Chapter 712: Chapter 120: Huang Shiren?
Before sending Little Emma off from Los Angeles, Adrian had kissed the corner of her lips to soothe her. This had already been a poor signal, and now with this encouragent, who knew what the encouraged little girl might do? She could even influence the other two lead child actors to demand a raise in their salaries.
Well, to say she influenced them might be slightly inappropriate. After “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” was released, it was extrely popular and sought after, even becoming the second film in North Arica to break a hundred million dollars in its opening week of the second installnt. Many observers believed it would likely beco the third globally to achieve over a billion dollars in box office revenue. Naturally, the actors began to request revised salaries. For film studios, this was an ever-present issue, especially when a high-box office film was followed by preparations for a sequel.
Of the key salary demands, the three child leads were the highest, as they were undeniably the main stars. With only four of the seven books being fild continuously, anyone could be replaced except for them. As the request arose, Little Emma imdiately stepped forward to openly support it, even thinking that Eric and George’s demands were too low.
“Even if the new salary needs negotiating, let’s not forget that in the past year, we also starred in the second installnt for a salary not much higher than the first. They should be compensated for that!” Little Emma had said, very righteously.
Though Adrian heard this second-hand and there might have been so differences in wording, the aning wouldn’t have changed much. One could imagine the faces of the British actors hearing her talk like this, especially since they were more aware of the relationship between Little Emma and Adrian, and her background. But Little Emma claid, “Ed is Ed, and Universal is Universal. I love Ed, but that doesn’t an I speak for Universal. I stand for justice, and Ed would support .”
Thus, the already-adorable Little Emma appeared even smarter and cuter to these British actors. Well, from this point of view, Little Emma was truly precocious.
Adrian hadn’t paid much attention to the actors’ demands. This scenario had been anticipated before the entire series started filming. As said earlier, it was an unavoidable issue for every movie company. Anyway, the second installnt had finished filming, and only post-production was left. Eric and the other boys had reached puberty, growing taller almost daily; it was a good ti to slow down and use the year of 2003 for filming and production.
So, they would negotiate slowly. Universal had plenty of ti to reach a contract satisfying both sides and could even prepare for so of the roles.
Sowhat surprisingly, Little Emma didn’t do anything outrageous after this. Apart from enjoying hanging around Adrian, she even stopped trying to find ways to sleep with him, which slightly relieved him. However, it was just a slight relief. It seed the little girl had only beco more covert in her actions, like…
“Ed, can you co and help ? I put it inside and can’t reach it,” Little Emma’s voice called. Adrian stepped into her bedroom, and the next second, he helplessly covered his forehead.
Under the bookshelf, Little Emma lay on the ground with her upper body reaching inside, seemingly searching for sothing. Facing the doorway, her little backside was stuck up high and continually wiggling, imdiately noticeable upon entering. Especially since she was wearing a skirt, a knee-length skirt, her undergarnts vaguely visible in the movent, coupled with long white fluffy socks on her legs—really it was… hard to say what was appropriate, given winter had not yet passed.
“I’ll do it,” Adrian sighed, walked over, lifted the little girl out, went in himself, and quickly found several photo albums. “Are these them?”
“Yes, yes,” Little Emma happily took it over and kneeled on the ground, placing the album on her thighs and began flipping through it, “Wow, I really was so young then, but Ed hasn’t changed much since.”
She looked genuinely happy, and even with Adrian’s observant nature, he couldn’t tell right away if her actions just now were accidental or intentional.
Alright, no more talking about that. Even though this trip to London wasn’t as casual as the previous ones with Little Emma wandering everywhere, comparatively, the tight schedule and cautious environnt allowed for a higher quality of enjoynt. With the full support of the Rodlin family, Adrian’s whereabouts weren’t discovered by the paparazzi, and of course, he understood their intentions well.
Since the mont Little Emma was chosen to play Hermione, her status in the Rodlin household had changed significantly. The success of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” only escalated that. It wasn’t that the Rodlins didn’t treat Little Emma well before; they still took quite good care of her, and furthermore, with Adrian watching over her, it was just that, relatively, she wasn’t as important as their own children.
But as Little Emma beca a celebrity, and since Adrian’s career had also reached a height most people could only dream of, the Rodlins have sowhat seen him grow, so they beca increasingly affectionate towards Little Emma.
That was nothing out of the ordinary; a common human sentint. If there hadn’t been any changes, Adrian would have been suspicious and might have had them investigated. Considering how they’ve looked after Emma for many years, Adrian didn’t mind offering them so benefits. After all, with him overseeing the youngster, they wouldn’t dare act out, the only concern being their own child. The boy, about seven or eight years old, had an indifferent relationship with Little Emma; he had been favored before, but now this favor was slowly shifting towards Little Emma, even if only partially, it inevitably made him feel lost and dissatisfied.
For now, it wasn’t a serious issue; children couldn’t clearly grasp such differences and were still influenced by their parents, but over ti, especially after they hit ten and start showing signs of rebellion, it’s hard to guarantee he wouldn’t sell so “insider” information to the tabloids for a few hundred US dollars or British pounds, given Little Emma wasn’t his biological sister. Even just one such instance wasn’t sothing Adrian wanted to see, hence a preventive asure was necessary.
However, that wasn’t an imdiate concern. Adrian still had ti to prepare for it, hence after bidding farewell to Little Emma, he shifted his focus elsewhere. He didn’t directly return to Los Angeles, as his whereabouts hadn’t been detected by the paparazzi, so he took this as an opportunity to pick a still immature apple; occasionally, tasting its sour-sweet flavor was quite enjoyable.
