White Dragon King of Xiangjiang

The Shaw brothers' miserliness came down in one unbroken line. Back when they were making films in Shanghai, they had already done the shameless thing of making a female star famous, then, unwilling to raise her pay, simply marrying her home as a concubine so they need not pay her a fee at all... Fang Yihua had once sung in Singapore. In the late 1960s she followed Shao Yifu to Hong Kong as his concubine, starting as a minor clerk and working her way up to a senior post that in practice wielded the power of life and death at Shaw Brothers. In 1988, TVB and Shaw Brothers merged, and Fang Yihua joined the TVB board as well. Many people always mocked her. She might lack the drive to break new ground, but at keeping the house and guarding the business she was more than capable. She carried on Shao Yifu's style. If money was to be spent hiring a hundred extras, she would truly count them one by one while reviewing the film, to see whether there were a hundred people. Even the toilet paper in the company washrooms—she would watch to see whether any of it was wasted... Now, hearing that Chen Qi had come, she panicked as well. What was this jinx here to do? But on second thought, he had not sent a Life-and-Death Talisman. He had come privately, so there was probably no ill intent. She opened the door to receive him. When Chen Qi stepped into the office, what he saw was Fang Yihua, nearing fifty, a woman whose beauty was past its first bloom, wearing a ladies' suit jacket and a pair of narrow black-framed glasses. She was the first to rise. "Mr. Chen!" "Manager Fang!" "Mr. Chen honors us with his presence. Forgive us for failing to come out and meet you..." It was Fang Yihua's first time seeing him, and she marveled at his improbable age. She looked toward Xiao Mo and said with a smile, "This friend wouldn't happen to be a reporter, would he?" "This is my personal attendant! Our two houses are next-door neighbors. I have come to Hong Kong several times and never paid a call. Please forgive me." Talking to people who had grown up in the Republican era was quite a strain. Sometimes one had to sound bookish. Chen Qi was putting on the literary manner, and Xiao Mo shot him a sidelong look. You're the attendant. Your whole family are attendants! "So long as he isn't a reporter. Don't blame me for being overcautious. All of Hong Kong feels itself in danger on your account these days." "Ah, that's all a misunderstanding of me. I'm actually very amiable." Chen Qi smiled and made a little idle talk, then said, "I came today for a film. I would like to borrow an actor from you." "Which one?" "Zhong Chuhong!" "Oh?" Fang Yihua's mind flashed quickly over the woman's file. Zhong Chuhong, twenty-two, had entered Miss Hong Kong in 1979. Because she could not walk in high heels, she staggered through her steps on the runway and finished fourth. TVB had wanted her, but when she went to shoot she could not even remember her lines, and the director drove her off. Fortunately Liu Songren took a liking to her. She made a film, The Enigmatic Case, and then signed with Shaw Brothers. Last year she had a film, The Story of Woo Viet, that was quite well received. She had gained a little fame, enough to count as a rising star of the screen. Newcomers like her, Shaw Brothers could grab by the handful. She had no idea why he had fixed on this one. None of that mattered, of course. Shaw Brothers would never lend an actor to the Left. Fang Yihua shook her head. "I am very sorry. I cannot agree. You and I both know the present climate. If it were a director, I could still consider helping you under an assumed name. An actor, though, stands out in front of everyone. I cannot let Shaw Brothers bear that risk." "Shaw Brothers is a great house with a great enterprise, and Boss Shao is venerated far and wide. Would he fear the Association too?" Chen Qi said with a smile. "Mr. Chen, there is no need to goad me. This matter is not open to discussion." Fang Yihua's attitude was firm. "We are near neighbors. If you have come as a guest, you are welcome. If you want to collaborate, we had best forget it." "Oh. So that's how it is..." Chen Qi nodded, picked up his cup, took a sip of tea, and for a time said nothing. Fang Yihua said nothing either. She wanted to see what other moves he had, and even began to study Xiao Mo, who stood behind like a stone carving. By her experience, this was certainly a security man assigned by the mainland—an inner-palace master, the kind that trained in the Sunflower Manual. After a little while, Chen Qi spoke again. "You say you don't want Shaw Brothers to bear the risk. But Shaw Brothers has long since fallen into