Tim could only do as Leon requested. Within Columbia Records, his status was catching up with Beyoncé and Adele. The other party promised to complete the all-channel release of Old Town Road in the shortest possible time, maybe not even needing a week.
"Something interesting happened in Los Angeles last night; do you want to hear it?" The corners of Bonnie's mouth couldn't help rising.
Taking advantage of the fact that the employees had all left work, Leon pulled her into his arms.
The oily and shiny black stockings rubbed repeatedly on his legs. "Does this have anything to do with me?"
"Sort of. You're not unfamiliar with the parties involved."
"Tell me about it." Leon asked while stroking the black stockings.
Bonnie rolled her eyes at him coquettishly and said: "To celebrate the completion of Men in Black 3, director Sonnenfeld held a celebrity party at the Beverly Hills Hotel last night. Dre was also on the guest list. Some episodes happened at the party."
"Dre?"
In Leon's impression, although the other party started as an orthodox gangsta rapper, he has now transformed into a business tycoon.
He always has a smile on his face wherever he goes, never losing his temper unless actively offended. Without looking at his skin color, it's impossible to imagine a black billionaire having such a gentle personality.
"To be precise, it was Kendrick. He attended this party with Dre." Bonnie said.
"This is normal. That ngga's new album is about to be released. I even suspect Dre has to bring Kendrick when sleeping with women." Leon asked: "What happened to that guy?"
"Nothing big happened." Bonnie paused for two seconds, trying hard to hold back laughter. "Just that Will Smith slapped him at the party."
"What?" Leon looked incredulous.
Couldn't figure out how these two guys, who had nothing to do with each other, got into such a big beef, even to the extent of disregarding dignity and fighting in public.
He quickly patted Bonnie's butt signaling her to get up, opened the social networking site, and before he had time to type on the keyboard, he saw Kendrick and Will's names hanging on the number one hot search of the day.
A user claiming to be a hotel waiter posted a revelation of the whole process of the conflict that night.
Will Smith slapped Kendrick without warning for some unknown reason, and then the two scuffled together.
Kendrick's small stature obviously didn't have an advantage in front of Will, who worked out all year round, and was soon pinned down by Will.
They didn't separate until Dre intervened.
Various versions of the reason for the conflict circulated on the internet. The version with the highest credibility said: The atmosphere that night was originally harmonious until Kendrick heard Will Smith mentioning Leon's name repeatedly in chats with others and insulting him with extremely harsh language.
He stood up immediately and argued with the other party. Although the atmosphere was tense at this time, the scene was still under control.
Later, his behavior escalated rapidly. First, he called Will's son Jaden a "little girl," and then he flirted with Will's wife Jada to her face, claiming he had an unparalleled big eggplant.
Under his wife's eye signal, Will Smith finally exploded and slapped Kendrick in front of a group of Hollywood celebrities.
This tweet was liked by Kendrick himself, with high authenticity.
"WTF..." Leon was amused by the course of events and immediately called Kendrick.
"How are you, Bro..." Kendrick's voice was weak, completely lacking his usual tone.
"Is what they say online true?"
"Don't mention that. If I had a Glock in my hand, that guy would be dead."
Kendrick, who suffered a loss, didn't want to mention the experience of being unilaterally beaten that night, only able to talk tough.
Although he came from Compton, he was considered a rare good boy there with no criminal record.
"I understand, buddy. If Dre hadn't stopped you, you would have pinned Will down like a btch." Leon held back his laughter and asked: "Can I ask why? I mean you two seem to have no intersection..."
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, then Kendrick roared with a crying tone, volume raised three degrees: "It was all for you, Bro. That bastard provokes you on Blue Bird every day. He even insulted our movie. I just made a few jokes. Didn't expect this bastard to actually start fighting..."
Hearing this, Leon almost couldn't hold it back. Insulting someone's wife and child in front of a superstar, can you not get beaten?
If not for Dre's face, Will's slap would probably have come over from the first time Kendrick provoked.
He is just a second-rate rapper whose debut album flopped. The status between the two is not on the same level.
"Thank you for doing this for me, buddy. I won't forget it." Leon comforted. Setting aside whether this farce was meaningful, at least this ngga was truly loyal.
