Chapter 41: Investing in Tangshan Big Brother

  Li Xiaolong and Wang Wei followed Zou Wenhuai to the company's warehouse, where Zou Wenhuai sighed and said, "I can only think of this place." Zou Wenhuai had not expected that Wang Wei would also be a martial artist, nor had he expected Wang Wei to accept Li Xiaolong's challenge. However, things had already been decided, and he couldn't oppose it, so he could only hope that neither of them would get hurt.

  Wang Wei and Bruce Lee took off their outer garments and stood facing each other.

  "Ah Wei, are you ready?" Li Xiaolong said with excitement and a strong desire to fight. Being able to face his idol and even spar with him made Wang Wei extremely excited as well, but at this moment, Wang Wei couldn't care about the excitement anymore because he had already sensed the dangerous aura emanating from Li Xiaolong's body. To be precise, it should be called momentum.

  Wang Wei had once heard his master Li Yuanzhi say that when a martial artist's skills reach a certain level, they will form an aura. This aura is what is called "shi". Of course, this is not the highest state of martial arts; the highest state should be to internalize the aura, or "shi", and reach the point where the fake becomes real, also known as "returning to simplicity and truth". Wang Wei's master Li Yuanzhi had already reached this level. Before he started training with his master, Wang Wei always thought that his master was just an ordinary old man.

  But after holding hands once, Wang Wei's idea was gone forever.

  At this time, Wang Wei faced Li Xiaolong, and it was clear that a strong fighting spirit emanated from Li Xiaolong's body.

  Wang Wei clapped his fists together and then said to Bruce Lee: "Brother Dragon, can you show some mercy?"

  "Ah Wei, don't worry, I just want to understand the attacking and defensive techniques of Northern Fist, I won't hurt you." Li Xiaolong said, scratching his nose with his thumb.

  Li Xiaolong's words made Wang Wei feel very uncomfortable, although Wang Wei knew that Li Xiaolong's words didn't mean anything, but still, he was stirred up by a competitive spirit.

  Wang Wei slightly bent his knees, lowered his shoulders, and half-clenched his fists, striking a pose: "Dragon Brother, please instruct."

  Li Xiaolong did not directly throw a punch, but instead tapped his feet in a cha-cha-like dance step, moving his feet back and forth, left and right, looking for an opportunity to strike Wang Wei.

  On the other side, Zou Wenhuai didn't know why Wang Wei had assumed a Tai Chi stance. Did he really think he could use Tai Chi to fight Li Xiaolong? Zou Wenhuai found it unbelievable. In his opinion, Tai Chi was an internal martial art for health preservation, and even if it did have attacking power, only middle-aged or older masters who had practiced for many years could unleash it. It was impossible for someone like Wang Wei, a young man in his early twenties. However, Zou Wenhuai had indeed misjudged him.

  Wang Wei just demonstrated the frame of Bagua Taiji Quan, not Taiji Quan. Although it looks similar because Bagua Taiji Quan combines the essence of Taiji Quan, Bagua Zhang and Xingyiquan. The movements of Bagua Taiji Quan are simple yet powerful, with each move being practical and effective. The direction of punches is unusual, never in a straight line, and each punch is connected to the next, forming a continuous flow. Even the initial movement can be used to injure an opponent.

  So Wang Wei chose Bagua Taiji Quan. It seems to have no defense, but in fact it is a manifestation of using weakness to overcome strength.

  Bruce Lee took a step forward and swayed twice in front of Wang Wei, discovering that although Wang Wei seemed to be standing casually, he was actually ready to punch at any moment. So Bruce Lee decided to launch a probing attack with one punch.

  "Ah...da..." Accompanied by Bruce Lee's unique strange cry, Bruce Lee suddenly threw a punch. Feeling the wind of Bruce Lee's fist, several months of Li Yuanzhi's training with Wang Wei took effect, and Wang Wei subconsciously turned around, his right hand forming a flower ring to block, and Bruce Lee's probing attack was actually blocked by Wang Wei.

