Chapter Five: Trial Mirror

  Compared to London, Los Angeles, where he had lived for seven years, was even more unfamiliar to Ryan. The apartment they used to live in, after replacing some furniture, became their home again. Both of them had a considerable amount of money now, but it wasn't easy to find a suitable house, especially when Nicole had her heart set on living in Beverly Hills.

  "Good grief! Women changing clothes is such a hassle!"

  Half an hour passed like this, and Ryan sat on the sofa in the living room, muttering to himself.

  Jin Silie sat opposite him, just smiling, the two had already signed a formal contract. After half a month of getting along, she gradually understood some of Ruien's situation, knowing that he was both clever and mature, completely unable to treat him like a child, and sometimes she even felt like she was talking to someone of the same age.

  Ryan glanced at the wall clock and felt a bit bored, turning his head to Agent Patty, "Patty, is there any feedback on the script yet?"

  "Don't worry, Ryan. I handed the script to Harvey Weinstein personally. I have some connection with those two brothers, so whether they adopt or abandon it, they will notify me at the first time."

  Jin Silai carefully went through the script, although she was an outsider to screenwriting, a good story would always resonate with people. In her opinion, unless the Weinstein brothers had water in their brains, they would definitely see the value of this script.

  Ryen let out a sigh and realized he had been a bit hasty, but the breadth of Jin Silie's connections was indeed eye-opening.

  So be it, Ryan was happy to let her handle things, and as for Nicole, she would just continue being a movie star.

  "Ryan." From another room came Nicole's voice, "How did my shoe cabinet get locked? Have you seen the key?"

  "No." Ryan subconsciously touched the brass key in his pocket and flatly denied it.

  "For Pete's sake! Do I have to try on glasses in my slippers?" Nicole's slightly irritated voice came from the room again. Ryan turned his eyes around and said loudly, "Nicole, aren't those new shoes you bought yesterday in the shoe cabinet by the door?"

  "Really? I don't remember."

  Nikki painted a light makeup, patted her head and walked out of the room, opened the shoe cabinet at the entrance, took out a pair of high heels, with a heel as high as four inches, long and pointed, but it was Nikki's favorite.

  After putting on high heels, Nicole became even more stunning, and Ryan's mouth corner revealed a faint smile. Those shoes were carefully selected by him and placed inside, hoping they would come in handy.

  The audition was at Paramount Studios, and just in case, Ryan exercised his kid privilege and snuck onto the car, facing Nicole's questioning, he argued eloquently, "I just wanted to see what an audition looks like, besides, the movie company didn't specify that only agents can bring others to the audition."

  Sitting in the back seat of the moving car, Nicole always felt that Ryan was plotting something. No matter what, the two had lived together for so long, and she had a keen intuition about some of his actions. However, after thinking it over, she didn't notice anything out of place.

  Outside the fitting room, three people were quietly waiting. Ryan inadvertently heard the discussion of several staff members and only then discovered that Ah Tong was actually the screenwriter of this movie. It makes sense, after all, this kind of cool and handsome work that fully showcases the idol's personal charm is indeed Ah Tong's consistent style.

  Ryan shook his head, because after performing in a London stage play for over a year, Nicole's acting skills had improved significantly compared to the same period in her past life. If she still got the female lead role in this movie, although it could help her make a name for herself in Hollywood, the title of "flower vase" would likely be confirmed again, which wasn't a good thing. She was already too beautiful, and if she were labeled with such a title, she might inevitably follow the same path as before.

  "Ryan, and Paige, stay here quietly, don't make trouble!" Nicole reminded them before entering the audition room, it's clear that in these two years, Ryan hasn't stopped causing all sorts of troubles.

  "Can't I just take a look?" Ryan batted his eyelashes, trying to appear innocent. But Nicolle wasn't buying it - after all these years of acting, he could fool Paramount's staff but not her. "Are you asking me to send you to boarding school?" she warned directly.

  Ryan immediately became honest, but began to mutter in his heart, okay, now you are my guardian, I won't argue with you, wait until I'm 16 years old, and then we'll slowly settle this account.

  Ryan was stunned, and he started chatting with Goldie casually. The topic of conversation naturally revolved around Hollywood's fame and fortune scene. It wasn't until over 40 minutes later that Nicole walked out of the audition room, but she went in alone and came out as two people.

  As for the extra person, Ryan really didn't want to see him, it was Tom Cruise!

  Although Ah Tong Ko wore insoles to increase his height, he was still at least five inches shorter than Nicole, who was wearing high heels, despite being only 5 feet 7 inches tall.

  As soon as Nicky turns her head to talk, Ryan can't help but glance down at Mr. Cruz's movements, making the high heels he specially chose not go to waste.

  However, this carefully planned move was destined to become his own joke. Ah Tong seemed to not mind Nikki's height at all and just as he walked up to Ryan and the agent, he extended an invitation, "Nikki, would you like to join me for dinner?"

  Mind it! I mind it very much! Ryan's eyes widened, staring straight at Ah Tong Ge, if looks could kill, this handsome and elegant young man would have been riddled with holes.

  "It's my honor!" Whether in her past life or this one, Nicole was always a gracious and elegant person, so she naturally wouldn't refuse. After thanking him, she had originally wanted to introduce the two people in front of her, but unexpectedly, Mr. Kruse didn't even glance at them and directly said, "There's a very unique restaurant in Beverly Hills, how about we go there?"

