Chapter 688: Begging Me?

In Hua Jiaqun's eyes, what kind of person is Luo Mo?

He feels two words are enough—genius.

In terms of film, he not only writes good scripts and shoots good movies, but even his promotion is very impressive.

Not to mention anything else, let's just talk about Chen Luo's cameo in *Charlotte Troubles*.

He didn't even show his face, yet he brought the audience a huge surprise.

Moreover, he chose not to release the song "People from Our Village" before the movie was released.

Instead, he released it in reality only after the movie had been out for many days, after many audience members had already gone to the cinema to watch the movie and remembered that Chen Luo was incredibly resistant to this song in the film.

In this way, there are comedic points, interaction, and surprises; how could the movie's popularity not skyrocket!

If this song had been released before the movie, who knows, many fans might have been incredibly disgusted: "Luo Mo is so good at writing songs like this? And Chen Luo actually sang it!"

Everyone would be confused, unable to figure out the situation.

—It would damage his prestige.

But now it's different; everyone is just busy laughing "hahahaha," feeling that this is a dream collaboration between the fictional character Charlotte and the real-world Chen Luo.

They don't even think the song is tacky anymore; they only find it festive, down-to-earth, and catchy, something that can be brought out in KTV to set the whole room off.

For Luo Mo, he knows he holds countless good cards, but he also never plays them recklessly.

"The order of playing cards is really important." This is Luo Mo's thinking.

As the president of the Hong Kong Film Workers Association, Hua Jiaqun is very clear that current Hong Kong films, leaving aside the content, are already falling behind in terms of promotion and distribution alone.

The funds invested in the promotion of *Two Gun Kings* are no less than those for *Car King 3*.

But the overall effect is worse than *Car King 3*, which is why the opening day box office was lower than *Car King 3*.

They can't even beat the promotional team of *Car King 3*, let alone the ever-resourceful Luo Mo.

Honestly, if Luo Mo were in charge of the promotion for *Two Gun Kings*, I feel the popularity could have exploded even more.

Hua Jiaqun admires this young man from the bottom of his heart.

At this moment, he looks at Chen Luo and says, "Luozai, if it's about collaborating with Luo Mo to make a movie, and I go to act for him, then I would definitely be one hundred percent willing."

"But as a person from Beijing, can he really handle a script suitable for Hong Kong?"

Chen Luo jokes, "Then should I help you make a call and ask?"

He raises his phone in front of Hua Jiaqun.

"Really?" Hua Jiaqun's eyes light up; he says a sentence in Cantonese, then frantically raises his hands, signaling him to make the call quickly.

Rather than guessing blindly here, letting his imagination run wild, and struggling here, it's better to be direct.

Chen Luo: "..."

Boss, are you allergic to humor?

I was joking.

Hua Jiaqun, however, refuses to let it go, even putting his hands together and saying, "Luozai, please!"

Chen Luo: "..."

Hey! I really can't do anything about you!

Chen Luo picks up his phone and starts a WeChat message to Luo Mo.

At this moment, Luo Mo is on the phone with the special effects team, so he doesn't realize there is a WeChat message.

This leaves Chen Luo and Hua Jiaqun in a long, agonizing wait.

After about twenty minutes, just as both of them are preparing to leave, Chen Luo's phone rings; it's a call from Luo Mo.

Chen Luo doesn't put it on speakerphone directly.

Because he feels that without explaining to Luo Mo that Hua Jiaqun is by his side, it's not good to use the speakerphone.

After chatting for a few sentences on the phone, Luo Mo is slightly taken aback.

"Write a Hong Kong Style script for Hong Kong, and then let them shoot it?"

Honestly, in this instant, a large number of classic Hong Kong films flash through Luo Mo's mind.

Too many, far too many!

There are police films, action films, comedies, love films... and restricted-rated ones.

Among these, some can be filmed given the current situation in Blue Star's Hong Kong.

Others, however, cannot.

For example, movies starring the Star Master cannot be filmed.

For his movies, the script is of course important, but what is even more important is the person himself.

In the entertainment industry of Blue Star, Luo Mo hasn't found a Blue Star version of the Star Master yet.

But some types of Hong Kong films are fully capable of being filmed.

Luo Mo also has a certain understanding of the general environment of Hong Kong films on Blue Star.

It's just like on Earth; the group of people active on the big screen ten or twenty years ago are still the same group twenty years later.

When Chen Luo informs Luo Mo that Hua Jiaqun is right by his side, Luo Mo can immediately guess more things.

