Chapter Ninety-Three

  Meanwhile, we are grateful to be nominated for two relatively important awards at the Golden Flower Festival. On the other hand, "Mysterious Seed" has also announced its release news. This film, which had a project plan in mid-2013, started writing scripts and selecting roles by the end of that year, and officially began production in early 2015, will be released globally on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2016.

  At this time, Yuan Quan had already announced on the internet that she would be playing this role. Although it was somewhat expected from the promotional clips and photos of the main actors with Yuan Quan that were leaked through foreign media, when Yuan Quan officially announced the news online, everyone was still in an uproar. People couldn't help but feel a sense of regret: Xu Qianqian had paid the price of a lifetime to fight for this role in the movie, and she probably never thought that it would ultimately fall into Yuan Quan's hands.

  It is said that man does, heaven watches, and the heavenly way is good at reincarnation.

  Every day without the Xu siblings is a blue sky, and since they rolled out of their own sight, Jianran only felt that his career was smooth sailing, and every day he opened his eyes seemed to feel himself running on an uphill road.

  In mid-November, it's the off-season for tourism, so I put down my work and took my family abroad to travel around and relax a bit. When we came back, it was already mid-December, and looking ahead, there were still over ten days until the Golden Flower TV Awards ceremony.

  When he got off the plane at 6 am, he habitually called Fang Yu to report his return. Then, he sent a text message to Jiang Chuan asking what he was doing - Jiang Chuan's response time depended on what he was doing; if he was sleeping with his phone by his side, Jian Ran would get a reply within two minutes; but if he was playing games all night, the waiting process might take 40-50 minutes.

  He waited for a while but didn't get any response from Jiang Chuan, so he slid open his phone screen and couldn't help but take another look at the chat record of their goodnight conversation before boarding the plane yesterday. After slowly finishing reading the chat record, his phone still had no reaction. The young man with black hair muttered "playing games again" and didn't worry about it anymore, putting his phone back in his pocket, carrying big and small bags back home, hastily taking a shower...

  At this time, it's already autumn in the country. Unlike the sweltering heat of summer, the streets are filled with fragrant osmanthus flowers. Even in our residential area, these trees are planted everywhere. After taking a bath and wearing a long-sleeved bathrobe, I pushed open the window to breathe in some fresh air, feeling refreshed and invigorated. A young woman with black hair stood by the bed, gazing out at the old men and women who had already started their daily routine of morning exercise and grocery shopping at the early market. After a while, I suddenly heard the sound of knocking on the door behind me. Then, Mrs. Yuan Mei pushed open the door and poked her head in, asking: "Xiao Ran, you just got off the plane, why aren't you resting? Standing by the window blowing wind, it's so early, and it just rained, the air is very humid, be careful not to catch a cold."

  "Mom, I've booked an afternoon flight to G city," Jianran said with a smile. "I won't sleep now, and after a short rest, I'll go to the airport."

  Yuan Mei exclaimed: "How can you fly again as soon as you get home?"

  "There are still over a dozen days until the Golden Flower TV Awards, and your son is going to be one of the winners. How can he not have new clothes to wear?" Jian Yan said with a hint of a smile, "I've already made plans with someone to go shopping for new outfits in the afternoon."

  "Oh, laughing so happily," Mrs. Yuan Mei looked at her son's radiant face and couldn't help but smile, "Which girl did you make an appointment with?"

  "There's no such girl, Jiang Chuan." Jin Ran raised his hand to scratch his head, stifling a snicker. "That country bumpkin has no taste at all, only knows how to use fake stuff, and doesn't even know how to spend his money properly. I'll go help him learn how to live a life with some class..."

  Mrs. Yuan's face showed an "my son is really shameless" expression, shaking her head with a helpless look, muttering "I think others dress more tastefully than you", while reminding him to be careful and get some rest, he repeatedly answered obediently until his mother closed the door again, and the room fell back into its original silence.

  He stood still by the bed for a moment, then suddenly seemed to remember something and slapped his forehead, turning around to look for his phone.

  He originally thought that after such a long time, Jiang Chuan would have reacted and even asked him impatiently what was going on.

  However, when Jianran picked up his phone, there were only three or four text messages from other friends asking how he was doing and whether he had time to hang out. Jianran carefully read through those messages, finally accepting the fact that none of them were from Jiangchuan.

  “……”

  She slightly furrowed her brow, hesitated for a few seconds while staring at the phone screen, and then resolutely dialed the number. Immediately afterwards, she heard a cold mechanical female voice on the other end of the line: "The number you are calling is currently unavailable. The customer has enabled call reminder service."

  Jiang Chuan's personal mobile phone is always on.

