New York, Metropolitan Opera House.
This is the last performance of the "Book of Songs" themed song and dance performance by the Guofeng Art Troupe on Saturday, January 11. Simon came to the West Coast to visit pregnant women as usual on weekends, and by the way, he accompanied Grace to watch the performance live for the first time tonight.
After the performance, Simon had no intention of meeting the art troupe, and quietly left with Grace and Bryce Levison who came with him.
Went to a nearby temporarily booked restaurant for a late night snack.
After ordering the meal, the menu was handed back to the waiter. Bryce Levison glanced at the man and woman sitting opposite each other, and said in a sour tone subconsciously: "I think the performance just now was very ordinary, just someone They are just a bunch of little goblins, I really don’t understand why so many people are following them recently.”
Simon simply ignored it.
With a smile on her lips, Grace looked at Simon and said softly: "I saw an article in the New York Times, saying that the Chinese classical dance performances at the Metropolitan Opera House in the past two months were just scalpers reselling the tickets and making money. Over a million dollars.”
Simon nodded: "I heard about it too."
The Guofeng Art Troupe started performing for the first time on December 7 last year, performing one performance every Wednesday and Saturday. Until today, there are a total of 9 performances. Due to the quality of the performance itself and the news and hype surrounding this matter, the popularity is getting higher and higher, leading to Tickets for every show are hard to come by, and as a result scalpers get cheaper prices.
Preliminary statistics show that the total ticket revenue for the nine performances at the Metropolitan Opera House was only 5.3 million US dollars, but scalpers outside the venue made more than 1 million by selling tickets at a premium. This is also a recent news hot spot, which in turn has made the country The performance of Feng Art Troupe attracted more attention.
Scalping is actually very common on Broadway.
The Guofeng Art Troupe can only be regarded as a "small spectacle" this time. In Simon's memory, the phenomenon-level musical "Hamilton" premiered in 2015. During its most popular period, scalpers who made profits by reselling tickets started from this within a year. The show earned US$60 million.
Bryce usually only flipped through fashion magazines, but she didn't care what the newspapers said. After hearing this, she changed her attitude without any position: "In that case, why don't you increase the price?"
Simon took a sip of coffee.
Grace helped explain: "Once the ticket price of a Broadway show is determined, it cannot be changed at will. After all, a show cannot be popular for a long time. Once the price increase affects the attendance rate, it may trigger a chain reaction. In addition, scalpers raise the ticket price, and there are also It can play a promotional role to a certain extent and give people the impression that the show is very popular.”
Bryce felt that she had learned a lot, and then she glanced at the guy who ignored her twice in a row: "Grace has been here for more than three months, what do you plan to do in the future?"
Simon finally replied this time: "Be born, raised, and inherit the family business."
Bryce's eyes widened slightly: "That's it?"
"What parents are not like this?"
"I mean," Bryce thought for a moment and said, "You are also responsible for Gray."
"Of course, except for marriage, I can't give you anything else. Everything else is fine."
"Then will you publicly acknowledge this child?"
Simon said: "If Gray wants to make it public, then let it be made public."
Bryce was immediately dissatisfied: "You are just trying to shirk it. Gray loves you so much and will definitely not make it public for your sake."
"Okay, when the baby is born, I'll put it on the front page of the New York Times."
"I will remember it. Don't try to cheat when the time comes."
Grace finally interrupted: "Stop it, Bryce, I don't want my child to be stared at by the media all day long in the future."
Bryce looked at Grace with hatred: "You are just helping him shirk. There is no hope."
After supper, it was almost ten o'clock. Simon originally wanted to take the two women back to the apartment on Fifth Avenue, but Grace insisted on going home. After the woman became pregnant, she changed her apartment again. The location was near 66th Street and Park Avenue, a 15 The large flat floor on the 11th floor of the apartment building is mainly for privacy reasons.
They said goodbye to each other in the underground parking lot of the building. After watching the two women enter the elevator with a pair of female guards, Simon ordered the driver to leave.
In the elevator.
Although there were two people standing next to her, Bryce couldn't help but said: "Why don't you go to his place to spend the night?"
Grace caressed her belly, which was already showing her pregnancy, through her windbreaker, and said, "You have also been pregnant. You must know that women don't look good when they are pregnant. I don't want him to see it."
Bryce immediately rolled her eyes, and then added: "I look good even when I'm pregnant."
