Simon and Anthony discussed various recent topics until nightfall when Janet came to call them for dinner.
Tonight's dinner table only had Simon, his wife, Melbourne, and Anthony.
Jennifer had flown to New York in the morning, ostensibly to spend the weekend with her parents, but in reality, to avoid Anthony's visit. Veronica had gone to Finland on Monday to review Nokia's 1993 financial report and wouldn't return until tomorrow. The other two little ones were still confined to their cribs.
After dinner, the family continued chatting about lighter, more trivial matters. Around eight o'clock, Anthony left to rest in a nearby Westeros villa. With his business here concluded, he would return to Australia early the next morning.
After putting Melbourne to sleep and sending him to his room, Janet checked on the other two little ones before coming upstairs to the bedroom.
Simon was sitting at the bedside, a laptop on his knees, checking emails from the day.
Having bathed and dried her hair, Janet changed into a simple burgundy silk nightgown and jumped onto the bed, rolling around like a little girl. She crawled over to Simon and cuddled up next to him, looking at the laptop screen together.
The screen displayed an email sent by Amy Pascal that afternoon, detailing the negotiation results for a movie project called "Apollo 13."
The script was based on the true story of the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970, where three astronauts miraculously returned to Earth after a malfunction. The film would be directed by Ron Howard and star Tom Hanks, with a budget of $50 million and a preliminary release date set for next summer.
In Simon's memory, "Apollo 13" was also a highly successful movie in the 1990s, grossing over $300 million worldwide.
Tom Hanks's salary had increased from $8 million for "Sleepless in Seattle" last summer to $10 million for this project.
"Apollo 13" was an ensemble cast, so Hanks's $10 million salary seemed high, but Simon didn't plan to reject it. Not to mention that Hanks was about to become a Hollywood legend after "Forrest Gump," their multiple collaborations had been very pleasant, so it was reasonable to offer him a $10 million salary.
Moreover, through "Philadelphia" and "Forrest Gump," Simon intended to ensure that Hanks achieved an Oscar-winning streak, similar to his original timeline.
Many in Hollywood thought Danilis Entertainment wasn't generous enough with actor salaries, but Simon was confident he had never underpaid anyone.
If actors found the salary too low, they had seven other major studios to choose from. If they thought Danilis Entertainment made too much, there were also profit-sharing agreements. However, they couldn't expect both a full base salary and profit-sharing; Simon had no such rules.
Janet, clearly uninterested in these matters, glanced at the screen a few times before bringing up another topic: "The girls you took in are down to 181 from 200 in just a week. At this rate, they'll be gone soon."
Not just Natalia's group in London, seeing their daughters treated like princesses, many parents couldn't resist making various additional demands.
Simon was ruthless about this, removing any girl whose parents were too troublesome. In just one week, the number of girls dropped from 200 to 181.
After typing a brief confirmation reply to Amy, Simon opened another email and said, "I don't want these girls to be too tied down by their parents, and I don't want those people constantly bothering me under the guise of their daughters. Any signs of this, and they're out."
Simon hadn't chosen girls from North America or Western Europe largely for this reason. The two regions were too similar, and getting rid of entanglements would be nearly impossible.
Janet had no objections to this and said, "Then why not pick from orphans? No parents, no trouble."
Simon shook his head. "That would be too sensitive. I don't want to be seen as a trafficker."
Janet's eyes sparkled: "Why not let me do it?"
Simon nudged her head: "What you do is what I do."
"Mm-hmm," Janet nodded, snuggling closer. "I am you, and you are me."
Simon laughed and recited a familiar Chinese phrase: "I am in you, and you are in me."
Janet, with her deep understanding of Chinese, understood the words but not the meaning. She asked, "What does that mean?"
Simon recalled that this phrase was from a poem written by Zhao Mengfu's wife, Guan Daosheng, to dissuade her husband from taking a concubine. He decided not to explain in detail: "It's an ancient Chinese poem describing mutual love."
Janet blinked: "The whole poem?"
Simon thought for a moment, then shook his head: "I don't remember the whole thing, just these lines."
Janet drawled, "Oh?"
"Alright, the whole poem goes like this: You and I, such deep feelings..." Simon recited the entire poem.
"That's a beautiful poem," Janet said after listening intently, her eyes sparkling as she stared at Simon. "Is there a problem with it?"
Simon lightly patted the laptop, his voice stern with sudden male chauvinism: "No problem!"
"Heh."
Janet laughed, dropping the subject. Glancing at the laptop's clock, she suddenly said, "The little fairies in London should be waking up now. Let's take a look."
"What's there to see about little girls waking up?"
"Come on, let's take a look."
