you my wife for now!
(End of this chapter)