"Eric, in Fellin Dell, didn't we agree to meet and chat? Why did you leave?" Liu Xiaoli's complaint came over the phone.
Eric walked out of the airport lobby while on the phone, and Chen Xing immediately opened the car door when he saw him.
Leaning back in the leather seat with his legs crossed, Eric chuckled, "Too busy. I also had an urgent matter to attend to in New York this time, a temporary official business."
"If time allowed, I definitely wouldn't want to leave, but there's a lot of work waiting in Los Angeles. Don't forget tomorrow is Monday."
At home in New York, Liu Xiaoli stood on the balcony talking on the phone. Hearing Eric's excuse, she immediately rolled her eyes.
What the hell kind of urgent official business! Is urgent official business playing that kind of game with a woman in a high-end restaurant?
The thought of that glamorous Caucasian woman crawling out from under the table and licking her fingers made Liu Xiaoli feel a wave of nausea, followed by a burning sensation in her ears.
That night in China, she had thought herself very bold to come to his door alone in the middle of the night, but now she realized it was nothing.
This young man played too wild; there was nothing he hadn't seen.
Looking at her daughter, who was chatting with her sister in the living room, she couldn't help but strengthen her resolve. It was not easy to meet Eric Cooper; she couldn't let him easily shake off her and her daughter.
That night, she had unlocked every position for him, only to receive a few verbal promises. This made Liu Xiaoli, who considered herself shrewd, feel like she had been played.
She said gently, "It's okay, I know you're very busy. How about this, Feifei and I will go to Los Angeles to find you. We have nothing to do anyway, so we'll treat it as a trip to sightsee."
"You're still coming over!" Eric's tone was a bit displeased.
"What? Is it inconvenient?"
"I'm quite busy with work, and I might not be able to look after you."
"Hehe, I know you're a busy man. We won't bother you. If we have time, we'll meet. If not, we'll just treat it as a relaxing trip. We won't make things difficult for you, anyway."
"Then suit yourself. Don't blame me if we can't meet!"
Hanging up the phone, Liu Xiaoli sighed, her gaze directed southwest, towards Los Angeles.
She touched her face. Although her youth was gone, she was well-preserved and still full of charm.
However, she had already given everything to him last time. This time, to attract Eric Cooper's interest, she had to pull out her trump card.
Returning to the living room, she looked at her daughter, who was giggling with her cousin, and felt a strange mix of emotions.
"Alas! Daughter, for your future, your mother has sacrificed this face, and even this body."
On the sofa, Zhou Wenqiong was looking through old photo albums with Liu Yifei, filled with pictures from her younger days.
Liu Yifei looked at one of them with some surprise: "Cousin, in your era, you actually wore a bikini?"
Zhou Wenqiong looked closely: "This one seems to have been taken during a trip abroad. I don't remember the specifics. Back then, I wouldn't dare wear it in China, only when I went outside."
Liu Yifei giggled, pointing at Zhou Wenqiong's leg, and said, "Cousin, you have such a good figure. It's strange, I'm the ugliest in our family. It's really annoying."
Liu Xiaoli also came over: "Your cousin used to be the factory beauty of Zhuhai Film Studio, one of the Twelve Beauties of Zhuying. Of course, she's beautiful. If she hadn't gone abroad later, she would definitely be a top-tier actress in China now."
"Definitely. Cousin, you're so beautiful. I remember you used to be a calendar girl, right?" Liu Yifei also chimed in.
Zhou Wenqiong nodded: "I did shoot calendars when I was young, back in the 1980s. At that time, many beautiful and popular actresses would choose this path to increase their national recognition, like Gong Li."
"But it's not possible now. I'm older, and my skin is wrinkled, just like a calendar, it will also be eliminated with time."
Liu Yifei hugged Zhou Wenqiong's slender waist: "What are you talking about, Cousin? Look at your figure, you're even slimmer than me. You're just like my mom; if you dress up and put on makeup, you're more beautiful than many stars."
Zhou Wenqiong poked Liu Yifei's forehead with a finger: "You're the one who knows how to talk. Huh? Feifei, what happened to your wrist? It's all bruised."
"From practicing martial arts, it's nothing. It'll go away in a few days."
