Volume 4: White Devil Chapter 195 Never Believe in the American Dream
Stephen always thought that Tommy would do as he guessed, using his money and good looks, which were not as handsome as his but still acceptable, to hit on this actress named Sandra Bullock, who had only starred in two low-budget independent films.
It turned out that he was wrong again, because Tommy was calling Zoe Winters, the shrew of the CS gang, and his tone was full of humility and flattery:
“Zoe, are you still busy?”
"Who are you?" Zoe didn't even recognize Tommy's voice on the other end of the phone, and asked back in confusion and impatiently.
Tommy smiled flatteringly and said hypocritically: "It's me, your dearest..."
"Don't call me again, I will call the police and report you for malicious harassment, sir. Also, let me repeat, no matter what conditions you offer, I will not remove this news report." Before Tommy could finish his words, Zoe said irritably on the other end of the phone, and then hung up neatly.
Tommy turned around and looked at Stephen who was gloating beside him, then looked at the phone in his hand, and said doubtfully: “Zoe didn’t recognize my voice, can you believe it?”
Stephen was an honest man. At least at this moment, he tried to make himself look like an honest man and said to Tommy:
"Otilia would have hung up if she heard the tone you used just now. Brother, you should have recorded the call and listened to the tone yourself. The reason why Zoe didn't think of you as a gigolo who actively promoted herself might be because she has never consumed this kind of entertainment."
Tommy threw the phone aside awkwardly, then lazily sat back in his seat next to Stephen, grabbed his beer and took a sip, then looked at Stephen: “Zoe seems to be reporting some news, and then the victim of the report called her in the same humble and flattering way as me, trying to make her change her mind.”
Stephen shook the file of Sandra Bullock and asked doubtfully, “Why are you calling Zoe? Shouldn’t you contact this girl first? From the introduction on this resume, it seems that her family is very ordinary. Maybe Bullock is from a big family in Arlington, Virginia. You recognized the wrong person. The file shows that her high school and college were all public schools.”
It was clearly written on the document that Sandra Bullock lived in Germany for twelve years, and then her family moved back to the United States when her father returned to their country for work. She attended Washington and Robert Lee Public High School, and went to East Carolina University, a less well-known public university. According to Tommy's judgment, she had a father who could get a contract with the US Army, so she would not be unable to afford hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy an admission letter from a prestigious university.
The information also stated that the girl majored in drama performance in college. After graduation, she went to New York's Broadway to look for performance opportunities. In order to live in New York, she also worked many part-time jobs such as bar waitress, bartender, etc.
A small town girl who dreams of the American dream.
"That girl is not short of money. Don't think that her resume says that she studied acting skills hard in order to find performance opportunities on Broadway, and that she worked as a bar waitress and bartender to support herself. Dude, when you signed up for summer camp, your resume also said that you got the admission letter from Stanford University without examination based on your personal ability." Tommy heard Stephen's doubts and smiled sarcastically.
"I got the Stanford University admission letter without taking the entrance exam based on my own ability, okay?" Stephen insisted stubbornly. However, when Tommy told him not to take the other party's information seriously, he read the information over and over again, but still found nothing new. He could only ask Tommy for help again: "So, which part of her lie did she say?"
"She didn't lie. She was very honest." Tommy took out a cigarette, lit it and took a puff, then explained to Stephen:
"The information says that she went to New York after graduating from college and lived in an apartment hotel somewhere on the Upper East Side. The address of that apartment hotel looks familiar to me because our dear Jim bought his first New York property there. Do you think a girl who just graduated from college can afford to rent an apartment that Jim had to spend seven years' salary to buy when she first arrived in New York?"
"Maybe she made some money from her part-time job in college? She's just renting the place, not buying it out of pocket." Stephen felt that Tommy's explanation was a bit far-fetched and not enough to convince him.
Tommy, a poor guy, was able to buy a luxury house in Beverly Hills when he was studying at Stanford University. Why can't other college students rent a high-end apartment in New York? How can anyone be as poor as Tommy, a poor guy, who was so exaggerated at the time?
"Okay, secondly, while she was looking for opportunities in New York, she was also learning acting, right? It says above that she hired Sandford Meisner to give her acting lessons, one-on-one acting lessons. Do you know what that means? The girl I slept with, Diane Lane, was the leading actress at the age of thirteen and made her first million at the age of seventeen. Even so, she never dared to dream of hiring this guy named Sandford to teach her acting skills one-on-one, because she couldn't afford it. At most, she could only attend his group classes a few times. Only the real top Hollywood stars who want to fight for the Oscar for Best Actor and Best Actress will come to him with money and ask him to give them one-on-one professional and systematic guidance." Tommy looked at Stephen and gave the second reason.
