King of Hollywood
Chapter 476 - 197: Firing the First Shot

Chapter 476: Chapter 197: Firing the First Shot

"The itinerary is arranged like this, and I’ve faxed a copy to both your parents and your agent," said Eric Norton as he flipped through the documents in his hand. "They have no objections. Do you have anything to add?"

"Nothing at all, in fact, I can hardly wait," Britney shook her head like a bobblehead, clenching her hands into fists, her excited smile undisguised upon her cheeks.

"Alright then," Norton said, turning his attention to Britney’s agent, Lawrence Vick, seated beside her, who also shook his head indicating he had nothing to add, "that’s settled."

"Is it over already? It seems I’m late," a voice came from the entrance of the meeting room.

"Hi, Ed," Britney greeted him immediately, her expression full of excitement. Had it not been for the others present, she might have pounced on him.

"Hi, Britney, it’s so delightful to see you, you look even more beautiful, is it because you’ve heard some good news?" Adrian approached with a chuckle.

"Oh, absolutely, these are the tour schedules for the signings, from Los Angeles to New York, passing through New Orleans too!" Britney excitedly picked up the document and waved it around. "Even though we can’t pass through my hometown, it’s still pretty great."

"Is that so?" Adrian laughed softly and then looked at Norton. "What, you haven’t told her the news yet?"

"I thought it would be more appropriate for you to tell her personally," Norton said with a smile, glancing between him and Britney, "After all, this is the result you’ve always wanted."

"What is it?" Britney asked, her eyes filled with anticipation and hope as she looked at Adrian.

"Well, since you’re done here, why don’t you give us some privacy," Adrian nodded and signaled to Britney with a wave of his hand.

The girl immediately sprang up, greeted Norton and her own agent with a smile, and followed Adrian out cheerfully. They left the meeting room, traversed two corridors, and arrived at Adrian’s private lounge. He didn’t have his own office at the record company, so this lounge had become the place for him to have private discussions with a few of the executives.

Click, the door barely closed when Britney leaped up and wrapped her arms around Adrian’s neck.

"Hold on, Britney..." His words were cut short as she pressed her mouth to his, skillfully prying his teeth apart and slipping her nimble little tongue inside.

Amidst the buzzing sounds, Adrian locked the room’s door while kissing Britney fervently, then he wrapped his arms around her body and stood straight up. The girl wrapped her legs around his waist, while Adrian lifted her up by her perky behind, continuing to kiss her as he walked over to the couch beside them.

With a thump, the girl was pressed onto the couch, although Adrian had turned the tide and penetrated her defenses, eliciting excited hums from her nose and two bright blushes on her lovely cheeks.

After a muffled sigh, they finally parted. Sitting up, Adrian adjusted his collar, looking at her with satisfaction, "You really are adorable, Britney."

Britney didn’t speak, just breathed with her mouth slightly open, her eyes watery and looking unsatisfied. Sure enough, she suddenly flipped over and climbed up, straddling the couch in an ’L’ shape with her hands resting on Adrian’s shoulders, her breathing becoming even quicker: "Again, Ed, again."

"Hold on, Britney, can you slow down, please?" Adrian said, smiling as he grasped her slender waist.

"But I want you," she said urgently, leaning forward, her head rubbing against Adrian’s face, sniffing him like a puppy.

Adrian couldn’t help feeling a sense of elation. Although Sarah was completely submissive to her, with their relationship closer to that of lovers, Kirsten was a little fairy who knew just the right way to entice, and Natalie was, of course, beyond any need for introduction. Therefore, Britney truly deserved to be the little pet he had specially trained.

Even so, he gently pushed her away, then in her eager and puzzled gaze, asked, "Don’t you want to know some good news?"

Britney paused for a moment before it sank in, but she immediately pressed closer again, "What news could be more important than you?"

Adrian let out a soft chuckle, affectionately pinched her little chin, "That’s true, but I think you should know this news first."

"Alright." Despite some disappointment, Britney didn’t insist, after all, Adrian said so.

A piece of paper was pulled from his chest pocket, waggled in his hand, he revealed a smile, "Although the ’Billboard’ rankings don’t come out until tomorrow, I’ve already got it through some channels."

"You mean..." Britney immediately took a deep breath, staring at the object in his hands with an incredulous and astonished gaze.

Adrian smiled as he handed the paper over to her, the girl took it, inhaled deeply again, and tremblingly unfolded it. At first, her gaze went straight to the bottom, then moved upward, the higher she went, the more disappointment filled her eyes, until she got to the very top. She froze, blinked, her eyes widening in disbelief, and her body began to shake.

