America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 122. A good man should focus on his career!

"Eric, we agreed to meet and talk in Flindersdale, didn't we? Why did you leave?" Liu Xiaoli's complaint came through the phone.

Eric walked out of the airport terminal while on the phone. When Chen Xing saw him come out, he immediately opened the car door.

Leaning back in his leather seat with his legs crossed, Eric chuckled and said, "I've been too busy. I had to go to New York to handle some urgent business."

"If time allowed, I definitely wouldn't want to leave, but there's a lot of work waiting for me in Los Angeles, and don't forget tomorrow is Monday."

At home in New York, Liu Xiaoli was on the balcony making a phone call when she heard Eric's explanation and immediately rolled her eyes.

What the hell is this "emergency business"?! An emergency business means you have to play those kinds of games with women in a fancy restaurant?

The thought of that beautiful white woman crawling out from under the table and licking her fingers made Liu Xiaoli feel nauseous, and after that, she felt her ears burning.

That night in China, Liu Xiaoli thought she was very bold to be able to show up at someone's door alone in the middle of the night, but now she realized that it was nothing at all.

This young man is too wild; he's seen all sorts of tricks before.

Looking at her daughter chatting with her sister in the living room, she became even more determined. She had finally met Eric Cooper, and she couldn't let him easily abandon her and her daughter.

That night, she had unlocked every possible position for him, but all she got in return were a few verbal promises, which made Liu Xiaoli, who considered herself shrewd, feel like she had been tricked.

She said gently, "It's okay, I know you're busy. How about this, Feifei and I will come to Los Angeles to visit you. We've got nothing else to do anyway, so we can treat it as a trip and see the sights."

"You guys are coming over again!" Eric said, sounding annoyed.

"What's wrong? Is it inconvenient?"

"I'm quite busy with work, so I might not be able to take care of you all."

"Hehe. I know you're a very busy person, so I won't bother you. We'll meet when we have time, and if we don't, we'll treat it as a trip to relax. Anyway, I won't make things difficult for you."

"Whatever you want, but don't blame me if we can't meet!"

After hanging up the phone, Liu Xiaoli sighed and looked southwest, where Los Angeles was located.

She touched her face; although her youth was gone, she was well-maintained and still full of charm.

However, since they already gave it all to him last time, they need to pull out their trump card this time if they want to attract Eric Cooper's interest.

Back in the living room, watching my daughter laughing and joking with my aunt, I felt a mix of emotions.

"Oh, my daughter, for your future, your mother has sacrificed her face, and even her body."

On the sofa, Zhou Wenqiong and Liu Yifei were looking through old photo albums, which contained pictures of them when they were young.

Liu Yifei looked at one of the photos with some surprise: "Auntie, people wore bikinis back in your day?"

Zhou Wenqiong looked at it carefully: "This photo seems to have been taken when I was traveling abroad. I don't remember exactly. I didn't dare to wear it in China back then, but I dared to take it out when I was abroad."

Liu Yifei pointed at Zhou Wenqiong's legs with a grin and said, "Auntie, you have such a great figure. It's strange, but I'm the ugliest in our family. How annoying."

Liu Xiaoli chimed in, "Your aunt used to be the most beautiful woman at the Zhuhai Film Studio, one of the 'Twelve Beauties of Zhuhai Film Studio.' Of course she was beautiful. If she hadn't gone abroad later, she would definitely be a top-tier actress in China now."

"Definitely, Auntie, you're so beautiful. I remember you used to be a calendar girl, right?" Liu Yifei chimed in.

Zhou Wenqiong nodded: "I did shoot calendars when I was young, back in the 1980s. At that time, many of the prettier and more popular female stars would choose this path to increase their national recognition, like Gong Li."

"But that won't work now. I'm getting older, and my skin is wrinkled. Just like a calendar, it will be phased out over time."

Liu Yifei wrapped her arms around Zhou Wenqiong's slender waist: "What are you saying, Auntie? Look at your figure, you're even slimmer than me. You're just like my mom. When you dress up and put on makeup, you're prettier than many celebrities."

Zhou Wenqiong poked Liu Yifei's forehead with her finger: "You're so good with words. Hey? Feifei, what happened to your wrist? It's all bruised."

"It's from practicing martial arts, nothing to worry about, it'll go away in a few days."