Stephen was stunned when he heard Tommy's words. "Dude, when you talk about these things with women in bed, won't they blame you for being boring? When they sleep with you, you still ask them about work-related topics..."
"Finally, the data shows that during her year in New York, she played the leading female role in a play in an Off-Broadway theater." Ignoring Stephen's ridicule, Tommy gave a third reason:
"I guess you haven't slept with any Broadway actresses, or none of your girlfriends like to learn about Broadway."
"Indeed not, I prefer film art." Stephen looked at Tommy.
Tommy flicked the ash off his cigarette and then looked at his cool car:
"Otilia likes to go to Broadway to watch musicals. New actors there have to wait at least a few years to become the heroine of a play, let alone perform on stage. But this girl named Sandra was on the Broadway stage within a year, and she was the heroine. Although it was only Off-Broadway, it was shocking enough. If it was a common girl, let's put it this way, even if she slept with all the cast and crew with her looks, she wouldn't be able to get the script of the heroine in the first year. Broadway's requirements for actors are higher than Hollywood's."
"So, think about it, a common girl from a small city in Virginia went to New York to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. She lived in a luxury apartment hotel on the Upper East Side, took one-on-one acting classes that ordinary female stars would be afraid of, and starred in plays in peripheral theaters. All these huge expenses were only supported by her part-time job as a bartender or waitress? I'd rather believe the French when they say they will never surrender than to believe this is true."
"Only a jerk like you who has no concept of money since birth would not realize how big a problem this resume has. If it were another film director or producer, they would want to have fun with her because her artistic photos and life photos look beautiful and attractive, but as long as they take a look at this resume, they will know that there is other information hidden in it. It is best to learn more about the other party's background before getting too horny, so as not to hit a wall."
"So, never trust the American Dream information on your resume."
"If he had a good background, why would he go to a bad school?" After listening to Tommy's explanation, Stephen did not give up and asked another question.
Tommy shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe it's just because those two schools are closer to her home? I guess if she wants to go to Stanford or other famous schools, it must be as easy as it is for you."
"It might be easier for you to get into West Point than for me," Stephen said with some disdain.
Seeing that the other party didn't believe that Sandra could go to a prestigious school as easily as he did, Tommy said a few more words:
"Why didn't her father, John Wilson Bullock Jr., do what his fellow soldiers who were stationed in Germany did, get a German woman pregnant, then return home to relive ? And why did he eventually break up with his girlfriend who was waiting for him to come home, then take the German woman back home to hold a wedding? Once you figure this out, it will be very easy for you to understand why she wanted to go to a prestigious school, but I can't continue to tell you, because some things can only be shared between brothers within SSD."
After saying that, Tommy took a sip of beer, closed his eyes, and enjoyed the coolness brought by the beer.
Stephen knew that all fraternities had their own rules, and his Order of the Phoenix had the same rules, so he didn't ask any more questions, but just looked at Sandra Bullock's photo again: "Anyway, this girl is somebody, right? But if you don't plan to approach her yourself, can I give it a try? I mean, at least let me find out something about her that you can't tell me."
"Your tennis girlfriend...Lisa...Lisa..." Hearing that Stephen was about to strike up a conversation with Sandra Bullock, Tommy scanned Stephen's face and asked.
Stephen said his girlfriend’s name: “Lisa Bond.”
"Yes, it's her. I mean, she is competing in Paris now, and will take care of your parents who are on vacation in Paris after the competition. And you are ready to replace her now? You snatched her from two rich men." Tommy shook his head and said to Stephen with a smile.
Tommy had met Stephen's new girlfriend several times. Stephen, who had slept with people all over Hollywood, brought a girlfriend to his parents who was not from the entertainment industry, but an American tennis player from a wealthy family, Lisa Bond, 24 years old, with blonde hair and long legs. Except for her slightly small breasts, she basically met all men's fantasies about women.
When Stephen was pursuing her, a small shareholder of Daimler and the owner of a chain bookstore were also pursuing Lisa, but those two were a bit older, one was almost fifty and the other was thirty-seven, and when it came to pursuing women, their spending might not have kept up with the times.
And Stephen showed the two old guys, who were also worth billions, what a young and energetic person is.