"Is this... real?!" she exclaimed, dropping the paper and looking at Adrian uncontrollably, then snatched it up to look again, her whole person in a daze, biting her lip as if frightened—scared that she was dreaming and could wake up at any moment.

"Of course, congratulations, Britney, you did a fantastic job," Adrian said with a smile and a nod.

"Amazing! Amazing! I’m number one!! I’m number one!!" Britney suddenly whooped with joy, leaping from the sofa, jumping and dancing excitedly in the lounge, her emotions spilling over like a child.

She had every reason to act this way, because her debut album’s lead single "Baby One More Time" had just been released and had climbed to the top spot on the ’Billboard’ Top 100! For any newcomer, this was an immense honor.

"I knew it! I knew it! I am the best! The best!" Britney kept jumping and cheering, in a frantic manner as if wanting to shake the floorboards, her pure and adorable side on full display in this moment.

Then, she suddenly stopped, turned her head to look at Adrian, her gaze filled with overwhelming emotions. The next second, she threw herself into his arms, then planted kisses on him like raindrops: "I love you, Ed, I love you! I love you! I love you! You were right; I can do it; I am the best! The best!"

She screamed ecstatically, her voice choking up toward the end, continuously kissing Adrian as if it were the only way to express her immense gratitude. After shouting for a good while, Britney finally came to a stop, snuggling into Adrian and breathing softly.

"Have you finally calmed down now?" Adrian asked jokingly as he gently patted her back.

The girl laughed shyly, "I’m just... I didn’t expect to reach the top of ’Billboard’, oh, it’s like a dream."

"’Billboard’ isn’t that unattainable," Adrian said casually, "the song is good, people like it, the MTV came out nice, plus the preparations were done perfectly, and the release was promoted with full effort. It’s not a surprise to achieve such a result. Do you remember what I told you once, Britney? What kind of singer am I training?"

"Of course, I remember: the next Madonna, and... I have that potential!" Britney’s eyes shone as she spoke, her breathing quickened, which female singer wouldn’t want to be the next Madonna?

"Right," Adrian nodded with a smile, "do you believe it now?"

"I’ve always believed in you, Ed, I’ve always trusted whatever you said," the girl said coquettishly. She suddenly straddled him, giggling as she sat on top of him, "I love you, Ed, you are my everything."

At this point, she seemed to remember something and pouted, "Speaking of which, don’t you think I looked ugly in the school uniform in the MTV video? It wasn’t nearly as pretty as when we were actually in class."

"Of course," Adrian pinched her waist and lifted her slightly, "That side of you, only I can see."

"But, Sir, I’ve already graduated," Britney’s voice suddenly turned sweet, her eyes shimmering with an indescribable light, and her chest thrust forward even more. Despite still wearing a jacket, the well-developed softness quivered slightly, incredibly seductive.

"I didn’t say you graduated," Adrian replied with a smile, then his expression became serious, "Do you still remember what I taught you, Britney?"

Britney was stunned for a moment, then quickly understood and replied somewhat uneasily, "Yes, to learn to control my emotions."

"Clearly, you haven’t done very well with that, have you?" Adrian said softly.

"I’m sorry, Ed, I just... couldn’t help it," Britney said in a low voice, bowing her head.

"You’re about to become a big star, and if you can’t control your emotions and always show them on your face, those invasive gossip reporters will catch lots of terrible things to sensationalize, and then you’ll face immense pressure," Adrian said persuasively.

"I’ll try," Britney immediately responded, but then her face showed hesitation, "But it seems... not so easy in front of my family..."

"It’s just two years, after two years, you won’t have to do this anymore," Adrian consoled her, although he frowned internally.

"All right, let’s leave it at that for today. You need to get enough rest to handle the upcoming autograph session. Don’t think those singers look relaxed; it actually takes a lot of effort," he said.

"Then I’ll head back," Britney, already completely compliant to Adrian, obediently hopped down from him.

Although Adrian wanted to take her home to observe her parents and see if they had noticed anything, he eventually scrapped the plan as it might spook them. Besides, he had other measures in place, and it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Britney would become famous.

To speak frankly, before releasing this album, even with the help of Norton and others who produced "Baby One More Time" and optimized it, Adrian wasn’t sure if it could top the Billboard chart on its first broadcast. But now, the reality had proven everything.

Compared to actors, singers and their songs require a higher level of harmony. This song became popular not only because of its catchy rhythm and resonance with young people, but also Britney’s youthful and beautiful appearance and her sweet, magnetic voice played an indispensable role. Imagine, if a black girl with a shrill voice, accustomed to singing high notes, had sung this song, would it have achieved such success?