He knows Hua Jiaqun's other identity—President of the Hong Kong Film Workers Association.

"Coming to me, it's a bit like the mentality of treating a dead horse as a living one?" Luo Mo thinks.

According to a normal person's way of thinking, no one would believe that a script written by a person from Beijing could reverse the current decline of Hong Kong films.

He even thinks that Hua Jiaqun isn't asking for a script.

He is asking for a grand framework, a main plot, a character setup... and then calling Hong Kong screenwriters to revise it, to make it more "Hong Kong-ified."

But does Luo Mo need someone to help him "polish" or help him revise the script?

Naturally, he does not.

Oh, my president, do you think you are sending a distress signal to someone from Beijing?

No, you are begging for the… era that belonged to Hong Kong films on Earth!

……..

……..

The role Chen Luo could play was, in fact, just to act as a bridge.

Discussing a collaboration is not the same as making friends; he just needed to provide an introduction.

The remaining matters would still need to be coordinated between Hua Jiaqun's team and Luo Mo Studio.

He simply gave Hua Jiaqun a heads-up: "Collaborating with Luo Mo comes with many rigid Requirements."

Hua Jiaqun nodded.

He had heard about these things in the industry as well.

In the past, many people in the industry felt this young man was too overbearing and his terms were set too high.

Now, everyone just wants to say: I'm sorry, we were the ones who were too ignorant before!

"Thanks, Luozai," Hua Jiaqun said, looking up at Chen Luo, who was preparing to leave.

Regardless of whether this matter could succeed, he owed Chen Luo a favor.

With Luo Mo's current influence, even a star of Hua Jiaqun's caliber felt that having the opportunity to get to know him would only bring benefits, with no downsides at all.

Even if he couldn't write a film script suitable for Hong Kong, he could still go to the Mainland to collaborate with him.

Chen Luo waved his hand, signaling him not to take it to heart, and then left first.

Early the next morning, Hua Jiaqun instructed his team to get in touch with Luo Mo Studio.

Then, just like the previous days, he continued to promote Two Gun Kings.

That said, before Two Gun Kings was released, they had considered whether to learn from Medicine God and conduct a 【Large-scale Preview】.

After intense internal discussion, they ultimately decided not to imitate Luo Mo.

This path is too treacherous.

Most films that try 【Large-scale Preview】 end up crashing and burning, losing a fortune!

Luo Mo had indeed taught the entire industry a lesson.

But only top students are qualified to learn it; poor students shouldn't mess around with it.

In fact, if Two Gun Kings had been released in the past, people would have found the gunfights very exciting.

But if placed in the present, gunfights in Mainland films are considered small-scale; tanks and planes are everywhere.

If this film hadn't featured three Best Actors huddling together for warmth, the box office would likely have only been three or four hundred million.

Days passed quickly, and time moved forward by a few more days.

The total box office for Charlotte Troubles had already broken the 2-billion mark.

This meant that Luo Mo's two films combined had already raked in over 5 billion at the box office during this year's Shuji Dang.

Judging by the current situation, it is a certainty that this Comedy film will break 3 billion.

Many people couldn't help but think: "How long has it been since such an awesome Comedy film was produced domestically?"

Over at Penguin Video, Cheng Wen was already holding a large stack of cash, waiting for Charlotte Troubles to finish its theatrical run.

For the exclusive online streaming rights to this film, he would offer a price no lower than that of Nezha and Medicine God.

The reason is simple: the viewership numbers for Comedy films are often outrageous.

Some films, once watched, might never be watched again.

High-quality, classic Comedies are different; one might suddenly decide to seek them out and watch them again.

On Earth, many technicians at foot massage parlors have said: "I don't know how many times I've watched Charlotte Troubles while on the clock."

And as the daily box office for Car King 3 and Two Gun Kings continued to wither, the screen allocation for Charlotte Troubles kept rising.

Regarding this, Hua Jiaqun felt nothing but envy.

These past few days, he had really been working hard on promotions.

In the past, he was unwilling to do things like Live Broadcasts because he wasn't very skilled at them, and his Hong Kong Mandarin wasn't particularly great—it could only be considered above average.

But in these past few days, he had already done two Live Broadcasts alone.

Although Two Gun Kings couldn't compare to the box office of Charlotte Troubles, it was already the highest-grossing Hong Kong film of the year, even before it had finished its run.

If nothing unexpected happens, by the time it finishes its run, its cumulative total box office should make it the number one Hong Kong film of the last two years.

