Chapter One Hundred and One: Bringing Zhong Yi into the Fold

Overall, that press conference had a powerful impact, and the positive reaction clearly outweighed the negative; otherwise, National Television would not have reached out to Liu Qingshan directly.

As for the two men who had set everything in motion, Du Feiwen and Yuan Si Ruo, reliable reports said they had already been officially struck from the Shaanxi Provincial Television roster.

As the official responsible on behalf of the location where the rescue incident had taken place, Deputy Director Rong Yongnian of Shaanxi Television not only called at once to explain how the matter had been handled, but also took the opportunity to ask Liu Qingshan to come back to their station for another interview.

On this point, Liu Qingshan had no choice but to agree. After all, it was because of him that he had brought so much trouble to a respectable provincial broadcaster.

What was more, for this interview program, Liu Qingshan even brought Jin Xishan along with him, and did not even mention appearance fees or anything of the sort.

Jin Xishan’s only request was that he sing that song, “Only Then Will I Know,” live with her.

But Liu Qingshan felt the time was not yet right, and besides, the setting of the shoot was not suitable.

The interview itself would require reporters from Shaanxi Television to come all the way to Hengdian; otherwise, by the time both of them happened to be free, it would already be months later.

Just then, Ma Mandi, the director from Capital Television, also put forward a similar request to Zhang Dahuzi. After some thought, the great director felt that this would help future ratings, so he set the specific date for the same day.

Back at the hotel, Liu Qingshan hurried into the Super Star-Making Device. What Ge Daqian had said made him feel a real sense of urgency.

The script and creative outline for Kung Fu were already in hand, but the exchange cost was extremely high; it would take a full one star, meaning a hundred prestige points.

He found Yang Wancheng’s private number in his address book, and, not caring that it was already late, he dialed it directly.

Yang Wancheng clearly had not yet gone to sleep. Hearing who it was, he sounded surprised. “Shanzi, why would you be the one calling me?”

He was already sixty-one, a lean old man, and he looked to be in excellent health.

Liu Qingshan did not waste words and got straight to the point.

He had sought this man out, naturally, because he was interested in the investment from Golden Emperor Pictures. Right now, he did not have the capital; otherwise he would never have let such a fine script slip away.

On the phone, Liu Qingshan slowly recounted the entire plot of the film.

He had to go slowly. Yang Wancheng’s Mandarin was only average, and Liu Qingshan was not fluent in Cantonese.

It had to be said that all good scripts shared one thing in common: first and foremost, they had to be a good story.

And what was a good story? That came down to the reader’s psychology. In the rise and fall of the plot, it had to seize the audience’s emotions so tightly that when it wanted you to laugh, you laughed, and when it wanted you to cry, you cried.

The script for Kung Fu had already arranged its comic beats and tearful moments with great delicacy in terms of pacing and rhythm.

In other words, it could not pile everything into the ending so that you laughed and cried all at once, nor could it make you burst into tears at the beginning so that you could not even bear to keep watching. The comic beats and the emotional beats were closely bound to the film’s points of conflict, that is, its climaxes.

Yang Wancheng had seen far too many scripts. He immediately realized how important this one was.

“If your creative outline is followed, the special effects shots would run through the entire film. That would require a massive investment.”

“Mm. The initial budget is at least twenty million US dollars, which is more than one hundred and sixty million yuan.”

“So much?”

“It is not really that much. Two years ago, Zhang Yimou’s Hero had a budget of 260 million.”

“Hero had stars everywhere. Your film probably cannot pack in that many stars, can it? It sounds like the real lead is only one person, A Xing.”

“Uncle Yang, I was in too much of a hurry and did not explain clearly. I plan to let Zhou Xingchi direct and star in this film myself. I do not think anyone else could bring to the screen what is in my head!”

“Oh? Not you yourself? Then I misunderstood. In that case, hang up and wait a moment. I’ll find A Xing and have him call you back. Hmm, your lead character is also called A Xing?”

“Yes. The script was originally designed around him as the prototype.”

Liu Qingshan did not have to wait long. Five minutes later, he received a call from Zhou Xingchi.

“Brother Shan, though we have never met, I have long heard your name!”

Sure enough, it was Zhou Xingchi’s Cantonese-tinged Mandarin.

After a brief exchange, Liu Qingshan learned that his name had truly become known to quite a few people in Hong Kong.

The film industry there was actually very small. Once the production plan for Kill Zone was put on the schedule, almost everyone in the business knew that Ye Weixing was going to use a young actor from the mainland.

Then, after Ren Jiahua, Zhen Zijian, Hong Dabao, and the rest of the Cheng family troupe spread the word, the news that the young man was also a martial arts master became common knowledge.

That night, after receiving Yang Wancheng’s call, Zhou Xingchi could no longer sleep. He later recalled that, at the time, it seemed as though a voice in the dark was telling him that Kung Fu was the film he had been waiting two years for.

It took more than half an hour for Liu Qingshan to explain the script in full, along with the details and all of its finer touches.

The further they went, the more Zhou Xingchi’s voice trembled, and to Liu Qingshan, he even seemed to be falling under some kind of spell.

Fortunately, Chen Zuming began pounding on the door from outside and jolted both men awake in the middle of their call.

“Big boss kept calling you and couldn’t get through. Somehow he found out I was here with you, so he dragged me over!”

It was already deep in the night, and Chen Zuming had been sleeping like a dead pig. At the moment, he looked quite displeased.

Big boss was the nickname he used for Yang Wancheng in private. Not noticing that Liu Qingshan was still on the phone, he let it slip casually.

When Liu Qingshan put the call on speaker, Zhou Xingchi laughed and swore at him over the line. “You little rascal, how dare you give Boss Yang some random nickname? Just wait till I go and tell on you!”

Chen Zuming was instantly wide awake. “So it’s Star Lord on the line! You must not go spreading that around. My dad would beat me half to death!”

Thanks to Chen Zuming’s commotion, Zhou Xingchi also realized he needed to respond to the other side as soon as possible, and only then did he reluctantly hang up.

Liu Qingshan knew the matter was not yet finished, so he pulled Chen Zuming, who was trying to flee back under the blankets, into a long chat. The content was nothing more than inquiries about the Hong Kong entertainment world.

A little over twenty minutes later, the phone rang again, and Chen Zuming seized the chance to vanish without a trace.

“I had someone do the numbers carefully. A twenty-million-dollar investment is reasonable. Though I can raise that money, I do not intend to swallow it all myself. I am considering bringing in China Entertainment as well.”

China Entertainment was the largest entertainment company in the mainland, owned by the brothers Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei.

“That is your decision, sir. I do not understand how these things are structured. Just remember to leave the bespoke special-effects work to me!”

Over there, Yang Wancheng laughed. “As I expected, that really is what you had in mind. Do you think your Snowland Studio has the ability to produce special effects for a film of this scale?”

“Absolutely no problem. The special-effects artists I have brought in are from India, but they have all worked on professional teams in Hollywood.”

“Shanzi, this is no small matter. Merely having worked there is not enough!”

Liu Qingshan could hear the caution in Yang Wancheng’s voice.