America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

In the morning, just after Elena had prepared breakfast, Martin walked through the Carter family's front door on time, his hair freshly washed.

Lily was about to speak when Martin's fist was already raised.

Elena asked, "Did you go for a workout?"

Martin pulled out a chair and sat down, "Staying consistent isn't easy, can't break the routine."

Lily suddenly asked, "Martin, are you really strong?"

Elena, a bit slow on the uptake, said, "How would I know?"

With a screech, Martin's fork pierced the most protruding point of the round bread roll.

Lily's spoon clattered to the floor, she hastily picked it back up, continuing to eat as if nothing had happened.

Martin asked Harris, "How many did you sell?"

Harris, eyes alight with excitement, said, "Six! Made 1200 US dollars."

"Even Lily the idiot managed to sell four," Elena said incredulously, "Is this business that easy?"

Martin said, "You can't count it that way, the first batch of customers were all carefully selected."

Taking over the conversation, Harris detailed, "Out of the six people I had targeted, five purchased, the other was a passerby."

Martin guessed that the passerby must have been Andrew.

Harris went to his room to get a bag, intending to give Martin half of the money.

Martin waved his hand dismissively, "Consider it my meal fee."

Elena never stood on ceremony with Martin and took the money directly.

At that moment, someone pushed the door open from the outside, Scott entered, limping with a cloth bag in hand.

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All four siblings were staring at him.

Scott, reeking of alcohol, grabbed a sandwich and started eating it voraciously.

"What are you here for?" Elena asked with an edge to her voice.

After finishing the sandwich, Scott wiped the sauce off on his T-shirt, tossed the cloth bag onto the couch, and looked at Elena and Harris in succession, saying, "This is all I have."

Martin had an idea of what was in the bag and looked at Scott curiously.

Elena opened the bag, which contained six small bundles of twenty-dollar bills.

Harris asked, "Scott, this money…"

Scott didn't say a word and turned to leave, but after a few steps, he suddenly turned back around, quickly walked to the bag, grabbed a bundle, and stuffed it into his pocket, "I still need to buy booze to get by."

He hesitated, then picked up another bundle and put it in his pocket too.

As soon as he laid hands on the money, Scott's eyes saw nothing but the dollar bills, reaching out once more to grab the bag.

Elena snatched the bag and hid it behind her back.

"All idiots, a bunch of good-for-nothings!" Scott hobbled away.

Lily ran out after him to the doorstep, only to see Scott, without turning back, heading towards the hangout of the new dealers.

She returned with her head drooping.

Elena handed the bag to Harris, "Don't waste it frivolously."

Martin added, "Scott didn't earn this money easily."

"He isn't becoming a dealer, is he?" Elena worried.

Martin vaguely said, "No, he's not."

Elena stealthily reached out and grasped Martin's hand, "The bastard Jack is gone, maybe it's for the best. As for Scott…"

She didn't know how to continue, her voice lowered, "Scott... just goes off the rails sometimes."

After breakfast, Elena gave the car keys to Harris, and he, along with Lily, continued to go out peddling stars, determined to sell off the entire universe.

Martin took Elena shopping for clothes at the mall.

"I can't believe people actually buy the naming rights to stars." Elena found it surreal.

Martin casually said, "Even plots of land on the moon can be sold."

After accompanying Elena to finish buying clothes and having lunch together, Martin dropped her off at Clearwater Bar for her shift and drove to the Savannah College of Art and Design's Atlanta campus, where he sat in on language classes at the School of Performance Arts.

In the following period, Martin's life was very regular, spending his days mostly learning.

Occasionally, he would meet up with Bruce to continue their shooting practice.

It wasn't just for his future career, but also for security reasons.

Additionally, Martin had Kelly Gray help him collect information to study the workings of Hollywood films.

These were areas where Martin lacked experience.

By September, Harris had started college, and Elena began to make a name for herself in the bartending industry, with just her tips sufficient to support her family.

Facing competitors trying to poach her, the boss Mary had no choice but to raise her hourly wage to 10 US dollars.

Martin also got busy, spending most of his time at Gray Company, voicing for the initial cut of "Zombie Stripper."

Having the largest part in the film, his voice work was naturally the most extensive.

Benjamin, the director, wore many hats - aside from editing, he was also the voice director.

"Ah! Huh... Ha!"

The male voice that emerged from the voice-over studio was very weird, as if engaged in some unspeakable act: "Come on!"

At the end of a voice-over session, director Benjamin gave a thumbs up to the recording booth.

Martin took off his headset and came out, grabbing a towel from his assistant to wipe the sweat from his hands: "Ben, the films you've directed have given me a wealth of experience."

Benjamin said, "Don't be modest, you're a natural."

Martin shot back, "You're the one who should be heading to Sacred Valley, they need you to come to the rescue! The plots in Sacred Valley are becoming increasingly diluted, with no fun left in them."

He went over to Benjamin: "With your talent, you're definitely going to make your mark and win Best Director."

Benjamin said, "I haven't found a wife yet."

Martin was surprised, "What's that got to do with finding a wife or not?"

"Don't you know?" Benjamin looked at Martin, who didn't seem to be pretending, and said, "To win Best Director, either your wife plays the leading lady, or your husband plays the leading man."

Martin was taken aback, "That's tougher than the Oscars!"

After a few moments of levity to relax, Martin went back into the recording booth.

Benjamin's script was perfectly in tune with the B-movie atmosphere.

Martin got into character, gesturing in the recording booth at the screen: "Surrender to me, or I'll blow your head off!"

When it came to the flying battle scene, Martin watched as he and Jenna fought in the air, a matter of life and death.

Having plenty of real combat experience, he always managed to let out the most fitting screams at just the right moments.

When the voice-over for this part was done, it was time for lunch.

Andrew ran over, inviting Martin and Benjamin to a nearby restaurant for a meal.

As they ate, they discussed the afternoon's voice work.

Benjamin brought up a point: "Martin, for a leading man, it's very necessary to deepen your interactions with women. Take our film for instance, an actor with plenty of real-life experience makes shooting go smoothly."

Martin agreed completely.

The three of them discussed the serious art of filmmaking, without any thoughts of straying off-topic.

Benjamin continued, "If these scenes were performed by inexperienced actors, even if I wrote all the lines perfectly, would they know which tone to use?"

He complimented Martin, "You're exactly that experienced player."

Martin nearly sprayed the soup from his mouth and quickly changed the subject, "Ben, can we finish the post-production by mid-October?"

Benjamin replied, "No problem, everyone knows how efficient I am. We'll definitely finish everything before the Savannah Film Festival."