Chapter 86 Chapter 86 Counterattack

More than a dozen celebrity video halls are scattered across various areas of South City. In just a few months, they have become an indispensable part of the leisure and entertainment life of nearby residents.

Nowadays, in every courtyard or building, after dinner, if someone shouts, "Let's go to the video room to watch TV series," there will definitely be a lot of people responding.

Those from modest families could just bring a water bottle. Those with better means could bring a bottle and some sunflower seeds and peanuts; the video halls wouldn't charge. Of course, those with better means didn't bring anything at all; the sunflower seeds at the video hall's convenience store were plump and tasted even better than those sold at the supply and marketing cooperative. Add a bottle of ice-cold soda, and it was the perfect companion to watching a show.

Most importantly, the Star Video Hall is well managed, the playback room is very clean, and you can bring in snacks as you like, but you need to go outside to a special open space to smoke, so the air inside is not turbid at all. This is very friendly for citizens except heavy smokers.

However, that night, all the celebrity video halls welcomed a group of strange customers at the same time. They lowered their heads and hunched their shoulders when they entered, as if they were afraid of being noticed. After buying their tickets, they didn't even glance at the dazzling convenience stores and walked quickly into the theater.

After entering the screening room, they looked around, first expressing their admiration for the environment of the screening room, then changed their previous timid appearance and began to chat enthusiastically with the guests nearby.

The topic soon turned to the owner of the celebrity video hall, and the opening remarks often started with words like "Hey, you don't know, this Wu Heng originally...", "Who would have thought that a small gangster could actually...", "This Wu Heng is quite capable, not to mention his other abilities, but his ability to fool women...", etc., followed by exaggerated stories about Wu Heng's gangster background, his dishonest ways of making money, and how he managed to make his business so big by hooking up with the leader's daughter-in-law, etc.

Wow, this sounds even more exciting than a TV drama, especially since it's about people and things happening around us.

In the past, people went to the video hall to watch TV series. But today is different. Today, everyone is attracted by the "story" of the video hall owner, especially the romantic scandal involved.

Then, these things were spread by people who watched the video, and within three days, they became a huge news.

Even Li Yaoming heard about it and ran to No. 1 Store to ask Wu Heng if he knew about it.

Does Wu Heng know?

Of course Wu Heng knew.

How could he not know what was happening right under his nose?

However, Wu Heng did not respond. Instead, he changed the subject and asked Li Yaoming, "How did the talks with the film studio go?"

Since the film had to be shot in the mainland, it was naturally impossible to ask the director and crew from Hong Kong to travel all the way to the mainland to shoot. Firstly, it was inconvenient, and secondly, the cost was too high. So Liu Mianmian gave Li Yaoming an idea, asking him to find a mainland film studio to cooperate with.

After the reform and opening up, state-owned film studios were polarized. Some studios prospered through internal reforms and innovation, while some studios stuck to their original thinking and produced clichés that were unpopular. Naturally, their performance deteriorated and they were even on the verge of bankruptcy.

Liu Mianmian knew that Nancheng Film Studio was actually one of those companies that was deteriorating.

The leadership team of the film studio is not good. Not only is their thinking rigid, but the internal group struggles are also very fierce. In just one or two years, the studio will go bankrupt.

But it just so happens that the Nancheng Film Studio has produced quite a few talented people.

After the film studio closed down, the employees sought other ways to make a living. Some of them remained active in the film and television industry through various channels and became famous directors and actors.

The Nancheng Film Studio has not closed down yet. The equipment and talents are ready. Isn't this a good time to make some money?

So Liu Mianmian gave Li Yaoming an idea, asking him to find the provincial United Front Department and the Communist Party of China to open a loophole for him to borrow the equipment and people from the South City Film Studio.

Li Yaoming is a Hong Kong businessman. Right now, the whole country is developing the economy, and attracting investment is an important task at the local level. Hong Kong businessmen are still treated very favorably.

Besides, the Nancheng Film Studio was already half-dead, with empty equipment and idle people. Why not make a movie for Li Yaoming and they would pay him rent and salary?

Therefore, even though Li Yaoming put forward harsh conditions, requiring those restless leaders of the film studio not to interfere with their work, the superiors agreed.

Wu Heng's words were pure nonsense to change the subject. In this situation, is there any need to talk? There is no need to talk at all. The film studio must also actively cooperate with their work.

But Li Yaoming actually frowned and said, "Ms. Hu wants to play the second female lead, and Ms. Liu has also recommended someone to play the second female lead. I'm really in a headache now."

Hu Dandan looks a bit like the late Hong Kong film queen Fan Xiangyu. Li Yaoming wants to bring her back to Hong Kong and make her a star, and then debut her under the name of Little Fan Xiangyu.

However, Hu Dandan had an inexplicable fear of the south and even the port city. She always felt that those places were very chaotic. She wanted to be famous, but was afraid that her personal safety would not be guaranteed.

Now that Li Yaoming is going to make a movie in the mainland, Hu Dandan suggested that she should at least be given the second female lead. She wants to become famous first and then go to Hong Kong.

Li Yaoming originally thought that the second female lead was not a problem, but Liu Mianmian recommended him the film studio actress Dong Qingyu. After meeting her, Li Yaoming found that this person was very suitable for the role of the second female lead, and the role seemed to be tailor-made for her.

Li Yaoming was very conflicted.