Simon, shaken by Janet's insistence, had no choice but to close the email browser, open the monitoring software on the desktop, and switch to the view from London. The 12-inch high-performance custom laptop didn't display as clearly as the HD monitors in the villa's underground surveillance room.
The screen showed the practice room in the London villa's basement.
It was early morning in England.
The remaining seven girls were lying on their backs, practicing basic ballet moves under the guidance of their ballet teacher. Janet, who had learned some ballet as a child, recognized this as basic floor exercises to correct their posture and lay the foundation for formal training.
Ballet was a highly professional dance form. Those short courses that quickly taught formal dance moves were completely misguided and potentially harmful.
Although the girls, dressed in tight training clothes, already had fairy-like figures, Simon wasn't particularly interested in a bunch of still-immature girls.
Hmm.
But the teacher was nice.
Simon always thought that Slavic girls with standard blonde hair, blue eyes, cherry lips, and oval faces were the closest to "elves." Natalia, with her round face and dark hair, likely had Mongolian ancestry from the invasion of Eastern Europe, while Ukraine, on the edge of the Mongol Empire and less influenced by Western Europeans, retained purer Slavic blood.
Most of the 100 girls Simon selected from Eastern Europe followed this "elf" standard. However, the ballet teacher in the video was an even more standard "elf," and crucially, an adult.
Janet, now attuned to Simon's thoughts and emotions, initially observing the little fairies, also noticed the dance teacher. "This woman seems to have a problem."
"Hmm?"
"She seems to be going through something."
The team responsible for training the Westeros maids was carefully selected, not only requiring outstanding resumes but also background checks. Simon didn't want anyone with ulterior motives slipping in.
Hearing Janet, Simon nodded: "I'll have someone look into it."
Janet glanced at Simon, didn't object, but hummed twice, clearly saying, "I know what you're thinking."
Simon feigned innocence and asked, "What's wrong now?"
Janet didn't press further and said, "I've identified all 12 of your special little fairies."
When the girls were first selected, Janet had noticed the "special" qualities of Natalia Vodianova, Carmen Kass, and others.
Simon hadn't denied it when Janet pointed it out.
Eleven girls, all destined to be supermodels.
Collecting them this way satisfied a deep, unspoken mischief in Simon.
But.
Hmm, wait.
Thinking about it, Simon asked instinctively, "Twelve?"
"At least twelve."
Janet, suspecting there might be more she hadn't found, grabbed the girls' files and began identifying them one by one.
Five from Europe, no mistake.
"Fruit Natalia": Natalia Vodianova.
"Eugene the Empress": Eugenia Volodina.
"God Carmen": Carmen Kass.
"Big KK": Karolina Kurkova.
"Anya the Prince": Anja Rubik.
Six from Latin America, also correct.
"Queen Gisele": Gisele Bundchen.
"Lady Isabeli": Isabeli Fontana.
"AA": Alessandra Ambrosio.
"Wolf Queen": Adriana Lima.
"IG": Isabel Goulart.
"FT": Fernanda Tavares.
All eleven, with Fernanda Tavares being less famous, while the others were well-known in the fashion world.
When Simon realized why there were twelve, he asked, "Twelve?"
"Yes, at least twelve."
Janet said, thinking there might be more, and started identifying the girls one by one from the files.
Europe had five, indeed.
"Fruit Natalia": Natalia Vodianova.
"Empress Eugene": Eugenia Volodina.
"God Carmen": Carmen Kass.
"Big KK": Karolina Kurkova.
"Prince Anya": Anja Rubik.
Six from Latin America, also correct.
"Queen Gisele": Gisele Bundchen.
"Lady Isabeli": Isabeli Fontana.
"AA": Alessandra Ambrosio.
"Wolf Queen": Adriana Lima.
"IG": Isabel Goulart.
"FT": Fernanda Tavares.
All eleven, with Fernanda Tavares
being less famous, while the others were well-known in the fashion world.
When Janet identified all eleven girls, Simon understood why she said twelve.
Gisele Bundchen and her twin sister, Patricia Bundchen, were identical twins. The two had been sent to modeling school together by their mother and submitted their resumes together. Simon, finding it interesting, selected both.
So it became twelve.
The twins were identical, though Gisele, who was already 180 cm tall at 13, was significantly taller than her sister Patricia. With the same superior living conditions, there was still a chance for Patricia to catch up with her sister.
Simon didn't deny Janet's identification and joked a bit. As it was getting late, he reopened the monitoring software and switched to the children's room.
The software was primarily installed for this purpose.
Tonight's night shift was taken by Mira Maxwell and Amelia Blake from Alice's group of maids. In the video, Seattle had just woken up, and Mira entered the room, carefully checking and changing the baby's diaper, patiently waiting by the crib until the child fell back asleep.
The couple watched for a while. Simon then turned off the monitoring and went to sleep.
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