Chapter 385 Dinner at San Remo
It’s spring in New York City in late April.
Lin Weimin got up and went to the balcony of his bedroom first. The Central Park in spring seemed to have laid a green carpet for the Big Apple, which was refreshing.
Comrade Lao Mi really put in a lot of effort, Lin Weimin sighed in his heart.
Capitalism’s sugar-coated bullets are indeed sweet.
After a simple wash, Lin Weimin went downstairs. When he passed the lobby front desk, the white girl standing at the front desk looked at him in surprise.
There was only one yellow person in the Dakota Apartments, and that was John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono. When did another yellow person appear?
Lin Weimin had no idea what the white girl was thinking, so he walked straight out of the apartment. Sure enough, he found that the driver Huang Guangsheng was already waiting on the roadside at the entrance of the apartment in the half-new Mercedes-Benz.
After getting in the car and saying hello, Lin Weimin asked Huang Guangsheng to find him a roadside pushcart stall. He bought a sandwich and a cup of coffee and started eating in the car.
Huang Guangsheng looked at Lin Weimin through the rearview mirror and said with a smile: "Mr. Lin, you have integrated into the city of New York."
"Why do you say that?" Lin Weimin chewed a sandwich and took a sip of coffee. It was so bland, as if it was mixed with water, even waterier than instant coffee.
"Look outside the car!"
Huang Guangsheng said something and Lin Weimin looked away.
People are hurrying on the streets, and just walking on the road makes it seem extremely busy.
"New Yorkers are so busy that they don't even have time to eat breakfast. They can only buy a variety of cheap and quick foods from roadside carts and eat breakfast on their way to work."
Lin Weimin chewed his sandwich and said, "That's really pitiful!"
Huang Guangsheng was amused by Lin Weimin's words. Lin Weimin then asked, "So, you decided to become an actor in order to avoid living a life like a cow or a horse?"
Huang Guangsheng's smile froze on his face. He just thought that Mr. Lin was a gentleman with a sense of humor, but how could he turn around and stab him in the heart?
If you don't know how to chat, don't chat.
Huang Guangsheng held it in for a few seconds before he said, "I left home earlier than them, but we ate the same food."
Lin Weimin laughed and said, "It seems that everyone is about the same, except that they go out at different times."
Huang Guangsheng sighed inwardly that food is not important. For New Yorkers, the time they spend outside determines their social status and achievements.
Huang Guangsheng and Lin Weimin had a pleasant exchange after the joke. Huang Guangsheng came to the United States with his father's generation. His parents now run a laundry in Chinatown. Huang went to high school but didn't get into college. Because he wanted to be an actor, he went to Broadway to be an actor.
Unfortunately, there are too many young people like him chasing their dreams on Broadway. Huang Guangsheng has nothing outstanding among them. He even has a disadvantage, which is his skin color.
As he spoke, Huang Guangsheng couldn't help but sigh.
"I really admire someone as talented as you!"
Before this, Huang Guangsheng had been working as a handyman in the crew of "The Intouchables". He couldn't even get a supporting role. Every day he could only stand on the stage and look at the actors on the stage with envy.
He had heard a long time ago that the original work of "The Intouchables" was written by a Chinese.
He was born in the United States and often heard his parents talk about the bad things about their country since he was a child, so he has no sense of belonging to China.
But when I learned that the screenwriter had yellow skin and black eyes like me, I still felt a sense of pride.
Arthur Miller used the role conditions to let him be Lin Weimin's driver for two months, which he was more than happy to accept. Although he knew that the role was not big, just slightly better than a small role, it was already a rare opportunity for him.
The two chatted casually while the car drove around the Upper West Side aimlessly.
Manhattan is called the Upper Town by New Yorkers. It is divided into two parts with Broadway Avenue and Central Park as the axis. The east side is the Upper East Side and the west side is the Upper West Side.
The Upper East Side is a wealthy area famous throughout the United States and often appears in various American dramas in later generations.
The Upper West Side is famous as a literary and artistic mecca. Different from the Hollywood in Los Angeles, which is full of decadence and entertainment, the literary and artistic atmosphere of the Upper West Side emphasizes romance and art.
This is a paradise for artists and is known as the cultural and intellectual center of Manhattan. Many actors, writers, and painters choose to live here. Cafes and bookstores can be found everywhere in the Upper West Side.
Rejecting Huang Guangsheng's suggestion to continue to visit Manhattan, Lin Weimin asked Huang Guangsheng to drop him off opposite the Dakota Apartments.
"This is Strawberry Fields. New York City built a memorial here in memory of John Lennon, and it opened last year."
The Strawberry Field is a 10,000 square meter triangular garden located at the West 72nd Street entrance of the park, directly opposite the Dakota Apartments.
Huang Guangsheng sat and chatted with Lin Weimin in the park. He enjoyed this kind of work.
After lunch at noon, Huang Guangsheng reminded Lin Weimin, “Mr. Lin, there is a dinner party in the evening, you should prepare a suit.”
