Hollywood Domination Chapter 320: Dameng’s ‘Sharing Cake’
"Regarding this matter, there are two points that need our attention and follow-up."
In all fairness, the cliff mansion in Malibu is indeed a bit bleak at night. Most of the rooms on the third floor are dark, and only a single light shines through a window in the small living room, bravely throwing the light into the darkness in the night. And Jenny is sitting on the sofa in the living room. She is wearing a loose t-shirt and sweatpants, with one leg crossed, holding a cup of scented tea in her hand--she is dressed at home, but her tone is serious as if she is attending an industry summit , "Of course, the first point is whether the actions of the headquarters have been approved by Bob, and the second point is "The Hunger Games". Jim, are you sure our emails have not been leaked?"
Jim stood by the door, holding the coffee pot in his hand, he filled himself a cup of coffee, then shook his head, "Dameng's network security has always been the best in the film and television company, we A double firewall is used, and the usual management is very strict. You will hardly have the chance to come into contact with viruses. Even if you do, it is generally limited to one computer, and it is difficult to intrude into the network without anyone noticing. , and, about you wanting to buy "The Hunger Games", I didn't even know until tonight—"
"Do some screening and see if there is any mention of the Hunger Games in the records of internal emails and communication tools. Maybe some employees have accidentally received the news." Of course, Cesare's expression is still the calmest, but Jenny is not She doesn't trust his mask very much, since he said 'I'm learning by doing', she doesn't think she can guess his real emotions from Cesare's performance, because before he said it, Jenny He really thought that he was exhausted and could come up with countermeasures in the blink of an eye in the face of any emergencies. "There is still the possibility of unintentional leaks, although it is not a big one-after all, this is a company that is inextricably linked with Disney."
Both Jenny and Jim nodded silently, and did not deny his guess. There are many times when things are so coincidental and evil, this possibility cannot be denied, and verifying this conjecture first can also slow people down. Some, there is no need to immediately face a very embarrassing and difficult fact, although the possibility of seeing it now is as high as 80%-although neither Jenny nor Cesare has taken the initiative to talk about "The Hunger Games" to outsiders, the problem is that in In your own company, do you pay attention to the conversation? Will you be so careful in doing things? Either the company had a traitor, or the Disney headquarters dispatched commercial spies to Dameng. Regardless of the possibility, for the executives who might guess Dameng's interest in "The Hunger Games", there will inevitably be a The screening process is broken.
However, this is all for later. The most important thing now is the fight for copyright and an in-depth understanding of the whole situation. Cesare also tacitly did not stay on this point for too long, but turned on the laptop , briefly introduced the situation, "During our first round of tentative inquiries, I inquired about the copyright quotations of more than 2o IPs, and Disney selected five of them to compete with us——Holy Grail Artifact Series , series, has published three books, the sales are very good, the best-selling list, and "Host", which is also a boutique ip in the ya (youngalt) theme, "Ander's Game" series, the enduring ya theme The works are also classic works that span the theme of science fiction, as well as "The Invention of Hugo Capritt". Of course, Dan Brown's "Lost Symbols" has not been let go, but this is hard to say that it is aimed at big dreams. , because although this work is a series, but for a writer like Dan, of course, the copyright needs to be fought for, and he can't exclusively authorize anything to Sony, I can only say that Sony has certain advantages."
"These are relatively popular IPs," Jenny frowned, and understood Cesare's implication—the headquarters is still relatively reserved in doing things, and does not leave too much talk for people, after all , These books all have their own advantages. To say that they only attracted Disney's attention because of their interest in Dameng, then Dameng is somewhat too narcissistic. "Only "Hugo" is relatively unpopular... It seems that Dick I'm also afraid of angering Bob, and I don't want to give Bob an excuse to get angry... The possibility of getting Bob's approval for this matter should be small, but it is also difficult for us to get Bob to support us-the copyright of several works After all, disputes are minor issues, and if we protest, the best result can only be joint development."
Cesare nodded, "I thought the same as you, and that's why I didn't call Bob in the first place—maybe Dick was expecting us to do this, and that's why he was so concerned about these few days. The real intention of the film’s quotation.”
