Chapter 6: Washing Face with Chili Pepper Water

  "Yes, I just finished filming 'Born on the Fourth of July' and Oliver Stone is confident that I'll get an Oscar nomination for Best Actor."

  While waiting for the dishes to be served, Tom Cruise and Nicole seemed to have a very pleasant conversation, especially about those interesting stories and rumors in Hollywood, which were quite attractive coming from an insider.

  "I wish you a harvest at the Oscars next year." Nicole flattered him with a small sentence.

  What harvest? Harvesting air? Ryan remained calm on the surface, but in his heart, he snorted disdainfully. In another twenty years, you still won't be able to get a small golden statue!

  "As for 'Top Gun: Maverick', you're the one I'd most like to be with, but as you know, this kind of thing isn't something I can decide on my own." Tom Cruise's words seemed to have a deeper meaning.

  "It doesn't matter." Nicole seemed completely unconcerned. "Of course it would be best if the audition goes through, but if not, I believe we'll have other opportunities to collaborate in the future."

  Hearing Nicole's words, Ryan's heart put down half of it. Everyone wants to pursue fame and fortune, but if they are blinded by their inner self for the sake of fame and fortune, then it is not worth it. The girls around him were ambitious, but their brains remained clear-headed.

  The dishes were soon all on the table, and Ryan's portion was clearly different from the other two, especially the bright red boiled meat slices. Nikki, who was sitting next to her, couldn't help but gasp, not to mention eating it, just smelling that smell made her feel like she was starting to sweat.

  Whether it was the scallion and scallop or the Kung Pao chicken, or the other dishes he wanted later, including the crab roe buns, they were absolutely the most delicious food Ryan had ever tasted since his rebirth. Although he had eaten Western-style meals for almost ten years and his stomach had long been accustomed to foods like butter bread, the things deeply buried in his soul would not change with time.

  Especially the deliberately wanted water-boiled meat slices not only made him secretly admire, but also added countless confidence to whether the bright red soup could play a role.

  To be honest, Tom Cruise is a bit arrogant and has a big star attitude, which is a common problem for many young celebrities who have become famous too quickly. However, he is handsome, elegant in his manners, and interesting to talk to. During dinner, not only did he make Nicole laugh out loud, but he also didn't ignore Ryan, who doesn't have much presence, often chatting with him about topics full of childlike wonder.

  Watching Nicole enjoy her meal, Ryan could only secretly sigh. To be fair, Ah Tong indeed had the capital to attract any woman, and it was normal for Nicole to have a good impression of him.

  But he would never bow his head to the wheel of fate, and no matter what, he would not let these two people come together again.

  Ryen's mouth curled up into a sly smile as he gazed at the nearly empty pot of simmering red broth, and Nicole seemed to sense something was amiss, suddenly looking over with a hint of wariness. Fortunately, Ryen had been acting for over nine years now, and his ability to change his expression in an instant was second nature - he quickly recovered his normal composure.

  "Nikki, can I borrow your cell phone for a sec? I just thought of something I need to ask Paige." Ryan came up with a good excuse without even batting an eye.

  "What's up?" But Nicole still pulled out Motorola's latest cellular phone from her handbag.

  Receiving the mobile phone, which was much smaller than a brick, Ryan pushed back his chair and prepared to stand up and go somewhere else to make a call. It seemed that he had been sitting for too long and his legs were numb. His body swayed slightly, but although he didn't fall over, the mobile phone in his hand inevitably slipped out of his grasp and fell towards the bright red soup on the dining table.

  "Be careful!" At this time, Nicole and Ah Tong had already reminded him.

  "Ah~ phone!" Ryan's movements were extremely quick, before the mobile phone fell, he reached out to catch it in his hand. However, his movement was too fierce and too fast, inevitably losing balance. To prevent his entire body from crashing onto the table, his other hand had no choice but to support himself in front.

  "Whoosh!"

  Ryan's hand landed squarely on the edge of the bowl facing Mr. Cruz, perhaps with a bit too much force or maybe he used some skill, nearly half the bowl of oily red soup flew through the air towards the front.

  Although most of the soup spilled onto the table and clothes, some still landed on that handsome face. The feeling of washing one's face with chili water was unbearable even for many revolutionaries back then, let alone a creamy pretty boy.

  "Oh no!"

  This bowl of boiled meat slices was specially ordered by Ryan to add more chili peppers. The spicy taste that fell on his face was absolutely unbearable. Ah Tong Ge immediately covered his face and let out a miserable cry, fortunately he still remembered that this was a public occasion, and tried his best to lower his voice.

  "Sorry, Tommy!" Ryan apologized hastily, almost at a hundred-meter dash speed, and ran to Tom Cruise's side, like a child who had done something wrong and was eager to make amends. He picked up the white napkin and began to wipe the face of its handsome owner, but after the napkin turned red, he kept wiping it towards Tom's eyes intentionally or unintentionally.

  Just as he was about to succeed, a white wrist suddenly reached out from behind and grabbed Ryan's hand with precision. Nicole glared at him without batting an eye and said before the waiter came over, "Tommy, I apologize on behalf of Ryan, do you want to go see a doctor?"