“Looking down from here… It’s so high.” Looking out the window, the tall buildings of London had shrunk into a miniature landscape, and the vast Thas River looked no different from a small stream, which was startling for the girl.
A cute, round face filled with distress and enhanced by her Eastern girl’s delicate features made her look pitiful. Although there were people in her past life who detested her and called her “Cutie Liu,” this lightly made-up face still held a pure, alluring charm—soone particularly keen on defiling such purity and beauty was especially fond of it.
“Don’t worry, Feifei, it’s okay,” the man naturally wrapped his arm around her slim waist, speaking in decent Chinese, “Looking down from such a height could feel dizzying at first, but once you get used to it, you’ll discover a sense of broadmindedness, just as Du Zii expressed in ‘Gazing on Mount Tai,’ ‘I will rise above the paramount peak and all the mountains will look small!'”
Despite feeling the girl’s body tense due to his movent, Adrian didn’t back off, but rather pulled her closer into his embrace.
“Is it… a poem by Du Fu?” Yufei dared not look up but continued to tremble in fear as she stared outside, then murmured in a mosquito-like voice.
“Yes, Du Fu, styled Du Zii, held the post of Assistant Minister of Works which earned him the nickna ‘Du Gongbu’. Although, personally, I prefer the bold Li Bai, I also enjoy many of Du Fu’s works, like the ‘Gazing on Mount Tai’ I just recited,” Adrian said as he effortlessly recited, “How majestic Mount Tai is, but the colors of Qilu remain unfinished…”
His Chinese was already excellent, articulated with proper intonation and cadence, bamboozling one into thinking he was a native speaker reciting classical poetry. Hence, even though Yufei had witnessed his proficiency in Chinese and his vast knowledge before, she couldn’t help but look up at him with a surprised gaze.
Adrian gave a slight smile, then leaned in towards her. Instinctively, the girl tried to lean back, but the hand on her waist tightened, and she imdiately stopped moving and closed her eyes with her neck turtled in. However, Adrian didn’t overstep, rely grazed her tender lips, sucked lightly a couple of tis, then let her go.
“I apologize, I didn’t know you were afraid of heights. Let’s sit down,” Adrian smiled and patted his thigh as he sat back down.
Adrian gave a noncommittal smile and advised Yufei, “Keep it up, Feifei, but try to explore different roles as well. I believe your mother must have ntioned that to you.”
“Yes,” Yufei said softly, glancing at her mother during dinner.
“Then you must work harder. I will have soone summarize the character traits for targeted practice,” Adrian continued. “By the way, are you still practicing dance?”
Yufei nodded silently instead of answering directly; Liu Li frowned slightly but quickly took over the conversation, “Yes, like you suggested, not much, but she practices frequently.”
“That’s good, having an additional skill is beneficial, it can make you stand out at the right mont,” Adrian smiled again.
“I’ve been training Feifei just as you advised, Ed, thank you for your care,” Liu Li paused, “Why don’t you stay here tonight?”
The implication of those words was clear; whenever Adrian visited, Liu Li always tried to make him stay, but so far, he had declined. However, today was different. Yufei, seemingly naive, had sensed this too, thus she lowered her head on hearing her mother’s words, trembling slightly as she held her chopsticks.
Adrian observed this, chuckled inwardly, and nodded to an eagerly hopeful Liu Li, “Alright.”
The dynamics after dinner are better left unsaid. Liu Li tried her best to keep the atmosphere lively, although her daughter was largely unresponsive, turning sulky. But with Adrian playing along, their interaction kept the evening alive, inevitably pushing the clock hands toward eleven.
“Very nervous?” Adrian asked with interest, coming out of the bathroom and drying his hair while observing Yufei sitting on the edge of the bed.
She was in a pink pajama, her black, freshly blow-dried hair cascaded smoothly down, her head buried between her shoulders, her hands tightly clenched together, appearing completely rigid under the soft bedroom lighting, like a plaster statue.
“Feifei?” Adrian called out and gently patted her on the shoulder. The girl instantly jolted, jumped aside, and looked at Adrian with so panic, taking a good while before she slightly relaxed.
“I’m sorry… Ed,” she lowered her head, her voice laden with fear and unease.
“I’m not that scary, am I?” Adrian said sowhat helplessly.
“Of course not… I just…” The girl tried to explain, but couldn’t find the right words, and froze, making pointless gestures.
“Relax,” Adrian motioned in the air with his hand, “just relax, nothing bad will happen. You know, this makes feel… as if I’m about to force myself on Yang Xixi like Huang Shiren.”
Yufei was taken aback, then her lips twitched uncontrollably before she burst out laughing, Adrian spreading his hands and laughing along. After the laughter, the girl wasn’t as terrified and afraid as before, but she soon sighed, possibly seeing so resemblance between herself and Yang Xixi.
Without dwelling on it, Adrian sat down on the edge of the bed and patted the bedsheet beside him. Yufei bit her lip and eventually walked over, but before she reached him, he quickly pulled her into his arms, causing her to yelp in surprise.
“I said relax, Feifei,” Adrian grinned at her, “just relax, it’s easier than you think, just like earlier today on the London Eye, follow my lead, trust .”
Yufei nodded. (To be continued. If you like this work, please support it by voting at qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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