The Legendary Actor - Chapter 55

“Six hundred cases of beer, seventy cases of whiskey, forty cases of brandy, forty cases of tequila. Is that the right amount?”

The truck uncle in front of him took the invoice and confirmed it, as Renly stood next to him, holding the numbers he had just recorded in the warehouse after the invoice, browsing them one by one and nodding his head after confirming, “That’s right.” Then he took the bill and signed his name on the top recipient column, “Where’s the wine? When will Stanley’s wine reservation arrive?”

“Next Monday.” The trucker replied skillfully, “You’ll be able to hold on till this weekend, right?”

“No problem this weekend.” After Renly signed, he handed the invoice back to the familiar dude who said in the end, “But Monday better arrive on time, we’re probably out of stock by Thursday.” He said by Thursday, because the weekend was unpredictable, so they might not have any by Monday.

“Understood, we’ll be on time.” The uncle packed up his things, but there was no intention of leaving yet.

Renly was ready to turn around, but when he saw the inquisitive look in this uncle’s eyes, he paused for a moment, smiled and thanked him, “Thank you for your hard work, I hope everything goes well today.”

Seeing that Renly was ready to leave, the uncle didn’t hold back after all and shouted out, “You’re that guy, right? Renly?” When he looked up, Renly could see the overwhelming excitement on this uncle’s face, “Your performance was really good, even for a coarse person like me.”

“Heh.” Renly laughed softly, “That’s the best recognition for my work.” Without modesty or pride, Renly accepted the praise openly.

“I didn’t expect you to be working here, I thought, people like you… well, shouldn’t you be touring around and stuff? Living in the spotlight?” The uncle laughed cheerfully, not at all with bad intention, just curious, “I’m looking forward to seeing your next performance.” As he said that, the uncle returned to the driver’s seat.

Renly’s were eyebrows slightly creased, he always felt a little strange, but could not really say why. With a sudden flash of light in his head, he opened his mouth and said half-jokingly, “I did not expect that you also subscribed to HBO.”

“HBO?” followed by a tilt of the head and a laugh, “I’m not subscribing to something that expensive and boring.” As if he had heard the best joke of the day, the older man slapped the steering wheel and then smiled widely toward Renly, “Good work! I’ll be off then, I have three more deliveries to make!” Afterwards, the truck started up and gradually left the alley behind the back door of Pioneer Village amidst the roaring sound of the engines.

Renly stood there and thought carefully. If the trucker didn’t subscribe to HBO, then why did he know him? Then, Renly shook his head as cleared all the unimportant thoughts. Just because he didn’t have an HBO subscription at home doesn’t mean he couldn’t have watched “The Pacific” elsewhere; or maybe he saw a highlight clip of the episode on the YouTube, which was quite possible.

The kind of strange feeling just now must have been just his own imagination. Renly raised his right hand, vigorously rubbed his hair, and re-combed the short curly hair that was always in a mess, as if this can alleviate some of the weight of the thoughts in his mind.

After the start of “The Pacific”, in fact, Renly’s life did not change much, although the Internet and media discussions were lively, and the burning eyes were still focused on the series, and Renly became the center of the whirlpool of public opinion; but in fact, Renly could not feel the raging fever, as if the frenzy on TV and Internet, and in the newspapers at all.

As if everything happened in a different country that was out of the real world, a country where the spotlight was on, and Renly still lived out of the spotlight.

He continues to work every day in Pioneer Village, he continues to look for Broadway acting opportunities, he continues to go to the U.S. Actors Guild to look for jobs, but he has only had two auditions, one for which he was too young, and one for which he failed because his performance was too theatrical.

Strictly speaking, Renly’s life now is no different from what it was before. The only difference is that in this scene just now, and occasionally on the streets, he can meet some people who recognize him, and then with a happy face, discuss the plot with a couple of sentences, and that’s all.

This is the first time that Renly has experienced the nuances of the entertainment industry, especially the difference between movies and television. There is a huge difference in the level of attention a successful movie and a successful TV series can bring, but of course, this is only relative, as in the heyday of “Friends”, any actor walking the streets would have been a sensation.

