Paris, France, April 2nd.
After their honeymoon trip from west to east along the Mediterranean coast, Europe's northern continent also entered the season of spring blossoming. Still not ready to end their travels, Simon and Janet flew to their estate in the western suburbs of Paris to stay temporarily.
As the black car just entered the estate, which spans over 50 acres, Madonna couldn't help but look around through the car window, her eyes filled with envy.
Madonna, too, was a person who greatly enjoyed acquiring property. However, she knew very well that she couldn't casually afford such an estate on the outskirts of Paris, which she would only stay at a few days each year.
After several attempts, Madonna finally secured an appointment today to meet with Simon, concerning her upcoming concert on April 13, the 'Ambitious Blonde Ambition' tour.
During the shooting of "Pulp Fiction," Simon had promised to make a cameo as a guitarist at her concert. As his power and wealth grew, Madonna wasn't sure if he would keep his promise.
Fortunately, Simon showed no signs of reneging.
After receiving a positive response from Simon, Madonna couldn't wait to reveal this in an interview, which immediately sparked intense interest among fans. Simon's cameo was a huge draw for the upcoming tour. Even though it was a critical time for concert preparations, Madonna decided it was important to meet with Simon in person in Europe.
The car weaved through the roads and eventually stopped in front of the grand main villa.
The driver opened the door, and Madonna stepped out. A young woman in a professional business suit approached and politely said, "Miss Ciccone, I'm Claire. Please follow me."
Curious about this young woman's identity, Madonna followed her into the villa. Seeing another similarly dressed tall woman inside the living room, she roughly understood the situation, but it only added to her confusion. Janet Westeros, hmm, it seemed Janet really trusted these beautiful 'vases' around her man.
Thinking this, Madonna followed the woman named Claire to a study on the first floor where Simon, Janet, and another middle-aged couple were discussing something over a model of a building on the work table.
After a brief glance.
The model on the worktable appeared to be a large building, a round structure with seemingly no windows on the outside, which looked quite peculiar.
Upon her entrance, the four ended their discussion, greeted her briefly, and the middle-aged couple took their leave.
"C, please see Mr. Stone and Ms. Anderson out, and also have D bring some beverages. By the way, Madonna, what would you like to drink?"
"Just coffee for me."
Simon nodded, gave some instructions to Claire, and sent the couple out of the study. He then gestured for Madonna to sit down on the sofa.
After the couple left, Janet said, "You guys talk; I'll go rest upstairs for a bit."
Madonna hurriedly stood to see Janet out of the study, leaving her alone with Simon before sitting down again and finding a topic to discuss: "C and D, are there A and B as well?"
Simon sat opposite Madonna and laughed, "Yeah, they went downtown. You'll meet them when they get back."
Feeling the same old Simon, who hadn't changed despite his status, Madonna relaxed and half-jokingly said, "A, B, C, D, doesn't Janet worry about something happening between you and them?"
Janet believes that if the maids were too unattractive, it would be even more embarrassing if something happened between them and Simon.
Madonna thought about it and it seemed to make sense, though something still felt off. Noticing the architectural model on the worktable, she changed the subject and asked, "What is that, a building?"
"An apocalypse shelter."
"Huh?"
Simon repeated, "An apocalypse shelter. It's for temporary refuge in case of unforeseen disasters like nuclear wars, famines, or pandemics."
Alright.
Madonna realized she and this man might not be on the same plane of existence.
Simon explained seriously, then smiled again, adding, "You have to understand, the higher the social class, the more people there are with apocalypse anxiety. It's not that they're more afraid of death than ordinary people; it's that they know the world is not as safe as most people think. Catastrophic disasters can happen at any time."
During their honeymoon, after several months of negotiations with the government of Tasmania, Simon had finally acquired an additional 6,000 square kilometers on Tasmania Island. Including his previously purchased properties, Simon now owned nearly 10% of Tasmania.
Originally, discussing the construction of an apocalypse shelter on Tasmania as a joke, Janet had always remembered this project.
Janet, who was somewhat looking forward to a world-ending scenario and did not have apocalypse anxiety, found the idea fascinating, and Simon let her hire people to start planning.
Over the past month of
their honeymoon, like children playing with Lego, they designed the model of the apocalypse shelter now on the work table with the help of a professional team.
The shelter, planned to be built deep in the forests of Tasmania Island with a depth of over 50 meters, would indeed be capable of withstanding nuclear impact. Its internal space and supplies would be sufficient for 10 people to live self-sufficiently for five years, with an initial cost estimate of $20 million.
Although everything was very formal, in reality, this was just a large toy that Simon and Janet whimsically decided to create.
For instance, after hearing Simon's explanation, Madonna tried not to let her gaze reveal her thought: 'You rich people are really idle.'
Another lady then came in with a tray, placed an orange juice in front of Simon, poured a coffee for Madonna, and quietly left the study.
A, B, C, D—Allison, Becky, Claire, Deborah. The four women were originally selected as flight attendants for the Boeing 767 Janet had ordered, and in addition to their decent qualifications and education, they had also undergone various types of training from flight attendant to nurse under Janet's arrangement, a program that was still ongoing.
Because they were so handy, Simon simply had them work as full-time maids.
Of course, Simon was very generous in terms of salary.
The four women only needed to work for Simon full-time for five years. In addition to a high annual salary of $200,000, they would receive a bonus equal to their total salary over the previous five years after these five years. That is, each could earn $2 million after five years of work, a sum most ordinary people could not earn in a lifetime.
For privacy reasons, Simon had stopped employing young girls as cleaners according to his original capricious tastes in his properties in Europe and North America. Instead, under the management of a female housekeeper, he had established a more professional service team that signed strict confidentiality agreements.
