Against the Current Hong Kong 1979

Zhang Shuai'an suddenly had a strange premonition and said to Jackie Chan, "Brother Chan, why don't you take advantage of the early hour and send the film directly to Golden Harvest?"

Jackie Chan casually replied, "No need, Mr. Zou will send someone to pick it up tomorrow morning."

Feng Ke'an, who was standing nearby, added, "Do you know how heavy film is? Everyone is exhausted. We all want to get off work as soon as possible and rest."

Zhang Shuai'an still reminded him, "It's better to be safe than sorry."

Jackie Chan hesitated for a moment, then patted Zhang Shuai'an on the shoulder and said, "Okay, I'll do as you say."

He turned to the group and shouted, "Ah An, Da Kou, two more people, let's move the film to the car together. I'll take it to the editing room at Golden Harvest first."

Those people all glanced at Zhang Shuai'an with some displeasure, as if to say, "You're just being nosy."

For stuntmen, whether the film is burned or not is none of their business. They just take the money to make films, and once they're done, they leave. It's that simple.

It could even be said that burning the film only benefited them, because they could start work again and earn an extra wage.

Most stuntmen have little formal education and work a no-brainer, so many have developed a carefree attitude towards life.

Now that they'd finished work, all they wanted to do was go down the mountain and have some fun, so hearing Zhang Shuai'an's words naturally only made them feel annoyed.

Ultimately, it was because Jackie Chan was there; otherwise, Zhang Shuai'an would most likely have gotten a beating.

"Don't just stand there, help us!" Jackie Chan shouted, leading the others to load the film reels into the car.

Finally, he said to Feng Ke'an and the others, "Anzi, come with me to Jiahe. Everyone else, finish your work and rest for a while. See you tonight."

The others then shouted excitedly and ran down the mountain, afraid that if they were any later they would be stopped by Jackie Chan.

Zhang Shuai'an didn't care, since he had nothing else to do anyway.

Not long after they left the film set, Zhang Shuai'an, sitting in the back seat, suddenly turned his head and was shocked to find that the film studio on the mountain was on fire.

He shouted to Jackie Chan, "Brother Chan, there's a fire on the mountain!"

Jackie Chan glanced at it briefly, then quickly stopped the car by the roadside and stuck his head out to look at the hilltop of the film set. Sure enough, the film studio where the film reels were stored was on fire.

Seeing this, Jackie Chan naturally guessed that someone had deliberately set fire to burn the film.

He couldn't help but feel secretly relieved, and said to Zhang Shuai'an, "Anzai, it's fortunate you reminded me, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable!"

Then, he gritted his teeth angrily: "He was indeed good to me before, but he's gotten increasingly out of line!"

Zhang Shuai'an knew who he was talking about, so he wisely kept quiet.

Jackie Chan started the car again and quickly arrived at the Golden Harvest Building.

After parking the car, he instructed a staff member who came over: "Take the film reel in the car to the editing room and have Brother Yaozong cut it out as soon as possible."

The man nodded: "Brother Long, I understand."

The "Yiu Chung" that Jackie Chan mentioned is indeed Cheung Yiu Chung, the "golden scissors" of Golden Harvest Films and a top film editor in Hong Kong. More than 80% of Golden Harvest's films were edited by him.

He waved to Zhang Shuai'an and said, "Anzai, come with me to see Zou Sheng."

"Okay." Zhang Shuai'an nodded.

Jackie Chan took him by elevator all the way to the ninth floor.

This building is called Tung Ying Building. It was built in 1965 and has 17 floors. It is currently the largest office building in Kowloon Peninsula.

In 1970, when Golden Harvest was founded, Chow Wen-huai, Ho Koon-cheung, and Leung Fung bought a space of less than 90 square meters in the Tung Ying Building to use as an office.

At this time, Jiahe had already bought three floors to use as offices, and Zou Wenhuai's own office was arranged on the ninth floor.

As soon as Jackie Chan and Zhang Shuai'an stepped out of the elevator, they were met by several people walking towards them.

The man in the lead had a shiny bald head and a rather serious expression, yet his eyes and brows were quite lively and expressive.

Beside the bald man was a thin man with constantly furrowed brows, as if he were always troubled by something.

The remaining person was also quite thin, wearing a suit and large-framed glasses, with a shy expression, like a newcomer to the workplace.

(The three shareholders of Struggle Pictures, the three giants of Cinema City: Raymond Wong (1946-), Karl Maka (1944-), and Dean Shek (1949-2021))

When Zhang Shuai'an saw the three men, he was taken aback. Weren't they fierce generals under Golden Princess? How did they end up at Jiahe?

