Chapter 737

"Thank you for your hospitality, Katherine, Mark. It was a sumptuous but not luxurious dinner. It's unforgettable." Standing at the door, Adriaan held Mary in his arms and held Jessica's arm as he spoke to the Alba couple.

"I'm glad … that you like it, Eide. When you're free …" Katherine smiled bitterly as she glanced at her husband, who had a dark expression since the beginning of the conversation. "Maybe you can come often with Jesse and Mary."

"I will." Adriaan nodded and pinched his daughter's little face. "Hey, Mary, we're leaving. Say goodnight to Grandpa and Grandma."

"Goodnight, Grandpa and Grandma." The little girl yawned. Her little face was full of tiredness. Usually, she would be asleep at this time.

"I'm leaving, Mom. I'll bring Mary back to visit you often." Jessica breathed a sigh of relief. She hugged her mother and then looked at her father carefully.

Mark forced a smile. He reached out to touch his daughter's head, but after hesitating for a while, he finally patted her shoulder. "Go, your mother and I … will … respect … your choice."

He said it with difficulty. He paused two or three times in the middle. His face twitched a little, but in the end, he said everything. Then, after saying it, he more or less relaxed. After looking at Adriaan, he said, "If there's anything, you must tell us. Your mother and I are your strongest support. If someone bullies you, I won't hesitate to teach them a lesson."

"I will, Dad." Jessica smiled. Adriaan pretended not to see it.

After that, they walked all the way to the street. Under Joshua's escort, they got into the car that was already waiting there.

"You won't blame me, right, Eide?" Joshua scratched his head and finally asked. He was a little embarrassed and … afraid.

"Don't worry, Joshua. I won't do anything to you." Adriaan smiled and hugged his shoulder. "Although I was a little angry at first, now that I think about it, it's not bad. When Mary grows up, it will be difficult to introduce her to your parents. It may take time for your parents to accept her. Time has always been the main reason for change. From this point of view, you can be considered as a lucky star."

"Really?" Joshua immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Really." Even so, Adrian still slapped him hard on the shoulder twice, causing him to grimace in pain.

Still, Joshua was even more relaxed now. The more Adrian acted this way, the more it showed that he wouldn't hold it against Joshua for spilling the beans and causing this awkward family dinner to happen.

"What did you and Dad talk about in the room?" After the car started, Jessica asked.

"Oh, some small things. For example, the insecurity you felt when you were young, or all the flaws in his education." Adriaan shrugged. "He didn't want to admit it at first, but he had no choice but to admit it under my strong attacks."

"You told him everything?" Jessica's beautiful face suddenly collapsed, and her voice became a lot sharper. Adriaan had no choice but to put his finger to his mouth.

"Lower your voice, don't wake Mary up." Adriaan said as he patted his daughter who had fallen asleep in his arms. The little girl made a few sounds, turned her head, and went back to sleep.

"How could you say that to my dad?" Jessica lowered her voice and asked angrily.

"Why not?" Adriaan asked. "You are already an adult, Jessie. Are you still worried that your father will punish you if he finds out? Well, don't worry about it. I've settled your father. He didn't shoot me. You're right. Although your father is strict, he is not irrational. "

As he spoke, he patted jESSICA's shoulder lightly. jESSICA sighed softly and obediently leaned her head on his shoulder.

"By the way, I have to thank you." Adriaan suddenly said.

"Thank you for what?" Jessica asked puzzledly.

"Thank you for not telling your father the conditions I offered at the beginning." Adriaan kissed her forehead. "Otherwise, it would take me a lot of time to explain to your father."

Jessica immediately understood. She immediately rolled her eyes at him but did not say anything. It was only after a long while that she asked in an uncertain tone, "So, Eide, if, I mean if, one day I really want to … want to leave?"

Although he could not see her expression because she lowered her head, Adriaan could be sure that there was nervousness in her eyes, so he complained, "Oh, hell, why do women always like to ask such inexplicable questions?"

"Inexplicable?" Jessica immediately raised her head and widened her eyes. She seemed not very happy, but Adriaan pretended not to see it and continued to say, "Obviously, if I say no, you will definitely say that I am a bastard who has no credibility; but if I say yes, you will definitely blame me for not caring about you at all. This question is essentially the same as asking which one to save first when one's mother and girlfriend fall into the water at the same time. This is not a good question. It will only provoke discord between lovers. "

Listening to his serious words, Jessica could not help but laugh in a low voice for a long time before she stopped. At the same time, she still looked at him with inquiring and hopeful eyes.

