Bank Street was Hong Kong's equivalent of Wall Street.
It was a place where the elite gathered. Towers stood everywhere, and people hurried past—the men, without exception, in suits and leather shoes, the women all in skirt suits—their talk nothing but stocks, loans, exchange rates, and the like, as if they had suddenly become a cut above.
Liu Dehua had been here before, but he had never imagined he would one day take part in it like this.
He entered the tallest building, the Bank of China Building, ignored the spacious first-floor lobby and the customers conducting their business, and went straight up to the third floor. Liang Jiahui, likewise in a suit, was already sitting on a sofa reading the newspaper.
"Jia—"
He was about to greet him, then stopped. He saw that Liang Jiahui was wearing glasses today, one leg crossed over the other, a coffee at his side, which he sipped at his leisure.
Liu Dehua did not have much acting experience, but one look at the man gave him a strange feeling: he had already become the part!
"Jiahui!"
"Morning!"
"What are you doing? Where'd the glasses come from? Where'd the coffee come from? Wow—you're playing an elite?"
Liang Jiahui glanced at him and said, unhurried, "The glasses are borrowed. I bought the coffee with my own money. What do you mean, playing an elite? We came here to observe. This is the result of my observation. How about you? Have you finished your character biography?"
"No. I don't know how to write one at all. I think you're already there. I observe every day too, but I just can't get a feel for it. What am I supposed to do?"
Liu Dehua hung his head.
"After you observe, you have to think. Come on, look!"
Liang Jiahui pointed out two people. "That one wears glasses and likes reading the paper. That one doesn't like the paper, but likes coffee. I figured the two of them could be fused together, so this is what I turned into. You forgot what Mr. Chen told us. Find a distinctive point, take it, and make it your own."
Seeing the look on his face, Liang Jiahui decided he might as well help him all the way. "Your character is a junior of mine from the same school, a raw newcomer just stepping into the workplace. You can go down to the first floor, find those young clerks, and see what they're like."
"Then why don't you go?"
"My character outranks yours. This floor is for receiving VIP clients. The first floor is for ordinary clients. Why would I go down there? Mr. Chen said this is called experiencing life. If you won't even buy a coffee, how are you going to experience anything?"
"Coffee?"
Liu Dehua blanked, then looked again at the clerks. Sure enough, coffee was the thing here. English kept slipping into their talk, and even the way they walked—tap, tap, tap—was unusually forceful... All at once he understood a little. This was different from the theory classes in the training class.
There was no help for it. Hong Kong didn't go in for that sort of thing; everything was done fast-food style. But if a film had a sexual-assault scene, certain thugs, though, would experience it in person.
"Hey, where are you going?"
Seeing him get up and walk off, Liang Jiahui asked in a hurry.
"To buy coffee too!"
...
That afternoon.
Zhong Chuhong got off the minibus, looked up at the Left's Clear Water Bay Studio, sighed in resignation, and stepped inside. She usually worked next door at Shaw Brothers. She had been curious about this neighbor before, but curiosity was one thing; she had never dared to come.
She entered the grounds and went up to the main building.
"Mr. Chen, your guest is here!"
"Let her in!"
Zhong Chuhong entered the office and saw a very young man sitting inside. She could hardly believe it. This was that big shot of the Left? A flash of anger followed. So you're the one who tricked me into coming?
"Mr. Chen!"
"Sit!"
Chen Qi motioned for her to sit. "Manager Fang will have told you all of it. This is the script."
He wasted no words, handed her the script outright, and went on, "In pre-production I have two requirements for you. First, you have twenty days to learn pottery. Second, do you usually listen to English songs?"
"Not really!"
"You don't like English?"
"I don't. I hate foreigners."
Chen Qi was amused, and nodded. "That's not bad. But the film requires it. You have to listen to more English songs, until you can hum them offhand. Your character, and the male lead's too, are fairly Westernized—modern urban men and women. Do you understand?"
Seeing that she did not answer, he added, "If you don't want to shoot it, then go back."
That she dared not do.
Zhong Chuhong had a hot temper, but she was no fool. She said quickly, "I understand! I'll do a good job on this film!"
"Good. In a little while the principal people on Ghost will all be here, and we'll have a meeting. You can look over the script first."
With that, he paid her no more attention.
Zhong Chuhong secretly rolled her eyes at him and had no choice but to sit there with the script. Chen Qi was busy with his own work. He wrote for a while before glancing up, and saw her head lowered. She had actually grown serious, and seemed to have gotten into it.
From where he sat, her face and her figure really were quite ordinary, yet together they had an allure all their own.
Sexiness was not a matter of wearing less. Sexiness was a temperament.
Chen Qi had always considered Zhong Chuhong the sexiest actress in Hong Kong.
In the 1980s she was famous all over Hong Kong. There was a popular saying then: "For getting rich, none could beat Chow Yun-fat; for getting famous, none could beat Zhong Chuhong."
In 1991 she married and retired. She was thirty-one then. Hong Kong actresses all seemed to share this hang-up: they had to marry themselves off around thirty, and once they married they stopped making films.
Qiu Shuzhen was the same.
Chen Qi suddenly smiled, remembering a piece of gossip about her. Zhong Chuhong was close with Ye Tong—the Ye Tong who played Xu Xian—and the two were so close that for a time people thought they were dating.
Seventy percent true!
Around four o'clock, people arrived one after another and gathered in Chen Qi's little room.
This was the first time they were all present, and they were all surprised at one another. The three newcomers especially, seeing that the director was Tsui Hark, lit up at once; then, seeing that Xiao Fangfang would be supporting them, they were awed and uneasy.
Tsui Hark, for his part, fixed his eyes on Zhong Chuhong with open admiration, then looked toward Chen Qi. The two understood each other without a word.
"All right, let me make the introductions!"
He clapped his hands and began. "Director Tsui Hark, our spiritual pillar!"
"Liu Dehua, our male lead!"
"Zhong Chuhong, our female lead!"
"Liang Jiahui, our chief villain!"
"Sister Xiao Fangfang, our legend. She plays the spirit medium."
"Qiu Shuzhen, our little girl. She plays that evil ghost in the subway!"
Huh???
Everyone turned to look at her.
In the script, after the male lead becomes a ghost, he wanders about and meets an extremely powerful evil ghost in the subway, who later teaches him how to use his abilities. Even Tsui Hark had thought he would find a fierce-looking man for the part. Instead it was a pretty little girl.
The contrast could not have been sharper.
Meeting their eyes, Qiu Shuzhen was not the least bit daunted. She said loudly, "Don't look down on me. I'm super fierce!"
Tsui Hark, who had directed her in Orphan, was the best qualified to speak. He nodded. "That's true enough. She really is super fierce. She can play it."
"The company of Ghost is assembled. We officially enter pre-production!"
Chen Qi was very satisfied with the people he had chosen. "The shoot should take two months. Post-production will be a bit more trouble. I plan to release it in the Christmas slot. Rest assured, everyone—this will absolutely be a milestone in your acting careers!"
Chapter 278