Hong Kong 1980: Me and the Queen Swapped Clothes

"Brother Kui, how did you know I'd be coming out tonight?" Qin Weiming asked directly.

Cheng Kui'an scratched his head: "I don't know, I just felt that you were acting strange today, very different from your usual self. I had a feeling that something might happen to you tonight, so I told my mom, and she asked me to come over and see if I could help you out if anything happened."

Qin Weiming patted Cheng Kui'an on the shoulder: "Brother Kui, now that you're out, it saves me the trouble of looking for you. If you're free starting tomorrow, come with me to look for a place to live. I don't want to stay at home any longer."

Cheng Kui'an immediately patted his chest and agreed, "Don't worry, Amei, you can call me anytime tomorrow."

Qin Weiming asked another question: "Brother Kui, where are you working now?"

Cheng Kui'an scratched his head: "I'm at Shaw Brothers, working under my teacher, Li Xiuxian, but I haven't had much work lately, otherwise I wouldn't have come to you to borrow money."

Qin Weiming nodded: "Come with me to find a house tomorrow morning, and then you can take me to see the Shaw Brothers and other places. I'm quite interested in making movies and I'd like to see them."

Cheng Kui'an readily agreed: "No problem."

The two agreed on a time, and Qin Weiming took the money and went outside to find a clean hotel to book a room. By the time they were settled, it was already past seven o'clock in the evening.

"Phew, so tired. This is a nightmare start, but it's still easier than in Taiwan. They made me sing and take the arts school entrance exam right away. Tsk, the diva there must be doing better than me." Qin Weiming thought to himself. In just one day, he had escaped from the Fang family. He felt like he hadn't had a moment's rest. He had also built a good relationship with Cheng Kui'an. The two were now close friends. Cheng Kui'an was a loyal friend, but unfortunately, he was too low-ranking and hadn't made a name for himself yet. It was impossible for him to get into Shaw Brothers Studio through Cheng Kui'an.

You have to rely on yourself for everything.

As Qin Weiming pondered, he opened his notebook, took out his pen, and began to write and draw on it.

This time, however, he wasn't thinking about writing lyrics. He wrote lyrics in Taiwan to avoid being sent to military service. But after arriving in Hong Kong, he racked his brains to recall what impressions he had of the classic movies from the past few years.

The script was written extremely quickly; Qin Weiming finished it in just one night.

"Writing isn't difficult; the challenge lies in handing the script to someone and making them take it seriously." Qin Weiming didn't expect the script to immediately impress someone or make them worship him as a genius. In fact, his first thought was how to get to know the other person, then further build a closer relationship, and then naturally mention that he had a script in his hand, which might be the only way to get their attention.

There was no other way; in the beginning, he had no connections or reputation, so Qin Weiming had to think things through again and again before doing them.

Silent all night.

Qin Weiming slept until dawn, then got up early and wrote down a rough plan. Still feeling it was too deliberate, he destroyed the plan before leaving the house, only then feeling at ease.

"Brother Kui, why are you here so early? Don't you need to take care of your aunt?" Qin Weiming was already very familiar with Cheng Kui'an.

Cheng Kui'an said happily, "I sent my mother to the hospital last night. It's better for her to be in the hospital. I can't think of anything to repay you, so I just came over early to wait for you."

Qin Weiming nodded. He understood. Judging from Cheng Kui'an's appearance, he was already extremely satisfied as long as his mother could receive treatment.

However, because Qin Weiming had become his creditor, Cheng Kui'an was extremely attentive to Qin Weiming: "Amei, where shall we go first?"

"Of course I'm going to Shaw Brothers. Aren't you working there? It's okay for you to take leave recently, right?" Qin Weiming asked.

Cheng Kui'an replied without hesitation, "Of course, no problem. We didn't even start work for the first two months. Sigh, if it weren't for the four-year sentence I got for being a thug at a bar, oh well, making money is just too hard these days."

He was a broad-minded person. Since he couldn't earn much money as a stuntman, and his mother's illness was urgent, and he was short of money for food, he decided to just follow Qin Weiming for the time being.

Qin Weiming agreed with Cheng Kui'an's decision: "No matter what, going down the film path is at least a legitimate one, and with your unique appearance, Brother Kui, you'll make a name for yourself sooner or later."

"Thank you for your kind words, Ah Mei. I think you have the looks to be a singer. Why didn't you go to a record company?" Cheng Kui'an had been with Shaw Brothers for two years and knew a lot about the industry. In his opinion, Fang Yanmei's appearance might not be that beautiful, but her heaven-sent voice made her a natural choice for a singer.

Qin Weiming's face darkened for a moment. With his current voice, it would be a feat to sing a Cantonese song without going off-key. He might as well go into making movies. Why would he think of going down the path of a record company?

"If it were the original Fang Yanmei, there might be a chance, but as for me now, let's forget about it." Qin Weiming knew his own family's situation well, so he urged Cheng Kui'an to go to the Shaw Brothers studio first.

"There's no rush to find a place. I'll take a look first. Anyway, all you need to do is take me to Shaw Brothers once," Qin Weiming said.

Since Qin Weiming had made the decision, Cheng Kui'an naturally had no choice but to follow his instructions. Although he wasn't very familiar with Qin Weiming before, after spending the last two days together, he had come to have great respect for Qin Weiming. Although the other man was much younger than him, he was more decisive in many matters.

When Qin Weiming arrived at the Shaw Brothers studio, he took a look around. With Cheng Kui'an, an acquaintance, making an appearance, the others didn't say much. At most, they just thought Qin Weiming's unfamiliar face made him seem like a newcomer to the company.

Qin Weiming didn't stay with Cheng Kui'an for long. Although Cheng Kui'an assured him he wouldn't cause him any trouble, Qin Weiming was only there to verify something: "Where is Cheng Long now?"

"Jackie Chan, he's at Golden Harvest and on the set of the Law Society. I heard he even went to Hollywood. He's doing so well. Sigh, how could a nobody like me know Jackie Chan?" As soon as Cheng Kui'an heard Qin Weiming's words, he knew what he wanted to ask. But it wasn't that Cheng Kui'an didn't want to help; it was that he simply couldn't.

By this time, Jackie Chan had already raked in millions at the box office in Hong Kong with his two films, "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and "Drunken Master," becoming a box office guarantee and a movie star in the eyes of Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers.

However, after Cheng Kui'an finished speaking, Qin Weiming's expression changed somewhat. He remembered very clearly that when Jackie Chan first went to Hollywood, he was tricked and just drifted along there. After finally finishing filming "The Killer," he returned to Hong Kong in a depressed mood.

"Do you know the Golden Harvest film set? Take me there too," Qin Weiming said immediately.

Although Cheng Kui'an was a member of Shaw Brothers, as a stuntman, he would take any job as long as he could work. Moreover, Hong Kong was too small a place, so he didn't ask Qin Weiming what he wanted to do and just led him over.