Chapter 438: Chain Reaction

This was a bedroom with exquisite decor. The dark gray velvet curtains were drawn tight, sealing off the morning outside, leaving the room in total darkness.

Suddenly, a melody filled with faint sorrow began to play in the room.

"I remember when we fell in love in late December..."

Taylor Swift's slightly raspy voice, full of narrative, echoed softly in the air. This was her new single released in June of this year, titled "Back to December."

Once released, this sentimental love song climbed into the top ten of the Billboard charts, becoming one of the best-selling singles of the summer. Many boys and girls liked to use it as their mobile ringtone.

It was the same at this moment.

About three seconds after the music started, a slender, long hand reached out from under the quilt, groping in the dim morning light toward the iPhone 4S on the nightstand, and picked it up.

She turned off the alarm and checked the time. No mistake, 6:30 AM.

The lingering alcohol was still ravaging her fragile nerves. Luo Rui Eisner frowned, wanting nothing more than to hide back under the quilt for five more minutes to ease her headache.

However, she had to get up.

The more difficult things were, the less she could allow herself to collapse.

An hour later, a red Porsche 911 convertible drove out of the underground parking garage of a high-end apartment complex, turned right into the morning mist, and merged onto a wide highway.

In the driver's seat, Luo Rui wore a Sony Bluetooth headset in her right ear and stopped at a traffic light.

The window of a Ford Mustang next to her suddenly rolled down. A man in his thirties, who looked to be of Indian descent, whistled at her and said, "Hey beauty, nice car. Want to get to know each other?"

Luo Rui acted as if she hadn't heard. She looked at her phone screen, but not seeing what she wanted, she couldn't help but frown and immediately dialed a speed-dial number.

The person on the other end answered quickly.

"Hi Lauren, why weren't the materials for today's meeting sent to my inbox... Yes, what happened? I didn't receive them... Okay, take a look right now and send them over immediately."

With her hangover still lingering and encountering such a thing, Luo Rui's mood soured further.

The red light turned green. She stepped heavily on the gas, instantly leaving the Ford Mustang a car length behind.

While driving, her mind was not at rest.

The meeting this morning was to discuss exactly what Ted Sarandos—whose butt she had originally kicked—had been making noise about again these past few days. Consequently, "House of Cards" was being brought back into the conference room today.

What did this mean? She knew very well.

Precisely because she knew, she had gotten dead drunk alone at home yesterday.

As she thought about it, she grew agitated. Hearing the roar of an engine, the Mustang had actually caught up, driving side-by-side with her on the 101 highway this early morning. It was rush hour, and the road was busy, but the Mustang's driver had good skills, weaving through traffic with ease.

She tilted her head slightly to look, only to see the Indian man in the driver's seat grinning and blowing her a kiss.

Luo Rui Eisner's lips curled slightly, revealing an icy expression.

Half an hour later, the red Porsche 911 drove into a modern building in Los Gatos and parked in an executive-only spot on the B1 level.

She turned off the engine, smoothed her slightly messy hair in the rearview mirror, then got out, straightened her suit jacket, and walked toward the elevator in her high heels.

As she walked, she opened her email on her phone, looking at the meeting outline she had just received.

Blah blah blah...

Just as she expected, everything discussed today was nonsense—all content that had been mentioned before but later dropped.

Ted Sarandos was merely using this method to test...

No, it wasn't just testing.

Since he could take a project that had already been shelved and bring it back for all the executives to discuss one by one, perhaps it already indicated Reed Hastings' attitude.

For her, it was undoubtedly a nightmare.

Not just for this project, but perhaps for her entire career at Netflix.

Because as a woman, if you lose the initiative in the workplace, in most cases, it is very difficult to have a chance to turn things around. This was a principle she had understood back when she was interning at Disney, and in last month's "People" magazine, the current COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, had mentioned a similar viewpoint.

"Ding."

The elevator doors opened, and a flood of light rushed in. The spacious open-plan office was filled with soft natural light. Huge floor-to-ceiling windows faced the Santa Cruz Mountains, where the morning mist had yet to disperse, and the mountain shadows looked like ink.