"Bro, I lost face big time this time. The whole rap circle is mocking me. Did you see Drake's tweet? He said even a hobbit could rub me on the ground..."
"Not that bad, buddy. At least you didn't back down; you showed the courage representing the street." Leon said, "Anyway, thank you for doing this for me. I will repay you."
As soon as the voice fell, the plaintive tone on the other end of the phone stopped instantly.
Kendrick asked tentatively: "About the thing you promised Boss Dre to write songs for my new album before, you must not forget this, Bro..."
Hearing this, Leon completely understood why the other party didn't hesitate to fight with a superstar to defend his reputation.
There might be a few points of homie loyalty in it, but the dominant factor was still to ask for a song.
Kendrick's debut album already flopped. If this album, which poured all Aftermath Entertainment's resources, cannot explode, even if he is Dre's biological son, it means his singer career has basically come to an end.
This shows he is not suitable for the rapper profession at all.
"Don't worry, K, but this will take some time." Because the songs refreshed by inspiration are not fixed, Leon could only be perfunctory for now.
"That's why I love you so much, Bro. Even if the scene last night repeats, I will still defend your reputation without hesitation!"
After hanging up the phone, Leon and Bonnie looked at each other, shaking their heads helplessly while laughing.
Since he entered the entertainment industry last year, all the beef in the circle has been more or less related to him.
Even if he doesn't deliberately create conflicts, funny oolong events like last night will be staged, sending him free heat.
"Don't you think the atmosphere now is very suitable for revisiting the past?" Leon patted Bonnie's taillights. He had almost forgotten what that tasted like.
"Oh my God, do you think you are Superman?" Bonnie rolled her eyes, but her body was honest.
Slender fingers explored down along Leon's chest, soon probing into the danger zone.
Parting her red lips, she said resentfully: "Did you really do nothing with Little A in the recording studio today?"
"That's different. I feel full of power. Don't you know I've been working out often recently?" Leon grinned wickedly.
There are differences in fuel consumption between car models, and the same goes for human bodies.
Ariana is petite; her energy consumption is only half of Taylor's.
"You weren't like this in Brownsville. I still can't forget the way you fled in panic." Bonnie said with a smile, "If your fans knew that look of yours, it would definitely shatter their fantasies. Turns out Street Jesus also has such embarrassing moments."
Talking about the experience of running away clutching his kidneys, even Leon couldn't help blushing. "That's all in the past; it's different now."
"You are the boss; I have no power to refuse~" A rare blush also appeared on Bonnie's face. She lay obediently on the edge of the desk, her pencil skirt and stockings releasing dangerous signals.
Just when the atmosphere became more and more fiery and "conflict" was about to break out, the phone rang.
"Damn it..." Leon felt his throat burning hot, hung up hurriedly without even looking at the caller's name.
More than ten seconds later, the annoying ringtone rang again.
"You'd better answer the phone first; don't miss anything important."
Leon held his forehead, picked up the phone helplessly. The caller was actually Anya.
Associating that this girl had never called him on her own initiative, he subconsciously thought she had encountered some trouble and answered quickly.
"What's wrong, Anya? Did you encounter any trouble?"
"No... are you busy now, Mr. Leon?" Anya asked in a low voice.
Leon looked back at Bonnie twice. "No, I'm not busy at all now."
"Can I see you?"
"Now?"
"Yes." Speaking of this, Anya's volume was so weak that only breath remained.
"Okay, where are you? I'll rush over immediately."
"Fifth Avenue, near the Metropolitan Museum of Art."
After hanging up the phone, Leon hurried to pounce on Bonnie, but the other party had obviously lost interest.
She gently separated Leon with her fingertips. "Seems like some girl is waiting for you; don't make her wait too long."
"We still have plenty of time."
"Better not; your heart has already flown elsewhere." Saying that, Bonnie stood up and buttoned her white shirt. "You don't have to feel guilty; I'm used to you treating me like this."
After speaking, she paused for two seconds, a trace of imperceptible light flashing in the corner of her eyes. "Of course, you never feel guilty, right?"
Leon spread his hands and forced a smile. "Sorry, I'll make it up to you next time."
After speaking, he put on his black hoodie and walked out of the office without looking back.
