CH 9

It was just before Christmas. The Empire’s annual “Nolan Film Festival” was to be held on Christmas Eve. For his superb acting skills in playing five roles, where the audience admired them all, Qin Yize was nominated for the “Best Actor” award of the year.

The Nolan Film Festival was the largest and most influential film festival in the empire. This year’s film festival was equally competitive, especially for the “Best Actor” award. Five people had been nominated, including Qin Yize. The other four were also super popular stars. For example, Xiao Zhuo, the actor who played the leading role in the literary film “Corner” in the first half of the year, had as many fans as Qin Yize, and was also Qin Yize’s biggest competitor.

However, Xiao Zhuo was caught in a scandal recently. The paparazzi squatted for him near the villa area where he was staying, but instead of finding him, they bumped Qin Yize. The two met at the venue, and their seats were arranged right next to each other.

When Xiao Zhuo saw Qin Yize, he approached him with a half-smiling smile, lowered his voice and said in his ear, “The paparazzi were squatting for me at the back door of the villa area. You bumped into them twice in a row. You are unlucky enough.”

Then Qin Yize also said helplessly: “I really have bad luck recently.”

Xiao Zhuo asked curiously: “Who is your little lover?”

Qin Yize frowned: “Don’t talk nonsense, he’s not an ordinary person, you can’t afford to offend him.”

Qin Yize had a headache when talking about this topic. He and Luo Ning originally intended to “pretend to be a couple” to stabilize their parents. Unexpectedly, their parents urged them to have their wedding ceremony. His mother had already prepared a dowry and agreed with His Majesty to go to the palace to formally propose marriage on Christmas Day. He was worried about what to do tomorrow.

Seeing that Qin Yize’s face was ugly, Xiao Zhuo comforted: “No one remembers this kind of scandal in a few days, so you don’t need to care.”

Qin Yize said “um”, obviously not wanting to talk anymore, and Xiao Zhuo did not chat anymore as well.

On the surface, these two super-popular stars had always been in a competitive relationship. In fact, Xiao Zhuo was one of Qin Yize’s few friends in the entertainment industry. However, Qin Yize didn’t want to tell him about Luo Ning. The fewer people who knew about this, the better, so as to avoid extraneous issues.

The award ceremony was carried out in an orderly manner, interspersed with the performances of many big names in the music world.

Luo Ning didn’t go to the scene, just watched the live broadcast at the palace. He had no interest in the previous awards. It was not until the “Best Actor” award was presented that Luo Ning immediately cheered up and stared at the holographic screen in front of him.

The host said aloud: “The best actor in the 28th Nolan Film Festival is—” She deliberately tried to create a mystery, then opened the envelope and said with a smile, “The Replicant Project”, Qin Yize!”

Qin Yize stood up from his seat, shook hands with the people around him who were congratulating him in turn, and hugged Xiao Zhuo before turning around and walking towards the big stage.

He was wearing a black tuxedo today. The tailored tuxedo highlighted his figure and made him look taller and more handsome. Under the spotlight on the scene, Qin Yize’s face was enlarged on the screen. The man’s facial features were as handsome as gods, especially the tall nose bridge and deep eyes, which were unforgettable.

A barrage immediately popped up in the webcast room: “Mom asked me why I was kneeling to watch the live broadcast, it was because I saw the male god!” “My male god is handsome, and I cried!” “Does the male god still lack a sweeping robot at home?” “Husband, look at me!” “He’s obviously my husband!” “Rivals, draw your swords!”

Luo Ning couldn’t help laughing at the crazy barrage of Qin Yize’s fans – if you knew your family’s male god was going to be dragged into the grave of marriage by me, would you drown me in a mouthful of saliva?

At the award ceremony, after taking the golden trophy from the awarding guests, Qin Yize picked up the microphone and said a few words of thanks: “Thank you, Director Xi, for giving me this opportunity to challenge the difficulty of playing five roles at the same time. Thank you to everyone in the crew for their help during the filming process; I thank the agency for taking care of me; I am also very grateful to the fans for their continued love and support. I am very happy to receive this trophy, but for me, this trophy is just a starting point, I will continue to push myself in the future to bring you more and better works.”

After that, Qin Yize bowed deeply to the audience. The scene was immediately overwhelmed by warm applause and crazy screams, and the barrage area became blurred by “male gods” and “husbands”.

After Qin Yize won the “Best Actor”, it was followed with Xi Wei winning the “Best Director Award”, and “The Replicant Project”, a film with both box office and word of mouth, became the biggest winner this year. At the same time, it also won the “Best Editing”, “Best Music” and the heavyweight “Best Movie of the Year”.

As a book fan, Luo Ning was of course happy that the adaptation of the book could be a great success.

It’s a pity that he was only happy for less than five minutes when His Majesty Caesar’s text message popped up: “Tomorrow Yize’s parents will come to the palace to formally propose marriage, you should prepare well and don’t be rude in front of the elders.”

Luo Ning’s mouth twitched: Can I not go?!

….

After the awards ceremony that night, Director Xi Wei took the initiative to invite everyone in the crew of “The Replicant Project” to dinner and gave everyone a big red envelope to celebrate the film’s box office breaking 4 billion. The atmosphere of the celebration banquet was warm, and Qin Yize, the leading actor, drank some wine.

