Chapter 40 In the Forest and at the Bridge

When she arrived near Glen Mountain in New Jersey from Hong Kong and Kowloon, where the steel forest had already begun to take shape, Su Yun had the illusion that her plane trip was extremely magical. It was as if she had gone down a level from the urban-rural junction to the countryside in the blink of an eye...

After all, the contrast between areas with small land and dense population and areas with vast land and sparse population is indeed too stark.

It took three full days to ask someone to check Kubrick's current location, and it took nearly another day for the plane to fly from Hong Kong to New Jersey; however, because the time difference between Hong Kong and the United States is 13 hours ahead, Su Yun still had three and a half days left to meet the one-week deadline.

When you come out of the airport, you can still see some high-rise buildings or large and medium-sized buildings that occupy a huge area. When the taxi slowly drives from the expressway to the ordinary road, the "mini steel jungles" composed of houses on both sides of the road turn into real plant jungles.

In this world, humans and plants always seem to be competing for land. If you are strong, I will be weak, and if you are weak, I will be strong.

After the gray tones of cement and steel were replaced by the various shades of green of plants, you could vaguely see some colorful self-built low-rise houses gradually emerging in the vast expanse of green.

It seems that they have finally arrived at their target town.

After settling down in the only small family-style hotel in this unknown town and organizing the initial plan, Su Yun and Lin Jingying followed the guide's instructions to a small group of wooden houses in the forest on the hillside.

According to the information sent by the private detective, the reason why Kubrick suddenly came to this town from England where he had lived for many years was because his little daughter Vivian had a high fever some time ago, and the hospital abused drugs to treat it in order to reduce the temperature as quickly as possible. Therefore, after Vivian recovered from the high fever, her symptoms turned into a stubborn night cough.

In order to cure his younger daughter's illness, Kubrick asked his wife to stay in England to take care of his older daughter, and he brought his younger daughter and the nanny to this town, looking for an old doctor in the town to treat him, because it was rumored that the old doctor was very good at treating coughs.

It was already past three in the afternoon when Su Yun and his companions arrived at the wooden house.

Under the shade of the tree outside the wooden house, a plump middle-aged white woman was holding a broom, humming a cheerful tune while sweeping the fallen leaves vigorously. Her face was peaceful and kind, and she didn't seem difficult to approach.

It seems that this should be the nanny that Kubrick brought to take care of his daily life.

"Hello, is this Mr. Stanley Kubrick's home?" Su Yun asked.

The mother stopped cleaning and looked at him with a puzzled look: "Who are you?"

"We are from Warner Bros. Entertainment. We have a movie project that we would like to discuss with Mr. Kubrick." It was inappropriate for Su Yun to come forward at this moment, so she winked and asked the guide uncle to come forward and answer the aunt's question.

Warner is a well-known company in Europe and America. If you are associated with them, you don't have to worry about no one knowing you.

Sure enough, when she heard that it was someone sent by Warner Bros. to discuss a movie project with her boss, the mother relaxed her guard. "You came at an unfortunate time. Vivian caught a cold while playing in the water a few days ago and has a low fever. Mr. Kubrick drove her to another hospital for hospitalization. She will probably be back tomorrow at noon."

"Thank you. We'll come back tomorrow at noon." The guide uncle quickly thanked the lady.

Hearing this, the mother shook her head hurriedly: "No, even if Mr. Kubrick comes back, he probably won't see you - he recently had a new idea and said he wanted to shoot some puppets. All day long, besides taking care of Vivian, he just makes puppets and draws pictures everywhere..."

"He had a bad temper when he was creating. During this period, even Vivian and I didn't dare to disturb him. Otherwise, once his train of thought was disturbed, he would get very angry."

"If Vivian hadn't been seriously ill this time, he would definitely not have dropped the work at hand."

"If you come and disturb him during this period, even if we can talk, it will become impossible to talk."

Finally, after thanking the kind-hearted lady for telling them this information, Su Yun and the others walked back with gloomy faces.

New inspiration, puppet...

It seems that the movie Kubrick is conceiving is undoubtedly the "Artificial Intelligence" that she also wants to shoot.

