Facing the reporters' challenging questions, Hugo was clearly well-prepared. These questions had been repeatedly brought up during the initial promotions. Even though both parties had already clarified the situation to the media, reporters, who were adept at catching wind of rumors, certainly wouldn't let go of such a sensational opportunity. So, Hugo calmly looked towards Demi and Bruce, and said with a smile, "If you were expecting Demi to personally greet me at the entrance, then clearly Demi and I have a terrible relationship."Hugo's unexpected answer stunned the reporters, while Uma, standing nearby, burst out laughing. She hadn't anticipated Hugo would respond in such a way. She couldn't help but look at Hugo's profile, where the soft curve of his jawline was beautifully accentuated by the smile on his lips. She could clearly see the vibrant, captivating light in Hugo's amber eyes, more enchanting than the North Star. At that moment, Uma's heart skipped a beat."After I arrived on the red carpet, you didn't give me a chance to say hello to my colleagues. I hope tomorrow there won't be news of me being ostracized by the entire cast and crew." Hugo cleverly changed the subject, using humor to silence the reporters.The reporters wanted to say that Hugo and Demi had no interaction on the red carpet, but Hugo countered that it was because the reporters were relentlessly pursuing gossip, leaving him no time to interact with Demi, or rather, with any of the cast and crew. This clever rebuttal effectively shut down the reporters.Hugo's bright eyes remained fixed on Nicholas, who had asked the question. Initially, seeing Nicholas's optimistic outlook on the prospects of "A Few Good Men," Hugo had thought Nicholas had "turned over a new leaf." But it now seemed that wasn't the case at all; Nicholas was still doing everything he could to dig up news.At this moment, Nicholas was also looking at Hugo with keen interest, his gaze full of curiosity. He truly hadn't expected Hugo's answer, and Hugo continued to surprise him, which Nicholas found quite fascinating. So, Nicholas wasn't disheartened by the rebuttal; instead, he eagerly met Hugo's scrutinizing gaze.The two engaged in a silent war of eyes, but Hugo clearly didn't have enough time to continue sparring with Nicholas. He calmly withdrew his gaze, then strode towards Demi with Uma. He hugged Demi and Bruce separately, dispelling the reporters' suspicions with his actions. Although Demi genuinely didn't have much affection for Hugo behind the scenes, and Bruce even less so, they still had to maintain appearances for the media. So, both parties cooperated fully, leaving the reporters speechless.Though the reporters were still somewhat unwilling, they knew that today's harvest was largely complete, and it was already quite rich. As for further digging, that could wait until after the film's release; the cast and crew were certainly going to do extensive promotions, so there was no need to worry about lacking opportunities.The red carpet interviews were over, and the main cast and crew had entered the theater, awaiting the curtain call of "A Few Good Men."Hugo and Uma were chatting with Kevin Bacon when Joseph suddenly appeared, politely saying, "Excuse me, may I borrow Hugo for a moment?""Looks like I have work again," Hugo said with a chuckle, bidding farewell to Uma and Kevin, and walking aside with Joseph. "Where did you go just now? I couldn't find you after the red carpet." As Hugo's agent, Joseph always walked the red carpet with him, but he would step out of the photo range when the media took pictures, and then follow closely after the photos were done."I ran into some unexpected things." Joseph looked around, and after making sure no one was nearby, he lowered his voice and said, "I saw Sydney Pollack." Isn't that the director of "The Firm"? "I originally thought he was just here to watch 'A Few Good Men,' since it wouldn't be strange for him to personally assess your abilities. But then I saw Ron Meyer.""What?" Hugo's brows furrowed. As an agent, Ron didn't have any artists under his wing in the "A Few Good Men" cast. Why would he be at today's premiere?Joseph nodded. "I think Ron is here for Sydney today." No wonder Joseph was so cautious. Sydney was preparing "The Firm," and a group of actors, including Brad Pitt, were already eyeing it. Now Ron was also getting involved, like a jackal eyeing its prey."Don't overthink it. Maybe he's not after me; maybe it's just because 'The Firm' is a good script?" Hugo didn't want to flatter himself. The Hollywood circle was only so big, and it was only the early nineties; there weren't as many film projects starting at any given time as one might imagine, so the chances of running into each other were relatively high. Just like Hugo and Brad, they would run into each other three times in a year.Joseph frowned. "I originally thought the same thing, to not overcomplicate it. But then I saw someone else, someone you absolutely wouldn't expect."Hugo stared blankly at Joseph. There were too many people he wouldn't expect. He still hadn't fully pieced together many people from his past memories, and there were certainly more