CH 48

For a beautiful actress who won the Best Supporting Actress Award only one year after her debut, Ning Xi’s success was more or less assured, unless she deliberately courted trouble.

The emcee who asked her the question was a famous host from a popular talk show. He had a penchant for delving into the thoughts and emotions of his guests. Hence, when he had stopped her and asked the question, Ning Xi was only surprised, not offended.

An emcee who was willing to stop and question a rookie was giving the rookie more exposure. The question posed to Ning Xi was not a difficult one; and answered properly, Ning Xi’s popularity would surely increase.

“The critiques from audiences are also a form of attention. It’s only because of this that I’m able to further my horizons, and do better”. Ning Xi smiled simply, “Moreover, I don’t think that the label of a “vase” is negative, I should thank these people for praising my looks”.

Even if she was unhappy with the question, she answered it in a dignified manner.

The host applauded her response, “You have now shown that your acting skills are not a fluke, and your hard work has paid off. Congratulations once again for winning this award”.

“Thank you”. Ning Xi thanked the host, and walked back to her seat with the award.

Yunyue of the Han Dynasty’s ratings and reviews had been sky-high. Hence, the Best Television Series award went to Director Xu. While Zhou Haili’s performance as Wei Zifu had been outstanding in the drama, she did not win the Best Actress Award as the show focused more on the male characters. The Best Actor Award went to the actor for Emperor Wu, Liu Zhendong.

By the end of the awards ceremony, Yunyue of the Han Dynasty had received five awards, namely the Best Actor, Best Drama, Best Script, Best Supporting Actress and Best Soundtrack awards.

It was no surprise that the Best Soundtrack Award would go to Yunyue of the Han Dynasty. From the beginning of the broadcast, many had praised the soundtrack for including the emotions and atmospherics resembling the Han Dynasty. The crew had been very conscientious in picking out even the smallest details in the music.

As for Ning Xi, her role in the drama had even resulted in her becoming an essential part of all posts regarding beauties in ancient outfits, and this earned her many fans as well.

After the conclusion of the awards ceremony, Ning Xi took on some interviews arranged by Zhang Qingyun. These media outlets had good relations with Jiuji Entertainment, hence their questions were more reserved. Ning Xi was also cooperative, and provided them materials to report on. This greatly improved the reporters’ impression of her.

Later, when a reporter had published an anonymous article on a forum on celebrities’ EQs, Ning Xi was placed into the category of celebrities with higher EQ.

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Returning home from the awards ceremony, NIng Xi took a selfie with her trophy and posted it on Weibo.

[Ning Xi]: “The first award of my life, I’m so excited that I’ll bring it to bed tonight~” (picture attached)

Ning Xi put her phone away, as she went to remove her make-up. When she refreshed her feed a short while later, there were already close to three thousand replies to her post, congratulating her, and commenting on her cuteness.

Most award-winning celebrities would try to show their humbleness or indifference to such accolades; few were like Ning Xi, who would innocently take a picture to show how happy she was.

However, this was what pleased the fans, that Ning Xi was very realistic, down-to-earth, and adorable.

For a young lady who had just entered the entertainment industry, how could she not be excited or happy about her first award?

While the fans appreciated her honesty, they also advised her to not be so honest in future. As much as they loved seeing this side of her, she would not be seen as poise.

The clip on Ning Xi’s interview onstage had also been posted on the Internet. Many had praised her for her open-mindedness, garnering even more likes for her.

After all, what crime did celebrities commit for having good looks? There were always people who would on the surface compliment others’ good looks, but at the same time belittle their other capabilities in order to overshadow them.

Perhaps in reality, these were the same people who would talk behind others’ backs, and even laugh or ridicule them.

Truth be told, how good were the characters of these people who constantly commented on others’ looks?

Ning Xi put down her phone and yawned, then adjusted her air conditioner and snuggled in bed.

The talk of insomnia from the excitement … was all a lie.

