Chapter 288: Fruits of Victory

"I am very happy to see you all. Your film has received extraordinary praise at Cannes. Congratulations."

Gilles Jacob was very polite, spoke decent English, and even took the nationalities of those present into consideration, choosing simple English words to speak.

The old man had a kind and gentle face, appearing amiable, but it was filled with a sense of hypocrisy.

Chen Sicheng felt that if he had drunk a couple of ounces of liquor, he would have immediately torn off his hypocritical mask.

What was he putting on an act for?

Extraordinary praise, my foot.

I was just herded around by your people like a duck, don't you dare pull that on your master.

"Thank you, President Jacob. I am also very happy to see you." Chen Sicheng vented fiercely in his heart, bowed slightly, and shook hands respectfully with the highly respected Cannes president.

Afterward, the Spring quartet stood in a row and smiled for a group photo with him.

When they stood with their backs to the Palais des Festivals and faced the red carpet for the photo, the scene below inevitably entered their field of vision.

"Chen, look this way."

"Chen, give me a smile."

"Chen, I want a look like the one in Twilight."

The biggest impression Chen Nuo had from walking the red carpet at Cannes this time was that photographers would ask him for "the twilight gaze."

At these moments, he would tuck in his chin, purse his lips, and use a method similar to rolling his eyes to stare at the other person with a wild and uninhibited look.

"That's amazing!"

"I want one too, Chen!"

"I want one from the side!"

"I want one too."

This pose was truly idiotic; calling it a pretentious act would be no exaggeration. In reality, it was something Chen Nuo had specifically designed in his past life to flirt with girls, and using it in *Twilight* this time around had also yielded good results.

In fact, the aesthetics of Europe and America in this era were really not much different from those in China more than a decade later. This expression not only made the number of likes on FB skyrocket, but photographers also became like they were possessed, falling into a frantic state of "I want one too."

Having had the experience at his mother's premiere ten days ago, Chen Nuo was now quite familiar with the routine.

He knew these photographers would want one shot after another, endlessly.

Trying to satisfy their requests for extra shots would be impossible even if he were worked to death.

After letting the photographers on both sides of the red carpet take pictures for a while, Chen Nuo prepared to take his leave.

But a staff member at the scene blocked his path, "Sorry, Chen, your time is not up yet."

"What do you mean?"

"The red carpet time reserved for you is 3 minutes; you need to stay on the red carpet for 3 minutes. Your cast members will arrive after that. Then, after waiting for about two more minutes, you can all walk forward together."

After finishing, the man showed an apologetic expression, "Sorry."

Chen Sicheng watched this scene from afar, feeling as if his lungs were about to explode with anger.

Before, when Chen Nuo was preparing to leave, he had breathed a sigh of relief.

He felt that the red carpet time Cannes gave Chen Nuo wasn't long either, just about a minute.

Basically the same treatment as Gong Li.

Chen Sicheng felt he could accept this.

In China, it would be strange if Chen Nuo's treatment were not as good as that of a Singaporean actress.

It was not unexpected for the Cannes Film Festival to do this.

But he didn't expect that just as Chen Nuo was about to leave, someone would actually stop him?

And the person stopping him,

Chen Sicheng looked down from above and saw it clearly; it really was that European white man with gold-rimmed glasses, blue eyes, and thin lips, who looked difficult to deal with and perhaps a bit racist.

When this person was shooing him away earlier, he gave him the feeling that if there was any disagreement, he would call security to drag him away.

And now?

A sycophantic villain!

Shameless, no face!

Chen Sicheng's mood turned completely sour, and at the same time, his impression of everyone at Cannes was truly terrible.

He stood at the entrance of the Palais des Festivals, took one last look at the red carpet, couldn't help but grit his teeth, causing muscles to bulge on his cheeks, and then turned and walked into the main entrance of the film palace.

Chen Nuo did not notice that he had been glared at; he didn't even notice that Lou Ye and the others were in the red carpet sequence right before him.

Because the camera flashes in front of him were simply too dazzling; being photographed 360 degrees by these people for 3 minutes, he couldn't even manage a smile, let alone pay attention to Chen Sicheng.

Of course, it was impossible for him to notice that the bespectacled man who had stopped him earlier suddenly curled the corners of his mouth, revealing a strange smile.

A man's voice was coming through his earpiece: "Well done, Moliere. Director Thierry Fremaux will surely be very satisfied with you."

Moliere pressed the talk button on his earpiece, "Did it have an effect?"

"Of course, the red carpet viewership ratings are already climbing back up. Well done."

"Thank you."

Chen Nuo felt like a century had passed before Bong Joon-ho, Kim Hye-ja, and the others finally arrived.

"My brother!"

"Brother!"

Bong the Fatty and Chen Nuo walked to the side, letting Kim Hye-ja, who was wearing traditional Korean clothing, stand in the center of the red carpet to enjoy the camera flashes alone.

The two stood shoulder to shoulder, and Bong Joon-ho smiled and asked nonchalantly, "Have you heard?"

Chen Nuo said, "What?"