It is said that Kubrick had the idea of ​​making this movie in the early 1970s, but was troubled by the fact that computer animation technology was not mature enough in the 1970s, and the post-production special effects could not produce the effects he wanted; so he had to put the filming plan of "Artificial Intelligence" on hold and instead prepared plans for the filming of other movies.

After waiting for a long time for the release of "Jurassic Park" in 1994, Kubrick saw that the computer animation technology barely reached his expectations. When he started to prepare for the filming again, he encountered another obstacle - the huge budget for the later production and the changes in the plot almost scrapped this restart plan after more than ten years.

After various considerations, Kubrick decided to be the producer of the film himself and invite his old friend Steven Spielberg to direct his long-cherished film "Artificial Intelligence". However, Spielberg was busy with film contracts due to the popularity of "Jurassic Park" and was unable to accept the invitation, so this ill-fated film was once again shelved by Kubrick.

A few years later, in 1999, Kubrick, who had just finished filming "Eyes Wide Shut" and had not yet had the chance to restart "Artificial Intelligence", which he had been thinking about for a long time, suddenly suffered a heart attack in his sleep and passed away.

A year later, driven by popular requests and the desire to fulfill the wishes of an old friend, Spielberg deliberately cleared out his schedule and took over the writing and directing of this story from nearly thirty years ago.

Then in 2001, this film, conceived in the early 1970s, finally met the world in theaters.

It seems that after a genius dies, there will always be someone who wants to fulfill the wishes they were unable to fulfill when they were alive.

This is true for her master Lu Shaolong and the film god Kubrick.

But with the addition of her as a variable in this world, perhaps these two lost wishes will no longer be lost wishes.

"What should we do now? Go to the hospital to find someone?" Lin Jingying couldn't help but blurt out a question as they walked.

"I know the addresses of all the hospitals nearby. There are not many, just four." The guide uncle had an occupational illness and immediately rushed to reply.

Su Yun shook her head: "No, that aunt has already said that if someone comes to interfere by force, maybe what could have been negotiated will become impossible."

Kubrick was known in later generations as a madman and a typical tyrant on the studio. It was definitely impossible to deal with him in an ordinary way.

Unless he could see some of the special effects she made with his own eyes, so that he would know that the black technology had achieved the visual effect he wanted.

But the problem is that now we can't just go to him and ask him to take a look.

"Hey, you bad boys, what are you doing?!" When Su Yun was lost in thought, the guide uncle suddenly called out, bringing her thoughts back to reality.

Su Yun couldn't help but frown when she looked up and saw six or seven teenagers who were already as big as adults bullying a golden-haired boy who was obviously several years younger than them.

It's fine if the big bully the small and the majority bully the few, but the golden-haired boy has a bandage on one of his legs, so he's injured!

Not to mention that helping the weak and fighting the strong has always been the duty of people who practice martial arts, even the guide uncle couldn't stand their bullying and rolled up his sleeves to step forward.

As for the group of teenagers, they saw that the people who came to stop them were just a middle-aged uncle and a square-faced young man who was not very tall and had a Chinese appearance. As for Su Yun, the little girl in a pink skirt, they simply didn't take her seriously...

“Hey, don’t meddle in other people’s business, or I’ll teach you a lesson too!” The leading boy, who also had golden hair, stood up.

As he walked over with a negotiating look on his face, he suddenly pushed the defenseless guide hard, knocking him to the ground on the spot.

And because this place is located on a hillside and the terrain is not flat, the guide fell and rolled twice in a row, fell into a low place and cried out in pain.

"What I hate most in my life is people who take advantage of their strength to bully the weak!" Upon seeing this, Lin Jingying immediately began to fight back.

The group of teenagers were immediately shocked: they thought their boss would immediately deal with the one who looked the best fighter, but they didn't expect that this square-faced young man with a Chinese appearance was the best fighter!

Seeing that three of his group had been knocked to the ground and unable to get up, the golden-haired leader rolled his eyes and his gaze fell on Su Yun, who thought that Lin Jingying could carry the whole game by herself and therefore he didn't need to help.

Look at this little Chinese girl, she is so sweet and cute and is wearing all pink. If she is slapped in the face, she will probably cry for a long time, right?

