"One day my friend Arthur and I were having dinner together in a restaurant and this beautiful girl walked in and I said to Arthur, have you seen that girl of yours? I'm going to marry her. We got married two weeks later. …”
Nora Ephron moved quickly, and in a few days, the video of some elderly couples interviewed in New York was filmed. Ronald sat and watched with her and Rob Reiner.
On the screen is a typical old white couple. The man is bragging about his story, and the woman is looking at him from the side, showing a hint of girlish sweetness.
"Fifty years later, we will still be husband and wife!"
A smile appeared on Ronald's face, and most of the videos that followed were stories of sweet couples reaching the end together. There was a Chinese couple who went back to their hometown in the south to get married on a blind date, which was also very sweet. There was only one Italian couple. After they got married, the man had many female companions, but thirty-five years later, he remarried his first wife.
"You see, most people who love each other end up together." Ronald pointed out with a smile.
"That's right..." Nora Ephron couldn't help but suspect that her perception was wrong. Maybe her marriage to her ex-husband Bernstein, who worshiped superfluous love, was the reason why it didn't end well?
"No, no, Ronald, I was almost deceived by you. The people you asked Nora to interview are all couples. Those who are divorced and separated cannot be interviewed together."
"But don't you think they all love each other? When these couples look at each other, their eyes overflow with love. Just like Harry and Sally, they also love each other very much. When they meet When the two broke up with their partners, they comforted each other, which was a subconscious sign of their love for each other."
Of course Ronald refused to admit it and continued to insist on his point of view.
"That's true..." Nora Ephron had been won over by Ronald.
"Okay, I agree that we can do this for the sake of box office, but I still insist that from an artistic point of view, the film should separate them."
Rob Lehner's attitude was a little loose. After all, his Castle Rock Company has just started producing its own movies, and box office is a very important indicator for him. If the first film they worked on failed at the box office, there's a good chance there wouldn't be a next Castle Rock movie.
Nora Ephron put away the videotape. She felt that her screenwriting ability lacked some weapons when dealing with such commercial movies. So she asked Ronald if she could bring in her friend, another screenwriter.
"Of course, who is she?"
"Kelly, Carrie Fisher."
"Princess Leia from Star Wars?" Ronald and Nora Ephron confirmed. It was indeed Princess Leia.
After Carrie Fisher finished filming "Star Wars", she didn't have many successful works as an actor. After she realized that she couldn't make it to the top female stars in Hollywood, she began to turn to the behind-the-scenes work that really interested her.
Nora Ephron and she are good friends, and it just so happens that Carrie Fisher's private love life is similar to Sally in the movie script. Kelly first lived with singer Paul Simon for a few years, and later fell in love with Canadian actor Dan Aykroyd and was engaged.
Unexpectedly, Paul Simon came back to find her, so she canceled the engagement and returned to Simon's arms. After finally getting married to Paul Simon, they only lasted for a year before getting divorced. However, after the divorce, she and Simon were no longer connected. She was a real-life version of the woman with the character of Sally in the script.
Of course, recently, she fell in love with a federal senator again. It is said that she found true love this time and is now in sweet love.
It just so happens that the final reunion ending needs an actor who is in love to play it. Nora Ephron is confident about it.
Because she signed a temporary agreement with the Writers Guild, Carrie Fisher can now work on the crew openly.
…
Ronald then flew to the capital, Washington, D.C., and made an appointment with Mrs. Barbara, who had returned from the Elephant Party's national convention, to finalize the marketing of "Working Girl."
"Look at my lips, there are no new tax increases!" Old George's "heroic appearance" at the national conference was constantly played on the TV in the room.
“I will continue to support volunteer organizations, whose brilliant diversity spreads like stars, like a thousand glimmers of light in a vast and peaceful sky.”
Barbara sat in front of the TV. She couldn't get enough of watching this clip. While I was watching it, I was retelling that Thousand Points of Glimmer speech to myself. How passionate and contagious it was? The people of America must have been moved by the pride of their ancestors who sailed on the Mayflower to open up a new world.
"What do you think? Ronald?" Barbara turned to ask Ronald.
