A Kiss

Once Wrong Turn had built up some buzz, Fu Chi began contacting film distributors in South Korea and Southeast Asia. The left-wing faction had their own distribution channels, but their previous films had been heavily political. Overseas buyers wouldn't touch them, so few works had ever made it out. Wrong Turn, however, was a commercial movie through and through, and it featured beating up Japanese devils to boot—a surefire hit of political correctness across Asia. South Korea expressed keen interest. Naturally, there were also places with tight restrictions, such as Singapore. Singapore's censorship system was in some ways even stricter than the mainland's. When Young and Dangerous was submitted for review years later, they specifically had Ekin Cheng shoot extra scenes turning him into an undercover cop planted in Hung Hing, who in the end sent all his good brothers—Chicken, Dai Tin-yee, Pou-pan, and the rest—straight to prison. The title had even been changed to New Police Story: In the First Degree! All because Singapore did not permit the glorification of triads, nor could bad guys ultimately triumph. Back then, just to put food on the table, Hong Kong filmmakers had done plenty of such self-castration and groveling. Yet years later, when those same people headed north, all they did was complain about strict mainland censorship, whining on and on about how the mainland had ruined Hong Kong cinema... In any case, Fu Chi felt Wrong Turn could sell several million across Asia, and this style was even better suited for Americans; he wanted to venture overseas as well. *** Night, Great Wall company dormitories. Fu Chi had written a letter to Wang Yang and Chen Qi sharing the good news about Wrong Turn, and a reply had arrived from Beijing. At that moment, he was reading it carefully under the lamp. Finishing it, he smiled. "They want to take the martial arts film they're shooting overseas as well!" "How so?" Shi Hui asked. "Old Wang is pushing to get into the Berlin International Film Festival, and he invited us to Beijing to view the footage, hoping we'll distribute it in Hong Kong." "That feels so strange!" Shi Hui remarked with a subtle expression. "Since when does a mainland studio proactively push into overseas markets? And take the initiative to ask for a release in Hong Kong?" "Old Wang definitely didn't think of that on his own. It must be that young comrade's idea. As it happens, we want to send Wrong Turn overseas too. Let's go back to Beijing to discuss it, and if it works out, we can make the trip together." "Oh, right, shouldn't we show some gratitude to that young comrade? He said he was giving it to us for free, but we can't just take it for nothing. When times were tough, that was one thing, but now that we've made some money, we should at least pay him his script fee," Shi Hui suggested. "Then let's pay him the top market rate! Any more than that might actually cause him trouble..." Fu Chi chuckled. "I'm extremely interested in him now. We'll have plenty of dealings in the future; there's no rush to settle everything in one go." "True. You're fifty-one, I'm forty-six. We'll hold down the fort for the motherland for another ten years, and then it'll be time to retire. Frankly speaking, I'm already feeling a bit tired. Interacting more with energetic young people like him will help the two of us keep going." Shi Hui sighed, then turned her head and saw their younger daughter peeking through the crack of the door, eavesdropping. She smiled. "Sweetheart, come here!" "Mommy!" Fu Mingxian pushed the door open and pounced into her arms. "Are we going to Beijing?" "Yes. How about we take you along?" "Great, great! Going out is my favorite thing!" "Then we'll go as soon as your school holiday starts!" Shi Hui tapped her nose. Fu Mingxian was charmingly naive and adorable, not yet the spoiled brat she would become later. Hong Kong schools started their winter break before Christmas and went until January, so they decided to make the trip to Beijing at the end of the year. *** A certain cinema. Yuen Woo-ping had taken some time out of his schedule to watch Wrong Turn. Having just stepped outside, his assessment of the film was rather mediocre. There wasn't much action choreography; it relied purely on slaughter and cannibals to grab eyeballs, elevated at the end by thrashing Japanese devils. Yet he also had to admit that this genre was exceedingly rare in Hong Kong, and the leftists could never have made it on their own—because the screenwriter credit prominently displayed two large characters: Chen Qi! From their brief time together in Beijing, Yuen Woo-ping had concluded that this fellow's brain had an eccentric structure. He thought thoughts ordinary people couldn't conceive, setting him apart from filmmakers on both sides of the border. "Hopefully we'll get off to a flying start too!" Yuen Woo-ping pulled on his hat and slipped away quietly. The Yuen Clan Stunt Team was currently filming The Miracle Fighters, their venture piece. *** Li Han-hsiang hadn't paid any attention to Wrong Turn. As a cultured scholar, he looked down on such vulgar work. His new film had originally been planned as Tiger Xu and the White Widow, but Chen Qi's talk of Yu Xuanji had piqued his interest. Upon returning, he had looked up a great deal of material on his own, growing more excited the more he dug. Yu Xuanji was simply too mysterious; historical records about her were sparse, leaving ample room for the imagination. He decisively abandoned the White Widow and resolved to make a film on the subject of Yu Xuanji, beginning to draft the screenplay himself while waiting for Chen Qi's script. Li Han-hsiang held himself in high esteem; no matter how good someone else's script was, he would still have to revise it. *** Morning. Chen Qi walked into that same bank again, with Gong Xue beside him. Approaching the familiar counter, he handed over the withdrawal slip. The young female teller glanced at it and drifted into a daze once more. Double-checking it repeatedly, she asked in a low voice, "Your script fee this time... really is six—sixty thousand Hong Kong dollars???" "Doesn't it say so right there? I couldn't very well forge the slip, could I?" "Then please wait a moment, I need to fetch the manager again!" After a short while, that manager came out once more. Chen Qi had received three remittances in total: the first was ten thousand Hong Kong dollars, the second was thirty thousand, and this time it was sixty