King of Hollywood

Chapter 124: Chapter 124: The Result of the Commission

The next day, nearly all entertainment media headlines read, “Youngest Palme d’Or Recipient Announced, 24-Year-Old American Director Adrian Cowell Wins Cannes Film Festival’s Highest Honor.”

The film industry, both in the United States and Europe, was shocked by the news. Although some had predicted that “Pulp Fiction” could take the Palme d’Or, people were still astonished when Adrian actually won because he was so young.

Everyone had thought that Steven Soderbergh, who had won the Palme d’Or at 26 with “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” in 1989, was young enough, but three years later, Adrian broke the record at the age of 24.

After becoming the youngest Palme d’Or winner, Soderbergh was dubbed a “genius director,” suddenly shooting to fame. Now that Adrian had broken the record, how should one describe him? Nobody knew.

Although it was impressive that Soderbergh won for his debut film, Adrian was more controversial and garnered more attention. Born into wealth, he lost his parents at a young age, lived a dissolute life for a time, then suddenly had an epiphany, picked up a camera, and became a writer and director. In just two short years, he produced three low-budget, high-box office films, owned his own production company with a preference for the cult style of independent cinema, infused with a humanistic spirit, and he became the youngest Oscar nominee for Best Director.

Faced with such achievements—attained completely without experience and in just two to one and a half years—it was difficult for anyone to provide a proper definition and description of him. The title of genius director could barely suffice before, but with his record-breaking win, it no longer seemed quite right.

“This guy really is something special; his presence seems specifically designed to upend our understanding. If it wasn’t for the fact that his fourth film is likely to flop now,” an American newspaper wrote thus.

Well, they never forgot to mention that, but the public had temporarily put it aside, especially those movie buffs following the film festival who couldn’t wait to see Adrian’s latest cult-style film. Many fans who had started following Adrian since “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” even wrote to Bossworth Film Company, inquiring when “Pulp Fiction” would be released.

Such fans were abundant in Europe, too, where a British media outlet conducted a survey in a cult film club and found that all its members were eager to see the movie as soon as possible.

“It’s undeniable that at the moment when this miraculous young man won the Palme d’Or, he captured everyone’s attention,” the British media concluded on their program.

Three days after the awards ceremony, the Cannes Film Festival held its closing events, and reporters started to contact the “Pulp Fiction” crew, who were preparing to return home, hoping to interview Adrian. But all their requests were politely declined.

“Mr. Adrian has other matters to attend to,” the crew leader responded to the reporters’ queries.

The reporters were clearly dissatisfied with the answer, so they staked out the crew’s hotel all day, hoping to catch them unawares before they left. But these folks quickly realized Adrian was not with his crew, and even when the entire “Pulp Fiction” crew left Cannes, he had not appeared. Soon news came from the United States that the young director was not seen with the crew that returned to Los Angeles either.

Obviously, Adrian couldn’t be in disguise staying with the crew because there was no need. So he must have left Cannes earlier, but where had he gone?

“Thank you for your efforts, Mr. Wilson; I’m very pleased with your work,” the man in the trench coat and wide-brimmed hat said, extending his hand to the middle-aged man behind the desk after reviewing the documents.

He had a very noticeable large nose and wore big, black-framed glasses on the bridge of his nose. Two little mustache patches were cockeyed above his lips, a clear sign they were part of an intentional disguise.

“It’s an honor to be of service to you, Mr. Sanger,” Dean Wilson breathed a sigh of relief. This commission had taken almost a year of his time, and if it weren’t for the thought of that sizable check, he might have given up.

“By the way, Mr. Wilson, would you be interested in taking on another commission?” the other man suddenly asked.

Dean, who was tidying up his desk, stopped and after thinking for a while, he tentatively asked, “Another search?”

“Yes,” the man nodded. “But this time, the person we’re looking for is in mainland China.”

“Mainland China?” Dean paused for nearly ten seconds, then shook his head. “Sorry, Mr. Sanger, I’m afraid I have to decline. If you were looking for someone in Hong Kong, I could think of a way, but mainland China…”

He chuckled then, spreading his hands with a shrug.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Wilson,” the other party laughed, but his somewhat outrageous and bizarre expression made his smile seem very quirky, “This time the information is very detailed. You only need to find the location given in the materials and see if the person you’re looking for is there. If so, a general investigation—preferably with photos—will suffice. There’s no need for direct contact.”