  "Not good!"

  Before Nicole could respond, Ryan jumped down from the long bench, one hand on his chest and the other pinching his chin, looking at Ah Tong with a slanted gaze. He deliberately circled around him and Nicole once before suddenly saying to Nicole, "Mom, you said tonight we're going to eat Chinese food."

  "Mom?" Nikki's eyes widened suddenly, but she knew Ryan well enough to realize in an instant that he was up to some kind of mischief.

  Ah Tong was shocked to the point where his jaw almost dropped to the floor. He never thought that this Australian girl, who had left him utterly stunned, would have such a big son.

  "Ryan, where are your manners?" Although she didn't understand the saying "three days without beating is like a house with no tiles", Nicole knew not to show a good face in scolding him. After reprimanding him, she explained to Ah Tong, "This is Ryan Jenkins, my brother, he's a bit too mischievous, Tommy, don't mind him."

  Then she introduced the female economist to Tom Cruise.

  Facing Ryan is still okay, but when facing Miss Jinsili, Brother Tang's demeanor is ten times more arrogant, proudly like a peacock spreading its tail, probably this is the aura of a big star.

  "Nice to meet you, Mr. Tom Cruise."

  Perhaps Ah Tong doesn't know that China has a kind of magic called "changing face", but looking at Ryan's current performance, you can glimpse one or two points of truth.

  Ryan knew he was light and subtle, unless he was being stubborn, it would be difficult to sway Nicole's opinion on something as trivial as dining. He simply pulled out a signature book and water pen from his backpack and handed them over, "Can you fulfill the wish of a little fan?"

  "Of course!" Ah Tong quickly scribbled on the notebook, "Ray, wishing your life is always filled with sunshine and happiness!"

  As long as you don't take away my Nicole, there will always be sunshine and happiness in my life! This was the only thought on Ryan's mind when he put away his autograph book.

  The Bentley sports car sped into the Beverly Hills area, with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in the front seats, looking like a perfect match.

  But Ryan looked past them from the back row, and somehow felt that the distance between those two people was as far as Sydney to Los Angeles. If he stretched out his hand in it, he could absolutely create a Mariana Trench on a calm sea surface.

  What Ryan didn't expect was that Ah Tong seemed to take his words seriously and actually brought them to a Chinese restaurant. Looking at the sign "MrChow", Ryan muttered in Chinese, it turned out to be Mr. Zhou's restaurant, not sure if the taste is authentic or not.

  After entering the restaurant, unlike what Ryan had imagined, the decoration style was westernized. As Ah Tong was a big star after all, the waiter directly led them to a quiet private room and handed out menus after they sat down.

  Ryan sat next to Nicole, quietly glancing at the waiter, with black eyes, black hair and yellow skin, should be a Chinese, judging from his demeanor and temperament, at most a first-generation immigrant, or maybe even an international student working part-time here, this year many college students ran from the other side to the United States.

  "Ryan, what do you want to eat?"

  The questioner is Ah Tong Ge, although when they first met, Ryan's behavior was a bit abrupt, but later on, whether it was speaking or mannerisms, he showed good manners and upbringing, combined with his somewhat frail appearance, making it hard for people not to have a good impression of him.

  What a pity, Tom Cruise won't understand, referring to people like Ryan who are hypocritical.

  "Can I order myself?" Ryan blinked his bright eyes, looking like a very cute boy, and Ah Tong laughed out loud. "Of course you can. But Ryan, do you know Chinese dishes?"

  "Actually, Ryan is learning about Chinese culture and has some understanding of Eastern food and customs." It seems that the knowledge Ryan has grasped is Nicole's greatest pride.

  Tom Cruise just smiled and handed over the menu. Ryan scanned the all-English menu, probably due to translation issues, most of the dish names were difficult for him to understand, so he scratched his head and looked at the Chinese waiter, asking "Is there a Chinese menu?"

  "Chinese... in Chinese?"

  Ryan asked in slightly accented Mandarin, which the waiter could clearly understand. However, this still relatively fluent Chinese coming from a blonde-haired and blue-eyed foreigner stunned him for a moment.

  "Sorry, we don't have a Chinese menu."

  Just as Ryan guessed, the waiter was indeed an international student. While secretly cursing in his heart, he apologized with his mouth.

  "Alright." Ryan thought for a moment before bursting out with a string of his hometown dishes, "Scallion stir-fried sea cucumber, Texas-style roasted chicken, nine-turn large intestine, sweet and sour carp, and Kung Pao chicken cubes."

  The waiter couldn't help but drop his jaw, he didn't expect this little foreigner to be so familiar with the domestic dishes, some of which he had never even tasted before.

  Of course, there was no Texas-style fried chicken, nine-turn large intestine or sweet and sour carp. After the waiter explained a few sentences, Ryan didn't want to make things difficult for him either, so he asked Nicole's opinion and ordered spinach cooked with large shrimp, flower-carved rich and noble chicken, crab roe steamed buns, and also specially ordered a separate dish of boiled meat slices.

  Since it was a Chinese meal, after Ah Tong ordered the dishes, Ryan specifically instructed in Mandarin, "I want my dish to be made with authentic Chinese methods, and also, add more chili peppers and red oil to the boiled meat slices. It must be the kind that makes you sweat profusely after one bite."

  The waiter carefully recorded Ryan's request, but after turning around, he rolled his eyes and thought to himself: "This little devil is not afraid of being spiced to death?"