The orderly queue of yellow taxis at the airport entrance reminded Hugo of the streets and alleys of New York.Hugo and Joseph easily got into a taxi and headed towards the Four Seasons Hotel on Michigan Avenue.After entering the city, Hugo looked out the window at the electronic billboards along the road, which displayed the time at the top and the temperature at the bottom.The temperature on the billboards changed almost every few blocks, and the time interval was only a few minutes, which surprised Hugo."Are we still in Chicago? At the airport entrance, it seemed like… only forty degrees Fahrenheit (five degrees Celsius), but I just saw that billboard showing sixty degrees Fahrenheit (fifteen degrees Celsius). Is this… two different areas?"Before Hugo could finish speaking, the latest temperature displayed on a roadside billboard changed to fifty degrees Fahrenheit, making the expression on Hugo's face one of extreme astonishment.It was as if he had arrived in another world, with the temperature fluctuating between winter, spring, and autumn.This was too abnormal!"You're not mistaken, welcome to Chicago," the taxi driver said with a smile."This is your first time in the Windy City, isn't it? Our weather here is unpredictable.It can be spring in the morning and winter in the afternoon, and even within an hour, the temperature can fluctuate greatly.When I drove out of the city to the airport earlier, the city temperature was sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit."Hugo found this truly amazing."Are you serious? Is it because of the strong winds from Lake Michigan?""I'm not a meteorologist," the taxi driver said, still smiling."But, I suppose so.Look, another gust of wind just came through, and the temperature is definitely going to drop."Hugo immediately looked out the window.An Illinois state flag hung on a building not far away, fluttering and snapping in the wind.Although separated by a glass window, he could still feel the strong wind outside.Pedestrians on the street skillfully lowered their heads, tucking their heads into their trench coats, and walked quickly against the wind.But the wind was so strong that it made their trench coats billow, creating quite a spectacular sight.The temperature displayed on the roadside billboard also seemed to drop rapidly with the raging wind, instantly falling to forty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, which left Hugo in awe.Suddenly, an urgent phone ring echoed in the car, and all three of them were a bit stunned, wondering what the sound was.The taxi driver even worried if there was something wrong with the car.Finally, Hugo was the first to react, "Phone!" Then he patted Joseph, "Cell phone!"Hugo hadn't used a cell phone for a year and was still not quite used to carrying a phone with him.Joseph was even more of a novice.He only then realized that he could now make calls anytime.He fumbled nervously for his phone.Hugo quickly reassured the taxi driver, "It's nothing, it's a cell phone, we both forgot."The taxi driver also couldn't help but laugh.Joseph finally found the cell phone, its urgent ringing continuously urging him.Joseph frowned, opened the flip, and then hesitated, not knowing what to do, so he could only look at Hugo helplessly.Hugo pointed to the keypad, "Green button."Joseph suddenly understood and pressed the green button before putting it to his ear."Good morning, this is Joseph Gibbs," Joseph said somewhat flustered, but no sound came from the other end.This made Joseph frown."Hello? Hello! Is anyone there?"Hugo immediately understood that it must be a signal problem.Current cell phone technology was not yet fully mature, and the number of signal towers was insufficient, so call quality was indeed a big issue.However, Hugo had not used a phone before, so he didn't know how good the quality was.From Joseph's annoyed expression now, it was clear that the quality was not satisfactory."Phew, finally… May I ask who is calling?" Joseph's brows immediately relaxed, as words finally came from the other end.Sitting next to him, Hugo could faintly hear some static, mixed with a man's voice, but he couldn't make it out at all.Apparently, Joseph was in the same situation.His brows furrowed again as he tried hard to hear what the other person was saying, and the conversation was intermittent."Oh, I see… What? Yes, I didn't know about this, maybe I didn't check the voicemail, that's a shame… Sorry, could you repeat that? No problem, no problem, we're already in a taxi, uh… taxi! Yes, we're fine.What? Okay, okay, thank you, thank you.See you later.Huh? I said, see you later!"After the phone call, Hugo, sitting next to him, felt beads of sweat on his forehead, let alone Joseph.Joseph leaned directly back against the seat, wiped the sweat from his forehead, carefully examined the cell phone, and sighed, "It's really hard to hear."He paused, "But it's convenient, even if it's a bit difficult." Joseph's face still showed a smile."What was it about?" Hugo, naturally not given to such exclamations, kept his attention on the content of the call."Oh, it was the show's assistant," Joseph then remembered."They sent