Chapter 44

In the evening, Wu Cheng brought the three women to the Wu family mansion. Wu Mingquan was so delighted that he couldn't keep the smile off his face. He put down the newspapers in his hands and invited them to sit down and chat.

"You can treat this place like your own home, no need to be拘谨. Many people in our family are your fans!" Wu Mingquan smiled at them, feeling happy and secretly praising his young nephew's taste. "Speaking of which, I should thank Ah Zhi! If it weren't for Ah Zhi's help when Xiao Cheng came to Hong Kong, who knows where he would be now!"

"Uncle, you're too kind. I should thank heaven for bringing Xiao Cheng to me!" Zhao Yazhi smiled gently and said, "If it weren't for Xiao Cheng, I would still be working behind the scenes at TVB!"

Wu Cheng shook his head and interjected, "I bet you would have been married by now!"

Everyone burst into laughter, and Zhao Yazhi was embarrassed. However, she thought that what Wu Cheng said might indeed have happened. At first, she had a good impression of Huang Hanwei. If Wu Cheng hadn't intervened, she might have ended up marrying him.

Thinking about this, Zhao Yazhi felt relieved again that she had met Wu Cheng.

"Wu Cheng is still young, and you are all like his sisters. If he does anything wrong, please criticize him. If he falls short, please be understanding," Wu Mingquan said with a smile. "Of course, if he bullies you, you can tell Uncle, and I will teach him a lesson!"

The three women nodded, but they felt a bit awkward. After all, last night, they had been "bullied" by him. However, such private matters were not something they could easily talk about.

Moreover, although Wu Cheng was sometimes a bit mischievous and childish, in serious matters, they regarded him as their mainstay. Just like what happened today.

Such matters would be difficult for even an average adult to resolve easily. But Wu Cheng handled it in just a few moves, even though he had some help.

Furthermore, who at his age would dare to start a company and make movies, and actually succeed?

Compared to him, they felt that what they had achieved was nothing.

Gradually, Wu Mingquan's kind smile put the three women at ease.

When most of the Wu family members returned, the three women quickly became the focus of everyone's attention. The Wu family was thrilled to see these three beauties. Deng Lijun's songs were popular throughout Asia, and Lin Qingxia was a big star in Taiwan. Even Zhao Yazhi, the least famous of the three, had been seen by everyone in the cinema last night.

For a while, the Wu family members surrounded the three women, asking questions non-stop.

Wu Shuqiang took this opportunity to call Wu Cheng aside and apologize. After being "lectured" by Wu Shulan last night, he finally understood Wu Cheng's status in the Wu family.

Especially when he saw how kindly the old man treated him, he realized how ridiculous his previous thoughts were. Therefore, even in the presence of the three beauties today, he dared not be the slightest bit impolite. He also took this opportunity to try to mend his relationship with Wu Cheng.

...

After a few days in Hong Kong, Wu Cheng was somewhat reluctant to see Deng Lijun and Lin Qingxia leave. The four of them had eaten and lived together... Of course, under the strong insistence of the three women, Wu Cheng was no longer allowed to drink more than three cups of alcohol, so it was impossible for them to sleep together like that night.

On the ninth day of the month, Deng Lijun and Lin Qingxia left Hong Kong, which made Wu Cheng and Zhao Yazhi somewhat reluctant. Zhao Yazhi had figured out that Wu Cheng had some undisclosed intentions towards Deng Lijun and Lin Qingxia, and of course, towards her as well.

This made her very conflicted. She wanted to leave him with a heavy heart, but she couldn't bear to part with his tenderness and thoughtfulness; she couldn't bear to part with his sincerity and enthusiasm; and she couldn't bear to part with their默契.

He wasn't the most understanding man, but he was the boy who understood what she needed the most.

When they were together, she only needed to give him a look, and Wu Cheng almost always understood her intentions. This kind of默契 made her feel incredibly comfortable.

This comfort made it impossible for her to leave, and she gradually became more and more immersed in it.

Especially, Wu Cheng treated her as if she were a treasure in his palm.

In just a few days, Zhao Yazhi had also become close friends with Deng Lijun and Lin Qingxia. She naturally felt reluctant about their departure, but they were busy with work, and a week in Hong Kong was already their limit. Unlike her, her contract was with East Dragon.

Even if TVB had a contract with her, given her current popularity in Hong Kong, TVB wouldn't waste such a contract.

In other words, Zhao Yazhi was actually quite idle. She didn't have to worry about her living expenses, and the rest was naturally about continuously improving herself.

