Chapter 34

What?

Upon hearing Lamor's words, the other three people at the dining table were taken aback. Laru and Bery exchanged glances, so this Asian handsome guy isn't just a passerby, but someone who had planned to meet up?

Willis looked at his eldest daughter, then at the young man, his deep smile lines widening with a more intense smile: "Is that so? But I still can't give you an autograph or take a photo, as it wouldn't be fair to the other customers here." He said this while putting his phone aside.

"Yes, I understand." Ye Wei smiled, thinking to himself: Sheriff, I don't want any damn autograph or photo, I want an opportunity.

Seeing that the waiter had not yet served the meal and that Willis did not seem angry, the frown from earlier probably wasn't due to any worries. He took a deep breath, quickly analyzing the situation, and smiled as he said, "Just being able to see you in person is enough, and of course, it would be even better to talk about movies. I love movies. I really have to thank Lamor for her help; she's a warm-hearted and good person."

Lamor drank her pre-meal coffee with a blank expression, her eyes saying, "Done with the introduction? Why don't you step aside? Don't forget, this old guy has a bad temper."

"Young people liking movies is great." Willis maintained his smile, showing no signs of impatience.

Ye Wei was not the kind of person who didn't know when to stop. The person in front of him was a great actor, and his true thoughts wouldn't easily show on his face.

Willis had already said three sentences, and it was about time to step back. After one more sentence...

Ye Wei continued with his prepared line, smiling: "Mr. Willis, seeing you in person feels very different from watching you on the screen. It feels like a real superhero exists, along with his three adorable daughters."

"Ha ha!" Willis laughed, looking quite pleased, though it was unclear if he was genuinely flattered. He glanced at his daughters, "Watching them grow up makes me feel old too."

"Yeah, you old monster..." Lamor propped her chin on her hand, rolling her eyes. This old guy hated it when people called him old, finding it ridiculous.

"No, not at all." Ye Wei smiled flatteringly, not stupid enough to say "Yeah."

"Hey, how old are you?" At this moment, the second daughter, Laru, suddenly asked.

This gave Ye Wei a chance to continue speaking, but it had its pros and cons. The downside was that Willis would soon know his real age, which was younger than he looked. But he had to answer truthfully: "15 years old, turning 16 in February next year."

"Oh, you don't look it." Laru said, sizing up the Asian handsome guy again. Willis, however, didn't seem to care, his expression unchanged.

The third daughter, Bery, suddenly asked, "What school do you go to?" Ye Wei replied, "Harvard-Westlake, I'm in ninth grade." Bery, being only 9 years old, asked whatever came to mind: "Why not Wildwood School? The one Lamor goes to."

Ye Wei's heart skipped a beat. He had to answer in a way that would please everyone, as Harvard-Westlake was much stricter than Wildwood. A poor answer could make it seem like Willis was a bad father, Lamor was stupid, and the family was broken due to divorce...

Cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck. He couldn't hesitate, or he would seem insincere...

In an instant, thousands of thoughts flashed through his mind. He then smiled and said, "Just because of color preference. Chinese people like red, and I'm no exception. Harvard-Westlake's school colors are red and black, while Wildwood's are green."

"Oh, so you're Chinese." Bery, completely unaware that she had almost stabbed him, continued, "China is on the other side of the world, right? You can dig a tunnel to get there."

"Yes." Ye Wei nodded, "I'm a third-generation Chinese immigrant, born in Los Angeles."

"Which friend of yours?" Laru asked again, this time directed at Lamor, with a curious look: "From Harvard-Westlake?" Lamor replied, "Lily Collins." Laru exclaimed, "Right, she goes to Harvard-Westlake. Are you and she good friends?" This time, she was asking Ye Wei.

"Um, I asked her for help. We and some other classmates are working on a film project." Ye Wei smiled, realizing he was being questioned by two little girls, which wasn't a good situation. Who knew what else they would ask...

"Actually, how is Harvard-Westlake? I'm thinking about going there for middle school." Sure enough, Laru asked again.

Since this question was about the second daughter's education, Willis seemed interested, glancing at Ye Wei, wanting to hear his evaluation of the school.

