Reborn, my online friend is the real me.

David took Su Yu back to the hotel at four o'clock in the afternoon.

Su Yu told Liu Hao to go back to his room to rest first, while he and David sat down at the coffee shop in the lobby.

David placed his briefcase on the table, unzipped it, and took out the stack of contract copies. He showed them to Su Yu page by page, highlighting the parts that needed attention in yellow highlighter on each page.

"Find me a lawyer." Su Yu closed the contract and pushed it back to David. "Get the best, don't skimp on the price."

David nodded, put the contract back in his bag, and zipped it up.

He picked up his coffee and took a sip, his expression hesitant, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't: "Sue, the best lawyers are expensive. They charge by the hour, eight hundred to a thousand dollars an hour. Some even more."

Su Yu leaned back in his chair and did some mental calculations: $800 an hour, eight hours a day would be $6,400, and three days would be nearly $20,000.

Without hesitation, his expression remained unchanged; he simply waved his hand and said, "These are no big deal. Go find them, I'll pay."

David opened his mouth, as if to say something, but seeing Su Yu's expression, he swallowed his words. His previous clients, even those worth hundreds of millions, would haggle over lawyer fees, but Su Yu didn't even blink.

Su Yu stood up and patted him on the shoulder: "Contact me once you've found someone. I'm going upstairs to rest for a bit."

.....

Back in his room, Su Yu didn't go to sleep.

He sat in the chair by the window, opened his laptop, and started using the stock trading software.

The candlestick chart on the screen was jumping between red and green, so he switched the page to US stocks.

He typed in the stock codes for Amazon, Google, Apple, and Nvidia one by one, looking at the stock price, market capitalization, and historical trends.

His memories from his past life told him that these companies would grow into behemoths in the next decade or so.

Amazon's stock price rose from tens of dollars to thousands of dollars, Apple's stock price rose from a dozen dollars before the stock split to hundreds of dollars, and Google and Nvidia both saw increases of a hundredfold.

He jotted down a few numbers in his notebook and then closed the page. Domestically, he only needed to focus on Tencent; the dividends from the ringback tones were still coming in, and he would continue buying Tencent stock.

As for real estate, Su Yu leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for a moment.

Su Yu looked at the numbers on his notebook again. "There are many good companies and stocks. Let's start with these few. After all, that's all the capital we have right now."

After he finished writing, he closed the notebook and placed it on the bedside table.

Su Yu lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling, his mind racing. "The Man from Nowhere" was shelved, but the Lionsgate label was still in place; "Buried" had a budget of two million US dollars; and he had secured a 20% share of "Insidious" and "John Wick." He went over these numbers in his mind again and again until his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and he didn't even know when he fell asleep.

For the next two days, Su Yu locked himself in his hotel room and hardly went out except to eat.

He opened two securities accounts, one for US stocks and one for Hong Kong stocks.

On the US stock market, he has only bought Baidu shares for now, and he used leverage, spending ten million US dollars to buy nearly 40 shares; he plans to make a move at the end of this year, before the stock market crash.

In the Hong Kong stock market, Tencent has accumulated a total of 1700 million shares over the years, making it a shareholder of moderate size.

Su Yu plans to sell it at the end of the year and buy it back next year.

.....

On December 5th, Los Angeles experienced its first rain of the winter.

The rain was light, a fine drizzle that pattered against the hotel windows, blurring the outlines of the palm trees outside.

Su Yu stood by the window, watching the rain slant across the glass, chewing the last bite of toast.

He was wearing a dark blue suit and a dark red tie. He looked at himself in the mirror, pushed his tie up a bit, found it was off-center, and readjusted it.

David arrived at the hotel at eight o'clock. He drove a black Lincoln today; he had changed his car.

When Su Yu came downstairs, he saw the car and asked, "Is it rented?"

David said, "It's a borrowed car, a friend's. The signing ceremony can't be too small."

Su Yu opened the back door and got in; the smell of genuine leather seats wafted out.

The signing ceremony was held in a hotel next to Lionsgate's headquarters. When Su Yu arrived, cameras had already been set up in the lobby, and the photographer was adjusting the lighting. Several high-powered lights illuminated the signing table brightly.

There were about twenty reporters present, some holding recorders and others carrying cameras. Su Yu stood at the door, took a deep breath, letting the cold air fill his lungs, clenched his fist, and stepped inside.

Casey came up to us, wearing a silver-gray suit and with a lot of hair gel in her hair, making her look several years younger than usual.