"So …" Adriaan reached out and lifted Jessica's chin, raising her beautiful face in front of his. "No matter what happy or unhappy things, you must tell me, because only in this way can I judge when you say those words to me, whether you are impulsive or really tired of it, understand?"

JESSICA did not reply. Instead, she leaned her head against his shoulder and leaned closer to him.

This matter was like this for the time being. The reason why it was like this was not entirely because of Adriaan himself, although he did make Mark Alba speechless. This was not difficult. Just like what he had told Lily, once there was any conflict with someone, always remember to occupy a reasonable position that could be praised by others. Perhaps there were many other places that could be attacked at that time, but as long as you constantly emphasized the irrefutable side of yourself, and then seized the opponent's flaws, it was easy to completely overwhelm the opponent in terms of momentum. This indeed depended on personal ability.

However, this was not the only factor to solve the problem, and it was not even the most important factor. In general, whether or not the Alba couple could be settled depended on Jessica's personal attitude. As Adriaan said, everything between him and Jessica was in line with the law. He could be blamed morally, and he could only be blamed morally. Besides, the child had already been born, and it was so big, could they not admit it?

So after the initial impulse, the Alba couple made the decision to invite him over as a guest, which also showed that they were actually planning to compromise. There was no need to say much about Jessica's attitude. Although she was playful, so many years of family education were not in vain. She also gave birth to the child at an early age, and during the time when she could not be a mother, it was Adriaan who took care of Mary. Coupled with the conditions he gave her when she first got pregnant, all these factors combined together, even if Jessica had any ideas, she would quickly and automatically dispel them.

Naturally, the Alba couple could not get support from their daughter, so Joshua also stood on Adriaan's side. For the sake of Jessica, Adriaan gave Joshua a lot of opportunities. In addition to the supporting role in "Doomsday Black Angel", he had also played important supporting roles in many important TV series in recent years, such as "CSI" and "24". Now he could be considered a second-tier actor.

So last year, Adriaan gave him a very important role, the Thunderbolt in "Fantastic Four". That's right, he could play the role of a real brother and sister in a movie together with his sister. That was also why Patrick agreed. Joshua really looked like Jessica, and he could be considered handsome, but his eyebrows were very strange. So, Adriaan specially got someone to repackage him, and the effect was very good.

In short, with the siblings on his side, coupled with the cute Mary and his eloquence, Adriaan successfully convinced the Alba couple. His favorite trick was to borrow power. A person's ability was always limited. Even if he could predict the future, it was impossible to fight against the entire society.

As the saying went, the tide of history was mighty, and those who went with it would prosper, while those who went against it would perish. It might not be appropriate to use it here, but it was enough to explain some problems. So, if he wanted to achieve his goal, which involved a lot of people and matters, creating and using power was the best choice. For example, in the promotion of "The Lord of the Rings", apart from spending a lot of money on publicity and public relations, many fans and film critics believed that the final theme was worthy of an Oscar, and that Adriaan should be nominated for Best Director again.

Other than that, Film school discriminated against non-realistic works, and the need to change. This was the third time Adriaan had been nominated for the trilogy, and he had been nominated countless times before. It had been almost ten years since he last won the award. Everything was pushing "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and Adriaan towards his throne. All he had to do was to guide and follow the trend. Even if there were people who opposed it, it would be useless.

Similarly, it was the same for Best Actress. Interestingly, Kate and Sophie were both famous for "Warm Inside Light" and "Life as a Rose", but they didn't win a single award at the major award ceremonies at the beginning of the year, whether it was the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Directors Guild Awards, or the Film Critics Association Awards, not to mention the Golden Globes Awards. As a result, many people didn't think that they would win.

"Someone did an analysis of the past Academy Awards, and the probability of American actors winning the acting award is far higher than that of actors from other countries. Obviously, the Oscars are just a game for the Americans, so the European actors on this year's nomination list shouldn't be too concerned," a British newspaper reported. Of course, they didn't forget to mock the Oscars.

Unfortunately, this was all on the surface. Not to mention Kate, Adriaan didn't plan to let her reach the top right now. Since she was going to be the Best Actress without a doubt, it meant that she still had a long way to go. As for Sophie, he had been preparing for this day from the beginning, not to mention that he had Weinstein's help.

One of the biggest factors was that "Fahrenheit 911" won the Palme d 'Or. After the Cannes Film Festival in May, the French praised it quite a bit, praising it as a work of conscience. Originally, after half a year of fermentation, it had gradually calmed down, but with the official release of the documentary in the United States, and Michael Moore made it clear that the documentary was made for the election at the end of this year, as long as one person voted for the Bush administration, it would be a good result. So the French became excited again and reported on it, ignoring Sophie, who starred in "Life as a Rose."

