Chapter 543 - 351: Anya’s Swift Return to Moscow

Chapter 543: Chapter 351: Anya’s Swift Return to Moscow

Jeremy looked to be in his early thirties. He wore a Ralph Lauren polo shirt, and a BMW key fob was clipped to the belt at his waist.

Hearing Jason Miller’s question, he pointed at himself. "Me?" He scoffed. "I’m here to work, of course."

He glanced at Jason Miller and his old Camry, then jutted out his chin. "Heard you got laid off, buddy?"

"Yeah," Jason said flatly. "Didn’t you tell me that yesterday?"

"I never said that. You must have misunderstood me, buddy," Jeremy said, waving his hand dismissively as if he knew nothing. "I just heard there was going to be a change with your position. I thought you were finally getting your break, so I rushed over to tell you."

He sighed. "It’s a shame. I was on-site yesterday, and it was only after hearing it from other colleagues that I learned Lewis’s decision was to lay you off, not promote you."

Jason Miller snorted in contempt, giving Jeremy a look like he was a pile of shit, then couldn’t be bothered with him anymore.

’Jeremy must have done that on purpose yesterday,’ he thought. ’He was being deliberately vague, saying my position was "going to change" just to mess with me. He wanted me to think I was getting a promotion, only to send me crashing down from heaven to hell.’

’The stupidest part is that I actually believed him.’

Seeing Jason ignore him and lean against the entrance to Soundstage 9 to smoke by himself, Jeremy took the initiative to speak again.

"So, what are you planning to do now, buddy?" he asked with feigned concern. "Want me to ask around for you? I know a gig, being an extra for a reality show. The pay isn’t great, but it could tide you over, right?"

Jason took a drag from his cigarette, glanced at Jeremy, and flicked the ash.

"No need," Jason said, gesturing toward Soundstage 9. "I’m working for Li Wei."

"Li Wei?" Jeremy paused.

"Li Wei!"

His voice jumped an octave. "You’re working for Li Wei? Doing what? You... you mean you’re working on the film crew he’s on, right?"

"Something like that," Jason said, exhaling a breath of smoke. "I’m mainly doing on-site project management for Li Wei’s investment. Hmm... like an executive producer."

"So... the pay must be pretty good, right?" Jeremy asked.

Jason just smiled and said nothing.

Jeremy gave an awkward laugh and rubbed his hands together. "Well, that’s great too. At least you found something to do."

"But investments in Hollywood from athletes usually end up going down the drain," he cautioned. "It’s a real question whether this movie will even turn a profit. It’s a 250 million USD investment, you know. You shouldn’t bet everything on it. Once the three-month shoot is over, you’ll have to look for work again."

Jason nodded. "Thanks for the heads-up."

Jeremy was about to say something else, but his phone suddenly rang.

He glanced at the caller ID, then shot an imperceptible look at Jason before turning to answer. He walked a little farther away as he spoke.

A gust of wind carried snippets of Jeremy’s conversation over to Jason.

"...What?" Jeremy said in a low voice. "It won’t be paid out until next month? Why do I have to front the money?"

"Listen... 400 USD for travel expenses... This is killing me... My rent is due soon... I can’t front it."

Hearing this, Jason suddenly felt a wave of emotion.

He took out his phone and checked his American Express savings account. Looking at the balance of just over 110,000 USD, he felt a growing sense of gratitude toward Li Wei.

’Li Wei’s simple gesture wasn’t just a leg up or some help,’ he thought. ’It was a lifeline.’

People started trickling into the Warner Burbank studio lot.

Jeremy walked back over and said his goodbyes to Jason. "The studio’s vice president just called me about something urgent," he said, his face a perfect mask of calm. "Sorry about that."

Jason chuckled softly and nodded. "I’m heading in," he said, pointing to the newly opened doors of Soundstage 9. "I’ve got things to do inside."

"You go talk to your, um... studio vice president," he said.

With that, he stubbed out his cigarette, tossed the butt in a trash can, and walked into Soundstage 9.

The place had changed quite a bit since his last visit.

Stone walls, a royal palace, the skeleton of an Ogre next to a mechanical dragon being assembled...

To be honest, the set for *The Last Flying Dragon* gave him the same feeling he’d had back when *The Lord of the Rings* was being filmed. After all, there’s a world of difference between a full practical set and a green screen.

He first went to find the film’s executive producer, Magos Weber, the man in charge of the entire production’s operations.

Finances, personnel, locations... Magos made the final decision on all matters, big and small.

Magos Weber was an old partner of Del Toro’s and was highly renowned in the industry. Jason knew of him, but Weber didn’t know Jason.

Upon seeing him, Jason extended a hand in greeting.

"Mr. Weber, Jason Miller," he said. "I’m the on-site representative sent by Mr. Don Quixote Cervantes."

