Internal hearings on the dead and the crashed helicopter were successfully concluded, the money was compiled, and the documents were thrown into the safe...... Just when the Hines group finally broke free from the sea of Wenshan and actively celebrated another "big victory". Their leader, Hines, locked himself in his office for a morning, and when he came out, his face was a little pale, and there was no trace of joy on his face.

Hines has been indulging in the excitement of money and (with the auditors) these days and has not had time to think deeply. It's just that I think about it habitually, and I think it might be CAI's ghost...... It's like Locke Taylor, Martin insisted that a competitor did it. Everyone has their own "enemies" in their hearts.

But there is a saying called "seeing the essence through the phenomenon".

If we ignore the contradictory and complex process of a matter and look only at cause and effect, we will often come to a completely different conclusion.

What was the cause of this? The reason was that Hines forced the Mack team to rob CAI's cash truck, and the result was that the Mack team took the lion's share, and Hines only received 30% of the "informant fee". What Shen Yan gave to Hines were all fast-maturing treasury bonds with basically fixed income, not counting the income difference, but counting the 7 million more income. It can't be compared with Shen Yan's bearer bond in their hands, but Hines doesn't know this.

Another point is that it was also Hines' idea to send a helicopter to monitor and carry out a "clean-up" if necessary, and now the result is two dead and four seriously injured, the FIB lost a 21 million helicopter, and Dave is lying in the hospital with unknown life and death...... There are some things that are simply scary to think about! Smell a rat...... No, it was the definite fear that gripped Hines so tightly at heart! It was as if a shadow was sneering at him, telling him...... Look, that's the result you want, are you satisfied now?

If he had thought of this on the day of the incident, then Hines, who felt that his face had been damaged, might have retaliated immediately because of the stress reaction! But now that more than half a week has passed, he has really calmed down, and the money has gone into the account...... After figuring it out, all that remains is deep fear and thought.

The relationship with Mike must not be able to maintain the same pattern as before, and Dave is to blame for everything! It just so happened that the most active one was already lying in the hospital, and Hines needed to take this opportunity to think about it......

*****

Hollywood, Cinema Paradiso.

Few people know about this place, and even the locals don't know that this old building is actually a movie theater.

"My grandfather's grandfather was from Ireland, and they came west during the gold rush to sell horses, smuggle gold, resell railroad stocks, do everything. Until 60 years ago, they used all the money they had to build this movie theater. "The people of the United States like to show off their family history, and Lee Cobb struggled to unlock the door of the building, and then pushed the door open with force. As a result, large clouds of dust spilled down through the cracks in the door, choking him desperately to cough. "Sorry, I haven't been here for a while, don't worry about the situation of the house."

The fat man slapped the dust on his body and said embarrassedly. "I promise, everything inside is in perfect condition. You must know that in the sixties, Cinema Paradiso was the best cinema in the whole of Hollywood, and she was a legend of Hollywood! There are even companies that have made films for her stories...... At that time, the premieres of many movies were scheduled here, "Monte Cristo", "A Streetcar Named Desire...... Big stars like Jane Fonda and Vivien Leigh are regulars here, and they even have their signatures on the backs of the chairs in the front row. ”

The afternoon sun slanted in through the gate, illuminating the dark mottled wooden benches in the cinema.

Mike took Naomi by the hand and walked into the old movie theater like walking into a Hollywood history museum.

They touched the back of the chair that had been smoothed by the palms of generations and looked inside the movie theater. Although it was a little dark, it was because the windows were blocked by thick cotton felt. The screens for the screening were also rolled up, revealing white walls, but it was still clear that it was a movie theater.

Because rows of narrowly spaced wooden chairs are neatly arranged, squeezed all the way to the front of the screen, like a church.

No comfortable sofas, no 3D seats, no Dolby noise-canceling surround sound systems, and no IMAXs...... Even the projectors were old-fashioned, with only film carousels and had to be replaced by hand every half hour.

