Chapter 262: Change

At this time, *Mong Kok News* and *Novel Monthly* were the number one in the Hong Kong novel world.

Even the related comic publishing could develop vigorously under the powerful pressure of Hong Kong's comic hegemon, Yulang International.

Not only in Hong Kong, but also in the neighboring Macau, as well as the Chinese gathering areas in Southeast Asia, they had a certain influence and good reputation.

It was quite a bit like replicating the model of Jin Yong's explosion back then.

It was just that the novel platform under Wu Feng's hand was clearly more competitive, and the future was also better.

After all, *Ming Pao* only relied on one person to succeed, but *Mong Kok News* and *Novel Monthly* were not so!

Every day, the newspaper office could receive a non-small amount of various novel submissions.

Especially the boutique novel manuscripts sent from the Mainland easily made editors dazzled.

As long as a boutique novel could be serialized in *Mong Kok News*, not to mention it would definitely be popular, but it was not a problem to easily gather a large number of readers.

With enough popularity, it would be easy to adapt it into comics, as well as movies and television dramas.

The entertainment linkage model created by Wu Feng had already shown quite a large advantage at this time.

Not to mention anything else, the movies adapted from novels had never failed at the box office.

This was quite unbelievable!

You know, movies were a high-risk investment, full of uncertainty!

Why did Cinema City die-hard comedy movies? Wasn't it because the success rate of comedy movies was high?

Like Golden Harvest, they placed a heavy bet on Jackie Chan; once Jackie Chan's movie failed, the entire company would be injured.

Other film companies were in a similar situation, simply unable to control whether the movie was popular or not?

It was also because of this that Fengrui Film and Television and the newspaper office recruited quite a few part-time screenwriters, specifically to adapt popular boutique novels, so that the script wouldn't have problems.

In fact, novel plots were welcomed by readers; as long as they were filmed into film and television dramas according to the novel plots, they would have a natural basic disk of reader groups.

Because Wu Feng's requirements were strict, every time a novel was adapted into a script, it was grasped very strictly.

Coupled with good habits like script reading brought from the Mainland, as well as strict control over the plot, this was the main reason why movies adapted from popular novels basically didn't have problems.

Screenwriters were capable, production was attentive, the plot was smooth, and publicity was in place; it was hard not to succeed!

Even Wu Feng didn't expect that unconsciously, the entertainment linkage system under his hand actually had more than fifty formal screenwriters, and the number of part-time screenwriters was even more.

Because the box office results of movies adapted from novels were good, quite a few film companies ran to the newspaper office to buy the film and television adaptation rights of the novels.

At the beginning, Wu Feng didn't have the idea of eating alone, just holding the most popular and innovative novel adaptation rights in his hands, and the film and television adaptation rights of the remaining boutique novels would still be sold partially.

On one hand, Fengrui Film and Television couldn't adapt them all, and on the other hand, it was also for more profit.

Of course, Wu Feng's idea at that time was also very simple!

He hoped to expand the influence and fame of the novel platform under his hand through such a model.

As long as the film companies that bought the boutique novel film and television adaptation rights made a profit from the movies they shot, or could guarantee a balance of payments, that was a victory.

Unfortunately, he still overestimated the integrity of Hong Kong film companies!

Damn it, the film companies that bought the boutique novel film and television adaptation rights didn't know which screenwriters they invited, or didn't have formal screenwriters at all, and didn't carefully read the boutique novels they bought to understand the specific plots and the most essential content of the novels, and just messed up the adaptation.

The result naturally didn't take advantage, and the box office of the movies shot was a miserable defeat!

This didn't count as anything; the newspaper office didn't blame the other party for messing up the adaptation, but the other party directly pinned the fault on the newspaper office, saying that the movie adaptation failure was all because the novel provided by the newspaper office itself had problems.

You have a problem!

Newspaper manager Liu Wenxiang was considered a cultural person; for the rogue behavior of the cooperation object, although angry, he was helpless.

But what kind of person was Wu Feng?

He didn't actively bully others, which was already considered quite cultivated.

As a result, someone actually climbed up the pole, not knowing the measure at all!

Wu Feng didn't even need to come forward; those small film company bosses soon suffered.

Either they encountered a car accident, or they encountered some inexplicable trouble.

If they didn't peel off a layer of skin, don't think about being able to pass the pass.

By the time Wu Feng heard the news, the matter had completely ended.

He naturally knew that it was all the handiwork of the remaining hall masters of Hong Hing!