As a result, before the golden-haired boss could slap him, Su Yun, who had perfectly inherited Lu Shaolong's reaction and speed, had already arrived first and slapped the golden-haired boss hard in the face, making him see stars, feel dizzy, and fall to the ground uncontrollably.

Then, Su Yun changed her palm into a claw and used the Jingwu finger technique she learned from Lu Shaolong to press on the leather hat of the golden-haired boss, which was right in front of her because he was kneeling.

In a flash, there were five deep fingerprints.

WTF!

It turns out that this little girl only looks sweet and cute, but in fact she can pry open your crown with her bare hands!

The group of bullying teenagers were so frightened by this scene that they were scared out of their wits. They cried and howled madly, and ran away in a tumbling and crawling manner.

Seeing that Lin Jingying went to check on the guide's injuries, Su Yun also stepped forward to help the bullied golden-haired boy up from the ground.

"Are you okay? Are you injured?" Su Yun asked.

"It's okay, thank you..." The blond boy's expression seemed to be that he was used to it, which made Su Yun feel a little distressed: if she had known that this was not the first offense, she should have been more severe just now!

Those who bully others should be taught a lesson to let them know that there is still justice in this world!

From the brief conversation, Su Yun learned that the golden-haired boy was called Tom, and that he transferred to Glenrich Middle School here because his mother married his stepfather.

When he was healthy, he was not easily bullied. But after he injured his knee in a recent accident, the nightmare seemed to come.

During his convalescence, the school teacher felt that he had a talent for acting, so he let him perform as the leading actor in the school musical. Unexpectedly, this extraordinary promotion caused dissatisfaction among some people.

He has a dyslexia problem and cannot read scripts as fast as normal people. So when he took time out to read the script and rehearse alone in the small forest near his home, those who were dissatisfied with him came over.

He couldn't even hide, otherwise those people would just attack his injured leg, aggravating his injury and making him unable to play the leading role.

Therefore, he could only drag his injured leg here every day and accept the insults and beatings from this group of people that would not leave obvious marks.

"I love performing...I won't give up!" Tom said, biting his lip.

This made Su Yun extremely angry: these people clearly wanted to use mental abuse to force Tom to voluntarily resign from being the leading actor because it would be too conspicuous to directly attack Tom's injured leg.

Perhaps because he didn't expect Tom to be so stubborn, the ways he abused him became more and more numerous and more and more severe.

"Try to get through tomorrow's performance, and then go tell your parents, your teachers, or anything else. You can't keep getting bullied like this. I can only help you once, not forever." Before leaving, Su Yun thought for a long time, and finally had no choice but to say this.

She didn't know if Tom would listen to her, but unless she could get through this situation on her own or get help, it would never end.

Just like what she said, she has a kind heart but she is not a bodhisattva who saves people from suffering. She can only help for a while, not for a lifetime.

After helping the guide back to the hotel, Lin Jingying, who had learned some traumatic skills since she was a child, took a quick look at him. After confirming that it was just a minor sprain, she helped the guide fix it and said, "It's not a problem. You just need to rest for two days."

"But aren't you planning to go to the amusement park to find someone? What if we don't have a guide?" The guide uncle was a little worried: not only because he was worried about whether the guests knew the way, but also because he was worried that he would be fired because of this injury.

Su Yun saw what the guide meant. Thinking that the guide was a nice guy and that the amusement park was one of the landmark buildings nearby, she said, "That amusement park is more famous anyway. We can just take a taxi there. And I can speak English."

After finally allaying the guide's concerns, Su Yun took Lin Jingying, who was planning to take the opportunity to meet her senior brother, to the entrance of the amusement park by taxi.

As expected of the largest and most luxurious amusement park nearby, even if it is not a holiday, there are still many tourists and small vendors inside, and even quite a few people dressed in exotic styles.

Among these exotic customs, Su Yun could probably only recognize a young girl wearing a kimono, a middle-aged lady wearing a cheongsam, and a group of men and women wearing long clothes that might be from India or the Middle East... As for the other strange ones, she really couldn't recognize them.

"Your senior brother said that we're setting up a stall here, right?" Su Yun asked.

