Chapter 1043: Chapter 1043: Are you taking advantage of my kindness?
After Mary Scott and her team returned to the crew, they discovered that the atmosphere between Bertha Swift and Adam Piers had become much more harmonious.
She was filled with great doubt, but because once Bertha Swift got into character, she seemed to enter a closed-off world. Even though she was aware of everything around her, her reactions were extremely slow, so Mary found it hard to ask more questions.
Zoe Thatcher, who originally planned to struggle a bit more to see if there was a possibility for Adam Piers to like her, almost choked with anger upon returning and finding this situation, and had to temporarily shelve her plans.
The subsequent filming went much smoother.
On May 1st, “The Geisha” was successfully released, achieving an impressive box office of 300 million on its premiere. At the same time, the reputation also exploded, followed by skyrocketing box office figures, soaring straight to 5 billion.
Though David Locke’s previous wave of negative news was somewhat successfully cleared up, people’s impression of him had worsened, and his popularity among the public decreased significantly.
But once the movie blew up, everything changed.
This is an era where works speak for themselves; as long as the work is good enough, people can paint a thick filter on you.
David Locke’s popularity rose again.
Meanwhile, those benefiting, apart from the lead actors of “The Geisha,” also included Mary Scott.
Although her screen time in the movie wasn’t much, her beauty at the moment she appeared stunned everyone.
People’s past impression of Mary Scott was always that her freshness was abundant while glamour was insufficient, too much like the girl next door, but the character she played in the movie was completely different from the impression she usually gave to the public, being gorgeous, charming, and imbued with tragic color.
Although her total appearance time in this movie was less than fifteen minutes, she easily broke out with the success of the film.
For an actor, regardless of their fame, breaking out through a character is extremely difficult. This role successfully propelled Mary Scott to another level and gained market and audience recognition.
This was something that stirring up hype and making rumors could never bring her.
Mary Scott was particularly happy and devoted herself even more to filming “The Doctors.”
The entire crew, because of the roaring success of “The Geisha,” was even more filled with confidence in David Locke, and the anticipation for “The Doctors” was raised to the highest level.
But just as everyone was rejoicing, a well-known entertainment Twitter celebrity suddenly revealed that the female lead of “The Doctors” was a socialite with no acting experience.
When filming just started, someone had quietly exposed the female lead of “The Doctors,” but because it was just small accounts making critical comments, it disappeared shortly after. Also, at that time, David Locke was shrouded in scandals, with few optimistic about his work, so who the female lead was, even less people cared.
But now it’s different; becoming David Locke’s leading lady means being catapulted to fame, potentially becoming famous overnight, which is something many dream about but can’t attain.
So, as soon as this revelation came out, it hit the trending search in less than half an hour, and soon Bertha Swift was dug out.
Everyone was confused, who is Bertha Swift?
Google couldn’t search anything about her, no acting resume, not even from a professional background, yet this nobody was acting alongside a popular star, with Mary Scott, who is currently extremely popular, as a supporting actress. Not to mention the old troupers, even the least famous Zoe had acted in several low-budget web films, and with the addition of “Wilderness,” her popularity wasn’t low.
But who the hell is Bertha Swift? How could she get so many people to support her?
After all the commotion, Bertha Swift was easily pushed to the hot search. She didn’t have a management company, not even an assistant due to poverty; it was Adam Piers who first noticed, but it was too late to stop it.
Outside the crew, various reporters began to swarm in, wanting to capture Bertha Swift and find out who she really was.
But because this was David Locke’s crew, he consistently maintained tight security during filming, so reporters couldn’t capture any useful information despite blocking the place for a long time.
They thought this matter would quiet down after a while when the heat passed. Yet, at this moment, someone exposed a set of photos of Bertha Swift dancing at a bar.
Next, more people stepped forward to expose that Bertha Swift had worked as a hostess in nightclubs and had even been on stage.
As soon as this news broke, the internet went into an uproar.
The huge success of “The Geisha” made netizens extremely attentive to the female lead of David Locke’s new work; who would have thought she was a nightclub hostess?
What’s going on?
Especially when the female lead of “The Doctors” carries a character of a cold and talented beauty, and yet they let a nightclub hostess play her?
And they even hired a large batch of big shots to lift her up?
Netizens couldn’t understand David Locke’s perplexing moves and always believed he was hijacked by capital, especially since everyone knew that “The Doctors” had its investment withdrawn not long ago. Having such a female lead now, who wouldn’t suspect something?
Moreover, due to this surge of popularity being too high, even though Adam Piers tried to suppress the trending search a few times, he failed, instead provoking the netizens’ rebellious mindset, resulting in even more severe scolding. The higher the anticipation for David Locke’s new work, the deeper the dislike for his current female lead.