Lin Weimin looked at his casual clothes and felt that what Huang Guangsheng said made some sense.
It was definitely too late to go to the clothing store now, so Lin Weimin asked Huang Guangsheng to take him to the mall.
Manhattan may lack everything, but it definitely has luxury stores.
After spending more than a thousand dollars to buy a similar outfit, Lin Weimin looked in the mirror and felt good.
Capitalism has its advantages. Money can make anything work.
Time passed quickly and it was already past five in the afternoon. Huang Guangsheng drove Lin Weimin to the San Remo Apartment on 75th Street.
The location of the San Remo is similar to that of the Dakota Apartments, which are also located on the west side of Central Park. However, the difference is that the balcony of the San Remo can not only see the beautiful view of Central Park, but also the balcony on the other side can see the Hudson River in the west of Manhattan.
In a place like New York where every inch of land is valuable, such apartments are few and far between and are all very expensive.
San Remo was built twenty years later than Dakota and actually has an underground garage.
After parking the car in the underground garage, Lin Weimin got out and saw Huang Guangsheng still sitting in the car. He subconsciously asked, "Jack, aren't you going?"
Huang Guangsheng smiled bitterly, "Mr. Lin, Mr. Miller didn't invite me."
Lin Weimin nodded. He understood Huang Guangsheng's bitterness. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "I think Mr. Arthur Miller wouldn't mind if I brought a companion."
Huang Guangsheng was immediately surprised and asked in disbelief: "Really? Is it really possible?"
Lin Weimin didn't say anything, but knocked on the car window.
Huang Guangsheng opened the car door impatiently, got out of the car and was about to leave, but stopped there again, adjusted his hair in front of the rearview mirror, and muttered: "It would be better to bring a bottle of mousse."
Lin Weimin smiled helplessly, waited for him for a few seconds, and then they got into the elevator together.
I knocked on Arthur Miller's door and the person who opened it was Arthur Miller's wife, to be precise, his third wife Inge Morath, who was a photographer.
Arthur Miller has a very famous ex-wife, Marilyn Monroe. They got married in 1956 and divorced in 1961.
Inge Moras was very enthusiastic when she saw Lin Weimin. Lin Weimin was not used to getting close to her. Inge Moras called out to the house, "Arthur, Lin is here!"
Arthur Miller appeared and pulled Lin Weimin affectionately, "Lin, come here, let me introduce you."
Today's dinner is to welcome Lin Weimin, and Arthur Miller invited many of his friends.
"This is Kermit Bloomgarden, my old partner, he's the producer of all my plays."
"This is Sean Adam, who has directed two of my plays and is also my old partner!"
Arthur Miller introduced his old partner to Lin Weimin, and Bloomgarten and Adam were also curious about Lin Weimin, a writer from ancient China.
"The Intouchables" was brought to the United States by Arthur Miller. At the beginning, he approached Kermit Bloomgarden, hoping that he could help attract investors to invest. However, after learning that this was a play written by a Chinese, Kermit Bloomgarden rejected the proposal. He thought it was too difficult to have a Chinese play performed on the American stage.
But Arthur Miller was determined to do it, and in order to make "The Intouchables" a success, he even paid for the production of the play out of his own pocket.
In the end, it was proved that Arthur Miller had an extraordinary vision and he succeeded.
Bloomgarden found it incredible.
As they were chatting, Arthur Miller introduced an Asian woman who was busy in the kitchen with Inge Moras to Lin Weimin.
"Lin, this is Baayork Lee, she is Chinese and a Broadway actress."
"Hello, my name is Li Baoyu."
Li Baoyu is of Indian and Chinese descent. She is very short, probably less than 1.5 meters tall. She is one of the few Asian actors who has made it on Broadway, but her major is musical theater.
The reason why Arthur Miller invited her today was entirely because of her bloodline, which could make Lin Weimin feel a little closer in the unfamiliar New York.
Li Baoyu understood this principle and even reviewed his Chinese name, which had not been called for decades.
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "Ms. Li, there's no need to force yourself. I'm not comfortable listening to your Chinese, and I think you're not comfortable speaking it either."
Li Baoyu burst into laughter. She had lived in the United States since she was a child and had been completely westernized. Her Chinese could no longer be described as poor, it was completely like a foreign language.
In the 1980s, the United States knew very little about Chinese people, and many people had strong stereotypes about them, even though Li Baoyu was half Chinese.
However, in the process of communicating with Lin Weimin, everyone did not feel this stereotype. He was calm, confident, generous, and at the same time humorous, which made people feel good about him.
In the kitchen, the chef Arthur Miller specially invited to prepare the dinner and his wife Inge Morath were busy, while everyone was chatting in the living room.
At this time, someone rang the doorbell of Arthur Miller's house again.
Recommended book: "The Immortal Wife is Not a Human Being"
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Wife, why are you holding your head in your hands?
(End of this chapter)
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