Although Leon had moved his home to Tribeca in Manhattan long ago, he rarely visited Fifth Avenue.
It is extremely congested at any time of the year. Looking around, it is full of tourists from all over the world, with few native New Yorkers.
In front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he saw Anya's figure at a glance.
Anya wore a khaki trench coat and a white knitted hat on her head. Her extremely British classical temperament stood out exceptionally among the young girls with weird hair colors all over the street.
"Stop here; you don't need to wait for me later." Leon said to Jorge.
"I'd better follow you. There has been too much negative public opinion about you recently." Jorge tilted his head and said, "Don't worry, I will keep a distance and won't affect your date with that girl."
Leon didn't refuse this kindness. Although the security level in Manhattan after 9/11 is comparable to Washington, and there are patrolling police everywhere on Fifth Avenue, being cautious is always good.
He crossed the zebra crossing and walked quickly to Anya. "What's wrong, Anya? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Mr. Leon. Can you walk with me casually?"
"No problem." From the abnormal tone on the phone, Leon could infer that this girl definitely had something on her mind.
A girl at the age of 15 always has her head filled with various worries and unrealistic fantasies.
The two walked side by side, pressing the road (strolling) on the bustling Fifth Avenue.
Leon covered half of his face with the hood of his black hoodie, his hands always in his jacket pockets.
Walking with Anya was like the story of a hooligan hooking up with a rich girl coming into reality.
After walking aimlessly for a few hundred meters, Leon took the initiative to probe and break the awkward situation. "You look very unhappy. Are you not used to the food in New York?"
"Not really. The food choices here are much richer than in London, and there are several good British restaurants not far from where I live."
Leon sighed. "You can't always eat junk food like fish and chips or scones. No offense, but I must say the British are the culinary depression of Europe."
Anya's expression finally changed a little, curving the corners of her mouth to reveal a sweet smile. "When shooting the Vlog in London, didn't you say British cuisine is the culinary miracle of this planet?"
Leon was also amused by his baseless low-level bragging in the Vlog.
Culinary miracle?
Culinary weirdo is more like it. That pie full of fish heads is really not a dish humans can imagine.
"Shooting is acting. You can't believe anything you see on TV." Leon said with a smile, "This is all to make you Brits happy. Look, didn't you little British girl take it seriously?"
Anya almost laughed out loud at the straightforward sarcasm, the gloom on her face swept away.
To close the distance between the two, Leon took the opportunity to issue an invitation. "Find time to come to my house; I have done a lot of research on cooking."
"You?"
Anya blinked her big eyes. Even putting aside the boss's notorious street rumors, in the age group of 21, men who can cook are rare species looking around the world.
"Don't believe it? I am the best Chinese chef in New York." Leon bragged seriously. "Anyway, the place where you live is very close to mine. If you are interested, I welcome you anytime."
"I believe you."
Anya's mind kept recalling her parents' instructions when she left London—"Keep a distance from men in the entertainment industry, especially your boss. Never let him take you home casually!"
The influence of these words in her heart was being rapidly weakened. Now it seems that this Street Jesus, who is chased and blackened by major media and whose notoriety spreads across both sides of the Atlantic, is not that scary.
The two chatted while walking and unknowingly arrived at Times Square.
Tourists from all over the world were everywhere. Couples leaned together one after another, taking selfies with the iconic NASDAQ big screen as the background.
"Thank you, Mr. Leon." Anya suddenly stopped and looked up.
"Thank me for what?"
"Since coming to New York, I haven't talked to anyone for a long time. You know I don't have a single friend here."
"Really?" Leon was a bit surprised.
"Yes." Anya nodded seriously. "I am alone most of the time."
"Okay, if you feel bored, remember to call me anytime." Leon said so, but started calculating other ideas in his heart.
Is this girl too idle?
There is still a month before Ready Player One officially starts shooting.
And although the shooting time of CGI movies is very long, what actors have to do is actually very limited. Most of the time, the special effects team is working.
Moreover, according to the existing script, Anya, who plays the heroine, has less than half the scenes of Holland, who plays the hero. Leon immediately thought of the movie script about witches that Robert Eggers sent him.
He took an hour out of his busy schedule to finish reading this script. The role of the heroine Thomasin is simply tailor-made for Anya.