  But before Wang Wei could catch his breath, Bruce Lee's other fist came again. This time, Wang Wei, who had no actual combat experience, was hit with a solid punch, but fortunately, the force of Bruce Lee's punch wasn't too heavy.

  Bruce Lee succeeded with one move, quickly retreated, and Wang Wei, who was hit by a big fist, quickly calmed down. He thought about the countermeasures quickly, Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do evolved from Wong Jack Man.

  While Wing Chun's punching is on the middle path. Although the middle path punch is much faster, its power is obviously much smaller than that of the hook punch. To make up for this shortcoming, Wing Chun's special feature of force emission is quite special. When the fist is one to three inches away from the opponent, it suddenly emits force and hits the opponent. This method of force emission is called "inch force".

  This kind of inch power can also make the puncher not use momentum to continuously hit the opponent until he is knocked down. Just like everyone saw Zhen Zidan's performance in Ip Man, knocking down the European boxer Little Whirlwind with a series of continuous punches was the ultimate expression of Wing Chun's inch power.

  Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do took this inch power to the extreme. So earlier, Bruce Lee just threw two punches and stopped, making Wang Wei feel very lucky in his heart, because for inch power, Wang Wei was also very familiar with it. The Baguazhang and Tai Chi that Wang Wei practiced required people to stick close to their opponents, exert force in a short period of time, and the way of exerting force and its effect were similar to Wing Chun's inch power. So Wang Wei understood that if Bruce Lee had continued to attack earlier, even if he wouldn't be knocked down, at least he wouldn't be as calm as he was now.

  Actually, Wong Jack Man knew that Bruce Lee's real killer was not his fist, but his leg. Compared to Bruce Lee's fist, his leg was the real deadly weapon.

  Wang Wei thought for a moment and found that the only way he could use now was to stick with Li Xiaolong, then rely on the strange movements of Tai Chi Bagua Fist and Yan Qing's agility to create opportunities for himself.

  Wang Wei's right fist, without any fancy moves, struck Li Xiaolong, while his right leg lifted and kicked out, completing an attack in an instant. Wang Wei's move was from the Bajiquan style, which has simple yet practical movements, and later generations of military boxing evolved from it.

  Bruce Lee saw Wang Wei punch and dodge, while his feet crossed back and forth with Wang Wei in a confrontation. Wang Wei saw that he had successfully closed in on Bruce Lee, and suddenly stretched out the knee that was about to collide, drawing an arc with his foot as he turned around and flashed to Bruce Lee's side. At the same time, his left fist struck out. This punch came too unexpectedly, and Bruce Lee's head had just dodged to the right, but due to a reflex, his head returned to the center, only to find that Wang Wei's left fist had already struck out, and Bruce Lee was solidly hit with a punch. Meanwhile, Wang Wei prepared to use his Iron Mountain Crash again to complete another strike.

  But Bruce Lee's right fist was already heading towards Wang Wei's shoulder. At the same time, Bruce Lee's leg kicked towards Wang Wei's left calf, but Wang Wei, who had been prepared in advance, leaned his shoulders back, exerted force from his waist, and pushed his abdomen forward, while his left leg swept outward.

  The two of them went back and forth, exchanging blows, and in a short while they had already exchanged over a dozen moves. However, Bruce Lee's punching speed was getting faster and faster, while Wang Wei was hit several times in a row, and his offense and defense began to make mistakes continuously.

  Lee Small Dragon seized an opportunity and kicked Wang Wei to the ground with a high side leg. The two men's confrontation also came to an end.

  However, at this time the two men's trial also came to an end. Bruce Lee reached out and pulled Wang Wei up, laughing: "Ah Wei, you're not bad, I didn't think you could take more than 20 of my moves. However, all of this is due to the unique punching position and strange body method of the boxing technique you learned, but it can still be seen from the boxing technique that your talent and potential are good."

