Chapter 494

July in Hong Kong is very hot. Fortunately, the house had air conditioning, but it wasn't set too low because Wei Ming and Sister Xue were currently uncovered, so every movement was fully visible to them.

After it was over, there was a thin layer of sweat on Wei Ming's body. Sister Xue gently wiped him with a towel and then covered him with a thin quilt. There was also a pair of silk stockings Sister Xue had worn at the foot of the bed, but they had been torn, and Sister Xue felt heartbroken.

Looking at his sister's flushed face, Wei Ming felt he could still fight and allowed himself to recover, but he would officially be busy starting the next day.

The next day, Gong Xue was going to her sister's house to visit Gong Ying and her mother. As soon as she left, Wei Ming immediately called A Min.

Zhou Zhou Huimin knew last night that Wei Ming had come to Hong Kong, but hearing that he was going into seclusion, she didn't disturb him.

"A Min, go to the company; I'll introduce someone to you."

The company here refers to the music company. Although there was only one artist, Zhou Zhou Huimin, and most of the business was in cooperation with other companies, they still rented an office and hired two employees.

Zhou Zhou Huimin said: "I'm afraid today won't work; I'm going to attend a funeral. Why don't you come too?"

"A funeral? Whose?"

"Sister Jenny's husband, Brother Fu Sheng's."

Three days ago, Fu Sheng was in a car accident and eventually died from his injuries. It is said that there were two cars involved, and there was a suspicion of street racing.

Still the same saying: there are thousands of roads, safety is the first one. Wei Ming only treated cars as a tool to save time; street racing was unnecessary.

One doesn't go to a happy event without an invitation, but one goes to a funeral without an invitation. Wei Ming was also friends with Sister Jenny, so he had to go.

So he changed into more solemn clothes and drove to pick up Zhou Zhou Huimin.

As for Wei Hong, she went to the stock exchange again. When she was in Beijing, she heard that China and Britain were about to start the second round of negotiations, so there would definitely be a wave of market trends.

And as for Xizi, his grandparents were taking him to Ocean Park today, and he was already having so much fun he forgot about his brother.

Once in the car, A Min asked: "Who is the person you said you wanted me to go to the company to meet?"

"A musician I worked with on *The Spring of the Sheep-Herding Class* who specializes in traditional instruments. I want him to participate in the production of the *Mo Mo Mo* album."

A Min said: "Then let's meet after we attend the funeral."

"Mm, okay."

Fu Sheng was a Shaw Brothers artist and a beloved disciple of Zhang Che. He was considered a quasi-first-tier action star in Hong Kong, and his family background was also quite good.

He had played Guo Jing in the film version, and later, the role of Xiao Yu'er in Chu Yuan's film *The Proud Twins* was a relatively important role in his life.

Last month, *The Playboy*, starring him and written and directed by Wong Jing, had just been released and had achieved a decent box office of over 7 million.

There were no shortage of people coming to see off a person like this on his final day.

First, naturally, was his grief-stricken wife, Jenny. Fu Sheng was only 29 years old, and they didn't even have any children.

Then there were his parents, brothers, and his master, Zhang Che.

Zhang Che was preparing a new film, *The Thirteen Cold-Blooded Eagles*, the one with "the instructor, the quick blade, the prodigal son, the millionaire, the student, the young master, the bear, the tiger, the eagle, the leopard, the glasses, the cigarette holder, the long spear, inescapable."

This film was going to bring together all his disciples: David Chiang, Ti Lung, Alexander Fu Sheng, Wu Ma, Danny Lee, Chen Kuan-tai, etc., naturally including Fu Sheng. He had been cast as the "student," but then he was gone, and the role later went to Andy Lau.

Many people from Shaw Brothers also came, including Master Lau Kar-leung, who was filming Fu Sheng's new movie, as well as Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan, who were rivals of Shaw Brothers but also action stars.