risk." "Mr. Chen, you aren't about to imitate those ancient persuaders, are you—telling me disaster is at hand, that only you can save me, and then offering upper, middle, and lower strategies?" Fang Yihua paid it no mind, and even made a joke of it. "Upper, middle, and lower are all nonsense. I'll give you only one strategy!" Chen Qi paused, then asked abruptly, "You're preparing The Buddha's Palm, aren't you?" "You—!" Fang Yihua's face changed. She forced down the words "How do you know?" and stared at him, startled and uncertain. The Buddha's Palm was a film of the 1960s. Four installments were made in all, and they were enormously popular—and, in passing, Zhou Xingchi's films "borrowed" a great many elements from old Hong Kong pictures and foreign films... Shaw Brothers was preparing a remake. The cast was already set, starring Er Dongsheng, Alex Man, Yu An'an, and Kara Wai. But the crux was: how did Chen Qi know! "You want to use The Buddha's Palm to go head-to-head with Cinema City in the summer slot, and you also want to open your circuits to each other with Golden Harvest's The Dead and the Deadly. I advise you not to waste the effort. Even if your two houses join hands, you still can't beat them. "What era does The Buddha's Palm even belong to? You think a remake will win the audience? I said it long ago. Hong Kong's filmgoing public is changing, and you are still clinging to the old set of tricks. You might as well close your doors early. "Cinema City's summer slot is Brothers in Hardship. An all-star cast, fresh and clever. Wiping out both your houses won't take them the slightest effort!" "..." Fang Yihua felt chill after chill crawling up her back. Her scalp prickled. Before him she seemed to have no clothes on; everything had been seen through. One question kept circling in her mind: How did he know?!!! Hong Kong's film world had seen cases where information leaked early and a rival rushed out a film on the same subject to snatch the market, but those were only isolated instances. Who could, like Chen Qi, have the affairs of all three companies grasped so clearly? And he had been saying all along that Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest should join hands. He had said it last year, and now the two companies had, without quite realizing it, gone down exactly that line of thinking... She thought again of the wild arguments he had published in the papers. Not one of them seemed to have failed to come true. Fang Yihua was suddenly a little afraid. She even began, as Jackie Chan had, to spin it into something far stranger. Could he truly be some extraordinary man from the mainland, come to carry out united front work? Chen Qi watched her expression and snorted coldly to himself. Hmph! I can't play the charlatan-mystic on the mainland. Can't I still play it in Hong Kong? I am the White Dragon King of Xiangjiang. What I speak comes to pass. Female stars line up to be blessed! Of course, he could not only play at gods and ghosts. Everything had to be practical. "Manager Fang, are we enemies?" "No. But we can hardly be called friends." Fang Yihua answered very cautiously. "Exactly. In business, you hit me, I hit you, and then we join hands to deal with him. Nothing could be more ordinary. I, Shaw Brothers, and Golden Harvest all want Cinema City destroyed. Your two houses can't do it. I can. "And I want to break Cinema City apart. What do you say?" "How would you break them?" Fang Yihua's heart gave a jump. "Just break up their Seven-Person Group. Their internal conflicts are that obvious. I have said so much in the papers. What have your two houses been doing? Wah. I have been waiting all this time for you to rise up and attack together, and there hasn't been a stir. How much do you love Cinema City? You don't even know how to kick a man when he's down?" Chen Qi kept shaking his head, the very picture of a man saddled with teammates who were pigs. Fang Yihua's old face flushed. She truly had not thought of that. "I have said all I have to say. Think it over, and give me an answer as soon as you can. I won't disturb you any longer." "Mr. Chen, let me see you out!" Fang Yihua saw him out in person. Only when they reached the entrance of the main building did she turn and go back. She paced a few circles in the office. If the Left really could finish off Cinema City, that would be a good thing too. Shaw Brothers would lose nothing either way. And she knew Shao Yifu was gradually shifting his focus over to TVB. Shaw Brothers would close its doors sooner or later. As for Zhong Chuhong? Fang's thinking was the same as TVB's toward Liu Dehua. A mere newcomer—if she had to be given up, then give her up! "Call Zhong Chuhong over!"