The Legendary Actor - Chapter 41

When he looked at the girl in front of him, his pupils shrank slightly, and then he pulledout his cell phone, aimed it at the girl’s figure and pressed the button with a “click”.

The girl apparently did not expect such a move from Renly, which disrupted all her plans and made her stare, “Hey, are you crazy?”. She charged towards him with big strides, and her tiger-like stance was kinda frightening, but Renly was not worried, and raised his right hand high, which immediately put him in an unreachable position.

The girl was only as tall as his chest, but she wisely chose to give up and stopped in front of him, rolling her eyes and looking speechless, “So, this is how you welcome me? How long has it been since we last saw each other … the year before Christmas?”

“I should be the one to ask you that,” he said. “The way you are talking, you obviously knew I would show up today, but you didn’t call me ahead of time? ”

This rhetorical question made the girl stunned, helplessly waving her hand, “You don’t have to be smart in front of me.”

He doesn’t buy it. The guy in front of her is not a white flower to be bullied, “I’m just leaving evidence in case I need it.”

“Hey!” The girl raised her voice in complaint, but glancing at Renly, she didn’t say anything to argue, “How about you delete it, and I’ll come up with a better angle, and take a new one? I don’t trust your photography skills, you are definitely green.”

Seeing the girl’s unsatisfied look, Renly didn’t argue. Heck, she really was a proper photographer, “There is no need for that. Anyway, the ones who might see this photo don’t need to appreciate your photography skills.”

This left the girl speechless, as she knew that Renly was telling the truth, “Tell me, how did you end up here, and you walked out of the media room, which means that you are part of the interview team today.” With a mere glimpse of his and a few clues, she could piece it all together, Renly also deduced some hidden truth, “But aren’t you actually supposed to be working for the UN in Sudan right now? At least that’s what George and Elizabeth believed.”

Standing in front of Renly was his sister – second sister to be exact – Edith Hall. She was a gifted art student, but growing up she chose to give up art and became interested in photography instead.

To a certain extent, photography is a product of fine arts based on modern technology; in addition, she is a woman, and in the traditional concept of an aristocratic family, it is enough for a woman to choose her own hobby and choose a suitable husband in the future. Just as Elizabeth had her own gallery, the traditional English aristocracy has come a long way since then. It still has many constraints on women, though.

Edith was clever enough to choose the United Nations, as an official photographer travelling all over the world for free, in the name of greater good. Such an act was highly praised even among the British aristocracy. So, the family did not object too much to Edith’s choice.

With the end of the seven-year civil war in Sudan last month – the founding of the Republic of Sudan – the United Nations Peace Corps still being in Sudan for the followups, it makes sense that Edith would be in Sudan too, not Los Angeles of all places.

Edith rolled her eyes and said, “God, I knew I shouldn’t have taken this job.” In fact, she just took the job, only to find out that “The Pacific” main lead was actually Renly. It was too late to turn it down.

But it wasn’t Edith’s style to just surrender, “If the family knew that you were now a TV actor,” she continued threateningly, “Not any movie actor, not even a drama actor, but a cheap soap opera actor, do you think they will just leave it at that?” She was trying to find some bargaining chips to balance out the taken photo.

The first thing Renly did was to take a picture. It was obvious that he had foreseen the situation and had it all under the control. Edith ground her teeth. Everyone thought Renly was a nice gentleman, but she was the only one who saw through her cute brother’s face. But she had no one to find solace.

“The crocodile tears won’t work. The first time you are seeing me, George and Elizabeth have already cut me off from all financial resources by now, and they refused to have any contact with me six months ago. So … ” Renly shrugged, which meant: your threats are useless.

Edith opened her mouth to say something else, but Renly got there first. “Arthur knew about “The Pacific”, and he wrote an email making fun of me. A television actor, in the eyes of many aristocrats, wasn’t even an actor.”

“Damn you, Arthur.” Arthur was all talk and no action, Edith cursed.

