Chapter 20: Gifts and wishes

The time came on April 28th. In these two days, Wang Yang ran to three film companies one after another, and he still found nothing, and the artisan company had not contacted him for the time being, which was what he expected. .
Today is destined to be a busy day. Wang Yang finished a part-time job of handing out flyers in the morning, and in the afternoon went to a film company to try his luck. This company called "Thinking Film" finished watching his movies from beginning to end, buying movies. The manager was frightened with cold sweat, but after thinking, they still dared not take risks easily.
Because the meeting time of the thinking film and his appointment was very late, and its headquarters was located far away from the Jessica ’s house, after leaving the thinking film company, Wang Yang did n’t even have time to go home to take a shower or change clothes. Yes, she hurried to Jessica ’s house with a briefcase full of gifts to attend her birthday party.
As dusk approached night, Wang Yang finally came to the community where the Jessica family lived, not too late. This is a very high-end community with a wide avenue in the middle and large houses with front and rear gardens on both sides. The trees are shaded and the scenery is beautiful. It is definitely a first-class community in Los Angeles.
"Hi, Jessica, I have arrived near your house, but I don't know what to do next." Wang Yang glanced at the surrounding environment and smiled embarrassedly at the phone: "Well, okay, I seem to be lost. Well, I am at a crossroads, there is a small fountain in the middle, there are chairs next to it, and there are some trees around ... "
"Fountain? Oh, I know where it is!" Jessica laughed crisply, it sounded like she was in a good mood, she said: "It's very close to my house, but you should stay where you are, I will pick it up in the past You, wait. "
"Okay." Wang Yang closed his phone and sat down on the bench beside the small fountain, looking at the surrounding scenery. After waiting for a while, he saw Jessica coming over from the intersection, waved at him with a smile, and accelerated his pace.
She was dressed very beautifully today. A set of pink checkered ladies with long brown hair fluttering as she ran. She ran to the chair and smiled at Wang Yang, showing her white teeth: "Hi, Yang ! "
Wang Yang stood up, looked at her, and praised: "Wow, Jessica, you are so beautiful today." Smiled, and said: "Happy birthday."
"Thank you." Jessica smiled and pulled her hair, and said with a happy face: "I'm glad you can come."
Seeing Wang Yang take out a thing wrapped in colored paper from her briefcase, she was startled, and then realized that it was a gift, covering her mouth with both hands, and looked surprised: "Oh, God ..."
Wang Yang said with a smile the voice of "Dang Dang Dang Dang", holding the gift in both hands, and handed it to Jessica, smiling: "Is it Miss Alba? This is your birthday gift, please sign."
"Oh, my God ..." Jessica took a deep breath, as if receiving the gift with both hands in the treasured place, lamented: "Wow! Unbelievable. Yang, I received your birthday gift again, this is The second one. "She smiled and said," Did you know? The first birthday gift you gave me was the first birthday gift I received from a friend besides my family. "
After listening to her, Wang Yang felt a little embarrassed and blamed himself. The first gift? Those "wife cakes" weren't made by him at all. He took them as gifts. He still remembered that there were ten boxes of cakes. Jessica ate three, and he ate seven ... For Jessica, it has such an important significance ...
And this second gift, although it is a special one, is actually a very handy thing. Wang Yangqian laughed, with a guilty conscience: "Do you like it?"
"Okay, let me see what it is." Jessica's entire attention was focused on the gift, and no embarrassment was found. She opened the colored paper with a smile. The gift inside seemed to be a book. She took it out curiously and expectantly. It was not a book. It was a large book integrated with a lot of A4 paper.
On the top page, there is a large pencil word "Ranger", she flipped it casually, this large stack of A4 paper was completely filled with pencil words, and some pencil drawings everywhere, these paintings Some are weapons, some are characters, and some are frame-by-frame. Although the painter is average, it seems to be a sub-shot of the movie.
Jessica looked dumbfounded, and it took a while to realize what the gift was. She raised her head excitedly, looked at Wang Yang, and said incredulously: "Wow, no!" She looked down at her hand again. In the paper, I sighed and said: "A manuscript of a script !? Ranger? Yang, is this your script?"
Wang Yang touched his head and looked at the script with a look of pride, just like looking at his child, saying: "Yes, a messy story, I hope you like it."