Magos Weber glanced at him, frowning. "Cervantes didn’t tell me about this."

Seeing his reaction, Jason Miller remained completely unfazed, responding with a smile.

"I’m sure Mr. Don Quixote Cervantes has spoken with you," he said. "Why don’t we contact him right now to confirm?"

Magos Weber took off his headphones, looked at Jason Miller, and suddenly broke into a laugh.

He stood up from behind the monitors. "Just kidding. Welcome to the crew."

"If you need anything coordinated in the future," Jason said, his expression unchanged, "you can come directly to me."

Executive producers disliking the people sent by investors was all too common in Hollywood. It was nothing out of the ordinary, so Jason Miller felt completely unruffled.

He didn’t waste any more words. He briefly discussed the project’s progress, got an update on the status of various departments, and then took his leave.

’First day: talk less, observe more.’

Afterward, he went to find the people from the financial supervision company that Don Quixote had hired. In principle, he was their superior.

The financial supervision company had two people stationed on set: one was Patrick, a man of forty, and the other was his assistant.

"...The entire project’s funds are divided into three pools: the production fund, the operating reserve, and the distribution and marketing budget," Patrick explained. "Within those, there are further subdivisions for contingency budgets, above-the-line costs, below-the-line costs, and so on—"

As he said this, Patrick threw an imperceptible glance at Jason Miller. Seeing no reaction, he inwardly sighed in disappointment and continued.

Jason Miller had spent ten years in external relations, so he’d picked up a fair bit about the production process through osmosis. But as Patrick started rattling off one technical term after another, he realized he didn’t fully understand what they all meant.

But he didn’t interrupt Patrick. ’This job isn’t going to be easy,’ he thought. ’I need to wrestle some authority away from Magos Weber, but I also can’t let Patrick usurp it.’

’I’ll look up anything I’m not sure about later on my own.’

He spent the entire morning in the temporary office with Patrick and his assistant, rapidly absorbing information like a dry sponge.

He wasn’t free until noon. He stepped out for a breath of fresh air and took a stroll around the set.

The set design team was still busy, and the lighting crew was testing a newly arrived set of high-power equipment. A few people were gathered around it, chattering excitedly about something.

It was only then that Jason noticed something—he hadn’t seen Li Wei.

He’d seen Johnny Depp’s trailer and had also seen Don Quixote arrive in his Cadillac Escalade, but there had been no sign of the male lead, Li Wei.

He walked over to Don Quixote.

"Mr. Don Quixote," he asked, "is Mr. Li Wei not on set today?"

Don Quixote was staring at a set of construction blueprints with great interest. He hadn’t done any hands-on work himself for several years, but after so long, his passion for engineering and construction had been rekindled.

Hearing Jason Miller’s words, he looked up. "Jason, when did you get here?"

"I got here this morning," Jason said, pointing to the temporary office not far away. "I was going over the books with Patrick and his team."

"Good," Don Quixote said with a glance, then remembered he hadn’t answered Jason’s question. "Li Wei went back to New York. He had something to take care of."

"New York?" Jason was taken aback for a moment. "When is he coming back?"

"In a few days, probably," Don Quixote said, folding the blueprints. "Is it urgent?"

"No," Jason shook his head. "I just wanted to greet him and thank Mr. Li Wei for giving me this opportunity."

"Get a handle on your work first," Don Quixote said, patting his shoulder. "It won’t be too late to greet him when he gets back."

Jason nodded and didn’t ask any more questions.

「Meanwhile, Li Wei had already returned to New York.」

This time, however, he didn’t go back to his apartment on Long Island or in Battery City Park. Instead, he went straight to Anya’s home in Riverdale, in the North Bronx.

Anya was packing her carry-on suitcase.

To be precise, it was a medium-sized LV suitcase containing only a few changes of clothes, some skincare products, and a few file folders.

ZIP. She opened a small passport wallet, took out several passports and a billfold, and checked them one by one.

Li Wei leaned against the bedroom doorframe, watching her pack.

"What time is your flight scheduled to take off?" Li Wei asked.

"4 p.m.," Anya said without looking up. "It’s out of Teterboro. Auntie Kaja already went ahead to make the arrangements."

"So we’ll leave at one?"

Teterboro Airport is over in New Jersey, not too far from Riverdale. The drive is only forty minutes.

Anya gave a perfunctory nod and kept her head down, continuing to pack.

"It’ll be fine," Li Wei said. "It’s just a routine asset transfer."

"No, this time is different," Anya said. "This time is different."

"Didn’t you just go back to receive a transfer last summer? (Chapter 153)" Li Wei said reassuringly. "Maybe this time will be just like the last."

"I told you, this time is different!" Anya looked up and shot back. "This is 2.7 billion USD! Why would he suddenly transfer so much money to my name?"