I became a son-in-law in the United States

Chapter 37 Letters from Europe

"Mr. Luther, what should we do next?"

Seeing that more than half of the core staff had left in an instant, Reynolds was clearly panicked. The box office film company already had a small workforce, and now that half of them were gone, it would be almost impossible to carry out the work. Even an experienced veteran like Reynolds didn't know what to do at this moment.

He had thought that old Joseph would send a mild-mannered person, but Luther took action and wiped out half of them as soon as he got started, which showed his swift and decisive action.

"Reynolds, don't be sad. I'm just weeding out people who disagree with us. Keeping them around would only cause trouble in the end, wouldn't it?"

"That's true, but Mr. Luther, we can't work without them."

“That’s easy,” Luther stood up, walked to the window, and continued to Reynolds, “I’ll handle the script for the next project. You just need to maintain the existing team. Once I have the script and funding ready, we’ll start the new project as soon as possible.”

"Okay... alright..." Reynolds nodded.

He's already in his forties and has long lost the courage to take risks. If he can continue working in the box office, that would obviously be the best option.

Although the pay isn't as good as the "Big Four and Small Three" jobs, it's still a respectable job in Boston.

"Reynolds, just wait for my news."

After a pause, Luther left the office building without saying much.

On the way back, Luther looked at the street scenes of Boston, his mind racing, and he began to make plans.

Old Joseph had hardly left any money for the company; currently, the company's accounts only had a little over $4000 in cash left, enough to pay salaries for at most two or three weeks.

In other words, if Luther wanted to launch a new project during this period, he would need to handle the funding himself.

Could this also be a test for Joseph?

"It's not a test, it's just that they're stingy."

As for start-up capital, Luther currently only has $3000 from selling his pornographic poems, plus about $500 he just received from Kennedy. This amount of money seems like a lot, but it's far from enough to fund a film project.

Unlike silent films, the requirements for shooting sound films are much higher, even requiring the purchase of some professional equipment, and the requirements for set design are also higher.

Upon closer examination, the gap in the middle is at least $30000!

That's a considerable sum; even your brother-in-law wouldn't receive that much pocket money in a year.

So after thinking it over, I realized I had to find a solution myself.

Of course, Luther did have a way, which was to resell antiques. If the Europe-America route could be opened, earning 30,000 US dollars wouldn't be too difficult.

If this sound film is eventually produced, it will undoubtedly become a box office sensation, making the company the first to release a sound film.

Although this company is small and doesn't usually have much of a presence, they were the first to try something new.

Being number one has great significance in American society.

By then, there will be no shortage of attention and funding, and the box office of the film will soar, making it a truly influential and prominent production company.

This was Luther's plan.

Everything is ready now, and we're just waiting for news from Europe.

As expected, Luther had barely arrived home when the butler came looking for him, rushing over with a slight blush on his face.

Upon seeing Luther, Benson smiled politely and then took out two letters from his pocket.

"Mr. Luther, we received two private letters from Europe today, addressed to you."

After he finished speaking, he handed over the letters. Luther took them and saw that there were indeed two letters, one from his hometown and the other from Berlin.

After thanking Benson, Luther returned to his room and began reading the letters.

The first letter, unsurprisingly, was sent by Luther's former butler, Bird, who had been the Luther family's butler since he was young.

Even though Luther has been gone all these years, the old butler still guards the family property, waiting for Luther to return.

For a dutiful servant, nothing is more important than protecting his master's property, even though Luther's property wasn't worth much.

The old butler was delighted to receive Luther's letter and silently expressed his concern, hoping his young master would return soon.

Of course, the old steward did not disappoint Luther's most important task, and specially sorted out a batch of cultural relics, which would then be loaded onto a ship and transported over.

These artifacts mainly consist of letters and paintings, as well as some personal items collected by Luther's ancestors. They are not very valuable, but they should be sufficient to cope with the current difficulties.

At the end of the letter, the old butler wrote with great emotion:

"Young Master Luther, I am truly heartbroken to hear that you have married into an ordinary American family and become a laughingstock among the locals..."

After reading Luther's words, he smiled faintly, thinking that the old butler was obviously overthinking things. He was feeling very good and comfortable now, and he liked the feeling of starting from scratch with nothing.

Of course, when necessary, we still need to ask our ancestors for help, such as selling cultural relics.

Without hesitation, Luther replied with another letter. In the letter, he first thanked the old butler and then told him to take care of his health. He then told the old butler that it was not necessary to take the antiques from the Luther family. Any antiques belonging to old European nobles could be sent over first, and Luther would sell them in Boston and settle the accounts.

Throughout this process, Luther will adhere to the principle of "fair" trading, earning only a 5% commission on each transaction, and everyone can participate.

After finishing the letter, Luther shook his hand and finally let out a deep sigh of relief.

If Luther were to sell all of his own antiques, he would feel a little heartache, but selling other people's antiques was a different story.

Anyway, the whole of Europe is in a state of limbo right now, and there are plenty of nobles who want to sell antiques. Ironically, because there are so many of these things in Europe, hardly anyone is buying them.

After all, in the old aristocratic circle, who doesn't have some sex toys? Not only do they have them, but they are also old medieval models, so they don't sell for much money at all.

Conversely, if all these antiques could be gathered together and sent to the United States, that would be a different story.

After all, current U.S. law supports the trade in cultural artifacts, especially those from Europe, which don't even need to pay taxes when passing through customs.

The world and the times are still here; all that's missing is the right people. As long as the old nobles of Europe are willing to give their approval, Luther will be the one to make a fortune.

After finishing all that, Luther was about to go to sleep, but when he picked it up, he found there was another letter underneath.

He picked up the letter, glanced at the handwriting, and was instantly stunned.

"Gandalf Sidley??"