He didn't have the money to buy a valuable gift, so he thought about giving some meaningful and unique gifts. After some selection, he chose this script. The content of this script does not come from the future movies in his mind. Every one of them is his own thought. He has studied martial arts since he was a child and was very interested in martial arts under the influence of old man Wu. The influence of super heroes like Superman, Batman, Captain America, etc. This script is about the story of a martial arts superhero in a modern city.
He has been writing this story since he was in junior high school. Until now, he has experienced mental maturity, rich knowledge, and deepened understanding of the film. This script is also constantly being revised and supplemented. It's more than enough to say that the content of that large stack of paper was filmed for good or bad. All his hard work for many years is in these manuscripts.
So he copied the script and sent the manuscript to Jessica.
"Of course, I like it, I like it very much!" Jessica kept turning through the thick stack of A4 paper in her hands, watching her eyes brightly, muttering: "Wow, this gift is too much People were surprised ... this is the best gift I received ... "
Listening to her gratitude, Wang Yang felt a little ashamed, and said half-jokingly and half-seriously: "Jessica, I think this script will be made into a movie someday, and the heroine of the movie will be performed by you. In fact, this is my gift. But only if you are willing to be a heroine. "
"What?" Jessica jumped in her heart and stopped looking. She remembered what they said when she was a child. When we grew up, we became directors and actors. Then ... Yang this gift, is there anything special? Does it mean? Holding the script, she looked at Wang Yang without blinking her eyes, her heart beating quickly, and her voice became a little unnaturally low, saying: "Well ... maybe, maybe I can try it."
But Wang Yang didn't mean anything she thought. He nodded with a smile and said, "Well, that's good! At least I don't have to worry about not finding the heroine, haha."
Jessica just smiled. When he saw that he had nothing more to say, he said "Oh" and said, "OK, then come with me, my house is in front."
Her house is also a big house with front and back gardens. On the trees in the front yard, there are some colorful balloons hanging on the mailboxes. There are several long tables on the lawn with tablecloths and various foods on them. There are many people in the yard, middle-aged people are busy, young people are talking, and children are running happily. It seems that there are many people invited to the party.
"Brother, welcome to my house!" When I saw Jessica coming back with Wang Yang, Joshua on the lawn greeted him for the first time, warmly touching Wang Yang with his chest, he held his The DV machine was filming and smiled at Wang Yang: "You are free, I will continue to complete my movie. Well, this movie is a documentary called" Jessica's 17th Birthday Record ", is it cool? "He said nothing, so he went to other places to take pictures. A big white dog followed him. According to Jessica's introduction, it was their domestic Labrador named Danny.
"Hey, Jessica, who is he?" At this time, several young men and women came up, both white and black, and they looked at Wang Yang curiously.
Jessica glanced at Wang Yang and smiled and introduced to those friends: "This is Wang Yang, my good friend, he is a director." Wang Yang nodded to them and said, "Hi, everyone. "
The young people all wowed with surprise and looked at Wang Yang, such a young director?
Next, Jessica introduced Wang Yang to her friends, Ilya Wood, a short white man, the protagonist of "Dolphin Flipper", he and Jessica naturally met during the shooting. Wang Yang looked at his tender face and felt very familiar, thinking about it, it turned out that this guy would perform in The Lord of the Rings in the future, with the role of Frodo Baggins of the Hobbit.
Then there was a tall and strong young white man, Jack Frank, who was actually a director and a student of the prestigious school UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles). It is said that playing basketball is also great. Wood is a good friend, so he knows Jessica. Wang Yang was puzzled, and looked at Jack a few more times. Is this guy the "Jack" Joshua said?
There are also John, David, Winters, Erin, Michelle and others. Some of them are Jessica's neighbors, and some are her classmates in the acting school.
After everyone knew each other, Jack-Frank seemed to suddenly see the stack of A4 paper in Jessica's hand and asked curiously: "Wow, Jessica, what are those in your hand?"
Jessica smiled slightly and said simply: "A script, Jane gave me a birthday present." She didn't want to talk more about this topic, and she didn't want to share it with others. She looked at Wang Yang and smiled: "Yang, come with me, I will take you to meet my family." She said to her friends that she was out of tune, and took Wang Yang to the back garden.
"Script?" Jack-Frank frowned as he watched the two of them talking and laughing.
