When Dile saw A+ eating watermelon, he couldn't help but laugh out loud, and he quickly covered his mouth.
"You white bastard!"
Eric grabbed his collar again. "You were the one taking sides just now, weren't you!?"
"Hey! Hey!" Dilla quickly explained, "I was afraid you'd cause trouble! If you had just bumped into Robert, he would have called the police and lawyers right away, and you and APLUS would have been the ones who suffered the most! Believe me, Robert is an old hand; he used to use this trick on us all the time. You know, white rock kids don't have good tempers."
"Calm down, Eric," A+ advised.
"You shouldn't have eaten that slice of watermelon…" Eric sullenly sat back down.
"Uh..." A+ awkwardly tossed the melon rind into the fruit plate, wiped his hands, and said, "I'll make a phone call first."
He dialed Michelle's number first, "Um... Dr. Michelle, I wanted to ask, what should I do if a white person gives me a watermelon?"
Michelle agreed to help without hesitation. After the two finished talking, A+ put down the phone, thought for a moment, and then dialed Old Joe's number.
"Yo! My dear Aplus, I love you to death, I love you so much..."
Old Joe was incredibly excited, rattling off a string of cheesy compliments. "Hey! Where are we now?" he asked the person on the other end. "Haha! Number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100! The exact sales figures haven't come out yet, but I heard SBK ordered a million copies! We should at least sell a few hundred thousand in the first week, right? Did you hear? They invited me and Little Lowry to Saturday Night Live, it's Saturday Night Live..."
A+ listened patiently to Old Joe's boastful rap before telling him about her own situation.
"No problem, I'll call my friend in New York, you wait!" Old Joe readily agreed.
After waiting for about ten minutes, Old Joe called back. This time, his tone was much heavier. "APLUS, did you eliminate all the black girls in an audition?"
"Uh..." A+ thought to himself, "They don't fit my style..."
"Hey! You shouldn't have done that, even if it was just for show, Aplus, even if it was just for show! I lived through the era of segregation, and back then, white people at least put a few Black and Native Americans in government offices as a show. Now your friends in New York have a lot of complaints about you; they think you're not one of them. You should know you're mixed race, your skin is naturally lighter, you should be even more careful…"
"I was stupid."
A+ could only admit his mistake, "I didn't think that much at the time..."
"I don't have much influence in New York. You know how many times we ran into obstacles there last time… If we were in South Chicago, we could easily crush that white guy. You can use Old Joe Music's recording studio as you like. We've been out promoting our music all along…" Old Joe was powerless to do anything about it.
A+ thanked her, and Lisa knocked on the door and came in. "Daniel wants you to come over."
When I arrived at Daniel's office, Robert was there too, sitting on the sofa smoking.
"Don't cause any trouble or create any unnecessary problems these days, what did I tell you!"
Daniel paced back and forth in his office, furious. "There are only the three of us in this room now, Robert. Apologize! Apologize to APLUS."
"I didn't do anything," Robert said, feigning innocence.
"No! Don't talk nonsense to me!" Daniel roared, pointing at Robert. He grabbed the phone. "Get Dilla up here. He saw everything, didn't he?"
"Okay, okay, okay, I acted impulsively, but that little bastard APLUS also called me a white guy." Robert was a little flustered.
Daniel was furious. "That's not the same thing! Robert, don't try to fool me. We all know perfectly well that it's not the same thing at all!"
"Uh…actually, there's no need to apologize. Even if I did apologize, I might not accept it," A+ said calmly. "I've already called the Chicago equality organization."
They will contact organizations in New York to look into the matter; the protest fax should arrive soon.
"Wow, wow, wow, here comes the black guy's routine! He's never satisfied with taking advantage!" Robert clapped his hands at A+in a fit of rage.
My God!
Daniel clutched his head in anguish, thought for a moment, and said, "Robert, apologize first, then pack your things and get out... get out to Manila... they're really short-handed there."
Robert panicked, "Hey! I'll get bitten to death by mosquitoes!"
"Apologize." Daniel looked at him coldly.