Grace just smiled: "I just asked you to leave with him, why don't you go?"
"I..." Bryce then glanced at the two female guards behind her. She couldn't say that she couldn't stand a certain guy's torment alone. After a moment, she dealt with it casually: "I decided to sever the relationship with him. I don't want to." Suddenly got pregnant."
Grace didn't answer this time.
However, I can be sure in my heart that unless there is an accident, my little man will not let his best friend get pregnant at all. It is not because of morality, but because he actually cares about his offspring very much, but Bryce is by no means a good person. mother's choice. If she hadn't raised her two children Rita and Ray so well, there probably wouldn't have been a little one in her belly at this time.
On the other side, bidding farewell to Grace and Grace, Simon ordered the driver to rush to a block at the intersection of Madison Avenue and 53rd Street in Midtown.
There is a 36-story high-end apartment building here that was just completed last year.
The girls from the Guofeng Art Troupe came to Manhattan to perform and needed accommodation. Coupled with the surrounding service team, there were a large number of people. Simon directly bought out this building that had not yet had time to open and used it as a dormitory apartment. The 36-story building has different apartment types. There are 150 properties in total, which is more than enough for the Chinese style art troupe, which has a team of more than 200 maids and maids, to live in.
In fact, this means that this building is a daughter's country at this time.
Simon arrived, and all the male bodyguards around him stayed outside. The security work was quietly taken over by a pair of female guards directly under the Wei family. They took the elevator to the 32nd floor of the building, rang the doorbell and entered an apartment. Ms. Liu and Simon changed A little girl named MiuMiu lives here together.
Unexpectedly, Simon would come. A waitress who opened the door was quite surprised, and then a group of women who were chatting in the living room stood up one after another.
Simon looked over and saw that except for the mother and daughter, the others should all be choreographers from the Guofeng Art Troupe.
"dad."
A certain little girl ran over first, with a happy expression, but she felt timid when she got closer.
Simon picked up Miu Miu, walked directly to the sofa and sat down, put the little girl on his lap, looked at the five or six women around him, and asked with a smile: "It's so late, what are you talking about?"
Simon spoke standard Mandarin. Others still didn't realize that Westeros would suddenly come in. Finally, Ms. Liu spoke first: "Simon, this is it. The last performance today. In the past two months, the art troupe has performed very well." If it’s a success, everyone can’t sleep, so come over and celebrate together.”
"It's time to celebrate."
Simon nodded and glanced at the red wine and fruit salad opened on the coffee table: "It seems that I showed up at the wrong time and disturbed you."
Ms. Liu quickly shook her head: "Of course not."
Seeing the woman's slightly panicked look, Simon changed the position of the little girl in his arms and said, "This performance was indeed a success. You will also be returning to China for the New Year soon. In this way, I will ask Chen to come up with a reward tomorrow." Everyone will have a plan.”
The women who still didn't dare to sit down all showed happy expressions, and Ms. Liu said: "Simon, then, I will thank you for everyone."
"You don't have to be so polite," Simon smiled and put his chin on the head of the little girl in his arms, causing the girl in his arms to struggle and chuckle, while looking at the other women: "But this celebration can only end here, or you You can take the wine to other apartments and drink it.”
When Simon said this, Ms. Liu's face suddenly turned rosy. When the other women saw this, they all left wisely.
However, the movements are not so neat.
If other women say they are not envious of Ms. Liu and her daughter, they would be lying.
Not to mention anything else, just from the allocation of apartments in this building, the classes within the Guofeng Art Troupe can be described as distinct. Let’s just say that the apartment where the mother and daughter live has a double-story duplex, six bedrooms and three living rooms, and a bunch of female maids and guards. It is so luxurious that it makes people jealous. But they, ordinary teachers, can only live in a two-bedroom apartment. In the apartment in the hall, there are no female maids or guards around, because they are service staff themselves.
Therefore, at this moment, if a man says to stay and continue chatting and having a few drinks, even if there is some hesitation in their hearts, it is basically difficult for them to think of rejecting him.
Even, if you can go further...
It's a pity that the man didn't speak after all.
After everyone dispersed, Ms. Liu and Angre, who followed in, quickly directed the maid to tidy up the living room, and then brought a bottle of newly opened red wine to the man who was chatting with his daughter.
