Hollywood: The Greatest Showman

Chapter 195: Flaps of a Butterfly

Renly could feel George's sincerity and dedication. His dedication and obsession were touching, but that didn't mean he would change his lifestyle. When he would focus on his acting job, he would immerse himself in it; when he would participate in extreme sports like surfing, skydiving, and rock climbing, he would wholeheartedly enjoy life; of course, when the time was right, he would be willing to step into the recording studio again and take on the challenging task of recording a whole album.

He could sense George's urgency, but it didn't change his plans. So he nodded towards the figure standing at the bar and said, "I think Ed is good too, don't you?" It was the truth. Ed Sheeran was indeed an excellent music creator, perhaps still a bit immature now, but his talent was undeniable.

George hesitated for a moment, instinctively wanting to refuse, but the words were already at the tip of his tongue. He thought for a moment: Ed did show remarkable potential in his performance just now, but compared to Renly, Ed seemed too inexperienced. "How old are you this year?" George furrowed his brows slightly.

Renly chuckled, "Does that matter?" With that, Renly stood up and politely said, "Well then, I won't disturb your old friends' gathering anymore. I hope you have a wonderful night here." Then he turned and left without hesitation, leaving George and Stanley staring at each other.

Renly walked straight to the bar, looking at Ed's somewhat shy figure. He walked up to him, teasing lightly, "Are you worried about the legal drinking age in America? I thought as a Brit, you wouldn't care." In the US, the legal drinking age is 21, but in the UK, it's 18.

Ed picked up his beer, took a sip, and realized he only had a few sips. He couldn't help but chuckle awkwardly. Faced with the teasing, he didn't know how to respond and could only scratch his head and awkwardly tug at the corner of his mouth.

"Someone's looking for you over there," Renly nodded towards George and Stanley's direction, took a sip of his beer, and sighed contentedly.

"Who?" Ed turned to look, then looked back at Renly with a puzzled expression, "Why are they looking for me?"

Renly shrugged, "You shouldn't ask me, you should ask them." Patting Ed's shoulder, he said, "Go on, don't keep others waiting; it's not polite."

"Oh, okay." Ed hesitated for a moment, then realized what was going on and hurriedly put down his beer, quickly walking over.

"What does George want with you?" Neil asked curiously, wiping the beer glasses.

Renly raised an eyebrow, "Do you know George?"

Neil's bright smile was the best answer, "So? How did the discussion go? Is your album finally going to be planned? Can we see your album in the record store?" Neil was undoubtedly Renly's biggest supporter.

Renly leisurely took a sip of his beer, "I'm going to the Telluride Film Festival next week."

Neil's high expectations fell heavily, and he let out a disappointed groan, "Oh!" rolling his eyes speechlessly, he looked at Renly with resentment and disdain, but all of it hit Renly's gentlemanly smile and returned without success, leaving Neil dejected.

In the midst of conversation, Ed returned to the bar. His bewildered expression seemed to still not have figured out the situation. He stumbled over, looking a bit worried—Ed's return was much faster than expected, barely five minutes in total.

"Ed, how did it go?" Renly handed Ed his beer.

Ed took the beer dazedly, subconsciously poured it into his mouth, but couldn't stop, gulping down the whole glass, then slammed the glass on the table, took a deep breath, and suddenly felt light-hearted. "Wow." He exclaimed softly, then his emotions began to boil, unable to contain his excitement, he couldn't help but exclaim again, "Wow!" His eyes gradually lit up, as if he had come alive.

"I... I just got a record contract!" Ed's expression was filled with disbelief. The same words, but different reactions. Neil looked at Renly with a face of disdain, while Renly showed a big smile, and congratulated him.

Only now did Ed finally come to his senses. "I got a record contract!" He turned to Renly, incredibly excited, "George said I can enter the studio next week and start recording, and work on the whole album according to my ideas."

In fact, Ed had started recording when he was only fourteen in 2005. However, it was all just small-scale efforts, either singles or independent albums, with very limited copies published and unsold, piling up in warehouses gathering dust. Before coming to Los Angeles, he even signed with an independent record company, but the cooperation was terrible. After resolutely leaving that company, he chose to come to the US to seek opportunities.