The impact of “The Pacific” as a miniseries on a pay-per-view cable channel like HBO is even more limited.

So, the frenzy of the Internet, the attention of the news media, and the ups and downs of the show were all lost on Renly, who was more like an observer watching the drama unfold on the small screen like any other ordinary viewer. It was really a wonderful feeling.

No wonder people always say that it’s not hard to get into Hollywood, as long as you have a good skin, it’s enough; but it’s incredibly difficult to get a foothold in there; as for getting to the top of the Hollywood pyramid, well, might as well forget it. Now, Renly gradually began to feel some sense of reality.

Pushing open the back door, Renly went all the way back to the front of the bar, looking around for Stanley Charleson, but before he could find Stanley, he saw a group of people gathered around the table, talking about, “How many? How many?” … Then a muffled voice rang out from the crowd, which could not be heard outside, and then everyone raised their hands in the air and cheered, “Wow! ”

Renly turned his body around and walked toward the crowd, poking his head out and trying to join in, “What’s going on? What’s going on?”

It was a bit unexpected that when they heard Renly’s voice, everyone looked scared as if they had seen a ghost. Suddenly, everyone started pushing and shoving him out of the room, “It’s okay, it’s okay”, “Just looking at … emm,… ah,….oh, Rugby! Yes, yes, Rugby!” … The more playful the voices became, the more obvious was the fact of wanting to cover up something.

Renly also did not resist, after being pushed out for a while. He waited for everyone to finish, then he still turned around, calmly watching the small group of friends, the corners of the mouth, pulled into a knowing smile, made everyone avoid his line of sight, not daring to look directly at Renly. Seeing that Janice Black still wanted to cover something, Renly gently shook his head, smiled and said, “You guys are really the world’s most secretive group of people. So, what’s going on? Rather than leaving me to speculate here, why don’t you take the initiative and tell me.”

Renly lifted his chin and looked behind him, “Neil Tuckson, now is the last chance for you to confess.”

The menace could be felt even on the gentle smile on Renly’s lips, but Neil’s feet stayed where they were just when he was prepared to sneak away, as he winced, “Hey.” Neal laughed twice and was ready to cover up, but then everyone looked at Neal, and Janice directly raised her voice and said, “It was Neal’s idea, all Neal’s idea.”

“Right!” The others were quick to join in, raising their fingers and pointing at Neil standing in the back of the crowd, clearly intending to let Neil take the blame alone. It was a spectacular sight indeed.

Now Neal jumped to his feet, “Guys, you can’t abandon me like this!” Neil held the computer in his arms, “This is clearly a proposal that was approved by everyone, not just me! Stanley, where’s Stanley?” Looking left, looking right, Neil couldn’t find Stanley, and began to gnash his teeth, “Renly, believe me, this was everyone’s idea, and I’m just the executor, really.”

Now Renly was the one who was confused. What was going on? Why he didn’t have a single clue.

However, Renly did not show it as he calmly maintained his authority, not moving, waiting for Neal to plead innocence.

Sure enough, Neal opened the computer in his hand and placed it on the desktop next to Renly, “Renly, are you ready for the surprise gift?” A gift? What is this saying again? It’s now six months before his birthday! “Please look.” Neil said solemnly, and then he turned the computer screen to Renly, finally unveiling the mystery.

Renly sat down and took a closer look, and on the screen was the iTunes page with the instant single download charts, “What am I looking at now?” Renly scanned it at random, not understanding, and Neil reached out his finger to the screen, and Renly saw the line: “48, Cleopatra, Renly Hall.”

Renly’s mouth dropped open in surprise. He had forgotten, oh, he had completely forgotten that he had recorded “Cleopatra” digitally for Stanley as a gift, three months earlier at home.

Renly took it for granted that this folk single would not stir up any waves and would be drowned in the blink of an eye in the tide of countless singles, so he didn’t take it seriously at all. This,… this is really something that no one could ever have expected even in a dream.

“Top fifty! Renly, do you see? “Cleopatra” was among the top fifty instant downloads on iTunes!” Neil said excitedly, his voice trembling uncontrollably, “The next step might be Billboard singles!”