Now that the opening shot had been fired, the next step was naturally to maintain the momentum, something Adrian and Norton had discussed several times. One of the miracles Britney had created in his memory was that "Baby One More Time" set the record for the most weeks on the Billboard chart, almost more than two years.

The path had been laid out before him, and Adrian was naturally not foolish enough to choose another. To do this was not difficult, the key was whether the opening shot fired well, but now the biggest problem had been resolved; the rest depended on the effect of promotion and some other measures. After all, it wasn’t about maintaining the number one spot for more than two years; just staying in the top 100 would suffice.

Adrian had originally planned to tinker with a few other classic Britney songs, and although his knowledge of pop music was far less than that of movies, he had listened to many classic songs and could recall them. But now it seemed inadvisable; since his memory had proved those songs were outstanding, the right approach was to let things run their course.

When the latest Billboard chart was released, Britney instantly became the media focus, and a large number of young people became her fans. As February rolled in, the nationwide autograph tour officially kicked off, drawing huge crowds of fans wherever it went, making her unparalleled among new singers.

Adrian didn’t follow, even though he cared a lot about the signing event and Britney would call her whenever she arrived somewhere, but his main focus wasn’t on it.

The post-production of The Matrix had long been completed, leaving only the promotion and waiting for the release. However, the post-production of Shakespeare in Love and Elizabeth was still ongoing, especially since the basic editing was done and the rest was all up to him to produce.

"It’s a piece of cake, I have plenty of time." That was Adrian’s reaction. Both movies were aiming for the Oscars, naturally best to release in the last three months, so he had plenty of time to perfect them. Even with a movie scheduled to start filming in August, he still had at least 5 months to squander, and if he couldn’t finish two movies in 5 months, especially ones without much CG work, then he might as well shed his workaholic title.

Therefore, he could also take out the time and energy to arrange other films, such as the preparation of Fight Club, and for some reason, Winona had readily agreed to it, which slightly surprised Adrian. But he quickly put it behind him; Dennis should be the one to worry about it.

Then there was the preparation for The Mummy. Since Rachel had been decided as the female lead, sticking with the "original crew" seemed more appropriate. However, Rachel, after reading the script, was hesitant and wanted to drop out, but Adrian’s reaction was to take her to bed and ravage her until she begged for mercy.

"I just... wanted to think it over carefully," said Rachel, panting on the bed after recovering slightly, but she was soon whipped again by Adrian.

In addition, there was also a film that might not be a huge production but certainly had enough excitement, which had been in preparation for some time.

"Anyway, the reason I’ve invited everyone here is to get to know each other so that we can cooperate fully during the shoot," Adrian said to the people gathered around him over the blaring music.

To his left, stood three super stoic faces: Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Willis. All three were straight-faced, as if none wanted to submit to another. In fact, Schwarzenegger and Bruce originally had smiles, but after clashing gazes with Stallone, they too ended up expressionless, which showed Stallone truly was the king of stoicism.

To his right stood several equally muscular actors, not as famous as the three big shots. The Rock, Vin Diesel, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Steven Seagal, and Jean Reno, who had not been seen for a long time. Due to budget considerations and this being The Expendables’ first installment, Travolta and Cage had temporarily been removed from the list. If the box office was good, they could invite them for a sequel.

Among them stood a slightly shorter figure, seemingly out of place. It wasn’t that he wasn’t strong enough, but rather he was a bit short, at 5 feet 5 inches, which is rather short in the United States, where the average height is 5 feet 8 inches, especially when surrounded by these tall guys.

"How are you feeling, Searle? Can’t you stop frowning like that?"

"I’m looking forward to your performance, Dwayne, you are The Rock!"

"Long time no see, Jean, honestly, I think Luc should have let you star alongside Bruce in The Fifth Element."

Adrian chatted with each of them in turn, even newcomers like The Rock and Vin Diesel, which seemed to surprise them greatly, and the shorter guy was no exception.

"You don’t seem very excited, Jet," Adrian came up to him, "It makes sense, considering the party culture here is different from Hong Kong."

"It’s not like that, Adrian, when I was in Hong Kong... I also attended... many parties," the other replied in halting English.

"But it’s still different," Adrian smiled and switched to Chinese, "And you don’t have many friends here yet."

The other man smiled back, showing no surprise at his fluent and accurate Chinese, obviously having experienced it before.

"Don’t worry, once this movie is released, you’ll have many friends here," Adrian patted his shoulder.

The other hesitated for a moment, then finally asked, "Can you tell me why, Adrian? Why did you offer 3 million to invite me to play a not-so-small supporting role?" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)