In the past, he would definitely choose Hu Dandan. After all, Dong Qingyu made it clear that even if the film was a big hit, she would not quit her job at the film studio and go to Hong Kong. It would not be beneficial for Li Yaoming to make her famous.

But he doesn't have much money now, so he naturally hopes to make the movie as well as possible. If you want to make a good movie, the choice of actors is naturally very important.

Wu Heng patted his shoulder and said, "Our ancestors have a saying that goes, 'If you take it slow, you will succeed.' Don't worry. The leading male and female characters haven't arrived from Hong Kong yet. There's still plenty of time. If you take it easy, maybe the problem will be solved on its own."

Li Yaoming looked surprised: "Mr. Wu, you don't look like someone who would say such a thing."

Wu Heng: “…”

So he looks illiterate, right?

Li Yaoming didn't take Wu Heng's words to heart, but Wu Heng was right. Not only were the leading male and female actors still on the way, he also had to scout locations with the director. There were a lot of things to do. Since this matter was a headache, he could think about it later.

As the rumors intensified, the business of the celebrity video halls was naturally affected. The attendance rate dropped by 30% compared with the past. The employees of the video halls could no longer sit still, and they found the "store managers" of each store and asked them to report to the boss and find a way to solve the problem.

After all, the salary of video hall employees is a combination of base salary and performance-based salary, and the attendance rate is closely related to their income.

Although there are 30% fewer customers, their wages are still quite high. But who would complain about having too much money?

Especially when you know you could get more salary, it is even more painful to see it lose so much.

There were also some people with unstable minds who thought that if things continued like this, the business of the Star Video Hall would definitely get worse and worse, so they simply started to contact the Metropolitan Video Hall, hoping to "turn to the light" as soon as possible.

That morning, at the Star Video Hall convenience store on Yong'an Road, Sun Bo devoured a sesame seed bun and gulped down soy milk from an enamel pot. He burped and sighed, "I don't know how much longer I can get by with this life of having enough food and drink."

Luo Chengzhi, who was leisurely eating breakfast nearby, glanced at him and said, "What are you nagging about? Don't we know who Brother Wu is? Those are all made-up lies. They are all false. How long can this rumor last? Once this is over, our business will naturally pick up."

Sun Bo's eyes flickered, and he shook his head, saying, "Well, customers, who cares whether you're real or not? They just know the owner of the celebrity video parlor has shady money and is having an affair. The crackdown hasn't passed yet, and even petty thieves might get away with it, let alone this kind of thing. Besides, we can't guarantee 100% that this is fake, so don't let it get us into trouble later."

Luo Chengzhi looked at him again and said nothing.

Sun Bo thought the other party was persuaded by his words. He glanced outside the door to make sure no one was passing by before saying, "You are still Wu Heng's younger brother. I heard that when his mother was sweeping the toilet, your family secretly delivered food to people, right? That's like saving his life, right? In the end, when he opened the dance hall, he didn't ask you to help. Later, he opened a video hall. There are so many stores, but he only arranged a small convenience store for you. The income here is a world apart from that of a big store like No. 1 Store."

He sighed and said, "You can only know a person's face but not his heart!"

Luo Chengzhi had just finished his breakfast and packed up his lunch box. He then muttered, "Indeed, you can only know a person's face but not his heart."

Sun Bo thought he'd heard, and so he got even more excited. He chased him to the sink and lowered his voice, "A distant cousin of Boss Sun from Metropolitan and I are from the same village. He came to me a couple of days ago and said that if we could just do some damage to the video hall, he'd give us 300 yuan, plus a job at the Metropolitan Video Hall, with a 30 yuan bonus on top of our regular salary."

Luo Chengzhi shook the washed lunch box and followed up on his question, "What kind of trouble are you making?"

Sun Bo thought he was moved, so he patted his shoulder with a smile and lowered his voice: "Destroy the video halls and mix in some 'interesting' videotapes."

Luo Chengzhi paused, then quickly nodded: "Okay."

He put the washed lunch box into the counter drawer and turned to go out: "You do it first, I'll go buy a newspaper."

Luo Chengzhi graduated from high school and had a habit that Sun Bo thought was completely unnecessary: ​​he had to go to Baoting to buy the latest newspaper every day.

Sun Bo was sure that no one would refuse the offer of 300 yuan plus an extra 30 yuan in monthly salary. At least he himself agreed immediately. Luo Chengzhi might have to think about it, but Sun Bo believed that he would eventually agree.

Who can resist money?

What Sun Bo didn't know was that Luo Chengzhi quickly walked to the newsstand and bought a copy of Nancheng Evening News. He turned directly to the third page and saw the long, in-depth report "Boss Wu, Keen to Be the First to Try Something New". He laughed, quickly folded the newspaper, and ran to the nearest police station.

Twenty minutes later, Sun Bo was hiding in the workshop "causing trouble" when he was caught on the spot by the police who suddenly appeared. He was sent to the police station along with his "informative" videotapes.

At the same time, similar incidents occurred in several video halls, and in the staff quarters of the Nancheng Theater, the door of the Hu family's room was also knocked. Hu's mother opened the door and found two police officers standing outside.

"Hu Dandan is suspected of spreading rumors and slandering others, which has caused serious consequences. Please ask her to come with us," said the police.

When Hu Dandan came out after hearing the voice, the blood immediately drained from his face.