  Jin Ran's eyebrows furrowed even tighter, and at this moment, his phone received a text message from the airline about the flight to G City. Staring at the group message from the airline for a while, Jin Ran suddenly felt a strong sense of unease in his heart. He turned around and called Fang Yu again. As soon as the call was answered, he could tell from Fang Yu's tone that something was off. Fang Yu fell silent for a moment before asking without waiting for Jin Ran to speak: "Did you call Jiang Chuan?"

  As soon as he heard it, Fang Yu knew something and immediately asked: "Where did he go?"

  He paused for a moment on the other side and then said: "I'm going back home."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Jiang Chuan returned home?

  No warning, no notice, just like that back to the country?

  It was just the day before that they were discussing what kind of suit to wear for the upcoming Golden Flower Festival, and now it's uncertain whether there's still time to get one tailored. Jian Ran clearly remembered that when he suggested they could wear matching suits made of different fabrics, Jiang Chuan didn't refuse on the phone, but instead lowered his voice and said "okay" with a smile, while also playing games at the same time. The sound of his fingers tapping on the keyboard and his low, magnetic voice filled the air, making Jian Ran wish he could immediately fly back to his side and give him a big hug.

  And when he hastily booked a ticket to end his trip and return home, before he had a chance to say a word to him, he only received the news that "Jiang Chuan has returned to China" ——

  "Has he said when he's coming back?"

  "He didn't say, now he has basically pushed away all the work in his hands, and it's uncertain when he will return. You also know that such a big thing, I couldn't handle it even if I came forward, so it was Luo Cheng who personally handled it. So actually, I don't know what specifically happened either..." Fang Yu said, "I thought he would tell you about it, and earlier during your first phone call, I didn't dare to mention it..."

  His throat moved with difficulty.

  Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, but found that his throat was painfully sore at this moment, and even breathing became difficult.

  "You mean he might not come back at all?"

  “……”

  The silence on Fang Yu's side made Jian Ran even more silent.

  The heart that was just jumping with excitement at the thought of seeing him soon has now completely sunk to the bottom, the hand holding the phone tightened slightly, and when I raised my head cautiously, I unintentionally saw my reflection in the mirror next to the bedside table - after nearly twenty turbulent journeys, the pale face had an unmistakable fatigue, the faint dark circles under the eyes due to lack of sleep became even more noticeable, and for a moment, even I felt a little strange looking at the complex expression of the young black-haired person in the mirror.

  At this time, probably because of his long silence, Fang Yu also felt a bit uneasy on the other side and slightly raised her voice to explain: "But I think it's unlikely that he won't come back at all. After all, he still has a contract with our company, and even if he terminates the contract early in violation, he'll have to come back to deal with the issue of liquidated damages."

  “……”

  It turns out that Fang Yu is really bad at comforting people.

  He weakly dismissed the anxious agent with a few words, and after hanging up the phone, he stood alone for a while, and inexplicably entered WeChat to send a message to Jiang Chuan: How did you suddenly decide to return to China temporarily?

  Looking at the message that showed it was sent successfully, I felt a slight relief from the shock I had when Jiang Chuan's phone went dead earlier. My tightly furrowed eyebrows relaxed a bit, and I quickly sent another one: Not enough of friends, didn't even tell me you're back in the country, and I've already booked an afternoon flight to G city saying we'd go check out clothes together.

  After sending that long string of sentences, he rubbed his face and finally couldn't help but sigh, typing the third line on his phone: When are you coming back?

  WeChat sent successfully.

  He tried to comfort himself, thinking that after Jiang Chuan returned home and turned on his phone, he would definitely see him, and thought that he would finally be able to let out a sigh of relief. However, when he fell weakly onto the bed, he found that his eyebrows were furrowed tighter than anything else, so tight that his temples were throbbing with pain... Deciding not to think about it anymore, he tossed aside his phone and wrapped himself in his blanket, soon falling into a deep sleep amidst the cries of the breakfast vendors outside his window.

  That afternoon, everyone at J City Airport heard the broadcast calling out a certain superstar's name, urging him that his flight was about to take off and asking him to check in as soon as possible.

  However, until the plane actually took off, the guy who was called out by name still hadn't shown up.

  At this time he was at home covering himself with a quilt and snoring loudly.

  He slept until midnight and got up, when he stepped on his slippers and slowly floated out of the room like a ghost, thoroughly frightening the two ladies in the house. Yuan Mei turned her head to look at her son who should have been in G city by now, extremely surprised and asked: "Aren't you supposed to be on this afternoon's flight?! How are you still at home...?"

