The host was rendered speechless after hearing the rather simple answer from Murong Yunxi. But she couldn"t tell the audience that she didn"t understand Murong Yunxi.
To cover up her embarra.s.sment, she chuckled. "It seems that the words of a writer are of great wisdom. Well, let"s welcome Mr. Cheng Wanru, the famous playwright, to present the award."
As a well-known senior playwright in this field, Cheng Wanru had produced numerous screenplays of quality and won multiple prizes. It"s safe to say that he was an eminent figure in the industry. It was a great approval of Murong Yunxi"s talents and a high honor for her to have him to present the award.
Cheng Wanru wore a snow-white shirt, a pair of olive green trousers which were mostly seen in the military. He was a veteran, so he preferred military uniform on many occasions. Now having retired, he still liked the white shirt and the green trousers.
Though advanced in age, he still strode like a proper soldier, high-spirited and vigorous just as he used to be in his prime time, with a tiny bit of weariness. He walked to Murong Yunxi and smiled kindly, like a gentle breeze as his name suggested.
"Good work for a lady so young. We are very delighted for you. Congratulations!" He sounded cool and peaceful, and mild as the wind in spring.
"Thank you, sir. I still have to learn much from you." Murong Yunxi expressed her grat.i.tude humbly.
"Well, you are a very promising playwright. I can see a bright future ahead of you. Contact me if you need anything."
Hearing that, the host was a bit surprised, and said, "Wow, are you recruiting her as your disciple? That"s the first time I"ve ever heard you said that."
Cheng Wanru glanced at the host, and smiled gently. The sound of his warm smile spread to the whole stadium, making people feel pleased as if they were showering in the spring breezes.
"I would love it if Xiao Xi agreed. But this old man is over the hill, too old-fashioned to catch up with the young people. I"m worried if I could bring any good to this bright young lady."
"Don"t be! You and your masterpieces will never be phased out. Every piece of your work is a cla.s.sic, and we should study them all very carefully. It would be a great pleasure for us to listen to your wisdom."
Murong Yunxi was truly sincere when she said that, and she meant no compliment at all. She actually believed that it was worthwhile to learn from such a prominent pioneer as Cheng Wanru.
The host was excited immediately at hearing this. "Wow, What a pleasure for us to see Master Cheng recruit a disciple. Since Muxi has already won your favor, why don"t you recruit her right now?"
Cheng Wanru laughed joyfully. "Right. I"m a living-in-the-moment old guy. Since we"re all pleased, then Yun Muxi will be my disciple."
"This is my greatest honor. Thank you for choosing me! I will work hard under your guidance."
The fact that the award ceremony turned into a recruiting center shocked the entire audience. n.o.body saw that coming. Hailian in particular, who had words with Murong Yunxi at the entrance, was extremely jealous. Thought it was not winning the best leading actress, yet becoming the disciple of Cheng Wanru was still something.
Hailian" sound was scornful. "It is only adapted screenplay. What all the fuss is about?"
Next to Hailian sat a starlet, who didn"t dare to diss Hailian out loud but could not help doing it in her mind. "This is just sour grapes. Murong Yunxi has real talents, unlike her, who used all kinds of dirty means to climb to this height."
The starlet glanced at Hailian with great contempt, then took a picture of the stage and tweeted, "What a wonderful surprise of the Golden Movie Awards. The true talents will be discovered sooner or later. But to those who enjoyed their sour grapes, go home! You won"t catch up even if you could ride on a s.p.a.ceship!"
The tweet was retweeted by many, and received a lot of comments. Before Murong Yunxi even knew about it, she had caused quite a commotion outside the stadium.
After Cheng Wanru presented the award, Murong Yunxi walked off the stage holding his arms, and the ceremony continued.
The next to go was the best director. Suddenly Murong Yunxi was a bit excited. Zhao Yi was the first director she ever worked with, and she sang high praise of his professional skills. Her wish that he would win was much stronger than her wish to win herself.
In fact, the award went to Zhao Yi without much suspicion.
When it was time for him to give his speech, he sais casually, "Usually most winners will thank a lot of people. But today I only want to express my grat.i.tude to one person, and that is Xiao Xi. Thank her for writing such a good screenplay, giving me the urge to make a good film out of it. It was the beginning of all. If I were not touched by Xiao Xi, I would not have made such achievement. In fact you all know what kind of person I am. I won"t do anything until I have got a good screenplay. Without it, I won"t make any plans for a year or two. So I just want to thank Xiao xi for giving me the motivation to do it."
