The literary era since 1979

"Sister Gong Xi!"

"Ruoxue!"

Gong Xing opened the door and welcomed Bai Ruoxue and Fang Yan in. The house was now completely new, with a modern and simple style.

According to her request, all the furniture was replaced with ones that better match the decoration style, from sofas to lamps, from dining tables to wardrobes.

Fang Yan looked them up and down, but his gaze was quickly drawn back to Gong Xian and Bai Ruoxue.

Gong Xian brought Bai Ruoxue to the room specially prepared for her. "You will live with us these days. I have prepared all the bedding, sheets, and daily necessities for you..."

"Thank you, Sister Gong Xi."

Bai Ruoxue smiled and hugged her.

“Just like being at home.”

Gong Xing patted her good sister on the back and said, "If you need anything else, just ask. Don't hesitate."

While the two girls were reminiscing about the past, Fangyan put away her luggage, returned to the living room, and made herself a cup of hot tea with floating dates.

He glanced at the neatly stacked newspapers on the table, picked up one at random, and gradually learned about the major events that had happened during his absence from Hong Kong, especially the financial news, such as the British pound falling into crisis and the Hong Kong stock market entering a bull market...

However, I still couldn't find the information I was interested in.

The only useful thing is that before the Plaza Accord was signed, the current exchange rate of the US dollar to the Japanese yen was roughly around 1 to 260.

Now is the time to join the game. Sometimes, all-in is a kind of wisdom, and you must bet your entire fortune like the God of Gamblers taking out the HSBC Bank promissory note!

"Shh, shh."

I was flipping through the newspaper page by page, and suddenly I came across some "shocking revelations" about the movie "Police Stories".

It clearly says that during the filming process, Wong Zuxian was unable to get into the role for a while. The repeated NGs made Cheng Long lose his patience and he started swearing. Wong Zuxian was scolded and burst into tears, but she was very dedicated and refused to admit defeat. She filmed more than 30 times in a row until Cheng Long was satisfied. However, the title has been abruptly changed to "Changlong vents his anger for Golden Harvest and brutally tortures Mrs. Fang's adopted daughter."

At this moment, Gong Xing's voice came from behind:

"This Cheng Long is simply a drama maniac, it's really too crazy!"

"Why do you say that?"

Fangyan blew away the hot steam coming out of the tea.

"I read what was written in the newspaper, and some people in the crew also talked about it."

Gong Xing said that people from the "Police Story" crew were taken to the hospital in ambulances every day, and new wounded were often hospitalized before the old ones recovered. What's even more exaggerated is that the two female protagonists like Lin Qingxia and Wang Zuxian were not spared and had to perform high-risk action scenes.

For example, in a scene where she had to jump from a fifth-floor rooftop into a swimming pool, Brigitte Lin was so frightened that she dared not jump, and they had no choice but to find a body double for her. As a result, the body double was also so frightened that she dared not jump, which eventually forced Cheng Long into a corner and he directly "helped him".

"This is nothing. We shot a car chase scene on the first day of filming Police Story."

Fang Yan said disapprovingly, "More than a dozen martial artists were injured, four of them were seriously injured. One had his earlobe cut off, two had broken legs, and another had two broken ribs." He then folded the newspaper and put it aside. "Hong Kong's action scenes have always been so life-threatening."

"Compared to this, 'Baby Smart Star' is much better."

Gong Xing couldn't help but sigh, "Although pranks like using flamethrowers and putting spiders on your face are also very dangerous."

"That's right. It looks dangerous, but it's actually not safe at all."

Fang Yan smiled and then asked, "Has the filming of Baby Smart Stars been completed?"

"No, it will probably take until September to finish filming."

Gong Xing said that Wang Jing and Du Qifeng had been looking forward to his return, hoping to discuss the post-production work of the film.

"Editing?" As the supervisor, Fangyan has the final right of editing, which means he has the final say on the effect of the finished film.

In Hollywood, ordinary directors usually do not have the final editing rights. They are allowed to enter the editing room, communicate with the editing room, and even supervise the editor's editing, but the final selection of film shots must be decided by the producer and editor.

“It’s not just the editing, it’s also the soundtrack.”

Gong Xing said: "They thought that since the movie was shot during Christmas, it would be best to have a Christmas song."

"Have you discussed any plans? Or any recommended singers or songs?" Fangyan took a sip of tea.

"Du Qifeng recommended the Christmas song "Last Christmas" by Wham!."

Gong Xing was well prepared. He found the tape from the drawer of the coffee table and put it into the tape recorder.

Fangyan put on his headphones and listened quietly. Suddenly, a dead memory began to attack his brain.

Wham! was the first Western rock band to hold concerts in mainland China.

The song "Last Christmas" was naturally introduced to the mainland along with the band Wham!, where it caused a sensation and became a classic Christmas song around the world. It has not only been covered by many singers, but is also a must-play song in street shops and on major radio stations every year.

"what do you think?"

Seeing him take off his headphones, Gong Xing gave him a questioning look.

"not bad."

Fangyan turned off the recorder and asked, "What do you and Wang Jing think?"

"I like it too, but Wang Jing thinks it would be better to create an original song and invite a well-known Hong Kong and Taiwan singer to sing it. This can not only increase publicity for the movie and increase its popularity, but also use the singer's fame to bring attention to the movie..."

Gong Xing repeated the reasons given by Wang Jing.

"I'm afraid there is another crucial point he didn't mention, which is that if you use this song 'Last Christmas', you have to pay for the copyright."

Fang Yan could see through Wang Jing's thoughts at a glance, "And it's not Hong Kong dollars, it's British pounds."

"Oh, I see!"

Gong Xing suddenly realized that instead of spending expensive copyright fees on the band Wham!, it would be more worthwhile to ask singers to create original works.

Fang Yan shook his head and laughed, "If my prediction is correct, when they come to discuss it with me, this Fatty Wang will definitely try every possible means to coax me out of retirement and ask me to write a Merry Christmas song for the movie."

"If that's the case, what are you going to do?"

Gong Xing agreed with this. After all, the theme song of "Once Upon a Time in China", "A Man Should Be Self-reliant", was extremely popular in Hong Kong!
"Not just for Uncle Six and Aunt Six's sake, but because it's your first movie as a director, I will definitely help you out."

Fang Yan rolled his eyes, "Besides, I still owe Teresa Teng a song, maybe I can use this opportunity to write it off."

Gong Xing said: "You seemed to have mentioned it to me before, was it the time when you were in Japan at the end of last year?"

"Yes, I was thinking about letting her sing this Christmas song."

"What are you singing?"

"That's something I'll have to think about."

Fangyan pondered over it carefully. Hong Kong music is not without classic Christmas songs, such as Zhang Xueyou's "Every Day is Christmas", "Merry Christmas I Love You", Eason Chan's "Lonely Christmas", "Christmas Knot"...

Then, a light bulb suddenly lit up in my head, and I thought of a song that was comparable to Liu Dehua's "Gong Xi Fa Cai" during the Spring Festival -

Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You"!
Niu Benshan's pension insurance! (End of this chapter)