Ning Xi had barely rested for the past two days. She had to film the ad and participate in the promotional photoshoot for Qingfeng Fashion. Now that she had won the Best Supporting Actress at the Feiyu Awards, Qingfeng Fashion was even more enthusiastic about their cooperation, and even regretted their decision to sign her on for only a year.

Qingfeng’s marketing director looked at the photos from Ning Xi’s shoot. The more he looked, the more he lamented the decision to sign Ning Xi on for only a year because of her popularity.

“Director”, the employee glanced at his director’s regretful look and thought that he was unhappy about Ning Xi’s photos, and asked, “Is there anything wrong?”

“It’s precisely because it’s too good that I can’t bear to part with her”, the Director sighed, “It’ll probably be hard to get her to work with us again next year”.

The impartiality of the Feiyu Award was undeniable. Ning Xi’s future was promising, as she had the looks, the acting skills, and the backing of a strong entertainment company.

He was far too short-sighted.

Ning Xi’s appearance in Qingfeng’s gown had garnered much praise. Qingfeng rode on the hype, and the company saw an increase in sales over the past week.

As a company, what was critical was not endorsement fees, but whether their spokesperson would drag their company’s name down.

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“Just received news that Qingfeng’s sales had a marked increase after you appeared at the Feiyu Awards in that bespoke piece,” Zhang Qingyun handed a datasheet over to Ning Xi, “I reckon that many other companies would be looking to cooperate with you soon”.

“No matter what, it’s better to look at the quality of the products before accepting the endorsement”, Ning Xi flipped through the document in her hands, “As a celebrity, I might not be doing anything patriotic, but I can’t dupe the public”.

Zheng Qingyun paused, then nodded, “Right, I’ll monitor the quality of the projects closely in future, so that you won’t have to dupe people”.

“Thank you, Brother Zhang”. Ning Xi thanked Zhang Qingyun sincerely. A manager’s income was tied to how much their artistes’ earned. The higher her expectations towards the quality of the endorsements were, the less Zhang Qingyun would earn. However, Zhang Qingyun still stood by her decision.

In the entertainment industry, there were managers who would treat their artistes wholeheartedly, but there were others who would exploit their artistes. She was lucky to have met the former.

“There’s nothing to thank me for. I still want to nurture you into a top celebrity. If you endorse those inferior products, then it will affect your popularity and image.” Zhang Qingyun smiled, “Oh, and I’ve helped you accept the lead role in a modern lighthearted movie. The director is Lin Shujie. If you have no objections, then we’ll arrange for a time to sign the contract”.

“Lin Shujie?” This was a name that was familiar to Ning Xi. He was known as a genius commercial director; all his movies were box-office hits, and hence he was popular amongst producers.

As he always filmed commercial films, he had no luck with awards. Fortunately, he wasn’t bogged down by that, and did not film unsuitable art films for the sake of winning awards. Instead, he succeeded in the realm of commercial films, and became the top amongst commercial film directors.

Ning Xi was flattered that such a popular director had invited her to play the lead role, even without an audition.

After reading the script, Ning Xi finally understood why she had been offered the lead role. The female lead of the movie was a beautiful, but unlucky white collar worker. One moment she appeared innocent and beautiful, the next moment, she would fall into unflattering situations.

Her life story was sad; any deals that she negotiated would end up in failure.

Of course, this was not the worst. By a stroke of luck, she signed a large deal, but soon found out that her boyfriend had been cheating on her. This pretty but unlucky white collar finally unleashed her violent side, and started beating up her boyfriend in front of the other girl, almost losing control of her life.

Later, she met a peculiar President; this was a man blessed by the gods. However, when he saw how she took down her boyfriend, he fell in love with her at first sight.

Truth be told, this President really had unique tastes.

Following a series of both lucky and unlucky events, they finally ended up together.

The movie followed a cliched structure - a third party, a scandal, a handsome and rich President, these were standard elements of fast-food stories. But the saving grace of this movie was the character of the female lead. She was down on her luck but did not indulge in self-pity; she also hit her boyfriend, but never raised a finger against the third party.

