"I came to Hong Kong on a job. Once the job is done, of course I'll go."
"Then, then, then you can leave a little later! Leave after we put up the spring couplets!"
"I've already stayed several months. That's long enough. If I don't go back on schedule, there'll be trouble..."
Chen Qi saw that real feeling had stirred in her, her little face crumpled in a sobbing mess of tears, and he was moved as well. Between coaxing and a bit of fibbing, he finally got her settled.
Qiu Shuzhen seemed to turn grief into appetite. She ate both portions, finished off two steaks all by herself, patted her round little belly, and sighed. "Shifu, I want to tell you something."
"What is it?"
"I don't want to go to school anymore. Sitting in class for one minute is already hard to bear. I can't take in a single thing. Anyway, I'm no good at studying. I want to go straight into the company and shoot films. What do you think?"
"No. You have to study!"
"Why?"
"You can film during the holidays, but you must study. At least finish Form Five. Ah Zhen, you can't be an uneducated illiterate. If you can't even read a script, if you can't even understand a character, how are you going to be a big star?"
"But I want to get out and earn money sooner!" She pouted.
"Does your family urgently need money? Your fee isn't high, but it's enough to help with the household. You'll only be seventeen or eighteen when you finish Form Five. What's your hurry?"
Chen Qi rapped the table. "I am talking to you very seriously. You have to study!"
"Oh!"
Qiu Shuzhen didn't dare go against him, and could only agree. Chen Qi laughed. "How about this. If you finish Form Five, I'll make a really great film for you."
"That promise of yours is an awfully long way off. You take me for a little kid?"
"So do you agree or not?"
"I agree. How would I dare not agree!!"
Tch!
Chen Qi roughly mussed her hair. This little brat was getting more and more familiar, and more and more without any sense of who was elder and who was junior.
When they had finished eating, he saw her home for the last time.
"Shifu, come back soon! Best if you're back next week! I'll be waiting for you!"
Qiu Shuzhen waved with all her might, sniffled a few more times, and only then went reluctantly in through the door.
Seeing the cramped space at home, the worn old furnishings, her parents exhausted after the day's work, her brothers and sisters, and that little bed of her own... all of this seemed to be what was real. She was terrified that she would wake the next morning and find it had all been a dream.
"Ah Zhen, have you eaten?"
"Mm. Shifu is going back to the mainland. He took me out to eat."
"He's going back?"
Mom suddenly leaned in. "Then did he arrange your next film?"
"No!"
"Then do you still have any films to shoot?"
"How should I know? I'm already back at school. I'm supposed to study now!"
Huh?
Mom's expression turned odd. A hopeless student like you, and you're going to study? My ass. Qiu Shuzhen paid them no mind. She climbed onto her little bed, pulled the curtain shut, and said, "That's right, that's right. I'm going to study all the way through Form Five!"
…………
Chen Qi had crossed over too early, and so he had a great many little sisters.
On the mainland there were Jiang Shan, He Qing, Tao Huimin, and Huang Qiuyan. In Hong Kong there were also Qiu Shuzhen, Fu Mingxian, and others still to come.
But he had only one good elder sister. The longer he stayed in Hong Kong, the more he felt the fast pace here, the rot, the way everything was twisted up in knots, and the more he missed Gong Xue's gentle care. A man needed a harbor.
"Big Brother!"
At Kai Tak Airport, Fu Chi and Shi Hui's whole family had come. Fu Mingxian hugged his leg, her face unhappy, and Chen Qi had to coax her again. "You can write me letters. Besides, I'll be back very soon, and then we can see each other again."
It took a long while to soothe her. He embraced Shi Hui and Fu Chi, and said from the heart, "Thank you, Uncle and Auntie. With you here, I could be in Hong Kong without a single worry at my back."
"Why stand on ceremony with us? We've long treated you as one of our own!" Shi Hui said with a laugh.
"Exactly. We're not the sort for tearful fussing. If anyone can't bear to part with you, it's Wen Wei Po. Their sales have dropped again. If it weren't that you can't be posted here long-term, they'd still want you to write a column." Fu Chi said, laughing.
"Hahaha, I left them an interview!"