someone to the airport to pick us up, but I didn't check my voicemail before I left, and my cell phone was in my luggage, and I missed the call, so I didn't know about it.We left directly, and they waited at the airport for a long time before calling me to confirm."Hugo nodded repeatedly, "Ah, I hadn't thought of that."The show crew actually sent someone to pick them up.This was the first time Hugo had experienced such treatment.The benefits brought by the success of the two movies over the past two months were truly one after another."Yes, I didn't think so either." Joseph was also a bit surprised.He could feel the importance the "Oprah Winfrey Show" crew placed on Hugo, which made him subtly excited, because this was an affirmation of Hugo."Maybe next time we'll get used to it," Hugo said with a chuckle, his lips curving upwards.After his exclamation, Hugo casually said, "It's still not convenient enough.Perhaps in the future, we can check voicemails directly on our phones, or communicate via email, that would be much more convenient.""What, what did you say?" Joseph, clearly having no idea about Hugo's advanced thoughts, looked over with a bewildered expression."Nothing, nothing at all." Hugo shook his head, his gaze involuntarily turning to the window, and quickly changed the subject, "Wow, look, the temperature has changed again.I feel like I'm in a sauna, watching the thermometer go up and down."Hugo's topic was picked up by the taxi driver, who had been silent for a while."In the worst cases, it's not impossible for the temperature to change every minute."The taxi driver was clearly accustomed to Chicago's climate."You know, the highest temperature here has reached one hundred degrees Fahrenheit (forty degrees Celsius), but the lowest temperature has also reached minus ninety degrees Fahrenheit (thirty-two degrees Celsius).""Wow, this is a magical city," Hugo's exclamation slipped out involuntarily.Hugo thought of Xinjiang, where the temperature was also like this: "Wear fur in the morning, gauze in the afternoon, eat watermelon by the stove."Joseph, sitting next to him, also shifted his attention and exclaimed repeatedly, but hearing Hugo's exaggerated words, he couldn't help but smile, "You should still worry about your own health."Chicago's changeable weather was not easy for "outsiders" like them to adapt to, so choosing appropriate clothing was very important.Coming from Los Angeles, the temperature there had remained around sixty degrees Fahrenheit for the past two days.Although there were temperature differences between morning and evening, they weren't exaggerated, with the hottest part of the day only reaching seventy degrees Fahrenheit.But now in Chicago, this fluctuating hot and cold weather was indeed a headache.Although they had only come specifically for the show's recording, the shorter the duration, the more intense the changes, and thus the more severe the challenge to the body's adaptability.However, this trip was also rather sudden.Hugo and Joseph received the invitation yesterday and came today, which was not a common occurrence.According to normal, formal procedures, invitations from "The Oprah Winfrey Show" would be sent out at least a month in advance, because for a recorded show, planning for the next month's broadcast schedule, arranging guests, setting topics, and determining recording times would be done a month ahead.This was an orderly process.But occasionally, special circumstances would arise, such as the Los Angeles riots triggered by the Rodney King verdict in April of this year.Oprah, as a prominent Black female figure, naturally produced a special program immediately.Such program recordings were outside the planned schedule.This time, Hugo was also a special case.In fact, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" had considered inviting Hugo to the show as early as early December, but the timing was not yet mature, and Hugo's schedule was already fully booked, so it kept getting delayed.After the Golden Globe nominations were announced this time, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" knew the time was right, so they immediately sent an invitation to Joseph, hoping to record the show as soon as possible and arrange for it to air before the Golden Globe Awards ceremony on January 24th, to tie into the hot topic and boost ratings.That's why Hugo and Joseph rushed to Chicago before the New Year to participate in the show's recording.After arriving at the hotel, Hugo stayed in his hotel room, while Joseph still had work.He didn't even unpack his luggage but went directly to the show crew to attend a production meeting.For in-depth talk shows like "The Oprah Winfrey Show," the recording time is relatively long, and the scope and depth of conversation differ from other talk shows.Therefore, Joseph had to briefly understand the show's flow and the topics that would be covered, to get a preliminary understanding of the program.Similarly, this was also to avoid discussing sensitive topics that could cause unpleasantness.This kind of behavior might not always be effective, but it was a necessary part of the pre-recording process.
