In the western suburbs of Boston, in a mansion in the affluent area of Weston.
This is the early morning of May 11th.
on Monday.
When the man got up, Maria Bezluk was shy and continued to pretend to be asleep despite waking up. As a result, she fell asleep again and woke up again more than an hour later.
Definitely can't stay in bed anymore.
I sat up and saw that it was already a quarter past seven. I could feel the light coming from the gaps in the curtains. The sunshine on the east coast of the United States in early summer was perfect and the temperature was also appropriate. However, when I smelled a certain faint fragrance that still lingered in the air , Maria still felt a little hot on her face.
The little man stayed here last night and did not do any bad things. He just let her and Ulyana do their best, and then he did another bad thing.
He gently covered his chest, wondering if it would be enough to feed the child later.
Looking next to her, Ulyanna Meretskova was sleeping soundly. This bad woman deliberately bullied her last night in order to please him. Maria couldn't feel the hatred for some reason. At this time, she was still careful not to wake her up. other side.
He got out of bed quietly, washed himself, and came downstairs.
Today is Monday. Maria has no classes in the morning, but she remembers that Ulyanna does. She thinks about waking her up later. Maria is very pious and serious about being a teacher at a top school in the world like Harvard. It's obvious that Ulyana doesn't care that much, but she prefers it... It seems that Ulyana's class is quite popular among students.
Maria felt that it was probably because she was studying Ukrainian, which is a relatively niche subject, while Ulyanna was taking advanced mathematics, which was a relatively popular subject.
Moreover, even Maria, who has no ambition to win, has to admit that even though Maria does not feel that she is much worse than Ulyana in appearance, but in terms of temperament, Ulyana can indeed leave her far behind.
Simon was already dining in the restaurant.
Maria was led by the maid to a small restaurant in the villa. The man was sitting at the dining table, with two strollers on the left and right, each looked after by a maid, and the sound of a baby could be heard.
Subconsciously, he quickened his pace and arrived exactly in front of his baby.
Maria glanced at her son who was holding his little foot in the stroller and putting it into his mouth. Her expression was gentle, and then she felt a little uneasy inside. She was worried that he would think that she only cared about her child. She turned to the other side and looked at him. Come over and take the initiative to talk: "Mike will be 1 year old soon. Can you come over to celebrate his birthday then?"
Michael Westero is Ulyana's child, born on May 20 last year, two months before Maria's Daniel.
Simon motioned for the woman to sit down next to him and said, "I'll check the time, but it's very likely that she won't be able to come."
Maria is a little disappointed, which means that when her Daniel celebrates his first birthday on July 11, he will probably not come.
The waitress moved the stroller to the side and pulled out a chair for her. Maria sat down next to the man. In response to the waitress's question about what she wanted for breakfast, she turned to look at him again and asked for words again: "You What have you been doing lately?”
Simon knew that the woman actually didn't care about this matter, so he smiled and said: "Busy, all kinds of busy, daily life of a billionaire, how about you, Victor, the others, and Annette?"
Maria smiled softly. She couldn't feel the gap between herself and the man in provoking the topic. It was obviously a good idea to talk about the children who made her proud with a mother who put most of her thoughts on her children. At the beginning, the woman unconsciously talked about the children's recent trivial matters in detail. Anton's spoken English was still a bit unsatisfactory. Victor had another girlfriend. The girl seemed too lively for her. I am a little worried. Constantine likes to play basketball and is considering whether to hire a coach for him. But he feels that basketball is too easy to get injured, blah blah blah.
Maria didn't stop until Ulyana, who was in a lazy posture because she had just gotten up but still looked like a queen, walked into the restaurant and sat down on the other side.
The dominance between the two is clear at a glance.
Maria occasionally felt that she should resist. For example, she should pay more attention to the fund that the two of them jointly managed. Also, the two children, at least Ulyana's own children, would definitely require her to spend more time. But every time these thoughts quietly retreated in front of Ulyanna's natural and taken for granted, and she comforted herself in her heart that it was nothing anyway. Ulyanna studied mathematics and might be better at managing money.
