Global Film Emperor

Chapter 249 The Second Golden Rooster
After returning from Hebei, Lu Ze threw himself back into work. Seventeen days later, under Xiao Fengying's helpless gaze, he packed his bags and set off again for the 50th Golden Rooster Awards ceremony held in Xi'an.

That evening, Lu Ze, dressed in a classic black and white suit, entered the venue after Wang Zhen and Zhuang Yu. As he entered, he wiped away tears from the corners of his eyes. It wasn't that he was sad; he was simply blinded by the flashing lights.

He's not as unknown as he was two years ago. As soon as he got out of the car, the flashes from the cameras increased dramatically, making it as bright as day.

"Give."

"Okay, thank you."

Wang Zhen handed over the handkerchief, and Lu Ze didn't stand on ceremony. He took it and wiped his eyes. Just as he was about to return it to Wang Zhen, she folded it up and stuffed it into the pocket on Lu Ze's chest.

"Pink suits you so well! Don't take it off, just wear it. How about it, little pink Lu Ze?"

"I'm too lazy to talk to you."

Lu Ze rolled his eyes at Wang Zhen, who had a mocking look on his face, and Zhuang Yu, who was snickering to the side. He didn't take out his handkerchief. Instead, he strode into the auditorium first, and his figure was immediately spotted by many people.

"Hello, Mr. Lu, good evening. I wish you a successful start to the night."

Lu Ze politely thanked the actors who came to congratulate him and the artists who came to perform, but he did not forget to be humble. Before the ceremony even started, he was already acting like a victor, which showed that he was really not afraid of offending people.

"Lu Ze! Come here! You saw me and didn't greet me! You need a beating, don't you?"

A call that sounded like a reprimand but was actually an expression of affection came from behind, instantly attracting Lu Ze's attention. Lu Ze turned his head, smiled, and strode over to Liu Ying, giving him a hug.

Liu Ying didn't seem to have changed much. He was over fifty years old, but he didn't look old at all. He was just a little short. Even when Lu Ze bent down to hug him, he had to stand on tiptoe.

"Director Liu, it's been a long time! You haven't changed much in the past few years. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing great, I have a good appetite, and I'm in excellent health. Now I run ten kilometers every morning, and it's like child's play for me. Wow, that's amazing! You've really become a star."

When Liu Ying was filming "The Boxer", he really didn't expect Lu Ze to get to this point. He was already surprised when Lu Ze won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Actor, but he didn't expect that it was not the peak of Lu Ze's life, but a starting point. It's really rare.

"Director Liu, you must be joking with me. What do you mean by star or not? An actor is an actor. No matter how famous you are, you still have to make a living by acting. It's not like you can just stay at home and eat every day just because you have some fame."

"Alright, you're not getting cocky, you've got a good attitude. Sitting with Zhuang Yu? Okay, then I won't keep you any longer. Let's have dinner together later tonight?"

Lu Ze had no reason to refuse Liu Ying's invitation. He readily agreed, greeted the other main creators of "The King of Fighters," and then returned to his group with Zhuang Yu and his team to sit down and wait for the ceremony to begin.

At 7:30 p.m., the ceremony began on time, and the cameras started working, frequently focusing on Lu Ze. He was a favorite to win the imperial examination this year.

The ceremony proceeded as usual, beginning with song and dance. Lu Ze was quite engrossed in the performance, enjoying the splendid dances and the powerful singing of ethnic female singers. He gave the female singers a warm round of applause after their performances.

The four hosts then took the stage and, amidst enthusiastic applause, expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the entertainment industry figures present and announced the official start of the 50th Golden Rooster Awards.

The first awards presented had nothing to do with Lu Ze or the two film crews; they were for educational films, children's films, and documentaries.

These awards don't actually attract much attention, and they only hold some prestige within their small circle. However, everyone present could understand and congratulated the directors of these obscure films who were moved to tears upon receiving their awards.

No matter what type of film it is, it's not easy to make one. They are all the "children" of these directors. How could they not feel happy when their "children" receive recognition from others?
The Best Cinematography award was subsequently won by Zheng Zhenyu for "The Boxer," which was not unexpected. After all, commercial films tend to use more sophisticated camera work, so it's normal that Diao Pengfei, the cinematographer for "To Live," couldn't compete. But that doesn't mean Diao Pengfei isn't a good cinematographer, otherwise he wouldn't have been nominated, right?
Then, Zhuang Yu unsurprisingly won both the Best Screenplay and Best Art Direction awards. Winning the award for two consecutive years, Zhuang Yu certainly makes people jealous, but you can't argue with that, especially since his best is yet to come.

"Mr. Lu, please come with me. Be careful of the cameras."

A staff member walked up to Lu Ze and whispered something in his ear. Lu Ze was not surprised at all. He nodded, quietly got up, pressed his right hand on his suit jacket, bent down to avoid the camera, and walked towards the back of the stage.