On second thought, it's only 1979; Cinema City hadn't been founded yet, and these three were still the founders of Struggle Films. Furthermore, Mak Wag-to and Hung King-po were longtime friends and had collaborated several times. Shek Tim and Jackie Chan had also worked together a few times, such as on films like *Snake in the Eagle's Shadow* and *Drunken Master*.

"Mr. Wong, Brother Tim, Baldy!"

Jackie Chan smiled and went up to greet the three of them.

The bald man immediately grabbed Jackie Chan, saying with a displeased look, "Hey, hey, big nose, what you're saying seems a bit unfair."

"What's unfair?" Jackie Chan was full of questions. "What did I do wrong?"

The bald man said in a serious tone, "If you don't even know what you did wrong, then you're compounding your mistakes."

"Okay, I was wrong, I apologize." Jackie Chan smiled and admitted defeat, then asked, "Now can you tell me what I did wrong?"

Mai Guangtou appreciated Jackie Chan's attitude of admitting his mistake, so he explained, "You call Huang Baiming 'Mr. Huang,' which is a bit respectful but also distant; you call Shi Tian 'Brother Tian,' which is respectful but also affectionate. Why do you specifically call me 'Bald Guy'?"

Jackie Chan casually explained, "Because you're bald, which is quite eye-catching. It's hard not to notice you, and calling you 'bald guy' is more endearing."

"You're right." The bald-headed man didn't argue, then turned his gaze to Zhang Shuai'an beside him: "Hey, is this handsome guy your friend, or a newcomer that Golden Harvest is planning to promote?"

Jackie Chan tugged at Zhang Shuai'an and said, "Let me introduce you. This is my friend Zhang Shuai'an. He's an actor and screenwriter, and he's very popular right now."

He then pointed to the three men with bald heads and said, "Mr. Mak Ka-mai, Mr. Wong Pak-ming, and Mr. Shek Tin-shek."

"Greetings, gentlemen. I pay my respects." Zhang Shuai'an bowed slightly to them in a traditional Chinese manner.

"You're something else, kid." Baldy immediately pressed, "Big Nose just said you're very famous? How famous? Is it redder than a monkey's butt?"

Zhang Shuai'an replied with a smile, "Baldy, what you're saying... no matter how famous you become, you're not as famous as someone with a bald head."

"The fact that you call me 'brother' shows you're quite astute." The bald man chuckled and pointed at Zhang Shuai'an, praising, "Young man, I admire you because you have an eye for talent; you know I'm very popular."

"Pfft!" Huang Baiming, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Mai Guangtou paused for a moment, then turned to Huang Baiming: "Hey, what are you laughing at?"

Huang Baiming forced back his laughter and waved his hand, saying, "It's nothing, I just thought of some happy things."

"What's so funny? Did your wife give birth again?" the bald man retorted.

Shi Tian, ​​who was standing nearby, couldn't stand it anymore and pointed at Zhang Shuai'an, saying, "This handsome guy called your bald head a monkey's butt, and you still praised him for having good taste."

Mai Guangtou's expression changed, and he said to Zhang Shuai'an, "Yeah, handsome, you actually insulted me, that's really unkind. Handsome guys are all cunning, aren't they?"

Zhang Shuai'an feigned a blank expression: "Did I?"

"Forget it." The bald man waved his hand, it was just a joke after all. "I'm magnanimous, I won't hold it against you. Let's go."

After watching the three leave, Jackie Chan led Zhang Shuai'an into Zou Wenhuai's office.

Once inside, Jackie Chan first saw his godfather, Ho Koon-cheung, and casually asked, "Godfather, what were Mak and the other two doing here earlier?"

Ho Koon-cheung replied, "They have a film called 'Crazy Conman,' which has been edited and post-produced with us, and they want it released in Golden Harvest theaters. However, the minimum fee they're asking for is a bit low, so we haven't reached an agreement yet."

Zou Wenhuai also spoke up: "It's not that it's a little too little; what they really mean is that they want a share, which is a bit of a pipe dream."

Zhang Shuai felt relieved. It seemed that Mai Guangtou and his two companions had suffered a setback at Golden Harvest, so they later sought cooperation with Golden Princess, and then Struggle Pictures was directly reorganized into Cinema City.

If that's the case, then next year will be a historic moment for the "Seven Wonders of Cinema City" to gather together.