  "Oh," he walked calmly to the refrigerator, opened it and said with a numb face, "Gangchuan has returned home, so I don't need to go over there for now."

  "How did you suddenly return home? What are you going back for?"

  "I don't know," said the young black-haired man, who was squatting in front of the refrigerator and had just taken out a bottle of iced milk to drink. He paused for a moment after twisting open the cap with a "pop" sound, then repeated softly, "I really don't know."

  The next day.

  Although Jiang Chuan was not there, life had to go on. Jin Ran still booked a ticket back to G City under Fang Yu's subtle urging and returned to IM Company after getting off the plane. He didn't ask about Jiang Chuan in front of his seniors, but after leaving the company, he rushed with Fang Yu to the store they had planned to visit with Jiang Chuan earlier. They went straight for a certain style, from trying it on to deciding to buy it and asking the salesperson to get the goods. The whole process took less than 30 minutes, which even surprised Fang Yu, who asked: "Don't you want to look at a few more sets?"

  "It's okay, I don't need it."

  "You've already seen it on the official website, how was it?"

  "Yes." The young man with black hair took out his wallet, pulled out a card, thought for a moment and said, "I watched it with Jiang Chuan, he said one person buys one set..."

  When Fang Yu heard a certain name, he was inexplicably more frightened than Jian Ran himself, and instinctively felt that he might have asked the wrong question. He quickly turned his head to take a look at Jian Ran, but found that the latter did not show any abnormality. At this moment, the young man with black hair stood there calmly, handing over the card to the salesperson who was holding a pen and waiting to sign. After buying the clothes, the two of them drove home directly. Along the way, Jian Ran's words were very few, Fang Yu was afraid that if he accidentally said something wrong again, it would thoroughly ignite his small universe and trigger a tragic end-of-the-world drama. As a result, Mr. Agent's words were also very few.

  Got the tailored suit three days later.

  It was already December 20th, and there were less than ten days left before the opening of the Golden Flower Festival.

  Jiang Chuan's phone was still turned off, and there was no response on WeChat. Jian Rang guessed that he probably didn't bring his domestic phone with him at all - he made an excuse that he had left something at Jiang Chuan's house and urgently asked Fang Yu for the key to Jiang Chuan's apartment, opened the door and walked in, only to find that everything was spotless, as if Jiang Chuan had just stepped out of the house to go to work today. The room was quiet and still.

  The laptop was still on the coffee table, which was Jiang Chuan's favorite spot to surf the internet or play games; the TV remote control was on the sofa within easy reach; and on the edge of the coffee table lay an open book, as if it had been put down suddenly when half finished and never picked up again.

  Everything seemed just as it was before Jiang Chuan left, full of life's breath.

  He carefully searched around the room and finally found Jiang Chuan's domestic mobile phone under the carpet below the tea table.

  This heartless guy, as expected, didn't take his phone away.

  She wandered aimlessly around the apartment filled with masculine scent, without any sense of being an "intruder", touching this and that, until her attention was drawn to a hamster cage on the floor beside a cabinet behind the sofa - she had lived in this cage for so long that it would have turned to dust if she didn't recognize it. The cage was spotless with fresh bedding, although the grass was a bit yellowed from not being changed for a while, and there was hamster food in the feeding bowl.

  But the cage was empty.

  Just like this house, quietly waiting for the day when the dweller will return, without knowing when it will be.

  Looking at this empty hamster cage, Jian Yan finally knew that waiting for something with no end in sight was a really unbearable thing.

  Hamster Ah Fei and his owner Jiang Chuan are even.

  To say it, Ah Fei's master is really a son of a bitch who can't afford to lose half a point.

  ……

  When there was only one day left before the Golden Flower TV Festival, Fang Yu and Jian Ran set off to fly to City B. When boarding the plane, Jian Ran felt that his heart had become as calm as Maitreya Buddha, no longer expecting Jiang Chuan to arrive before the opening of the Golden Flower Festival. Sitting on the plane, he even calmly asked Fang Yu: "What if Jiang Chuan wins an award?"

  "I'll go up and help him get it, what's the big deal," Fang Yu said. "In the past when you won awards and sometimes had scheduling conflicts and were abroad, wasn't I the one who went up to accept the award on your behalf and also gave a thank-you speech?"

  "Wow, speechless... The Golden Rooster Awards are really something, I've never seen any actor dare to pull off this kind of thing."

  Fang Yu paused for a moment and also followed Te without saying a word: "Should we pray that he won't get the award, it's better?"

  She gave Fang Yu a big white eye, pulled down the flower crown eye mask on her forehead, and entered the state of "I want to make up for my sleep, don't disturb me".