It was just a favor, and he didn't care much.

However, the matter of selling boutique novel film and television adaptation rights on the newspaper office side tightened.

Under Wu Feng's request, the newspaper office put forward quite harsh requirements!

If you want to buy boutique novel adaptation rights, you can, but the adapted script must be seen by the newspaper office first, and only after passing can you continue to shoot and produce.

Or you can temporarily recruit screenwriters under the newspaper office to act as the main screenwriter members of the adapted script.

The newspaper office's reason was also very simple: they didn't want the good boutique novels to be ruined.

As a result, not many formal film companies in Hong Kong were willing to cooperate like this.

But unexpectedly, quite a few film companies opened by societies actively sought cooperation.

Especially the film company opened by the Wo Shing Mong Kok Hall Master, Long Gen, was the most active.

I don't know if it was because they shot too many wind and moon movies, wanting to shoot some decent theater movies to reverse the reputation, or if they had other thoughts and purposes?

In short, the film company opened by Long Gen directly chose the second one to cooperate.

According to this guy's words, it just saved the trouble of finding formal screenwriters!

The result was naturally self-evident; under the condition that the adapted script had no problems, and the film company opened by Long Gen was willing to invest money, and the shooting and production were considered quite professional, the box office results after the movie was released were not bad.

The total box office result of thirteen million made Long Gen, this guy, unable to close his mouth with joy, and even couldn't help but hold a big banquet to celebrate; those who didn't know would think he shot a *A Better Tomorrow*.

In fact, Long Gen naturally had reasons to be happy!

He had bought the boutique novel film and television adaptation rights from the newspaper office and had business dealings with Wu Feng. Moreover, he could accept harsh conditions, so Wu Feng wouldn't ignore him no matter what.

Naturally, he helped contact the Shuangnan Circuit, saving this guy the trouble of finding screening channels.

The remaining Golden Princess, as well as Golden Harvest and D&B circuits, were quite ruthless when slaughtering people.

They wouldn't care if Long Gen was a Wo Shing Hall Master!

Long Gen just like that easily connected with the Shuangnan Circuit and had a formal theater screening channel.

That is to say, in the future, the formal theater movies shot by the film company opened by Long Gen could all be screened in the Shuangnan Circuit and get normal scheduling.

Don't think that a box office of thirteen million is very little!

Long Gen had private video tape sales channels, plus some formal overseas copyright income, which certainly wouldn't be worse than the total box office in Hong Kong!

In fact, the total income of a qualified theater movie was much higher than that of a wind and moon movie.

This matter still caused quite a bit of waves in the Hong Kong film circle.

As a result, those formal film companies still didn't have much reaction.

But the film companies run by societies came to the door one after another to buy boutique novel adaptation rights.

Seeing such a situation, Wu Feng was also quite speechless.

But he didn't close the door of cooperation; as long as the other party was willing to accept harsh cooperation conditions, there was no need to pay too much attention to other things.

The number of movies adapted from novels began to increase gradually!

As for the television dramas adapted from novels, they were all operated by ATV at present.

TVB didn't reveal any intention of wanting to cooperate.

Wu Feng didn't care either!

As long as the novel platform could continuously launch various types of boutique novels, the newspaper office and publishing house could provide Wu Feng with quite stable income.

Especially, the number of submissions from the Mainland was increasing.

It gave the novel platform the most important boutique novel resources.

The subconscious actions Wu Feng made back then caused waves in the Mainland cultural circle that were getting bigger and bigger.

Many Mainland writers harvested quite astonishing manuscript fees and royalty income by submitting to *Mong Kok News* and *Novel Monthly*.

This wasn't a joke!

For a novel with a word count of five hundred thousand, the minimum manuscript fee income was twenty-five thousand.

In this era where the basic salary was less than two hundred, it absolutely belonged to a huge sum of money!

It was also because of this that the number of Mainland writers who became rich by relying on one book was not small!

With the spread of influence, many novel lovers and non-writer groups also began novel creation.

Among them, there were naturally excellent works, which also earned quite astonishing income by being published in Hong Kong newspapers and magazines.

It was similar to the development of web novels in later generations!

With enough money stimulation, coupled with the low threshold factor, the number of Mainland authors who plunged into the novel creation circle increased wildly.

Wu Feng wouldn't let go of such an opportunity!

The group company he had in the Mainland had novel magazines specifically for Mainland distribution.