If Disney is a big family, and Dameng is an illegitimate child who is loved and loved, but after all, half of the blood does not belong to the family, then this department is the legitimate heir. Although Robert, the head of the family, loves the youngest son, he must Be fair, even pull the frame slightly, otherwise it will be difficult for him to deal with himself. If Da Meng goes to sue as soon as he is bullied by the headquarters, even if he faces Da Meng, Robert will have a hard time doing it, not to mention that although Bob is also happy to see Da Meng grow stronger, he definitely wants to see the performance of the headquarters improve. It is very likely that it may not be possible to realize the big dream. Calling at this time may not only affect the relationship between Dameng and Robert, but also lose room for maneuver—if Robert pulls the strings, what if Dameng and the department work together? Will the big dream be shot or not? It's uncomfortable to shoot or not, and I feel aggrieved if I don't shoot, and I'm useless when I shoot. In short, when the headquarters is relying on the six identities to crush Dameng, it is very uncomfortable for Dameng to resist. This may be the original sin of being a small company.
"What about "The Hunger Games"?" Jenny didn't pay much attention to several movies. Among the IPs mentioned by Cesare, there are tragic works on the street, and there are also works that barely make money at the box office and few profitable works. , but the only profitable "Hugo" box office is not a lot, and it is a 3D film, produced by a big director, which means that the producer's profit will be reduced and the time to pay back will be prolonged. If Disney is interested in winning it, do it well. Anyway, it’s not her money that’s losing money—she’s focusing on the copyright trend of "The Hunger Games" now, "What is the quotation from Disney?"
"Of course this news can't be known from the author," Cesare twitched the corners of his lips—his movements suddenly paused, and he continued after a while, "It seems that the headquarters must have received information from within us." Just like the news of "The Hunger Games", we can only get their quotations from within the headquarters. However, we certainly cannot compete with the headquarters in terms of money—if only the headquarters, we may still be able to compete. For a while, but..."
"You mean—" Jenny didn't think of this, she couldn't help asking, but soon she understood, and the swear words blurted out, "*! He's totally doing this Goofy - he didn't even want to buy The Hunger Games, he just wanted to sabotage our plans!"
"What?" Jim looked up in astonishment. He had been typing on the keyboard before, "Why do you say that? Does the headquarters want to buy "The Hunger Games?"
"If the headquarters wants to buy it, it won't make a public offer to Susan," Jenny said bitterly, "at least Susan's agent won't be allowed to go around to inform about this—we haven't shown any obvious signs yet. Interested, I just asked about the copyright situation of "The Hunger Games", and the copyright agent called Cesare, which means—"
Jim took a long breath. This time, even his face was filled with surprise: Knowing that Dameng asked about more than 20 works, Disney suddenly made quotations for six of them. , there is a work that is little-known, and I have never heard of it being asked about the price by Dameng. For those who are interested, this information can reveal many possibilities. At least speaking, the strategic concealment has been completely lost. As long as two out of 10 companies associate "The Hunger Games", Dameng, and smoke bombs, then there will be infinite troubles and obstacles in the way of Dameng purchasing copyrights. Even if the department fails to buy the copyright in the end, it will be difficult for Dameng to be the last person to accept it--if this step is achieved, the CEO of the department, Dick Cook, is already clearly going to tear himself apart with Dameng and the others: If I buy If you don't, don't even think about buying it. You can even say that the point is not that I can buy it, but that you can't...
&nbk," Jim, who was vaguely unhappy because he didn't get the first-hand information, has completely let go of his little emotions, and stood together with Jenny and Cesare to fight against the enemy. He shook his head, The tone was startled and angry, obviously still not recovered from the shock, he said a long series of 'ok' before asking, "So what should we do now, should we join this game, or continue to be humiliated by the headquarters?" ? Or—"
Judging from his statement, Jim has indeed lost confidence in the big dream, or in other words, although he has grown a lot in the years of experience, Jim is still not good at doing confrontational thinking—let him hide It's no problem to be a black hand behind the scenes, but to directly use the weak and the strong, and use the small body of Dameng to carry the big fists of the headquarters, he instinctively wants to avoid this kind of **** conflict.