Unexpectedly, after more than three months in Los Angeles with no success, he ended up in New York because of Renly's connection. In just one week, he won his first record contract—George said he would take him into the studio next week for "The A Team" recording, and then see how things went with Warner Music. If all went well, he would probably sign with one of Warner Music's labels.

For Ed, this was definitely a leap in his music career, a transformative one.

"Ah! Ahh!" Ed looked at Renly, wanting to express his inner joy but unable to find the right words. In the end, he could only scream excitedly, all his emotions turning into simple onomatopoeias, stomping on the ground, his widened eyes shining brightly, "Ahh!"

Renly's excitement was infected by Ed's, and he couldn't help but smile too.

But Ed still felt it wasn't enough, unable to control his shouting, "Renly! Renly! Renly!"

He could never have expected that his music dream would undergo such a drastic change because of an actor. If Renly hadn't gone to the convenience store to make a call that day, if he hadn't sung "Cleopatra" that day, if he hadn't chosen to perform near the Emmy Awards that night... then would none of this have happened. So where would his future be?

"Hehe." Renly laughed lightly, nodding repeatedly. Even he couldn't guess that Ed's music career would start from Pioneer Village.

But, stepping back, Renly felt uncertain. He was a butterfly, destined to flap his wings to change history—otherwise, his dreams would never come true, because there was no actor named "Renly Hall" in 2017; but where would this little butterfly's influence on others lead?

Renly could be sure that Ed had ultimately succeeded in the previous life, a tremendous success; but what he didn't know was how Ed had succeeded. He could only be sure that Ed had found opportunities in Los Angeles, but now Ed's opportunity was in New York, in Pioneer Village. So had Ed's future trajectory changed, and would it be different from the previous life?

All of this was an unknown.

Renly was excited but also apprehensive. Things were gradually deviating from their original course, and for sure, there would be good and bad consequences. But the unknown was part of the fun of life, wasn't it?

"Thank you, thank you," Ed's joy was overflowing, finding no outlet. He didn't know what Renly was thinking, he only knew that Renly's invitation had opened this door for him. Perhaps they had just met, or perhaps this was only their second encounter, but fate worked in mysterious ways, didn't it? Moreover, with songs like "Cleopatra" and "Ophelia," it was enough to make Ed and Renly friends.

Ed looked around, wanting to hug Renly, but it wasn't the British way of congratulating. In the end, he just picked up his beer—only to see the empty glass he had just finished drinking, which made things awkward. Ed and Renly exchanged a look and burst into laughter together.

"Neil, another round of beer, please?" Ed handed his glass to Neil. "Tonight is a great start, let's celebrate properly." Neil reluctantly poured the beer, but Ed didn't mind. He smiled brightly, "For the song 'Los Angeles'?"

Neil finally smiled and nodded, taking Ed's glass, "For 'Los Angeles.'"

"Shouldn't it be for New York?" A nearby patron overheard and interjected, then Neil and Ed both turned to look at Renly. "Yeah, shouldn't it be for New York?"

Renly had named that song "Los Angeles," mainly inspired by the City of Angels. He shrugged, raised his beer glass, and shouted, "For London!" He was British, and a Londoner, which wasn't a secret in Pioneer Village.

The banter elicited laughter from everyone.

As the night grew deeper, George Slender left, and Renly didn't stay long either. After celebrating with Ed for a while, he went home before Pioneer Village closed. Looking at the boxes piled up in his house, identical to when he left, still waiting for him to start organizing.

Tomorrow... tomorrow he would do it. Tonight was too late already, and organizing luggage and setting up a new home wasn't something that could be done in just fifteen or twenty minutes. It was a big task, so he would wait a little longer.

Renly dragged his tired body to the bathroom for a soak, then lay in bed, drifting into sleep. No tossing and turning, no struggling, just peacefully drifting off to sleep. Quiet, serene, a dreamless night, long overdue—it felt good to finally get a good night's sleep, Renly really did love sleeping.