Translator: SJade, Editor: Dj22031
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The Queyu Award was currently the most authoritative film award in China. It was held on the Chinese Valentine’s Day every year. There was a magpie element on its trophy. The establishment of this award could be traced back to the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The literati at that time gave the award meaning with the beautiful wish of “magpie announcing good news”.
In order to distinguish it from other awards in the world, the category of films nominated for the Magpie Feather Award were all Chinese-language films released between the seventh month of the previous lunar year and the sixth month of the following lunar year. “The Immortal Road”, which was released during the Spring Festival, just met the nomination requirements and was selected by Feng Entertainment for the award and was nominated in the first round of review.
With the rise of the Internet in recent years, the Magpie Feather Award had also followed the trend and set up a separate award for “The Most Popular Film”. This award did not rely on box office success, but only on online voting results. The chairman who established this award said it very clearly: “An award is meaningless without the support of the masses. As long as this award can attract even one audience member to the ceremony, it is worth it.”
This award had always been a “must-fight” for fans. Even if they didn’t win, as long as they got into the top three, they could get their idols a chance to walk the red carpet and get some traffic. If they won an award, they would have new material to control the comments.
It’s just that this year’s voting looked a little different from previous years.
You know, with the development of technology, there were already various comment control and voting tools for sale online. Every year when the voting session started, fans would try their best and even seek help from outside parties, including purchasing services from online stores.
They often consoled themselves with this sentence: “Others have bought it, and if we don’t buy it, we will fall behind. This is not unfair competition. Buying it is fair!”
The fans, feeling at ease, found the shop owner in a familiar way and sent out a special code: Queyu Award voting machine, what is the price this year? Go for first place.
The shop owner who used to treat them with enthusiasm was particularly cold this time: Fair competition, our shop will not participate in the voting for the Magpie Feather Award.
The inquiring fan slowly typed a question mark?
Dear, please make your position clear. Aren’t you specialized in selling this?
But the store owner really didn’t count this time. No matter how hard they knocked, he just copied and pasted and refused to waver. The fans changed one store after another, and then they were so confused that they had to give up using their “weapons” and were forced to start a fair vote for all people.
But once the channel for independent voting was opened, they could only watch as “The Immortal Road” took the lead by a huge margin. They could only sigh in despair and silently compete for the second and third places.
…
The Queyu Award ceremony had a red carpet segment. As usual, it was held at the S City Plum Blossom Sports Center this year. Before the scheduled red carpet time, there were already crowds of people around. Fans held up cameras and mobile phones and tried their best to squeeze to the front row, ready to take the clearest photos.
This award ceremony was sponsored by company B. Even if you had a car in this city, you would have to cooperate with the staff to park your car at a designated location far away, and then take the black seven-seater car specially used to go to the scene today.
The crew of “The Immortal Road” won the opportunity to be the last to walk the carpet thanks to the box office and nominations. The only person ranked after them was the well-known film queen who also served as the host of the ceremony.
As there were so many crew members, they could only ride in two cars, front and back.
Lin Meng was wearing a high-end black dress today. It looked low-key, but as soon as she moved, the hem of the skirt would refract light and create ripples.
“Boss Lin, if it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have anything to wear today.” Zhu Xufang said jokingly. What he was wearing today was a Zhongshan suit that was custom-made at an old tailor’s shop. He had been dormant for the past ten years, and even the suit was bought ten years ago. It no longer fit him well. Lin Meng forced him to reimburse the full set of equipment on the grounds that it was needed for work, and he was prepared perfectly.
Lin Meng smiled. Now director Zhu Xufang’s hair was all combed up by the hairstylist, making it into a hairstyle that was somewhat like that of a Hong Kong star from the 1980s. It was just that… sometimes there was always a gap between pictures and reality.
Zhu Xufang even touched the watch on his hand, a little nervous: “How about I take it off for you first? Otherwise I might accidentally break it later.”
Sui Yan, who was standing by, covered her mouth and smiled, her eyebrows curved: “Director Zhu, don’t be nervous. You are so experienced and this is happening to you. We all have to follow suit.”
Zhu Xufang, of course, made up his mind: “Why should I be nervous? When I came to the Magpie Feather Award for the first time, you were all still students.”