Zhou Wenqiong glared at Liu Xiaoli: "Sis, can't you be more careful? You're injuring yourself while practicing dance. I think Feifei should just practice yoga with me instead."

"Auntie, it's not dance, it's martial arts," Liu Yifei giggled.

"Practicing martial arts? What are you going 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. The only thing lacking here is Chinese actresses who can fight; others can't stand out."

"Who said that? Chen Jinfei? Isn't he capable? Isn't he able to contact Sony Columbia? Why would he need you to start learning martial arts from scratch? You're not a virgin; learning kung fu is too tiring."

"It's not my godfather, it's someone else. You should know him, Auntie, Eric Cooper, the vice president of MGM."

Upon hearing Eric's name, Zhou Wenqiong was visibly taken aback. Although she no longer acted in movies and TV series, she still worked in related fields after coming to the United States and is now a mid-level manager at the Hassend Theatre on Broadway.

However, despite having worked at the theater for nearly seven years, his Chinese heritage has always been an obstacle preventing him from reaching higher levels.

The salary and benefits are okay, but there's not much power involved.

Looking at Liu Xiaoli with some surprise, Zhou Wenqiong sighed inwardly at how amazing her older sister was. How did she manage to get on this ship, especially such a large international liner?

"How do you know Eric Cooper? He's a rising star in Hollywood. Rumor has it that although his father, Harry Cooper, is the helmsman of MGM, he's the one who truly controls the production power at MGM."

After Liu Yifei explained the situation in China, Zhou Wenqiong immediately understood.

While Broadway isn't Hollywood and isn't as chaotic, it's certainly not much cleaner either.

My sister doesn't have any connections in the US, so why should they treat Fei Fei differently?

Just because of his looks? Aren't there plenty of beautiful women around him? He's bound to pay a price.

The cost is self-evident.

"Feifei, let's go to Los Angeles in a couple of days and see what Hollywood is really like."

Liu Yifei obediently hummed in agreement.

After hesitating for a moment, Zhou Wenqiong said, "Sister, if it's convenient, could you introduce me?"

Before Liu Xiaoli could speak, Liu Yifei, unaware of the situation, readily agreed, "Auntie, then you can come with us."

Zhou Wenqiong looked at Liu Xiaoli, knowing that children couldn't make decisions on their own.

"Wenqiong, what do you want to do? Is there something you need?" Liu Xiaoli asked suspiciously.

"Nothing specific, but Hollywood and Broadway have always been inseparable. Great Broadway shows are adapted for the big screen, and excellent Hollywood movies are adapted into stage plays. Getting to know a big shot like Eric Cooper might be very useful."

"Will it help your career?"

"I don't know, but whether it happens or not, it's not a bad thing."

Liu Xiaoli nodded: "Then let's go together then, but Eric might not have time to see us. He's a very busy man."

In Los Angeles, the car drove to Gadot's apartment. It was time to spend time with this little girl today.

Eric sighed more and more, realizing how busy he was, and wishing there were a few more women coming his way.

Let alone whether my body can handle it, the timing is also unavoidable.

If one day he surpasses Lord Wei, the only way to defeat him is to tear him apart with five horses.

There is a solution, though: sleep together under the same blanket. You can all do it together, saving me from running around. But it's incredibly difficult to implement, ridiculously difficult.

It's just that the Olsen sisters' situation is special; if he dared to make this request to anyone else, he would definitely get a beating.

He didn't want to see Liu Xiaoli because he was too lazy to cause trouble, but there were also some similar reasons. If they really met, he would most likely be caught in another catastrophe.

"Boss, I've already identified the houses you asked me to find. I've picked out three that seem suitable. Would you like to take a look?"

"No need, you can choose whichever you like. This is my personal card."

Eric said nonchalantly, "Anyway, it's not like I'm living in the house, so what's there to see?"

But after thinking about it, he felt it was too much trouble, so he simply said, "Don't bother choosing, just buy all three buildings."

Chen Xing took the card and he and Peter were secretly surprised. It seemed that their boss was doing quite a lot behind the scenes.

One isn't enough to keep her in a golden house, so she wants three. In the future, she might want ten or eight.

Upon arriving at their destination and seeing the two off, Eric knocked on the door.

