Hugo guessed that Ernst must not have slept at this time - if Ernst had watched the Oscars and he had mentioned Ernst in his acceptance speech without Ernst's consent, he did not know how the grumpy old man would have reacted.

However, Hugo did not expect that Ernst would sit downstairs like this, feeling the coolness of the dew in the middle of the night, listening to the distant noise of the engine in the street. It was already one o'clock in the morning—Ernst, who had been going to bed at eleven o'clock in the morning, appeared in high spirits.

No, to be precise, Ernst was not in good spirits at this time, and the tiredness between his brows was clearly visible even from a distance of seven or eight paces.

Hugo was slightly stunned, only then did he realize that Ernst was talking to them, he looked at Leonardo, who couldn't react at all, and then took over, "I came to visit you." ”

Ernst snorted coldly, his messy eyebrows not angry, "I know that I got into trouble tonight, and I want to apologize?" It's really unbelievable. Ernst squinted his eyes, and although his tone was flat and did not shout, indescribable seriousness flowed from his words, "Who allowed you to speak in my place?" You're not me, how do you know what's going on in my heart? Are you sure that's what I want? Are you selfish or arrogant in disrupting my peaceful life without my consent? What are you, God? Making decisions for my life? How's that, controlling my life, isn't that good? Feeling happy? ”

A series of rhetorical questions made Hugo speechless, but Leonardo, who was standing next to him, couldn't help it, and directly refuted loudly, "You old man is really unreasonable!" Hugo said that in his acceptance speech because he respected you, but you maliciously distorted Hugo's mind. It's shameless, no wonder you're ......"

Leonardo's words were about to get out of control, Hugo hurriedly stopped him, and at the same time Ernst also sneered and retorted, "So, Hugo is a big man, he respects me, and I want to be respectful?" And who dictates this? If you look down on my old man, get out! No one is asking you to come here! ”

Leonardo's hands immediately clenched into fists and rushed towards Ernst. Hugo didn't hold it, and hurriedly rushed forward a few steps and hugged Leonardo tightly, "Leo! Are you really going to hit this old man? "Ernst, though hot-tempered and temperamental, was an old man, a defenseless old man.

"So what!" Leonardo yelled angrily, his mouth full of wine, and his slightly reddened eyes showed his agitation.

"Let him go, and let him punch me if he wants to." Ernst raised his hand and threw the cigarette in his hand, I don't know if it was wrong or his hand was not strong, the cigarette deviated a lot, and it was thrown directly into the void, which made Leonardo more and more angry, struggling hard, and wanted to punch Ernst hard, but at this time Ernst whispered, "Perhaps, I should indeed be beaten so that I will be more sober." ”

All the aura around Ernst settled, as if in the blink of an eye he had grown old, and that powerful momentum had completely disappeared, and he had become an old man, but ...... The old man, the decadence and desolation were like the night that filled the sky, and quickly pressed down, making his whole body overwhelmed.

Even Leonardo, who was in anger, noticed the change in Ernst, and couldn't help but stop his struggle, looking at Ernst in front of him in a daze.

Hugo had known Ernst for so many years, but he had never seen Ernst like this, and the loneliness and confusion that came from the head and face suffocated Hugo who was watching in an instant, as if the whole world was beginning to turn gray in front of him, and the light was dimming little by little - the solar eclipse was happening right in front of him, but everyone could do nothing but watch the sun being swallowed up, and no one knew when the light would come again.

Ernst lowered his eyes and said nothing, just letting the world fall silent again. Hugo and Leonardo stood stunned in place, forgetting to change their movements, just quietly looking at the decaying Ernst in front of them, dumbfounded. The shock of the heart is indescribable.

"Over the years, in fact, I have been thinking about a question: why is the academy reluctant to give me a little golden man? Is it because I'm not good enough, or because I'm ......," Ernst muttered for a long time, and finally said in a low voice, "because I'm not good enough." The whisper-like words quickly drifted away in the wind, as if they had never been said at all, "So, I always wanted to come back to Hollywood and create a work that would prove to everyone that I was good and that I was successful ......"

Hugo remembered the half-written plays in Ernst's house, not a hundred but eighty, and that Ernst had never given up writing for the past twenty years.