Lin Meng and Sui Yan looked at each other but did not expose Director Zhu.
All the main creative members of the crew were here today, no one was absent. Although they were divided into two cars, the staff were very experienced and there was no time wasted. The male and female lead actors were a little younger, so Zhu Xufang forcibly pulled them together and made them stand on his left and right.
Sui Yan walked side by side with Lin Meng, a little behind. Their skirts were a bit long, and if they walked in front, it would affect others.
This was Lin Meng’s first time walking on the red carpet, and Sui Yan told her a lot of things to pay attention to beforehand – God knows how many people would be surrounding the red carpet, and sometimes you inadvertently reveal an ugly face and get photographed, and it may be an ugly photo that will be remembered by people for the rest of your life.
Lin Meng tried her best to restrain her urge to walk with big strides. Even if she was wearing high heels, she could still walk very fast. Her current speed was indeed a bit slow.
When they arrived at the special photo and interview area in the center, as soon as they stood still, the flashing lights of the cameras made it almost impossible to open their eyes. Lin Meng opened her eyes with difficulty and felt mist in her eyes. She could not help but express her admiration for her colleagues who were able to remain calm. This was what was called professionalism.
No, she had a companion, Director Zhu, who was also green in this regard. He was stimulated by the light until his tears flowed directly. He was now taking off his glasses to wipe away the tears that just fell. Fortunately, Director Zhu had not put on much makeup, otherwise, his makeup might have two marks now.
Although the red carpet host’s performance was somewhat improvisational, he also prepared a script in advance.
Lin Meng didn’t need to concentrate on listening. Her eyes were slightly narrowed, and her movements were full of a beautiful and unconscious charm.
The makeup artist specially designed eye makeup for her to match the dress. She used very thin eyeliner and lightly outlined her eyeshadow with very light blue sequins. She applied the color very carefully by using a cotton pad to blend the color little by little. If you didn’t look carefully, you could only see the sparkle of the sequins on the eyes.
The high heels revealed under the skirt were silver, with the heels designed in the shape of a harp, but they did not appear cumbersome, but only highlighted the slenderness of her white legs.
She was like a gust of evening breeze blowing gently when the sky was filled with sunset glow, passing through the heart without leaving a trace.
Lin Meng just waited until the interview was over, breathed a sigh of relief, and followed the crowd to leave the red carpet.
By the time the actress had walked the walk and before the award ceremony had even begun, the media had already posted photos online and the voting for the best and worst dressed on the red carpet had already begun.
The first place in the vote was Sui Yan, who was getting better and better after her divorce. She wore a winter haute couture fairy dress today, and looked energetic and beautiful. The second place was the actress who appeared last, still with charm and unrivalled temperament. Lin Meng, who was voted third, first received praise from most netizens, and then there were doubts about the protagonist of the photo.
“I’ve watched “The Immortal Road” four times, but I’ve never seen this girl before? Could it be… one of those monsters who can’t be recognized as a real person?”
A netizen who had been following Dream Entertainment suddenly said, “I wonder why you don’t just search for this picture online? Many media outlets have marked it below. This is Lin Meng, the president of Dream Entertainment. She attended the premiere of “The Immortal Road” and the press conference of “Love You Before Tomorrow”, but she was relatively low-key.”
Before the netizen who had just received the answer had time to check the identity of this beautiful and mysterious female boss, their attention was drawn back to the award ceremony that started at the hour.
The award ceremony process was longer than expected. The crew members sat around a round table. Although there were side dishes on the table, no one started eating. In order to wear suitable dresses, most of the stars would usually fast for half a day on the day of the ceremony. They were strong-willed and would not be tempted by the side dishes that were not very delicious.
This year’s stage design used 3D projection. Millions of magpies flew onto the stage, chirping and building a long bridge. Then they spread out to form the shape of the trophy specially designed by a teacher from the Academy of Fine Arts. Finally, the scattered magpies cleverly formed several square formations, and their feathers became screens, playing last year’s award-winning films and clips.
The awarding process of the Queyu Award was rarely revised. It was based on the importance of the award. The more core the award, the later it was presented, except for the Most Popular Award among the People which went through “special channels”.
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