Another dangerous question! Ye Wei couldn't overthink it, feeling like he was walking on thin ice. He smiled and said, "It's pretty good. Most students and parents think it's the best school in the universe, but I think they're a bit overexcited. It's definitely one of the best middle schools. The most interesting thing is that you can eat food from all over the world in the cafeteria."

"Cool." Laru asked casually, not pursuing it further.

Taking this opportunity, Ye Wei knew he should step back and said, "I won't disturb you anymore. I wish you a pleasant breakfast."

"Okay." Willis nodded with a smile, and the three sisters didn't try to keep him.

Ye Wei turned and walked towards the door, taking a deep breath after a few steps, unsure if he had messed up.

If he were to score himself out of 10, he would give himself a 6. Although Willis didn't seem impatient, he hadn't mentioned anything about movies. His image was still that of a 15-year-old ninth-grader, a fan who wanted to meet his idol, and nothing more.

Under the gaze of some customers, Ye Wei returned to the railing on the steps, guarding the path they would take, occasionally glancing at the Willis family, paying attention to their mood changes.

Meanwhile, the waiter began serving the Willis family their meals, including fresh crab cakes, grilled steak, eggs, and more. They started eating and chatting.

After a short while, Laru noticed something out of the corner of her eye and said, "That's strange, he hasn't left yet, that Asian boy." Lamor glanced towards the door and said, "He probably wants to say a few more words to the old guy." Bery turned her head, "Where? Where?"

This caught Willis's attention, and he frowned slightly.

"Why is he holding a briefcase?" Laru had a new question. Lamor, cutting her steak, replied, "Who knows?" Laru laughed, "He looks like a poor little dog standing there." Lamor, chewing on her steak, mumbled, "He likes it."

"Should I ask the waiter to make him move away?" Seeing his daughters bothered, Willis said.

"Yes!" Bery nodded, though she had to turn her body to see Ye Wei.

"Waiter!" Willis called out immediately.

The male waiter quickly left the Willis family's table and approached the puzzled Ye Wei, politely giving him an eviction notice: "Sir, you standing here is affecting other customers' dining experience. Mr. Willis asks you to move away."

"Oh, of course!" Ye Wei couldn't help but change his expression slightly, feeling a bit down, thinking he had messed up and made them unhappy.

He quickly took his coffee and briefcase and walked down the steps. At this moment, a female waiter called out, "Wait, sir, you haven't taken your toast."

"OK, OK, give it to me." Ye Wei saw the female waiter approaching with a plate of three or four slices of toast, but he had no free hands. He had to put down his coffee, take the toast in his mouth, and then pick up his coffee, quickly walking out of the restaurant.

"Ha ha, he's so funny!" Bery laughed at his awkward appearance, "His mouth is so wide open, ha ha!"

Lamor and Laru actually felt a bit uncomfortable, seeing a peer in such a sorry state, driven away by them.

Willis chuckled, "Ignore him, let's have breakfast. In a few days, it's Thanksgiving break. Where should we go for a trip? You decide."

On the other side, Ye Wei hurriedly left the restaurant area, came to the opposite parking lot, and quickly devoured the toast, which was hard to swallow. He patted his back a few times, drank the coffee in one gulp, threw the cup into a nearby trash can, and coughed, looking at the table where the superstar family was enjoying their time together.

I need an opportunity... I need an opportunity...

Ye Wei looked up at the clear blue sky. This was the first time he had experienced such a humble and cautious situation, not in a dream.

Although it seemed friendly on the surface, he was nothing. One wrong word, one wrong move, and the big shots would turn on him.

No one said this was easy... Ye Wei thought of his family, the friends from the Dream Chasers Alliance, and Lily... He silently said to himself, "Welcome to the real world, Wei! But it's nothing, everyone, everything will be fine."

He took out his phone and sent a text to Lily: "So far, so good! Haven't talked about the script yet, will do so after they finish their meal. I'll let you know the result."

Almost immediately, Lily replied, "Good luck, just do your best. :-)"

Ye Wei smiled, thinking, Girl, your smile is so beautiful.

Half an hour passed, and it was 8:30. Despite the distance, Ye Wei kept an eye on the target table. He saw Willis call the waiter, probably to pay the bill. He cleared his throat and quickly walked back, with the task: in the next five minutes, to pique Willis's interest in "Little Miss Sunshine" and hand him the script to take away!

