Chapter 00222: Orphan's Grudge
# Orphan's Grudge
Chapter 222
Novel: 1979 Golden Age
Chapter 222: Orphan's Grudge
October 10th was the National Day of the Kuomintang, also known as Double Ten Day, established to commemorate the Xinhai Revolution.
On Double Ten Day in 1956, under the secret planning of organizations in Taiwan, right-wing factions in Hong Kong gathered thousands to launch the "Kowloon Riots," attacking leftist associations, schools, shops, and factories, resulting in sixty deaths and over four hundred injuries.
Leftist film studios were not spared either, suffering heavy losses.
At the time, the British colonial government in Hong Kong passed legislation requiring factories to relocate from urban areas, forcing them to seek new sites.
With limited funds, the leftists chose a remote and cheap plot of land near Clearwater Bay to build a new studio.
Around the same time, Run Run Shaw also bought land in Clearwater Bay and established Shaw Brothers Studio.
Thus, the two studios became neighbors.
Some might criticize the leftists for being radical or engaging in armed struggle, but they were facing triple oppression from the British colonial government, capitalists, and right-wing factions.
Isolated and with limited support from the mainland, in those days, if they didn’t fight, they would die.
Clearwater Bay was a peninsula in the southeastern corner of Hong Kong, developed relatively late.
Run Run Shaw first built his studio here, then later moved TVB’s headquarters here as well, turning it into the heart of Hong Kong’s television industry for a time.
"Beep beep!"
Early the next morning, a tall car drove from the city into Clearwater Bay, passing Shaw Brothers Studio first.
Chen Qi looked out and saw gray and white buildings nestled among the greenery, with one particularly tall structure standing out—likely the administrative building.
"How many soundstages do they have?"
"Sixteen."
"And us?"
"Eight."
"Not bad at all. We’ve got dubbing rooms, editing rooms, screening rooms, and developing labs—small but fully equipped."
"Of course. We’ve never been afraid, always fighting against all kinds of enemies," Fu Qi said with a laugh.
The car drove a little further and entered a smaller studio—their own territory.
The layout was similar, with a main administrative building where the offices of Great Wall, Phoenix, and Sun Luen were located.
The eight soundstages were arranged in two rows, with only three currently in use.
Zhang Xinyan was the first to greet them.
"Ah! Director Zhang, seeing you feels like meeting an old friend in a foreign land!"
"Cut the nonsense. You’ve made such a big splash that you’ve overshadowed my Shaolin Temple."
"Shaolin Temple hasn’t even been released yet. Maybe it’ll be even bigger than The Tai-Chi Master?"
Zhang Xinyan was working on post-production for Shaolin Temple here and had come out to say hello.
After a brief chat, he returned to work.
Next, Fu Qi took Chen Qi to another soundstage.
As soon as they entered, the pungent smell of artificial blood hit them.
The set was designed like a torture chamber, filled with gruesome instruments, severed limbs scattered on the ground, and a bowl containing several lifeless eyeballs.
A bald, bearded director was filming a scene where Liu Xuehua, covered in blood, screamed in terror at the camera.
"That’s Director Mou Tun-fei. We’ve hired him again for Wrong Turn 2 and The Descent 2. His contract expires next year, and he’s very willing to join us," Fu Qi whispered.
"Isn’t he a Shaw Brothers director? Will they let him go?"
"With the Hong Kong issue heating up and Sino-British negotiations in the air, that old fox Run Run Shaw won’t offend us over a single director."
Chen Qi watched for a while.
In her past life, Liu Xuehua had played too many tragic roles, leaving audiences only remembering her big eyes and crying scenes.
But with her looks, she was also a perfect fit for horror and thriller films.
It seemed her career path was about to change.
Chen Qi had noticed her but wasn’t particularly invested—this was an era overflowing with talent, and unless someone was S-tier, he couldn’t be bothered.
After touring around, the two entered the main administrative building.
Fu Qi had some business to attend to, so Chen Qi waited in his office, flipping through the day’s newspaper.
"Yesterday, five armed robbers raided the Hengchang Watch Store in Tsim Sha Tsui, making off with luxury watches worth millions. A shootout erupted in the streets, with police and criminals exchanging over 40 shots. A Pakistani auxiliary police officer was killed in the line of duty… The robbers managed to escape, casting serious doubts on the police force’s capabilities!"
This was the shootout Chen Qi had witnessed.
It had already caused a sensation across Hong Kong, dominating headlines with detailed analyses of every aspect.
Chen Qi knew the leader of the gang was Wu Jiandong, a mainlander who could be called Hong Kong’s first generation of ruthless criminals.
After this successful heist, he would pull off another in 1984—robbing an armored truck of 140 million yen.
With no way to launder the money, they simply abandoned it.
But during their escape, they were spotted, leading to a fierce gunfight where Wu Jiandong was captured.
That same year, Long Arm of the Law, a film based on him, was released, directed by Michael Mak…
"Uncle!"
After waiting a while, Chen Qi saw Fu Qi enter and handed him the newspaper.
Fu Qi skimmed it and said, "The Hong Kong police are in trouble. They’ll be torn apart for this. Those robbers were clearly trained, with some military discipline… But never mind that. Let’s talk business."
He sat down and said seriously, "We’ve reviewed the script you gave me and have launched a casting call for girls aged 10 to 13. Auditions start tomorrow, and it’d be great if you could join in."
"An assistant of Madame Anna Chennault contacted us. She’ll be coming to Hong Kong soon."
"She’s coming herself?"
"Of course not. Just her assistant. If they’re satisfied with our project, they’ll naturally recommend some American actors. If not, they’ll still do it out of respect for Liao Chengzhi, but future cooperation will be difficult."
"It should be fine. I wrote it targeting American tastes. Anna Chennault is shrewd—she’ll love the metaphors in this film."
"Metaphors? You practically spelled it out!" Fu Qi shook his head.
For North American distribution, Chen Qi prioritized budget, then genre.
Both studios were strapped for cash, so every dollar had to count.
He roughly categorized films into three tiers:
1. Legendary – Works that would leave a mark in cinematic history, becoming cultural symbols with lasting influence.
2. Annual Hits – Blockbusters that dominated their time, widely discussed and celebrated.
3. Generic Commercial Films – Assembly-line products, forgettable but profitable.
Right now, he didn’t have the resources for grand productions, so he had to focus on the latter two.
Horror and thriller films were the best fit, but traditional Eastern horror didn’t appeal to Western audiences.
They preferred Western-style horror with a dash of Eastern mysticism—something exotic to them.
Considering mainland sensitivities, Chen Qi avoided supernatural elements for now, opting for a horror-thriller without ghosts.
The story was called "Orphan’s Grudge."
It followed a couple who already had two children.
When their third died in the womb, the wife was left traumatized.
To cope, they decided to adopt.
At an orphanage, they took in a sweet, well-behaved nine-year-old girl.
But the wife soon noticed something off—the girl acted one way around her and another around her husband, displaying violent tendencies.
The husband refused to believe it, and under the girl’s manipulation, grew increasingly hostile toward his wife.
The wife began investigating and found the orphanage nun—only for the nun to turn up dead.
Then, her own children started getting hurt…
Finally, the truth was revealed: the "nine-year-old" was actually a 33-year-old woman suffering from a hormonal disorder—and she had already killed seven people.
In her last adoption, she had fallen in love with her foster father, and when rejected, slaughtered the entire family.
In the end, the husband and son were killed, but the wife and younger daughter survived—after killing the wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing "little girl."
(End of Chapter)