Life is full of ups and downs, and both the man and the woman involved in the affair were now considered scoundrels by everyone. Laila could empathize with the helplessness of the girl before her death.
So when she heard the bitter words from that young man, she felt so angry. She couldn't help but think about how someone who couldn't defend themselves might feel in such a situation.
Her previous life had indeed left her with many painful memories. The entertainment industry may seem glamorous under the spotlight, but who knows how many untold stories lie behind the scenes?
After waking up from the nightmare, it took Laila quite a while to regain her composure. She remembered that she was now Laila Moran, living a new life. But if something similar were to happen again, what could she do to change it?
"Weibo! Twitter! Facebook!" she muttered the names of these well-known social media platforms from the future.
Laila's career had started in journalism, and she controlled several media outlets. She knew that with the advancement of the internet, traditional print media would gradually lose its dominance. It was time to find alternatives and stake her claim in the digital world.
She vividly remembered that after the events of 9/11, blogs had become the age of citizen journalism. Any event, big or small, could be disseminated globally through the internet in a matter of minutes.
Now, it was only January, and she had more than half a year to plan her next moves. Perhaps this incident could provide her with a new opportunity. No one wanted such events to happen, but since she couldn't change what had occurred, she could only work towards shaping the future.
Blogging entered the Eastern world in 2000 but remained relatively obscure until the appearance of Mu Zimei, who finally brought it to the mainstream. However, this fervor didn't last long, as lengthy blog posts didn't suit the general public's reading habits. This paved the way for the emergence of short-form microblogs, such as Weibo.
Laila realized that it might be too late for her to make a significant impact in the blogging world. Even if she had the funds now, they were not readily available for withdrawal from the stock market or futures. Therefore, she set her sights on Facebook, which was set to launch in 2004.
It was still 2001, and the development of smartphones had only just begun. Leveraging mobile phones for these purposes was not yet mature. However, the rise of tablet computers had already started, such as the prototype released by Microsoft last year, which looked remarkably close to the future's devices.
"Ugh, it's giving me a headache," Laila sighed while lying on her bed. She wasn't naturally inclined to think about these matters. Understanding the future trends was one thing, but knowing where to begin was another.
"I should leave this to Grandpa," she thought, the same way she used to. She'd write a proposal and hand it over; then, it was up to Grandpa to make the arrangements. It seemed like the best approach for her.
So when Roy entered the room, he saw Laila deeply engrossed in her writing.
"Are you writing another script?" Roy asked, knowing that she had a particularly serious expression when she was writing scripts.
"No, I'm working on a proposal to leverage Grandpa's website for something," Laila replied.
Having been reborn with the memories of the future, Laila valued the development of the internet more than anyone else. Under her influence, several media outlets owned by Moran had their own websites, some of which had already become major news portals, attracting more readers than other copycat websites.
Laila planned to merge Facebook with the websites to boost the platforms' visibility and popularity. It was a win-win situation.
"Well, you go ahead. I'll just sit here," Roy said. He had originally intended to join her for breakfast, but it seemed better to order room service now.
Laila acknowledged his response and returned to her proposal.
As the saying goes, serious men are the most handsome. But seriously-minded women also have their charm. At least, Roy found Laila extremely attractive at that moment. His gaze couldn't stray from her profile.
It wasn't until a loud knocking on the door disrupted the scene that Roy felt a sense of reality.
"Laila, come check out my new script!" Wu Yuan burst into the room.
His hair was a disheveled mess, his stubble was showing signs of becoming a beard, his clothes were crumpled, and one of his socks peeked out from his pants.
Laila was taken aback by his sudden appearance. She grabbed her camera and, almost absentmindedly, pointed it at him, saying, "Cheese," before taking a photo.
The flash went off, and Wu Yuan, his passion momentarily cooled, stared at her in bewilderment. "Why did you take a photo of me?"
Laila responded nonchalantly, "No particular reason. I just thought you had an interesting look. Maybe it can be used in a future movie."
"Really?" Wu Yuan seemed elated, and he placed the script on her desk. Then he leaned over and inspected the camera screen. "Am I handsome, right? You might not believe it, but back in school, I was quite the campus heartthrob."
Laila gave him a meaningful "heh" in response. From what she knew, no campus heartthrob had the inherent goofy charm he had. They could have been suave and cool, or they could have been warm and kind, but goofy. That was stretching it a bit too far.
Roy watched Wu Yuan approach Laila so closely and couldn't help but frown. If it weren't for the room service arriving at that very moment, he might have wedged himself between the two of them.
"Take a look; I spent all night on this script. I think it's the best version yet!" Wu Yuan seemed eager, and, apparently driven by hunger, he began to devour the breakfast that was just delivered.
Roy, with a puzzled expression, stared as Wu Yuan grabbed three buns with one hand and demolished an entire steamer of dumplings with just a few bites. This was the breakfast he had ordered for Laila, and he had intended to eat it with her. Was this guy a refugee who had just escaped from somewhere? Had he forgotten whose place he was in?
Unfortunately, the other two people in the room remained entirely oblivious to his exasperation. One was engrossed in reading the script, and the other was engrossed in eating steamed buns while working.
Roy frowned but couldn't bring himself to disturb her work. Instead, he made a phone call to order two more breakfasts.
"This looks more interesting this time. I think we can make some improvements here." Laila pointed at the script and continued, "Their conflicting philosophies can be deepened a bit. And..."
"That makes sense," Wu Yuan said, pondering for a moment and then nodding enthusiastically. "What else?" What does it mean that listening to your words is better than ten years of reading? This is it! How else would you say she is a big director in Hollywood? The brain just works faster than ordinary people!
Laila continued, "And there's this..." As she spoke, she wrote some notes in the script's margins. While she closed her mouth to write, a bun or a spoonful of porridge would appear at the corner of her mouth and be unconsciously eaten by her.
Once she had eaten enough, Roy proceeded to eat his portion. Because Claire always talked about her health issues, he was very attentive to her food. Breakfast was the most fundamental source of energy for the day, and how could he allow her to work on an empty stomach?