“Just like that?” Dean seemed somewhat bewildered.

“Yes, just like that, very simple,” the other party nodded, “The commission is the same as last time.”

Upon hearing this, Dean was somewhat tempted and tentatively asked, “Anyone could handle such a simple task, right? Why insist on entrusting it to me?”

“Because you’re a professional,” the other party shrugged, “and you’ve just completed my commission, so you’re trustworthy.”

Seeing that Dean remained silent, the other party immediately added, “I have the information with me; you can take a look before you decide.”

With that, he pulled out a file bag from his package and handed it to Dean, who, as a private investigator, did not hesitate and started flipping through it right away. The information wasn’t extensive, and it only took him a few minutes to go through it.

“Is that all?” Dean asked after pondering for a moment.

“That’s all, just as I said. I want to know if such a person exists, and if so, what they’re doing and how they’re living their life. Of course, it’s best to bring back some photos,” the man spread his hands.

“Alright, I’ll take on the commission,” Dean nodded after a long deliberation.

After leaving the office, the man got into his car and drove for a while before glancing in the rearview mirror and turning into a British-style alley. He parked on the side of the road and waited for a while, then removed his fake nose, fake beard, black-rimmed glasses, coat, and hat and stashed them in the backpack on the back seat.

“Thank goodness I don’t have to come here often, otherwise I’d surely be annoyed to death,” Adrian sighed. He cleaned up his face a bit in the rearview mirror, tidied his hair, and then drove out of the alley.

The morning after the film festival awards ceremony, he had left Cannes in disguise and driven to Nice, then from Nice he flew to London. Only a few people, including Laverne, knew about this itinerary—reporters naturally couldn’t track him down.

Having already won the Palme d’Or, he had no reason to stay any longer. It was more appropriate to hurry and prepare for his last film of the year. Once this film was completed, he could finally relax for a good while. As for the promotional work of “Pulp Fiction,” of course, it would be up to Laverne, who, given his excellent PR skills, Adrian had already discussed with Claude; Laverne would not miss out on what he deserved.

Initially, he had wanted to bring Monica to London, but considering various reasons, he abandoned the plan.

The first thing after arriving in London was to go to Wilson’s office in disguise to meet the private investigator. Half a month ago, the investigator had already faxed the most similar female profile, but Adrian was preparing for the Cannes Film Festival at the time, so he postponed it until now.

After a detailed, face-to-face discussion with Dean Wilson, and a careful analysis of the information collected by the other party, Adrian had to acknowledge that the woman found was indeed J.K. Rowling. The reason he used the phrase “had to” was because J.K. Rowling had not yet married her first husband—she was still in the midst of wedding plans; her daughter’s whereabouts were even more unknown. This was also one of the reasons Dean had taken so long to find her.

This situation was more than ordinarily troublesome. After much consideration, Adrian decided to set it aside for now and let things develop on their own—otherwise, who knows what changes might occur due to the butterfly effect. Of course, being prepared was still necessary; Adrian could not allow any problems with his plans, so he needed to find time to plan properly.

However, this showed Dean Wilson’s capabilities. Even under such circumstances, he was able to find the person he was looking for, so Adrian straightforwardly entrusted China’s matter to him as well. Although he was convinced that there wouldn’t be another himself in this timeline, this was still a matter close to his heart. No matter what, he had grown up on that land in his previous life, so sending someone to look around would fulfill a wish.

After about a 20-minute drive, when the scenery changed from residential to commercial and back to residential areas, Adrian finally slowed down and parked the car on the side of the road. Once again, he checked himself in the rearview mirror, making sure there were no displeasing aspects, and then grabbed another backpack from the back seat. After pulling Winnie Bear out of it, he got out of the car with the chubby toy and walked towards the entrance of an apartment building on the street.

The doorbell rang with a ‘ding-dong,’ and Adrian took a deep breath. Soon he would be facing a hassle—one of the main reasons for his trip to London.

He wondered what the situation would be like. As he thought this, the door in front of him opened. (To be continued. If you would like to find out what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com. More chapters are available, and you can support the author and legitimate reading!)