"It's very contagious. I see that your children respect their father very much in the camera." Ronald looked at Barbara's overflowing pride, what else could he say? Of course, I picked what she liked to hear.
"You are a good boy..." Barbara's eyes shimmered with excitement. She has seen this more than a hundred times, and it still looks so good.
"Um..." Ronald originally wanted to express his feelings. This speech style of the founding fathers is no longer suitable for the media effect of the current TV media that covers most of the audience across the country. Nowadays, what everyone likes are politicians who can tell a few jokes and laugh at themselves, and use words that are approachable. Just like the current commander-in-chief and the governor of Arkansas.
However, Barbara did not give him this opportunity. She talked a lot about how well-respected she and her husband were at the national conference and how capable their children were. During her eight years as the Vice President's wife, she had had enough of being squeezed out by First Lady Nancy.
Now suddenly, the wife of the incoming commander-in-chief (or so she thought) was respected by everyone in the party. This contrast made her a little too excited.
Ronald had no choice but to listen to what Barbara told her over and over again, waiting for her to exhaust her show of passion. Then he picked up the phone and called two former and current female ministers to finalize their schedule to participate in the "Working Girl" promotion.
"Thank you very much," Ronald rubbed his hands. It was really difficult to ask Barbara for something in return.
The wife of the incoming commander-in-chief has a busy schedule. She will soon go to meet other people and continue her old routine of praising her husband and family.
"You should meet little George when you have time. He has told me about your help several times." Barbara took Ronald's hand. This young man still made her feel happy. Both of her sons No one like him could listen to what he said so carefully.
"Of course I will. My friend Douglas Jr., let's keep the Action for Jobs and Prosperity Action Committee working for Mr. Candidate. "
"Ah hahaha, you really know how to make me happy." Barbara patted Ronald's hand, turned around and walked out.
"Of course, when I'm with you, I just need to praise your husband and your children." Ronald smiled and left with satisfaction.
…
"I didn't expect it to be you, Ronald."
In Washington, D.C., Ronald also had an appointment with Berkshire's Warren Buffy. After learning about it from Coca-Cola and making the same judgment as herself, the investor who bought Coca-Cola shares in a large amount was actually an old acquaintance of Ronald. Buffy became interested and asked him to meet in Washington, DC.
"Ha, I also bought it for the dividends." Ronald clearly felt that Warren's interest was higher than the previous few times he had seen him. "David is very talented in composing. We have asked him to be the soundtrack for several of our Daydream movies."
Warren Buffy is clearly far more interested in talking about stock investing than his son, David. I grabbed Ronald and started talking about buying Coca-Cola. In fact, many people don't understand why they invest heavily in such a long-established blue-chip stock with little market change.
Now that she has such a close friend, Buffy is very happy and can talk freely.
"David..." Ronald wanted to bring the topic back to his son. Talking about his son with his parents was the only way to please him.
"He is a talented person, but unfortunately he doesn't like investing." Warren Buffy commented on his son, and immediately changed the topic back to stocks. It seems that Buffy is quite dissatisfied with David, the most talented among her children. This kid is obviously very smart, but he is engaged in making movie scores.
"Looking at dividends is a very good idea. If we consider the rise and fall of stock prices as dividends. Then as long as the increase is converted into dividends through the discount rate, then we can actually treat stocks as bonds Come and see..."
"This is really an interesting idea. So if a bond does not pay dividends, and when it is finally cashed out, the price will be used to express the dividend value of the bond. In turn, will it be equivalent to a stock?" Ronald drew inferences from one example and followed Buffy's advice. The train of thought continued.
"Hey, you are a gifted investor. Few people understand what I mean so quickly."
Buffett became even happier, and then spoke a lot of terms that Ronald didn't understand and talked about some of his analysis. Based on the current price-to-book ratio of 5 times, many people only see that the yield on Coca-Cola is only 6.5%, which is not as good as 9% on long-term government bonds.
Ronald understood at the beginning that many people on Wall Street believed that buying Coca-Cola was worse than buying Treasury bonds. But none of them saw that Coca-Cola's future business was very bright.
"But many people have not seen the amazing creativity of Coca-Cola's operating team. In the past five years, it has provided a return on net assets of 30%, and the annual growth rate of earnings has been 17%. If the return on net assets reinvested is included, it will be higher."
