CH 76

October 29, 2022kaychandra

Chapter 76: Opening of the Golden Leaf Awards

At 4:00 PM, the Golden Leaf Award venue was already crowded with journalists and staff. The reporters sent by Flower Country were crammed into the pile of reporters, and their faces were pale from the various smells.

Tao Dayou was a reporter for Channel 8 of the National Station. He and his colleague, because of their status as reporters of the National Station, occupied a good position for filming under the arrangement of the organizer, and he was surrounded by a number of media reporters from other countries.

“Are you from Strawberry Country or Mulberry Island?” The closest person to him was a colleague from Midi Country. [1] He had a bright and friendly smile on his face, so that Tao Dayou couldn’t get angry even if he was displeased.

“No, I’m from Flower Country.” Tao Dayou forced a smile from the corners of his mouth, his expression a little off.

“Oh.” His Midi Country counterpart shrugged, trying to make his face look friendlier. “I like Flower Country’s food the best.”

Tao Dayou became even more depressed. At the opening of this film festival awards ceremony, had their country’s film works fallen to the point that they had to rely on food to regain their self-esteem?

“Thank you.” The smile on Tao Dayou’s face was about to become rigid.

The poor Midi Country counterpart also realized that his words didn’t seem quite right, but there really wasn’t much to praise about Flower Country’s film productions. He racked his brain and suddenly remembered that Qiao also seemed to have been nominated at this festival.

“I forgot to congratulate you, I heard that Qiao was nominated for Best Actor.” Mr. Midi Country winked at Tao Dayou, with a mysterious face. “The news hasn’t been released yet, but I think you might need the good news.”

A Best Actor nomination?

Qiao? Nominated for Best Actor?

Tao Dayou’s spirit was shaken. Was this foreign reporter talking about Gongxi Qiao?

Because of the status of their country’s film and television industry internationally, their entertainment reporters weren’t as up-to-date as some countries with developed entertainment when it came to news. However, he was a reporter for the National Station, after all. Before the news was confirmed, he wouldn’t freely make statements that might cause misunderstandings, so he also shrugged his shoulders like his counterpart from the Midi Country and said, “Thank you very much. If Gongxi Qiao really got nominated, I think many fans in my country will be happy.” After saying these words, he felt some emotion in his heart. The cast of “The Greatest Warrior” was really calm and collected. They didn’t let out even a bit of gossip about such an important matter.

At the sound of this, the Midi Country reporter couldn’t help but feel some sympathy. They were satisfied just by being nominated. The people of Flower Country were so easily satisfied.

Oh, the lovely people of Flower Country.

Undeniably, this Midi Country reporter’s friendly performance also carried an indescribable sense of superiority under the surface. Who told Flower Country to be so rich that many people were envious and jealous of their rich tycoons? So to be able to sympathize with the shortcomings of Flower Country, they still had some secret pleasure in their hearts.

This time, the nominations for the best male lead included an artist from Flower Country, which was actually quite a surprise. However, all the media outlets who knew this news didn’t take it seriously. As everyone knew, Qiao’s calligraphy and painting was outstanding. He was an excellent calligrapher and painter. However, a good calligrapher and painter wasn’t necessarily a good actor. They didn’t have high expectations for Qiao’s acting skills.

What was more, he wanted to get a best actor award by virtue of a martial arts film? That was ridiculous. Those kinds of martial arts films were no longer in fashion. No one really believed that Flower Country people could walk on walls and dance with swords and staves.

Of course, despite this, Flower Country was still damn rich. Mr. Midi Country turned his head to look at the live satellite truck marked with the Flower Country logo.

Even though the great Flower Country people knew they wouldn’t win the award, they were willing to spend a lot of money on a live broadcast just for the fun of it!

Many artists had already arrived early. Those who knew each other were all crowded together for photos, creating a cordial and friendly look.

Gongxi Qiao was probably the most popular Flower Country artist on the scene, because since he appeared, many foreign entertainers took the initiative to take pictures with him. Handsome men and beautiful women took the initiative to gather around Gongxi Qiao, which finally made the Flower Country journalists find some pride.

Just as Gongxi Qiao was taking pictures with other artists, a female Flower Country artist in a fishtail evening gown squeezed over and smiled at Gongxi Qiao and said, “Qiao Shao.” Then, she squeezed in next to Gongxi Qiao, taking the opportunity to appear in the same photo with many international celebrities.

In fact, Gongxi Qiao didn’t know the heavily made-up female artist at all. He found several domestic reporters snapping away at the female artist directly in front of him, and he immediately felt confident that these journalists could’ve been brought here by the female artist herself.

After taking a few photos, Gongxi Qiao nodded to the female artist, whom he didn’t know. The female artist still tried to stick to him, but was stopped by the loyal Xu Chao and Mi Yue under the pretense of taking a photo with him.

