The four seasons on the Mediterranean coast are not distinct, but they are different.

In the manor house south of Rome, after a nap in the spring sun, Simon is accompanying Sophia to do yoga for pregnant women on the blanket-covered open lawn.

It's Friday, April 28th.

Having spent the night in Rivni last night, Simon arrived in Rome this morning.

Five months pregnant, as an older pregnant woman, Sophia has basically stopped working, for the two little ones in the womb, she cares too much more than Simon, the last time she went to Los Angeles during the Oscars, and returned again, she has been staying in this manor in the south of Rome, eating and sleeping very regularly every day, reading books, prenatal education, yoga, regular pregnancy tests, raising a beautiful cow cat, and recently I also liked flower arrangement, and the days are warm and fulfilling.

This is actually the most leisurely and carefree time for a woman to grow up.

"Yes, that's it, Mr. Westeros, be slow, pregnant women are prone to cramps, oh, you are so gentle. ”

on the lawn.

Wearing a pale pink tight-fitting sportssuit, the yoga instructor instructed Simon to help Sophia perform a set of leg lifts, and the delicate and delicate body kneeling beside Simon came over intentionally or unintentionally, with a light fragrance, and the slightly cool fingertips were pressed on Simon's arm holding Sophia's calf from time to time, which was full of teasing.

After completing this set of movements, noticing that Sophia's forehead was already oozing fine sweat, Simon stopped continuing, and instructed the yoga instructor next to him: "That's it for today, you go back first, Sophie and I will bask in the sun for a while." ”

Simon drove people away, but the girl named Evelyn behaved impeccably, stood up respectfully, and said, "I'll go and bring a glass of water for Mr. and Madame." ”

When the girl walked away, Sophia sat up with a teasing smile on the corner of her mouth: "I thought you wouldn't be able to stand it, and I plan to make up for a nap after yoga." ”

Simon helped Sophia move and sit down next to him, feeling the warm spring sunshine together, and said with a smile: "I'm not interested in women lately. ”

"Ah......" Sophia was puzzled, and then suddenly, the smile became stronger: "That's enough, do you want to return to the family, it seems that I will be dumped by you soon, isn't it?"

"Of course not, the current state is the life I have dreamed of for two lifetimes. It's just, you know, that the human mind is fickle. ”

Sophia thought about it sideways, and quickly nodded: "Mmmm, I understand." ”

"Understand what?"

"It's like us women," Sophia laughed, "and there are a few days every month." ”

Simon feigned anger and raised his right hand holding the woman's other shoulder, bent his fingers and gently flicked on her earlobe, laughed a few words, and asked the woman to lie down, lying on her bulging belly and listening to the movements of the two little ones, as if they were a little tired from practicing yoga with their mother, and the little ones did not respond at all without giving face, probably asleep.

Evelyn brought water, it was impossible to bask in the sun for too long, and the two continued to stay in the warm sun for more than ten minutes, and then got up and returned to the villa.

Arriving in a living room on the first floor, Sophia instructed a maid, and soon a cow cat, who was only more than three months old, was brought in and put on her lap the little guy who meowed and obviously didn't like to be carried, and explained: "This is Luna, Gemma gave me when she came to Rome last week, saying that she could accompany me on her behalf." ”

As he said this, there was obviously some resentment in his tone.

Simon picked up a document that Girl A had placed on the coffee table and flipped through it, "That's good, but why is it called Luna, it's too big." ”

Luna, the ancient Roman god of the moon.

Sophia didn't care, and gently pressed the little guy who was about to run away: "Gemma gave it up, I think it's a good name." Or, if you gave me a cat, what would it be called?"

Simon thought for a moment and said, "Cat, it should be called Meowmeow." ”

Sophia gave Simon a blank look: "That's how a child is named, if it's a dog, is it going to be called Wangwang?"

Simon nodded, "Of course." ”

Feeling that the little guy really didn't want to stay by his side, Sophia finally let it go, and looked at the little thing and ran out of the room, only then did she look curiously at the documents that Simon was flipping through, and knew that what could be put in the living room by Girl A for Simon to read at leisure was not important information, so she asked, "What is this?"

Simon handed it over.

Sophia took it, flipped through it roughly, and suddenly laughed again: "You bought a large piece of land in Africa, well, 150,000 acres?"

"Any questions?"