This guy spent four million to buy 5,000 acres of land in Lisa's hometown of South Carolina. How big is 5,000 acres of land? About 20 square kilometers.
The reason for purchasing it was to give it to Lisa Bond, telling her that if she wanted to retire one day, she could build a tennis training school or something else on this land to ensure that her life would be fulfilling enough after retirement.
In fact, the other two rich men could also take out four million to win the beauty's smile, but obviously, after Stephen made his move, even if they took out another four million, they could not steal the limelight from this guy.
Without much effort, this tennis beauty of Eastern European descent became Stephen's new girlfriend.
When Stephen and Tommy talked about this, Tommy just wanted to sigh that it was so easy for rich people to fall in love. It didn't matter whether Lisa was attracted by the five thousand acres of land or by Stephen's character as a playboy.
"Lisa is not bad, but she has no dreams, do you understand, Tommy? Without dreams, she can't do anything except tennis. I don't really want my girlfriend to be a woman who only knows how to lie in bed and help me pass on my family line besides playing tennis and spending money. I gave her 5,000 acres of land. Apart from being touched, she had no idea what to do with the land. I mean I'm rich, but I still have dreams, right? I'm still working hard to write scripts and try to leave my name in American film history, but she actually wants to announce her retirement after this year's competition, marry me, and then concentrate on having children." Speaking of his girlfriend, Stephen was also a little distressed.
In his opinion, he has so much money but is still working hard, while his girlfriend is preparing to start retirement at the age of 24 just because he is rich.
"Of course you can strike up a conversation with her, but can you follow my plan? I need to get to know Mr. Wilson Bullock through her first." Tommy was too lazy to care about Stephen's private life, he just asked the other party to listen to his arrangements.
Stephen took Tommy's cigarette box and took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. Tommy leaned over to help him light it. After a puff of smoke came out of Stephen's mouth, he said, "So, what's the plan, Tommy?"
"Which TV station does Zoe work for?" Tommy asked, putting away his lighter.
Stephen remembered everyone's work and address in CS. Every Christmas, he would personally write greeting cards, select gifts and send them to his companions. Compared to Stephen in this respect, Tommy felt inferior because he couldn't remember these things at all. He needed Sophia or the servants to remind him in time before he would make a phone call to keep in touch.
Stephen started to speak: “I work as a news reporter for WORC TV in Worcester, Massachusetts .”
"I'm going to start my own news network now, and she doesn't need to work for others ." Tommy thought for a moment, picked up the phone he had just dropped, and dialed the number: "Good afternoon, Jim."
"Not very good. I'm having a headache over a problem that some idiot threw at me." Jim said impatiently on the other end of the phone, "If you have something to say, please say it quickly."
Tommy stated his purpose without any greetings. "What's the name of your lawyer friend? The one who helped you and Lotus get started. He's in Massachusetts, right?"
"Robert, partner at Hale & Doerr White Shoes," Jim said.
Tommy nodded, holding the phone, looking into the distance, and said, "Yes, it's Robert. Ask him to help check Zoe Winters, a news reporter for WORC TV in Worcester, Massachusetts. She seems to be conducting a news investigation. I mean, see if you can provide some help to the victims she is investigating, such as sponsoring some hush money to the TV station? Or let your friends scare the TV station. In short, make some trouble so that she is fired by the TV station, or the TV station forces her to resign voluntarily. I will pay the expenses."
"I remember there was a girl named Zoe in your CS gang?" Jim said after digesting Tommy's words.
Tommy did not deny it. "That's her. She's the girl who looks quiet but is actually very aggressive. She ranks second among the four professions with the highest mortality rates in the United States: accountants, journalists, lawyers, and police. I don't want her to die too early because of her persistence in her ideals and professional ethics. After all, I'm not ready to attend her funeral."
When Stephen heard that Tommy wanted Robert to make Zoe lose her job, he stood up with an unhappy look on his face, ready to speak out to stop Tommy's behavior. In his opinion, Zoe's high-risk job was not an excuse for Tommy to plot against her behind her back. Zoe loved her job, and as a friend, what he should do was to support her and provide help to the best of his ability when she needed it.
But the next second, after hearing what Tommy continued to say, Stephen shut his mouth. Tommy Hawke was still the de facto boss of the CS gang.
Tommy said casually on the phone, "And I will prepare a new job for her at the news network. If those major moments that can win the Pulitzer Prize always require reporters to be present on the scene to witness them for the world, then why can't that reporter be my Miss Shrew."
