King of Hollywood
Chapter 431 - 153 Daddy is a Bad Guy

Chapter 431: Chapter 153 Daddy is a Bad Guy

Frankly speaking, if he had a choice, Adrian would definitely choose to stay. The uniquely sweet scent of the young girl lingered in his mind even after the plane had taken off, mesmerizing even someone as rational and calm as him. After all, even though they were close, they did not sleep together every time they met, which was partly due to Adrian’s long-term considerations and restraint, but Natalie’s subtleties were equally indispensable.

This is what they call ’you always want what you can’t have.’ Adrian thought to himself as he looked at the clouds outside the plane window. But he wasn’t fond of this, especially since it was Natalie doing it, maybe it was time to try a different approach.

Though he missed out on the delights in New York, there was compensation waiting for him back in Los Angeles. After parking his car by the roadside, Adrian straightened his clothes, grabbed the beautifully wrapped gift, and got out of the car. He was dressed simply in a t-shirt and handmade long pants, giving him a casual and dashing appearance, as if brimming with vitality.

As the doorbell chimed, the door finally opened, and the noise that had been faintly echoing behind it suddenly surged out, especially the loud popping of streamers, clearly indicating a lively party.

"Ed?!" The lady opening the door looked at him in surprise.

"Hello, Ms. Inez, I didn’t expect you to be the one opening the door for me," Adrian said with a smile.

"I didn’t expect you to come to our house at this time either, what brings you here?" Inez asked busily, her gaze quickly landing on the beautifully wrapped gift box in his hands, even more startled, "You’re also..."

"Yes," Adrian nodded affirmatively, and before he could continue, Inez had already turned and called out, "Come here, Qiqi, see who’s here."

"Who is it?" Kirsten hurried out, wearing a pink princess dress with lace and specially decorated for the occasion, even wearing a meticulously crafted crown on her head, looking like a little princess.

The moment the young girl saw Adrian, her gray-green eyes began to sparkle. If her mother hadn’t been by her side, she might have jumped on him already.

"Ed!" she exclaimed in surprise, "God, I thought you weren’t coming."

It was genuine; the birthday party had already been going on for nearly an hour, and during that time, she’d barely looked away from the door, rushing to see every time someone knocked, but always ending up disappointed.

"Thought I wasn’t coming?" Before Adrian could speak, Inez asked curiously, glancing from her daughter to Adrian.

"Qiqi called me earlier to ask if I could come to her birthday party. You know I am always busy, so I didn’t give her a definite answer, just said I would see how things went. I’ve just got back from New York and realized I don’t have anything pressing right now, so I thought I’d come over and see her. It was a bit rushed, so I didn’t have time to pick the gift carefully," Adrian explained.

"That’s alright, it’s great that you could come," Kirsten quickly said. Though she said this, she was still joyously taking her gift from Adrian’s hands, then looked at her mother.

"Please come in, we’re so glad you could join Qiqi’s birthday party." Inez immediately gestured for him to enter, and while she wasn’t looking, Kirsten gave Adrian a suggestive and flirtatious glance.

Indeed, she was a little fairy. Adrian thought to himself with amusement. If Natalie was still a bit shy, precociously carrying a girl’s innocence, then Kirsten embodied both angel and devil—a bold, brazen manipulator with all the salaciousness of an adult, unrestrained in her petite body, making the sinful pleasure of holding her even more intense. The nickname ’little fairy’ was certainly not wrong at that moment.

There were many people at the party, but most of them were Kirsten’s peers, including friends from school and those she knew from work. It was clear that she was popular; several young lads kept circling around her. However, despite appearing to be having a good time chatting with them, she always kept her distance, and a mocking tone flashed in her eyes from time to time, which unfortunately none of those guys noticed.

Though Adrian got along well with several adults, including Inez’s friends and the neighbors, he also mingled nicely with the young lads. This was not just because of his titles—Miracle Director, Gold medal producer, rising media mogul—but also because among Kirsten’s friends there were some secondary and tertiary actors and others aspiring to enter show business, drawn also by his rather coarse and erotic jokes.

If young people of this age range were not as mature as Kirsten, they were typically entering their rebellious phase, usually evidenced by doing things previously not allowed, primarily swearing and telling dirty jokes.

Whether in his past life or his current one, Adrian had experienced this, and although societal pacing was speeding up, generating generational gaps every few years, knowing the future meant these were not issues for him, so winning over these young boys and girls was all too easy.

As Kirsten blew out the birthday candles, the party atmosphere peaked; everyone seemed a bit too high, including Inez. Then, the young girl used the excuse of tidying up the crumbs in her hair to return to her bedroom, covertly giving Adrian a signal. He smiled faintly but was in no rush and waited another ten minutes before he leisurely walked to the kitchen, then slowly made his way from the kitchen’s back door to the garden.