Wang Yang first saw Jessica ’s mother and her grandmother. Her mother, Cathy, was a very beautiful and middle-aged white woman who treated people very kindly, obviously a well-educated person, and according to Wang Yang ’s own mind The data in the table shows that Cathy came from a Danish-French mixed Canadian family. No wonder he gave birth to such a beautiful Jessica; Jessica's grandmother was an affable old man, staring at him with a smile.
Then, Jessica found her father, Mark Alba, a Mexican-American man on the other side of the lawn. He was very tall, with a spiritual face and a flat hair style. Although he was a real estate businessman now, he was all over. There is still the majesty of an Air Force officer above and below.
Jessica hugged the script in one hand and hugged her father ’s arm in one hand. She looked at Wang Yang and smiled happily: "Daddy, he is Yang, he was mine when we were in San Francisco before. Classmates, a very, very nice person. "
"Hello Uncle." Wang Yang reached out to Mark-Alba, and it was a bit strange. Why did Mark's eyes look so bad ... Is it possible that someone who has been a soldier before will have a murderous body?
Mark-Alba glanced at Wang Yang for a few moments, reached out and shook him heavily, and said, "Hello, welcome to our house."
After the introduction, Jessica let go of her father ’s arms and held the script sent by Wang Yang with both hands, saying: "Yang, then you are free yourself. I will put this gift first!" Go to the house, leaving her father and Wang Yang looking at each other.
Seeing Mark Alba with a serious face, he kept staring at himself. Wang Yang felt a little hairy in his heart. Mark Alba suddenly frowned and asked, "Yan, are you Jessica's boyfriend?" Suddenly Wang Yang said, "No, no, how could it be." He shook his head and smiled: "Uncle, you misunderstood, Jessica and I are just good friends."
"Oh!" Mark-Alba nodded thoughtfully, but in fact his head was confused, not Jessica's boyfriend, she introduced so grandly, what does it mean? His daughter, except for her begging for her to go to acting school, had not held his arm like this for a long time.
Jessica hugged the script and hummed into the room briskly. She was about to walk upstairs to her room, but her grandmother stopped her. The old man asked with a smile: "Jessica, is Jane your boyfriend?" Jessica froze, saying, "What?" Grandma, you said Yang ... No. "Her mouth slightly curled up and smiled," It's a good friend! "Then she walked upstairs holding the script.
Is not it? The grandmother chuckled.
Went back to his room, Jessica breathed a sigh of relief and smirked a few times. She put the script on the desk, turned a page casually, and looked at the words and pictures. She extended her finger with a smile and gently stroked on it. When will you be able to make this movie?
After chatting with Mark-Alba for a few words, Wang Yang, who is "as casual as he is," did not run around. He strolled on the lawn and ran around for an afternoon. His stomach was already hungry, so he left At the long table of food, I picked up a donut and took a bite to chew it. I couldn't help but wowed and sighed, "Oh, my God! It's so sweet."
While he was eating, he was looking at the little kid chasing and playing on the lawn, wondering if the little Mary who took the DV machine all day and everywhere was there?
At this time, Jack-Frank pretended to come naturally, he also picked up a donut to eat, looked at Wang Yang next to him, and said: "Hi, Yang." Wang Yang returned his greeting, Jack then Asked: "Yang, won't you write that script?"
"Jessica's share?" Wang Yang nodded and said, "Of course, my manuscript."
Jack-Frank bite the donut and laughed, and gave thumbs up to Wang Yang, said: "Man, you have a good idea, this idea is good! This gift saves money and looks special, but it is actually a bunch of Paper, isn't it? "
Wang Yang shrugged and was too lazy to talk. What did this guy want to say? His gift is terrible? Is his script worthless? Just whatever Jessica likes.
Wang Yang can now be sure that Jack-Frank is definitely not Jessica ’s boyfriend, as can be seen from Jessica ’s attitude towards him just now, but Jack should be Jessica ’s suitor, and now, Jack is probably thinking Give him a "better" look?
"Oh, Jan, just heard Jessica say, are you a director?" Sure enough, Jack Frank continued to ask a question.
"Well, you can say that." Wang Yang didn't want to tell this guy more, just wanted to send him away quickly.
Jack-Frank raised his eyebrows, his face a little nervous and dignified, and hesitantly asked, "So do you have any works to be shown?" Wang Yang looked at the children in the distance and gently said "NO, still "No," Jack breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately asked again: "Where are you studying?"