Even after "Fahrenheit 911" failed to be nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar, the French critics still criticized it. Imagine how dissatisfied the Film school would be. Well, in that case, it was time to respond to these idiotic Gallic chickens. So what was the best way to do it? Maybe some people couldn't find a way, but don't worry, Weinstein would tell them.

That alone was not enough, so Adriaan prepared something else, such as the short film "Sleepless in the Supermarket." Last year, when he started his East Asia trip, Sophie took this short film to various film festivals. Although they were not well-known films — at most, they were as famous as the Toronto Film Festival, and could not be compared to the top three film festivals — they still received some good reviews. The slightly stream-of-consciousness style that was not particularly obvious attracted some people's attention.

The only thing that was criticized by the critics was that Cayden Cross was a little too beautiful. After Sophie reversed the character's gender, although it allowed her to better control the whole short film, and highlighted the style of the film, it also made Cayden look like a vase. Cayden had some acting skills, but they were still very immature. If it was a normal movie, she might have a little bit of performance, but playing the lead role in this short film, and with Sophie's extraordinary performance, it was inevitable that she would be criticized.

However, even so, it did not stop "Sleepless in the Supermarket" from being nominated for Best Short Film at the Oscars. Of course, Adriaan gave it a push. Therefore, on the list of nominees for the 76th Oscars, in addition to being nominated for Best Actress, Sophie was also nominated for Best Short Film. This was the first time in the history of the Oscars, and it was not hard to imagine how surprising it would be.

With this, coupled with the continuous nominations over the past few years, and the secret publicity and public relations, just like "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," all kinds of factors converged to form a trend that pushed Sophie to the throne of Best Actress.

Therefore, Adriaan liked to take advantage of the situation. The plan he designed for himself to ascend to the throne was to take advantage of this kind of situation to the extreme. Even though it would take a lot of long-term planning to do this, it wasn't difficult for him, was it? Of course, if there was no long term plan, the success rate would not be high. For example —

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry you didn't even get a single golden gramophone, Avril." Faced with the angry Avril, Adriaan had no choice but to raise his hands and say so.

The Grammy Awards were always held before the Oscars, and this year was no exception. The Oscars were held on the last day of February, so the Grammy Awards were held 21 days earlier, on February 8th. The most popular female singers of the Universal Music Awards were all nominated, but as for the awards, they were still the same. Christina and Beyonce each won, while Britney and Avril did not win a single award.

It did not matter to Britney. Adriaan had helped her win the Best Album Award with the highest sales among female singers in the world. Even though she was still unhappy that she could not win against Christina, it did not matter if it happened once or twice. However, Avril had yet to win anything at the Grammy Awards. The few nominations she had received were all won with great difficulty. Naturally, she was very depressed.

Therefore, when Adriaan came to see them, he only teased them a little, and the girl's face immediately darkened. Seeing that, he had no choice but to apologize first.

"I'm sorry, Eide, I'm a little emotional." Avril quickly realized that she had lost her composure. She sighed and apologized, "But... sitting there and watching others excitedly go up on stage to receive awards and give speeches, the excitement and eagerness in my heart slowly cooled down as time went by... I already experienced it once last year, and I'm experiencing it again this year. It's really... really terrible."

"I understand, Avril." Adriaan opened his arms and hugged her. "Don't take it to heart. That's how the Academy of Recording and Science is. The more popular the singer, the more they ignore it. It's as if this will make the Grammy Awards more conventional. It's ridiculous. In such a situation, you need a calm mind and a good work. A calm mind can help you face honor and music better, and a good work can show the Academy of Recording and Science how good you are. You don't need their approval, you're still the most popular little witch of rock. "

He spoke with great emotion, but Avril rolled her eyes. "Come on, Eide, that's what you always say, but the problem is, knowing it is one thing, and doing it is another."

"So, if you come here a few more times, you'll know what to do." A cheerful voice came from behind, and then a body hugged her from behind. "Hi, Avril."

"Bubu?" Avril, who was startled, turned around and looked at the girl in front of her. She then greeted Christina, who had followed her into the lounge.

"I knew it. You must be one step ahead of us. You're always like this." Britney said with a smile. "Maybe I should learn from you how to fly to Master as soon as possible."

Britney had gotten used to addressing Adriaan as Master in front of more and more people. Of course, they were all people who were very familiar with each other. Similarly, Avril rolled her eyes.

"You have to get used to it, Ivy." Britney said casually, "Just like me, I couldn't get the answer, so Master gave me a reward."

With that, she giggled and hooked her arm around Adrian's. That intimate look made Avril roll her eyes again. She immediately walked out. "Alright, you guys take your time. I still have something to do."