The plot also did not have any scenes of the female lead fighting for the affections of the President, as the supporting females eventually became supportive of the female lead.

While there were also scenes where the mother of the male lead would try to pay the female lead off, and where the female lead would be ridiculed for relying on the male lead, but all of these situations would be diffused in a way that would make the audience applaud.

After reading the script, Ning Xi realised why Lin Shujie would be so successful, because he was good at catching the interest of the audience. For instance, this script, named Rolling Good Fortunes, was full of cliches, but there were many elements that attracted audiences, and was much suited for the female market.

Elements of self-improvement, viciously beating up cheaters, an overbearing President, and a majestic aura, these fulfilled the various requirements of audiences.

“Brother Zhang, I’ll accept this role,” Ning Xi smiled. “The female lead in Director Lin’s movies is so popular, I wouldn’t want to lose this opportunity”.

Very soon, both sides signed a contract. The filming was scheduled to start at the end of the following month, which coincided with the conclusion of The Legendary Chronicles of Tanhai’s promotions. This meant that there would also not be clashes in Ning Xi’s schedules.

The producers were extremely satisfied with the success of Yunyue of the Han Dynasty, hence generously provided a bonus to everyone in the production team. While Ning Xi only took on a supporting role, she was given a very generous bonus due to her Best Supporting Actress award.

A gathering would always follow after a bonus, this was common in the industry. Producers would always have to treat the crew with an extravagant meal after the success of their production, or they would seem miserly.

The atmosphere in the production team was good. The actors, directors and producers were all upright people, hence all of them enjoyed themselves when they gathered.

The men at the table were all gentlemanly, none of them forced the ladies to drink, hence even by the end of the night, Ning Xi did not have to drink much.

On the way back from the washroom, she passed a room that was not properly closed, hence she could hear the conversations from within.

“What’s the deal with Chang Shi Gui? Everyone knows that he can’t even successfully pursue a female actress, so many people are laughing at him behind his back”.

“That’s true. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t be in the same predicament. He’s a forerunner in the business world, but he can’t conquer a woman. I heard that this woman is quite successful in the entertainment industry, and even had a scandal with another male actor. For Chang Shi Gui to be grovelling after her, isn’t he such a loser?”

“Maybe it’s just his nobility?”

“What nobility? I think this actress is just ungrateful. If any woman were to play hard-to-get with me, I’ll ensure that she can’t survive in the industry.”

These rich kids felt nothing but hatred towards Chang Shi Gui.

These people became even more vulgar in their conversations, and used Ning Xi as conversation fodder to unleash their unhappiness towards Chang Shi Gui, as if they had finally found the weakness of a strong person, each of them flaunting the ugly sides of their personalities.

Ning Xi did not continue to eavesdrop; she looked through the cracks of the door at the three people who were still engrossed happily in their conversation, then left with a solemn look.

How dare they say that they were better than Chang Shi Gui, when they didn’t even have the sense to close the door properly when they were gossiping behind people’s backs?

“Xixi, what’s wrong?” Zhou Haili noticed Ning Xi’s expression, and asked softly, “Are you feeling tipsy?”

“I’m fine”, Ning Xi smiled, then said calmly, “I just met a few retards”.

Ning Xi regretted her words immediately, as she felt that those with mental illnesses at least had a pure heart. To describe those people as retards was an insult to the people who had mental issues.

Zhou Haili did not probe further, but commented, “It’s fine, you’ll get used to it”.

Ning Xi smiled with a nod.

But Ning Xi’s heart still felt uncomfortable, who were they to insult Chang Shi Gui? Just because they were retards?

When the celebrations ended, Ning Xi saw the few men who had bad-mouthed Chang Shi Gui standing in front of a car, their faces full of smiles.

The car looked strangely familiar to her, she had probably seen it somewhere before.