Chapter 839: Chapter 245: Leveraging Influence
"Thank you for the hospitality, Catherine, Mark. It was a sumptuous but not extravagant dinner, truly unforgettable," Adrian said, standing at the door, holding Mary and arm-in-arm with Jessica, to the Alba couple who saw them to the door.
"I’m glad... you liked it, Ed. If you have time..." Catherine smiled wryly, glancing at her husband, who had a grim face and said nothing after the conversation, "maybe you, Jessie, and Mary can come often."
"I will." Adrian nodded, then pinched his daughter’s cheek, "Hey, Mary, we’re leaving. Say goodnight to Grandma and Grandpa."
"Goodnight, Grandma and Grandpa." The little one yawned, her cheeks full of drowsiness. At this hour, she would normally be going to bed.
"I’m leaving, Mom. I’ll bring Mary back to see you often." Jessica, somewhat relieved, hugged her mother, then looked cautiously at her father.
Mark forced a smile. He reached out, intending to pat his daughter’s head, but hesitated and simply patted her shoulder instead. "Go on. Your mom and I... both... respect... your choice."
He said this with difficulty, pausing two or three times, his face twitching slightly, but he managed to say it all. Then, somewhat relaxed after speaking, he glanced at Adrian and continued, "If anything happens, be sure to tell us. Your mom and I are your strongest support. If anyone bullies you, I won’t hesitate to show them."
"I will, Dad." Jessica smiled, while Adrian pretended not to see.
Afterward, they walked to the street, where Joshua escorted them to the waiting car.
"You won’t blame me, right, Ed?" Joshua scratched his head, finally asking, feeling a bit embarrassed and... afraid.
"Don’t worry, Joshua. I won’t do anything to you," Adrian said, smiling as he put an arm around Joshua’s shoulder. "Although at first, I was indeed a bit angry, thinking about it now, it’s not so bad. Once Mary gets older, it won’t be easy to introduce her to your parents, and your parents might need time to accept her. Time is always a major cause of change. So in that sense, you’re somewhat of a lucky star."
"Really?" Joshua breathed a sigh of relief.
"Really." Despite saying this, Adrian gave him a hard pat on the shoulder, making him wince in pain.
This made Joshua even more relaxed. Adrian’s actions suggested he wouldn’t hold a grudge for letting slip what led to today’s awkward family dinner.
"What did you and my dad talk about in the room?" Jessica asked after the car started.
"Oh, some minor things, like your insecurities as a child, or maybe his shortcomings in education," Adrian shrugged. "He didn’t want to admit it at first, but under my overwhelming persuasion, he had to."
"You told him all of that?" Jessica’s pretty face fell instantly, her voice rising sharply, causing Adrian to quickly gesture for silence.
"Keep it down, don’t wake Mary," Adrian said, softly patting the daughter already asleep in his arms, who murmured a bit, turned her head, and continued sleeping.
"How could you say that to my dad?" Jessica asked in a low, annoyed tone.
"Why not?" Adrian countered, "You’re an adult now, Jessie. Are you still worried your dad knowing these things will lead to trouble for you? Alright, don’t worry about it. I’ve already sorted out your dad, and he didn’t shoot me. You were right; your dad may be strict, but he’s reasonable."
He said, gently patting Jessica’s shoulder, with her heaving a sigh and resting her head on his shoulder compliantly.
"By the way, I should thank you," Adrian suddenly said.
"Thank me for what?" Jessica asked, puzzled.
"Thank you for not telling your dad the conditions I set back then," Adrian kissed her forehead. "Otherwise, I would have had to explain myself all over again."
Jessica immediately understood, rolled her eyes at him, but said nothing. Only much later did she ask in an uncertain tone, "So Ed, if—I’m saying if—one day I really wanted to... wanted to leave?"
Though she lowered her head, obscuring her expression, Adrian sensed the tension in her voice, so he muttered in a complaint, "Oh, damn it, why do women always love asking such baffling questions."
"Baffling?" Jessica lifted her head immediately, her eyes wide, seemingly displeased, but Adrian pretended not to notice and continued, "Obviously, if I say no, you’ll surely say I’m a jerk lacking any sense of responsibility; but if I say yes, you’ll definitely complain that I don’t care about you enough. This question is essentially the same as the classic dilemma, ’if your mother and your girlfriend both fell into the water, who would you save first?’ It’s not a good question; it only sows discord between lovers."