Adam Piers saw this situation, and his face looked particularly bad. The only relief was that Bertha Swift was entirely absorbed in her role and completely unconcerned with external voices, so she didn’t know about any of it even after a day had passed.
But she was unaware, and Adam couldn’t let things continue developing. After finishing filming for the night and sending Bertha Swift back to her room, he rushed directly to David Locke’s room.
“What are your plans to handle this?” Adam Piers came directly to the point as soon as he arrived.
David Locke was also irritated. He didn’t expect Bertha Swift had such a dark past, and it gave him quite a headache. Hearing Adam’s question, he slightly frowned, “First, tell me clearly, are those photos real?”
Adam Piers was stuck and didn’t say anything.
David Locke immediately exploded, “So the photos are real? You, Piers, really want to kill me!”
“How is it that I’m killing you, you’re the one who signed her initially. Besides, she just went dancing; she never did any escorting.” Adam Piers was displeased with what David said.
David Locke took a deep breath, “Are you willing to vouch for that?”
“Why wouldn’t I be willing to vouch for it? Plus, I know who’s behind this.” Adam Piers said darkly.
“So it’s trouble you brought again? Then you tell me how to resolve it?” David Locke thought “The Geisha’s” success could make “The Doctors” a hit before airing, but it turned into such a big problem instead.
“Shouldn’t the crew have footage of her original audition? You could let the official Twitter do a clarification. As for the photos, I’ll have Bertha Swift post a letter from a lawyer on Twitter and directly sue those who defame her,” Adam Piers paused, “Moreover, revealing her identity could help reduce public suspicion.”
“Didn’t you figure it all out already?” David Locke cast a cold glance at Adam Piers.
Adam Piers’ brows didn’t relax, “I’m worried she’ll see or hear about it. Although she’s currently engrossed in her role and not paying attention to the external situation, she can’t stay like that forever; who knows when she’ll snap out of it? If things remain unresolved by then and she sees these dirty rags, how will she take it? She’s just entered the industry and hasn’t experienced cyber violence; how could she handle it? You should come up with a way to ensure no one in the crew mentions it in front of her.”
In essence, Adam Piers wasn’t there to find David Locke for PR crisis solutions but to request his help in protecting Bertha Swift within the crew.
David Locke looked at Adam Piers and finally understood what it meant to be well-intentioned, reluctantly agreeing in light of Piers being the big investor.
Adam Piers breathed a sigh of relief as he left David Locke’s room, but he was still worried about Bertha Swift. Although he had taken advantage of Bertha’s inattention to shut down her internet after the incident, what if?
To make sure Bertha Swift was okay, Adam Piers returned to his room door, hesitated for a moment, and then went to knock on Bertha Swift’s door.
After waiting for a few minutes, Bertha Swift still hadn’t opened the door. Adam Piers, looking solemn, dialed Bertha Swift’s number, only to find it was currently engaged.
Adam Piers’ face grew increasingly grim as he dialed Maria White’s number, which quickly connected, and she asked what was the matter.
“Bertha didn’t call you?” Adam Piers asked in a low voice.
“No, didn’t you say I shouldn’t contact Bertha recently? I’m too scared.” Thinking of Adam Piers’ warning, Maria White shivered as she finished, feeling like Bertha Swift had found herself a terrifying man, and her previous affection for Adam Piers had long dissipated.
Adam Piers directly hung up and dialed Bertha Swift’s number again, but it was still engaged.
During this time, Adam Piers knew Bertha Swift had changed her number after leaving the Swift family, and Maria White was the only one she could contact. So, who was calling her at this time?
An inexplicable uneasiness prompted Adam Piers to keep knocking on the door, which even disturbed Zoe Thatcher opposite.
Zoe Thatcher came out to find Adam Piers anxious, pursing her lips and muttering, “Adam Piers, can’t you have a little masculinity? She hates you so much, and you’re still clinging to her!”
Adam Piers heard Zoe Thatcher’s words, “You think you’re so high and mighty, huh?”
Zoe Thatcher stiffened at his words, recalled Adam Piers ignoring her recently yet being considerate to Bertha Swift, and upon hearing this from him, her previous romantic notions towards Adam Piers diminished greatly. However, she was still somewhat indignant, “I’m just speaking the truth.”
Adam Piers, “…”
“Go downstairs and ask the stage manager for a spare room key, quickly.” Adam Piers felt stabbed and coldly glanced at Zoe Thatcher, instructing her.
Zoe Thatcher’s expression dropped, “Master Adam, don’t go too far. Although I like you, it doesn’t mean I can help you into Bertha Swift’s room, you know? Besides, it’s not appropriate to do this either.”