  The plane flew for an hour and a half to arrive in City B.

  He arrived at the hotel where he was staying and saw many familiar faces. After greeting the directors and actors he knew, he almost collapsed onto his bed, exhausted. As he fell asleep, he had a long dream in which he accidentally won the "Best Supporting Actor" award. As he stood on stage giving his acceptance speech, his gaze inadvertently fell to the empty seat beside him, where someone was sitting wearing the same style suit as him, looking at him with piercing blue eyes and smiling.

  His heart skipped a beat as he stood on the stage, his acceptance speech stuck in his throat. He stared blankly into the audience, the "Best Supporting Actor" trophy heavy in his hands, its metal chill still palpable on his fingertips, making the dream feel all too real.

  Until he slowly opened his eyes.

  The hotel room outside showed it was almost dawn at this time.

  He thought to himself that he had slept from the night before after dinner until now, and only when he got out of bed did he realize that what he was holding in his hand was not a "Best Supporting Actor" award, but his phone. After unlocking the screen, apart from messages from family members asking if he had arrived safely and telling him not to be nervous, there were also some congratulatory messages from friends in the industry, most of whom were wishing him good luck with the awards. Those who were particularly close to him, such as Wang Mo, had already started calling him "Yuan Yingtian".

  WeChat Moments is lively, the group is in an uproar because of the upcoming Golden Flower Festival, people who may win or not even be nominated seem to be joking around harmoniously, carefully sliding fingers, and unexpectedly discover that everything remains the same, except for his profile picture which has been silent, waiting for any movement, even just a punctuation mark in response.

  Lying in bed and flipping through Jiang Chuan's Weibo, fans are wondering where the male god has gone for half a month without updating his blog.

  He felt that his internal injury had relapsed, so he decided not to abuse himself anymore. He let out a long sigh, threw away his phone, got up from bed and took a shower. Refreshed and invigorated, he went on to be nominated for the award as a big winner candidate.

  It's a good day, shouldn't think about so many unhappy things.

  ……

  At night, Jing Yan got the guest entry order list. Although it was clearly written on the list that "ranking does not distinguish between priority", anyone knew that entering first and last represented different positions. Jing Yan found his name in the third place among a large group of people from the "Star Fire" crew at the top of the list, and only then did he temporarily forget about Jiang Chuan's affairs, becoming excited and uneasy for the upcoming Golden Flower TV Awards ceremony.

  It was as if there were waves of warmth flowing into his chest cavity, and he couldn't help but adjust his cuffs again and again...

  Sitting in the rest room, Wang Mo smiled and teased him: "Why didn't I see you so nervous before?"

  For the eighth hundredth time, he bowed his head to adjust his sleeve mouth, and suddenly stopped: "I've never been in the third place before - damn it, third place!!!! The reporter's camera was still hot, and his fingers hadn't even pressed the shutter button until they were numb. They would take a 360-degree shot of him from head to toe -"

  "Wang Mo: 'Didn't you say you had 360-degree no-dead-angle vision?'"

  Jian Ran's face was empty for three seconds, then he showed a relieved expression and put down his hand: "...right."

  The lounge erupted into a wave of kindly laughter at his reaction.

  At half past seven, the staff knocked on the door to inform everyone that they could walk the red carpet. Bai Wengui and Dong Ruirong stood up together, as they were the first pair of tonight's lineup - people also gave enough face to this old actor who is about to officially retire this year. When they walked out, Jian Ran, who should have followed them according to the list, rushed to the mirror to take a look, confirming that he was still so handsome, and then took a deep breath before walking out of the dressing room door.

  Saying I'm not nervous is nonsense.

  Even superstars are human beings. When they face a crossroads in their career, they will feel tense, excited and hard to control their emotions just like ordinary people.

  Many stars shed tears of excitement on stage, and none of them were acting.

  The edge of the red carpet was right in front of her eyes, while Bai Wenchu and Dong Rui were already walking hand in hand at the very front. The flashing lights and the host's voice as well as the reporters' voices buzzed around her ears. When a staff member rushed over with a tense face to say "Yuan Dashen is ready to walk now", Jinran nodded slightly, put on the most perfect smile she had practiced thousands of times, straightened her waist slightly, and took her first step.

  The young man with black hair walked steadily, his face filled with confidence. He appeared in front of the reporter's camera, looking better than anyone had imagined - despite just a few months ago, people were worried that they might not see him at this year's Golden Flower Festival. But he did show up, and as a winner.