Listening to his seemingly serious words, Jessica couldn’t help but laugh softly for quite some time, but she still looked at him with questioning and hopeful eyes.
"So," Adrian lifted Jessica’s chin, bringing her pretty face up to his, "whatever makes you happy or unhappy, you must tell me, because only then can I determine if, when you say those words, you are acting on impulse or are truly fed up. Understand?"
Jessica didn’t answer, just rested her head on his shoulder, leaning more closely.
And so, the matter was temporarily settled, not solely due to Adrian himself, even though he did leave Mark Alba speechless. It wasn’t difficult, as he once told Lily: when in conflict with someone, always occupy a defensible position that others can praise. Perhaps, at the time, you might still have many other vulnerable points for attack, but as long as you keep emphasizing your unassailable stance and then exploit your opponent’s weakness relentlessly, you can easily overwhelm them in demeanor. This indeed relies on personal ability.
However, this is not the only factor to solve the problem, nor is it an important factor. Overall, whether the Alba couple can be settled still depends on Jessica’s personal attitude. As Adrian said, everything between him and Jessica complies with the law. You can accuse him morally, but that’s all you can do. Besides, the child is already born and grown up, can they deny that?
So after the initial impulse, the Alba couple made the decision to invite him over, indicating they actually had plans to compromise. Jessica’s attitude goes without saying, though she loves to play, years of family education weren’t ineffective. Having a child early, during the time she initially couldn’t be a mother, Adrian took care of Mary. Combined with the conditions with implied suggestions he gave when she was first pregnant, various factors coming together mean even if Jessica had thoughts, she’d quickly dismiss them automatically.
Naturally, the Alba couple couldn’t gain support from their daughter, and then Joshua stood on Adrian’s side——out of concern for Jessica, Adrian gave Joshua a lot of opportunities. Besides a role in "Dark Angel," he also played important supporting roles in several major drama series over the years, such as "CSI" and "24," now considered a second-tier actor.
So last year, Adrian gave him another significant role, the Human Torch in "Fantastic Four." Yes, playing siblings with his sister in the movie was precisely what Paramount valued and agreed to. Joshua and Jessica do look alike, fairly handsome too, though his eyebrows look a bit odd, so Adrian specially found someone to give him a makeover, which was quite effective.
In short, using the fact that the siblings are on his side, along with the adorable Mary and his eloquence, Adrian successfully settled the Alba couple. His favorite tactic is leverage; one’s ability is limited, even with foreknowledge, it’s impossible to fight the entire society.
The saying goes that the trend of history is mighty. Those who follow it will prosper, and those who defy it will perish. It might not be quite suitable to use here, but it does illustrate some truth. So, to achieve his goal, involving many people and matters, creating and utilizing momentum is the optimal choice. For instance, in promoting "The Lord of the Rings," apart from spending heavily on marketing and PR, many book fans and critics think this final installment deserves an Oscar statuette, and Adrian should again become the best director.
Moreover, the Film Academy’s discrimination against non-realistic genre works needs changing, having gotten his third nomination for the trilogy and countless nominations before, with the last win nearly ten years ago, all pushing "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and Adrian towards the throne. What he needs to do is guide and follow this trend, rendering opposition futile.
Similarly, for the best actress category, it’s interesting that Kate and Sophie both gained recognition for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "La Vie en Rose," but didn’t win any awards at the beginning of the year’s big ceremonies—neither the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Directors Guild Awards, nor critic association awards, let alone the Golden Globes, leading many not to favor them.
"Some have analyzed past Oscar statuette awards, finding that American actors have a far greater chance of winning performance awards than actors from elsewhere, indicating Oscars have always been an American game. Thus, the European actors on this year’s nomination list need not care too much," reported a British newspaper, not forgetting to mock the Oscars a bit.
Unfortunately, these are just superficial phenomena. Kate is no issue; Adrian doesn’t intend for her to reach the top now. If she wants to become the best actress unequivocally, she has a long journey ahead. As for Sophie, he has been preparing for this day from the start, especially with Weinstein’s help.
The biggest factor is "Fahrenheit 9/11" winning the Palme d’Or. After the Cannes Film Festival ended in May, the French praised it as a masterpiece of conscience. Originally, it had gradually faded over half a year, but with the documentary officially releasing in the United States and Michael Moore stating it was made for this year’s end election—to reduce votes for the Bush Administration—the French got excited again, filling the media with reports and overshadowing Sophie in "La Vie en Rose."
