Chapter 6 of 10

Chapter 6

14 min read3,588 wordsMature

After Wu Ruiqing pushed his mother Liang Ying out the door, he immediately locked the door from the inside and carefully examined his diary. He had been secretly in love with a girl in his class for a long time but never dared to confess, so he wrote love letters to her in his diary.

In this diary, there were eight love letters Wu Ruiqing had written to the girl, none of which he had ever dared to send.

"That cousin from the mainland is so despicable!" As Wu Ruiqing flipped through his diary, he felt his fragile and awkward teenage heart was deeply hurt, and he began to wipe away his tears, feeling extremely wronged.

Wu Ruiqing continued flipping through the diary and suddenly noticed that the last few dozen pages had writing on them. Curiously, he flipped to the last page.

Kang Jianfei's handwriting was terrible, so bad that it was embarrassing to show anyone.

Kang Jianfei's writing skills were also poor; his writing could only be considered grammatically correct.

However, it was this ugly handwriting, poor writing skills, and the novel written with many simplified characters that made Wu Ruiqing unable to look away as he read.

Wu Ruiqing was fifteen years old, introverted, timid, and did not do well in school, almost having no redeeming qualities. But because he loved reading martial arts novels from a young age, he wrote very well and had a strong appreciation for martial arts novels.

Wu Ruiqing thought he had read all kinds of martial arts novels, from revenge, to adventures, to power struggles, but he had never seen such a novel with such a novel plot.

A modern person, after being beaten up, directly traveled through time to the Warring States period and ended up on a beautiful woman's bed.

The protagonist, Xiang Shaolong, was just an ordinary commoner, but after traveling through time, he became incredibly strong, won the heart of a beautiful woman, and earned the respect of heroes, which was truly inspiring. As he read, Wu Ruiqing couldn't help but imagine himself as Xiang Shaolong, picturing himself in the Warring States period, commanding heroes and having countless beauties at his feet...

Wu Ruiqing became more and more engrossed in the story, even ignoring the many simplified characters in the text. When he reached a blank page, he felt a sense of loss and said, "Sigh, it's a pity there's nothing more..."

It felt as if his heart was being scratched by a cat's claws. Wu Ruiqing desperately wanted to know what happened next. He completely forgot about his previous unpleasantness with Kang Jianfei and ran to the living room, asking, "Cousin, where can I buy this novel?"

This was the first time Wu Ruiqing had called Kang Jianfei "cousin" in over half a month. Hu Juncai, who was unaware of the situation, thought the boy had taken some wrong medicine.

Kang Jianfei smiled and said, "It's something I just wrote. Where do you think you can buy it?"

"Is this a novel you wrote yourself?" Wu Ruiqing asked in surprise, thinking Kang Jianfei had copied it after reading it—well, this thought was actually quite close to the truth.

Kang Jianfei countered, "Is that not possible?"

"Of course it's possible," Wu Ruiqing looked at Kang Jianfei with pleading eyes and begged, "Cousin, what happens to Xiang Shaolong next? Tell me quickly."

Kang Jianfei pretended to think and said, "Hmm, I seem to remember someone calling me a 'mainland fool' just now..."

Wu Ruiqing begged without any dignity, "Cousin, I was wrong. A great person doesn't hold a grudge against a small person. Please tell me what happens next."

Wu Ruiqing's behavior was so unusual that it left Hu Juncai completely confused, and even his little sister Wu Ruixue, who was watching cartoons, looked at her brother curiously.

...

Under Wu Ruiqing's watchful eyes, Kang Jianfei wrote another three thousand words of "The Legend of the Seeker." Then he received a call from his uncle, asking him to take a taxi to a teahouse on Broadcast Road, saying that he had some news about a job for him.

Kang Jianfei arrived at the teahouse unhurriedly. As soon as he entered, he saw his uncle Wu Chenggang waving at him. Sitting at the table with Wu Chenggang was a bald man in his forties.

"Fei, call him Uncle Ding," Wu Chenggang said as soon as Kang Jianfei approached, and then introduced him to the bald man, "Ding, this is my nephew from the mainland, Kang Jianfei."

Kang Jianfei didn't know who "Uncle Ding" was, but he seemed to be a well-connected person. He politely greeted him, "Hello, Uncle Ding!"

Uncle Ding reached out and pressed Kang Jianfei's solid chest, nodding in approval, "Not bad, you have a strong build. Work hard, and you'll have a bright future!"

Wu Chenggang also encouraged him, "Uncle Ding is also from the mainland, but he's done much better than me. You should follow Uncle Ding and work hard. Maybe one day your uncle will need your help."

Kang Jianfei sat there, still confused. He couldn't remember who this "Uncle Ding" was, but he felt somewhat familiar.

Uncle Ding, eating a tart in a rather unrefined manner, asked, "Have you ever practiced martial arts?"

Kang Jianfei nodded, "I practiced Crane Fist for a while."

"Fei, you practiced martial arts? I didn't know that," Uncle Wu Chenggang said in surprise.

Kang Jianfei explained, "A few years ago, during a movement, an old man was sent to our village. He was a university professor and knew a lot. I secretly learned martial arts from him and read many books. But because he was afraid of being criticized, he didn't allow me to tell anyone."

Kang Jianfei's Crane Fist was actually learned from his pickpocket master before he traveled through time. He mentioned it now mainly to avoid suspicion if he showed too many abilities in the future.

"Oh," Wu Chenggang believed Kang Jianfei without any doubt, never thinking he might be lying.

"Crane Fist?" Uncle Ding asked, "Is it Zonghe, Minghe, Shihe, or Feihe?"

Kang Jianfei replied, "I practiced Feihe Crane Fist."

