The Greatest Showman

 Chapter 36 - Uninvited Guest

Andy Rogers pushed open the door of the Pioneer Village, waiting for no one, he lifted the red curtain straight and entered the interior of the bar, the warm air in the room made him start to faintly sweat, so he pulled out a dark blue striped handkerchief from his pants pocket, and wiped his forehead, and only then began to look at the décor of the bar.

The green decorations that were all around him made him tighten his jaw gently. He didn't like St. Patrick's Day because the holiday was neither as profitable as Christmas nor as fun for women as Valentine's Day, and he didn't see the need for the holiday to exist.

"Sir." A smiling woman with a stack of disposable paper plates in her hand approached from his right-hand side, "We're not opening until five o'clock today."

At the sound of her voice, the shallow curve of Andy's mouth naturally rose up, narrowing his eyes, his chubby cheeks flushed with a light pink, trying to act like Santa Claus, as kindly as possible, "I know, Happy St. Patrick's Day!" Andy's friendly opener brought a big smile from the other side and a "Happy Holidays" in return, "I came over here looking for a young man named Renly Hall, I wonder if he's working today?"

"Oh, Renly!" The cheerfulness that came out between the other person's eyebrows was reflected in Andy's eyes, "There he is."

Following the directions, Andy then saw two people sitting in the other corner of the bar, right next to a man in an elf costume who was jumping around happily, "Ha ha! I knew it! I knew it!" Then he started spinning in place, yelling to the others, "I won, I won, I knew Renly would be convinced by Stanley, hahahahaha! What about our bet? Where's the money?"

The joyful scene caused the entire bar to burst into laughter in an instant as others joined in the celebration, "So, you came over to find Renly for ......?" The inquiring voice in front of him made Andy withdraw his eyes, the kind and amiable smile that was still on his face made people feel refreshed, "An old friend, I am an old friend."

"Oh, I see." The woman showed a expression of enlightenment, then said in a friendly manner, "We will be having a party here tonight, everyone is welcome, and you are welcome to join us if you don't have a date."

Andy still had a warm smile on his face, "People always told me that New York was a cold city, but now it seems that I was mistaken." There was no positive answer, but he managed to make the other party show a broad smile, a gentleman with manners, concise and high-minded.

"Renly!" The other party turned her head and shouted loudly, "Your old friend is here to visit you!" And then she turned her head, unleashing her goodwill on Andy once again, "I hope you have a wonderful time in New York." She waited for Renly to walk over before she took a paper plate and walked at a brisk pace toward the party table.

Andy put his hands behind his back, and carefully looked at the Renly standing in front of him, wearing a set of appropriate green suit, with a curly and slightly messy short hair, looking like a dwarf from a fairy tale, except that the slender body is really not associated with dwarves, creating a sense of comic contrast, while the pair of bright eyes were blooming with a bright smile.

"Good afternoon." Renly's footsteps stopped at a distance of three steps from him, his eyes politely surveying Andy, carefully searching his mind's memories, only to find that none of the images could be matched, "I suppose this is our first meeting?"

The man in front of him appears to be about forty years old, slightly chubby, wearing a neat and tight black three-piece suit with a dark gray vest, with Renly's eyes immediately noticing that this is a handmade suit, although not as high-class as London's Savile Row, but it must cost at least two thousand dollars, presumably Italian craftsmanship.

The vest's buttons were all buttoned up, but it still couldn't hide the slightly protruding beer belly, and the round belly stretched the buttons to the extreme, and you could even feel the pain of the buttons as they were being squeezed. However, the tailored cut, strict lines, square design, every detail reveals an elite aura, which can easily make people ignore the slight disharmony brought by the General' belly.

"This is indeed our first meeting, Andy Rogers." Andy took the initiative to extend his right hand and took the lead in expressing his goodwill.

Renly took the other party's right hand, and shook it in a gentlemanly and polite manner, his red and smiling face put the image of Maitreya Buddha into Renly's mind involuntarily, and this sense of incongruity made Renly secretly grit his teeth, which prevented him from laughing out loud, as that would be really rude, "Nice to meet you. Are you here for the party tonight?"

Although this was only the first meeting between Renly and the other party, Renly behaved very decently and was not aggressive, but was polite in his greetings.