On the way back, Li Xin drove while Qin Yize sat in the back seat with his eyes closed. Li Xin thought he was drunk and didn’t bother him, but when he turned the corner, Qin Yize suddenly asked, “Li Xin, if I told you that I might be getting married soon, what would you do?”

Li Xin almost collided with the navigation screen, hurriedly parked the hover car, turned his head and stared at him as he asked, “Are you drunk and confused?”

Qin Yize opened his eyes with a serious look: “I’m not drunk, I’m serious.”

Seeing that he didn’t look like he was joking, Li Xin immediately felt a “squeak” in his heart, and said anxiously: “What’s the matter?”

Qin Yize was silent for five seconds before explaining in a low voice, “I met Director Xi’s nephew, Lin Luo at the premiere last month, well his real identity is His Royal Highness the Second Prince. We wanted to pretend to be a couple to hide from our parents, but it turned out to be self-defeating. His Majesty asked us to get married as soon as possible. Tomorrow my parents will go to the palace to formally propose and discuss the details of the wedding.”

Li Xin: “……………………” I really want to catch these two naive guys and beat them up! Don’t they know what playing with fire is?

Qin Yize also knew that he was right, so he touched his nose embarrassedly, and said, “You are my agent, and I don’t want to hide from you. If I get married in the future, I need you to take care of everything so that the news won’t leak out.”

Li Xin beat his head hard with his hands: “What did I do to meet an artist like you? Can I resign tomorrow?”

Qin Yize hurriedly stopped him: “Don’t. You brought me up with one hand. What should I do if you leave?”

Li Xin rolled his eyes and thought for a moment with a frown, before he said, “There are many celebrities who have hidden marriages, and I can sort it out with the media. It’s just, Yize, are you really sure you want to get married so sloppily? The other party is His Royal Highness. You are marrying this great god. Have you ever thought that it is easy to invite a god in but not to send them out? As far as I know, the second prince is His Majesty’s most beloved son, he is not someone you can afford to offend!”

Qin Yi said: “I know that, if I have to get a ‘fake marriage’, I will try to keep my distance from him after marriage.”

Li Xin still felt that it was inappropriate to do so, but once Qin Yize had made a decision, it was useless for anyone to persuade him. He could only pray that the two great gods didn’t cause any major trouble, or as his manager he would surely have a heart attack.

….

After returning to the villa that night, Qin Yize took the initiative to send Luo Ning a video call request, and Luo Ning answered it quickly.

Luo Ning quickly adjusted his expression and smiled: “Congratulations on winning the Best Actor Award.”

“Thank you.” Qin Yize didn’t like to beat around the bush, so he went straight to the point: “What are you going to do tomorrow?”

Luo Ning scratched his hair awkwardly: “I don’t have any good ideas. My father just told me that your parents will officially propose marriage tomorrow, and the parents of both parties will discuss the details of the wedding. Do you think we can use any excuse to delay it?”

Qin Yize calmly analyzed: “Right now, there are two paths in front of us. One is to pull back from the precipice. Before things get worse, simply admit that we were acting and apologize to His Majesty and my parents in person…”

Luo Ning immediately denied: “No, my dad will rip my skin off!” Luo Ning had lingering fears when he thought about his younger brother’s bruised nose and swollen face. Now admitting that he was lying, wouldn’t it be courting death?

Qin Yize also knew that this road would not work, since now they had alarmed the elders on both sides, so it really wouldn’t end well. He sighed helplessly, looked at Luo Ning and said, “Then there is only the second option – just do the trick, continue the show, and hold a wedding according to the wishes of the elders.”

Luo Ning: “…”

Qin Yize: “…”

The two stared wide-eyed across the screen – they were most afraid of the sudden silence in the air.

The awkward silence lasted for a long time before Luo Ning coughed lightly and said, “Can we only get married?”

Qin Yize asked, “Do you have a better way?”

Luo Ning: “…No.”

Then Qin Yize paused, and asked in a low voice, “Then are you willing to marry me?”

Luo Ning touched his nose and smiled awkwardly: “I never planned to get married, but at this point, we are both in trouble. The wedding is just a formality. After I get married, I can move out of the palace and live somewhere else, which will save me a lot of trouble in the future.”

Qin Yize simply said, “If that’s the case, then let’s agree to get married.”

Hold a wedding banquet to reassure the parents. Couldn’t they live on their own after marriage? The two had their own ways, and it was impossible for their parents to monitor them 24 hours a day, and as soon as the two get married, they would no longer have to worry about being urged to marry. Thinking of this, Luo Ning nodded and said: “Okay, let’s agree to get married!”

Qin Yize asked, “Do you have any requirements for the agreement that needs to be followed after marriage?”

Luo Ning thought for a while, and said, “I have nothing. By the way, let’s sign a prenuptial agreement.” He quickly wrote a prenuptial agreement and sent it to him by mail. Qin Yize opened it up and saw that it was really well-organized—

On the surface, this agreement was very fair, taking into account many details of the marriage. In case of true love in the future, the agreed marriage could also end peacefully, which seemed very reasonable.

Qin Yize’s eyes swept over the terms of the agreement again, then he simply printed it out and signed it.

Both of them thought that with this agreement, after marriage, they could not interfere with each other and go their separate ways. But they overlooked one point – the most uncontrollable thing in this world is the human heart. How could two people get along day and night without going a step further?

More importantly, Luo Ning only wrote four clauses in the agreement, but did not write clearly, how to punish in case of breach of contract!