than one or two people and events he didn't know about. So Hugo wisely kept his mouth shut and didn't respond.Joseph didn't expect Hugo to answer, and directly said, "Allerge." This was indeed an unexpected answer. "I saw Allerge bothering Ron, and Ron finally managed to calm him down after a lot of effort."Suddenly, all the clues connected. Allerge had deliberately targeted Hugo on the set of "A Few Good Men," and later, when punished, he had said things that were easily misunderstood; not long ago, after Tracy and Ron met, Tracy had said suggestive words to Hugo. It turned out that Tracy's hint was about this: Allerge would come to the premiere to cause trouble.Allerge's appearance was likely to settle scores with Ron, because Joseph had heard that Allerge hadn't found work since leaving the "A Few Good Men" set. So Allerge wanted to confront Ron, the mastermind, for justice, and perhaps even threaten Ron that if Ron didn't arrange work for him, he would expose Ron at the premiere.But why would Tracy know about this? Did Ron tell her? And how did this relate to the Universal Studios project they were planning? Also, why would Tracy tell Hugo if she knew? Was it just to make Hugo confront Ron, or was it a reminder out of old affection, or did she have ulterior motives?"But..." Hugo wanted to ask why Ron would do such a thing? And why would Tracy hint at him? But before Hugo could speak, Joseph gestured for him to stop with his eyes. Hugo followed Joseph's gaze and looked back, then saw Bruce Willis walking over with his wife, Demi.This was another problem.Actually, Hugo quite liked Bruce. He liked Bruce's "Die Hard" series, but mostly he admired Bruce's attitude towards life. Although Bruce was a real bad boy in his youth, as he grew older, he also developed a rare tolerance and magnanimity. Later, Bruce and Demi chose to divorce in 1998, but even after their divorce, they remained very good friends, not only often going out together but also cheering each other on. This kind of gift from time is not something everyone can have.However, it seemed that in this lifetime, Hugo and Bruce's awkward relationship had already been established before they even met.Compared to Demi's reluctant eye-roll, Bruce's smile seemed much more genuine. One could feel that Demi was more concerned about the "Hudson Hawk" role being snatched away than Bruce himself.Bruce gripped Hugo's hand and squeezed it hard. The action star's strength immediately transferred through his palm. Although Hugo wasn't as strong as Bruce, he wasn't a pushover either. With a smile on his face, he pushed back, not gaining the upper hand but also not being completely suppressed. This surprised Bruce.The two exchanged a brief glance, then simultaneously loosened their grip. Bruce's smile towards Hugo became more genuine. "Buddy, I heard you did an excellent job this time. Congratulations, the negative impact of 'Hudson Hawk' has finally dissipated, and I no longer have to feel sorry, after all, that script was adapted from my original novel."This was a fact Hugo hadn't known: the original novel of "Hudson Hawk" was actually Bruce's work. That made the relationship even more complicated; it could be said that Hugo had snatched a role Bruce was determined to get. But then the work suffered a huge failure, making the relationship between the two delicate.A jumble of thoughts flashed through Hugo's mind, then he smiled and said, "Every project is a new beginning, isn't it?" This sentence contained a lot: comfort for Bruce, a desire to move past the "Hudson Hawk" incident, and an expression of gratitude for Bruce coming to congratulate him.Bruce clearly agreed wholeheartedly with this statement, nodding and chuckling as he said, "You don't have to keep dwelling on the Tracy thing either. Although she was wrong at first, you got your revenge, didn't you? Looking forward is the most important thing. Every day is a new beginning, and it's the same principle as with projects."Bruce was clearly still a bit thoughtless, openly discussing these secrets in such a public setting, which surprised Demi and Joseph nearby. But for Hugo, the impact was undoubtedly huge: Tracy had first done something wrong to his previous self, and then his previous self had retaliated, which led to their complete breakup.So, a hint of the past emerged. Tracy, on one hand, was cold and even angry towards Hugo, repeatedly hindering his career; but on the other hand, Tracy seemed to have some internal conflict. This was evident both in her complex gaze when they met at the "A River Runs Through It" audition and in her initiativehinting last time that Ron was involved with Allerge.But what exactly did Tracy do wrong? How did his previous self retaliate? And what was the situation when the two completely broke up? Hugo was still completely in the dark.Suddenly, Hugo speculated, could it be that his indifferent, calm, and even silent attitude after transmigrating had angered Tracy, making her believe that he had completely cut ties, and thus slowly pushing Tracy completely to the opposing side?If that were really the case, Hugo would truly be at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