  Wang Wei smiled wryly and thought to himself, "Brother Long is indeed not polite with his words." "Brother Long, thank you for showing mercy. Otherwise, I would have been disfigured today." Li Xiaolong's punches earlier were not too forceful, so Wang Wei's face only had a few minor bruises.

  Li Xiaolong patted Wang Wei's shoulder and asked: "Ah Wei, I think you seem to lack actual combat experience."

  Wang Wei nodded and said, "I've only sparred with my master before, not with anyone else." Li Xiaolong smiled after hearing Wang Wei's words and said, "No wonder, you don't have any actual combat experience but can still exchange twenty or so moves with me, that already shows your innate talent is very good."

  Wang Wei actually knew that Li Xiaolong had let him off during their last sparring session; otherwise, he would have been knocked out in just five moves at most.

  On one side, Zou Wenhuai saw that the two had stopped and walked over with a smile: "It's really too exciting, I feel like I'm watching a movie."

  When the three of them had chatted for a few sentences and were about to return to Zou Wenhuai's office, many employees from the company had already gathered outside the warehouse. These employees had all come because someone had recognized Li Xiaolong when he and Wang Wei entered the company, and the commotion caused by their martial arts match was too great, plus Li's unique "Ada" made the employees sneak away from work to watch a free martial arts show in the warehouse.

  Zou Wenhuai turned his head and saw that the door was crowded with employees. His face turned black, and he said, "Finish watching and hurry to work. Otherwise, this month's bonus will be deducted."

  Watching Zou Wenhuai's performance, Wang Wei thought to himself: "Zou Wenhuai must have known what the employees were watching outside just now, but pretended not to know. Now that he has seen it, he only mentioned it lightly." Thinking of this, Wang Wei couldn't help but nod in admiration for Zou Wenhuai's leadership skills and learned from him mentally at the same time.

  When Wang Wei, Li Xiaolong and Zou Wenhuai returned to Zou Wenhuai's office, He Jiachang was already sitting in Zou Wenhuai's office. Seeing the three enter, He Jiachang winked at Wang Wei and said: "Ah Wei, I really didn't expect it, you actually dare to team up with Xiaolong."

  In response to He Jia Chang's teasing, Wang Wei smiled wryly and said: "Look at this, I'm covered in injuries. And it was seen by so many employees of your company, how embarrassing."

  He Jia Chang listened to Wang Wei's words and shook his head repeatedly: "Ah Wei, don't say that. I saw your match just now, being able to exchange so many moves with Xiao Long has already proven your strength."

  He Jia Chang finished speaking with Wang Wei, and then turned to the others to discuss the main topic. He Jia Chang put away his smile and furrowed his brow, saying: "According to the script requirements, the filming location has been found in a small village in Thailand, and the director has also been decided. Wu Jia Xiang will be the director of this play." Upon hearing this, Wang Wei's mind went blank for a moment, and he thought to himself: "Isn't the director of this play Luo Wei? How did it become Wu Jia Xiang?" Thinking of this, Wang Wei began to search his memory for information about Tangshan Big Brother. Soon, Wang Wei found the answer in his memory, and it turned out that the original director of this play was indeed Wu Jia Xiang.

  Because this film was originally a low-cost production, the relatively unknown director Ng Ka-wai was used at the time. However, due to Ng's inexperience in directing action films, Lau Kar-leung was invited halfway through filming to salvage the situation. Unexpectedly, The Big Brawl ended up being a huge success, breaking box office records with over HK$3 million in ticket sales within three weeks.

  Lo Wei always thought of himself as the mentor who made Bruce Lee, but Lee did not appreciate it and even once attacked him with a knife. In fact, Lo Wei was just lucky to have had Lee, and when Lee directed and starred in "Way of the Dragon", he became even more successful. Without Lee, Lo's only other success was "Cold Face Tiger" which co-starred Wang Yu, while his other films that promoted new talent, such as "Little Hero" starring Hua Tsung-Hao or "New Fist of Fury" starring Tien Peng, were met with average response.