So it became what it is today.
Even Ulyana's other two children have Maria to worry about.
Those two little guys were also pitiful. They were sent back to Ukraine by Ulyana. As a result, Ulyana's relatives didn't pay much attention to them, and they kept asking for alimony from Ulyana. This woman simply didn't reason.
Maria accidentally found out about it, inquired about the situation of the two children in Ukraine, reported it to the Dume Cape Manor, and then took the siblings over by herself.
Ulyana made it clear that she didn't want to care about it, and Maria got angry with her once in a rare moment before she allowed the woman to accept it. However, she was still sent to boarding school and could only come and stay for two days on the weekend.
Maria had to be kind enough to send someone to pick her up every Friday, otherwise Ulyana would definitely forget about it.
Inside the restaurant.
Maria only reacted when she thought of this incident.
This is Ulyana's villa. Looking around, it's breakfast time and it's Monday morning. Where are the poor siblings who should be here during the weekend
No one was found, so she glanced across the man to the other side. Ulyanna was talking to the man about the recent projects of the fund they were responsible for. Seeing her glance over, she just responded with her eyes and continued.
Maria was helpless, the child was obviously sent away early by Ulyanna.
However, no matter how dissatisfied this woman is, she will never leave her child on the roadside.
On the contrary, I had a small urge to complain to the man, but after thinking about it, I gave up. Men would definitely not like a woman who snitches in private.
It's nothing more than putting more thought into it, and it's not a big deal.
After breakfast, I thought it was time to say goodbye, so I asked carefully and found out that the man was going to visit several universities here today to review some research projects in person.
Maria only had class in the afternoon, and she was looking forward to it. It would be great if she could be with him.
After all, he is already her man, even if Maria is always shy about this relationship in front of outsiders, but now that he is the father of her child, Maria unconsciously regards him as someone to rely on.
It’s better to hold back this thought.
After all, there are still two little ones to take care of, and I need to ask the maid here where Ulyanna left the two siblings, and where she lives.
A lot of things.
Ulyanna, who thought she had classes in the morning, would definitely not be able to go. When she was sending the man away, she found that he had also got into the car. Maria couldn't help but remind her, and the reply she received was that she had already found a substitute teacher. , take leave today.
Watching the man's car leave the manor gate, Maria, who was standing in front of the villa, finally felt a little aggrieved.
Damn woman!
Boston not only has Harvard and MIT, but also three other highly ranked universities in the United States, which together form the top five prestigious schools in Boston.
Simon's trip today is related to this.
In fact, it is still a 3G plan.
Simon has to personally participate in the review of some 3G plan-related research projects. Of course, Simon can only be regarded as an observer. The review is mainly carried out by a dedicated team of experts, and then Simon pays.
Simon worked really non-stop on Monday, passing seven projects such as 'Hibernation Mechanism of Mammals' and 'Research on High Temperature Superconducting Materials' until dusk fell. Today, he did not stay here anymore, but took a helicopter to fly. To East Hampton, Long Island.
The schedule was arranged in advance, and tonight was reserved for Grace and Bryce who came for the last time.
Tuesday's daytime schedule is similar to Monday's, targeting several university-related projects here in New York.
Simon is now throwing money everywhere.
So on Wednesday, we set off again to return to the west coast.
This is May 13th.
Two things, one is the opening of the 51st Cannes Film Festival. In addition to Zhang Guoshi's "Heroes", Daenerys has also been shortlisted for two other films this year. She is still a force that cannot be ignored in Cannes.
The other one is about the other side of the ocean.
Also today, local time, China's China National Offshore Oil Corporation officially announced plans to conduct an overseas IPO and announced a list of cooperative investment banks. Among them, Wall Street's main focus is Salomon, which Simon had known privately some time ago.
It should now be called Solomon Smith Barney.
This is a new investment bank formed after the merger of Citigroup and Travelers Group, as well as the merger of Salomon Brothers and Smith Barney Retail. Meiban Retail, at first glance, seems to be a supermarket chain, but of course it is not. The retail here is the distribution of stocks and bonds.
