I am Hollywood

[Chapter 1076: Warm Moments]

As night fell, the surrounding wilderness grew colder under the darkness, while the villa shone brightly with lights, filled with a warm and lively atmosphere.

After a day of preparation, delicious dishes made their way into the dining room. When the women lifted a beautifully roasted turkey onto the table, everyone began to gather. The usually empty dining room was finally filled to capacity.

Jeffrey smiled as he sat at the head of the table, gazing contentedly at the line of children on either side of the long table. Watching Emma, Hawaii, and Kevin, he resolved to urge his son to have more kids soon.

Emma, as always, was the most charming little one in the room. Once everyone was seated, she quickly located the most important person at the table, her bright eyes sparkling as she looked up at Jeffrey and brightly asked, "Grandpa Jeffrey, should we pray?"

"Of course," Jeffrey nodded with a smile. If Emma hadn't been sitting so far away, he would have loved to reach out and ruffle the little girl's hair.

Thanksgiving wasn't a religious holiday, so even though the men and women had different beliefs, it didn't stop everyone from joining hands and offering a prayer, giving thanks for all that needed gratitude.

After the prayer, Jeffrey picked up the carving knife to serve the turkey, the soft clinking sounds of plates and glasses filled the dining room. After he carved up the turkey, he noticed Eric piling roasted venison onto his plate. He smiled and pushed the large dish of roast venison toward Eric, then turned to Joanna, who sat next to him. "So, I heard from Eric this afternoon that Elia only lasted a month in school before dropping out?"

Joanna nodded, carefully pouring her daughter a glass of juice. "Yes, at first, we put Elia in first grade, but the teacher said she was always very restless in class and couldn't focus. We then tried putting her with third graders, but it was the same. I consulted with an education expert, and they said it was because Elia is too smart and doesn't fit in with her peers. If we force this, she might even develop anxiety. I had to let her drop out for now."

"Smartness is a good thing," Jeffrey remarked. "But not interacting with peers for too long isn't great either; she might become a loner."

"I always take Elia to group activities at school," Joanna replied, though her expression was still somewhat troubled. "But it hasn't worked well; Elia isn't interested in what the other kids enjoy."

"Joan, you really don't need to worry. Geniuses are always a bit different. I wish my Daniel could be as smart as Elia," Emily suddenly chimed in from across the table, turning to Hawaii, who appeared completely oblivious to the adults discussing her, and jokingly said, "How about Elia marrying our Daniel in the future?"

...

The little girl had been lost in her own world, her gaze drifting as she experimented with an interesting theory in her mind.

Colorless, transparent, crystals, cylinders, containers, silicates, no fixed melting point... this was simple enough.

Man, director, billionaire, $265 billion, aggressive investor, playboy, English, actor, high school student, orphan, screenwriter, 28 years old, obsessive-compulsive, lack of aggression, conservative temperament, writer, mature, family-oriented, responsible... After patiently collecting a full one hundred keywords, she suddenly realized there were too many contradictory elements in her father; it didn't seem to make sense.

Hmm, perhaps it could be broken down into two or three different people?

That didn't seem quite right.

...

The little girl's mind raced like a high-speed CPU processing thoughts. Initially, she had no intention of answering Emily's boring question, but noticing her mother's gentle gaze upon her, she finally mustered the energy to shake her head in refusal. "No."

"Why not?" Emily remained undeterred, gesturing to Eric. "Your dad has already agreed."

Eric shook his head with a smile. "That would depend on whether Daniel can win over Elia. I have no intention of interfering with my daughter's love life."

Hearing that, Emily instantly scoffed, "That's the most obvious lie I've ever heard in my life."

Everyone paused for a moment before Chris, Joanna, and Drew, those who understood the underlying meaning in Emily's words, couldn't help but burst into laughter. Even the usually quiet twins bent their heads to hide their smiling faces.

Despite being confused, Jeffrey joined in with the laughter. Daniel, just over a year old and in Emily's care, heard the commotion and started babbling along, making the dinner atmosphere even livelier.

Only Eric helplessly rubbed his nose, realizing that his 'Jealous-Daddy' mark was one he wouldn't be able to shake off his whole life.

After the laughter died down, Jeffrey noticed Eric's embarrassment. Seeing that Eric had nearly finished the venison on his plate, he kindly served him a few pieces from the dish and smoothly changed the topic. "The venison is great. If you like it, we could go hunt some more tomorrow to take back with you. The wild deer in the area have been practically overpopulating; they often come in groups to munch on the crops."

Eric nodded with a smile, not one to refuse.

...

After a lively dinner, the night was still young, and being in the countryside, they couldn't head out to partake in various Thanksgiving activities like they would in the city.

Thus, Jeffrey suggested they all watch a movie together. Although he had retired for several years, his villa naturally boasted a private screening room, though there weren't enough seats -- only eight -- but it made everyone feel more intimately packed together. A few extra temporary chairs were added, and everyone huddled together.

Jeffrey rummaged through his collection of movie copies and pulled out Eric's earliest directorial effort, Home Alone. This film was the perfect bonding time for everyone, and upon rewatching it years later, they all appeared excited and sprinkled with nostalgia.

They didn't settle down until late into the night.

...

The next morning, Eric surprisingly woke up a bit early. Or rather, it wasn't quite accurate to say he woke up early; it should have been well into the morning, but Virginia, who always gets up early, still hugged him quietly today. Although all three of them were used to sleeping together in East Hampton, since they were guests at Jeffrey's house, it wouldn't be appropriate to be too bold.