After finishing a busy day and returning to the hotel to rest, Hua Jiaqun would always feel a sense of desolation while lying in bed.

He felt that his own era, the era of Hong Kong films, had already passed.

——Nothing could be done to save it!

The next day, having finished his promotional work in the Mainland, Hua Jiaqun took a flight back to Hong Kong.

After returning home, his wife immediately came to greet him.

His wife's name is Liang Xinyi; she used to act in Hong Kong dramas and had starred in several hit Hong Kong dramas.

The first film she shot later was a collaboration with Hua Jiaqun; the two bonded through the play and eventually entered the halls of marriage.

To be realistic, among Hong Kong stars, there are quite a few who live quite loosely.

Some couples appear inseparable on the surface, while behind the scenes, they have long been playing their own games.

But Hua Jiaqun and Liang Xinyi are considered a model couple; the two are very loving.

It is just a pity that Liang Xinyi cannot bear children.

Even so, it did not affect their life or their relationship.

Whether in terms of work or life, Hua Jiaqun's character is truly beyond reproach.

At this moment, Liang Xinyi went first to pour a glass of warm water for her husband.

This woman is very beautiful and also has a lot of charisma.

To be able to break out from a crowd of actresses in that era, she must have been extremely attractive.

The actresses of that era all had their own ways of being beautiful.

Hua Jiaqun took the water glass, drank two sips, then half-slumped on the sofa, tilted his neck and head back, and closed his eyes to rest.

Liang Xinyi stood up directly and gently massaged the area around his temples.

The husband and wife communicated in Cantonese, chatting about the trivialities of life.

And just at this moment, Hua Jiaqun's phone rang.

His brows were slightly furrowed at first, but after answering the phone, his face was filled with ecstasy.

However, the joyful expression quickly disappeared from his face.

"What's wrong?" Liang Xinyi asked.

Hua Jiaqun said: "Luo Mo has sent the script over."

"Huh?" Liang Xinyi also looked surprised.

How many days have passed, and he has already sent the script?

This left Hua Jiaqun and Liang Xinyi in a trance, as if they had returned to that era of the past.

In the past, let alone taking a few days to come up with a script, some Hong Kong films were finished filming in 10 days.

The filming duration of most Hong Kong films would not be very long.

And some film crews didn't need a script at all; after gathering the people, they would decide on a theme and start filming directly.

Many classic works, if you look at their filming process and the reasons for their birth today, will make you feel incredible.

But now it's different from the past.

This made Hua Jiaqun wonder if Luo Mo was just brushing him off?

Or rather, from beginning to end, was he just being unreasonable?

Did Luo Mo actually only refrain from declining because of Chen Luo's Face?

"Do you want to read it with me?" Hua Jiaqun asked Liang Xinyi if she wanted to go to the study to read the script together.

"Sure." Liang Xinyi was also incredibly curious.

The couple went to the study, and Hua Jiaqun printed the script out directly to read it; he printed two copies.

Their eyes first converged on the film title.

This film is called—《Peerless》.

"《Peerless》." Hua Jiaqun read the name out, feeling it was quite interesting.

This film had Zhuang Wenqiang serve as director and screenwriter on Earth.

It starred the Heavenly King, Fa Ge, and Zhang Jingchu.

The names of Zhuang Wenqiang and Mai Zhaohui often appeared together.

If you look closely at the resumes of these two, you will find that a large portion of the more popular Hong Kong films in recent years have something to do with them.

For example, the 《Eavesdropping》 series.

At the same time, 《Touwenzi D》 was also them.

Of course, looking at their past works, there is one series that cannot be bypassed no matter what.

This film, which shares the same "Incessant" character in its title as 《Peerless》, is so classic that even Luo Mo couldn't bear to just take it out for others to film.

It is called—the 《Infernal Affairs》 series!

The screenwriters for this series were Zhuang Wenqiang and Mai Zhaohui.

You must know, 《Infernal Affairs》 is the ultimate trump card in Hong Kong cinema in many people's hearts!

After receiving Hua Jiaqun's request for cooperation, Luo Mo also thought for a long time: which work should he take out first?

"Hua Jiaqun, Hua Jiaqun, Hua Jia... wait, Painter!?" Luo Mo felt that fate had arrived.

The film 《Peerless》 is a story that unfolds around a person with the code name "Painter".

The theme of this film is actually quite novel in the country, and that is—counterfeiting money!

Due to the sensitive subject matter, it never obtained an Approval Certificate, and it took several years before they finally managed to get one.