Sophia glanced at Simon like a fool, and her gaze fell back to the information in front of her: "Coffee plantations, tsk, are you sure that coffee can be grown in Africa now? Or, Angola, that place seems to have been in a civil war for decades." ”

"In the seventies, Angola was one of the most important coffee producers in the world, exporting more than 200,000 tonnes of coffee beans a year. ”

"In the early seventies, it was still the colonial era," Sophia said, and then asked, "and now?"

Simon did not hide it, saying: "In the past year, this figure was about 500 tons. ”

“......”

From the world's major coffee producers, who export 200,000 tonnes of beans a year, to 500 tonnes in 1994, this is a bit of a gap.

The reason is actually quite simple.

Before Angola declared independence in 1975, the country had been a Portuguese colony, and the country's agricultural production was dominated by whites. Gone it alone, large numbers of whites withdrew, large swathes of coffee plantations in Angola were taken over by inefficient blacks, and a two-decade civil war ensued, with the national economy completely collapsed and the once-thriving coffee-growing system in decline.

However, it is for this reason that Simon was able to get 150,000 acres of land under a contract worth only $10 million.

You know, this is really more than 600 square kilometres of land, and what was once the best coffee growing area is not the kind of virgin forest in Tasmania that is basically undeveloped and Simon does not intend to develop. Moreover, the real cost of the Westeros system of $10 million in weapons orders and consultant team contracts is actually less than half, only $10 million on the books.

Although the coffee-growing area is almost deserted at the moment, according to the production of coffee plantations in Angola in the 70s, this land can produce about 30,000 tons of coffee beans per year.

Over the next few years, the region will be able to harvest 10,000 tonnes of beans a year, even if only a third of its peak yields have recovered.

The recent global price of coffee beans is around $1,100 per tonne.

10,000 tons of coffee beans are produced every year, which is $11 million according to the market price. Obviously, in an ideal world, Simon would have basically recouped the investment he had made to acquire the land in just one year.

Of course, just ideally.

What is the situation in Africa, because of many memories of the past, Simon is even clearer.

To put it bluntly, the mud doesn't make it up to the wall.

Coffee cultivation is very dependent on labor, because coffee beans are matured in batches, which are difficult to pick by machine, and the labor cost of coffee production around the world basically accounts for more than half of the input.

Simon didn't expect the plantation to resume production with the support of a local black labor force in Angola, even bean picking, a job that is not too difficult for monkeys. Simon's plan is to hire a group of Ukrainian or Chinese overseas workers, as well as a small number of motivated local residents, mainly white people left over from the immigration era.

What's more, Simon's fundamental purpose in taking this land is not to make money.

Therefore, it is enough not to be abandoned forever.

Sophia listened to Simon's general explanation, and realized that her doubts just now were completely unnecessary, and the man obviously had his own perfect ideas, and maybe some deep layouts that she didn't know. However, Sophia quickly added: "With the long-term turmoil in Africa, Angola exports only 500 tons of coffee a year, and you make a coffee plantation with an annual output of 10,000 tons, tens of millions of dollars a year, which is more than the income of many diamond mines, are you sure that it will not be snatched away by those warlords when the time comes?"

"There is already a team sponsoring the children of some high-level government officials in Angola to study in the United States. ”

Sophia was puzzled: "Huh?"

Simon explains: "This is just the first step. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, because there was less great power competition, African countries basically stabilized. As long as we take power, there will be no more accidents for a long time to come. My plan is to sponsor these people in power to integrate with the United States, invite their children to study in the United States, invite their relatives to immigrate and settle in the United States, and invite them to make financial investments in the United States after accumulating a certain amount of wealth, so as to gradually realize the binding of interests. Imagine, take Angola as an example, if the vested interests of this country, their wives and children, and their houses are all in the United States, will these people still dare to turn against me?"

Sophia was stunned, and then gave Simon a blank look: "I thought you would directly overthrow their government like you did in Rwanda." ”

"This is the best way," Simon shook his head and said in Chinese, "It is a hundred battles to win, and the good is not good." The soldiers who surrender without a fight, and the good ones are also good. Therefore, the army is attacked, the second is the enemy, the second is the army, and the next is to attack the city. The method of siege is a last resort. ”

Sophia naturally didn't understand, but she listened very carefully, and finally asked, "What is this?"

Simon said: "The Art of War." ”

"I know, I read a book full of wisdom in college. Which paragraph is this?"

Simon explained a little bit.

Sophia understood, stroked her bulging belly, and said, "Read it to the babies again, they must like it." ”

Simon said, "Are you sure you want to teach your kids this now?"

