Golden Ro Award

Li Xian tipped her head back to drink water, but her eyes stayed on Bai Ruo, carrying a lazy, appraising look.

Bai Ruo turned her head away, the tips of her ears burning hot.

At first, she had been flustered, worried that Li Xian had heard everything. But the moment she met those eyes, her fluster turned into real panic.

For an instant, Bai Ruo felt as if she had gone back to when she first met Li Xian. The entertainment industry was full of beauties; it wasn’t as if no one looked better than Li Xian. But once she got close to them, most of them were wrapped in company-crafted personas, and she couldn’t even tell which version of them was real.

What had made her fall for Li Xian at first sight was precisely that faint, elusive quality about her. She had felt it on their first meeting; after four or five more, she still could.

From the inside out, what Bai Ruo sensed was the feeling of standing in front of a real person.

She couldn’t quite describe what it was that drew her to Li Xian. To put it bluntly, it was probably the so-called “older-sister vibe.”

Just now, when Li Xian looked at her, that same feeling that had made her give in countless times in the past wrapped around her again; and this time, she had accepted it.

“Li, Li Xian?” Su Yan swallowed. “Morning. What a coincidence, running into each other in the living room. I, um, went out for a morning run, so you two can talk slowly, all right?”

If she didn’t run now, Su Yan felt her life might be in danger.

She snapped the door shut with a bang. The living room was left with only two people in it, silent in a way that felt wrong.

Bai Ruo kept a blank expression and, with small movements, used the books on the table to block herself; then she slowly slid her hand over and tucked it under her arm.

Just as she got up and was about to slip away, Li Xian walked over and blocked her path. Calmly, Li Xian sat down beside her and set the warm water down on the coffee table.

Bai Ruo moved the book from under her left arm to her right, then scooted a little farther to the right.

Li Xian still didn’t speak, and Bai Ruo stayed stiff, not daring to move.

The stalemate dragged on for several minutes. Bai Ruo felt that she had never been this embarrassed or tormented before. She coughed a few times, then decisively stood up, changing from a slow walk to a quick one as she headed straight back to her room.

The moment she left, Li Xian’s gaze fell on the book tucked under Bai Ruo’s arm.

Coincidentally, she had read it.

After the film crew got back to work, everyone noticed that Qin Qingyan was in unusually good shape. That lifted the whole crew’s spirits as well, and the morning’s scenes were shot quickly and smoothly.

The staff assumed Qin Qingyan was only in such high spirits because she had finally recovered from her cold, but Yu Shuran felt there was another reason.

“When good things happen, people really do look brighter,” Yu Shuran said with a smile as she handed Qin Qingyan a bottle of water. “You went back home, and your whole state is different now.”

Good things? Yes, how could that not count as a good thing?

“Of course. What the ancestors left behind is all solid truth,” Qin Qingyan said, raising an eyebrow.

The Qin Qingyan in front of her was not only in good condition, she was also much more lively. Yu Shuran thought back to the day Qin Qingyan had been in front of her lover; indeed, love was the best medicine.

During the noon break, Yu Shuran wandered alone around Hengdian, her mind drifting over countless old matters, so many that she almost felt as if she were thinking about nothing at all.

A woman in a baseball cap walked toward her. Yu Shuran was lost in her thoughts and didn’t notice. Whether by accident or on purpose, the two of them just happened to bump into each other.

Yu Shuran came back to herself and hurried to apologize.

The other woman kept her head down. “Mm.”

Yu Shuran had only taken two steps when the woman called out to her.

“Yu Shuran, is she your new girlfriend?” the woman asked.

Yu Shuran froze. The voice was too familiar. During the years she had been with Zeng Nian, Jiang Qing, as Zeng Nian’s friend, had often teased them. Later, when they fell into a cold war, Jiang Qing’s sarcasm was something she had also heard plenty of.

Yu Shuran didn’t turn around. She said coolly, “Jiang Qing, what I do has nothing to do with you.”

Jiang Qing let out a cold laugh. “Yeah, because that’s just the kind of person you are. You use people and then throw them away. Ah Nian helped you secure your footing in the entertainment industry; once she had no more value to you, of course you dumped her and found someone new. What you do obviously has nothing to do with me.”

“What I don’t understand,” Jiang Qing said as she turned to look at her, “is how someone as calculating as you would choose a female celebrity who can’t provide you with any resources. Or is it that her skills satisfied you that much?”

“Jiang Qing!” Yu Shuran turned back. After a long silence, she said, “If you like Zeng Nian, then go find her. Don’t interfere in my life, and don’t maliciously speculate about anyone.”

Jiang Qing had been struck where it hurt. She stared at Yu Shuran. “Should I thank you too, then, for keeping this secret for me all these years? Yu Shuran, Ah Nian will be back before long. By then, I hope you won’t go cheap and cling to her again, and that you’ll never appear in front of her again.”

Cheap...

Yu Shuran laughed bitterly at herself. Yes, for Zeng Nian, she had yielded and compromised in everything; if that wasn’t cheap, what was it?

Qin Qingyan was carrying a lot of food and finally found Yu Shuran sitting on a set of steps in Hengdian. She sat down beside her and set the food down.

“Fried chicken. Try it; it’s really good,” Qin Qingyan said.

Yu Shuran forced a smile. “Is that so? I haven’t eaten it in a long time. Then I should try some.”

“How is it?” Qin Qingyan asked, raising an eyebrow.

Yu Shuran nodded. “Exceptionally good.”