At this point in time, it was nearly the wee hours of the morning in their homeland. Channel 8 of the National Station started broadcasting live half an hour in advance. So when some night owls turned on their TVs, they saw a certain female artist brazenly rubbing up against Gongxi Qiao and posing for a photo with a bunch of international big shots.

Many fans in their country were a bit dumbfounded. Who was this female artist with overly gaudy makeup? Weren’t there only two nominees from their country this time? Where did this girl come from?

Gongxi Qiao had just gotten rid of the inexplicable female artist when he saw a somewhat serious and chubby person approaching him.

“Oh, Qiao, we finally meet again. How are you?” Director Phillips, the director of the “Golden Manor” crew in which Gongxi Qiao had previously made a guest appearance, showed a big smile when he saw Gongxi Qiao in the crowd. He gave Gongxi Qiao a friendly hug.

“I’m fine, Director Phillips,” Gongxi Qiao said, noticing that the lead actor and actress of “Golden Manor” were still standing not far away. “It looks like your crew is destined to return fully loaded tonight.”

“I hope so,” Phillips said with an air of resignation, “but who knows what kind of surprises will happen before the results are announced?”

Some journalists from Flower Country noticed the interaction between Director Phillips and Gongxi Qiao early on. The National Station didn’t miss the footage and transmitted it back to the country via satellite.

The staying-up-late crowd sat in front of their TVs, feeling a bit emotional. In the past, most of their artists who went out of the country were just playing around on their own or had to take the initiative to join in and play around with others. Now finally, a big shot took the initiative to play around with one of their country’s artists.

As expected of Qiao Shao, his charm was three hundred and sixty degrees without dead angles, and he was able to make a killing abroad in seconds.

The viewers in front of the TV were still feeling emotional when they saw the main male and female actors of “Golden Manor” on the TV taking the initiative to come towards Gongxi Qiao. They were both very cordial and friendly talking with Gongxi Qiao and seemed to have some friendship.

OMFG[1], Qiao Shao was simply awesome!

Compared with Gongxi Qiao who was like a fish in water, Du Xinyu felt a little unhappy. It was hard for her to get an invitation to the Golden Leaf Awards by relying on her identity as the spokesperson of a regional product. She thought that even if Gongxi Qiao didn’t know her, he would give her enough face to let her take a few more photos. However, she didn’t know that Qiao Shao was so popular abroad that she wouldn’t even be able to squeeze in, and there were even people around who specifically got in her way.

What’s more, just when she thought Gongxi Qiao couldn’t care less about his fellow country’s artists, he occasionally brought along the artists and creators of “The Greatest Warrior” to take photos, but never took the initiative to take a photo with her.

No matter how frustrated she was, she didn’t dare to show it on the surface and instead tried her best to smile perfectly. She waved towards the media every now and then, pretending that someone was taking pictures of her, and also watched the whole scene, trying to find an opportunity to come closer to Gongxi Qiao.

One step, two steps. Just as she was about to approach Gongxi Qiao, a staff member suddenly approached the crowd to inform them that the opening ceremony was about to start and that everyone should prepare to walk down the red carpet.

So she could only watch as Gongxi Qiao was led further and further away from her by the staff. Her heart was almost broken.

In contrast, because Gongxi Qiao took several people from “The Greatest Warrior” along from time to time, they were able to take a lot of pictures. There were even some big names who took pictures with them alone for the sake of Gongxi Qiao, something they wouldn’t even dare to think about before they came. They were also embarrassed to take the initiative to do such things, okay?

Therefore, everyone’s goodwill towards Gongxi Qiao once again skyrocketed, and they also fully realized Gongxi Qiao’s international influence.

Looking at the entire entertainment industry now, probably even Gu Nan, who did the best in foreign countries, couldn’t compare to Gongxi Qiao’s current fame.

Chen Ke stood on the side, watching Gongxi Qiao’s prowess around foreign artists. His heart was really relieved, and he couldn’t help but have more ambition. If Gongxi Qiao could really open up international avenues, he wouldn’t have any regrets in his career as an agent.

The organizer actually arranged for Gongxi Qiao to walk the red carpet with the famous female artist Juliana.

Juliana was popular all over the world, and she had fans in every country. She was also a famous feminist, and her daily life consisted of acting and pursuing gender equality. Many of her fans playfully called her Queen Juliana.

Juliana was over 30 years old, but she had a devilishly beautiful body and sexy curly blonde hair, which was her trademark. However, this time, Gongxi Qiao walked the red carpet with her not because of the organizer’s arrangement, but because she took the initiative to ask for it.

Because of Gongxi Qiao’s “Miraculous Hands Growing Flowers” which became popular abroad, Juliana paid attention to him because of this matter. However, the reason why she really had a crush on Gongxi Qiao was Gongxi Qiao’s remarks about relationships between older women and younger men.