This was arranged by Lu Ze with the organizers before the ceremony. As the previous year's Best Newcomer, he would now present the award to this year's Best Newcomer as an award presenter.

Meanwhile, his partner was standing backstage, holding a microphone and waving enthusiastically at Lu Ze. Lu Ze took the microphone from the staff, held it in his hand, and smiled as he clapped hands with her. The two were indeed very familiar with each other, after all, they were artists from the same company.

Li Jianni let out a breath, feeling a little nervous, but more disappointed than anything else.

She is considered a veteran employee of Qian Shijia. Although her career has been going smoothly in the past few years, it has not taken off overnight. She is a steady and reliable artist. After filming TV series for four years, she finally had the opportunity to film a movie this year.

Although she only played a supporting role, she still fantasized that she might be nominated for Best Newcomer, or even Best Supporting Actress.

Then her name wasn't on the nomination list, and she received an invitation from the organizers to present an award. This meant that she could forget about the award; she hadn't even been nominated. They were just giving her a chance to show her face and offer some encouragement. How could she not be frustrated? After this year, the Best Newcomer award would be out of reach for her.

The two exchanged a brief conversation before the host announced the start of the Best Newcomer Award selection. After a short video, the staff called the two onto the stage. When the lights shone on Lu Ze, he was met with screams from the audience on the second floor. The Best Newcomer Award is not always presented by the previous year's winner, so Lu Ze's appearance on stage was a pleasant surprise.

"Hello everyone, viewers in front of the TV, I am actor Lu Ze (Li Jianni)."

After a round of applause, Lu Ze and Li Jianni, following the script, talked about which new generation actors had left a deep impression on them this year, mainly mentioning the four young people in the audience: three men and one woman.

The article was short, and the remaining time had to be given to the winners, so after the two joked around for a bit, the emcee took the list to the stage and handed it to Li Jianni, who then tore it open and passed it to Lu Ze.

Looking at the name on the card, Lu Ze wasn't surprised. This actor had left a deep impression on Lu Ze. He was a very talented newcomer who had also come across a good script. He was both lucky and capable. If he didn't win the award, who would?
"Lei Kai has won the Best Newcomer Award at the 50th Golden Rooster Awards. Congratulations!"

The winning child jumped up from his chair and cheered, clearly very excited. Winning this award at just over twenty years old truly makes him a top-tier young actor.

The boy ran up to the stage in a few strides, nodded slightly to Lu Ze and Li Jianni in thanks, and Lu Ze took the trophy and handed it to Lei Kai, who accepted it with one hand. Lu Ze raised an eyebrow but said nothing, gave him a hug, and then walked off the stage. Looking at this spirited young man, Lu Ze felt a little regretful, as the boy had initially made a very good impression on him.
After a song and dance performance, the Best Supporting Actor award went to Mao Shengjun. The boy immediately hid in Lu Ze's arms and cried. Just like in the movie, Lin Qin and Er Mao had the best relationship. Off-screen, Lu Ze and Mao Shengjun also had a good relationship.

The reason this child didn't win Best Newcomer is because he's a child star who participated in the Golden Rooster Awards twice as a child, but never won, which is quite a pity. As expected, Best Actress went to Tang Juan. Perhaps the old lady was upset about not winning at the Hong Kong Film Awards last time; she was quite emotional this time, with red eyes when she went on stage.

And now, the Best Actress has arrived.
I'm a little nervous.

After the short video was played, Wang Zhen's face turned a little pale, but since she was naturally fair-skinned, it wasn't very noticeable. She just had some sweat on her forehead and her breathing became rapid, which made Lu Ze and Zhuang Yu cover their mouths and chuckle. It was probably only at times like this that the usually carefree Wang Zhen showed any nervousness.

Lu Ze didn't know how to comfort Wang Zhen. He just watched the presenter on stage joking, his fists clenching as he grew anxious for Wang Zhen. Losing last time was one thing, but if she lost again this time, it would be truly...
"The winner of the Best Actress award at the 50th Golden Rooster Awards is Wang Zhen!"

"It's me! It's me! Lu'er, can you hear me! Lao Zhuang! It's me! I won Best Actress! I won!"

With the launch, Wang Zhen jumped straight up from the chair, her wig bouncing up and revealing a large bald spot on the back of her head. She really didn't care about her image at all. Wearing high heels, she almost lost her balance, and Lu Ze quickly reached out to support her.

"Okay, okay, you won the lottery! I wonder if you'd be this happy if you won?"

"Screw you! I'm not saying anything more, I'm going to collect my award."

During that short distance, Wang Zhen twisted her ankle twice, but thankfully she didn't fall. Either someone helped her up, or she grabbed the back of a chair and stood on the stage. By the time she stepped onto the stage, her eye makeup was already a little smudged.