Thinking about how she had inadvertently seen Adam Piers corner Bertha Swift into the women’s changing room to kiss her, Zoe Thatcher felt utterly disillusioned.
How could she like someone as shameless as this?
“What kind of nonsense is in your head, don’t you hear me knocking with no response?” Adam Piers swore softly.
“But…”
“No more nonsense, go quickly.” Adam Piers cut Zoe Thatcher off.
Zoe Thatcher, seeing Adam Piers’ anxious expression, finally realized something was wrong, and despite whether Adam Piers was scolding her, she hurried to find the stage manager.
Soon after, Zoe Thatcher returned with the stage manager, and Adam Piers snatched the room key, beeped, and opened Bertha Swift’s room, only to see Bertha Swift holding a phone dazedly against her ear. The phone wasn’t on speaker, but Adam Piers could still hear the other person’s words clearly, due to their loud voice.
“Bertha Swift, you bitch, I’ve spent millions raising you. You turned around to become a prostitute, you shameless brat! The Swift family still wants to save face, you refuse the arranged marriage, secretly aborted Master Adam’s child, and reject my other plans! You think you’re capable? Turns out you’re just a cheap bones! Now the whole damn country knows you’re dirty, how can you help the Swift family with an alliance? How did the Swift family raise such a bitch like you…”
Milne Swift’s ranting curses continued, each word harder to listen to than the last. Adam Piers turned and blocked the others outside, then strode forward and snatched the phone from Bertha Swift’s hand, hanging up directly.
Only then did Bertha Swift slowly raise her head to glance at him, then turned and walked towards the bathroom.
Adam Piers grabbed Bertha Swift, “Bertha…”
“Let me be alone for a while.” Bertha Swift’s voice was soft, her gaze falling on Adam Piers’ hand on hers as she spoke.
The woman’s appearance was too delicate, unlike her usual aggressive demeanor towards him, Adam Piers’ heart wrenched, he called Bertha softly again, finally letting go unwillingly.
Bertha Swift entered the bathroom in one smooth motion.
Soon, the sound of water came from the bathroom, Adam Piers’ brow furrowed deeply, and this is when Zoe Thatcher, waiting outside, uneasily knocked on the door a few times.
Adam Piers opened the door, “It’s fine now, you guys go back to work.”
Zoe Thatcher saw no intention of Adam Piers leaving Bertha Swift’s room, “You… you…”
“If you stutter, go see a doctor.” Adam Piers replied, with his gaze falling on the stage manager.
The stage manager, a young girl, caught Adam Piers’ warning look, remembered the crew’s occasional gossip, wondering if Adam Piers and Bertha Swift were really a couple?
Oh my, she seemed to have stumbled upon some great secret!
But as a righteous young stage manager, the girl still struggled to speak, “Master Piers, you haven’t returned Miss Swift’s spare room key.”
Adam Piers lowered his gaze to the card in his hand, reached out to hand it over, “Tonight’s incident must not be disclosed to anyone, or I’ll break both your legs.”
Both of them shuddered simultaneously, especially Zoe Thatcher, with some resentment in her eyes. Yet meeting Adam Piers’ warning gaze, she recalled Stella Murray’s private advice during the last variety show filming, sighed softly, “Understood.”
Even though she genuinely liked Adam Piers, thinking of the consequences of offending him, coupled with seeing Bertha Swift’s performance and Adam Piers’ support for her recently, she suddenly felt quite pointless.
Rather than behaving inappropriately for Adam Piers, her career was more important.
Fine, let them indulge in their own tortured romance!
Thinking about the trouble she had with Adam Piers, and Adam Piers having trouble with Bertha Swift, Zoe Thatcher felt somewhat balanced in her heart.
After the two left, Adam Piers returned to Bertha Swift’s room, but after waiting a long time, the person in the bathroom hadn’t come out.
Recalling the time Bertha Swift fell asleep in the hospital’s bathroom, Adam Piers couldn’t help knocking on the door, but there was no response from within, which made Adam Piers’ heart hang high, prompting him to knock again.
Unexpectedly, this time the knocking was too forceful, directly pushing open the unlocked bathroom door, exposing the woman’s graceful figure in the mist, making him freeze, quickly turning his head, only to hear the water stop abruptly. He explained with his back to Bertha Swift inside, “I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Bertha Swift wrapped a towel around herself, walked past Adam Piers, her pale face had a faint blush due to the bathroom steam.
Adam Piers’ gaze involuntarily followed the movement of the woman’s form, finally swallowing hard in a place Bertha Swift couldn’t see, and softly asked, “Are you okay?”
Bertha Swift turned back, “How could I be okay?”
She was entirely out of character now, but the coldness in her eyes revealed her very bad mood.
Adam Piers, however, was being questioned, forgetting his words, this wasn’t what he expected!