This director loves making friends.

1992年的第49届威尼斯国际电影节，从9月1日开始，到9月12号闭幕，同时在9月12号这一天，举行了颁奖典礼。

Qin Keqing worked as a production assistant on "The Story of Qiu Ju," which first helped Gong Li win the Venice Film Festival's Best Actress award, making her the first Chinese actress to receive the award.

Finally, "The Story of Qiu Ju" once again unexpectedly won the Best Film award in the main competition, becoming the second Chinese film and the first mainland Chinese film to win the Venice Golden Lion.

In other words, "The Story of Qiu Ju" won both the Golden Lion and Best Actress awards at this year's Venice Film Festival.

Winning both the Golden Lion and Best Actress awards at once is a rare occurrence, especially considering the limited number of awards at the three major European film festivals.

"The Story of Qiu Ju" became the biggest winner at this year's Venice Film Festival.

Qin Keqing guessed that there might be a points reward if "The Story of Qiu Ju" won an award, but he did not expect the reward to be so much.

Jinshi directly added 10 points to Qin Keqing's score, which was more than Qin Keqing had expected. He originally thought he would only receive 5 points.

Back then, Qin Keqing used 10 points to befriend Zhang Yimou and 10 points to befriend Xie Fei. Optimistically speaking, the Golden Lion Award rewarded him with either a "Zhang Yimou" or a "Xie Fei" in one go.

What Qin Keqing didn't expect was that not only did the Golden Lion Award give her a reward, but the Venice Film Festival Best Actress award also gave her 5 points as a reward!

That's really rare!

It seems that as long as you participate, you will receive a reward for each award in the main competition, since being nominated for the main competition gives you 3 points.

Qin Keqing calculated the profits from "The Story of Qiu Ju".

Serving as a stagehand adds 1 point, playing a minor role adds 1 point, being selected for the main competition at the Venice Film Festival adds 3 points, winning the Venice Film Festival Best Actress award adds 5 points, and winning the Golden Lion adds 10 points.

Qin Keqing earned 20 points from just one movie, "The Story of Qiu Ju"—that's a whopping 20 points!

With 15 points remaining, plus another 15 points from the Venice Film Festival Best Actress and Golden Lion awards, Qin Keqing now has 30 points available.

In addition, if Qin Keqing remembers correctly, "Woman Sesame Oil Maker" is participating in the Berlin Film Festival next February. If nothing unexpected happens, it will win the Golden Bear Award and should also get 10 points, right?

The future is promising, the future is truly promising!

Xie Fei learned immediately that "The Story of Qiu Ju" had won the Golden Lion and the Venice Film Festival Best Actress award.

He couldn't help but exclaim to Qin Keqing, "Yi Mou is incredible! Of the three major European film festivals, he's only missing the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Haha, maybe it won't be long before he achieves a triple crown, then he'll truly become a master..."

"Whatever achievements he makes, it's all thanks to your teaching. Without your directing courses, he might have taken many detours."

In my opinion, the film we're making now, *Woman Sesame Oil Maker*, is no worse than *The Story of Qiu Ju*. If you go to Berlin next year, you'll get the Golden Bear; in Venice, the Golden Lion; and in Cannes, the Palme d'Or is yours.

"You..."

Xie Fei smiled and pointed at Qin Keqing, "Stop trying to flatter me all day. That trick won't work on me. You should focus your energy on your work."

Then he muttered to himself, "It seems I haven't given you enough to do. You need to get familiar with what you're doing now. After a while, I'll put you in charge of maintaining order on set and organizing rehearsals for the extras."

Qin Keqing gasped, feigning a bitter expression, which made Xie Fei burst into laughter.

The actors and crew of the film crew also learned that "The Story of Qiu Ju" had won the Golden Lion Award and Best Actress Award.

Xie Fei personally announced this, after all, Zhang Yimou was one of his students. Xie Fei was not jealous of his student's great achievements; he was more happy than jealous.

In addition, at the end, he jokingly said, "Congratulations to our assistant director Qin Keqing. You may not know that he also worked on the set of 'The Story of Qiu Ju'. He handled almost all the tedious on-site coordination and management."

On-site coordination is usually the job of assistant directors, assistant directors, or on-site producers. At this moment, almost everyone thought that Qin Keqing was at least the on-site producer of "The Story of Qiu Ju".

Xie Fei's words were actually correct; he wasn't exaggerating. Qin Keqing's job on the set of "The Story of Qiu Ju" was to handle the tedious tasks of on-site coordination and management.

However, he was neither the assistant director nor the production manager, but rather a low-level production assistant responsible for specific tasks.

Xie Fei's words at this time are indeed easy to misinterpret.

But his words made everyone in the "Woman of Scented Souls" crew look at Qin Keqing in a new light.

Some of the old hands who used to be unconvinced by Qin Keqing and were reluctant to cooperate, have all put away their ulterior motives.

They understood perfectly well that someone who could work as a production assistant or assistant director on the set of "The Story of Qiu Ju," and also as an assistant director on the set of "Woman Sesame Oil Maker," and even as Xie Fei's assistant, definitely had a powerful background that they couldn't afford to offend.

He Qing's gaze towards Qin Keqing also changed.

Qin Keqing hadn't asked her to "have a meal" or spoken to her much, which had initially put her at a loss.

Although Qin Keqing looked refined and scholarly, He Qing didn't dislike him, but this "meal" felt more like a transaction... well, it was a transaction, which made her feel somewhat awkward.

But "The Story of Qiu Ju" won the Golden Lion, making Gong Li the first Chinese actress to win the Venice Film Festival Best Actress award. Qin Keqing was also an important figure in this film and the assistant director of "Woman Sesame Oil Maker." Furthermore, he had mentioned that "Woman Sesame Oil Maker" might go to the Berlin Film Festival next year...

With so many conditions combined, He Qing's thoughts changed, and she became somewhat disappointed.

Was his earlier mention of "eating" just a joke?

Why does he hardly talk to me on set?

"Does he not like me and doesn't want to have dinner with me anymore?"

"Does he look down on me...?"

Human nature is just so strange.

Qin Keqing could clearly feel that the crew's attitude towards him had changed; they had become more enthusiastic and easier to work with.

That's right, it just happened by chance.

The entire production crew is now running extremely smoothly, making many of his tasks much easier.

Qin Keqing looked at Xie Fei with new respect. His words were deliberate, aimed at getting the film crew running smoothly as soon as possible.

With the production running smoothly, Qin Keqing's work became much easier, and she no longer needed to work overtime so much, so she gradually had more free time.

"Hey, you still owe me a meal. Are you free tonight?"

Seizing the opportunity, Qin Keqing approached He Qing and asked with a smile.

"what?"

He Qing was initially surprised, not expecting things to happen so suddenly.

Then came a small surge of joy. It turned out he hadn't forgotten me, that he wasn't disgusted with me, and that he wanted to "have dinner" with me.

"Yes, we have time. Where should we go?"

He Qing lowered his head and asked in a low voice.

Qin Keqing was also overjoyed. He wasn't sure if He Qing was still willing to "have dinner" with him, so he had just spoken up as a test.

After all, he was responsible for making all the filming schedules and actor announcements for the entire crew. How could he not know whether He Qing had time or not?

"I have a meeting with the director before 9 p.m. to confirm tomorrow's shooting schedule. Come to my room at 9:20 p.m. I'll prepare some late-night snacks for you, consider it your treat."

"Okay, then...see you tonight."

He Qing originally wanted to play hard to get, but the words she said had a different tone. She carried a hint of coquettishness and expectation, and her cheeks flushed uncontrollably.

To hide her panic, she quickly turned her head away.