Murong Ye turned to look at Hailian. "It"s her again. Does this woman ever know when to quit?"
The expressions of Murongf Yunxi and Murong Ye were freezing cold. Even their breaths were very similar.
The host was also not pleased. "Does this Hailian come to spoil the whole ceremony? She keeps on provoking them. What a bimbo. She still can"t read the room after what has happened!"
"Please keep quiet, Miss Hailian. If you have a different opinion on the result, you can appeal to the organizing committee to verify it. But please don"t disrupt the ceremony."
"I just don"t buy it. She can"t be the winner. The award is supposed to be mine! Mine! She took away my trophy! This wicked woman used dirty means to seize my trophy." Hailian was talking nonsense incoherently. She shouted like crazy, only to make all the others dislike her more.
The cold voice of Murong Ye spread across the stadium once again. "How do you know it is yours, Miss Hailian?
"Because…" The truth almost popped out. But Hailian pushed it back just after one word. All her words were stuck in her throat. She didn"t have the guts to spit them out, nor was she willing to swallow them in. Her face went red.
"Because of what?" Murong Ye was seldom so verbally aggressive. He would usually choose his fists instead of his mouth. But at this moment he was trying everything to resist the urge.
"Because, because…" Hailian looked around and found that old man with a bald head sitting among the judges. He was a judge too, and the man with whom Hailian got in touch. She asked many judges, but most of them were upright and didn"t allow it, which was why this Golden Movie Awards had authority. The judges were trustworthy people who lived up to their name.
But this old man was an exception. It was his first time as a judge. He stepped in for one of the judges suddenly died.
Murong Ye found Hailian looking at the old man and slyly smiled.
Actually, he knew someone would cheat in this contest. The list of winners today was slightly different from the one presented for the first time. Somebody must think that since the Murong Family was the major sponsor for this one time, they would not check the list even though they had it. After all, Murong Ye was a busy man, who would not care to look into this kind of trivia.
And usually, Murong Ye would not attend this sort of ceremonies or care about the list. But that man didn"t imagine that Murong Yunxi and Gong Yu would be involved this time, and their nominations resulted in Murong Ye"s checking the list and going to the awards personally.
Before he went onto the stage, Murong Ye suddenly wanted to check the list again and noticed that the winner of the best leading actress was changed. And everything made sense now. It must be this Hailian who used dirty method buying that old man off and changed the list at the end.
Luckily, Murong Ye found that out in time and changed it back.
And in fact, the old man was very nervous too. He did change the list, but who changed it back? "And this Hailian, why do you refuse to stop until everyone knows what"s going on? What do you want to do with the nonstop nonsense? Do you have to drag me down with you, you stupid fool?"
The old man appeared to be calm, looking at the stage as if nothing had happened. But the second he met the eyes of Murong Ye, he became scared suddenly. The piercing eyes of Murong Ye could penetrate into people"s hearts, as if they were transparent.
"Well? Speechless? Do you need my help?"
Murong Ye turned back to Hailian, and squinted. His eyes were like a sharp sword, charging directly at Hailian. "A few days ago, you used dirty tricks to buy off a judge and change the list. But that judge thought he was so smart, and did not think that I would check the list for the first time and find out the changed list today. But what a lucky coincidence that I did notice the difference and change it back before I stepped onto the stage. You must be furious right now because you are still off the list after all that you"ve done. Am I right?"
"You—you are making no sense! That never happened. There was no judge messing up with the list. Everybody knows that the judges of the Golden Movie Awards are fair and just."
"Oh? I don"t make sense? Then why you are so sure that you can win?"
"Be—because I am a more sophisticated actress than Yun Muxi, and my film did a great job in the box office and it is well-received. It makes more sense that I win."
"Is that so?" Murong Ye turned to the judges. The old man sitting among them looked away immediately because of guilty feelings, with his forehead all sweaty.
Murong Ye didn"t care about the old man. Instead, he looked at Zu Qing, the head of the judges and a well-known artist. "Mr. Zu is a senior artist for whom we show much respect, and the head of the judges. Then I"d like to invite you to clear things up."
