The literary era since 1979

"Dong dong."

He Chaoqiong knocked on the door and brought Fang Yan, Gong Xing and others to a luxurious reception room.

He Hongshen walked over with a warm smile on his face and took the initiative to greet Fangyan, breaking the unfamiliarity of their first meeting.

Gradually, they became familiar with each other, and the awkward and dull atmosphere became lively.

He Hongshen waved his hand and asked the secretary to leave, and instructed him to send some chips to Fangyan's room for free later.

"Mr. Fang, Mrs. Fang, please don't be polite. Just consider it as a small gift from me."

"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. He."

Fangyan politely refused, "I'm sorry, my wife and I never gamble."

Ho Hongshen was not surprised. Instead, Ho Chiu-chiung repeated what Fang Yan had said when he first came to the hotel. Surprise flashed in his eyes, and he clapped his hands in applause: "Mr. Fang has seen through the nature of gambling."

"Because I've seen through it, I won't touch it. This kind of digital probability game, the more times you play it and the longer you play it, the more you lose."

Fang Yan said seriously, "The basic principle of a casino is to keep gamblers gambling so that they will definitely come back next time."

"Not bad, not bad, well said!"

Ho Hongshen was amazed and said that he never gambled and had expressly forbidden his family members to gamble. He always advised people to regard gambling as a form of fun and entertainment, and never to gamble excessively, because excessive gambling does not necessarily lead to winning, as the casino he opened takes a commission. Even if the person does not win or lose forty times and ends in a tie, he has not lost but has already lost everything. But some people just don't believe it.

"This is my first time in Macao, so I don't know the customs here, but I've been to Hong Kong many times."

Fang Yan said: "I always feel that some citizens of Hong Kong have a gambler mentality of 'getting rich overnight'."

He Hongshen nodded in agreement. Before gambling was banned in Hong Kong, no matter where it was, there were always more gambling dens, gambling stalls, mahjong parlors, gambling dogs, etc. than saunas and nightclubs. Even after gambling was banned, stock speculation, Mark Six lottery, horse racing, horse betting, etc. were still booming.

Even though they know that gambling is a losing game nine out of ten times, there are still people who come to Haojiang to try their luck like a wave.

"No matter how rich you are, it's not enough to gamble in the casino. I'm not that stupid, so I'll go and gamble too!"

After saying this, he glanced at Diborah, who looked haggard, and explained helplessly that he had warned Xie Xian to quit while he was ahead, but Xie Xian was lucky enough to think that he was possessed by the God of Gamblers and had good luck, so he refused to listen to anyone. Later, when he lost the bet, he refused to listen to anyone even more.

Fangyan heard the hidden meaning, which was that no one set a trap for Xie Xian.

"Fourth brother confessed to me that he was bewitched by evil spirits. It has nothing to do with other people."

Diborah looked eagerly and asked, "Mr. He, can I ask you to do me a favor?"

Fang Yan listened attentively, as if it was none of his business, as he begged Ho Hong Sun to forgive part of Xie Xian's gambling debt for the sake of their past friendship. They had tried their best to raise money, but 1500 million was too much and they were simply unable to repay it.

Gong Xue opened her mouth, but felt him patting the back of her hand gently, and immediately realized that he was asking her to be calm.

"This……"

He Hongshen frowned.

Diborah's eyes were filled with tears. "I know that doing this will definitely break the rules of the gambling den, but if there is another way, I will not ask Mr. He for this." Then she continued with tears in her eyes, "If it really doesn't work, I'm afraid the son will have to pay for the father's debt and let Fengzi..."

"The more you talk, the more confusing it becomes."

Ho Hung Sun interrupted, "What do I want your son to do? I run a casino, not a movie director like Liu Ye. Even if Ting Feng becomes very famous because of "Baby Smart Star", I can't let him make a movie for me, right? People who don't know would think I want to exploit child labor."

"No, no, no, Mr. He." Deborah was incoherent and didn't know what to say.

Gong Xing sighed quietly, and Fang Yan suddenly smiled playfully:
"On the way here, I had a pleasant chat with Miss He. I remember she once said that she liked movies as much as you, Mr. He."

"I do like watching movies, but I've never thought about making or investing in movies."

He Hongshen said in a serious tone.

“Even if the subject of this movie involves gambling, it may bring more business to the casino?”

Fangyan cast a meaningful look.

"Mr. Fang is talking about a gambling movie?"

Hearing He Chaoqiong's answer, He Hongshen's eyes were filled with relief and satisfaction.

Fang Yan did not comment, saying that the reason why Run Run Shaw and Fang Yihua asked him to come out was to save the precarious Shaw Brothers. Although "Baby Smart Star" could solve the Shaw Brothers' crisis temporarily, if Shaw Brothers wanted to truly rejuvenate, it had to find a new type of feature film to serve as the mainstay.

However, Shaw Brothers had neither the ability and genes to produce comedy films, nor the action film team and talent like Golden Harvest.

On the contrary, when it comes to gambling films, Shaw Brothers is the undisputed pioneer of gambling films in Hong Kong.

The recognized first gambling film in Hong Kong film history is "Lucky Gambler" produced by Shaw Brothers in 1972.

This is a gambling film set in the early years of the Republic of China. It continues the warning tradition of Hong Kong films in the 1976s and s. Strictly speaking, it can be regarded as a "gambling warning film" among gambling films. The first gambling film in the true sense was actually "Gambler's Big Scam" in .

This is the first movie focusing on gambling techniques. The tricks and gambling skills such as listening to the dice to know the points, changing cards, super memory, and impersonation that dazzled the audience were later widely used in various gambling-related movies and TV series.

Like "King of Kings" and "King of Kings", written by Wang Jing and produced by his father Wang Tianlin...

However, the "gambling films" of the 70s were generally documentary films that mainly exposed gambling scams. They did not blindly glorify the image of gamblers, nor did they give people a strong feeling that "you can get rich through gambling." The film that truly started the gambling film trend and made gambling films one of the representative genres in Hong Kong film history was "God of Gamblers" directed by Wang Jing in 1989.

"Mr. Fang, do you want to use this as a condition..."

He Hongshen couldn't help but glance at Deborah, then looked at Fang Yan.

"Let's put things in perspective. My wife and I came to Macao because of Mr. Ho's invitation. Our purpose may be different from that of Lagu."

Fang Yan raised his hand: "The reason I made this suggestion is that I am grateful for your hospitality, so I want to return the favor."

Like He Chaoqiong, Gong Xing had a bewildered look on his face. On the entire journey from Hong Kong to Macao, he had never heard anyone mention this matter in dialect.

Ho Hung Sun was very interested. He thought that it was a countermeasure thought out by Fang Yan, Run Run Shaw and Fang Yihua. Shaw Brothers Films tailored a gambling film for them as a condition for forgiving Xie Xian's gambling debts. However, he never expected that Fang Yan did not mention this at all. Instead, it seemed that he was trying to get him to join.

Not only did they invest money in Shaw Brothers' gambling film project, but they also lent the hotel for free as a filming location.

So if you don't give us a penny, we still have to put in money, right?

Seeing Fangyan's calm and composed look, Gong Xing secretly pulled at the corner of his clothes and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear:

"Will they agree if you do this?"

"Why wouldn't they agree? Just wait and see, he'll have to thank us later!"

Fangyan raised a hint of intriguing smile at the corner of his mouth. (End of this chapter)