But later on, Buffy started talking in more terms than he could understand.
Warren looked at Ronald with a confused look on his face and knew that he didn't know much about finance and was just optimistic about Coca-Cola due to his intelligence.
"You have to learn finance, Ronald. With your investment and company's scale, it's impossible to do every project personally. Financial statements are the language for interpreting the company's operations."
"Okay, I will find someone to teach me." Ronald also felt that it was time to make up for the lessons.
"Are you okay tonight? Come play bridge with me..."
…
"One club" A man taller than Buffett opened the bidding with a good card, it was Munger.
In the evening, everyone formed a casual card game. Ronald and Warren Buffy partnered up against Mrs. Graham, the female boss of the Washington Post, and Charlie Munger, Warren's business partner.
"Pass", Buffy's hand is not good.
"What does Washington think of the Writers Guild strike now?" Ronald took the opportunity to ask Mrs. Graham. This is the best newspaper owner in Washington and even the country, and she is very well-informed about a lot of news. This kind of recreational card game is a good place for everyone to exchange news.
"Nothing," Mrs. Graham called, a response that indicated she had a good hand and might hit a grand slam. "The commander-in-chief has arranged for a special commissioner to mediate again. This time, no one is on the side of the Writers Guild. Now the new season of the TV series is about to be finished. No one can stop the anger of all the housewives."
"So, it's impossible for the TV station to continue to persevere?" Ronald's judgment was approved by Mrs. Graham.
"Hurry up and call the card. I'm going to hit the slam this time." Munger was dissatisfied and urged Ronald to call the card quickly.
"Um, what do you mean, no general? What time is it coming?"
Ronald hated this precision bidding method. It is precisely the bidding system adopted by the American team in the World Championship that Munger and Graham adopted.
In this kind of bidding, a club indicates that there are 16 to 20 points in the hand, and the response also accurately depicts the card type and points in the hand, so it is called an accurate system. The advantage is that you can call out the card types of both sides, and it is easy to call a game or a slam.
"Eight to 10 o'clock big," Mrs. Graham explained. In bridge, if you don't understand the other party's bidding agreement, you can ask the other party to explain.
"Oh...I'll pass too," Ronald couldn't shout. Soon the advantage of precise system came into play. Ronald and Buffy were defeated by each other and lost by 120 points.
"Well, you have to learn to be precise, Ronald. This bidding system is just like investing..." Charlie Munger is an academic, and he is more sophisticated when it comes to investing than Warren Buffy. set.
"Really?" Ronald was furious and picked up the dealt cards, "But sometimes, you can't be too precise. It takes a little courage, especially in our industry."
"Three hearts!" Ronald shouted viciously.
Ronald and Buffy used the natural bidding method. There are not many agreements. Whatever suit is called is what suit is used to play the trump card. The opening bid of three hearts means that I only have seven hearts, and the other cards are very poor.
"Hey hey hey, four hearts," Warren Buffy also got excited and called to end the game. If Ronald can do it this time, he can come back.
"Uh..." Munger grimaced, and started bidding at the third level. His precise system started bidding from the first level. The space that could convey a lot of information was lost to Ronald's reckless (or brave) bidding. Blocked. After thinking for a long time, he was still afraid that his cards and Graham's cards did not match, so he had to let it go.
"Hahaha..." After Buffett's cards were revealed, Ronald was very happy. They hope to succeed in this game, but if Munger is given the opening bid, they can get a small slam in spades.
In the end, Ronald played his cards correctly and stole a hand from the opponent with courage and intuition.
"Ronald, your card skills and courage are both good." Mrs. Graham admired her very much. "In business and life adventures, courage may be the most difficult thing to obtain."
She seemed to be talking about Ronald's card-playing skills, but also seemed to be talking about other things.
If Ronald realized something, news of a new strike came the next day.
Twenty-one dissident union members who still support the June 16 proposal filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to invalidate union rules that bar them from returning to work during the strike.
Some union members who disagree with the negotiators have threatened to resign their union membership and return to work if the strike is not resolved by July 28.
The protracted strike finally achieved a substantial turn for the better.