Andy was still all smiles, "I can feel it, it's a big party all over town today." Still, he didn't give a positive reply, but turned his head and looked around, "Why don't we sit down first? My heart needs a good rest." Those words that came out when he was self-talking brought the two people closer together.

Renly took Andy to the side and sat down, in this short time, Andy's forehead sweated some more, it is not because of too much exercise, but rather the indoor temperature was relatively high, and Andy did not take off his suit coat, so it was naturally easy to sweat. "Neil, can I get a soda here?" Renly turned around and raised his voice and shouted.

"If it's a Coke, that would be great." Andy was a little surprised by Renly's thoughtfulness and consideration, but all his thoughts were hidden behind that simple, unassuming smile, and not only did he not express his gratitude, but instead he made a request - a harmless request - with an inch to spare.

Renly couldn't help but smile, "Please forgive my bad manners." Turning back again, "Neil, coke."

Neil took out a can of Coke from the bar, and a glass, skillfully filled it with a few ice cubes and placed it in front of Andy. Andy smiled and nodded his head, expressing his gratitude, and waited until after Neil left, then he poured out the coke and took a large sip, which made him relax.

Throughout the entire process, the two people did not speak, Andy was in no hurry, and Renly seemed even less in a hurry.

Andy found this very interesting. From the information he had heard, Renly had just turned twenty this year, which is the age of restlessness, eagerness and impulsiveness, but the young man in front of him showed a calmness and determination beyond his years.

The image he had gotten gradually began to match that of the real person.

"Aren't you curious about who I really am?" Andy said with a smile, looking like Santa Claus who is asking children what gifts they really want, yet without being too childish, easily making people feel good.

The corner of Renly's mouth pulled out in a shallow curve, "As far as I can tell, probably not my admirer."

"Haha." This little joke made Andy laugh out lightly, "Actually, it's okay for you to say that, I'm kind of an admirer." As expected, Andy saw a touch of surprise and a hint of confusion under Renly's eyes.

Andy took out a small silver iron box from the inside pocket of his suit, which was but palm-sized and very delicate, and seemed to be an expensive antique. Then Andy opened the silver box awkwardly with those sweet and thick fingers, took out a business card from it and handed it to Renly, "Please allow me to formally introduce myself, my name is Andy Rogers, an agent."

Renly looked down at the card in his hand, it was a pearl white card, his fingertips could touch the delicate design of the dark pattern, the dazzling dark black font reveals the elegance and flavor, simple but appropriate to mark out all the information, every detail makes this card a work of art.

Renly noticed a small detail: Andy introduced himself simply as "agent," without any adjectives.

But in fact, from the business card, it can be learned that he is the senior agent of the Creative Artists Agency - which is not only one of the top five agencies in the industry, but also the industry leader, leading the Hollywood agency business for more than two decades, unfailing, and it is also known as the industry's absolute hegemon.

For those who are not confident, they tend to talk a lot to decorate themselves, but for those who are really strong and firm, they choose to speak using their capabilities. This kind of confidence emanating from the inside out is very different.

With just one meeting, Renly got a deep impression of Andy.

"An agent?" Renly raised an eyebrow gently, as if he didn't even realize how rare Andy's personal visit really was, as if he didn't even notice that Andy was backed by the Creative Artists Agency, "Why?" This one question made Andy freeze, and then he laughed dumbly, "I mean, why me? I don't remember uploading a personal video on the YouTube."

That snarky remark made Andy's smile a little bigger.

Almost every young person with a dream of stardom works hard to upload videos on the YouTube or venture out into the storm to audition for "American Idol" with the ultimate goal of attracting the industry's attention. It's a huge deal when you get picked up by an agent, and it's not just any random agent, it's an agent backed by Creative Artist Agency - Andy was sure Renly had noticed the details on the card and should have been at least a little happier, if not ecstatic.

"So, you have no interest in standing in the limelight?" Andy didn't answer the question head-on, but instead asked the question back.

Renly, however, raised an eyebrow, "Shouldn't I be worried about the leakage of my personal information now?" He asked back rhetorically.

"Haha." In this moment, Andy was truly amused, in this short encounter, the twenty-year-old in front of him really surprised him, after reining in his smile, Andy then revealed his answer, "I know you starred in 'The Pacific', and I watched the internal screening. "