As the soft morning light filtered through the curtains, he glanced at the gorgeous sleeping face of the woman beside him. Perhaps it was because he had overindulged in venison last night, but Eric felt increasingly spirited and leaned over to plant a gentle kiss.

Virginia subconsciously responded to his kiss until Eric couldn't help but slide down a bit, gently biting her chest. It was then that she woke up, laughingly pushing him away. Glancing at the alarm clock on the bedside, she sat up and said, "It's already eight o'clock! We need to prepare breakfast."

Eric tried to pull Virginia back under the covers. "Joan must have gotten up by now; everyone won't mind if we sleep a little longer."

"I don't want to be laughed at," Virginia shot Eric a look, grabbing her bra to put it on. She had been well-satisfied the night before and didn't feel particularly inclined at the moment. However, seeing Eric clutching her waist like a boy yearning for candy, Virginia's heart softened, but she quickly found another reason. "I need to go wake Kevin up too; kids shouldn't sleep in too much. That'll leave them with bad habits as they grow up."

Eric helplessly released Virginia and lay back down. "Kevin will definitely question whether he's your biological son when he grows up."

Virginia quickly dressed, got out of bed, and grabbed a hair tie to tie up her hair, leaning down to kiss the pouting little man. She smiled, "As long as he's yours, that's all that matters; I'll just pretend to be the stepmother."

"Go away, just go away," Eric waved his hand in disgust. "I'll have to tell my son he must never eat the red apples you offer."

"Ha," Virginia laughed, "Or should I get Drew to come keep you company?"

"Forget it," Eric yawned widely and suddenly sat up. "I'll get up too."

...

Eric and Virginia walked out of their bedroom together. The villa was surprisingly quiet; Joanna, Emily, and the twins were already up, bustling about in the kitchen. Joanna and the twins were fine, but Emily clearly looked like she hadn't had enough sleep, putting on a facade of a diligent daughter-in-law.

The elders were known to sleep less, but Jeffrey had indulged in a few drinks last night and hadn't woken up yet.

After exchanging morning greetings, Virginia went to wake the little ones, while Eric stepped outside the villa.

The fog was heavy that day, making everything blurry just a few meters away. Perhaps due to the fog, the temperature didn't feel as low; yet, the foggy countryside villa gave a sudden sense of being on an isolated island.

Such weather wasn't suitable for running outside. Eric stood in the open courtyard, stretching his body. Jeffrey's three pit bulls had accepted this group over the past couple of days; seeing him emerge from the villa, they eagerly popped out from their kennel, excitedly circling him, clearly wanting to go for a walk.

"This atmosphere is perfect for shooting a horror film," Chris's voice resonated behind him. Eric turned around and replied, "Yeah, but that's just because we've lived in the city for too long. Most of the countryside is like this."

Aside from a few coastal metropolitan areas, the population density in other parts of North America was actually very low. Many mid-sized inland towns only had one or two thousand residents, and villages composed of seven to eight families were quite common.

Chris chuckled as he joined Eric on an outdoor bench in the garden. "I received an email from Boston last night. They've reached an agreement with several major record companies; we won't have to pay much at all. All we need to do is enhance our filtering and blocking of pirated music."

Before the IPO, the prominent record companies, desperate to resolve litigation disputes while Yahoo was preparing for its IPO, had presented a series of harsh conditions regarding internet piracy lawsuits. This ultimately led Yahoo to abandon hopes of settling before going public.

After Yahoo's IPO was a big success, those record companies quickly lost their bargaining power. They understood that without the IPO's pressure, the likelihood of gaining an advantage through these drawn-out disputes was very low.

Moreover, if they didn't strike a quick deal with Yahoo to crack down on internet piracy, the longer this dragged on, the worse it would be for the record industry. So their stance softened, and they quickly reached a settlement based on conditions agreed before Yahoo's IPO.

While curtailing internet piracy might impact the sales of Fireflyer, Firefly Electronics' MP3 player, it actually aligned with the fundamental interests of the entire industry, including Firefly Electronics. If the music industry faced a complete decline due to piracy, the motive to produce original music would vanish, thus shrinking the market for portable players significantly.

That's why the major record companies lowered their tones and proposed a settlement, and Yahoo showed a very proactive attitude.

Nevertheless, upon hearing Chris's words, Eric couldn't help but chuckle. "Last night? Did Emily not kick you out of the bedroom?"

After finishing the movie, it was already past ten o'clock, and after socializing a bit longer, they all wandered off well past eleven. While Eric often worked late into the night, he truly found it hard to imagine Chris checking emails after eleven on such an occasion.

Chris shrugged. "Emily had no reason to kick me out because she was also seated with her laptop."

"Alright then," Eric laughed, "Speaking of which, I still haven't seen the samples from this year's Victoria's Secret show. What's the editing progress like?"

The previous two Victoria's Secret shows had faced quality dips due to the compressed scheduling between the live show and TV broadcast. To remedy this, they extended the production time for this upcoming show, aiming to air it in early December.

Chris shook his head. "I'm not sure about that; you can ask Emily later."

After chatting casually for a while, Joanna came from the villa, calling them to breakfast, and the two rose to head back inside.

...

While they enjoyed that brief escape from work in the rural parts of Maryland, after only three days at Jeffrey's farm, they all had to leave on Sunday morning.

Their private plane took off from the Frederick Airport and landed at Eric's private airport on Long Island. Chris and Emily headed straight for Manhattan with their son, while Eric first took the women and children back to East Hampton. He lingered there for half a day before returning to Los Angeles with Drew.

*****

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