Next, he quickly climbed the wall behind the house using the drainpipe as steps, reached the first-floor rooftop, and stealthily approached the pre-arranged window, pushing up the already ajar window before flipping inside. Although it was their first time executing this plan, which had been discussed over the phone for a long time, the entire process took just five minutes, especially since Kirsten’s house, where she had lived for almost a year, was one Adrian had helped her buy.

"I thought you weren’t coming," a lazy voice cooed as he entered.

"How could I not?" Adrian replied with a laugh, clapping his hands and admiring the girl lying on the bed.

The room was dark except for several candles, creating a rather romantic atmosphere, further enhanced by the subtle incense wafting through, giving a relaxing and joyful feeling.

Kirsten had changed out of her princess dress into a small, thigh-length, silk slip dress with spaghetti straps, and she wore a pair of semi-transparent black lace garter stockings, her legs tightly and partly curled. Coupled with her resentful expression in the dim light, she exuded a hazy allure, sexy yet still innocent enough to ignite any man’s desire.

"I promised you," Adrian said, walking over and sitting on the bed, unceremoniously lifting her small chin. "Even if it means being a thief, it doesn’t matter."

"What are you waiting for?" Kirsten opened her mouth slightly as he toyed with her, her eyes uncovering an unmasked longing, and then, the next second, her mouth was blocked.

Adrian’s movements were rougher than before, unceremoniously exploring her mouth, pulling her into his arms, and after a passionate kiss, he threw her back onto the bed heavily. Kirsten moaned a few times but did not show a pained expression; instead, she seemed more excited, and after being pressed down by Adrian, she responded even more passionately.

In the past, they had done plenty, and Adrian’s somewhat rougher approach provided her with even greater stimulation.

Soon, with kissing and caressing, clothes were thrown off one by one, and when the semi-transparent lingerie specifically worn by Kirsten was hooked by Adrian’s fingers and slid off her legs, only one last step was left.

"Come here, Ed..." Lying on the bed with her hands above her head, Kirsten gasped, her eyes hazy like a pristine little lamb, unable to extricate herself from the foreplay, "This is the best birthday gift ever..."

That phrase was more effective than anything. Adrian kissed her moist lips and then pressed down on her like a mountain, immediately followed by the sound of the girl’s crying.

Downstairs, Inez was still boasting about her obedient daughter in front of the guests, proudly flaunting her accomplishments. Boys discussed who might win the girl’s favor, while girls speculated who might catch the eye of the Miracle Director. Upstairs in her own bedroom, Kirsten fulfilled her long-held desire to lose her virginity to Adrian.

After returning from Washington, Adrian plunged back into the filming of "The Matrix." In fact, the movie wasn’t particularly difficult to shoot, except for the scenes where Neo and Trinity storm the agents’ headquarters to rescue Morpheus and the shootout scenes where they’re betrayed inside the Matrix. Actually, the action scenes were relatively simple as long as the actors nailed their movements.

"Everything’s fine, except that hanging for long periods leaves marks, should that be considered a work injury?" said Reeves, jokingly, dressed in his training suit, having neither dislike nor fondness for wire stunts.

"That doesn’t count for anything. Just fly and wall-climb honestly until Yuan thinks it’s good enough for you to rest," Adrian said with a laugh, slapping him on the shoulder.

At this moment, they were shooting the scene where Morpheus trains Neo in kung fu. Reeves needed to engage intensively with Fishburne. Yuan Heping, following Adrian’s instructions, had specially designed movements incorporating various martial arts like Tai Chi and Xingyi. According to the sketches, they looked promising, but the shooting was not satisfying either Yuan Heping or Adrian.

Although full authority over action direction was handed to Yuan Heping, Adrian still had the power to veto, especially over this indoor fight scene. In the original, after gaining some insight, Neo’s rematch with Morpheus becomes faster and faster until countless shadow punches appear. Adrian didn’t want this, as it was too animated. Although anything is possible in a virtual space, and that’s why the fights within the Matrix are designed to be more ethereal compared to the more tangible reality-based fights, this was still a movie, not a cartoon.

Yuan Heping quickly designed the moves after hearing Adrian’s request, but when it came to actually filming, it still felt like something was missing. What exactly that was, neither Yuan Heping nor Adrian could say—it was just a feeling, and feelings are sometimes hard to articulate.

"How about this? Let’s shoot with your original choreography, but you’ll need to be involved in post-production to provide feedback," Adrian suggested after discussing with a few technical assistants.

"What kind of feedback?" Yuan asked, confused.

