"What if I didn't ask you to take responsibility? Would you sleep with me?" Avril narrowed her pretty eyes slightly, her full lips pouting to the side, giving off a bit of a sulky vibe. She was undeniably cute and sweet, especially after wearing that ethereal costume, which gave her an enchanting aura.
James found her charming, but he was already surrounded by many women, and after such nonstop daily "fieldwork," he didn't feel a strong need. Besides, after this time, he was no longer as eager as before. Anytime he wanted, he could have women at his disposal. It's like being so full you don't feel hungry; food's available if he wants, but he can just leave it too.
"Don't worry, I'm not interested in your body," James said calmly. As he saw Avril's face drop in disappointment, he added with a smile, "But I do like seeing you smile. I always have."
"Really?" Avril's eyes lit up with delight again. "When you played that little princess, I thought to myself that if I ever made it big, I'd spoil and protect you," James shared, making Avril happy. Having someone say they enjoyed her performance was something to boast about.
Yet, knowing this man only liked her past self and not her present self, Avril glanced at James skeptically and teased, "Uncle, you don't have some kind of child fetish, do you?"
"Pfft..." James nearly spat out his drink, coughing for several moments. After recovering, he replied, "Get lost, I'm not a pervert."
"Perverts never admit they're perverts," Avril said with mock seriousness.
James gave her a sidelong glance, "Do you not want the lead role anymore?"
Avril quickly retracted her head, put on a pleasing smile, and apologized, "Sorry, sorry, such a nice man as Uncle couldn't possibly be a pervert, right?"
James snorted coldly, eyeing her like he was mulling over how to deal with her. Avril's smile froze, and she glanced around nervously. Seeing a juice in front of her, she grabbed it and said, "Since I said something wrong, I'll punish myself with three glasses."
With that, she picked up a tall glass filled with juice and downed it. Then she eagerly reached for the large bottle on the table.
Her assistant, He Xiaojing, clenched her fists. Those three glasses of sugary juice were going to push today's calorie count over the limit. The assistant wanted to stop Avril from drinking more but struggled to find a polite way to intervene because it was part of socializing. She could only sit on the side, worried.
Avril was fine with the second glass, but by the third, she was pretty full and couldn't really eat anything. Sometimes, three full glasses of juice were no more pleasant than a small glass of liquor. James continued mischievously adding food to her plate, grinning as she ate.
Avril looked bitter, but under the temptation of becoming the lead actress, she swallowed her grievances. Then she picked up half a glass of juice and defiantly toasted James.
Director Park saw their intimate banter and didn't dare interrupt to toast himself, so he turned to talk work with Winnie Morgan, who had arrived in a hurry.
When she heard that the boss wanted to invest three billion in a drama, Winnie was dumbfounded. She had rushed to the hotel by train and couldn't even focus on eating, driven by anxiety.
Their company had just set up, with not even a stray cat around, the offices weren't even cleaned yet, and they were already diving into a three-billion project? And it was the most complex, cumbersome project of filming a drama.
The company didn't even have a finance department yet, and suddenly she was told to jump in as producer. Who could handle that?
Faced with the director's barrage of professional questions, Winnie could only vaguely suggest, "Let's eat first and talk about it back at the office."
She was under immense pressure. This kind of project was beyond her experience. Although she had been cramming knowledge intensively over the past few nights, it had only been two days.
After somehow finishing the meal, she said goodbye to the director and got into James's car. Ignoring Avril's presence, she turned to her boss in the back seat and said, "Boss, our company urgently needs to recruit people. We can't wait around online anymore; we need a special headhunting firm to find experienced industry professionals."
James didn't really understand all this but wasn't fond of seasoned professionals acting high and mighty. Those people, with their networks and connections, often acted like they'd be doing him a favor by working for him.
James hadn't expected to make money right away with this company. He was prepared to spend freely, burn cash however needed.
"Give fresh graduates a chance. Don't hire old hands. It's okay to make mistakes and lose some money as long as they're earnest," James responded.
Winnie exclaimed, "Boss, you're going to hire young people for all rolesâchief planner, executive producer, production manager, coordinator, finance, operations?"
"Why not?" James replied nonchalantly. "Treat this project as practice for you. I'll give you six months to grow, and then we'll eliminate those who don't measure up, keeping only the diligent and hardworking talents for even bigger projects."
"This... this..." Winnie was utterly taken aback. How much money does the boss have to treat a three-billion project as practice?
"Stop dithering," James interrupted Winnie impatiently. "You don't need to worry too much. Just spend the money on Avril. Our current priority is to make her famous. The three billion is just for the production costsâgo boldly and get quotes for additional PR costs."
Winnie, sitting in the front, turned her head, her mouth agape in astonishment, thrown into mental turmoil. They were already investing three billion and still planning to add more funds? And she was told not to worry?
How could one not worry about that kind of money? It's easy for you to sit back and enjoy; when you ask where the money went, how am I supposed to report that back to you? You have money, and you can be capricious. A few billion-dollar projects are just words to you. But I have to be accountable inside and out.
From project approvals, assembling the core creative team, to calculating production costs at the start; managing, coordinating, and effectively advancing production during the middle; and negotiating and finding distribution platforms, promoting our films at the endâif neither of us manages it, who will?
Just handing three billion to that little director to do whatever he wants? Who knows where he might splurge if no one's watching?
Winnie always figured James was only irresponsible with the young girls, but it seems he's just as carefree with her, an older woman. Now their company's just two people, and even though the boss didn't care to hire more, wasn't she supposed to handle everything?
Winnie was nearly at her wit's end. She glanced at the unflappable Jay Johnson, driving with a serene expression wholly opposite of her state. Despite both being paid handsomely, he only had to drive, while she had to face so much. She was so frustrated she wanted to shake him.