"Stop it now, pretend that this incident never happened, you can indeed play tricks, keep some mystery to the outside world, and make them wonder if you are careless." Jenny said what Jim didn't finish, "Of course , just like what you said, it can also avoid losing face and avoid letting the outside world see the struggle within the group..."
If according to Jenny's previous thinking, she was hit in the face, and she can still be named Chen if she doesn't fight back? But now, after Cesare's many brainwashing teachings, ure has become a habit of her thinking: from the company's point of view, the situation is already like this, and if you rush up and tear up the headquarter, it will affect As far as the fairy tale series jointly developed by the two parties, the cost of fighting spirit is very high. Both Dameng and the headquarters have signed a cooperation agreement. Dameng has no plan to leave Disney in the short term. On the contrary, it will buy Disney shares and become a shareholder. Under the premise of this, endure this breath, do not come forward to compete with the headquarters, let the headquarters successfully win this work that is destined to be a hit, and then get some consolation rewards from Robert, this is also a very safe coping strategy.
However...
She glanced at Cesare, wanting to confirm his attitude towards this matter, "What do you think, Cesare?"
It is very surprising that Cesare was not as usual, concentrating on the discussion, he was hanging his head and thinking about something, tapping the dial mechanically with one finger, until Jenny called him again , he shook his shoulders and woke up. "What?"
"Do you think we've really lost all hope of winning "The Hunger Games" in the current form?" Jenny stared at him curiously, and repeated her question, "Big dreams always have Some unique advantages, I don’t know, apart from money and distribution channels, we can always come up with something to impress Susan—”
"Dream is completely out?" After a brief absence, Cesare seemed to have completely returned to normal, he pondered for a while, then shook his head, "I don't think so, as you said That said, we still have some chances of winning, but what needs to be considered is the subsequent impact of Dameng's fight for copyright."
"You mean—" Jenny raised her voice, "Bob's opinion?"
"After this move by the headquarters, Dameng re-entered the game and took away the copyright of this film fiercely, which undoubtedly put the conflict between the two parties on the table—just like Warner's internal strife, it became the laughing stock of the industry. It may even be in the news, which of course will not make Bob too happy, and in addition, it will also affect our fairy tale adaptation.” Cesare’s answer also mentioned Jenny’s previous concerns, which made her unable to restrain herself Slightly nodded, feeling that he had achieved a small victory, "In addition, there is also Paramount's reaction after the conflict was made public. We have already had a grudge with Paramount. If some hackers feel afraid, Paramount no longer needs to bear this threat, and our son in Paramount has been cashed out. Now, knowing that Disney is not monolithic, what we can get from within the group What will Paramount do when there is not much support? This is something we cannot predict. What about Sony? Universal? We don’t have a deep relationship with these two companies, and even Fox—"
"Fox should be fine." When Cesare's consulting eyes fell on Jenny, she said quickly, "Today Kevin is very fond of our 'magic software', I can feel it, Fox is not so much afraid of me as coveted, it seems that they want to win us over, especially after the "magic software" - of course, the few projects we talked about today also have great In fact, as long as we are given enough time, I think Universal will change its attitude, even Sony should not be a problem..."
While talking, she hesitated a little: According to the original strategy of Dameng, it seems that now is indeed not a good time to turn against the headquarters and let the conflicts be externalized. The reason why the strategy is effective is that Dameng's status in Disney has risen, and the entire group seems to be monolithic...
"Her*er," Jim obviously thought of the same point as her, he cursed angrily, "Damn Dick Cook, even the beast wouldn't bite the hand that feeds him—and We even chose to throw the first piece of meat to him!"
"That's because the two sides have different perceptions." Even Jenny has been in the business world for many years, and she has seen enough to be shameless and ruthless, but she can't help but laugh now, "In your eyes, this The piece of meat was a gift of peace to it, but in its eyes, it was a humiliation - I guess Dick thought all fairy tale adaptations were his domain, and he must have felt that we were doing it the other way around by proposing this project Slap him in the face and he has to respond."
