Hong Kong Comic Master

February 8, 1976, the sky was sunny and the wind was gentle.

The jagged buildings in Yau Ma Tei are dilapidated, and the GG brand is used as it pleases. Wet clothes are still hanging out to dry on the poles, just above the heads of pedestrians on the road.

If this was placed in the 21st century, it would definitely be an illegal building, and the word "demolition" would be inevitable.

A young boy, about thirteen or fourteen years old, wearing a light blue sailboat-style student uniform, carrying a schoolbag and an aluminum lunch box in his hand, was walking in this dirty and narrow street, dodging drips on his clothes from time to time. The falling water looked like Mario was avoiding a turtle.

When he walked to a small gray-white building at the corner of the street, he stopped and looked up. There was a shabby plaque hanging on the door that read: "Yihe Printing Factory".

The boy's name is Li Wannian, the third son of the owner of this printing factory.

On one side of the open door, in an open space illuminated by the sun, there was a deck chair. An old man with a rough face was lying on it, with his hands on his sleeves, like an old cat basking in the sun.

"Uncle He?"

"..."

The old man seemed dead and motionless.

This Uncle He came to the factory about six months ago. He seemed to do nothing on weekdays, but the boss kept spending money to support him, even when faced with Li Wannian, the boss's son, he ignored him.

"Uncle He, where are you basking in the sun?"

"..."

"Is my dad here?"

"..."

"Look, there's a flying saucer!"

"..."

No matter what Li Wannian asked, the old man turned a deaf ear.

"Come on, you win, I'm in, how about you go on to sleep?"

"Good!"

The old man couldn't hold it back for a moment, and immediately opened his eyes, his face becoming ugly.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Li Wannian laughed and walked straight into the factory.

As soon as he took a step, Li Wannian seemed to remember something, turned around and shouted to Uncle He again: "Remember to turn over!"

"roll!"

"Hahaha……"

Li Wannian's laughter came from the factory again.

This printing house is said to be a factory, but in fact it is just a two-story dilapidated building. On the first floor are two new printing machines that are incompatible with the surrounding environment.

At this time, the machine no longer roared like it used to, and the silence was terrifying. There was only one worker sitting on the bench, dozing off with his back against the machine.

Li Wannian walked straight up to the second floor without pausing his eyes, as if such scenes had become commonplace.

In the corner of the second floor, there was a desk. Behind the desk, a man with a troubled face sat, reading a newspaper intently.

Although time has left scratches on his face, it can be seen between his eyebrows that when he was young, he was also a handsome boy from far away.

"Dad, your lunch!"

"New Year's Eve is here? What delicious food did your grandma cook today?"

This old handsome guy's name is Li Chongjun, and he is Li Wannian's father, the owner of this printing factory.

When answering Li Wannian, he folded the newspaper in his hand and placed it on the side of the table, pressing it with a ledger. Then he quickly took the lunch box from Li Wannian's hand and opened it eagerly.

"Wow, Che Tsai Noodles! My favorite Italian food!"

Li Wannian watched Li Chongjun's performance throughout without saying anything. He only glanced at the newspaper underneath the account book and quickly looked away.

While Li Chongjun was eating, Li Wannian stood behind the handrail on the second floor and looked around.

"I received a letter from my eldest brother yesterday. He plans to return to Hong Kong Island after graduation this summer!"

"It's good to come back, just in time to get married!"

"Just now, Aunt Six was suing the second brother again, saying that he beat her son!"

"Can I take care of that handsome boy?"

"Ximei has a boy chasing her at school recently!"

"I've rebelled against him. I'm a young man here. If he pesters Xiaoyue again, you'll break his legs!"

Li Chongjun suddenly became angry and showed the domineering attitude that an old father should have.

"Our factory should be able to sell for 100,000 yuan, right?"

"No way, if you can sell it for 50,000 yuan..."

Li Chongjun, who was enjoying his meal, stopped the chopsticks in his hand and looked up to see Li Wannian's successful smile.

"How do you know..."

"You have been reading the house for sale page in the newspaper. You don't want to buy a house, right?" Li Wannian sat down on the chair opposite Li Chongjun.

"Dad, tell me honestly, how long can the factory last?"

"Hey, don't think too much. No matter what happens, there will still be no problem if it lasts for half a year!"

Li Chongjun was stunned for a moment, and then started eating noodles again.

Li Wannian didn't speak, and just kept staring at his father.

"Okay, okay, I can only hold on for three months. Don't tell anyone! It's not good for employees to hear!"

Li Wannian remained silent and continued to stare at Li Chongjun.