"I haven't read anymore."
"How did you know Jessica?"
"We used to be classmates."
Jack-Frank nodded suddenly, thinking in his heart, it seemed that there was no threat, just an old classmate. He turned his head to look at Wang Yang again and asked, "Oh, can I ask you a question?" Wang Yang rolled his eyes and said impatiently: "Please, man, you have asked a lot of questions." Jack disagreed and asked, "What are you doing now?"
"McDonald's part-time waitress, occasionally dispatching flyers." Wang Yang answered truthfully, looking at him funny, and asked, "Brother, are you satisfied?"
Waiter? Distribute flyers? Hearing Wang Yang ’s words, Jack-Frank could n’t help but feel complacent, ha, a little handyman with no future, how could he be comparable to his famous school student! Why does anyone dare to say that he is a director now? He whistled and said, "It's okay, please continue to eat." After that, he patted Wang Yang's and turned away haha.
Wang Yang couldn't help but shook his head and laughed. This guy wanted to pursue Jessica, but he didn't know that Jessica hated the haughty look like him most and looked down on people's "excellent students".
While eating donuts, watching the children playing with the Labrador retriever Danny tossing the ball, Wang Yang smiled with a smile on his face. Suddenly, his shoulder was gently tapped by someone, and he heard "Hey". He looked back and saw that Jessica stood behind him happily. She smiled: "Yang, sweet How is the circle? Is it delicious? "
"Delicious. Very sweet and crisp, first-class donuts." Wang Yang praised a few words, looked at her with a smile, couldn't help but surprised: "Oh, wouldn't you make it?"
Jessica also wanted to say yes, accept the compliment, but she did n’t make the doughnut, she could only shake her head and smiled: "No, it was my grandmother." Wang Yang took another bite and smiled, "Wow, That's really thank you grandmother. "
"Well." Jessica looked at the children who were laughing across from her and asked, "Yang, do you like children very much?" She just saw Wang Yang's smile, which was only like the children. Only appear in the children.
Wang Yang smiled and nodded. He looked at the children and said, "Children, dogs," Cats and Rats ". As soon as I see these cute things, I can't walk." He smiled again. Laughing and frowning, "Of course, some children are naughty. They are like the children in" Home Alone ". They make you have a headache and make things mess up. I am very scared when I encounter such children."
"Me too." Jessica glanced at Wang Yang, and she seemed to have something more in her heart, and smiled: "I also like children, like dogs, like" Cat and Mouse "; I don't like" Home Alone ", haha! "
Wang Yang smiled and said: "However, in my observation, those children are not saboteurs, hehe, I really want to join them."
"Oh, you can't join them for the time being." Jessica smiled and said excitedly: "Ms. Miranda is here!" She beckoned and walked into the room: "Yang, come with me."
"Wow, OK." Wang Yang finished eating the doughnut in his hand, wiped his hands with a tissue, and followed Jessica into the house.
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In the hall, on the light blue fabric sofa, Ms. Miranda is holding the script of "Smart-Ghost Record". She is a middle-aged white woman wearing a black female suit and wearing a frameless glasses There is a temperament of professional women.
Jessica sat next to her, with anticipation in her eyes; Wang Yang was sitting on the small sofa opposite, waiting quietly.
Actually Miranda watched this script, just walked through the scene. Every year, countless young people bring their own scripts to the film company to try their luck, but the film company will not be interested. Only a few lucky ones will be fancy, but how about that? The film company will only give you some money, buy the story, and then find a professional person to do it yourself, you are nothing.
This is mainly because looking at the script alone, it is impossible to judge what it looks like after being made into a movie, and it is even more impossible to judge the market value of this movie. It can be said that the script of a newcomer is really worthless.
Miranda watched for a while, the script is a regular script, which at least shows that the person who wrote the script has a professional foundation, not a mess. She looked up at Wang Yang, who was opposite, and asked, "Yang, listening to Jessica, have you run through many film companies?" Jessica also looked at Wang Yang.
Wang Yang nodded and said, "Yes, I have run through many houses, but no one seems to appreciate my movie yet." After all, he smiled self-deprecatingly.
This is normal, she walked into the film company enthusiastically, and then left with a frustrated face, such a young man, she saw much more. Miranda asked again: "Can you tell me about which film companies?"
