CH 37

Xiao Ke had been very meticulous. She had instructed Gu Qingchi on everything. She even had him practice how to pose several times.

Although he gave a different pose every time, the general idea was pretty similar for all of them. 

He put his hands in his pockets, gently raised his chin, and bent one leg. He looked very aloof and rebellious.

When he stopped, he was facing the photographers on one side. He then heard a shout and turned his head.

It was just a single glance, but the photographers managed to capture it. There were countless photographers raising their camera in his face. They were all scrambling to get a good shot. Countless flashes of light flickered before him.

That one glance was enough to move thousands. 

Then, he started walking again.

As a result, the photographer started kicking up a fuss again. Someone seemed to say something out of frustration.

More people started calling out to him.

But Gu Qingchi didn’t stop there. He just kept moving forward. He walked in an orderly manner, and he grasped the timing perfectly. It was a textbook perfect red carpet walk.

Once he got to the other end, he was about to enter the venue. However, he ended up getting stopped by security personnel.

Gu Qingchi was fluent in English. He didn’t have any trouble communicating with them.

“Is something wrong?”

The uniformed security guards spoke very politely. 

“Excuse me. Please wait a moment, sir. We have a bit of a situation.”

Not too far away, there were a few staff members with blue badges on their chests discussing something in low voices.

“A few media personnel came over to protest. The reporters are kicking up a fuss.”

“But that’s against the rules.” 

“We have enough time. It doesn’t really matter if they want to take some more photos. We’ll just give it to them.”

A guy with blue eyes shrugged.

“We have the authority to make this kind of decision. Just relax. So long as everyone is happy, then it’s fine. Besides, he really is beautiful, isn’t he? He’s worth it.”

After saying this, he snapped his fingers and nodded at the security guard. 

So, the security guard bowed towards Gu Qingchi.

“Sorry for the trouble. Sir, please come with me.”

The security guard led him to the red carpet and motioned that he should step back out.

Gu Qingchi followed behind him in confusion. 

Once he finally walked back onto the red carpet, the photographer started cheering.

The flashing of the cameras cascaded upon him once more.

Gu Qingchi stood there for a while. He tentatively looked back at the security guard.

The security guard held his hands behind his back and pretended not to see the gaze being thrown over at him. 

The red carpet was way too loud. It was difficult to have a conversation there.

Gu Qingchi had no choice but to look at the camera. He was a little stunned. When faced with all of this attention, Gu Qingchi, who was used to being watched by others, still couldn’t help feeling a little helpless. He kind of didn’t know what to do with his hands and feet.

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However, even if he didn’t do anything, even if he just stood there, he still looked like a work of art. A single frown, a single smile, they were all treasures worth cherishing.

Even though he wasn’t as calm as he was earlier, he was still incredibly vivid and striking before the camera.

The photographers were still clamoring away. If he was able to make out what they were saying, he would comply with their requests, like turning around, switching angles, and so on.

Once he fulfilled their requests, they started asking for even more, shouting out at him. 

“Smile! Smile!”

Gu Qingchi halfheartedly cooperated. He showed them a smile, but only for a few seconds. Then, he quickly dropped the smile.

His expression went back to being cold and indifferent, without even a hint of a smile.

However, the photographers didn’t really care. They were too busy snapping more pictures. 

While he was being bombarded by the cameras, Gu Qingchi frequently looked over at the other end of the red carpet. It was clear that he really wanted to end this already and walk over to the entrance of the venue.

Eventually, some of his impatience started to reveal itself through his eyes. His emotional management was truly disastrous.

Originally, Ye Li felt that Gu Qingchi was very photogenic from any angle. Plus, he always had a cold and indifferent look on his face, so he never arranged any lessons on facial management and emotional management.

Therefore, Gu Qingchi didn’t have the awareness on how to restrain his true emotions before the cameras. 

The live broadcast captured this scene in its entirety.

Naturally, a film festival as renowned as the Xilin Film Festival wouldn’t have just one camera filming. They had always broadcasted the event with multiple cameras that they could switch between at any time.

However, the red carpet had always been the highlight. The audience liked to watch it, so it deserved its own camera. The organizers set up a separate window on the official website to broadcast the entire red carpet walk.

The rights to the live broadcast had been obtained by a well-known video sharing platform in China. Their comment barrage function had always been top-notch. At this moment in time, the comment barrage was full of question marks. 

[What’s going on? Why did they drag him back out again? It’s not like he did anything wrong. Why’s he being taken to the middle…]

[I’ve only ever seen people get chased off the red carpet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone get dragged back onto the carpet for more photos.]

[So beautiful. He deserves to be promoted more. Hehe, I want to show him off to the whole world.]

[It might be a little mean, but I think it’s so cute how he doesn’t know where to put his hands.] 

[Ah, I feel like he seems a little uneasy. He looks like a cat who’s been thrown into a crowd of people.]

[Let him go already! He’s frowning! He’s not happy!]

It wasn’t until a few minutes later that the security guard received confirmation that it was enough. He stretched out his hand and signaled that Gu Qingchi could move on.

Gu Qingchi breathed a sigh of relief. The crease between his brows relaxed. He quickly walked towards the other end of the red carpet. 

This time, it didn’t matter how much the photographers protested. The next celebrity was already walking down the red carpet.

The next star was a famous singer who was invited to sing for the opening and closing ceremony.

It was an American singer, Kellerman. He was supposed to walk a lot earlier, but, because of a travel delay, he ended up being one step behind.

He loved to laugh and he also had a dimple, so Chinese audiences affectionately nicknamed him Little Dimple. 