Being stared at by Li Wannian, Li Chongjun angrily thrust his chopsticks into his face.

"One month! You can only hold on for one month. Don't tell your mother this! I've never told anyone!"

"Dad! I'm your son, but you still haven't told the truth in front of me. If you hadn't secretly sold my mother's jewelry, I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to survive for ten days, right?"

"You...your mother already knows?"

Li Chongjun's expression changed drastically.

At this time, Li Chongjun was really panicked, and the sweat on his face was dripping down, as if he had just been fished out of the water.

"Don't worry, I saw it secretly the night before yesterday, and my mother didn't know!"

"That's good, that's good! Don't let your mother know!" Li Wannian gave Li Chongjun a reassurance, and Li Chongjun breathed a sigh of relief. Then he remembered that his son had exposed the lie, and he couldn't help but said angrily: " If it weren’t for the British Hong Kong government’s nonsense, how could my place be like this?”

The nonsense Li Chongjun mentioned refers to the "Undesirable Publications Law" officially passed by the British Hong Kong government in October last year.

Since the 1970s, Hong Kong's economy has entered a stage of rapid development, which has also led to the prosperity of Hong Kong's comic industry.

For a time, comics such as "Little Rascals" and "Bruce Lee" became very popular, and at the same time, more violent, censorious and other low-quality comics followed.

The torrent is coming, and the sand is all over the place. Although this kind of barbaric growth has allowed the entire industry to flourish, it has also brought about various problems, and these problems have even in turn affected comics such as "Little Rascals", the representative work of Hong Kong comics.

As the current flagship work of Hong Kong comics, in order to attract attention, it has also begun to follow the trend, becoming more and more heavy-handed, and more and more bloody and violent.

At the same time, as the security environment on Hong Kong Island became worse and worse, the government eventually passed this bill, and the police sent officers to book and newsstands to clamp down on and arrest people, with an momentum that seemed to drive away all comics.

For a time, Hong Kong's comics industry was facing catastrophe, which naturally affected Li Chongjun's printing house.

Because this printing house is in the business of printing bad comics.

Of course, it's not the kind of cartoon that you imagine is not suitable for children, but the kind... that kind of... it's not the kind you imagined anyway!

Regarding this point, take a peek... Li Wannian, who has been authenticated, can guarantee it!

(Li Wannian: I’m not, I didn’t, don’t talk nonsense!)

Seeing his father's appearance, Li Wannian stopped scaring him. As he spoke, he took out a stack of paper from the schoolbag he was carrying and placed it on the table.

"This is?" Li Chongjun looked at the stack of papers and didn't understand what Li Wannian wanted to do.

"Dad, isn't the reason why the printing factory is shut down because there are no comics to print? There is a comic here. You can print it and sell it. You will definitely make money!"

Li Wannian was very confident when he said these words.

"Nian Zai, stop making trouble. It's not like a person can just draw a few strokes and sell them for money! You have no idea how deep the comics industry is. There are no more than ten writers in Hong Kong who are truly capable of drawing blockbuster comics. indivual!"

At this time, Li Chongjun finally understood what Li Wannian wanted to do, which was both funny and touching.

Although Li Wannian couldn't help him, it was finally good that he had such a heart. He was much better than his second brother who was always trying to help him!

"Dad, don't look down on me first, ask someone knowledgeable to read it first before you speak!"

"Are you quite confident?" Seeing Li Wannian's unwillingness to admit defeat, Li Chongjun was a little amused, but he didn't want to hurt his son, "Okay, Lao He! Lao He?"

"What's going on?" Old He's voice came from the door.

"There is a comic, come and take a look!"

"Oh? Are you alive?"

Lao He, who had been pretending to be dead just now, suddenly became energetic. He got up from the recliner with a straight body, and then ran all the way up to the second floor.

My legs don’t hurt anymore, I’m not out of breath anymore, and I don’t look as lazy as I did just now.

"Just him?" Looking at the sloppy Lao He, Li Wannian couldn't believe it this time.

"Don't underestimate Lao He. He used to be the editor of "Good News". He was the one who made the final decision for the book "Urban Beauty" that he bought very well before. He is very discerning!"

After listening to Li Chongjun's introduction, Li Wannian suddenly realized and put away his disdain.

Don’t mention it, that comic does have merit, no wonder it’s selling so well!

"Just this comic?" Lao He ignored the conversation between Li Wannian and Li Chongjun and went straight to the table and picked up the comic.

"Yes! Take a look!"

""The God of Death"? Well, this name is just so-so..."