"Of course, I think about it." Wang Yang said from beginning to end: "Fox Searchlight, Paramount Classic ... They refused me on the phone; there are new lines, emperors, and vertices who arranged to meet me. , Artisans, thinking ... "He said the names of a dozen film companies in one breath.
Miranda frowned suddenly, she closed the script, looked at Jessica, shook her head and said: "Sorry, Jessica, I can't help you up." Jessica suddenly shouted "Oh God "Ah," said with disappointment and anxiety: "Why?" Miranda explained to the two: "I have some friendships with Mr. Robert of Demand Films and Mr. Ullman of Think Films. But, you know , They all rejected you. "She spread her hands helplessly and said again:" Sorry. "
Jessica said bitterly: "Miranda, is there really no way?"
"Nothing, Jessica." Wang Yang smiled comfortably at her and looked at Miranda again, politely saying: "Thank you, Ms. Miranda, I can understand."
Miranda nodded silently, thoughtfully, and said seriously: "But, IMHO, Yang, I think DV movies are not realistic. So many film companies have rejected you, they are not without reason." She said seriously: "Actually, your appearance is pretty good, you can consider acting, you know, many studios need some Chinese characters." Her other meaning is to say, don't waste time.
Chinese villains? Thief? Liar? A guilty character in the mouth? Wang Yang smiled and shook his head, rejecting her: "No, I don't understand acting."
"Please, Miranda!" Jessica laughed and said a little dissatisfiedly: "You haven't seen Yang's movie, how do you know it's unrealistic? That movie is really scary and excellent."
Although Jessica's tone was a little heavy, Miranda was not angry. She patted Jessica's hand and said softly: "Jessica, I'm just an agent. The quality of a movie is not up to me. . All I can help is recommendation, but the companies I can recommend, they all refused.
"It's okay, it's okay!" Wang Yang smiled and waved his hand generously, not to say that he was not disappointed at all, but that his expectations at the beginning were already very low.
Because any film company, the final consideration is necessarily the film itself. The distribution managers do n’t care who you recommend. If you do, you can do it. If you do n’t, you ca n’t do it. The market is not set by them. The film, which caused the company to suffer losses and decline in reputation, they will also lose their jobs.
Therefore, it is recommended that someone recommends it to him, but there is no difference. Of course, it may be better in patience and tone, at least after watching the movie, and then tell you "no".
"Sorry, Yang." Jessica looked sorry, she really wanted to help Wang Yang, this is the birthday gift she wanted.
"Hi, guys, are you finished?" Jessica's mother Cathy came in just in time and smiled at them, saying, "Jessica, everyone is waiting for you outside."
Wang Yang stood up and smiled: "Come on, Jessica, don't let everyone wait for a long time." Jessica packed her mood and showed a smiling face, got up and said: "OK, happy hour!"
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"Happy birthday to you ... Happy birthday to you ... Happy birthday to Jessica, Happy birthday to UU reading www.uukanshun.com ..."
In a courtyard filled with colorful lights and balloons, everyone was surrounded by a long table with a three-storey birthday cake on it. Everyone laughed happily, patted the beat gently, sang the happy birthday song together, and looked at Jessica standing in front of the cake. The labrador dog, Dans, turned around them, his tongue stretched out.
"Jessica, hurry up and have a birthday wish!" Joshua held the DV machine and captured the scene of the party for a second. Now that it's the highlight of the birthday party, he wishes to blow candles, of course he will not Let go.
"Hmm." Jessica put her hands together and looked at the people around her. Her father and family looked at her lovingly, her neighbors looked at her kindly, and her friends looked at him with a smile. She, cute and hateful Ilya Wood, uninvited Jack Frank, Irene learning acting together ... and Wang Yang, who is smiling with a blessing on his face.
Jessica smiled slightly, closed her eyes, and said sincerely in her heart: "God, my wish is that my family and my friends can continue to be healthy and happy; I can get the role of the film and don't fail the audition again; um, In addition, please let Yang ’s film be seen by the film company, be released smoothly, and then be sold at the box office ... Is the wish a bit too much ... "She thought about it and said in her heart:" No matter, benevolent Lord , Please promise me ... "
After making the wish, she opened her eyes and blew out the 17 candles inserted on the cake. She blew quickly a few times, and immediately blew out all the 17 candles, laughing happily.
"Happy birthday, Jessica!" Everyone applauded enthusiastically and gave their blessings to 17-year-old Jessica.