"This is a possible motive," Cesare said coldly, rolling up his sleeves on both sides, exposing his pale golden arms, and crossing his arms. The route, this should also make Dick feel neglected and pressured. This is a mistake in public relations. If we have been paying attention to maintaining the relationship in the past few years, maybe we will not have cultivated this dangerous internal enemy. ——Actually, if you look at it from another angle, this is also Dick’s protest against Bob. He thinks that Bob’s focus on the specific business of the film is a bit too much, which makes him also the CEO of the six major film departments , but I have never been able to find the sense of existence of my peers. Dameng actually played the role of a punching bag in this incident. Confirming this may be crucial for us to understand the situation.”
Among the six existing Hollywood companies, only Disney is a completely independent media group, not a subsidiary of a consortium or a media department—Sony bought Columbia, News Corporation owned Fox, and Viacom took over Paramount, Universal is a part of Comcast, and Warner needless to say, after merging with Time Group to become Time Warner, they have also become a department in the consortium, only Disney, starting from Walt Disney to start this company Since then, it has survived independently and developed step by step to today's huge scale. This also makes the CEO of the Disney Group traditionally come from Disney films: this is the first company founded by Walter, and it has always been the core business of the company. Disney is a group driven by films. The movies drive the profits of Disneyland and also support the various explorations of Disney TV. Therefore, the CEO of the group has more interference in specific movies than the other big companies, and it is more common. This objectively compresses the CEO of Disney movies. The sense of presence also makes Dick's status a bit awkward - Paramount's Brad Gray, Fox's Jim Gianlopoulos, Warner's Jeff Robinov, these are all princes in the group Existence, in their own small movie kingdom, they are the kings, even when reporting to the board of directors and upper leadership, they also enjoy very large discretion and decision-making power, but Dick feels constrained within the group, from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" era Since then, the important decisions of Disney's major productions have been made by the CEO of the group. His role is quite limited, more like the role of a big housekeeper.
This kind of hands-on feeling should make Robert feel safe and satisfy his desire for power, but for Dick, of course, it is another matter, and whether his protest is justified-it is not It is determined by the big dream, it depends on Robert's will. If Robert thinks his appeal is reasonable, then this is an absolutely legitimate idea. On the contrary, if Robert thinks that Dick's ambition is a bit too much, then he is in the position of CEO of the film department. I'll be here soon...
In almost an instant, Jenny understood the train of thought that Cesare hinted, and she frowned, "This is indeed a good opportunity to let Dick go, but Bob is not a fool, even if you succeed It greatly affected his opinion of Dick, making him determined to kick Dick, and this could not be done in an instant——How long has Michael Eisner been the CEO of the group? More than three years, of course, Dick and he cannot comparison, but it doesn't really help the immediate difficulties, does it?"
"Indeed, it's meaningless to discuss these now." Although Dameng is facing a more difficult problem, this kind of dialogue between the two sides is chasing after each other, and there is no need to waste any time on explanations. Both parties enjoyed the matter, Cesare glanced at Jim who was still blinking desperately, and showed a fleeting smile. He stood up and rolled out a whiteboard from the corner, "Let's sort out the situation and figure out what we are doing now. How many strategic routes can be used in this situation—first of all, the "share the cake" plan we drew up in Italy, and now it seems that it has at least won Fox for us. According to Jenny, Fox will be our best in a short time. Staunch allies, on this chaotic coast, we have identified four footholds."
He drew three circles on the whiteboard, two of which were crossed, "Warner, Fox Safety, Headquarters and Paramount, Dangerous. Universal, Sony, Unknown."
Now that it is confirmed that Dameng will embark on a difficult and glorious road, in the next period of time, Dameng will instead devote himself to hiding his ambitions in exchange for a period of safe development. This is Jenny and Chesa. Ray's common thinking, and with the most frankness in the history of the two parties, Jenny only had to reveal the last panties, using advanced knowledge and his super strategic deployment ability, Cesare also outlined a plan for the big dream. This will allow Dameng to sacrifice as little as possible, or not sacrifice at all, and win-win with the Sixth Dameng. At the same time, it will dispel the hostility of the Sixth Dameng to the Big Dream, and rise as peacefully as possible to become the seventh largest—this is The first line of thinking is actually quite obvious now, that is, to distribute cakes, and take some movies that are still in the dormant period as the genius ideas of big dreams that Jenny knows, the copyright or production advantages are in the hands of the six majors, Give it to the Big Six as a gift, and do it with them.
