Chapter 274: Bear Your Children and Raise Them for You (Thanks to the Alliance Leader: Qi Ge Chang Dian De Nicheng)

The awards ceremony continued; after Gui Lunmei finished her acceptance speech, she went off to do media interviews.

The two hosts took the stage and started chatting again. Huang Bo comforted her, "It's fine, Tianxian. Your box office is the highest here. In terms of audience popularity, no one can beat you."

Laughter rose from the audience, and Liu Tianxian's lips curved up too.

That was indeed true—among the nominees, Liu Tianxian had the highest box office and was the most famous and popular.

After some banter, the ceremony moved into its final two major awards: Best Actor, also known as the Best Leading Actor award.

But that had nothing to do with Liu Tianxian and Fang Hong; their task was simply to attend this awards ceremony.

Best Actor went to Liu Qingyun.

The final major award was Best Feature Film. The presenter was Liu Tianwang, and the winner was "Beijing Blues," directed by Gao Qunshu.

He was the director who had made "The Message" and "Conquest."

And "Beijing Blues" was also invested in by Enlight Media!

The big screen showed the production and investment companies—unexpectedly, Huayi, Enlight, and China Film Group had all invested in literary films.

Huayi had invested in "Girlfriend Boyfriend"!

The awards ceremony ended here, followed by a banquet. The banquet followed the entertainment industry's usual style—cups clinking, a daze of wine and wealth.

Round tables were laden with dazzling dishes: nougat, pineapple cake, cake, chocolate, and other sweets, along with some drinks.

The drinks were printed with the Golden Horse Awards logo.

People who knew each other would chat; those who didn't would just sit quietly.

But the Baodao entertainment circle was more open than the Neidi entertainment circle—no need to go into details here.

Anyway, photography and filming weren't allowed, so let them do whatever they wanted.

And only nominees could attend here—people with a certain status in the entertainment circle. If you didn't have that, go home.

Fang Hong, Liu Tianxian, and Zhang Songwen naturally attended. Since they were here, they had to eat—free food is free food.

At their table were also Wu Gang, Hao Lei, Lou Ye, Gao Qunshu, and some producers and behind-the-scenes creators.

They were all from Neidi, not sitting with the Hong Kong and Taiwan folks. Some of those people were vicious—best to stay away.

Fang Hong whispered to Liu Tianxian: "Gui Lunmei is thirty. Before this, she had acted in over twenty films. She earned her way through grinding. It's not like acting in a few films means you can compete. It's not like that. You've been in too few films—you still need to hone your craft."

Even if the award didn't go to Gui Lunmei, it would go to Hao Lei. Liu Tianxian wasn't even in line.

She simply had no competitive edge. Being nominated was already a decent showing.

"She had good conditions—people kept casting her, so she got chances to hone her craft," Liu Tianxian said.

That was indeed true. Gui Lunmei's circle was too wide—even Xu Laoguai had approached her twice. Some actors didn't even get the chance to grind.

"Take it slow. It's not like you can't act now. Just grind for a few more years—it's fine," Fang Hong said.

"If I still haven't won an award by thirty, I'll just go with the flow and give up," Liu Tianxian set herself a goal.

If she still couldn't win one by thirty, she wouldn't care anymore. A woman's most youthful and vibrant years were before thirty.

"Then what would you do?" Fang Hong asked curiously.

Liu Tianxian leaned in close and said playfully, "Bear your children and raise them for you. Want that?"

"I want a boy," Fang Hong said.

Liu Tianxian leaned back, her gaze appraising—she was getting picky now.

"Tianxian, still brooding over not winning the award?" Hao Lei rested her chin on her hands.

The others also turned their eyes toward her, curious about the two of them whispering to each other.

"Not at all, just feeling a bit regretful," Liu Tianxian replied.

"You can't force this. Even if you have a good work, if that year's competitors are too strong, you just won't win. If your work is weaker but that year's competitors happen to be weak, maybe you'll win. Awards depend on fate, and on the judges' tastes. Many factors come into play—politics, ideology, everything."

That was Gao Qunshu speaking. He talked a lot, with a bit of a know-it-all tone.

"Thank you, Director Gao. I understand. I'll work on improving myself," Liu Tianxian said politely.

"Don't worry about that stuff. The Golden Horse Awards aren't anything special—acting well is what matters." That was Liang Jing speaking, very casually, as if she didn't put much stock in the award.

She was a Literary Soldier.

Everyone at this table was from Neidi, so in this place there was an inexplicable sense of kinship, and they spoke with fewer guards up.

Liu Tianxian also chatted with them without any barriers, laughing and talking as if she were quite at home in such settings.

Though it was their first time meeting, they were all skilled at socializing. In this circle, if you didn't have the skill of warming up to strangers, you'd be too embarrassed to greet anyone.

"Principal doesn't seem to talk much," Wu Gang said from the side, leaning over to chat.

"I generally don't like to cut into other people's conversations—it's impolite," Fang Hong looked at the man.

"Oh, here's my business card. Please take it, Principal."

Wu Gang took out a business card and handed it over with both hands: "My contact info is on it. Reach out if you need anything."

Fang Hong took it, glanced at it—his agency and phone number were printed on it.

The intention couldn't have been more obvious.

The man had his own pursuits. Without ambition, he wouldn't be hyping himself up or getting cosmetic work done.

