Back to 17, My Brother is the Cult Leader

Fang Yuan was truly impressed.

"Fang, there are already such large, all-around brokerage firms in the North American market."

However, such large companies typically offer very high commission rates.

"You know what, Fang? I've been working in the Hollywood mailroom since college."

In six years, I obtained my film and television agent qualification.

It took me five years to obtain my literary agent qualification.

Fang Yuan thought to himself, "That's amazing!"

"Furthermore, you need to know that I—no, we—have a resource that they don't have."

Ellie was being a little mysterious.

"Do you know what my father, Xia's maternal grandfather, does?"

"He is a professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and many of the old guys on the Oscar committee are his friends."

Many of his students work in Hollywood!

Holy crap! That's awesome!

"Originally, I planned to recommend 'Flying Colors' to Hollywood film and television companies after its publication."

It's great that we're on the same page!

"Fang, let's work together!"

Xia said your English is very good, you could write English novels and screenplays, and I'll help you get started, how about that?

"Thank you, Ellie. I'll think about it."

In the following days, Fang Yuan asked Huang Xiaoming to take a few days off.

Accompanying Ellie on a tour of the capital.

The Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Tiannanmen Gate, and traditional courtyard houses.

Hot pot tripe, noodles with minced meat sauce, fermented mung bean juice, and stinky tofu.

Taking photos, taking photos like crazy.

Ellie had a great time for three days.

Fang Yuan read the English version of "Flying Colors" several times in those three days.

The translation was largely error-free.

Fang Yuan also took the opportunity to familiarize himself with the writing style of English novels.

Three days later, the two were sitting in the office again.

Xiaomei poured them some tea and then went out to attend to her own business.

She needed to keep track of the publication and statistics of "The Sky at Eighteen".

"Fang, how's the translation?"

"Ellie, that's fine. Let's leave it at that. I agree to publish it."

"What are your thoughts on the collaboration?"

"Sure. Ellie, would you be willing to become my full-fledged literary and film agent?"

"Oh God! I'm so happy."

"I'm so lucky to know you, Ellie!"

"Let's talk about 'Flying Colors' first. I'll sign the licensing agreement later."

The publishing process will be entirely handled by you, my agent.

Also, you don't need to give me the advance royalties yet.

Help me register a personal studio in Hollywood.

For now, you can manage it for me. In addition to your commission and salary, I will give you 5% of the studio's shares.

"You're a boss too."

"Also, could you take a look at these documents for me?"

As he spoke, Fang Yuan handed Ellie four documents, all in English.

"What is this? A script?!?"

Yes, these are four scripts that Fang Yuan hastily wrote in English after learning that Ellie was coming.

It's not easy to say, and it's not easy to do in reality.

Fortunately, he has an exceptional memory.

Four screenplays, including an English adaptation of "Flying Colors," set in North America.

The other three are:

Coherence (Chinese version: The Night the Comet Came)

A 2013 American science fiction thriller film written and directed by James Ward Burcourt.

It is often regarded as a model of low-budget independent films, using a budget of $5, a living room setting, and eight improvisational actors to create a sci-fi masterpiece that is chilling upon closer inspection.

On a night when a comet streaks across the Earth, eight friends gather for a meal.

It started as trivial chatter and interpersonal entanglements, but with a power outage, strange things began to happen one after another:

They discovered another house with lights on two blocks away, and those who went to check it out reported back—

Inside that house, eight people who looked exactly like them were having a meal together.

They began to realize that the arrival of the comet had caused the boundaries between parallel worlds to disappear.

Every time you step out of the house, you may step into another universe.

They marked their world with glow stick colors, table tennis rackets, random numbers, and other methods, only to discover that the people in the house came from at least four different parallel universes.

Ultimately, the protagonist Emily decides to give up searching for her original world and secretly sneaks into a seemingly harmonious and beautiful parallel world, where she drugges her counterpart and takes her place.

However, the next morning, her boyfriend received a call from another "Emily"—

What she thought was a perfect ending was actually just the beginning of another nightmare.

The Man from Earth

An American science fiction film released in 2007.

Harvard history professor John Oldman suddenly announced his resignation and move, and his colleagues came to see him off.

In the living room filled with books and antiques, when his colleagues pressed him for an explanation, John hesitated before revealing a startling truth:

He has lived for over 14000 years and is a cave dweller who has survived from the Paleolithic era to the present day.

The colleagues sitting around listening came from multiple fields, including anthropology, religious studies, biology, and psychology.

This is precisely the perfect lineup to test this "story".

They raised questions from their respective professional perspectives, ranging from archaeological dating to biological evolution, from biblical textual research to psychological analysis.

John answered fluently and logically, recounting 14000 years of human civilization in detail.

He sailed with Columbus, befriended Van Gogh and received his paintings as a gift, studied under the Buddha, and even—

He is Jesus himself:

He brought the Eastern concept of compassion to the West, and after being nailed to the cross, he used the technique of feigning death to "resurrect" himself. His deeds were later deified and became the cornerstone of Christianity.

As the conversation deepened, some began to believe, some became angry and resistant, and some were on the verge of collapse.

In the end, to avoid troubling everyone, John downplayed the whole thing, saying it was just a story he made up on the spot.

Everyone dispersed with a sigh of relief.

Finally, psychology professor Will Gruber heard John say the name of someone he knew—

That person was Will's father, who had mysteriously disappeared decades ago.

Will realized that the 35-year-old man in front of him was his biological father.

In a fit of emotional distress, Will suffered a heart attack and died on the spot.

John watched his "child" leave once again.

Buried Alive

A suspense thriller released in 2010.

It is a 90-minute extreme narrative challenge completed with just a coffin and one person.

Paul Conroy, a truck driver employed by an American company, was attacked while transporting supplies in Iraq.

When he woke up, he found himself locked in a wooden coffin, buried underground somewhere in the desert, his hands and feet bound, and his mouth stuffed with a white cloth.

He only had:

A mobile phone with a weak signal (battery almost dead).

A small knife

A lighter

Two glow sticks

A flashlight

A pen and a wine jug

The kidnappers demanded a $500 million ransom over the phone, or he would be buried alive.

For the next 90 minutes, the audience was trapped in the coffin along with Paul.

He frantically made phone calls for help—

911 said it wasn't their responsibility; the FBI repeatedly questioned the loopholes in his statement.

The company that hired him took the opportunity to record the phone call and fired him on the grounds of "violating employee regulations," so that his family would not be able to receive insurance money after his death;

Friends were unwilling to help; he couldn't get through to his wife on the phone.

He finally made contact with the hostage rescue team, and the captain told him that they were locating his position and that he should hold on.

Sand kept leaking in through the gaps in the wooden planks, and the oxygen was getting less and less.

At the last moment, a voice came from the other end of the phone—

They found him!

Then came an apology.

"Sorry, we have the wrong person. We have Mark White."

As the sand engulfed Paul in his final moments, all that remained on the other end of the phone was a repeated "I'm sorry."