"I dreamed of Hollywood mythology, I wrote a work, and then everyone was impressed with me, and then the academy realized that they ignored my strength, and hurriedly awarded me a little gold statuette." When Ernst said this, he smiled, but there was some bitterness in his smile, and Hugo wanted to open his mouth to comfort him, but he found that he couldn't say a word, only opened his mouth slightly, and then stopped weakly.

Ernst raised his eyes and looked at Hugo and Leonardo in the night, and finally his gaze stopped on Hugo. In fact, Ernst was very envious of Hugo, because Hugo had talent, a talent that everyone envied. Although Hugo has only created two scripts, "Before Sunrise" and "Perfect", Hugo's control of lines and emotional outlining can definitely be said to be masterful. This is why Ernst was very angry with Hugo, who had always been too lazy to concentrate on the script. This waste of talent made Ernst angry.

But tonight, Ernst discovered that anything in life can be approached from a different perspective. Although he was no longer able to produce a masterpiece himself, he had found that his abilities had been degrading for the past twenty years, but he did not want to admit it; But he continued his creative life in another way, he inspired Hugo, he didn't think of himself as Hugo's teacher, but Hugo's work can see his shadow, just like what he created in his brain, but he created it directly with a sense of his heart.

It's a really nice feeling.

He was complaining all the time, but in fact his heart was fear, he was afraid that all his thoughts were just a mirage, just his own wishful thinking; He was afraid to face the fact that he had been completely eliminated by the times, so much so that he refused to face those old friends.

In fact, in the Writers Guild of America, he spoke like an audition opportunity for "Sleepless in Seattle" back then. He could have sought a place in the union as long as he wanted to, but he kept refusing and running away.

Tonight, Hugo didn't give him a chance to choose, so he lifted the last fig leaf. He originally thought it would be painful, and it was, but when the pain subsided, he was relieved. Only then did he realize that it was not someone else who had trapped him in the past twenty years, but himself, and he was always the only one.

So, in fact, Ernst wanted to thank Hugo, for his impulsiveness and directness tonight, for simply and brutally untying him.

But looking at Hugo in front of him, Ernst opened his mouth, but all the emotions in his heart could not be expressed at all, and finally he drooped his shoulders in frustration and muttered in a low voice, "But in fact, I just want to create a script, not for the little golden man, not to prove myself to others...... I just want to create, and I miss the taste of those years of happy creation. ”

Such a simple sentence shocked both Hugo and Leonardo. Ernst's passion and dedication to the ordinary, which is the true focus and dedication to an art that no one else can achieve, no matter what he achieves.

Hugo looked at Ernst in front of him and fell into deep thought, although Ernst was unprecedentedly fragile at this time, but in Hugo's eyes he was unprecedentedly strong. Because his passion, pure to the point of madness, is convincing and shameful.

All the complicated thoughts in Leonardo's brain disappeared in an instant, and the originally chaotic brain was more awake than ever.

Leonardo has so many examples around him, with Hugo as a role model, and Charlize as a success tonight, and now he has witnessed Ernst's persistence. This made Leonardo taste his inner desire again, after the great success of the "Titanic", he once wanted to give up on himself, so he let himself get lost in Hollywood's vanity fair, but now he has a new motivation, he wants to continue, he wants to overcome himself, he wants to stick to his dream. He wants to be a good actor.

The faint flame was rekindled, and Leonardo felt an unparalleled passion - he even wanted to take the next script and shoot it now. This feeling is really long gone.

Ernst looked at Hugo seriously, the sentence "thank you" had come to his lips, but after all, he still couldn't say it, showing his vulnerability in front of Hugo was already Ernst's limit. Because Ernst knew that Hugo could understand what he was thinking, because Ernst knew that he and Hugo were the same kind of people, so he decided to open his heart. But the words "thank you"? But he couldn't speak.

After much hesitation, Ernst still did not speak, but slowly stood up, turned around and walked in the direction of the apartment building, and when he reached the door, his footsteps finally couldn't help but stop, "Go back." A fluttering voice lost its usual irritability, but it rekindled its life, and then, without looking back, Ernst disappeared at the top of the stairs.