However, this is the kind that Lao Mai wants, and Naomi is also very excited to look around, a little unable to control her emotions. In their eyes, these uncomfortable chairs, the distorted curtains, and the projectors that cast bright beams of light were all beautiful...... Because that's feelings.

The fat man named Lee Cobb stopped chattering about introductions, and he knew that it would not be easy to wait for a client.

The movie theater closed its doors in the nineties because his family could no longer afford it, and even the later nostalgic film didn't save her — because it wasn't the movie theater's problem, but the community's economic decline, which had become a blue-collar and immigrant community. People can drive dozens of kilometers to miss it because of their feelings. But when they actually watch movies, they still like their neighborhood.

Later, even if the planning company came to see it, they said that the best option for this movie theater was to close its doors directly, and it was not of much value whether it was renovated or rebuilt.

There was once a producer named Jack Klugman who wanted to turn this place into a film museum documenting the history of Hollywood.

It's a shame that Hollywood doesn't need to record history. Los Angeles, a city with fewer than a million permanent residents, is highly mobile and lacks cultural identity. Therefore, after burning the few funds, Jack Klugman, who could not find a source of funds, had to give up, and the movie theater once again returned to the hands of the Lee Cobb family. The cost of modernization is getting higher and higher, and the Lee Cobb family is increasingly unable to afford it.

Every year, apart from taxes, this movie theater does not even bring in a penny of income, typical negative equity. Therefore, he sincerely hoped that Mike would buy it directly with a wave of his hand...... I heard that Hollywood people are stupid and have a lot of money? It's a pity that although Lao Mai is full of feelings, his pockets are empty, and he has no money to pay for his feelings...... It's all in the stock market.

So when I called before, Lao Mai talked to him about leasing.

Lee Cobb is helpless, hundreds of thousands of ...... a year It's better than nothing, at least you can pay the taxes.

*****

"Here, I'll show you something good." Lee Cobb led the two of them upstairs and opened the screening room with the key. In addition to the projector and a few huge iron cabinets, the projector has been converted into a small private room on the left and right sides - like watching an opera, this angle is undoubtedly the best place to enjoy a movie.

Lee Cobb rummaged through his large set of keys again, and finally opened the large iron cabinet with a bronze key, "Look! ”

"Oh~~~!! Holy shit!” Lao Mai couldn't help but blurt out the dirty words, and Naomi also covered her lips in surprise. I saw the flat round iron boxes containing the film, neatly stacked in rows in the cabinet! At a glance, the big iron cabinet probably contains hundreds of movie copies!

"The Godfather, my favorite...... Want to see it? Lee Cobb picked up the one on top and said with some ostentation that this was a movie that was often shown in theaters later in the day. He pointed to the scribbled line of English written in paint on the iron box: "The Godfather! ”。

"Francis Ford Coppola wrote it by hand, he only wrote ten copies at the time!"

When movies from the Hollywood film era were released, the distribution company had to make thousands of copies of the master disc shot by the director and send it to various movie theaters for screening. Movie copies can have all sorts of problems during the distribution process, such as loss, fire, flooding, destruction, and so on. The cinema is a relatively strong party in the distribution system, and the copy will generally remain in the cinema after the film is screened, which is a small souvenir.

Because recycling also costs a lot of money, and you even have to rent a warehouse to install it! The issuing company will never make such a loss-making transaction.

The copy is left in the cinema, and if the cinema organizes several "nostalgic film screenings" at a certain time, the distribution company that owns the copyright will also turn a blind eye and pretend not to see it. With too many copies, there will be a lot of scratches and blank spots on the screen, which has even become a favorite of a small number of people...... Time is left behind.

"I'm going to ...... the hell" Old Mai was already a little speechless with excitement, he walked over and rummaged through the lower floor, "God, this is the 1960 version of Ocean's Eleven, and the one played by Clooney is a piece of shit compared to this one." He moved his fingers down and picked up the next film. Fack, Fack! These are the Twelve Angry Men?! These are twelve angry men! ”

"Yes, I saw Mike, I saw it." Naomi hugged Mike from behind, not knowing how to soothe the excitement of the older child.