"Based on what the tech team suggests, we can digitally fine-tune Keanu’s punches in post-production," Adrian explained briefly. "So you need to be there to guide them on how to adjust it to look realistic and appealing."

"You can do that already?" Yuan showed a surprised expression.

"Is that strange?" Adrian shrugged, "If that surprises you, then what will you think when you see most of the movies made with CG in the future?"

"Movies made with most CG scenes..." Yuan muttered to himself, then shook his head with a wry smile. Having been in Hollywood for a while and influenced by Adrian, he naturally understood how much help computer-generated CG was to the development of movies. Not to mention, just a few years ago, "Jurassic Park" and "Terminator 2" set box office records in Hong Kong that no Hong Kong film could match.

"Next, we’re filming something related to that; you might want to watch more closely," Adrian then said, sighing inwardly.

That’s the gap. Hong Kong is too small and monopolized harshly with a low vision scope. Any good themes are swarmed and overdone until they’re bad. Plus, without a buildup in this area, once they fall behind, decline is their ultimate choice. As for mainland China, although it has advantages Hong Kong doesn’t, it’s still trying to open its eyes, and let’s wait until the impact of "Titanic" is over.

The fight scene was just like that, followed by Morpheus introducing the real situation to Neo in a virtual environment. Not surprisingly, the specific production wasn’t based on the scenes that appeared after the release. This part of the movie sometimes took place in an open field and sometimes under a volcano, so the set was draped with green curtains, even covering the ground.

This is the place Adrian suggested Yuan Heping could learn more from. Many dazzling and surprising scenes were shot against green or blue backdrops, and then the backgrounds were replaced in post-production. Current CG technology is still quite expensive, but in a few years, it will become cheaper and the scenes more refined. In some cases, there won’t even be a need to shoot on location. For instance, if you want to film a dialog scene at Times Square in New York, there’s no need to ask for permissions on site. Just replace it with the Times Square scenery in post-production.

This dramatic script didn’t take too much time. Morpheus only needed to be cool, with no need for acting skills. Neo was the same, except for his final scream of denial, which did require some acting effort, but overall, it was simple. So after shooting, and seeing there was still time, Adrian directly filmed Neo and Trinity preparing to rescue Morpheus. And it included a very cool line, "Guns, lots and lots of guns."

"This body is really enchanting; I can’t let go of it," Adrian said as he wrapped his arms around Monica and walked towards the house, naturally going to her place after finishing the shooting.

"Then I’ll just keep it up then," Monica joked, her mature charm especially appealing.

"How so? Aerobics? Yoga? Kung fu? Or firearms training?" Adrian asked jokingly.

Due to the training for the movie, Monica had developed quite an interest in kung fu. Besides following Yuan Heping’s directions for actions, she often asked about this area of knowledge, so Adrian straightforwardly arranged for a female instructor through Yuan Heping to teach her some basic moves. Because there was no need for intense training, just some simple self-defense and visually appealing moves, Yuan Heping did not refuse.

Additionally, because there were scenes involving gunfights, Monica also had to practice how to handle guns, requiring some understanding of firearms. Naturally, she was curious and sometimes played around with the highly realistic prop guns on set. So that’s why Adrian asked her that question.

Before Monica could answer, Lily’s milky voice already reached his ears as he opened the door: "Daddy!"

"Hey, sweetheart," Adrian immediately knelt down to clap his hands for her.

The little one immediately let go of the nanny’s hand and staggered towards him. Although she fell after just a couple of steps, she quickly got up like nothing had happened and continued until she plunged into her father’s arms.

"Oh, you’re so cute, dear. How was your day? Did you make Ms. Rosa mad?" Adrian lifted his daughter while affectionately tapping her little nose, causing Lily to burst into giggling.

"No—very good—" she said, dragging out the words.

The little one was smart and caught on to language quite fast. Although her sentences might come out a bit muddled when long, specific words were very clear, like "daddy" and "is a baddie". Lily occasionally blurted out from her mouth, "Daddy is a baddie". Needless to say, it was Kate who taught her daughter this. When Adrian protested, Kate responded confidently, "Aren’t you a baddie?"

The reason for this was because she found that the revenge she couldn’t carry out herself could be executed by her daughter. One day, when Adrian showed the little girl a photograph and brainwashed her, Kate sighed, "I didn’t expect the thing I failed to do before could now be accomplished by Lily."

There was no need to delve deeper into what wasn’t done before. Therefore, Kate, having realized this, started to intensify her efforts and taught her daughter the phrase "daddy is a baddie" as a classic example. Adrian struggled a lot to correct Lily, but perhaps because the little one found it amusing to see her father’s troubled face when she said it, she stubbornly refused to change, leaving Adrian with no choice but to give up. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to vote and support on qidian.com, your support is my greatest motivation.)