After sending Honghua's people away, there was still the matter of feeding the hundred-plus members of the 'A Chinese Ghost Story' film crew.
Fortunately, that wasn't hard to solve. Lu Chen had Chen Wenqiang take a few people and drive to the nearest restaurants to buy boxed lunches. It wasn't like Honghua Catering had a monopoly over every restaurant and food stall around Lion Rock.
He gathered the crew together, gave them a brief explanation of what had happened, and asked everyone to bear with the situation for the time being.
The crew all said they understood. Even if quite a few were grumbling to themselves, everyone showed their support for Lu Chen, the real boss. Eating a little later wasn't a big deal. Missing one meal wasn't going to kill anyone.
By the time Chen Wenqiang returned with the boxed lunches and everyone had finished eating, it was already two in the afternoon.
The 'A Chinese Ghost Story' crew wasn't particularly large, and most of its members had come from Jiayang Film. News spread quickly within the company, so before long, everyone had a pretty good idea of what had happened.
As a result, the crew became noticeably unsettled. The afternoon shoot was plagued with mistakes, and Wan Xiaoquan racked up more NGs than anyone could count. By the end of it, he was so frustrated that his voice had become much louder and rougher.
Seeing how things were going, Lu Chen decisively called it a day early and sent everyone back to get some rest.
To keep morale from dropping further, he also had Chen Wenqiang hand out a small meal allowance to the crew as compensation for dinner. After all, the production normally covered both lunch and dinner.
Before wrapping up, Chen Wenqiang thought ahead and assigned two extra people to stay behind at the set to keep watch and make sure nothing happened.
That was the trouble with offending a triad. If the other side decided to pull something at the filming location, all the work they'd already completed could easily go to waste.
After returning, Lu Chen gathered the workshop's key members together to discuss what to do next over dinner.
When it came to this sort of thing, Chen Wenqiang was by far the most experienced.
"I called a few friends to confirm it," he said. "Honghua Catering is backed by Sheng Yitang."
After the Hong Kong government cracked down hard on the triads in the late 1980s, the three major organizations, Wo Shing Wo, Sun On, and Hung Tong, had largely fallen apart. But like a centipede that refuses to die even after being cut apart, they hadn't disappeared completely. Many new gangs were built on the foundations of those old organizations.
Sheng Yitang was one of them.
The Jiang family, which founded and controlled Sheng Yitang, was well known in Hong Kong. On the surface, their businesses included real estate, finance, import and export, catering, and more.
The head of the family was Jiang Tai, a shrewd and formidable businessman known for his ruthless methods. He had five wives and more than a dozen children. His five sons were collectively known within Sheng Yitang as the "Five Tigers."
Honghua Catering's general manager was Jiang Tai's third son, Jiang Chenghua.
Within the entertainment industry, Jiang Chenghua actually had a decent reputation. That was why Chen Wenqiang found Honghua Catering's actions against the 'A Chinese Ghost Story' crew so puzzling. This wasn't how things were normally done.
"I've already asked some friends in the industry to look into it and find out what's really going on."
He continued, "We have no grudge against Jiang Chenghua. If this isn't because of something happening on Jiayang Film's side, then someone must be using Jiang Chenghua's connections to come after us."
When this incident happened, the first suspect in Chen Wenqiang's mind was Jiayang Film.
He had never met Jiang Chenghua himself, let alone offended the Jiang family. As for Lu Chen, that was even less likely. He had only been in Hong Kong for a few days. There was no way Jiang Chenghua would suddenly decide to make trouble for them for no reason.
Jiayang Film, however, was a different story.
The company's history went all the way back to the 1980s. Back then, Hong Kong's triads were at the height of their power, with deep influence throughout the film and entertainment industry. Any film company without gang connections or backing simply couldn't survive.
Even now, who could say there weren't old grudges from those days still lingering?
Then there was Jiayang Film's real boss, Zhou Yi. He had been doing business in Hong Kong for many years, and he had done very well for himself. Someone like that was bound to have made plenty of enemies.
Any one of those factors could end up causing trouble for the film crew.
Wan Xiaoquan frowned. "So what do we do now?"
Things like this never happened when filming on the mainland. The day's events had put him in a terrible mood. He had wanted nothing more than to focus on making this movie properly, but trouble had already started before filming had even gotten underway.
Lu Chen said, "I've already asked Jiayang Film to give us an explanation. For now, we won't change the shooting schedule. Tomorrow's boxed lunches can be bought from restaurants outside. Brother Zhang can take a few people to pick them up. We've got people and we've got vehicles, so it won't be much trouble."
That was easy enough to say, but everyone knew things wouldn't be that simple.
Honghua hadn't achieved what they wanted, so there was no way they would just back down. With the situation still unclear, all they could do was take things one step at a time and deal with whatever came their way.
Wan Xiaoquan and Chen Wenqiang exchanged a glance before nodding in agreement.
'Ring... Ring...'
Just then, Lu Chen's phone rang.
He took it out and looked at the screen.
"It's Zhou Yi."
He answered the call, and Zhou Yi's slightly soft voice came through the receiver.
"Young Lu?"
"Hello, Boss Zhou," Lu Chen replied evenly. "What can I do for you?"
Even a clay figurine has its limits.
When they had agreed to work together, Jiayang Film had confidently assured him that 'A Chinese Ghost Story' would be completed without any problems. Other than the actual filming, they had promised to handle everything else.
And yet, everyone had seen what happened.
Thinking about the half day they had lost and the unrest among the crew, how could Lu Chen not be angry?
Through the phone, Lu Chen could almost picture the bitter smile on Zhou Yi's face.
"Young Lu, don't be so distant," Zhou Yi said with a sigh. "I've already heard about what happened today. The problem is much more serious than you think. Can we meet and talk face to face?"
Lu Chen was silent for a moment before asking, "When?"
"Right now. Are you free?"
"Yes."
Zhou Yi gave him an address that wasn't far from where Lu Chen was having dinner. Lu Chen immediately headed over with Wan Xiaoquan, Chen Wenqiang, and the others.
The meeting place was called the Aoken Club, a private club located in Sheung Wan's bustling business district. It was a favorite gathering place for Hong Kong's upper class, and annual membership alone cost well over a million Hong Kong dollars.
Zhou Yi had reserved a private room there. He had brought only an assistant and Nie Mingzhu with him.
The moment they met, the first thing Zhou Yi said was,
"Young Lu, I'm truly sorry about this."
A bad feeling immediately rose in Lu Chen's heart.
From Zhou Yi's tone, it sounded as though he was thinking about pulling out of the partnership.
And if Jiayang Film withdrew, Lu Chen would have to rebuild the entire production from scratch, assemble a new crew, possibly recast the female lead, and everything they had invested up to this point would have been for nothing.
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(End of Chapter)
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