The behind-the-scenes footage of other films is definitely not as interesting as this crew's.

The director and screenwriter Zhuang Wenqiang, in order to realistically restore the production process of counterfeit money, led the team to study it crazily, and in the end, the staff actually printed the counterfeit money.

They really are multi-talented...

As expected of a group that professionally films Crime themes... uh no, a team.

In the study, Hua Jiaqun and Liang Xinyi sat together, quietly reading the script.

When reading the story synopsis, the two became more and more alarmed as they read!

The film's subject matter alone gave them a shock.

"Counterfeit money?" Hua Jiaqun looked at his wife and said, "Can this pass censorship?"

"He is Luo Mo," his wife reminded him in a low voice.

Oh, then it's fine.

Being in Hong Kong, he also knew well about Luo Mo's various messy nicknames, such as "Little Prince of Censorship".

If it were someone else holding this script for Hua Jiaqun to see, Hua Jiaqun would have returned it after looking at it for a few seconds.

Because this project simply could not be started.

Whether the script is good or bad seems meaningless.

What's the use if it can't be filmed?

At this moment, he carefully looked down, and in the script, the way the male lead Li Wen appeared at the beginning made Hua Jiaqun feel it was extraordinary.

He was in a prison abroad and needed 10 USD to mail a letter, but Li Wen had no money.

Under conditions where he had none, Li Wen relied purely on his own intelligence to create the conditions, self-manufacturing pigments and tools, and relying on his own skills to draw a stamp that looked real enough to deceive!

Then, taking advantage of the chaos, he threw the letter with the stamp into the mail bag.

Only after Hua Jiaqun saw this did a voice emerge in his heart: "I want to act in this!"

If this scene of drawing the stamp were captured on camera, it would definitely be very compelling!

Using shark fin hidden in secret as a brush, scraping off wall plaster to make pigment, and then painting something that looks real enough to deceive!

This is just too Ox!

Both he and Liang Xinyi read very slowly and very carefully.

Sometimes, when they reached the middle, they would even flip back to the beginning.

This movie even has some brain-burning attributes.

On Earth, after Heavenly King Guo received the script, he read it a full six times before he understood that every lead actor in the movie had to play two roles.

Reading further, Hua Jiaqun even began to suspect what channels Luo Mo had used, and which experts he had consulted and sought assistance from, to be able to write such a script?

He actually wrote down the design, production, printing, technology, and trading of counterfeit money... all of it!

——Crazy! This is just too insane!

Liang Xinyi's health had not been very good for the past few years, and coupled with her desire to cure her infertility, she had already retired from acting for 4 years.

Now, looking at the script for Peerless, a strong impulse surged from the bottom of her heart.

She wanted to make a comeback to play the female lead, Ruan Wen!

She believed that this character would be incomparably stunning on the big screen!

Hua Jiaqun looked at the script in his hands, feeling as if he had obtained a precious treasure.

This made him involuntarily recall a Hot Search on Weibo he had seen before turning off his phone on the plane.

The Hot Search entry was: 【Luo Mo, Reborn】.

The reason this Hot Search appeared was that many viewers were joking online after watching Charlotte Troubles, saying they suspected Luo Mo was also reborn.

Heh, silly netizens, they're just having fun!

Hua Jiaqun clicked in to look at the comments.

"Luo Mo is definitely reborn; I was listening under the bed when he secretly told Xu Chujing."

"It's true! He really is reborn; I went to his house for dinner that day, and that's exactly how they were chatting at the dinner table."

"Well, I'm the nanny of the sister of the mother of his cousin's classmate, and she told me."

Before turning off his phone on the plane, Hua Jiaqun looked at the Hot Search, feeling envious in his heart.

"This is the best proof of a movie's massive success!" he thought to himself.

Look at our Two Gun Kings; there aren't any netizens spontaneously amusing themselves online surrounding the movie.

Such an inexplicable Hot Search could actually appear, and it even had tens of thousands of comments underneath it; it's just too jealousy-inducing.

However, at this very moment.

Hua Jiaqun lowered his head and glanced at the Peerless script in his hands, suddenly saying: "I actually really believe it a little now!"

(PS: Thanks to alliance leader 【Nuemie】 for the sixth 100,000 Qidian coin tip, the boss is generous.

Continuing to follow the screenwriter's Requirement for a 【Update Forecast】: This chapter was updated on August 15th at 17:35, the next chapter is expected before 8 PM on the 16th.)

(End of this chapter)