CH 2

CHAPTER 2—The Worst Actor

The Interstellar Film Festival was held in October every year.

The first part was the Golden Laurel Awards, which represented victory and honor, and the second part was the Golden Toilet Awards, which has only focused on the “worsts” for many years.

Unlike the Golden Laurel Awards, which had a long history, its other half, the Golden Toilet was born only in recent decades.

Although it became popular in the Interstellar due to its unique gimmick, the organizers did not position it as entertainment, but instead seriously created an independent selection process with a slightly critical and ridiculous nature, and made it a first-line Interstellar award as famous as the Golden Laurel.

The Golden Toilet did not completely imitate the Golden Laurel Awards, and simplified many award categories, which were awarded to various main creators every year.

It’s just that no one has been willing to accept the award on stage for many years, and most of the guest seats in the front half of the film festival were always empty, which was a strange sight for any awards ceremony.

The only derogatory award ceremony in the Interstellar was both a carnival for the audience and a nightmare for creators.

And the person who had been ridiculed frequently by the media recently was the original body who was nominated for the “Worst Actor of the Year” Award.

If others were nominated or even won such an award, they would be furious at most, but when it came to the original, his mentality, which was already under tremendous pressure, instantly collapsed, and he even did such a stupid thing as to seek death.

The words “Golden Toilet” were exactly the taboo words that couldn’t be brought up as a topic, currently.

Xie Yu and his manager were speechless, both trying to find a suitable way to stir up the topic. But before he could speak, he heard a knock on the door.

Two heads poked in, a man and a woman, both of whom looked young.

Xie Yu’s eyes met theirs, and he immediately recognized their identities—the two assistants of the original body, Anna and Fei Chen.

“Brother Cheng, Ayu?” The blue-haired female assistant took a look inside first, and made sure that the two people in the room looked as usual, so she boldly asked, “Can we come in? I was worried. I heard that Ayu woke up already…” (TL: ‘Ayu’ is an affectionate call or a way to shorten Xie Yu’s name)

The brown-red haired male assistant then nodded as well in agreement.

Xie Yu quickly beckoned for the two to come in.

It wasn’t until the two assistants approached that he noticed the difference in the appearance of the three in front of him.

From Xie Yu’s perspective, Manager Zhou Cheng was like a native of Earth—although his facial features were three-dimensional, the combination was really ordinary. The eye and hair color was brown and black, which didn’t look obtrusive.

Anna’s shoulder-length blue hair and light-colored vertical pupils were not standard for humans on Earth.

Fei Chen was a little better, his facial features and hair color were similar to those of Westerners, but his body seemed a bit too tall…

Xie Yu scrutinized the space above Fei Chen’s head that was only palm-width, and secretly covered his three views that were about to be shattered. (TL: basically saying his mind was blown >.< )

“Ayu, are you feeling better?” Anna’s face was full of worry, and she was relieved when she saw him sitting up on the bed, “I was going crazy when Brother Cheng informed us.”

“Yeah, I also panicked and turned back to my original form, spinning all over the floor.” Fei Chen added on with a smile.

Xie Yu rolled his eyes, and immediately began to try and remember, and then understood what original form Fei Chen was talking about.

Anna was from the interstellar blue mouse tribe, blue hair and light pupils were the representative characteristics of this tribe.

Obviously, these kinds of creature did not originate from the Earth.

Fei Chen was even more special. He belonged to the long-eared dog family and had integrated part of the genes of the ancient Earth’s dog family.

Seeing that Xie Yu had become silent, Zhou Cheng took the initiative to speak up and ask, “What did you just say?”

“Golden Toilet Awards.” Xie Yu returned to his senses and looked at the three of them seriously, “Isn’t this our next agenda?”

Anna froze for a moment, her neck receded in fright, her eyes became wide open, and she rushed to talk, “Ayu, we’ll take care of it, don’t worry about it!”

“What schedule?” Zhou Cheng, the agent, didn’t react immediately after hearing Xie Yu’s words, “You want to use this hype? Didn’t you not want to before… Actually, we don’t need to make a fuss about this thing. It’s not a good award.”

The more Zhou Cheng talked, the more he felt that the matter of the Golden Toilet had to be turned over quickly and taken care of by their team.

Seeing everyone’s reactions, Xie Yu smiled helplessly, and said his thoughts neatly, “I think, since I have been nominated, I should be ready to receive the award.”

After Xie Yu finished speaking, Zhou Cheng and the others were stunned, startled, and finally became silent at the same time.

“Ayu, don’t worry.” Anna placed her hand on Xie Yu’s arm with a bitter face, “You are here because of this… just let this terrible thing disappear! Next year, who will remember that you had anything to do with such an award?”

“No one has ever gone to the Golden Toilet to accept an award.” Fei Chen added. Although he was also worried, his tone as he discussed the topic was obviously as if giving Xie Yu some advice.

Zhou Cheng’s brows were tightly furrowed, and he didn’t speak for a long time before he managed to utter a few words, “Are you alright?”

Xie Yu sat up straight, and with a very serious tone said, “We are a team, so let me tell you what I think, and everyone can see if it makes sense.”

“Okay.” Although Zhou Cheng still looked disapproving, he nodded.

“First of all, the Golden Toilet was voted on by many judges and the audience, right?” Xie Yu saw Anna nod, and then explained, “Then they nominated me, which means that some people really think that my acting is terrible. And it is very likely, there are not just a few who agree.”