Therefore, after Deng Lijun and Lin Qingxia left, Zhao Yazhi began to focus on learning, studying company management and refining her acting skills.

On the tenth day of the month, Wu Cheng received two pieces of good news, both from Golden Harvest.

The first piece of good news was that the local box office for "Five Lucky Stars" had been released. In just one week, it had earned nearly 4.3 million, leaving many people speechless.

This box office was very close to last year's box office champion. People couldn't imagine that Hong Kong could have a movie with a weekly box office of over 4 million.

Actually, Wu Cheng himself couldn't imagine it either. After all, it was still early 1976! If it were the 1980s or 1990s, he wouldn't have found it strange.

However, upon closer reflection, it didn't seem impossible. Historically, this year's box office champion, "Half a Catty, Eight Taels," had earned over 8 million.

Moreover, the quality of "Five Lucky Stars" itself was beyond reproach. With a budget of over 3 million, it was rare in Hong Kong. Plus, its promotional efforts were unparalleled in Hong Kong, covering almost the entire city.

In fact, the box office of a film often depends on the intensity of its promotion. The promotion for "Five Lucky Stars" was very different from traditional methods. At least, no other film had done a trailer on TV except for "Five Lucky Stars."

Thus, such a box office wasn't surprising.

The second piece of good news was that Golden Harvest had paid the overseas distribution rights fee for "Five Lucky Stars," meaning that East Dragon International now had money.

With the company having money, Wu Cheng naturally needed to discuss the next steps with Hong Jinbao.

The first thing to do was to pay the outstanding salaries to the brothers who had worked on the film. Hong Jinbao and his team had joined the project without pay, and now that the film had earned money, they deserved their share.

At the same time, after discussing with Hong Jinbao, Wu Cheng allocated 1 million to distribute among the entire crew of "Five Lucky Stars." The larger shares were in the tens of thousands, and the smaller ones were in the thousands. For many ordinary employees in Hong Kong, these bonuses were equivalent to several months' salary.

After handling these matters, about 7.3 million remained from the 9 million.

Next, Wu Cheng handed the script for "The Kung Fu Kid" to Hong Jinbao and asked him to make a budget. Wu Cheng estimated it would cost 1 million to ensure the quality of the film.

Of course, this time, Wu Cheng did not draw the storyboards.

Last time, he had drawn all the storyboards for "Five Lucky Stars," and the crew members often complained that his script was too detailed, leading to unnecessary scenes being set up.

Some scenes that were not quite suitable had to be found, but in fact, these scenes could be replaced with others without affecting the film's actual effect.

Later, Wu Cheng realized that storyboards were actually a director's refinement of the script based on the story and pre-selected scenes.

Like him, almost no one drew the entire storyboard before the film even started production, let alone before the crew was assembled.

Understanding this, Wu Cheng stopped doing this thankless task and instead gave Hong Jinbao a summary of the story. As for the action scenes, he left them to Hong Jinbao. Wu Cheng's only requirement was that the action scenes must match the level of "Five Lucky Stars" and not use the old-style martial arts choreography.

Although other action and martial arts films were still in the old style, this was not what Wu Cheng wanted. They aimed to lead the trend.

This "The Kung Fu Kid" didn't have any big scenes. The original lead actors were Yuan Biao and Liang Jia Ren, but Wu Cheng thought Liang Jia Ren could be replaced by one of the actors from his company.

After all, Liang Jia Ren wasn't famous yet, and it would be better to use his own company's actors. Going to Shaw Brothers for help would not only be expensive but also help train actors for others, which was not cost-effective.

Of course, these were just Wu Cheng's suggestions. The specifics would depend on Hong Jinbao's decisions, as he was the director, and Yuan Biao and Yuan Hua were his junior brothers. Hong Jinbao wouldn't easily give the opportunity to others.

As Hong Jinbao began to assemble the crew, Wu Cheng also started to build the company's core team.

East Dragon International was still a shell, and starting from scratch was indeed challenging. Wu Cheng had a lot to do. First, he needed to find a location, which he entrusted to Wu Shulan.

Although Wu Shulan wasn't part of the company, she was his niece and could be easily directed. With the Wu family's influence, the location was determined in just two days.

The office was near Broadcast Drive, not far from the TVB and ATV studios. It didn't need much renovation and could be used almost immediately.

Except for the need to convert a small screening room.

However, he only rented two floors of the building, as he saw this as a temporary office. In the future, the company would definitely build its own film city.

Next was the recruitment of talent, and the advertisements had already been placed. On the 13th, East Dragon International officially held a job fair.

However, what Wu Cheng didn't expect was that on the first day, he met several talented individuals.