After pouring a glass of red wine and handing it to the man, she couldn't help but glance at her daughter in the man's arms. Ms. Liu asked: "Simon, didn't you say you wanted to go on a global tour? Recently, many theaters have sent us Got the invitation?"
Simon held a goblet and fed the little girl like a doll in his arms a sip of red wine. He took a sip himself and said, "You make your own arrangements. If you want to perform, you can perform more performances. If you don't want to perform, take a break."
“I’ve heard that most countries’ performance seasons will be suspended for a month in February, so we’ll also start in March?”
"Okay." Simon nodded. Seeing the little girl raising her head again and sending the red wine over again, she smiled and said, "Children can't drink too much, they will become drunkards."
The girl in her arms deliberately took a big sip after hearing this, and after swallowing it, she opened a pair of bright black eyes and said coquettishly: "It was obviously dad who fed it to me."
"Okay, my bad." Simon drank the remaining red wine in one gulp, handed the empty glass to the woman next to him, and asked: "New Year is coming soon in China, when do you plan to go back?"
"I..." Ms. Liu paused and then said: "Miu Miu and I don't plan to return to China this year."
Simon was slightly puzzled, then reacted: "Is this the case for other people too?"
Ms. Liu nodded: "There are only about thirty girls from the art troupe who want to go back."
Simon shrugged slightly: "Forget it, you can just discuss these matters with Ange or Chen."
The little girl in her arms said: "Dad, when will you go to China again? I want to go back with you?"
"Oh, I'll call you next time."
"Really?"
"certainly."
"Then let's pull the hook."
Simon watched the little girl stretch out her little finger and asked deliberately: "What is the retractor?"
"It's just that it won't change after being hung on a hook for a hundred years."
"Oh fine."
Ms. Liu watched the intimate interaction between the man and her daughter, her eyes flickered slightly, and the smile on her face remained unchanged. After waiting for a moment, she remembered one more thing: "Simon, just now they, you know, unlike the girls, Dongyue and the others are basically... Have a family, I mean, they all want to bring some family over?”
"Okay," Simon said happily, "However, they can't get the green card directly this time. You know, even I spent a lot of effort to run this group of people at once last year. Others You can only apply for an ordinary visa first. By the way, if it is a child, the Westeros system has a special scholarship fund for the children of its employees."
When Ms. Liu heard this, she said: "This is great. Dongyue and the others must be very happy to hear this news."
Simon poured cold water on them: "The student aid fund only supports children of employees who are outstanding enough. Those who are very outstanding should not ask for trouble. However, as long as they can pass the review, the foundation can continue to support them through college, including in high school." We will also provide enough help during the process of entering university.”
Only then did Ms. Liu understand.
There is no free lunch in the world. This so-called student fund is obviously the man in front of him cultivating direct talents for his wealth empire.
Simon looked at the woman's stunned expression and said: "On your side, if the children of other relatives are outstanding enough, you can also recommend them. The standard is probably that they are smart and hardworking enough to have the potential to enter the Ivy League school. They were the same just now. As long as there are good seeds, I won’t limit the number.”
Ms. Liu nodded.
The little girl in her arms raised her face again: "Dad, can I go to an Ivy League school in the future?"
"Okay, my little Miu Miu can go to any school she wants to go to."
"But, I heard that it's difficult to get into those schools. Dad, I'm very stupid."
Simon pinched the girl's pretty face and said, "Miu Miu is certainly different from others. Even if she scores zero points, she can get into any school she wants."
"Then let's hook up again?"
"Well, I don't want this."
The little girl immediately pouted: "Dad is lying."
"Dad is not lying. The main reason is that I am afraid that you will be embarrassed if you go in. Let me tell you, Miu Miu, stupid children should never join the group of smart children. You will doubt your life."
"Actually, I'm not that stupid."
"Well, of course," Simon said, he picked up the little girl with a little force and put it next to her, and called Angre: "It's late, please take Miu Miu to rest."
The little girl reluctantly leaned on Simon's lap: "But, Dad, I'm not sleepy."
Simon lied to the child: "Be good, your mother and I have something very important to talk about. Children can't listen."
The girl blinked her eyes and turned her head again. When she saw her mother's blushing face and evasive eyes, she suddenly showed a clear expression, stuck out her tongue at Simon, and obediently allowed the housekeeper to hold her little hand and leave the living room.