He arrived with a friend of his, who was an actor, and witnessed the entire thing.

While they were walking along the red carpet, he exaggeratedly pointed at the person in front of them

He didn’t forget to interact with the crowd either, waving at the photographers and posing for photos.

As he walked into the venue, he spoke to his friend walking next to him. 

“Did you see him? The boy in front of us? Gosh, he’s gorgeous. I want to sing for him.”

“Oh, of course I saw. He’s Chinese. Do you think he’s an adult?”

As soon as he entered the venue for the awards ceremony, a staff member would lead Gu Qingchi to his seat.

Seating for such occasions were typically arranged beforehand. It was generally very strict, so switching seats wasn’t allowed. 

A uniformed attendant walked forward. The attendants were to lead the guests to the correct seat according to their names.

“Please come with me.”

The atmosphere inside the venue was pleasant and harmonious. They were unaware of what had just happened on the red carpet. All of the celebrities within the crowd were talking to people that they were familiar with.

The red carpet segment still hadn’t ended. There was still at least half an hour before all the invitees would finish walking the carpet. The award ceremony had not officially started yet. On stage, the big screen would show several angles from within the venue. 

The picture upon the screen was being fed straight to the official broadcast of the event.

So, the camera was always aimed at the superstars that everyone wanted to see.

The viewers watching from the venue’s point of view were also unaware of what had happened on the carpet.

Right now, the camera was aimed at a few of the best actors and actresses in the world. 

Xie Luyu was among them. He was sporting a crew cut, looking young and handsome. He was incredibly eye-catching.

This year, China had one movie emperor and one movie empress in attendance.

The movie empress was a veteran actress. She had just celebrated her fiftieth birthday this year, but she was still as impressive as ever. There were also several foreigners.

Interactions between the actors of their level had always attracted attention. 

The actors next to them were also incredibly impressive. They had all won various awards, big and small. The only award they were missing in their arsenal would be the Golden Globe Award.

One such actor had just arrived and took a seat.

He was the actor who had just entered the venue with Kellerman.

The person next to him spoke. 

“I bet the tabloids are going to call you rude and arrogant for being late this time.”

“I’m nothing compared to Xie Luyu. He’s always way too impulsive.”

Xie Luyu, who had suddenly been cued, turned around.

“Hey, I’m not the one who was late. Besides, the tabloids in your country are pretty nice to me.” 

“Alright. Hey, I want to ask you something. Are there any outstanding male artists in your country?”

Xie Luyu spoke without shame.

“That’s a lot of them. In fact, there’s one sitting right in front of you.”

“Here’s the thing. I saw this Chinese artist just as I entered the venue. He was really, really special.” 

“That’s way too broad of a description. I don’t know. As for me, there’s only one artist that I find particularly special. He’s still in China. He’s probably feeding his cat right now. He has to feed his cat every night despite how much he hates doing it.”

Xie Luyu’s eyes were bright, and he had a wine glass in his hand. The more he spoke, the more he went off topic. He couldn’t help but smile a bit.

The people next to him started heckling him.

One of them couldn’t take it anymore and bumped Xie Luyu with his shoulder. 

“Stop showing off. Xie, did you know? You’re smiling like a virgin who’s fallen in love for the first time.”

Xie Luyu silently stared at him.

The man exaggeratedly pointed at Xie Luyu and leaned back.

“No way. Xie, is it what I think it is? Hahaha, I can’t believe our Xie is still a pure, little virgin.” 

Someone else warned him.

“Don’t provoke him. You’re the one who’ll end up crying.”

Xie Luyu didn’t actually think much of it. He spoke confidently.

“You’re just jealous of me, old man.” 

The man pretended to have been struck and fell back into his chair.

There was still some time left before the opening ceremony. Kellerman changed into his outfit for the performance and headed towards the main hall.

The place where Gu Qingchi is located is not very noticeable. Although it was close to the stage, it wasn’t front and center. Rather, it was closer towards the corner.

Kellerman went around the other seats. He pretended to inadvertently walk in front of Gu Qingchi and took a good look at him. 

Then, his heart was stunned.

Oh my gosh. I’m in love.

Wang Yingling’s team was a master at marketing. She was notorious within the circle for dragging others down in order to make herself look better.

Otherwise, there would’ve been no way for her to squeeze herself onto the B-list. 

Their entire team was sending information from the scene back to China as soon as possible.

“Her limelight’s definitely going to be suppressed, especially since they walked right after one another. One was being chased away, and the other was being invited back.”

“Wang jie said to just do the same thing as before. Make the first move.”

The thing that they always did was to first ruin the opponent’s image. Then, they would put themselves on the high ground of public opinion. 

They’ve done this many times before.

After they finished discussing, everyone went off to find damaging information on Gu Qingchi.

However, it hadn’t been very long since Gu Qingchi’s debut. There wasn’t a lot of stuff about him online. The only stuff they could use was the information from Wang Yingling’s team.

Wang Yingling’s agent started her career in marketing. She was very well-versed in this field. 

“Didn’t Kellerman walk after him? Just say that he was mooching off the red carpet and cut in front of Kellerman. Kellerman’s fans will take care of him then.”

The person next to her found a photo and handed it over.

“Can this photo be used?”

In the photo, Gu Qingchi was standing, and Xiao Ke was kneeling down. It looked as if she was shining his shoes. 

The agent smiled.

“He doesn’t treat his assistant like a human being. There’s a lot of stuff we can do with this. Look for stuff like this. We’re going to use all the dirt we can find on him.”