She walked out of the elevator, and a woman in her twenties waiting at the entrance hurried over, clutching a file folder, and said somewhat nervously, "Good morning, Luo Rui."

Luo Rui walked toward her office and asked, "Has Reed arrived?"

"Not yet."

"Luo Rui, I am so sorry, it was my problem before, I didn't check..."

"It's okay Lauren, go make me a cup of coffee."

"Ah, okay, okay."

Ever since her previous assistant was fired in Cannes, her assistants had been replaced one after another, but she had never found a suitable one.

This Lauren was an intern who had just joined the company. She had been by her side for less than a week and had already made many small and large mistakes. Luo Rui was too lazy to say anything now, just waiting to ask HR for a replacement in a few days.

But to some extent, being able to send such a person to her side was a reflection of her declining status in the company. Thinking of this, Luo Rui's mood worsened.

She entered her office, hung up her jacket, and then turned on her computer.

Looking at the computer screen, Luo Rui took a piece of paper and, while pondering, wrote down her thoughts.

The original lead actor had finally announced their withdrawal.

For the "Eagle Catches Chicken" project, this was indeed a devastating setback, turning it overnight from the company's darling into a pawn on the edge of a cliff, or even a discarded piece, making people feel she had lost her power.

But she was not prepared to give up.

Because she had read the script, and she liked that story with its rich oriental flavor, tense and exciting, and full of human games.

So, what was the solution?

"1," she pondered for a long time before finally writing on the white paper.

"Knock knock."

"Come in."

Lauren walked in with a steaming cup of coffee and placed it on her desk.

Luo Rui didn't look up, frowning in deep thought.

The pencil lead remained stuck on that "、", unable to continue writing.

After a while, she noticed there was no sound of the door closing. A surge of irritation rose in her heart, and she looked up and asked, "Is there anything else?" It was clear the intern was very nervous, tucking her red hair behind her ear, and said with a slight stutter, "Luo Rui, there is one thing. I, I just saw a piece of news on the internet, there is a video..."

The girl's voice grew quieter and quieter.

Luo Rui was getting impatient and interrupted her, "What do you want to say?"

"... I saw many people on the internet, all attacking him, I was thinking, could it be... I mean, you know, will such a scandal affect his... next movie, is it possible that Hollywood companies will, because of this scandal, um, refuse to invest..."

Luo Rui Eisner's mind was currently filled with the upcoming meeting and how to persuade Reed Hastings not to change course.

Lauren's words sounded like she was just gossiping and asking about some Hollywood operating rules. Usually, she would have the heart to teach the other person, but not now.

Luo Rui took a deep breath. She didn't really want to scold anyone, but encountering a pile of unpleasant things early in the morning really made her temper hard to control.

"Enough." She said sharply.

Lauren immediately shut her mouth.

"Go see if Reed has arrived. If he has, come tell me immediately."

"... Yes."

"In the future, don't talk about these things in the office, especially during work hours. Remember, whether it's Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino, they all..."

Wait.

A soft "snap."

The tip of her pencil snapped on the paper and bounced far away.

Luo Rui froze for two seconds, then asked, "What did you say? Repeat that. Quentin? What happened to him?"

One hour and ten-plus minutes later, in Netflix's largest conference room.

"...'House of Cards' will redefine the production standards for television series. It will not only become the benchmark for our original content but will also directly change the audience's viewing habits and willingness to pay."

Ted Sarandos was speaking enthusiastically in the conference room about the prospects of "House of Cards."

This was something he and Reed Hastings had already communicated about in advance.

The meeting itself was just a formality, intended to go through the motions and let the executive team "vote democratically," but in reality, it was just to legitimize his takeover of the project.

However, as he stood in front of the projection screen, facing those familiar executive faces, he found that Reed Hastings, sitting directly opposite him, had been zoning out, his eyes wandering, as if he were distracted.

Likewise, that bitch Luo Rui Eisner didn't show the impatience, shame, anger, or even pleading expression he had expected. Instead, she looked as if nothing had happened, head down, writing something stroke by stroke on paper.

What could she be writing?

He had betrayed her, thrown her away like a piece of trash, and abandoned this project.

She was finished.