Robert kept his head down and endured it for a while, then said, "Okay, Aplus, I regret what happened just now..."
"Apologize!"
"...I'm sorry, APLUS, I sincerely apologize to you..."
Go pack your things!
Watching Robert leave with his head down, Daniel went up to A+ and patted him on the shoulder. "That's it... Are you satisfied?" He said, "Don't cause any more trouble. We agreed on this beforehand."
A+ nodded, recalling what Old Joe had just said. "I want to move the rehearsals to Chicago. I'm all alone here. You know, Lisa often brings people into the recording studio without my permission and takes me to see people I shouldn't have. There's also Isco before, Robert now, and those omnipresent agents in New York."
He discussed this matter seriously with Daniel, who agreed, stating that SBK would cover all expenses, including the rent for Old Joe Music. "This money can't be saved, otherwise there could be legal disputes later..."
After saying goodbye to Daniel, A+ returned to the recording studio. "How was it?" Eric asked.
"Robert apologized and went to Manila," A+ replied.
"Yes!" Eric was delighted. "How's the result? Isn't it good?" he asked DeLay.
"That's pretty good." Dile smiled wryly. "If it were us white people, we wouldn't even be able to dream of it."
The recording studio phone rang again. A+ picked it up casually, and Mira's crying came from the other end. "That person is still in the hotel lobby. That person hasn't left yet..." she stammered. "That agent, he has photos."
"Calm down, Mira, calm down, explain what happened!" Song Ya tried to persuade her. "Eric, call a taxi."
He rushed to the hotel with Eric and DeLay, and immediately spotted the old white man who had previously tried to extort money from him with photos in the lobby.
"You son of a bitch!" he cursed through gritted teeth, this time he was truly angry.
"Hey! Don't be impulsive..." The old man pointed to the hotel security guard who was looking over, "Let's go over there and talk, it won't take up much of your time."
A+ left Eric and Dilla at the door and followed him to a corner of the lobby.
"I've done my homework this time. I've seen you again, haha, boy…" The old man grinned slyly. "My girl should still have a chance."
"Mira is Daniel's chosen candidate. Aren't you afraid of offending him?" A+ tried his best to remain calm.
"Of course, Daniel won't change his choice, but what if Mira withdraws voluntarily?"
The old man took out the photos again. "Mila is the lead actress in a movie that Columbia Pictures is investing millions of dollars in for the second half of the year. I think Columbia will be very concerned that their rising star is dating a black boyfriend, right? Records or movies, Mrs. Jovovich upstairs is having a hard time deciding... That movie called 'Back to the Blue Lagoon' is a great opportunity. It's a remake of Brooke Shields! Mila has a chance to be on par with Brooke Shields! Guess who her mother will give up? Oh, I forgot to mention, they're probably upstairs crying their eyes out right now."
A+ laughed instead. "I admire your perseverance, but I'm also quite surprised by your stupidity. Do you think I wouldn't investigate these things before choosing a girlfriend? What's so precious about a scantily clad movie on the beach? If I were you, would you want to watch your girlfriend make that kind of movie? Besides, Brooke Shields was already fully nude in 'Beauty and the Beast' when she was thirteen. What good would it do me if Milla copied her? Go ahead and release the photos. I'd love for Milla's movie to fail! Even if Milla quits, your girl won't get a chance! Besides, Michael Jackson was Brooke Shields' boyfriend, wasn't he black? Which film company made things difficult for Brooke Shields because of that?"
The old man was stunned. "That's Michael Jackson." He sneered at Alex. "You're Aplus."
"FXXXYOU! My secondhand shop song, which I created when I was fifteen, reached number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100 in its first week!"
One sentence silenced the old man. He lowered his head just like Robert, thought for a few minutes, and then raised his head and said, "Ten thousand dollars, buy my negatives."
A+ pulled out his checkbook, signed a few times, tore off a check, and threw it at the other person's face. "Here's five thousand dollars for you to buy a coffin, Eric! Dilla!"
He called the two men over and said, "Keep an eye on him and get all the negatives back!"