“So what? There aren’t many works in the circle that haven’t received bad reviews.” Zhou Cheng spread his hands in shrug as he continued to speak, “Now actors and actresses who are in the limelight have also once been on the Golden Toilet list. Past criticisms are not counted, and will not affect them. They also eventually made it to the top.”

“But they were also ridiculed for many years until they came up with good works.” Xie Yu agreed with Zhou Cheng’s statement, but he thought about it more thoroughly, “They avoid talking about their works that couldn’t be looked upon favorably. Doesn’t an avoidant attitude mean that they aren’t willing to be caught by the media talking about it for a lifetime?”

“That’s what I said, but as long as their later works are good, their reputation will still be maintained, and money will still be earned, and they’ll live a good life.” Anna retorted, “Some people even used the Golden Toilet to hype themselves, and they’ve been black and red for several years.” (TL: ‘black and red’ means they have high exposure or attention but not always in a good way)

“Those people earned more than a billion star coins, and finally bought a private planet for themselves.” Fei Chen interjected, in exchange for Anna’s puzzled look, wondering how he knew.

“But I don’t think they’re doing well or are having a good time.“ Xie Yu patted the side of the bed, motioning for Anna and Fei Chen, who had been standing all this time, to sit.

“Every award season, things are turned over and talked about and so they become nailed as a pillar of historical shame every year. I don’t think this counts as having a good life.”

“Ayu, don’t be impulsive.” Anna lost her mind, her face changed suddenly, and she held Xie Yu’s arm tightly, “Speak up if you have something to say, you still have a long time to live!”

""

The startled look clearly showed that she was terrified of Xie Yu committing suicide again.

“No, no, I’m just talking.” Xie Yu patted Anna’s hand comfortingly, explaining while dumbfounded by her reaction.

“I’m sorry everyone about this time. I will never have such thoughts in the future again. I mean that I don’t want to be burdened with the infamy and ridicule of ‘only listening to the good but not the bad’ all my life.”

“But you don’t need to accept the award. You’ll face a lot of pressure. The media’s attention will be all on you, and your name as an actor in that bad movie will be engraved.” Fei Chen thought that since the Golden Toilet had never had an award recipient before, their artist’s ideas were a bit too hasty.

“It’s okay. To be honest, I did act in a bad movie. Since everyone thinks so, I should bear the infamy.” Xie Yu just nodded, “Instead of avoiding it, it’s better to give an explanation directly and apologize to everyone.”

Anna and Fei Chen looked at each other, obviously they understood, but they also had a lot of concerns.

Zhou Cheng, who had been silent all this time, knocked on the side of the hospital bed after listening carefully to Xie Yu’s talk, and tilted his head thoughtfully.

Finding that everyone was looking at him, he expressed his thoughts, “…I think what Ayu said isn’t unreasonable.”

“Brother Cheng!” Anna was surprised by the manager’s betrayal, “Ayu is likely to be scolded in the headlines for several months! And the production team will not be happy about Ayu doing this…”

Zhou Cheng interrupted Anna by raising his hand, and only looked at Xie Yu, “The more the artist evades, the more enthusiastic the media will be, that’s true. Our cooperation has been over for a long time, and I don’t want to care about the attitude of the film studio. You are my artist… Accepting the award is a new idea, but now I have to confirm—if you really want to do this, can you bear the situation at the scene when receiving the award live and the public opinion after receiving the award?”

Zhou Cheng’s words were straightforward, bringing his suicide attempt back to the fore.

The Golden Toilet will only be the beginning, the subsequent pressure of public opinion that can affect Xie Yu the most, and thus affect the entire team were things that had to be faced if they did this.

Anna and Fei Chen turned their eyes away from Zhou Cheng, holding their breaths and waiting for their artist sitting on the hospital bed to speak.

Xie Yu pursed his lips, stretched out his hand to pat the hands of the three people standing by his bed one by one, and said seriously, “It’s ok, I who have died once because of this, and will no longer have any fear.” (TL: He’s talking about the original’s suicide and how he faced death and came back from it. But he could also be talking about his transmigration ‘death’. Hmm.)

“You promised. There will be no next time for such a stupid thing like today.” Zhou Cheng stood up and pointed at his artist.

Xie Yu sat there obediently, nodded firmly, and said a pun only he would understand, “Well, the current Xie Yu is not the previous Xie Yu.”

Anna blinked, and then subconsciously followed Zhou Cheng and stood up. Fei Chen saw the manager’s attitude, and looked meaningfully at Xie Yu on the hospital bed whose attitude was quite different.

Perhaps because he was more introspective after he tried to commit suicide and was rescued, Xie Yu changed his original restrained and serious personality, and became more cheerful and sunny.

And this change was undoubtedly what the three of them were glad to see.

“There is one last thing.” Zhou Cheng recalled something again, “There was a lot of movement at the emergency rescue center, and the reporters around your apartment probably know about the news for quite a time already. Therefore, what happened to you today has probably spread out of control already.”

Xie Yu raised his eyebrows in response, quickly accepted it, and nodded with a calm face.

Zhou Cheng crossed his arms, stood at the end of the bed and looked at Xie Yu, who had worked with him for many years. Then, after a while, he nodded in resignation, with an irrepressible smile on his face.

“The Golden Toilet Awards will be presented the day after tomorrow. You will travel to Star No. 32.” He paused, “The journey will take about ten hours…”

Xie Yu was waiting for Zhou Cheng’s words to be finished and then asked, “So, we’ll set off immediately?”