Now, throughout the company, no one looked favorably upon that "Eagle Catches Chicken" anymore. No matter how much she lobbied, the company was entirely leaning toward him.

Once "House of Cards" succeeded, she would be completely swept out the door and kicked out of Netflix.

But why could she still smile?

What leverage did she still have?

As Ted spoke, an inexplicable sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in his heart.

Sure enough, when he finished speaking, he didn't get the expected statement from Reed Hastings, but rather: "Alright, thank you Ted. Let's end today's meeting here. Ted, come with me for a moment."

After saying this, the Netflix CEO was the first to walk out of the conference room door, followed by that blonde bitch, who didn't even look at him once!

Ted Sarandos confirmed again that something must have happened somewhere he didn't know about.

Subsequently, the answer was revealed very quickly.

When he was in Reed Hastings' office and heard what the other party said, he couldn't believe his ears.

"Just because of this, Reed, you are prepared to..."

When Ted asked this, he had expected the man who had gone back on his word and played him like a fool to feel a little embarrassed. But unexpectedly, Reed Hastings just shrugged, saying as if it were only natural: "Giving Luo Rui a little more time, waiting for definite news, I think it should be very normal, don't you agree, Ted."

Ted Sarandos' heart felt like it was being crushed by something. Shame, grievance, anger, and the humiliation of being betrayed—all kinds of emotions mixed together, pressing down on him so hard he could barely breathe. In the end, he could only squeeze a short sentence through his teeth: "Yes, I agree."

"Ted." Reed Hastings looked at him and added, "I also think you should understand. Go ask the boss of any movie studio in Hollywood, who they would choose between Kevin Spacey and Chen Nuo, and I don't think there would be a second answer. So..."

"I have to wrong you for now, I am very sorry."

"We don't know yet... Why are you so excited?"

"No, it's not that." Peng Haoxiang on the other end of the phone wasn't alone; it was quite noisy, and his Hong Kong-accented Mandarin was exceptionally loud, making Chen Nuo involuntarily hold the phone a bit further from his ear. "I'm not excited. Licking feet, I have experience with that too. Which man doesn't want to lick? It's clearly a small case. Now that it's blown up so big, Director Quentin is truly pathetic."

"Anyway, if you have an open schedule next year, Boss, how about coming to shoot our movie?"

"Hehe. We'll talk about it then..." Chen Nuo just gave a perfunctory reply before hearing someone else take over the phone, saying: "Chen Sheng, Naihai, Xiangzai, and I all think that the role of A-Lai is best played by you."

Chen Nuo couldn't be as casual with the big-name hired screenwriter as he was with Fatty Peng, so he immediately laughed: "Mr. Wei is too kind. There are so many excellent actors in Hong Kong, and there are many other choices, but regardless, we will shoot this movie. Please rest assured."

"No, no, no, whether we shoot or not is fine. But if we do, and you don't come, Chen Sheng, it would be like us painstakingly preparing eighteen ingredients to stew Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, but replacing the most important abalone with fish balls. The taste would be lost for the most part. For us cooks, that is the most heartbreaking and regrettable thing."

With Wei Jiahui saying such polite words, Chen Nuo felt a bit embarrassed.

He couldn't help but sigh in his heart: Quentin, oh Quentin, what on earth are you doing? What does this mean?

Now, it had been five days since the incident, and there had been no response from Quentin's side.

Although this was a way of handling things in some PR matters—just like how he had handled his own salary issues before—at that time, he didn't have a movie project about to start. Of course, he could choose to hide in China for a while.

Quentin was different.

If this scandal of his couldn't be clarified in time, it would definitely hurt more than just himself. But for Chen Nuo, this was something he really couldn't help with, so he could only wait and see.

As a result, this wait lasted another week.

Until he was in Shanghai, having finished celebrating Chen Ruoruo's first birthday on the 15th, he still hadn't received any word from Quentin.

He finally couldn't help but call, only to hear the sound of the phone being turned off.

Finally, until he left Shanghai on the 16th and went to Jingcheng, preparing to treat Han Sanping to a meal, he received a call from Quentin at Ziyu Villa.

PS:

A bit short.

There is a special reason, please forgive me.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 439 =====