“See? You didn’t eat a single bite at lunch; of course everything tastes good when you’re hungry,” Qin Qingyan said, looking at the staff chatting in front of them.

Yu Shuran was a little surprised, but she didn’t ask.

“How’s your girlfriend’s rehabilitation going?” she asked.

Qin Qingyan’s eyes dimmed. “There’s no progress yet. The doctor said it’ll take a very long time, maybe several years.”

“Having hope is always a good thing. Spending more time with her will also help her recover.”

Qin Qingyan nodded, then suddenly wanted to ask Yu Shuran a question. “If there were a girl six or seven years younger than you, would you feel at ease accepting her?”

Yu Shuran and Yan Yue were about the same age; maybe she could glimpse a little of Yan Yue’s thoughts from her.

Yu Shuran wiped her hands. This question wasn’t hypothetical; it had truly happened to her. Zeng Nian and Qin Qingyan should be about the same age, right?

“Are you worried that she has concerns about the age gap?”

“Mm. She’s shown it before, but I can understand,” Qin Qingyan said. “I’m twenty-three now. If someone were six years younger than me, she’d only be at the age of a high school student. If a high school student came to me and said she wanted to take care of me for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t really believe it either.”

Yu Shuran looked at Qin Qingyan, and through her, seemed to be looking at someone else; someone who had once promised her a lifetime, then gone back on it.

“So you can’t even treat it as a hypothetical, while the other person has to bear the risk of being wrong. Actually, putting age aside, accepting anyone as your partner and walking through life together takes a lot of courage,” Yu Shuran said with a smile.

Qin Qingyan didn’t speak. She sat quietly.

“Then what about you? Are you sure now? You won’t fall for someone else just because another person appears?” Yu Shuran asked.

Qin Qingyan looked at her and was just about to speak.

“Think it through carefully; there’s no rush. If someone appeared who was prettier than her, more outstanding than her, and loved you more than she did, someone who couldn’t live without you, would you still choose the one you have now?” Yu Shuran asked again.

Qin Qingyan still felt that she would choose Yan Yue. As for why, she had thought about it for a long time. Maybe it was simply because she was Yan Yue; that was all.

“Of course. Because the person you mentioned, I don’t love her.”

Yu Shuran looked at her, admiration in her eyes, along with a faint trace of loneliness.

“She’s older than you. If you want to know what she’s thinking, then see whether she ever shows you her vulnerable side. If she does, that means you’re just about there.”

Vulnerable?

“Does acting like a little bird in someone’s arms count?” Qin Qingyan asked carefully.

“Is she the type who acts like a little bird in someone’s arms?”

“No.”

“Then it counts.”

A week later would be the Golden Ro Award ceremony, and the public had already started making predictions about it.

As the dark horse who had broken out from among a crowd of seasoned veterans, Qin Qingyan naturally drew a great deal of attention; quite a few people had even started betting on her specifically.

Related keywords kept surging onto the hot search.

Because of that, Su Yan had no choice but to leave Jingsheng temporarily and rush to Qin Qingyan’s side to help her handle interviews from all sides and arrange every event.

“I’ve already sorted through the nominated films from every outlet. I really think, Qingyan-jie, you still have a very good chance. Just thinking about it is exciting. If you really win, the moment you go onstage, you’ll be under everyone’s gaze; how many people would witness that moment at once, onstage, offstage, and in front of screens?” Su Yan said brightly.

Qin Qingyan only smiled, but she had a feeling in her heart that this time, it still wasn’t hers.

Every film she had made in the past had indeed been done with everything she had; after release, the response had all been very good, and both directors and audiences praised her rare talent.

In the past, she had thought so too. She thought she was naturally suited for this line of work, that she had fully mastered every technique; how to make audiences laugh, how to make them cry, she could do it effortlessly and with ease.

But in these past three or four months, in the hospital she had seen enough farewells; scenes that didn’t involve crying, yet still moved people to tears. Those were the things most suited to being shown on screen.

An actor who doesn’t even think of themselves as an actor, who treats every role as their own life and lives through it; who thinks through every detail of the character from childhood onward, becomes them, and completes them.

Only such an actor was worthy of respect.

Maybe her films were indeed good, but in a contemporaneous actor, she had seen that kind of presentation without technique, the presentation of sincere living; that person was the one who truly deserved the Golden Ro Award.

Qin Qingyan looked at all the films Su Yan had laid out and pointed to one of them. “I think this one deserves an award.”

Su Yan took a closer look. “The Mask? I’ve seen this one; it was really shocking. I heard that after filming wrapped, even Shen Qing got depressed. But the other companies are all publishing articles to rally votes for their own artists; this company hasn’t done anything like that at all. Clearly they aren’t expecting much either. And when netizens voted online, its numbers weren’t especially outstanding.”

“Isn’t there still a week left? I think it’s this one,” Qin Qingyan said.

Su Yan didn’t understand why Qin Qingyan rated that film so highly, so she went online and typed the three words Golden Ro Award into the search bar to look through netizens’ comments. By chance, she discovered that aside from Shen Qing’s fans, among the many celebrities in the entertainment industry, only the singer Lin Xiao had promoted it.

There had to be more to this. Su Yan came to a conclusion: Shen Qing had probably offended someone, and Lin Xiao’s courage was truly admirable.

Very quickly, Su Yan discovered that the one who was courageous wasn’t just Lin Xiao; her own artist was just as bold.

On the hot search: Qin Qingyan strongly supports The Mask!