Before each shift, Matthew had to go to Lister's office to get the car keys and his work for the night. Hearing what the receptionist said, he wasn't surprised. He went straight to the second floor, knocked on the door, and pushed open the office door.
"Look who it is…"
As soon as he entered the office, the bald black man's unusually grating voice came over, "Our big star."
Every time Matthew came to this office, he would hear the bald black man's mockery. As usual, he couldn't be bothered with such a person and prepared to go to Lister's desk to receive his work assignment for the night.
But the bald black man wasn't finished and continued, "I heard you went for another audition? What kind of production? Like the last one?"
Matthew didn't know what was going on, but the fact that he almost filmed that kind of movie suddenly spread throughout the company.
"The naked big star!" The fat man next to the bald black man laughed, "Are you going to film that kind of movie again, you idiot?"
"How much money can you make filming that kind of movie?" The bald black man spoke again, "Hey, hillbilly! With your looks, if you just take off your clothes, many rich women and guys who like gay men will definitely pay you a fortune!"
Lister didn't say anything. As usual, he just smiled and watched the show. Watching the annoying black guy mock and tease the poor kid was a very enjoyable daily activity for him.
Matthew, holding the newspaper and magazines he had just bought, stopped and looked at the bald black man. The bald black man widened his eyes, parted his thick lips that looked like hanging sausages, and made another grating sound, "What are you looking at? Idiot, am I wrong?"
Even the most good-tempered person couldn't endure indefinitely, and Matthew wasn't that kind of pushover. After being mocked by the bald black man for so long, he couldn't help but want to blurt out a curse word starting with 'N,' but seeing that there were others in the office, he still held back. Such potentially discriminatory words could lead to considerable trouble.
"Don't assume everyone is as mean, narrow-minded, and unprogressive as you are," Matthew retorted.
"What?"
Seeing the usually submissive hillbilly talk back, the bald black man almost jumped out of his office chair, "You Texas hillbilly! Do you know this is Los Angeles?"
He seemed furious, rolled up his sleeves as if to fight, but seeing the half-head difference in height and Matthew's muscular build, he held back, picked up his water glass, and took a big gulp.
Lister was still watching the show. He didn't like the black guy, and he didn't like the hillbilly. The drama these two put on every time was always entertaining for him.
The bald black man gulped down half a glass of water. "Hillbilly! Keep dreaming. You'll still be a dead-end little driver even after fifty more years! You'll be an extra your whole life in Hollywood! You…"
Before he could finish, an open magazine was thrown onto the table in front of him. The upward-facing side of the magazine was a movie poster, with a long string of text descriptions below it.
Matthew threw down the *Premiere* magazine, which he had opened outside the Red Penguin Company. He was too lazy to say anything more. Getting entangled with the bald black man would only disgust him. Even if he eventually put the bald black man in his place, what good would it do? Just an ignorant fool.
The bald black man lowered his head and saw the poster. It seemed to be a promotional poster for a historical film, with a group of ragged barbarians in the background. At the very front of the barbarians, there seemed to be their leader. More than half of the poster was dedicated to this barbarian leader, making him appear exceptionally tall, strong, and fierce.
Why… why did the face beneath the barbarian leader's beard look so familiar? The bald black man subconsciously scratched his head.
"You'll drive that Ford tonight," Lister handed Matthew the car keys and a document. "Go to Malibu. I remember you've been there before."
Matthew glanced at the document,
He nodded and said, "Yes." He then asked, "The driver of this car…"
"Quit!" Lister's tone wasn't very good. "These guys, they don't do their good jobs, they just have to go speculate in stocks! They'll go bankrupt sooner or later!"
He waved his hand at Matthew. "You can go out now. Remember to leave on time, don't be late! Also, the client has been in a bad mood lately, so no matter what they say or do, you have to bear with it."
"Okay." Matthew took the car keys and the document, not even looking at the still-stunned bald black man, and walked directly out of the office.
Arriving at the drivers' lounge, he looked at the document again, confirming that he hadn't misread the name earlier. The place he was going tonight was Johnny Lee Miller's estate in Malibu.
In Lister's office, the bald black man was still staring at the barbarian leader on the poster, his eyes gradually showing surprise and disbelief.
"What's wrong?" The fat man, seeing him in a daze, leaned over and asked, "That hillbilly threw a book at you, and now you're dumbfounded?"
He walked next to the bald black man, looked down, and saw the barbarian leader. Then he, too, was stunned. A few seconds later, he recovered, his face full of a ghostly expression, and pointed at the poster and the accompanying text, saying, "This person… this face… isn't this Matthew Horner?"