It was time for security over there. Chen Qi, carrying a small bag, backed away waving, and only then turned and went in. Xiao Mo, Xiao Geng, and that obscure member of the company staff followed. Four had come, and four were leaving.
"All right, let's head back!"
Only after Fu Chi watched him disappear did he take his wife and daughter into the car and head back. Shi Hui asked, "When will Xiao Chen come again?"
"Early next year, I'd say. He gave me a new script, Ghost, and wants an actor from Boat People to play in it. Once that film finishes shooting, he ought to come over."
That same day.
Wen Wei Po, whose sales had plunged ever since Chen Qi stopped tearing into people, finally ran another piece:
"This year's Hong Kong film report card is basically settled.
Unworthy as I am, Tai Chi, after its run was extended for several months, broke the twenty-million mark and became Hong Kong's first film to break twenty million. But personally, I don't think there's anything worth boasting about. Exploding on the spot is what counts as a real explosion.
The truly thick-skinned one is fourth-place Somewhere in Time. One film played for two hundred days and pulled in 9.38 million at the box office.
Second place, 007: 11 million.
Third place, Chasing Girls: 9.46 million.
Looking across the top ten, Golden Harvest took one, Shaw Brothers two, and Cinema City three all to itself.
Jackie Chan's Dragon Lord is bound to fight its way out in the Chinese New Year slot, but I declared long ago that early-Republic kung fu films are already outdated, and Jackie Chan's whole set of tricks is outdated too. This film will do ten million at the box office at most. Jackie Chan had best come to the Left. We'll help you make the switch, break into Hollywood, and scare the Yanks to death.
Shaw Brothers, the sun is setting behind the western hills and the defeat is sealed. Better to shut down Shaw Brothers Pictures and focus on TVB; they can still be overlords of their own domain. Let the various companies take in the actors of Shaw Brothers Pictures. As the saying goes, when a whale falls, all living things are born. Shaw Brothers dominated for twenty years; better to make one last contribution to the Hong Kong film world.
Shaw Brothers' new screenwriter Wong Jing is of decent standard, and can come to the Left to develop.
There is also an actress, Zhong Chuhong, who has potential too, and may also come to the Left. Given time, she will surely stand supreme over Hong Kong and lead the scene alone.
Cinema City's power is already established. Aces Go Places is certain to lord it over the Chinese New Year slot. Dragon Lord won't compare. I suggest Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers join hands, open their circuits, and screen each other's films. They still might not measure up, but at least they'll lose a little more pitifully...
I hear the director of Aces Go Places is Zeng Zhiwei. Who knows how many tens of thousands his red packet will come to.
Overall, the localization of Hong Kong film has fully matured. I'll make a prediction ahead of time: next year not a single foreign-language film will charge into the top ten, and next year's total box office will also rise sharply. Breaking ten million will no longer be as hard as scaling heaven.
Lastly, I hear Film Biweekly is going to hold a Hong Kong Film Awards selection. I'll keep an eye on what follows..."
The things Chen Qi said in the papers were usually a mess, with no theme or idea to them. He was simply raving.
But, strangely, it drove sales. The crowd that lived for a spectacle loved reading it. When he arrived he had given everyone notice, and when he left he didn't forget to stick the knife in, making all sorts of predictions. On the mainland he didn't dare predict. In Hong Kong he let himself fly free.
Veins bulged at Jackie Chan's temples. What the hell was this? Daring to say Dragon Lord's box office would be ten million? This was a work he had poured his heart into!
Golden Harvest, Shaw Brothers, and Cinema City cursed him every which way.
Zeng Zhiwei: Emmmm!
Wong Jing went stiff with awkward exasperation. Even if my old man did make a film for the Left under an alias, did you have to call me out by name and tell me to go to the Left? How am I supposed to keep a foothold in this business?
Zhong Chuhong, for her part, looked utterly blank, and a little afraid. "Why, why drag me into it? I'm just a minor star. Don't mess with me!"
A while back, Chen Qi had been flinging out Life-and-Death Talismans at random, as if possessed by the Plague God, and everyone had felt themselves in peril. Though he had afterward kept shooting films and hadn't made trouble, a shadow had already settled over their hearts. When all sides asked around and learned that he had already left Hong Kong, they let out a breath of relief as one.
The Plague God had finally gone!
Chapter 249