Even after "Fahrenheit 9/11" didn’t make it to the Oscar best documentary list, French critics heavily criticized it, imagining how dissatisfied the Film Academy must be. Well, since that’s the case, it’s time to respond to these idiotic Gauls. What would be the best way? Some might struggle to find a method, but don’t worry, Weinstein will tell them.
This alone isn’t enough, so Adrian is prepared with other things, like the short film "Cashback." Last year, after starting his East Asia journey, Sophie took this short film to different film festivals, though not very famous—at most as renowned as the Toronto International Film Festival, and incomparable to the three major ones—yet received some good reviews. Its slightly surreal style managed to attract some attention.
The only criticism from critics is that Kayden Kross appears too beautiful. After Sophie gender-swapped the role, it allowed her to better control the entire short film and highlight its style, but also made Kayden seem a bit like a vase. Though Kayden somewhat has acting skills, she is still quite immature now. In a standard film, she might perform slightly, but starring in this kind of short film, where Sophie also gives an extraordinary performance, it’s hard to avoid criticism.
However, despite this, it didn’t stop "Cashback" from being nominated for an Oscar best short film, with Adrian giving it a push from behind. Therefore, on the 76th Oscar nominations list, Sophie garnered not only a best actress nomination but also a best short film nomination, a first in Oscars history—a scene bound to be quite surprising.
With these, plus the constant nominations over the past few years, and using every means of promotion and PR behind the scenes, just like "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," various factors came together to form a trend that pushed Sophie towards the throne of Best Actress.
So Adrian liked to take advantage of trends. The plan he designed for himself to ascend to the throne was to take this advantage to the extreme. Although doing this requires long-term planning, it’s not difficult for him, is it? Of course, without long-term planning, the success rate wouldn’t be high, for example—
"Alright, alright, I’m sorry you didn’t win a single Golden Gramophone, Vini," Adrian said, raising his hands in front of an angry Avril.
The Grammys are always held before the Oscars, and this year was no exception. The Oscars were scheduled for the last day of February, a leap year, so the Grammys were held 21 days earlier, on February 8th. Universal Music’s most popular female singers were all nominated, but as for winning, it was the same old story. Christina and Beyoncé both won, while Britney and Avril came up empty-handed.
Britney didn’t mind; with the momentum Adrian had initially built for her using the world’s top-selling female singer record to win the weighty Best Album award, she wasn’t too bothered about losing to Christina, though not happy about it. But Avril had yet to achieve anything at the Grammys, struggling just to get a few nominations, and was naturally very upset.
So, when Adrian came to see them and teased a little, the young girl’s face darkened right away. Seeing this, he had to apologize first.
"Sorry, Ed, I got a bit emotional," Avril quickly realized her loss of composure too, sighed, and apologized, "But... sitting there watching others happily go up on stage to receive awards and give speeches, my initial excitement gradually cooled as time passed... I already felt this way last year, and experienced it again this year, really... very, very terrible."
"I understand, Vini." Adrian opened his arms to hug her, "Don’t worry about it. The Recording and Academy Arts are like this, ignoring popular singers as if that would make the Grammys stand out. It’s ridiculous. In this case, you need peace of mind and good works. Peace of mind allows you to face glory and music better, and good works will show the Recording and Academy Arts your strength. You don’t need their recognition; you’re still the most popular little rock witch."
He spoke with great fervor, but Avril just rolled her eyes: "Come on, Ed, these are the same words you always say, but knowing is one thing and doing is another."
"So just a few more times, and you’ll know what to do." A cheerful voice came from behind, and then someone hugged her from behind, "Hi, Avril."
"Brit?" A startled Avril turned her head, then looked annoyed at the girl in front of her and greeted Christina, who followed into the lounge.
"I knew it, you’d definitely get here before us, you always do." Britney said with a wide grin, "Maybe I should learn from you how to fly to the master at the first moment."
Britney had gotten used to calling Adrian ’master’ in front of more and more people, of course, all very familiar with each other, and Avril rolled her eyes at that too.
"You need to get used to it, Avril," Britney said, completely unbothered, "just like me, never getting approval, then the master gives me a reward."
She giggled and looped her arm through Adrian’s, that intimate, clingy look made Avril roll her eyes again and immediately head for the door: "Alright, you guys have a good chat, I’ve got something to do." (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please vote with your recommendations and monthly tickets at Qidian (), your support is my greatest motivation.)