thousand Hong Kong dollars—payment for both Wrong Turn and The Descent. Converted, it came to about twenty thousand renminbi. As an exceptional talent capable of earning foreign exchange through script fees, the relevant authorities had long since investigated his background thoroughly; the origin of every single sum was crystal clear. So when the manager came out, he merely chatted casually as usual without probing. Chen Qi didn't withdraw any cash this time, so he hadn't brought bodyguards along, depositing the money straight into his account. The massive balance in his bankbook surged to thirty thousand yuan, and his sense of security instantly flooded back. What did thirty thousand yuan mean in those days? The term "ten-thousand-yuan household" had been coined by the government itself. Whenever one emerged locally, newspapers ran sprawling feature stories; local governments even treated it as a political achievement and an honor, presenting the household with medals and plaques. By now, Guangdong, Shandong, Gansu, and other regions were seeing ten-thousand-yuan households crop up one after another. Based on price conversions, ten thousand yuan back then was equivalent to roughly 2.25 million in later years. A ten-thousand-yuan household from those days driving a Mercedes today would count as a family in decline... "Now I don't have to worry about building the house!" Chen Qi stepped out of the bank in high spirits, feeling light all over. His mood was like having paid off the mortgage, found a wife, had his daughter accepted into Lianshui Secondary Vocational School, and gone for a relaxing foot massage where the masseuse happened to look like Dilraba Dilmurat. Money was confidence! Mounting that beat-up bicycle with Gong Xue riding on the back, he headed straight for No. 6 Lechunfang. Dating was difficult in this era, partly because private space was so scarce. You worked at your unit, ate at the cafeteria, and slept in dormitories; from morning to night, everything was public space. When a hard-earned day off finally came, going out on a date meant enduring stares all over the street. You couldn't hold hands, couldn't put an arm around a shoulder, and certainly couldn't kiss. Couples walking together looked like revolutionary comrades. Anyone hoping to find a secluded spot for romance had no choice but to duck into the woods... Thus, this dilapidated courtyard had, to some degree, become their private dating ground. The rubble had already been cleared away, the north wing torn down, and the ground leveled, leaving the area looking remarkably open. The construction crew had been slacking off lately because of the cooling weather, dragging their feet. Once winter set in, work would halt entirely. Chen Qi's family didn't dare say a word. The workers had been hired through another work unit; if they threw up their hands and walked off, finding replacements would be an enormous hassle. "..." Gong Xue's face remained flushed all along. She knew that whenever she came here, she was bound to be bullied. Sure enough, the moment the gate closed, she was pulled into an embrace. Warm breath against her ear sent a shiver straight to her heart. That wicked fellow, that insolent younger man, and yet the person she admired so deeply, chuckled in her ear: "We've already hugged before. Why are you still so nervous?" "How could anyone ever get used to this?!" "Why couldn't you? It just means I haven't hugged you enough." Chen Qi held her from behind and planted a sudden kiss on her cheek. Sensing the body in his arms stiffen instantly, he didn't press further, smiling. "With this script fee, my anxiety is completely gone. It's just that the construction crew acts like high-and-mighty masters. I'll thank heaven and earth if I can move in next year." "A courtyard this big needs careful planning. Besides, you're not short on places to live. Don't be in a rush," Gong Xue said softly. "I'm not rushing, just chatting with you. Hey, how about I give you a few overseas remittance certificates? You can buy a bicycle so you don't have to ride my beat-up bike. If I bought one for you directly, you definitely wouldn't accept it, so I'll just give you a few certificates... By the way, how much money have you saved up yourself?" "Why are you asking that?" "Just curious." "Mm... I'm embarrassed to say." Gong Xue was bashful. He was earning money by the tens of thousands, while she took home a fixed salary of only a few dozen yuan a month. How could she bring herself to say it? But under his persistent questioning, she had no choice but to answer: "I haven't saved much, less than two thousand yuan." "That's a lot!" "I've been working for many years!" "Oh, as expected of my older sister, with years of seniority..." "You!" Gong Xue turned her head, biting her lip with a touch of grievance. "Are you picking on me? You know what I care about most." "No, no, you know how much I love joking around." Chen Qi quickly coaxed her, changing the subject: "I also have a script in hand for Li Han-hsiang. It's almost finished, and it'll earn another script fee. It's about Yu Xuanji." "Yu Xuanji?" "A female poet from the Tang dynasty, exceptionally talented, with a legendary life. But that lecherous old devil Li Han-hsiang loves eroticism. In his hands, it'll definitely be turned into an erotic film." "You're writing an obscene script?!" Gong Xue looked at him in disbelief, as if he had been tainted. "What I wrote is completely pure, of course! Even if there's any spicy content, it's glossed over in a single stroke. This is being mailed to Hong Kong—who knows if the package might be inspected? Do you take me for a fool?" "That's more like it. If you really wrote that kind of trash, I'd ignore you." *Well, that's hard to say!* *Once I conquer Japan, South Korea, Europe, and America, who knows how graphic and violent I'll get?* Of course, he couldn't say that out loud. He only said, "Actually, there's no need to treat it like a monster. Appetite and lust are part of human nature. Just like us right now—we've held hands, we've hugged, shouldn't we take another step forward?" "What do you want to do?" Gong Xue grew nervous again. "Continue what we didn't finish just now..." Chen Qi kissed her cheek again, and before she could react, he naturally sought her lips. Gong Xue realized his intention, her ears burning red. She felt she ought to push him away, but her limbs were limp and powerless. She could only shut her eyes tightly, letting him have his way with her.