  The hundred-meter red carpet seemed to be several thousand meters long for Jian Ran, he accepted people's blessings, accepted reporters' praise, and accepted the flash of light on his face - from head to toe, probably only he himself could hear the heartbeat in the center of his chest, until he walked through the red carpet, the reporters shifted their attention to the high-level crew members behind him, the staff came up to lead him into the play, and he finally let out a long sigh, raised his hand, and quickly wiped away the sweat on his forehead under the not-so-bright lights around.

  Just sat down in position with a fart, Fang Yu also sat down in the position that originally belonged to Jiang Chuan.

  Fang Yu: "Don't be nervous, I'm worried you'll get overexcited and faint on stage."

  "......Thanks for thinking I'm not so bad psychologically."

  Fang Yu: "I'm also a bit worried that I'll get too excited and faint on stage - for an artist who even my agent doesn't know where he is right now."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  About an hour and a half later, all the invited stars took their seats in their respective positions.

  Supporting people and leaders gave speeches, then started awarding prizes.

  He sat quietly at the bottom, silently watching Bai Wenqi receive the "Best Actor" award, and announced on stage that he would retire from then on. Many insiders who had a relationship with him in the audience shed tears, directly pushing the entire Golden Flower TV Festival to its first climax.

  Dong Rui was also nominated for "Best Actress", but according to the rules, it is rare for both "Best Actor" and "Best Actress" to be awarded to the same film. So Dong Rui naturally lost out, but presumably this was also within her expectations. Apart from a slight sense of disappointment, she sincerely congratulated her competitor on winning.

  ……

  Then came a string of big and small awards, "Star Fire" tonight's harvest is quite rich, before and after all sizes, a total of about five awards including "Best Drama" and "Director of the Year". As time went by, when it was approaching 10 o'clock in the evening, it finally came to the two awards that were nominated.

  At this time he was also fidgety like a needle on his buttocks.

  Even the phone in his pants pocket that had vibrated with an incoming message didn't register with him - at this point, he was completely out of the mood to check who had sent a text and what they had said.

  Under his gaze, the host finally entered the award for "Best Supporting Actor", and everyone's heart was hanging in their throat. But he knew that at this moment, countless cameras were aimed at his face for national live broadcast, so he couldn't show too much concern on his face - he could only stiffly smile, smile, pretending to be calm.

  "This year, the winner of the 'Best Supporting Actor' award at the Golden Flower Film Festival is ——"

  The host deliberately prolonged his tone.

  If he had an AK-47 in his hand, there's no doubt that he would have been shot into a sieve.

  At this time, the whole scene darkened, and the searchlights were swaying back and forth on Jianran and several other candidates - Jianran took a deep breath, so tense that he was about to hyperventilate. At this moment, the light suddenly became brighter, then jumped directly from one end of the banquet hall to the other, covering his head.

  He looked stupid at this moment, but he wasn't sure if he really was or not.

  In short, when the host loudly read out the three words "Yuan Jinran", he almost stood up with a conditioned reflex. The dazzling spotlight made him squint slightly, and then in the midst of the host's congratulations, he didn't even know how he left his seat, shook hands and hugged with other eliminated actors, and walked step by step to the award stage.

  The presenter was Bai Wengui, who had just received the award. As Jianran carefully took the trophy from his hand, he smiled and joked "I have a successor", the scene erupted in laughter, and Jianran also followed with a silly smile. When he took over the trophy and held it in his hands, his only thought was: It's as heavy as I dreamed it would be.

  Next is the award-winning speech manuscript that has been prepared for a long time. Holding the trophy tightly, taking a deep breath, slightly bowing and leaning close to the microphone, just saying the first sentence: "Thank you to the teachers of 'Star Fire' drama, thank you to my family, thank you to my brokerage company and my agent Mr. ——"

  At this time he subconsciously turned his gaze in Fang Yu's direction, and then he was at a loss for words.

  Three consecutive seconds of brain blankness.

  Because he saw that the position where Fang Yu was originally sitting was not Fang Yu, but another tall and strong man. At this moment, he sat in the dimly lit seat, calmly as if he had obtained the ability to see clearly at night, and saw him clearly.

  The eyes of the two people collided for an instant.

  The man sitting in the lower seat was wearing a formal suit of the same style as Jian Ran's but in a different color. It was rare to see him dressed up, and Jian Ran only then realized that the man looked incredibly handsome in this outfit.

  Under the gaze of the crowd, they watched as the black-haired young man who had just received the award and was still calm and composed suddenly fell into a momentary silence. After a long time, people saw him raise his hand, rub his reddened eyes, and laugh with a choked voice: "It's no good, I've forgotten my words... I'm still wondering if I'm dreaming..."

  The hall was filled with kindly laughter.

  However, no one knew why the person on stage suddenly became so emotional and changed so much.