Zhou Wenqiong glared at Liu Xiaoli: "Sister, can't you pay more attention? You hurt yourself practicing dance. I think it's better for Feifei to practice yoga with me."
"Cousin, it's not dance, it's martial arts," Liu Yifei giggled.
"Practicing martial arts? What do you want to do with that? Do you want to be an action star?"
Liu Yifei nodded: "Someone told me that if I want to develop in Hollywood in the future, kung fu is the only stepping stone. They only lack Chinese actresses who can fight here; others can't establish themselves."
"Who said that? Chen Jinfei? Doesn't he have the ability? Isn't he able to contact Sony Columbia? Do you still need to learn martial arts from scratch? You're not a child prodigy; learning kung fu is so tiring."
"Not Godfather, it's another person. Cousin, you should know him, Eric Cooper, the Vice President of MGM Studios."
Hearing Eric's name, Zhou Wenqiong was visibly stunned. Although she no longer participated in movies and TV shows herself, she still worked in related fields after coming to America. She was now a middle manager at the Hasendorf Theater on Broadway.
However, despite working at the theater for nearly seven years, her Chinese identity had always been an obstacle, preventing her from rising to senior management.
The salary and benefits were decent, but she didn't have much power.
Looking at Liu Xiaoli with some surprise, Zhou Wenqiong inwardly sighed that her sister was truly capable. How did she manage to get on this ship, and an international giant ship at that?
"How do you know Eric Cooper? He's a new powerhouse in Hollywood. Rumor has it that although his father, Harry Cooper, is the helmsman of MGM, he is actually the one who truly controls MGM's production power."
Liu Yifei recounted the events in China, and Zhou Wenqiong immediately understood.
Although Broadway is not Hollywood and not as chaotic as Hollywood, it certainly isn't clean either.
Her sister had no background in America. Why would someone treat Feifei differently?
Just because of a pretty face? Were there few beautiful women around him? There must have been a price to pay.
The price was self-evident.
"Feifei, in a couple of days, we'll go to Los Angeles to see the true face of Hollywood."
Liu Yifei obediently hummed in agreement.
Hesitating for a moment, Zhou Wenqiong spoke: "Sister, if it's convenient, could you introduce me?"
Liu Xiaoli hadn't spoken yet, but Liu Yifei, who didn't understand the situation, readily agreed: "Cousin, then you can come with us."
Zhou Wenqiong looked at Liu Xiaoli, knowing that a child couldn't make the decision.
"Wenqiong, what do you want to do? Is there something?" Liu Xiaoli asked with suspicion.
"Nothing specific, but Hollywood and Broadway have always been inseparable. Good Broadway plays are adapted for the big screen, and excellent Hollywood films are adapted into stage plays. If I can get to know a big shot like Eric Cooper, it might be very useful."
"Will it help your career?"
"I don't know, but whether it does or not, it's certainly not a bad thing."
Liu Xiaoli nodded: "Then let's go together, but Eric might not have time to see us. In short, he's a very busy man."
Los Angeles, the car drove all the way to Gadot's apartment. Today, it was time to spend time with this girl.
Eric increasingly sighed that he was indeed a busy man. What if he had more women in the future?
Never mind if his body could handle it, even his time wouldn't allow it.
If one day he surpassed Duke Wei, he could only be drawn and quartered.
There was a solution, though: sleeping together. Just have them all at once, saving him from running around. But the difficulty of achieving it was a bit high, ridiculously high.
Only with the Olsen Sisters was the situation special. If he dared to make such a request to others, he would surely get a beating.
Not wanting to see Liu Xiaoli was about avoiding trouble, but there were also similar reasons. If they did meet, it would most likely lead to another catastrophe.
"Boss, the houses you asked me to find, I already have targets. I picked 3 suitable ones. Do you want to take a look?"
"No need, you pick. This is my private card."
Eric said indifferently. After all, he wasn't going to live in the house, so what was there to see?
However, after thinking about it, he felt it was troublesome and simply said, "Don't pick, just buy all three."
Chen Xing took the card, and he and Peter were secretly astonished. It seemed their boss was playing quite a bit behind the scenes.
One wasn't enough to hide a mistress; he actually needed three. Perhaps he would need ten or eight in the future.
Arriving at the destination, he dismissed the two and knocked on the door.