There were also Jenny's friends from the music circle, who were also acquaintances of Zhou Zhou Huimin.

Seeing Wei Ming and Zhou Zhou Huimin appear together, people in the circle basically concluded that these two were a couple.

Jenny usually liked to ship them, but now, thinking of her own lost love, she felt even more desolate to the bone.

She bowed and thanked the two as a widow, and Wei Ming and A Min said "take care" and went in with everyone else.

In this solemn atmosphere, many people wanted to chat with Wei Ming, but they all felt it was inappropriate and had to give up.

After the funeral ended, Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan chased after them. Fatty Hung was beaming; *Five Lucky Stars* had performed very well in the market, with every screening sold out for three days, and the total box office was expected to be no less than 20 million, far exceeding his previous personal best. It might even surpass *Aces Go Places 2* to take the annual crown for 1983.

In the original timeline, the box office difference between the two films was only about 1 million, but this time *Five Lucky Stars* also had the influence of the original manga.

In addition, Sammo Hung brought instructions from Mr. Zou this time: "Golden Harvest still wants to film the *Five Lucky Stars* series, and hopes to continue the cooperation."

This manga had been serialized for over a year, and the brothers of the Five Lucky Stars had experienced many stories; each small unit was very exciting, enough to develop several films.

Madman Comics could not only get licensing fees but also promote magazine sales; a win-win situation was naturally no problem.

Wei Ming said: "Just have Golden Harvest contact Minglong Media directly."

"Minglong Media?" Sammo Hung glanced at Wei Ming, then at Jackie Chan. Had these two done something behind his back?

Now the *Dragon Ball* manga was also paying tribute to Jackie Chan.

"Right, it's been renamed. Minglong Media is now the parent company of Madman Comics."

"Then have you seen *Five Lucky Stars*? Do you want to offer any opinions?" Sammo Hung added.

"I only just arrived yesterday, and I have plans to watch it today." Wei Ming glanced at A Min.

Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan understood immediately. Jackie Chan laughed: "We are also about to go to Europe to film a movie, and we hope we can have a meal together before we leave."

Wei Ming: "Then let's make it tomorrow night."

He and A Min found a restaurant to eat at noon. Perhaps having just experienced a life-and-death event, A Min's mood was relatively low.

Thinking of Jenny crying her heart out, she couldn't imagine what she would be like when A Ming died.

"A Ming, you must exercise well, you know?" A Min suddenly said.

Wei Ming asked with a smile: "I'm in good health. You'll know later."

A Min blushed: "That's not what I meant. I mean, I don't want you to die before me."

So that was the reason. Wei Ming gently held one of her hands: "I'm six years older than you, and the average life expectancy for men is lower than for women, so there's a high possibility I'll go before you. But since you've said so, I'll definitely strive to live a long, long time."

In the private room, A Min directly hugged Wei Ming, and they didn't separate until someone started serving the food, feeling a bit embarrassed. She felt she was being a bit sentimental.

Wei Ming, however, only felt warm in his heart, and also a bit guilty. What virtue or ability did he have that several girlfriends were so devoted to him? He couldn't give them single-minded love, so he could only try his best to help them reach the peak of their careers.

Now he began to ponder what A Min's second Cantonese album should be. As a Hong Kong diva, her Cantonese representative works were still a bit lacking, and there was also the plan to step out of the Chinese music circle.

The studio and Haurley were in the same office building, occupying a small space. There was no recording equipment, but there were many kinds of instruments.

Hu Hu Weili found his way here after asking around and had already been waiting for a while. There were only two female employees in this company, one manager and one receptionist.

Although there wasn't much communication, Hu Hu Weili had already heard a few songs by the company's only artist, Zhou Zhou Huimin. So it turned out to be that *Pink Memories*.

This was Zhou Zhou Huimin's most well-known song in the mainland. Hu Hu Weili was a musician and listened to more than ordinary people, so he wasn't unfamiliar with Zhou Zhou Huimin's Cantonese songs like *Hard to Find a Lover*, *Dearest*, *First Love*, and *Like You*.