Back at the restaurant steps, seeing the waiter leave, Ye Wei immediately stepped forward, smiling at the four people getting up to leave, "Mr. Willis, ladies, hello again, it's me, Ye Wei."

"Oh, is there anything else?" Willis looked at him, the three girls glanced at him, and Bery couldn't help but laugh, "You were so funny earlier."

Ye Wei nodded at the little girl and said to her father, "This time, besides wanting to meet my idol, I have a script I hope you'll take a look at."

He spoke quickly but clearly, "It's called 'Little Miss Sunshine,' a family road comedy with dark humor, a commercial film within a literary story. It's been in the works for over three years, with 30 revisions. It was originally a Focus Features project, but a few days ago, Focus transferred it to the Dream Chasers Alliance film company, which I founded."

"Oh?" Willis seemed to be listening as he walked out, but his expression was indifferent, and it was unclear if he was really listening.

Ye Wei followed closely, blocking other customers trying to approach the superstar and not giving the three girls a chance to speak, continuing, "It's a crazy story: a dysfunctional and peculiar middle-class family goes to a children's beauty pageant, and chaos ensues."

This was a carefully designed one-sentence summary he had prepared last night, choosing words like crazy (Crazy), failed (Fail), peculiar (Freak), and chaos (General-Turmoil) that were rich in conflict. Individually, these words were ordinary, but when combined with a middle-class family, they created a powerful context.

The summary led to a brief introduction, the introduction to an outline, and the outline to the script itself, from one minute to ten minutes, from ten minutes to an hour, and then to a formal meeting—this was the "elevator pitch."

"What's interesting about it?" Willis finally responded with a substantive question, but it wasn't out of interest, rather a query.

Ye Wei's body was drenched in cold sweat again. All one-sentence summaries were pale, and sometimes big shots would be interested, sometimes not, largely depending on their mood. The same Willis might be excited by this summary tomorrow but find it trash the day after.

And now, the big shot didn't like this summary!

But he couldn't waste a single precious second! He couldn't overthink it and had to continue his pitch, suppressing his emotions: "The entire script is full of humor. The drug-addicted grandfather dies halfway through, the little girl who has been preparing for the pageant for a long time ends up performing an adult dance on stage, and everyone else's dreams are shattered.

But it's not a tragedy; it's dark humor. The audience will laugh at their failures but feel deeply moved. In the end, they don't win the competition, but they learn the true meaning of life. That life is not just about success and failure, and public life is never as important as private life. Family members always love each other."

"Oh, that's nice, quite meaningful." Willis seemed to praise it, already at the Hummer, taking out his keys and unlocking the car... He added, "Give me the script, I'll read it when I have time."

Damn! Ye Wei frowned, knowing that the other party had no interest at all. Giving him the script would be useless, 99% likely to be thrown into the pile of unread scripts or given to a script reader, and forgotten in a few days.

Reality always deviates from the plan. From the first word of his pitch to now, it hadn't even been two minutes, not the five minutes he had planned. He had intended to take out the script and play a harmonica tune to create a mood and show sincerity, as Willis had been in a blues band since he was young, releasing albums, and he was a harmonica player.

The script itself was beautifully packaged, with a short cigar on the cover, one of the grandfather's remaining items, and Willis liked to smoke short cigars. This cigar would make the 120-page script stand out and show sincerity.

But now, none of this mattered. The first step had failed; Willis had no interest in the script.

At this moment, the rear door of the Hummer opened, and Laru and Bery got in. The front door also opened, and Lamor got in the passenger seat, while Willis moved to the driver's seat...

Ye Wei stood by the car, forgetting to breathe, either immediately handing over the script and his business card or saying something to change the outcome...

What to say? What should he say!?

Everything seemed to pause. Willis slowly approached the car door, and countless thoughts flashed through Ye Wei's mind like lightning, his peripheral vision suddenly noticing Lamor, Laru, and Bery...

Suddenly, he seized one of the thoughts: Willis was a father with three daughters, and his three daughters were right there!

"Mr. Willis! Please imagine a movie scene: you and your family finally arrive at the beauty pageant, but you're a little late. The registration officer is a mean old lady who refuses to let you register. You look at your disappointed daughter, and though you're extremely angry, you kneel down to the old lady, begging her to give your daughter a chance! What do you think of this scene? It's from 'Little Miss Sunshine'!"