"Can you show it? I mean...... Right now. Old Mai looked at Lee Cobb expectantly.

Lee Cobb hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded in order to facilitate the deal, "No problem...... Damn, I haven't done this in twenty years! I hope I haven't forgotten how to do it! His hands were also trembling slightly, and the days of his youth as a projectionist in his own cinema came back to his mind...... At that time, the cinema was in decline, and there were few customers a day. Only he watched the old movie over and over again behind the camera...... Later, he also left here for his movie dream, and the movie theater was temporarily closed...... And then it was never opened again.

"I'll try, I'll try...... God, may all the best! When the projector started smoothly, he was as happy as a fat man of 200 pounds, but in fact, it was just that the light bulb of the projector was lit smoothly.

"Mike, can you do me a favor? Put the screen down. Ah, beautiful lady Naomi, forgive me for not being able to recognize you just now, and welcome to Cinema Paradiso. Please go to the private room next door and take a seat with the dust cover off, I promise it will be no worse than the chair used by the King of France (16th century). ”

Lao Mai happily ran downstairs to unravel the curtain.

Naomi also went to clean up the small private room in a happy mood, and prepared to watch a black and white movie with Mike for a while.

She didn't think there was anything shabby here, on the contrary – in 2010, sitting in a 1960 cinema and watching a black-and-white movie was like stepping back in time – and that was tasteful and luxurious!

There is a limit to happiness, and it is not that the richer you are, the happier you are. Ordinary people can be happy for a whole year when they buy a house; Rich people don't get more pleasure buying a house than we get from buying a game on Steam, and they have the same annoyance - we have the same annoyance that we buy a game and don't have time to play it, and they worry about buying a house but don't have time to live in it.

Therefore, it is not for nothing that rich people are prone to addiction to drugs, drugs, drag racing, and abusive love in search of excitement. In contrast, collecting antiques, collecting jade, collecting famous cars, flying around the world to play golf, and wanting to die on Mars...... These are tasteful hobbies.

Iron Man is rich, does he collect cover girls to brag or to be really cool? It's really hard to say. We know that applause is a sport, and if the man plays well, he will definitely stay to show off the next day. What to make for breakfast...... This act of thoughtfulness is all incidental. If the woman says, "I'm so tired and sore, I don't want to go to work today", he can be proud all day!

And Tony Stark always disappeared without a trace early in the morning, refusing to communicate and leaving a considerable amount of hush money, with his age and body hollowed out by wine, he didn't look like he was playing well......

Fortunately, he later got the Iron Suit, and when Stark said in his speech to Congress, the Steel Suit was a "prosthetic", and it is very likely that what he said was true!

*****

When the theater becomes dark again, when bright beams of light are cast on white cloth, when colorful mottled intros appear...... Naomi leaned into Mike's arms and hugged the man tightly.

She felt a drop of water fall on her fever, and in the darkness, Mike gently saved her nose......

On the screen was the 1960 version of Ocean's Eleven. "Twelve Angry Men" was somewhat damaged because of the film, and Lao Mai was reluctant to take it out and play it...... It was so precious that it was probably one of the few film copies in the world. On the contrary, because of the popularity of "Ocean's Eleven", the distribution company sent another copy after the screening was damaged, and it was close to the late stage of the screening at that time, and the copy is still quite new now.

The specific plot of "Ocean's Eleven" is similar to the 2001 remake, which is 11 people robbing a Las Vegas casino, but the concept is different. The '60 version is a majestic and high-spirited comedy, while the '01 version is all about being handsome, with Clooney, Pete and Matt Damon constantly changing shifts.

The squeaking of projectors resounded in Cinema Paradiso, as if it were yesterday.

The audience has only one woman who is caught in love, a master crime who loves to watch old movies, and a fat man with tears, watching the joys and sorrows performed on the screen together, watching how eleven people defeat Las Vegas......

As the movie drew to a close, Naomi whispered in Mai's ear.

"Mike, I'm worried about you."