"Finally, her dream came true. She kept talking to me about what would happen if she hadn't been selected, and it kept me up for several nights."

Zhuang Yu looked up at Wang Zhen on the stage, who was giving her acceptance speech with a trembling voice. She crossed her arms and looked at him with satisfaction.

"You two"

When Lu Ze heard that Zhuang Yu hadn't slept well for several days, he immediately sensed something was wrong. He looked at Zhuang Yu in surprise and tried to get Zhuang Yu to prove his guess.

"I'm not married, she's not married, so what? Is that not allowed?"

"You two have started a relationship, so why are you being so aggressive with me?"

"They look down on you because you're single. You're not getting any younger, aren't you worried? Aren't your families pressuring you?"

"Hey~ you old man. Me? Can this be rushed? My parents are so anxious they're almost bald, but they haven't pressured me yet. They're pretty open-minded. You have no right to talk to me like that. I'm only twenty-nine, and you're thirty-six."

"Thirty-six, at least I found it. What about you? Twenty-nine?"

The two bantered and teased each other until Wang Zhen took the trophy off the stage, ran over to give Zhuang Yu a big hug, and then kissed Zhuang Yu on the lips in front of Lu Ze.

"Did you tell him?"

Wang Zhen didn't care about the surprised looks from others and nestled into Zhuang Yu's arms. Ever since she came back to life on the operating table, she had been living more clearly than anyone else. It was just that because of her past illness, she would not be able to give Zhuang Yu any children in the future, which made her feel very indebted. All she could do was to treat this man even better.

"I told you, alright, alright, you're on TV now. With your family's reputation, aren't you afraid your husbands will come over with pickaxes and dig you up? I wish you both well, okay? Seriously. You gave me a wedding invitation, but I didn't give you a gift."

Although Lu Ze said that, he was actually pleased. These two good friends had become a couple, which was a good thing, keeping the good stuff in the family. Who knows, as long as the two of them are happy, that's all that matters.

"You can skip the wedding, but you absolutely must give a gift! Give me a wedding house, not too big, around 300 square meters within the Second Ring Road, how about that, Lu'er?"

"I'll even send you a private jet, do you think you can fly?"

"Alright, alright, you two stop fooling around. Lu'er, the Best Actor segment is about to begin."

After stopping Lu Ze and Wang Zhen from arguing, the three of them jokingly turned their attention back to the stage. After the host left the stage, the short film for the Best Actor award began to play.
"The following actors received nominations for Best Actor at the 50th Golden Rooster Awards in 2020."

"Lu Ze, The King of Boxing: I've been boxing for twelve years, since I was fourteen. How can I let it go? I've thought about quitting and finding another job, but I just keep thinking about it and can't forget it. I've given you all the prize money from my previous matches, but I think it's still a little short. I'll pay you back when I get another match."

"Jiang'an, Tang Quanchao: Having lived to my age, most people would feel that their lives are failures. They have mortgages they can't pay off, tutoring fees for their children they can't finish paying, and they have to pay attention to whether the prices of various vegetables are rising or falling every day. They don't have much money in their pockets, and they have to pretend to be generous and save face when they treat their friends to meals. In fact, in this life, what is the point of living freely or living a meaningful life? It's all bullshit. In fact, people just live for face."

“In the song ‘Yearning,’ Pan Jianghong wrote: ‘How much have I given? And what have I gotten in return? Just this green hat on my head? Tian Xiaojuan, look at me! We both came from the countryside. I wanted you to have a good life! Not for you to be fucked by someone else! I’ve been hesitating about whether I should bring you to the city, but now I understand, I shouldn’t.’”

"In 'Living,' Lu Ze: Stop fucking spewing nonsense! I don't have AIDS! I don't! I have leukemia! I'm not contagious! I won't infect you! Stop spewing nonsense! I really do have leukemia! These are my test results! Look! Look! It really is leukemia! I'm going to die! But I can't infect you! I really do have leukemia! Look!"

Lu Ze's roar in the last short film still pierced the hearts of everyone present. Everyone in the audience was in this industry; how could they not have seen this movie? Watching Lu Ze's highly intense performance, they fell silent, each having already made up their minds.

Two big-name presenters, a man and a woman, came on stage, trying to liven up the atmosphere, but everyone had clearly lost interest, and the laughter sounded somewhat perfunctory.

The two had no choice but to quickly announce the winners and then hastily make their way out.

"The winner of the Best Actor award at the 50th Golden Rooster Awards is..."

“Living”, by Lu Ze.

"."

I'm going to the hospital with my dad for a checkup tomorrow, so this will only be one update. I wrote a bit more, and briefly mentioned the Golden Rooster Award, since it's not a major award, but I still had to write about it.

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(End of this chapter)