  Thinking of this, Wang Wei's mouth corners slightly curved upwards. It seems that someone is moving the pillow for him to sleep, and he should seize this opportunity. However, at least a deputy director is needed now.

  When Wang Wei was secretly thinking about his own ideas, He Jia Chang also threw out the most critical question. He Jia Chang sighed and said: "Because this play changes the previous action of fancy movements, reappears in real fighting scenes, is different from the current Kung Fu films, so investors are not willing to invest."

  "And the company's money has already been budgeted, all of it was invested in movies that were decided on last year." He said this and spread his hands out, letting out a bitter laugh before falling silent. As a producer, He Jia Chang had been extremely busy for the past two days, so at this moment he looked especially exhausted sitting there.

  After hearing He Jia Chang's words, Li Xiao Long and Zou Wen Huai both furrowed their brows. Unlike them, Wang Wei was secretly laughing on the side. Because Wang Wei knew that this movie would definitely be a bestseller.

  After a while, Zou Wenhuai said: "A Chang, what is the minimum budget for this play?" He Jiachang thought for a moment and said: "At least $100,000."

  "After hearing that, Zou Wenhuai said: 'How much money can the company allocate at most?' 'Except for normal expenses, the maximum amount of money that can be allocated is 200,000 Hong Kong dollars. (At the time, the exchange rate was around 1 USD = 6 HKD) That's just over 30,000 USD, which is still far from the budget.'"

  Li Xiaolong, on the other hand, frowned and said after hearing He Jiachang's words: "I can invest $30,000." Zou Wenhuai added with a frown after hearing Li Xiaolong's words: "But even so, it's still far from enough." After Zou Wenhuai finished speaking, the three fell into silence again.

  At this time, Wang Wei, who was ignored by the three of them, spoke up. "I'll pay for the remaining $40,000." The three people who were silent were shocked by Wang Wei's words.

  It wasn't until much later that He Guanchang reacted, staring at Wang Wei and saying: "Ah Wei, $40,000 is no small sum of money, don't joke around." Because He Guanchang had been busy with Tang Shandai's affairs for the past two days, he hadn't had much contact with Wang Wei, so in his opinion, if Wang Wei really had money, he wouldn't have come to sell a script.

  On the other hand, Zou Wenhuai somewhat believed Wang Wei's words, because from the moment he met Wang Wei until now, although it was only a short two or three days, Wang Wei had shown many qualities that made Zou Wenhuai involuntarily admire his calmness and confidence.

  Wang Wei smiled and said, "I'm not joking. I'll pay $40,000." He Guanchang on the side still had some doubts, smiling wryly and saying, "It's not that brother doesn't believe you, it's just that making a movie is no child's play."

  As for He Guanchang's cautiousness, Wang Wei neither confirmed nor denied it, furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before asking: "Brother He, have you ever heard of the pen name Meng Sheng?"

  "Who is Meng Sheng?" He Guangchang was stunned for a moment and didn't react, but Zou Wenhuai on the side reacted first: "It's that wuxia author who is ranked alongside Jin Yong, Gu Long, and Liang Yusheng by wuxia fans."

  Wang Wei nodded and said, "That person is me." Li Xiaolong didn't know about Meng Sheng's affairs, so he was a bit perplexed. However, He Guanchang and Zou Wenhuai understood this person. This person had recently stirred up a wave of fantasy mania among Hong Kong and Taiwanese martial arts fans. The media called him the leader of the Fantasy Mania faction. His works, such as "Twin Dragons of the Tang Dynasty", "Xian Xian", and "Search for the Gods", were all sold out as soon as they hit the market. His popularity was almost on par with that of Nalan Rongruo, known as the "Bagged Emperor".

  It turned out that this mysterious author was actually the young man sitting in front of him. The two were stunned for a moment. But they also believed in Wang Wei's ability to pay, because they believed that even if Wang Wei didn't have money now, he could run to the publishing house and use his future manuscripts as collateral for an advance payment, and the publishing house would probably agree.

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