Backed by the newly merged financial and insurance giants Citigroup and Travelers, the strength of the new Salomon Smith Barney cannot be underestimated, and CNOOC may have taken a fancy to this.
Simon just looked on.
Know in advance that in addition to the Westeros system who had early contact with this project, Goldman Sachs, Morgan, Lehman and other companies were also very interested, and finally gave it to Solomon Smith Barney, which actually offended a lot of people.
You can imagine what these people will do in private.
After all, due to his current position, Simon's position is the Westeros system, not even a country, but the Westeros family. Therefore, even if he is inclined, he will not do anything specifically.
The day after returning to the West Coast, Daenerys Entertainment’s first major film this summer, “L.A. Confidential,” had its premiere at the Chinese Theater in Los Angeles. Director Brian De Palma, the four male and female protagonists , Hugh Jackman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey and Nicole Kidman all dressed up.
Even the least famous among them is Hugh Jackman, whose image as a graceful priest in "Contact" last year left a considerable impression on the audience.
This time he starred as a policeman with a violent personality, and became the leading actor over 'Superman' Brad Pitt, which aroused widespread discussion in the media, and thus attracted more and more people to pay attention to this movie.
However, the key is actually the movie itself.
On the second day of the premiere, word-of-mouth ban on the film was lifted, and with Simon personally checking it in private, the new version of "L.A. Confidential" was no less than the original version, and it did not repeat the mistakes of Palma's "The Black Dahlia" The film's comprehensive media score reached 9.1 points, reaching a classic level. The "Hollywood Reporter" also praised it as Brian De Palma's best movie in the past 10 years.
On Friday, May 15th, "L.A. Confidential" officially opened on a large scale, with the number of screens reaching 2,934, which is already a blockbuster-level treatment.
The other is the week before hitting the front station.
During the box office week from May 8th to May 14th, it is worth mentioning that "Postcard", a collaboration between Fa Ge and Bai Ge Wu, is after all a collaboration between two of the most famous Chinese filmmakers in Hollywood, and they also have "Face Off", With the foreshadowing of projects such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and its fairly good reputation, the film's box office reached US$18.73 million in its first week. Compared with the cost of US$30 million, as long as the film does not plummet in the future, it is expected to reach 40 million US dollars. Even if it is not a surprise, the box office is enough to satisfy Paramount. After all, with such results, the cost can be recovered with a little overseas purchase.
After the first-week box office results were released, Paramount celebrated a little on Friday night.
Heading into the weekend, it’s time to return to Cannes, where “Heroes” premieres this Saturday.
According to a common practice at certain film festivals, the earlier a film is released, the less likely it is to win an award. This time the Cannes Film Festival is expected to last for 13 days, and the filming will not end until May 25. "Heroes" will have its premiere on May 16. By the time the festival ends, it will almost be forgotten by the audience.
However, this is actually the effect Daenerys Entertainment wants.
Regarding the quality of "Hero", Zhang Guoshi is obviously very attentive to this. There is no doubt about this, but it is really far from winning the award. After all, compared to Zhang Guoshi's previous films, this "Hero" has too strong a commercial atmosphere, and Cannes also feels this I know full well that the reason for accepting "Hero" into the main competition this time is just to win over this famous filmmaker and at the same time increase the popularity of the film festival.
As for giving prizes, that's impossible.
After all, last year's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has been given once, twice in a row, with similar themes, and everyone will have opinions.
Therefore, in the final analysis, this is just a promotion for "Hero". It can be regarded as a film festival premiere, and then a wave of hype is enough to let everyone who should know know that such a movie is coming.
As for the impact that not winning an award at the film festival might have on the film
It's actually not that serious.
In China, an investment of 30 million US dollars is equivalent to 250 million US dollars for a super blockbuster. Just this gimmick is enough for many people to enter the theater this summer.
In North America, Daenerys has also arranged a complete set of publicity plans. For example, Ang Lee and Zhang Guoshi will be invited to participate in interviews and joint publicity. In addition, Westerners will be familiar with the faces of Asian stars in the film, which will support the opening of the film. The former popularity is more than enough.