As the maid left, Madonna took a sip of her coffee and turned to the main topic: "Simon, did you see the materials I sent over about the concert?"
"Of course," Simon took a sip of his orange juice and leaned back in his chair, "Four months, 60 shows, one every two days, you're really pushing it."
According to the schedule for Madonna's 'Ambitious Blonde Ambition' global tour provided by her, from April to August, Madonna would hold 60 concerts in over twenty cities across Japan, North America, and Europe—a relentless pace.
One show every two days was a real test of a singer's stamina.
Madonna smiled and continued along Simon's line of conversation, "So, how about you make a cameo at one more show?"
Simon was easy to talk to: "No problem, let's talk about the appearance fee."
Madonna immediately shrank back.
He was joking.
Simon Westeros's appearance fee.
The original promise to cameo as a guitarist had been a verbal agreement, and Madonna had considered this issue before coming. If Simon really asked for an appearance fee, she likely couldn't afford it. Considering the planned 60 concerts, the average revenue per concert might not even reach $1 million. Even giving all the ticket sales to him for one show might not be enough.
Simon was just joking.
After saying this, he stood up, walked over to the desk, picked up a folder, came back, and handed it to Madonna: "Here's a song, count it as settling our accounts for the upcoming cameo, and you won't have to chase me like a creditor anymore. As for the cameo, I'll be heading back to North America in a few days, and I definitely can't make it to Japan, so we'll have to see about my schedule for the exact show. But don't worry, once we decide on the date, I'll make time to join the rehearsals."
Madonna eagerly opened the folder as Simon spoke.
The original deal had been two songs, one concert cameo.
Simon had already provided "Celebration," and one song had remained. It had been mentioned a few times before, but he had always brushed it off as needing inspiration.
Now, he was finally settling his debt.
The first thing she saw was the song title: "Bad Romance."
Madonna felt it was very much her style just from the name.
Then she saw the lyrics and the music score.
As she read through, Madonna unknowingly began to hum it, and then realized that this song was perfect for a stage performance. As she hummed, she already started envisioning the stage design.
However, as she continued, Madonna suddenly hesitated.
This song could definitely support an entire album.
Perhaps, it should be the lead single of her next album, and she could even name the album "Bad Romance" directly.
Although the concept of an earworm hit song wasn't yet established, Madonna could feel that this song would easily become popular. If done well,
it was easy to achieve another album with sales in the tens of millions.
She wondered how many more surprises the alluring young man before her had hidden.
With this thought, Madonna finally looked up at Simon and asked, "I see the word 'Gaga' used a lot in the lyrics, what does that mean?"
Simon casually explained, "Heard it somewhere, it's from a song lyric that fits the rhythm well here."
Indeed.
"Bad Romance" was indeed a song by Lady Gaga from many years later in the original timeline, and the singer's name appearing in the lyrics was naturally not strange.
As for the specific origin of the word Gaga, Simon roughly remembered it was from a recent song, but he didn't bother to delve deeper.
Madonna had no intention of investigating further either.
Having obtained a song and Simon's personal promise, her busy trip to Paris was worthwhile.
After chatting for another half hour and having lunch at the estate, Madonna bid farewell and left.
After seeing Madonna off, Simon returned to the villa to find Janet lounging on the sofa in the living room's sitting area, holding a magazine lazily.
He sat next to Janet and playfully rubbed her belly, saying, "No need to rush, it'll happen when it's meant to happen."
Janet had been somewhat down lately, mainly because, after a month of 'busy' time, they had hoped to quickly have a child, but Janet's belly remained quiet. Simon wasn't worried about this at all, but Janet clearly was.
Tossing aside the magazine, Janet moved closer to Simon and said, "Let's go back to North America tomorrow."
"Let's stay a few more days," Simon suggested, wrapping an arm around her waist, "Or, shall we see a doctor?"
Janet immediately shook her head: "No, that feels weird."
After chatting idly for a while and cuddling, Janet perked up again.
Although she accepted Simon's decision to stay a few more days in Paris, they had both resumed work in recent days.
Janet was alright, spending only a couple of hours daily reading through various reports from several subsidiary companies of Cersei Capital and occasionally talking over the phone with New York.
Simon had far more to oversee.
During their honeymoon, the casting for the DC Universe's follow-up projects like "Batman: The Dark Knight," "Superman," "The Flash," "Wonder Woman," and even "Cyborg" had fully started.
Simon's plan was to select suitable actors as soon as possible, sign long-term contracts, and reserve ample time to train the main actors, like Famke Janssen, the designated lead for "Wonder Woman."
Beyond the DC Universe, two major external collaboration projects, "Terminator 2" and "Thelma & Louise," also required some of Simon's attention.
Meanwhile, the team for the acquisition of MCA was being formed, primarily handled by Apollo Management Company, a subsidiary of Cersei Capital.
Leon Black, head of Apollo Management Company, had mainly handled leveraged buyouts at Drexel Burnham Lambert and was more than capable of managing such a corporate acquisition consultation.
Based on the price Panasonic paid for MCA from Simon's memory, aside from the funds he had stockpiled abroad, Daenerys Entertainment needed to raise an additional $3 billion in cash to ensure the acquisition went through. Therefore, James Redford had already begun secret negotiations with some banks.
In addition to Hollywood affairs, Simon needed to invest considerable effort in the new technology field in the coming period.
Ygritte Company had completed the preliminary setup for the World Wide Web technology, and it was time to officially roll out the internet plan. Without Simon's personal push, it would take at least another two to three years for this to unfold.
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