To be honest, this idea also made Jenny feel a certain amount of frustration, a feeling of being intellectually defeated head-on. In fact, some things are as simple as that, a detour in thinking, but she has enjoyed it for so many years. I have never thought about using the resources in my hand in this way, but I still want to dig out good projects without owners first, and I never thought about taking the cornucopia from other people's homes, and everyone will make a fortune together. Others come to thank myself...
It’s like a fairy tale adaptation series with Disney. In Jenny’s heart, she gave up on this project, because this is not a high-quality project that relies on the quality of the film, but focuses more on the qualifications of the production company. It is Disney's strong publicity and distribution capabilities that make films that were not of very good quality achieve good results around the world-this kind of planning film has extremely high requirements on the ability of the distributor, and global distribution is the shortcoming of Big Dream. However, Cesare pointed out that since fairy tales have no copyright at all, let Dameng take the lead, cooperate with the headquarters, share half of the cake with the headquarters, and count it as a favor from Dameng... In fact, If it weren't for the fact that Dick Cook's hostility towards Big Dream has accumulated to a level that is difficult to reverse, under the halo of "Big Dream produced, it must be a boutique", at least five films, with an investment of 100 million yuan, will definitely be sold at the box office. It's going to be 400 million, 500 million or even higher in the world. Counting the surrounding area, the whole plate is at least a big cake of nearly 10 billion. The big dream is willing to share half of it. No matter how uncomfortable a normal person is, at such a sincere meeting ceremony If you come to me, you will be more or less moved.
As for the 'outsiders' such as Fox and Universal, in addition to those high-quality series of their own, Jenny also prepared a big gift package of 'magic software'. For the big dream, add more fat and powder, use the new concept of sweet mouth, just be a carrot. Grabbing keywords and other big data statistics is indeed a trend in Hollywood in the future, but this requires cross-platform retrieval and systematic and standardized services. It can be done internally. Jenny is indeed asking Jim to use k-based crawling software to regularly capture user po articles related to "Avatar", and then save them for employees to watch the summary in batches, but this is just for convenience. The efficiency of manual search is just for her. Her main purpose is not to make big data, but to store the feedback from the Internet and prepare data for possible future research in the case of predicting that "Avatar" will explode. To fool Kevin with this method is to add a little more chips to the balance and make Fox's position more friendly.
—What if the deception blows? This is not a problem at all. Dameng originally planned to use "Bob's will" as an excuse to hang Fox. They planned to regard "sharing software" as a symbol of falling out with Disney. It looks really good, and Fox has nothing to say about it - if not, why would they want it so much? So normally, it is impossible for Fox to be hanged on a tree, and it will definitely be multi-pronged. In just a few months to a year, the concept of big data and cloud data will become popular. In addition to k, youtube , flix and other websites will launch their own big data services, using user trajectories to generate income for themselves, and in the next few years, flix will also pioneer the use of big data for film and television production, and by then, big data that has taken off the veil of mystery It will make the big companies realize that this thing is actually not as good as imagined. Take a batch of TV series produced by flix as an example. Among the series of TV series that invested a lot of money, the one that has really received great acclaim and created a trend is "Solitaire" "House" and "Orange Is the New Black", there are also mediocre TV series such as "Hemlock Grove", and bad dramas such as "Marco Polo", which shows that big data is not a magic answer to all questions, but nothing more than a new It’s just an idea—and it’s difficult to transplant this deeply customized model to public TV stations or big screens. With the supply market flourishing and the emergence of the first brave man to eat crabs, it’s impossible for Fox and other companies to think about it. For Dameng's homemade software, even if Dameng admits that the project failed, they have nothing to say. After all, this is an exploration, and no one stipulates that Dameng's project cannot fail.