His response was naturally Gadot's passionate kiss. A week apart due to filming, Gadot, who had just completed her evolution from girl to woman, had long been missing Eric.
The two completely disregarded Judy and Refaeli, who were watching TV in the living room, and began to kiss passionately as if no one else was there.
Refaeli frowned: "Please, can you be a bit more mindful? This behavior is indecent."
Gadot wrapped her arms around Eric's neck and whispered, "Hold me, to my room."
A girl's invitation, he couldn't refuse.
He didn't know if it was because of the disgusting drink Sergei gave him, but he felt his energy had recovered quite a bit.
He scooped Gadot up in his arms and walked towards the bedroom.
"Wait, Eric, the walking dead has already aired its sixth episode. Why hasn't Refaeli appeared yet?" Judy asked.
"I'm not the one who edited the film. It should be in the next episode. Darabont seemed to have mentioned it."
Bang!
The door closed, and after a fierce battle, the two lay together and fell asleep.
When Eric opened his eyes, a brand new set of clothes was placed next to him. As discussed last time, Gadot had indeed bought several sets for him as spares.
A warmth flowed through his heart. The size fit perfectly after he put them on. She was truly a thoughtful woman.
Peter was already waiting downstairs in the car: "Boss, to the set?"
"No, back to the company."
Recently, these women had drained him, making him progressively thinner.
He must stop this decadent trend. A good man must build his career!
On the way, he called Andrea and told her to take over the crew for now, as he wouldn't be going there temporarily.
Currently, the Olsen Sisters were in their element. While their acting might still be lacking in other types of films, for this one, it was absolutely divine.
Moreover, half of the emotionally demanding scenes, which required strong acting, were already completed. Letting Andrea lead the daily scenes was fine; her meticulousness and ability to capture emotions were sufficient.
The remaining explosive scenes could wait until he had time to personally take charge.
Today, he had two relatively important tasks: meeting with the people from Silicon Valley, and the purge was premiering today.
MGM Building, inside the conference room, a group of unusual people were seated. Some of them wore suits and ties, but most were in casual clothes, which seemed a bit out of place in the film industry.
Many employees wondered what this group of people was doing here, and then word spread that they were technical personnel from Silicon Valley.
Hearing they were involved in technical research, whatever they wore was no longer strange.
Opening the door, Eric walked in, shaking hands with the three leaders with a beaming smile.
"Heisenberg, Howard, Robert, my friends, welcome, welcome!"
These three were Eric's team leaders. Fitz Heisenberg was responsible for Facebook's development.
Howard Hughes, yes, the same name as the famous aviator, was responsible for YouTube's development.
Robert Millen was responsible for the development of MGM's streaming platform, which Eric temporarily named Lionheart Network.
As leaders, each of them led a team of over 30 people, most of whom were technical developers.
For a startup team, this number was absolutely abundant.
To put it in perspective, it was like equipping Li Yunlong with over-standard American equipment. Forget Ping'an County, they could even charge into Tokyo.
In addition to ensuring ample manpower, the salaries and working conditions were also excellent.
Eric paid them an average of 30% above market rate, with bonuses calculated separately.
And he rented three spacious floors of office space in Silicon Valley, with each of the three teams occupying one floor, all equipped with the most advanced hardware on the market.
To make this happen, he had directly invested ten million dollars, and in just a few months, nearly three million had already been burned through.
Eric's only requirement was speed, to get what he wanted out as quickly as possible and into the market rapidly.
He wasn't sure when Netflix and YouTube entered the market, but he was very clear about Facebook: early 2004.
Because David Fincher once directed a movie called The Social Network, which received eight Oscar nominations, and the movie was based on Zuckerberg and Facebook.
Eric had watched the movie many times. The plot certainly had fictional elements, including those melodramatic romantic scenes, but the business aspects could be used as a reference.
And Zuckerberg initially just messed around in his Harvard dorm, a small project among a few young people, with the first round of angel investment being only $500,000.
One can imagine how weak Facebook's early startup phase was.
So, what Eric had to do was to crush Zuckerberg directly with time and capital, letting his grand vision die in its infancy.
Besides Facebook, there was also myspace, known as the progenitor of social networks, which had not yet launched.
Eric wasn't worried about it. Back then, you couldn't even beat a rising star, let alone today. If it dared to come out, he would crush it!