It was quite a wondrous world—a stage and screen actor who had won the highest theater award was still chasing worldly money.

Liu Tianxian, who relied on her looks and fans, was chasing an elusive honor.

The more you can't have something, the more you want it.

Just as the group was chatting, Huang Bo finished his business and walked over with a glass: "Drinking already!"

"You really are a busy man!" Liang Jing teased.

She was quite familiar with Huang Bo—her husband's directed "Killing" starred Huang Bo, and she herself had a supporting role in it. "Well, I finally got to host once, so I had to put on a good show."

Huang Bo said smugly, then laughed: "Just kidding, just kidding."

"You really hit the nail on the head—I'm really coming back next year," Liu Tianxian joked.

"You should punish yourself with two drinks." Fang Hong chimed in.

"Exactly." Hao Lei sniffed.

This was just after the awards ceremony, when Huang Bo had been teasing them, saying this one would win, that one would win—but none of them won.

"My fault, I'll punish myself with two drinks."

Huang Bo picked up his glass and drained it, then poured himself another and downed it again, adding, "If you're nominated again next year, you'll definitely win."

"Still talking."

Hao Lei stood up, her boss-like aura exploding.

Huang Bo shrank his neck and ran off, that sleazy look of his was unmatched.

It was just a joke; the people at the table all chuckled lightly and didn't take it seriously.

Just as this table was eating and chatting, Liu Tianwang arrived and greeted everyone: "Hello! Principal."

The last two words were addressed to Fang Hong, who nodded in response.

"The Golden Horse Chair must remember us!" Hao Lei spoke bluntly, half-joking.

"I've just been too busy; if I've been inattentive anywhere, I'll personally make it up to you."

Liu Tianwang raised his glass: "Come, let's drink one."

Everyone at this table were Neidi directors and actors, all connected by kinship, so they just came to socialize.

Don't think that someone of Liu Tianwang's status shouldn't do this sort of thing.

His influence is limited to fans, limited to Hong Kong and Taiwan—in the north, he's nothing.

As always, every artist who makes it has their own circle; breaking into it and fitting in is hard.

Liu Tianwang has put a lot of thought into this—just look at his trajectory.

There's nothing else: Hong Kong cinema is already at sunset.

This banquet ended quietly, without incident—you don't bother others, others don't bother you, each stays in their own lane.

Fang Hong didn't go around networking either; his status made it unnecessary.

Hong Kong and Taiwan rarely sought him out for networking either—they knew it was pointless; anyone with eyes could see he didn't care about Hong Kong and Taiwan at all.

People had still heard of the Emperor Entertainment incident.

After Liu Tianxian was snubbed at this awards ceremony, she flew back to Beijing the next day and stayed home in bed, her mood sour.

The reasons for her bad mood were many, including Zeng!

As December arrived, this month was precisely the peak season for movie propaganda, which eased some of Liu Tianxian's pressure.

"1942" had been in theaters for several days, but its box office was not good at all.

On its first day, the 29th, it earned only 25.55 million; from the 30th to December 2nd, its performance was decent, earning tens of millions daily.

But after those first few days, box office plummeted sharply to around ten million—very disappointing.

This film is a good one; everyone who saw it had nothing but praise, and its Douban score was high—but it was too heavy, too hard to watch.

At this time of year, a film's fate is decided in these few days—if it's good, it's good; if it's bad, it's bad. You can't count on Christmas or New Year to turn things around.

That's too far off, unrealistic.

The poor box office of this film caused Huayi's stock to suffer again; within two trading days starting December 3rd, Huayi's market cap evaporated 1.3 billion.

After several consecutive blows this year, if this keeps happening, the stock will evaporate entirely—it was already under ten billion.

Mainly because this film's total investment reached 250 million; at current rates, it's clearly a loss on paper—this is Feng Kuzi's first losing project.

Most importantly, Feng Kuzi's clout has lost its power.

This hurt Huayi the most—film had always been propped up by Feng Kuzi.

Remember when Feng Kuzi once told Wangyi: "I can make any kind of film, and every film I make earns box office—who can beat me? I'm uniquely undefeated."

Listen, how arrogant—he just got a lesson.

But this film's failure led Feng Kuzi to say another thing: "The films I make casually earn 400 million in a week; the films I take seriously don't make money—I'm deeply confused."

This is still saying Chinese audiences are garbage!

Honestly, this film dealt a heavy blow to Feng Kuzi's confidence; he even said: "Tired. Don't want to make films anymore."

Only after Xiao Wang and Wang Laoer comforted and encouraged him did he pull through.

It seems human hearts are fragile—even these old hands of the industry aren't as mentally strong as they seem.

Especially Liu Tianxian—her mental resilience isn't any stronger!

Yutu also didn't mock or ridicule, staying silent—this kind of film is best left alone.

Because it's a good film, if you mock it, the audience will definitely retaliate and unknowingly give it more heat and emotion.

A wave of retaliatory viewings would be bad.

Most people follow blindly, but many are rational—they mostly stay silent, but their impact is powerful!

Rumor has it: "1942" was originally not approved for screening; they had to use connections to get it cleared, and to repay that favor, Feng Kuzi became the Spring Festival Gala General Director for 2014.

But this is just rumor—no one knows if it's true.

(End of Chapter)