She appreciated this kind of man who didn’t believe in the world’s view of men and women, especially when he was also a talented man.

As they sat in a car, preparing to enter the venue, Juliana said, “You’re not quite what I imagined.” She thought that the person who could say “since there is no such thing as big brother-little sister love, there shouldn’t be big sister-little brother love” should be more wild and unrestrained, but she realized that he was a perfect gentleman.

“You look different from your photos too,” Gongxi Qiao said with a smile. “You are much more beautiful in reality than in photos.”

“Thank you for the compliment.” Juliana smiled with a sweet face. “I have to admit, you’re a discerning gentleman.” She raised her eyes to look out of the car. “I think that after tonight, there will be many beauties throughout Europe who will envy me for walking the red carpet with a perfect gentleman like you.”

“Won’t there be a lot of outstanding men envying me, too?” Gongxi Qiao asked rhetorically with a smile.

The two hadn’t spent time together before, but after a brief conversation, the atmosphere had become very friendly. Juliana was sexy and charming, and Gongxi Qiao was graceful and elegant, causing the live media’s cameras to focus on them.

The red carpet, which was more than 20 meters long and nearly 10 meters wide, was dominated by the two of them. Cast members from Strawberry Country were walking in front of the two of them, waving their hands to thank the media throughout, but in fact, except for the media from their own country, no reporter was willing to focus on them at all.

“Juliana, Qiao Shao, please look this way.”

Juliana had dealt with Flower Country media before, so after discerning which direction Flower Country language was coming from, she half covered the corner of her mouth with her delicate hand and said, “Your country’s media is so enthusiastic, let’s let them take a few pictures of us together.”

Gongxi Qiao also saw the reporters from his homeland. He walked to that direction with Juliana, then smiled and waved in greeting.

Tao Dayou’s hands were sore from pressing the shutter, but even so, the smile on his face didn’t fade, but grew brighter and brighter.

Gongxi Qiao’s female companion was Juliana. That was the world-famous Juliana!

“Oh, Qiao is really blessed.” The reporter from Midi Country sighed. But at this moment, Tao Dayou no longer had the inclination to pay attention to him.

The two had a lot of media attention from the beginning to the end. Simply, wherever they went, the camera followed them. If someone stood at the autograph stand and looked down, they would clearly see this amazing scene.

The two walked the red carpet that was more than 20 meters neither too fast nor too slow. It took more than two minutes to walk the whole way. When it came to signing his name, Gongxi Qiao didn’t follow the example of other artists who spoke foreign languages, but wrote his name in Flower Country script.

At this time, the National Station didn’t forget to give a big close-up of his signature, and at the same time the camera also caught Juliana’s friendly conversation with him.

The late-night crowd, who stayed up late to watch the broadcast, said that whenever they thought Qiao Shao was already cool, he would always appear in an even cooler pose.

When Juliana treated Qiao Shao with such intimacy, they wouldn’t believe it if they said they didn’t have any friendship!

Also, the organizers of the Golden Leaf Awards were really generous this time. Not only did they arrange for Qiao Shao to walk the red carpet with an international superstar, but even the “The Greatest Warrior” crew walked the red carpet in a good position. Did this year’s organizers show extra love for Flower Country culture?

Of course, the most important thing was that Qiao Shao was still so dazzling and perfect beside the sexy Juliana. What a perfect and flawless man.

So this night, there were countless viewers in front of the TV set going crazy, and the major forums were even more high spirited to the extreme. Even though it was 12:00 A.M. Imperial Capital time, there were still many netizens on the forums constantly clicking on the photos from the opening ceremony of the Golden Leaf Awards.

In the past, they always taunted the actresses from their country who dawdled on the red carpet, but this time the most important focus was Gongxi Qiao. Some posters even showed photos of the male stars on the scene to compare their handsomeness with Gongxi Qiao. Although the red carpet hadn’t finished yet, a lot of teenage girl netizens already started to worry. Would there be a lot of foreign fans coming to snatch Qiao Shao from them after today?

When they thought about it, they felt so stressed.

At Xi’s estate, someone was sitting on the sofa, expressionlessly watching the handsome men and women on the TV. From time to time, he had to look down and refresh the forum news on his laptop.

Whenever a new photo of Gongxi Qiao appeared, it was saved with the fastest possible right click.

But…… In what way did that yellow-haired woman match with Xiao Qiao?

Were these netizens blind?

T/N

1. Based on context I’m pretty sure Strawberry country = South Korea, Mulberry Island = Japan, Midi Country = USA. Also in the raws at some point the author switched from Strawberry country to Long Stick country. I don’t know why. I’m staying with Strawberry to avoid confusion.

2. OMFG: 屮艸芔茻 internet slang that expresses basically the same thing.