After that, Zhao Yi raised up the cup to Murong Yunxi, and walked off the stage.
All eyes on Murong Yunxi. She had drawn a lot of attention today, becoming the focus of tonight.
Holding the hands of Murong Yunxi, Gong Yu smiled gently. "My wife is becoming more and more awesome. You have dropped quite a few jaws today."
Murong Yunxi leaned softly on the shoulder of Gong Yu, feeling so sweet. The compliments of a thousand people would not please her as one word from Gong Yu.
"I can be good enough for my excellent husband when I am truly excellent."
"Haha. It"s I who starts to look up to you now. I am not that good compared to you."
"You are wonderful. You have been wonderful all this time."
The ceremony went on during the sweet conversation between the couple. The next was the best supporting actor and actress.
Finally, it was time to announce the best leading actor and actress, the main attraction of the whole ceremony.
Murong Yunxi held the hand of Gong Yu, and stared at the host. There was visible stress in her eyes.
"Don"t worry. You did a good job and you will win." Gong Yu softly touched the top of Murong Yunxi"s head. She was indulged in his gentleness.
"I am not worried about myself. I don"t care if I win or nor. I hope you can get it, because I can see your efforts, and you deserve the prize. But it would be a great pity if you just retired without that."
"It"s OK. Let"s go for it."
The host drew all the attention of the audience, deliberately making the atmosphere more intense.
"Then the best leading actor goes to whom? Fu Xin, Zhao Haibo, Qi Rui, Dong Chen, or Gong Yu?"
The host punctuated every time she said someone"s name, causing the whole crowd to hold their breath while staring at her.
"Then let us welcome Mr.Murong Ye, Chairman of Wanting Property, the major sponsor of the Golden Movie Awards tonight to announce the winner."
It startled the entire audience. Though they all knew it was Wanting Property that was the major sponsor, yet n.o.body could have imagined Murong Ye would come. They thought the executive director would suffice, but they did not expect Murong Ye to be here.
He was a legendary figure that few people had seen in the flesh, let alone attending an open ceremony like this. He had already left the world in awe after showing up at the premiere of Where Does Love Belong? but now…
People all turned to look at Gong Yu and Murong Yunxi. "Did he come for them?"
Murong Ye walked steadily to the stage when the people were wondering. He wore a black tailored suit and a dark red shirt. He seldom wore in this color, but he picked something with bright color specially for today.
The crowd had got to admit that the cold but charming air of Murong Ye swept them all. They wanted to bow and kneel as if he were a king. And his silver hair gave him a touch of evil charm. His handsome face outshined the whole place.
Somebody with a keen observation suddenly whispered, "Why do the Big Master look a bit like Yun Muxi?"
Actually Murong Yunxi had a lot in common with Murong Ye. But because of their specialty, nearly n.o.body ever compared one with another, and so n.o.body found that out. However, when someone suddenly pointed it out, many started to turn around to look at Murong Yunxi, and they thought these two did look alike.
Murong Ye didn"t hear the murmuring downstairs. He went straight to the host and took the envelope from her.
He opened the envelope with his slender and pale fingers, and took out a card. His cold eyes were like those of an eagle, looked through the card and announced the award. "The best leading actor goes to—Gong Yu, from Where Does Love Belong?.
Then a warm round of applause broke out among the audience, and all people turned to look at Gong Yu.
Murong Yunxi stared at Gong Yu faithfully with her bright black eyes, and he looked at her too, the gentleness causing all people jealous.
Murong Yunxi raised her head, kissed Gong Yu on one cheek, and said softly, "Congrats!"
Gong Yu touched the top of her head gently, then stood up and went up to the stage.
Murong Ye gave Gong Yu the award and hugged him before he left.
The host walked to Gong Yu and said with a smile, "It is a lucky day for you, Gong Yu, for winning not only the award, but also the hug from our Chairman Murong. Not everybody in this world has that kind of privilege."
Cold as he was, Gong Yu looked a bit more gentle after hearing that. He smiled faintly. "Thanks for Chairman Murong."
Then the host continued. "Then share with us how you feel right now."
Gong Yu looked at Murong Yunxi, went silence for a short while, and said calmly, "I love you, Xiao Xi."
The host waited for him to continue, but she didn"t hear another word from Gong Yu for a few seconds. The host touched her nose awkwardly. "Haha, what a brief speech from Mr. Gong! These words are really sweet, making us singles so envious."
Gong Yu looked very cool, and did not appear to be embarra.s.sed. He just said casually, "Nothing but my true feelings."
But right at this moment, a sharp noise broke out from the crowd…