Similar to the *Wuxia* and *Jingu Legend* magazines of later generations, they contained novels that were all of excellent quality but not enough to be published in Hong Kong.

Of course, it wasn't to say that the quality of these novels couldn't reach the boutique or even popular level, but some novel types were quite unpopular in Hong Kong.

Several novel magazines of different classifications became popular in the Mainland as soon as they were launched.

The circulation of one issue increased rapidly from about three hundred thousand at the beginning to the height of two million.

In order to better manage their own magazines and novel brands, the group company in the Mainland had opened large-scale book trading and rental stores in provincial capitals everywhere.

The purpose was very simple, which was to grab business from pirates!

At present, relying solely on the numerous popular and boutique novels and comics published in Hong Kong, as well as several novel magazines in the Mainland, was enough to make these stores extremely popular.

In fact, when the Mainland's economy developed better in the future, these large-scale book stores that already had quite a bit of fame could play more roles.

Wu Feng wouldn't be partial!

Since the novel market was opened in the Mainland, naturally there was no lack of corresponding self-operated book stores in the Chinese communities in Nanyang.

At the same time, receiving excellent novel manuscripts from the Nanyang region, the momentum could only be said to be okay.

Speaking of which, Hong Hing played quite a role in opening self-operated book stores in Chinese communities in various Nanyang countries, avoiding quite a few troubles.

Even in 2024, Nanyang couldn't be considered a peaceful place.

In the late eighties, the order there could only be said to be even worse!

If it was said that Hong Kong societies were rampant, then various demons and monsters were dancing in Nanyang countries.

Sometimes, the name of the society there was even more useful than money.

Still the same sentence, as long as the society could help solve problems, Wu Feng didn't mind using the society's power at all; everyone did it this way.

Just when Wu Feng was patrolling the industries under his hand, the top-tier societies in Hong Kong were not peaceful.

Dongxing Dragon Head Luotuo, Wo Shing veteran Deng Bo, and others, didn't know how they got together, and directly called Jiang Tiansheng, wanting to talk about some things.

As for what to talk about?

Naturally, it was the gambling ship matter concocted by Jiang Tiansheng, Jing Kun, and the Han Bin brothers.

That was quite a big piece of fat, and it wasn't the fat that had already been divided up in Hong Kong, but the fat that was forcefully created, so they naturally wanted to share a piece of the pie.

If it were a single family, there would be no confidence at all to negotiate with Hong Hing.

Then unite together; Jiang Tiansheng would naturally be wary of it for a few points.

What a good calculation!

In fact, without careful inquiry, the Wo Shing Mong Kok Hall Master, Long Gen, took the initiative to inform Wu Feng.

There was no other reason, just because Long Gen felt he had common interests with Wu Feng.

That was to ship clothing, shoes, and hats to Siam and the Indochina Peninsula!

In fact, by December, the shipping business of Long Gen and Lin Ershao had already been done quite large, and they didn't want any disputes in the Hong Kong underworld at all.

Those who had the same thoughts as Long Gen were the Dongxing Ben Shu group who had just entered the shipping industry.

They all wanted to do the shipping business peacefully and earn big money quietly in private!

If they could, they didn't even mind uniting with Hong Hing to make their own Dragon Head look bad!

Mixing in the underworld until the end, wasn't it all for money?

The Dongxing Ben Shu group had been quite honest and peaceful recently, and didn't even actively provoke the Causeway Bay Big Brother B, giving Big Brother B a quite rare breathing opportunity.

After receiving the feedback, Jiang Tiansheng immediately called Wu Feng to talk about things.

When Wu Feng arrived at Jiang Tiansheng's outdoor swimming pool villa, Jing Kun and Han Bin had already arrived early.

"You two guys, you didn't even let me know when you came back!"

Wu Feng laughed and scolded: "Especially Kun Ge, we are neighbors!"

"You kid, you became a veteran without a sound; I thought you wouldn't participate in society affairs in the future!"

Jing Kun rolled his eyes and said angrily: "Besides, I have a headache recently, where do I have the leisure to chat and fart with you kid?"

"Can't be, right?"

Wu Feng asked in disbelief: "The most dangerous time has already passed, Kun Ge, just wait to collect money in the future, what else is there to have a headache about?"

"Hehe, Jiang Xiansheng wants me to be the Hong Hing Dragon Head!"

Jing Kun hesitated: "I am quite conflicted in my heart, not knowing whether I should accept Jiang Xiansheng's kindness!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 263 =====