"Of course, they're two Westeros, and they've got to be different. ”

Simon didn't refuse, he simply pasted it and started to read it from the beginning of "The Art of War", but unfortunately he didn't remember much, and soon turned to "Tao Te Ching".

Lao Tzu has 5,000 words, and he has memorized it when he was a child, and he is very proficient.

Sophia was influenced by Simon to learn a little Chinese, far less attentive than Janet, so it is impossible to understand that her man quietly replaced the "Art of War" with the "Tao Te Ching", just smiled and listened, I don't know if the twins sensed that their father was stealing beams and changing pillars, and soon began to make trouble, Simon had to stop and accompany the woman to comfort the two restless little guys.

Also spent three days in Italy.

In addition to accompanying Sophia, Simon also paid attention to another thing.

After the opening of Universal Studios Osaka, the negotiations between Daenerys Entertainment Group and the Italian government on the Universal Studios Europe project have entered the final stage, although there is no official announcement, but the choice to build Universal Studios Europe near Rome is already a certainty.

For the time being, it is still kept secret, and a lot of smoke bombs are released, just to prevent someone from grabbing the land price in advance on the plot where the studio may be built after the news spreads.

This has happened in the construction of many major theme park projects.

After the weekend, it was May 1995.

The beginning of this year's summer season should be regarded as starting from May 12, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, directed by Tony Scott, and starring Denzel Washington, "Red Tide Storm", a submarine war film similar to "Hunting Red October", produced by Disney and costing $53 million.

Simon doesn't remember much about the film, and Disney chose to land on the beach on May 12, so you can predict the quality of the project.

The real super blockbuster this summer must be "Jurassic Park 2" produced by Daenerys Entertainment and scheduled for June 2. Before "Jurassic Park 2", Simon paid more attention to Daenerys Entertainment's two local box office films that had broken through or were expected to exceed $200 million at the domestic box office in the first half of the year, "This Man is from Earth" and "Fighting Wisdom 3"

Because of these two box office dark horses, many films released in the first half of the year ended dismally, including some other projects produced by Daenerys Entertainment.

Arriving in London on May 1, the plan is still 3 days.

The work here is mainly "The Conjuring 2".

Simon drew up the plot of "The Conjuring 2" according to the version in memory, and the story still takes place in London. However, he did not copy the original again, since he was going to unfold a horror film universe, Simon felt that in addition to the intersection of character images, some more continuous details should be added.

So, during the preparation of the "Conjuring 2" project, Simonyi asked the main creators to watch the classic Hong Kong film "Mr. Zombie" in the 80s several times.

It's certainly not about adding a comedic element to the Conjuring Cinematic Universe series.

In the "Conjuring" series in memory, one of Simon's most important senses is that he is too casual, and the process of subduing a ghost seems to be completely based on luck, and the use of the cross and the Bible is also disorderly.

In comparison, Lin Daochang's ghost-hunting routine in "Mr. Zombie" is full of ornamentation.

Copper coin sword, black donkey hooves, glutinous rice, yellow charm...... It even influenced the ghost culture in the Chinese-speaking circle in the following decades, making many ordinary people feel that Taoist priests should be like this, and catching ghosts should be like this.

Therefore, Simon also hopes that the process of the two protagonists exploring ghosts and catching ghosts can be as more ritualistic as in "Mr. Zombie", forming a set of process rules that can convince the audience, instead of yelling and holding a cross to try their luck like a headless fly in a haunted house.

In fact, before the opening of the two parts last year, Simon already had this idea.

However, since you want to create a conjuring movie universe, it is obviously not a wise choice to get it all at once, so the opening basically follows the script in your memory.

In this way, a gradual growth can be maintained.

From the second part onwards, add relevant elements.

After that, it gradually matures.

Simon wants to make the Warrens step by step from rookie supernatural investigators to ghost hunters, and form their own unique methods of fighting ghosts.

Those who can stand out in Hollywood are basically not stupid.

The main creative team watched "Mr. Zombie" and didn't need to be reminded, and quickly understood Simon's intentions, and began to implement it during the preparation of the project.

The first is to combine Western legends to make a clearer plan for the attributes of ghosts.

In terms of ghost hunting, traditional props such as crosses, Bibles, holy water, garlic, and amulets are also more standardized, and they are no longer used arbitrarily and arbitrarily. The project team also discussed an idea that different chapters of the Bible could restrain different ghosts, and applied it in The Conjuring 2.