  Perhaps the scorching pain had passed, or perhaps he wanted to maintain his composure in front of the beauty, Ah Tang Ge wiped his bright red face with a napkin and said magnanimously, "It's okay, just an accident."

  After all, he is just a child of nine years old or so. As a big star, does he really have the nerve to quibble with a kid?

  After several waiters and the restaurant manager arrived, Ryan kept apologizing from his mouth, seemingly very guilty about this unexpected event, but in his heart he was delighted. Mr. Cruz's well-fitting suit had turned into a big flower face, and even his handsome face had become Guan Yu, especially his eyes, which seemed to be very uncomfortable, often squinting back and forth, not to mention that they were watery, with tears about to flow out at any moment.

  Anyway, Tom Cruise is a public figure and can't stay in this getup for long. After exchanging a few words with the person in charge, he went to the dressing room specially prepared for the rich and famous in the restaurant.

  This dirty table naturally can't be stayed, Nikki and Ryan simply changed a place, in the waiting time of Mr. Cruz, Nicole Kidman's blue eyes always inadvertently floated over from him, the originally cold temperament seemed to have a trend of changing like an iceberg.

  "Sorry, Nicole, I ruined your dinner with Mr. Cruz."

  Ryan returned the mobile phone with a sincere face, but when he saw Nicole's calm expression, his sincerity only lasted for an instant before turning into anxiety.

  "You're getting more and more worrying as you grow up." Nicole sighed, grabbed Ryan's small hand stained with a lot of red, and carefully wiped it with a paper towel, her meticulous and serious expression was like she was wiping the most precious porcelain.

  The dinner that was supposed to be Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's, had a pleasant start but an embarrassing end. After Tom went to change and clean up, the dinner didn't need to continue anymore.

  Not to mention anything else, this big star indeed has a lot of style, at least in front of beautiful women. He not only didn't blame Ryan but also comforted him with a few words and even drove Ryan and Nicole back to their apartment in the Western District.

  "Goodbye Tommy, you are the greatest superstar I have ever seen."

  After getting out of the sports car, Ryan didn't even give Nicole and Ah Tong a chance to speak, directly waving goodbye to him.

  "Alright then, goodnight Nicole and Ryan."

  Back in the apartment, Ryan swung his backpack onto the sofa and stretched out a long, lazy waist, feeling extremely refreshed. Indeed, it was delightful to fight against the sky, to fight against the earth, and even more so to fight against people.

  Although the events of that night seemed like an accident no matter how you looked at it, Ryan felt that Nicole, being as clever as she was, had apparently sensed something. However, he wasn't worried; even if the Australian girl did get a hold of something, it would be nothing more than a severe scolding, which to him didn't amount to much.

  Even so, he thought it was better to stay away from Nicole and after saying goodnight, he went straight into his room, washed up and changed into comfortable clothes before sitting down at his desk to start the writing project that had consumed most of his time for over three years.

  After the third installment of Harry Potter was revised, the series was temporarily put aside by Rowling as the creativity had already taken hold, and the subsequent volumes were transforming into adult-oriented works, which could be written in a few years.

  Since entering 89, he has put most of his energy into the script aspect. Due to the relationship with the previous life's film projection work, his greatest interest is still in the film aspect. He has studied many classic film scripts and read a lot of books on this aspect during those two years in London.

  Perhaps the script he is writing now still has many defects in terms of camera division, but it will never be worse than any newcomer screenwriter.

  For English, typewriters and computers are undoubtedly faster than handwriting, especially for someone like Ryan who writes with little deliberation.

  But typewriters are too cumbersome and inconvenient to carry around, while the configuration of laptops and DOS systems can make him vomit blood.

  Damn it, Bill Gates, can't you release the Windows operating system any earlier? Lifting his pen, Ryan shook his wrist again and complained in his heart.

  What he writes now has nothing to do with the movies in his past life memories, but is based on some rumors on the internet and the shameless behavior of a certain country. Strictly speaking, it can be considered his own original work, although it's just a short science fiction piece. But for Ryan, this is also a kind of progress, isn't it?

  It's actually already been written, now it's more about revising. No matter what, he wants to get it published smoothly. Although with the increasing number of his works, he has established a good relationship with the "Alien Body" publishing house, but if the work is too bad, it would still be slapping himself in the face.

  It was unclear how many times Ryan had reviewed the manuscript, but he finally picked up his pen and added the title to this original science fiction short story.

  If people from past lives saw the name, they would absolutely burst their eyes in surprise and then hold their bellies in laughter, because the name is called "The First Great Nation of the Universe and the People of the Heavenly Star"!

  Alright! Ryan admits that he sometimes has a bit too much of a wicked sense of humor, and the freaky country nowadays hasn't shown off its thick skin comparable to the diameter of the Earth yet. But isn't it quite interesting to start group ridicule towards a certain country - even if they won't understand now?

  Originally, Ryan wanted to write "The Universe's First Military Power and Its Invincible Fat Marshal", but after some thought, he gave up. Let's wait until the three fat guys completely turn the country north of the first major power into a hereditary monarchy in the future.