"Yes, but I didn't expect there would be so many stalls here..." Lin Jingying looked at the stalls everywhere and felt helpless. "I forgot to ask him what the stall was for."

"What does your senior brother look like?" Su Yun asked again.

"He received a grant to go abroad when he was very young. We haven't seen each other for a long time. I don't know what he looks like now. I probably can only recognize him if I see him..." Lin Jingying thought for a moment, "But he was the tallest one in our troupe, so he practiced the role of Lao Sheng and I practiced the role of Hua Dan."

Even a man as manly as Uncle Ying can only play the role of a female lead in front of this senior brother...

So Su Yun instantly imagined a burly man at least two meters tall.

"I'll go over to the other side of the bridge and take a look. You rest here for a while." Seeing that Su Yun's forehead was sweating from walking, Lin Jingying knew that a child's physical endurance could not match that of an adult like herself, so she left Su Yun on the stone seat at the end of the bridge.

Su Yun glanced at a small ice cream stand not far away, then looked at the scorching sun in the distance. Feeling lazy and sick at the same time, she decided to endure it.

Finally a cool breeze blew by, and Su Yun looked up.

However, it didn't feel cool for long before I was blinded by the sand mixed with the wind.

With no one around to help blow away the tears, Su Yun had no choice but to rub her eyes.

Amidst the mixture of light and darkness, when the light came back, I saw a strawberry ice cream that looked so cool and tempting right in front of me.

However, what is more stunning than the ice cream is the deep features and contours of the young man holding the ice cream, which were as if they were carved by a knife.

Although his facial features are handsome and have Chinese charm, they are completely contrary to the traditional Chinese impression of restrained and gentle beauty. However, in addition to his domineering and aggressive look, his slightly downward eyebrows and eyes give people a feeling of melancholy and coldness.

But at this moment he was smiling happily, as if all the sunshine in the world was integrated into the slightly raised corner of his lips. After his cold eyes became a little more tender, they became like the warm spring scenery after the snow and ice melted in the sky, which made people feel happy as well.

"Okay, stop crying." He said softly, and then passed the strawberry ice cream forward, "I'll give it to you. Eat something sweet and you'll feel better."

Looking at the familiar T-shirt, this person must be the owner of the ice cream stand opposite that she was too lazy to buy just now.

He probably thought she was a Chinese child who was bullied by other children. Out of a sense of fellow countrymanship, he came over with a sweet ice cream to comfort the "crying" little girl.

In order to avoid the goodwill being destroyed by reality after the kind-hearted young boss knew the truth...So Su Yun took the strawberry ice cream very naturally: It happened that she wanted to eat it too.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the kimono girl staring at her, so she raised her strawberry ice cream and smiled at her: "Want to buy one? It's delicious!"

Seeing the young boss take out a tissue and "lovingly" wipe the corners of Su Yun's mouth, whose lips were red from eating, the kimono girl turned her head with a smile.

So Su Yun took the tissue and looked back at the kind young boss's face.

Staring at this face that combines the beauty of the East and the West, I feel my appetite has improved a lot.

I don’t know if it’s the slightly sweet and sour taste of strawberries that is more appetizing, or if it’s really appetizing to eat with rice while looking at its beautiful appearance.

Sure enough, when you look at beautiful people or things, you will feel better.

Just like the chess competition in Itchy Mouse, the gamblers will have different views on the handsome chess boss and the ugly frog boss.

After all, in this world where everyone is obsessed with appearance, both lose, but the results are very different - the handsome boss feels relieved, while the ugly boss gets angrier the more he looks at her...

This kind and handsome boss deserves to make a lot of money!

When Su Yun was thinking about this, she suddenly heard Lin Jingying's voice: "Brother, you are here!"

Seeing Lin Jingying and the young boss walk together in surprise, and even holding hands and talking intimately, Su Yun almost threw away the strawberry ice cream in her hand.

Wait! Where is the burly, muscular senior brother who has the aura to overpower Uncle Ying, and who is at least two meters tall? !

Taking another look at the tall and slender figure of the young boss, Su Yun, who was holding the ice cream, let out a silent cry as if her soul was shaken.