Uncle Ding nodded in satisfaction, "Not bad, not bad. Among the Crane Fists, Shihe has the greatest destructive power, but in terms of beautiful moves, Feihe is the best, perfect for movies." He then said to Wu Chenggang, "Bring him to the set tomorrow. I have to go now."

Wu Chenggang quickly stood up to see him off.

After Uncle Wu Chenggang returned from seeing off Uncle Ding, Kang Jianfei asked, "Uncle, who is this Uncle Ding?"

"This Uncle Ding is Li Jiading. He was originally a wealthy family's son in Guangzhou. When he was eight, his family's property was confiscated during the land reform, and he fled to Hong Kong with his family. He dropped out of school and started working at a young age. He began learning martial arts at eighteen and became a stuntman at twenty. In his twenties, he also started learning horseback riding and has won so many international equestrian championships that he's lost count." Wu Chenggang continued, "Now, many of the movies and TV shows produced by Shaw Brothers and TVB have him as the martial arts director and equestrian coach. Even big stars like Wong Ming-chuen have to call him 'Brother Ding.' You should work hard and follow him. If you can become his disciple, you'll be on your way to success."

Kang Jianfei finally understood who this "Uncle Ding" was. He remembered Li Jiading because he was the equestrian coach for many Hong Kong stars and tycoons, such as Chen Huilin.

Kang Jianfei also realized that his uncle had been spending the past half month trying to contact Li Jiading. If he just wanted to find Kang Jianfei a temporary acting job, Wu Chenggang could have easily asked the director for a favor. The fact that he spent so much time to have a tea with Li Jiading was to get him to take Kang Jianfei as a disciple.

Unfortunately, Kang Jianfei had no interest in becoming a stuntman, a job that was both tiring and poorly paid.

...

When he returned home, it was just in time for dinner. Kang Jianfei sat down at the table and noticed that Hu Juncai was not there. He asked, "Where's Ahcai?"

Aunt Zhou Mingfang replied, "Ahcai's cousin just took him away."

Wu Chenggang complained, "That cousin of Ahcai's is really something. Ahcai has been staying here for so many days, and he didn't even wait for us to come back to say goodbye."

Aunt Zhou Mingfang explained, "They went to Lantau Island, and it's too late to cross the sea."

Wu Chenggang, understanding the situation, didn't say anything more. The Tsing Ma Bridge connecting Lantau Island to Kowloon wouldn't be built for another ten years, so they had to take a ferry.

The little guy Wu Ruiqing quickly finished his meal and sat on the sofa, watching TVB's "Chu Liuxiang," occasionally glancing at Kang Jianfei. As soon as Kang Jianfei finished his meal, Wu Ruiqing immediately took out his notebook and said, "Cousin, write some more tonight."

"Go away, wait until I finish watching TV," Kang Jianfei patted his cousin's head and focused on the TV, where Zhao Ya played Su Rongrong.

Wu Chenggang, hearing their conversation, asked curiously, "What are you writing?"

Wu Ruiqing proudly showed his father, "Dad, look, this is the novel Cousin wrote. It's even better than Jin Yong's."

Wu Chenggang took the notebook and, upon seeing Kang Jianfei's terrible handwriting and the mixed simplified characters, immediately lost interest and threw it aside.

Kang Jianfei asked, "Uncle, how much do newspapers pay for articles in Hong Kong?"

Wu Chenggang replied disdainfully, "What, do you want to sell your novel? Do you think you're Ni Kuang?"

Kang Jianfei didn't explain further and smiled, "I was just asking."

Wu Chenggang thought for a moment and said, "It depends on the type of article. Generally, column articles pay much more, about 700 Hong Kong dollars per thousand words. For your kind of martial arts novel, if published in Ming Pao, it would be about 60 Hong Kong dollars per thousand words. If serialized in Eastern Daily, it could be up to 90 Hong Kong dollars per thousand words."

Kang Jianfei was surprised, "Why does Ming Pao pay less?"

Wu Chenggang laughed, "Jin Yong is as stingy as Mr. Shaw. He even underpays his old employees at Ming Pao, let alone authors. There's a funny story about Jin Yong's stinginess. Lin Yanzi once asked for a raise, and Jin Yong said, 'You spend so much, you'll just spend it all if I give you a raise, so I won't.' Eileen Chang also asked for a raise, and he said, 'You don't spend much, so what's the point of a raise?'"

Kang Jianfei asked, "Who gets the highest pay for writing in Hong Kong?"

Wu Chenggang replied, "Of course, Jin Yong gets the highest, and no one can afford him. Next would be Ni Kuang. At the beginning of this year, Wong Yuk-long offered Ni Kuang 500 Hong Kong dollars per thousand words to write a novel, which caused a sensation in Hong Kong."

Kang Jianfei now had a better understanding of the pay rates in Hong Kong. Although Ming Pao paid the least, he still wanted to submit his work there. He wanted fame, not just the money. With Jin Yong's status in the film industry, if "The Legend of the Seeker" was published in Ming Pao, it would attract more attention from industry leaders.

Once "The Legend of the Seeker" gained fame, Kang Jianfei would find it easier to raise funds for his own film.

Kang Jianfei didn't plan to make money purely from writing novels. Even if he finished writing the 1.5 million words of "The Legend of the Seeker" and got 100 Hong Kong dollars per thousand words, he would only earn 150,000 Hong Kong dollars, which was not enough to produce a low-budget film in Hong Kong. Moreover, the royalties wouldn't come all at once; it would take at least a year to finish the serialization.

Kang Jianfei wanted to accumulate capital by writing novels, but he would need to serialize four books simultaneously and wait a year to earn 600,000 Hong Kong dollars. He didn't have the patience to spend a year writing novels to earn 600,000 Hong Kong dollars and then use that money to produce a low-budget film. The fastest way was to become famous first, write a good script, and then find investors to produce the film.

...