Zu Qing was called up and stood on his feet quickly. He looked around and fixed his eyes on Murong Ye. "Yes, our final decision is Miss Yun Muxi. She is indeed new in business and does not have many methods. But that"s exactly why her acting is natural and she can better understand her role. She is also good at portraying her character. And that"s why she is better than Hailian. Even though Hailian also gave a wonderful performance in her film, but because she is a seasoned actor, the way she portrayed her character is quite similar to the way she did in other films. Her acting becomes routine. Her performance was good, but it"s not exceptionally outstanding. All the judges here can testify that we did choose Miss Yun Muxi, and Miss Hailian was made the second in line. We thought if anything should happen to Miss Yun Muxi, we would replace her with Miss Hailian. After all, since the show business changes swiftly and previously Miss Yun Muxi often appeared in the headlines, we didn"t know something unexpected could have happened, so we prepared."
After finishing his words, Zu Qing sat down. The judges next to him nodded, proving Zu Qing was right.
Murong Ye looked back to Hailian. "In that case, do you have any question now, Miss Hailian? You are nothing but an understudy!"
Hailian"s face had gone utterly red. She was deeply embarra.s.sed to be commented upon in front of the public. And her insistence seemed to become the biggest laughingstock.
Just as Murong Yunxi put it, G.o.d knows in the end who was gonna be the joke.
Hailian sat down shamefully, because keeping standing there would only make her more embarra.s.sed.
But Murong Ye didn"t seem to let Hailian slip so easily. He kept on saying coldly, "But I won"t be a bystander today. I will send people to find out the whole truth and tell the public. I will clear the name of the organizing committee, and protect the authority and reputation of the Golden Movie Awards. And Miss Halian and that judge had better give us all an explanation."
Then Murong Ye turned to the host, suggesting that the ceremony could continue.
The host gave a standard smile, and said loudly, "The road to happiness is indeed full of hardships. That"s just a small blip. Our ceremony continues. So let us welcome Miss Yun Muxi, the winner of the best leading actress to give a speech."
Murong Yunxi took the microphone and smiled calmly, as if she had nothing to do with what happened before. That pure smile immediately put people back to where they were emotional. And the atmosphere was back to the previous state.
"It was not my wish to step into the show business, and it was a total accident for me to play a role in this film. So technically, I"m not one of you. And to those who like gossip or anyone with a mean purpose, step away. At best, I will be back to be a playwright. If anyone should pick a fight with me for no reason, I would not put up with it. Thank you!"
Murong Yunxi"s speech was brief but powerful, showing her att.i.tude very clearly. And she thanked no one. She was so awesome that it made people want to stand up and applause.
Usually, on this occasion, the winners would thank all sorts of people, even their ancestors. But Murong Yunxi thanked no one and only made her att.i.tude clear, warning those with malicious intents. It could be said that Murong Yunxi was a bit arrogant, but she did make herself understood. "Your world is too messy for me. I don"t have time for it. Please step away."
She was straightforward and without affectation, which made many people impressed and even make them think she was an honest and ingenious person.
The host continued. "In fact, I thought it was such a pity that Muxi quits acting. After all, she brought us so many surprises in this film. Thank G.o.d that Muxi still leaves us a chance to see more of your genius works. All we have to do next is wait for Muxi to offer us more wonderful scripts."
Murong Yunxi looked at the host and smiled. She could see the kindness of the host. She was not someone who couldn"t tell the good from the bad. She would be nice to the host when she was nice to her.
"Thank you for your compliment. I will work hard to bring you more good scripts."
"Then at the end of our ceremony, let"s welcome our best leading actor and actress, Gong Yu and Yun Muxi to bring us the theme song of Where Does Love Belong?."
Then Gong Yu walked up to the stage, held Murong Yunxi"s hands and sang to the beautiful music face to face with her.
The deep love between them affected the whole crowd. And Hailian could not stand a second in her seat. She stood up and left in disgrace.
But she had no idea what was in store for her outside the door.