America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 698 Triggering an Alert

After finishing her a cappella rendition of "Scarborough Fair," Saoirse Ronan stopped, tilted her head to look at Martin, and asked, "How was my singing?"

Martin encouraged him, saying, "You sang very well."

Saoirse looked around. There were people in the lobby, and it seemed like there were security cameras. It wouldn't be appropriate to perform things like the splits.

Just as she was about to ask where Martin's office was, Bruce walked up from behind.

Martin waved his hand at Saoirse and asked, "Something happened?"

Bruce nodded, glanced at Saoirse, and, thinking she might be one of the people involved, said, "Someone was following you two and taking pictures of you secretly."

Saoirse was taken aback. She took out her camera and secretly took pictures, something she often did. How did it become someone else secretly taking pictures of her?

Martin asked, "Who is it?"

"It's not clear yet," Bruce said briefly. "There are a lot of people at the studio, and cell phones are powerful these days. It's also possible that they are supporters of you or Saoirse. I had my bodyguards follow them quietly; they're more professional at this than handling guns."

Martin remained calm: "Let's wait a bit."

Saoirse, however, was deep in thought. After a moment, she said, "Teacher, I think it's Emma Watson. No one in this studio's crew would be so arrogant as to do that."

The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became: "You probably don't know, but Emma Watson has been completely spoiled by the entire Harry Potter crew..."

Martin pointed at her: "Just wait and see."

Saoirse pulled out a chair and sat down opposite Martin.

Not long after, Bruce's phone vibrated. He went to answer it, chatted for a few minutes, and then received another message, which he forwarded to Martin.

Martin opened the message and saw a photo inside—a front-facing picture of a woman in her twenties.

Bruce returned and said in a low voice, "This person followed us from the restaurant entrance all the way to the studio, and then went to the soundstage where the Noah's Ark crew was located."

Saoirse was about to speak again when Martin glanced at her, and she quickly shut her mouth.

Bruce continued, "She waited near the studio for a while, then met up with Emma Watson, and together they went into the studio."

Martin said, "Find out what her relationship is with Emma Watson."

Bruce went to make a phone call.

Saoirse asked, "Teacher, may I take a look?"

Martin opened the photo in the message and showed it to her.

Saoirse recognized her: "This is Emma Watson's handbag carrier. I'm not sure of her name, but I've carefully inquired about the people around Emma Watson, so I can't be mistaken."

Speaking of Emma Watson, she was furious: "She must be targeting me!"

Bruce found out about the Disney studio crew easily and returned quickly, saying, "This person is called Alana, one of Emma Watson's people."

Martin nodded and said, "Emma Watson is extremely hostile to Saoirse. For her assistant to come and take photos secretly, there's definitely something fishy going on. What are they trying to do?"

This is Hollywood, and obviously, Bruce asks Saoirse, "You're not even 18 yet, are you?"

"17 years old." Saoirse was quick-witted; upon hearing the question, she immediately guessed Martin and Bruce's thoughts: "Emma Watson wants to exploit my underage status to cause trouble? Call the police?"

Martin shook his head: "That's too much trouble. The simplest way is to release the footage. Spreading rumors only takes a mouth, but debunking them takes a lot of running around."

Bruce said, "No matter how much you try to refute this, it will leave behind a very bad rumor."

Martin thought for a moment and said, "Just in case, let's get the work done first."

Saoirse then said, "I can explain."

"Don't worry, if there's anything I can do to help you." Martin looked towards the reception desk and raised his voice, "I just saw your recording..."

The receptionist hurriedly stood up and said, "I'm sorry, we didn't mean anything by it, we just wanted to keep it as a souvenir."

They all have signed relevant agreements, and it would be very troublesome to hand these over to the media.

Martin asked, "Do you use Twitter?"

The girl quickly replied, "I have a Twitter account."

Martin said, "Tweet the video from earlier, Saoirse, you retweet it, and Brooks, you retweet Saoirse's too... um, tell my friends to retweet it whenever they feel like it, and Jody, you can post it on TMZ."

Bruce glanced at the security camera in the living room: "Could you send me the security video as well?"

Saoirse listened intently, learning carefully, and asked, "Should we release it first, leaving them with nothing to release?"

Martin replied, "More or less."

The receptionist posted a tweet, which Saoirse immediately retweeted. Martin then retweeted Saoirse's tweet, and the two of them contacted their respective friends to retweet it as well.

Bruce went to the monitoring room to retrieve the surveillance footage, planning to contact Jody later.

When Martin retweeted Saoirse's singing video, he also added a tweet.

"When casting for the new film, we found a girl who is incredibly talented and hardworking."

The tweet quickly garnered many likes, and after Martin contacted several people, including Menez, Leonardo, and Nicholson, they shared the post and video.