Edith took a cigarette out of her pocket, quickly lit one, and held it in her mouth, scratching her head in annoyance. Edith noticed the little gesture and his eyes widened. “Don’t tell me you’re trying to get the hotel cameras to film me and hope they throw me out?

Renly was full of innocence, “Edith, have you been in Africa long enough to become paranoid of getting victimized?” Well, the scheme was foiled, what a bummer.

Edith squinted and looked at Renly, then turned around and walked quickly toward the balcony at the end of the corridor, knowing without looking back that Renly would be following her. Sure enough, Edith turned around on the balcony and saw Renly standing under the milky yellow light.

If Renly told the family about her situation, she would be in for a long, hard time, and who knows if they would take it out on her, considering that they hadn’t talked to Renly for over half a year. Edith knew that she had no room to argue.

“I’m owed a favor.” Instead of jumping into the trap in a hurry, Renly said calmly, “You’re in charge of the photo shoot later, right? You’d better not use me as a test subject.” Without any superfluous words, the threatening tone could not have been clearer.

Edith wordlessly exhaled a puff of smoke, “You must know that everyone else was lining up to have their picture taken from me. This time, Vanity Fair had been contacting me for two months to invite me.”

“So, this isn’t the first time you’ve been photographing for a magazine. Does that mean you’ve never been there in Sudan either? Hmm … I should go check out the print photos of famous magazines from the past few months.” Renly looked seriously at Edith, “Is it the fashion magazine kind?”

Edith bit down hard on her cigarette, but this time she was out of line as Renly had the upper hand, but still fell in front of Renly. “It’s just a small thing, but I can’t believe you’ve been holding a grudge for so long,” Edith muttered, but Renly’s eyebrows were raised – he remembered lying on a bench, supporting himself from the waist down, performing a nimble landing for two hours, and you call that a small thing? Or maybe it’s just a small thing to have him stand in a fountain in the middle of winter and pose as Popeye all afternoon?

Seeing the twinkle in Renly’s eyes, Edith immediately reconsidered the offer and took it in a stride, “Deal!” She was hoping that Renly would mess up during today’s photo shoot as yesterday she was almost laughed like crazy as she imagined the reactions at home, but now it’s all gone!

Edith nodded her head in agreement as she took a hard puff of smoke to express her displeasure. But she didn’t argue any further, as Renly, though full of bad stories, was definitely a man of his word. “Are you really going to continue on this path as an actor? You are wise enough to know how unreliable this path is.”

“So what do you suggest?” Renly said, half-jokingly.

Edith thought seriously about it. She and Renly were the same kind of people, rebellious at heart, always trying to break free from the constraints and repression of the traditional English aristocracy.

Edith admires Renly for choosing his major at Cambridge University, taking a break from his studies to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and then preparing enough money to come to New York just like that. Deep down, she hoped that Renly will be successful, and then perhaps she will be able to shake off the shackles of the “noble lady” label as well.

“Become a better actor.” Edith replied, which made Renly smile. “This time, I listened to the “Vanity Fair” editor and heard that you should be the absolute focus of the show, it will be all on you. Spielberg seems to have a different opinion of you, too, so tell me, what did you really do?” Edith stubbed out the cigarette and walked with Renly back toward the room, “Spielberg is not interested in men, so how the hell did you get his hots? It doesn’t make a sense that you’re a rookie actor with shady about you!”

Renly deliberately ignored Edith’s serious way of talking nonsense – if he had taken it seriously, he would have already reincarnated again.

“Can’t really think of any reasons …” Edith replied matter-of-factly.

Renly glanced at Edith wordlessly, “Then you can ask the editor or Steven yourself.”

“They’d certainly tell me it’s because of your strength. Oh, only a fool would believe that.” Edith said, clapping and laughing to herself, apparently in retaliation for the forced deal she had just made.

Renly shrugged lightly, “As far as I’m concerned, someone’s an idiot.” With that, Renly pushed open the door to his room, picked up his suitcase, and walked in, Edith trailing behind, biting her lower lip in frustration, “Renly Hall!” But she was greeted by a wooden door that was slowly closing.

Clack!