His response was naturally a passionate kiss from Gadot. Filming had kept them apart for a week, and Gadot, who had just completed her transformation from a girl to a woman, had long missed Eric.

Completely disregarding Judy and Lefari, who were watching TV in the living room, the two began to kiss passionately, oblivious to everyone else.

Lefari frowned. "Could you please be more mindful of your behavior? This is indecent."

Gadot wrapped her arms around Eric's neck and whispered, "Carry me, to my room."

I can't refuse a girl's invitation.

He didn't know if it was because of the disgusting drink Sergei gave him, but he felt that his energy had been restored.

He picked Gadot up and carried her to the bedroom.

"Wait, Eric, The Walking Dead is already on its sixth episode, why hasn't Lefari appeared yet?" Judy asked.

"It wasn't edited by me, so it should be the next episode. Darabont seems to have mentioned that."

boom!

The door closed, and after a fierce battle, the two lay down together and fell asleep.

When Eric opened his eyes, a brand new set of clothes was laid out beside him. As expected, Gadot had bought several sets for him as she had mentioned last time.

A warm feeling washed over me. The size fit perfectly when I put it on; she's such a thoughtful woman.

Peter was already waiting downstairs in his car: "Boss, going to the film set?"

"No, I'm going back to the company."

I've been drained of my body by these women lately, and I'm getting thinner and thinner every day.

This decadent trend must be stopped; a good man should pursue a career!

On the way, I called Andrea and told her to take over the crew first and that I wouldn't be going there for the time being.

The Olsen twins are now in great form. Their acting in other types of movies would probably be lackluster, but in this one they are absolutely phenomenal.

Moreover, half of the emotional scenes that require acting skills have already been completed, so it's no problem for Andrea to take the lead in the daily scenes. Her attentiveness and ability to capture emotions are more than enough to handle the role.

The remaining dramatic scenes can be performed by myself when I have time.

I have two important tasks today: meeting with people from Silicon Valley, and the release of "The Purge" today.

Inside the MGM Grand building, in a conference room, sat a group of people who stood out from the crowd. Some of them wore suits and ties, but most were dressed casually, which seemed out of place in the film industry.

Many employees were puzzled as to what these people were doing there, until it was revealed that they were technical personnel from Silicon Valley.

Hearing that they are engaged in technical research, it's not surprising that they wear whatever they want.

Eric pushed open the door and walked in, shaking hands with the three men in the lead with a broad smile.

"Heisenberg, Howard, Robert, my friends, welcome, welcome!"

These three people were Eric's team, with FitzHeisenberg in charge of Facebook development.

Howard Hughes, yes, the same name as the famous aviator, was in charge of developing YouTube.

Robert Millen was in charge of developing MGM's streaming platform, which Eric tentatively named Lionheart.

As leaders, each of the three led a team of more than 30 people, the vast majority of whom were technical developers.

This number of people is absolutely more than enough for a startup team.

To put it simply, it's like equipping Li Yunlong with an over-supplied amount of American weaponry; he could take over not only Ping'an County, but even Tokyo.

In addition to ensuring sufficient staff, the salary and working conditions are also very good.

Eric paid them wages that were on average 30% higher than the market rate, with bonuses calculated separately.

They rented three spacious office floors in Silicon Valley, with each of the three teams occupying one floor, all equipped with the most advanced hardware available on the market.

To get this done, they initially spent ten million US dollars, and in the past few months, they've burned through almost three million.

Eric had only one requirement: speed. He needed to get what he wanted out as quickly as possible and bring it to market.

He wasn't quite sure when Netflix and YouTube entered the market, but Facebook was very clear that it was in 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.

I've watched the movie Eric many times. The plot is definitely fictional, including those melodramatic love scenes, but the commercial aspects can be used as a reference.

In the beginning, Zuckerberg was just messing around in his Harvard dorm room, a small project between a few young people, with only $50 in the first round of angel investment.

One can imagine that Facebook was very weak in its early days.

So what Eric needs to do is use time and capital to crush Zuckerberg and kill his grand ambitions before they even begin.

Besides Facebook, there is another social network called MySpace, which is also not yet online.

Eric wasn't worried about it. Back then, you couldn't even beat a rising star, let alone today. If it dares to come out, just crush it!

(End of this chapter)