…………

In Emma Watson's private dressing room on the set of "Noah's Ark".

Alana connected her phone to the computer and opened the photos and videos she had just taken, showing them to Emma Watson one by one.

Emma Watson is smart and self-centered. Pointing at the screen, she said, "This one, and this one, yes, pick these ones that look a bit ambiguous, specifically choose them."

She continued watching the video: "This part was specially edited out."

Alana did as instructed, selecting the photos, editing the video, and copying it to a USB drive. She then asked, "What's next?"

Emma Watson took the mouse, opened TMZ's website, and said, "Contact TMZ, sell the photos and videos to TMZ, and given TMZ's style, they'll definitely publish them."

TMZ's website has a news hotline number for that topic.

Alana wrote it down on her phone and made the call.

After the call connected, they chatted briefly before she said, "TMZ has scheduled a meeting with me."

Emma Watson nodded: "Go ahead."

Alana left the lounge and the Disney studio, and met a male editor from TMZ at an open-air café on South Bogda Street.

After a quick review of the pictures and videos, both parties reached an agreement on the transaction.

The male editor rushed back to the office and, together with his colleagues in the editorial department, wrote a news article, which was then uploaded to the TMZ website.

However, something is strange. The review process was slow today, and the news has yet to pass internal review.

In TMZ's deputy editor-in-chief's office, Jodi, who was in charge of daily news operations, was working diligently when a notification popped up in the website's backend, indicating that a recently uploaded news article had triggered the warning keywords she had set.

Jody temporarily put aside her work, clicked on the notification, and found that it was a news article about Martin.

She looked at the pictures and then watched the video, and Bruce's face suddenly flashed into her mind.

That bastard Brooks definitely doesn't want to see Martin's scandal exposed!

The pictures and videos all featured Martin and a young actress. Jody recognized the actress; she seemed to be Saoirse Ronan, either from England or Ireland.

Because of the camera angle, Martin and Saoirse Ronan looked somewhat intimate, and they even went into a certain place together.

The accompanying text news specifically mentioned that Saoirse Ronan was under eighteen years old.

Jody immediately understood that someone was trying to sabotage Martin. The photos and videos, due to the deliberately chosen shooting angles, were likely to cause misunderstandings and misinterpretations.

She temporarily blocked this news.

Jody picked up her phone and dialed Bruce's number: "Bruce, I have some news about Martin. It's a scandal, and you don't want it to be exposed, do you?"

Bruce, on the other side, reacted quickly, ignoring Jody's ramblings, and asked, "Martin and Saoirse Ronan?"

Jody chuckled slyly, "That's right, Old Brooks, come over early tonight, or else... hehe, you know the consequences."

Bruce cautioned, "Stop being so frivolous, hurry up and check Martin's Twitter, there's something about it there."

Jody picked up another phone, opened Twitter, and saw that Martin had updated, so she immediately clicked to read it.

It was a video of Saoirse Ronan singing to Martin, and the time displayed on the video was shortly after what she had just watched.

"Is someone trying to sabotage Martin or Saoirse Ronan?" Jody said.

Bruce asked on the phone, "Have you received any news about Martin and Saoirse?"

"There was a news report that was about to be released, but I stopped it..." Jody briefly explained what had just happened.

Bruce said, "I have some more stuff here, I'll send it to you in a bit. You're a professional, you'll definitely have a way to get these reports out smoothly."

Jody thought for a moment and came up with a solution, but she didn't say it aloud: "I'm feeling groggy and not very clear-headed right now, so I can't think of a solution."

"You..." Bruce understood that this was another attempt to make him make a sacrifice!

He cursed the unspoken rules under his breath and said, "Okay, I'll come to see you tonight. You wait for me at home."

Jody chuckled: "Hey, I've got an idea, Old Brooks. See you tonight, I'll get the news sorted out for you first."

After putting down her phone, she called the editor who published the news and asked them to look at Martin's tweets and the new video Bruce had sent, and to combine these with the previous pictures and videos before publishing them.

These videos and images were all combined into a single news item, and the news headline was also changed.

"Martin Davis is reportedly planning a new project and is considering Irish actress Saoirse Ronan. According to insiders, the new film is likely to be a musical..."

The title perfectly matches the video of Saoirse Ronan performing "Scarborough Fair".

The news did not attract much attention after it was released, and even those who did pay attention focused on Martin's so-called new work.

At the Disney studio, Martin and his team returned to the soundstage.

Bruce has already told Martin and Saoirse about the situation at TMZ.

Saoirse said, "Teacher, I won't let that bitch get away with this!"

Martin said to Bruce, "Have someone keep an eye on Emma Watson, but don't disturb her." He then looked at Saoirse: "You too."

Saoirse replied, "I'll listen to my teacher."

(End of this chapter)