The fat man couldn't believe it and turned to look at Lister, "How is this possible?!"
Lister found it strange and asked, "What's going on?"
"Impossible, it's definitely not him!" The bald black man suddenly spoke, his voice so loud it was startling. "It says here that *Gladiator* is a super blockbuster invested by Universal Pictures for 100 million dollars, and the director is Ridley Scott. Ridley Scott isn't senile, so how could he use a Texas hillbilly?"
The fat man took another look and muttered, "This face, apart from the beard, is identical to Matthew Horner."
The bald black man glared at the fat man. "There are many people in the world who look alike! Do you have a pig's brain?"
As soon as he said that, the fat man instantly got angry and pointed at the poster in the magazine, "Are you blind? This is Matthew Horner! Are your eyes just decorations on your head?"
Lister walked over but didn't stop the two arguing idiots. Instead, he picked up the magazine and read it carefully. He dealt with Matthew Horner almost every day, and with just one glance at the poster, he confirmed that it was definitely Matthew Horner's face.
Then, he read the text below: Universal Pictures, one hundred million dollars, Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe… these all came into view.
"Could it really be that idiot?" Lister pinched his chin. "is Matthew Horner about to make it big?"
"I said it's not him, so it's not!" The bald black man was still arguing with the fat man. "You bastard, didn't you hear me?"
The fat man was repeatedly insulted and grew even angrier, "You blind black guy!"
"F@#$!"
The bald black man reached out and grabbed the fat man's clothes. The fat man pushed him away, probably with too much force, and the bald black man fell onto the ground with a thud.
"Enough!"
Although they were of the same rank and had no direct reporting relationship, Lister held a higher position at the Red Penguin Company, so he couldn't help but roar, "What are you two trying to do?!"
Both the fat man and the bald black man glared at each other, but didn't continue to curse.
"That's Matthew Horner!"
As he walked back to his desk, the fat man continued to mutter.
The bald black man struggled to get up from the ground, his dark face showing no expression. He had mocked that hillbilly for so long, and now the other person had actually gotten into director Ridley Scott's film crew, and was even the protagonist on the promotional poster… "No! That's absolutely not him!"
The bald black man self-hypnotized. How could that Texas hillbilly, whom he mocked every day, ever make it big? He wouldn't believe it even if he died.
In the drivers' lounge, after finishing the newspapers and magazines he had bought, Matthew rested for a while. Thinking of his work tonight, he couldn't help but scratch his head.
Angelina Jolie had already divorced Johnny Lee Miller by agreement last month. Matthew wasn't clear on the specifics, but according to media reports, Johnny Lee Miller paid a heavy price for the divorce, especially in terms of asset division.
Matthew guessed that the video probably played an important role.
However, the fact that he was still working at the Red Penguin Company meant that Johnny Lee Miller hadn't suspected him yet.
"Johnny Lee Miller must be pretty depressed, right?"
Matthew had heard from another driver at the company some time ago that Johnny Lee Miller had been frequently contacting the Red Penguin Company recently, calling almost all the models who had business dealings with the company.
The party Johnny Lee Miller was hosting tonight was bigger than the previous one Matthew had attended, and Matthew had to pick up more people.
As soon as it was time to leave, he drove the Ford minivan out of the Red Penguin Company, preparing to go to Westwood to pick people up first. But as soon as he drove out onto Hollywood Boulevard, he noticed a yellow Chevrolet behind him, seemingly following him.
Matthew deliberately made two turns and took a detour, but the Chevrolet remained behind him.
"Who would be following me?" He frowned slightly. "Could it be the *Forbidden Tarot* crew looking for someone to collect a debt? Or…"
After some thought, Matthew realized that he had actually offended quite a few people recently, either directly or indirectly. For example, Johnny Lee Miller, that idiot named Macon from the *Gladiator* crew, and Winona Ryder… it shouldn't be Winona Ryder, he had leverage over her, and they also had a non-disclosure agreement.
As Matthew was thinking, the Ford minivan gradually approached a detached house he had been to before. He honked the horn, and the door of the detached house opened from the inside. The girl named Rachel came out, waved at him as usual, and shouted, "Wait for me for ten minutes!"
Matthew reached out and waved back. Then, in his rearview mirror, he saw the yellow Chevrolet follow him and stop less than ten meters behind him.
The passenger window of the taxi rolled down, revealing a black cylindrical object. It first pointed towards the Ford, then towards the detached house… Seeing this, Matthew immediately thought of a possibility.