And these songs were basically all created by Wei Ming. Hu Hu Weili knew with his heels that Wei Ming's relationship with this singer was unusual.

Soon he met the person in charge. Wei Ming didn't explicitly state his relationship with Zhou Zhou Huimin, but after a simple introduction, he told him about the situation of the *Mo Mo Mo* album.

Hu Hu Weili first listened to the three songs that had already been recorded and felt they were interesting—very traditional, very classical, very much like Teresa Teng's *Light Sorrow*.

However, the songs that followed blazed a new trail, taking a step further on the basis of the *Light Sorrow* style.

Seeing these good songs, Hu Hu Weili suddenly swept away his homesickness and wanted to work right now.

Seeing that this old gentleman could pick up any instrument and play a segment, and that his music theory was also very solid, Zhou Zhou Huimin knew that A Ming had found her a master, so she let the manager give full authority to Mr. Hu Hu Weili, saying that if any equipment needed to be added, just buy it directly.

Wei Ming participated throughout, only going upstairs to Haurley halfway through to sit in Uncle Liu Bin's general manager office and get a rough understanding of Haurley's current situation.

Liu Bin said: "We have now opened 32 Haurley stores in Hong Kong and 3 in Macau, and there are more than a dozen others in preparation. This year, we officially started entering Taiwan. The first batch of 3 had a good response, and the second batch of 12 has also officially opened. Next, we will continue to develop the Taiwan market. The more stores we have, the lower our costs and the higher our profits."

That was already 50 stores.

However, Wei Ming felt it was far from saturated. In his past life, in Hong Kong alone, there were over two hundred stores for either KFC or McDonald's.

Liu Bin said: "There's also the Nian Nu Jiao milk tea shop, which also just started this year, but it's opening very quickly. After all, the stores are small and the costs are low. There are already 23 now, and new stores will open every week. Moreover, the profits of the milk tea shops are also very considerable."

Finally, he said: "The flour mill and oil mill in our hometown in Pingan County are also under construction and should be able to open by the end of this year."

Wei Ming asked: "Opening stores so quickly, the debt must be quite high."

"Previously, the debt was 50 million, and soon the debt will exceed 100 million. I took out another big loan," Liu Bin walked to the map in the office. "Asia is a weak point for the fast-food giant McDonald's, so next we plan to enter overseas markets. Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia are all within range."

Finally, his gaze fell on that red block: "Of course, we have also been communicating with the mainland, and now we are just waiting for the policy."

That was indeed a market with great potential, and the first-mover advantage was very important.

After communicating with Uncle Bin, Wei Ming returned to the studio; he still had to eat and watch a movie with A Min.

While eating, she said to Wei Ming: "This Teacher Hu is from the mainland. It's a pity; I wanted to sign him."

Wei Ming said: "Sign him. Teacher Hu is about to immigrate here. As long as the treatment is good, it's fine."

"That's great. I really lack a senior who understands the industry by my side. It's just that our company is too small." Zhou Zhou Huimin felt a bit embarrassed.

"What does that matter? Just don't stop him from taking jobs from outside when the time comes," Wei Ming laughed.

Hu Hu Weili's output was terrifying. Just relying on the studio, DreamWorks, and Minglong's output was probably not enough to satisfy him. In his past life, he worked at TVB for over a decade and left behind nearly a thousand musical works.

Today he finally saw *Five Lucky Stars*. As the hottest movie at the moment, it was almost full, and A Min had to wear a mask to avoid being recognized.

Wei Ming couldn't help but think that the best thing was to date two sisters in Hong Kong and then bring A Min back to the mainland to be his partner.

Watching this movie, A Min finally understood what content was being filmed on the day she visited the set.

She couldn't help but pinch Wei Ming's thigh: "This Sammo Hung's filming is too lewd."