He shook Su Yu's hand and said to the reporters in English, "Welcome our friends from China," his voice loud and clear.

The flashbulbs popped open, and Su Yu smiled with narrowed eyes, trying his best not to look like someone who was standing in front of so many foreign reporters for the first time.

The signing table was a long table covered with a dark blue velvet cloth, on which were placed two contracts, two pens, and a bouquet of lilies.

Su Yu sat on the left, and Casey on the right, about a meter apart. David sat next to Su Yu, his suit jacket buttoned up tightly.

Su Yu signed his name four times on the contract, each time in the position marked with a highlighter, and next to it he also signed the date and initials.

After signing, Casey stood up and spoke into the reporters' microphones.

Su Yu got the gist of it. He said that Su Yu was the youngest director to win the Berlin Golden Bear and a very talented screenwriter. Lionsgate would establish a long-term cooperative relationship with Su Yu.

Su Yu invested in the rights to "Lurking" and "John Wick," taking 20% ​​of all profits from both films. Additionally, Lionsgate and Time Entertainment will collaborate on the production of "The Man from Nowhere."

......

The next day, Su Yu appeared in the Hollywood newspapers.

The Hollywood Reporter published a short message with the headline "Lionsgate reaches cooperation agreement with Chinese director Su Yu".

Variety magazine's report was more detailed, mentioning Su Yu's background: a nineteen-year-old Berlin Golden Bear winner, his first feature film grossed 60 million RMB, and that he owns the rights to several original screenplays and novels in Hollywood.

The report also specifically mentioned a company called "Time Entertainment," saying it is an entertainment company registered in the Cayman Islands, with David as the legal representative, and Su Yu himself suspected to be the actual controller behind it.

News came from Lionsgate that they would immediately begin preparations for the production of "Lurking," which could be released in the second half of the year.

When Su Yu heard Casey's secretary say this on the phone, he mentally calculated the time. The success of "Lurking" would be the key to his real entry into Hollywood.

There are probably quite a few film companies watching from the sidelines; they're likely already going through his file.

The news reached China a day earlier than Su Yu had anticipated. Major portal websites and entertainment news outlets all reported on Su Yu's daring foray into North America, sparking widespread online discussion, and production companies began contacting Su Ting.

Su Yu opened Sina Entertainment in his hotel room, and the headline was prominently displayed: "Young director Su Yu signs with Lionsgate to participate in Hollywood film production."

He clicked on it and saw the article read: "It is reported that Su Yu will participate in the production of two new films by Lionsgate as director, screenwriter and producer, and will hold 20% of the profits. This is the first time a Chinese director has participated in Hollywood film production as a producer, rather than simply as an actor or director."

The following paragraph reads: "It is suspected that Su Yu has registered a new company in North America, marking the beginning of a new generation of Chinese directors' expansion into the international market."

Su Yu read the news twice, then put his phone down.

When Han Sanping saw the news, he was in the office of China Film Group reviewing documents.

The secretary knocked on the door and came in, placing a printed news article on his desk, saying, "Mr. Han, there's news from Su Yu."

Han Sanping picked up the paper and read it from beginning to end, his gaze lingering on the words "20% profit sharing".

"This Su Yu is even more troublesome than I thought," Han Sanping muttered to himself. "Sigh, it's a pity we didn't invest more back then; he's planning to film in North America!"

Lu Zheng also saw the news and was overjoyed, because he called Su Ting and Su Ting said that "The Lone Agent" would be made into a Sino-US co-production.

The Hong Kong entertainment circle also saw the news.

Collin Chou's agent called Su Ting, but she didn't answer.

The agent called again, but Su Ting still didn't answer.

On the third try, Su Ting answered, her tone indifferent: "Has Brother Long's schedule become available?"

The agent laughed and said, "Yes, yes"; Su Ting said, "We have someone in mind, we'll talk about it later," and then hung up.

Daniel Wu's agent sent a text message, much more enthusiastic than before, saying that Daniel really liked Su Yu's script, the salary was negotiable, and that Daniel was very available recently and could be called upon at any time. Su Tingyu read the message, put her phone face down on the table, and didn't reply.

Those actors and agents who had previously ignored Su Yu are now showing up one by one. Su Yu, in the US, is unaware of this, but Su Ting received several phone calls in Beijing.

After hanging up the phone, Su Ting sat in her office, picked up her coffee, took a sip, looked out at the hazy sky over Beijing, and suddenly smiled.