Of course, this is just an addition, and the real weight is those potential projects-because of creative differences with director Ang Lee, Fox's "Fantasy Drifting of Boy Pi" (this film) is temporarily shelved. The movie belongs to the kind whose copyright has already been sold, and was bought by Fox before Jenny thought of it), Universal is still a secondary production, and "Fast and Furious" that doesn't pay much attention...For these companies that originally held the copyright , but due to many reasons, the advantageous projects that deserved attention cannot be obtained. The intervention, guidance and transformation of Dameng can bring the most precious thing to Fox and Universal-confidence in the box office. This is also equivalent to sharing the six most feared Yes, Dameng’s unique weapon—Jennifer’s intuition that one movie will explode, at least until the production of these films is completed, Fox and Universal will not turn against Dameng, and suppressing Dameng is tantamount to suppressing themselves , Everyone knows that there are hidden treasures in the copyright library of their own home. If Jennifer picks one for you, it will be a big hit and earn a lot of money. Even if it is a joint venture production at the box office, most people will pay the money willingly. Offended Dameng, Jennifer won't choose for you in the future, and you have to continue to gamble. Does that feel good? How good is it for everyone to make money together? It's good that the big dream is advancing, but at the same time that the big dream is advancing, I am also advancing. What else is there to worry about?
According to Cesare's original vision, Big Dream will form a joint force with the other five of the six major companies, creating an island effect on Paramount. This situation may not be seen in one or two years. Nothing, but with the release of cooperative movies one by one, one by one, Brad Gray's position as CEO is estimated to be shaky, quite dangerous, even if it's just to stabilize his position, I'm afraid he will take the initiative to deal with it Dameng showed his favor, and relying on the generous rewards of cooperative films, Dameng also had the opportunity to focus on his own series: manga, yagai, and low-cost comedy. These three series cover high, middle and low productions. It is also the type of work that is the least likely to hit the street in the next few years. In 6 years, it is enough for Dameng to obtain a very rich copyright library, leaving Lions Gate far behind, and forming its own development momentum-by then, The copyright library of Dameng will present a very strange phenomenon: the copyright library of many companies may be mixed with good and bad, and a large amount of **** copyrights will accumulate profits, but there will be no flaws in the copyright library of Dameng Each one is a boutique, super boutique, legendary boutique that can make others drool... At that time, even if there is no advantage of foreknowledge, it can be regarded as a complete new start, but with such a copyright library, and more than ten years in the past The strategic advantages accumulated over the years, if the big dream can no longer be realized, then it is indeed lack of ability, and it can't be blamed on the right time and place.
And with such a prospect first, Jenny really has to weigh the cost of wanting to tear herself apart from the Disney headquarters. The tear itself may not be a big deal, and she may be sure enough to defeat Dick Cook, but If this indirectly leads to the failure of the layout, this is no longer described as heartache and loss. This will completely interfere with the development strategy of the big dream, and may make the dream come to nothing——
"Through the trial and inquiry some time ago, the attitudes of all parties are no longer in a fog," Cesare added the two pawns of Universal and Sony, "After the first round of trial, we did not Immediately encountered a targeted price hike, which shows that Paramount is not so hostile to us at least now, and they do not want to escalate the conflict. The calm attitude of the other four companies including Universal and Sony also shows that at this stage they have no Treat Dameng as a threat that needs to be dealt with immediately, and even the cooperative value of Dameng is better than the value of hostility, but Disney headquarters took the initiative to jump out and startled everyone.”
He paused, took a few steps back, brushed away the blond hair that fell in front of his eyes, squinted his blue eyes and looked at the whiteboard, as if he was thinking about something, and after a while, he elongated his voice and continued, "This shows that the situation of Dameng is far from as bad as we thought. Disney is not our only pillar. Maybe under the current situation, we can take another approach..."
Both Jenny and Jim (just caught up with the progress) unconsciously sat up straight and looked at Cesare expectantly——in their eyes that can almost be described as admiration , the corners of Cesare's lips curled up reservedly, he crossed his arms and walked to the whiteboard, cleared his throat, "By tomorrow, Disney's big move should be spread all over Hollywood, and will the big dream have a big impact on "" The corresponding quotation for The Hunger Games must be the focus of the other five major concerns, and we just..."
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For Jenny, it was a long and tiring day. After driving to Cameron's studio early in the morning, her spirit had been in a tense state, and she didn't get a chance to breathe until late at night—— Sare and her habit, before any business venture is implemented, it will go through countless repeated discussions, even drills, and simulations, and make different plans for different changes in the situation before it can be truly implemented. Due to the urgency of time, this work cannot be postponed until tomorrow, and the thinking must be finalized tonight. They and Jim were busy with this matter for most of the night: Although theoretically they no longer need Jim, he is different from Lilian, and he is still very interested in these things, so bring him to play It is not impossible.
The incident happened suddenly, and the three of them didn’t have dinner. After brainstorming until 11 p.m., Jim finally declared his death. He called a timeout and went to the kitchen to practice his cooking skills. Entering the intermission, Jenny took the opportunity to hide on the terrace outside the small living room, lit a cigarette, and engaged in a battle between heaven and man with a lighter: She can smoke or not, but she is too tired to mention it now. I can't feel refreshed—oh, so I can see the piece of basil planted a few days ago from here...
There was a push and pull sound from the direction of the glass door, and then a faint smell of smoke wafted out - Cesare had returned from the bathroom to the living room at some point, with a cigarette in his mouth .
According to Jenny's understanding of him, although Cesare often carries cigarettes, he almost never smokes on his own initiative, unless he needs to be accompanied on social occasions. She looked at Cesare's particularly sculptural face in the shadows, and She had that indifferent expression of indistinguishable emotion, hesitating whether she should come out of the hiding place or not—she was staying in a dark place, judging from Cesare’s preoccupied performance, he might not have noticed her, now Is it impolite to cut off his private time...
Obviously, Cesare is a very polite meeting staff, he didn't mean to step out of the balcony, he just opened the door for the convenience of ventilation - with one hand in his pocket, the other holding a cigarette, his blond hair fluttering in the sea breeze Uncertain, but his expression became more and more cold and hard, as if he had been deeply immersed in his own thoughts... He quickly smoked a whole cigarette in this way, much faster than usual, and even made something for him Let me tell you something extremely rare: he threw the cigarette **** on the balcony, stretched out one foot and crushed it **** the ground a few times.
And this rude action seemed to help him make up his mind. Cesare stretched out his hand and rubbed his face a few times, then lowered his head and took out his phone, quickly unlocked the keypad, pressed the number, and he leaned over Beside the wall, one hand pressed his forehead and tapped his temple lightly, while the other hand held the phone—fingers also tapped the fuselage rhythmically.
I have known Cesare for 8 years, and they have experienced too many ups and downs, too many anxious and tense moments, but Cesare almost never behaved like this-obviously, this is a symptom of anxiety, Jenny really didn't know what to say, she instinctively held her breath, and didn't even know how to keep silent to remind herself of her existence——
In the whistling of the sea wind, the faint ringing of the colored bell entered her ears. Not long after, the ringing was interrupted, and a female voice responded with a smile, "Hello? Cesare?"
"Is it you?" Cesare closed his eyes and asked in a low voice, his hand stroked his forehead back and forth—this was not even the night Lilian broke up with him by escaping marriage. The expressions that have appeared——
Jenny was speechless, she looked at Cesare in shock, and looked at his expression—for the first time in so many years, it could be called an expression of pain, anger and loss, and before that She never even thought that he would have such a moment of loss of self-control, such anxiety and depression, she didn't even know how to describe the feeling at this moment, like a doll suddenly turned into a person, those human details , that feeling——
"Tell me, is that you?"
There was silence on the other end of the phone, only Cesare's calm questioning voice was blown by the wind and fell into her ears fragmentedly, "Is that you?"
Without waiting for the other party's answer, after a few seconds of stalemate, he took the phone away from his ear, stared at it for a moment, hung up the phone, and put the phone back into his pocket.
Jenny swallowed, she felt overwhelmed, but—
She took a deep breath, and before she regretted it, she took a sudden step and appeared in Cesare's field of vision.
"Uh, sorry," she said awkwardly, "I—I happened to be—"
Cesare's face closed again, not the good kind of closure, the kind of quiet expressionless face—however, he didn't show much surprise.
"I know," he said, looking straight into Jenny's eyes, straightening up, "and now you know too—I screwed up, and the secret of The Hunger Games came from me. Leaked out."