Bong Joon-ho's smile remained unchanged: "What do you think? I have no hope for the Palme d'Or now, but if you and Teacher Hye-ja also come away empty-handed, how will I face President Lee when I go back to Korea?"

Chen Nuo asked curiously, "Hmm, if that really happens, what will President Lee do to you?"

Bong Joon-ho said, "I don't know. Although the production costs have already been recouped, for CJ Entertainment, what's important has never been money, but..."

Chen Nuo interrupted, "Wait, what do you mean the costs have already been recouped? If I remember correctly, isn't it only being released in Korea on the 28th?"

Bong Joon-ho laughed, "Yes, the 28th. But a film isn't just about box office. Do you know how busy I've been these past few days? There are currently over 30 countries' distribution companies in talks, and nearly ten countries have already signed contracts."

"Just before coming to the red carpet, I met with a Brazilian distributor with a CJ producer. Damn it, I haven't had a good rest in three days. However, it seems that recouping the production costs before the release is no longer a problem."

"But if we don't win an award, there will still be a little bit of trouble, sigh."

"... Didn't you say before that you were planning to go sunbathe, look at beauties, and have some quiet time alone?"

Bong Joon-ho said, "Yeah, that's what I thought. But at that time I thought you could win an award, but now... I think it's better not to wait."

So far, from Fan Fan Binbing to Bong Joon-ho, it seems many people are not optimistic about his bid for the Cannes Best Actor award this time.

It made Chen Nuo himself feel a bit confused.

It was like a math problem that seemed quite simple in your eyes.

You were picked by the teacher to go up to the podium and solve it.

You were confident in both the process and the answer because this problem seemed quite simple to you.

However, when the teacher asked the whole class whether the answer you calculated on the blackboard was right or wrong, the whole class stood on the opposite side of you.

With the teacher being noncommittal, even someone as firm as you couldn't help but re-examine your own problem-solving approach, sorting it out from beginning to end to see whose problem it really was.

Chen Nuo was just like that.

When he finished taking photos in the red carpet area, followed Bong Joon-ho to help Kim Hye-ja to Gilles Jacob, exchanged pleasantries, took a group photo, and stepped up the stairs again to go to the awards hall inside the Palais des Festivals.

Throughout the entire process, he kept questioning himself.

Was he wrong?

The premise of this problem was actually very simple.

There were nine votes in the Cannes jury; after passing the first round of nominations and going through multiple rounds of secret ballots, whoever could obtain the majority of these 9 votes would win the award.

The nine people on this year's Cannes jury were:

Jury President Isabelle Yu Yu Peier, a French actress.

Shu Qi: A Chinese actress.

Robin Wright Penn: An American actress.

Li Cangdong: A famous Korean director.

Nuri Bilge Ceylan: A famous Turkish director.

Asia Argento: An Italian actress.

James Gray: An American actor.

Hanif Kureishi: A British writer.

Except for Hanif Kureishi, who was a writer, the others were directors and actors who enjoyed a certain degree of fame in their respective countries.

This information was not confidential either. As long as one logged onto the official Cannes website, anyone could see it at a glance.

Among them, Li Cangdong, who was originally expected to serve as the jury president, was downgraded by the organizing committee to an ordinary juror, which had made Bong Joon-ho sound like he was mourning on the phone back then.

Chen Nuo hadn't said anything on the phone at the time.

Because he couldn't understand it.

He guessed the citizens of the Republic of Korea were truly too wealthy.

Perhaps to them, as long as the referee didn't directly help them send all 11 players of the opposing football team off the field, it was a fair game.

But to someone like him who had struggled, if the referee gave him one more controversial throw-in, he would already be overjoyed, feeling he had taken a huge advantage.

With Harvey's interference, it was indeed a pity that Li Cangdong didn't get to serve as jury president.

But on the other hand, when voting, Yu Yu Peier had one vote, and other ordinary jurors also had one vote.

And he swore on the conscience of a Korean that, based on his friendship with Li Cangdong and his understanding of Li Cangdong, this serious and earnest director would absolutely not joke around on such a major matter like the slacker and pretentious Wong Kar-wai did three years ago.

As long as *Mother* wasn't filmed into a giant pile of inedible trash, Director Lee would likely stand on the side of his compatriot on some key awards.

In this way, it was equivalent to having one ironclad vote among the only nine jurors.

What more could one ask for?

Did one have to become the jury president and feed you the meal for it to count as human harmony?

As for the remaining eight jurors, although Chen Nuo didn't know a single one of them and hadn't met a single one,

but just based on the statement that Yu Yu Peier didn't like him,

was it too arbitrary to think he couldn't get anyone else's vote?

With the lesson of Zhang Ziyi three years ago, he certainly didn't dare to hope for Miss Shu Qi to play the human connection card for him,

but did his image as a fighter for women's rights on the Oscar red carpet have absolutely no bonus points in the eyes of Robin Wright Penn, an American actress?

And could it really not reach the ears of Europeans and gain the slightest favor from Asia Argento?

Even Isabelle Yu Yu Peier.

Now everyone said Yu Yu Peier didn't like him.

But Chen Nuo thought about it left and right, and couldn't think of anything about him that would be an eyesore to this future top-tier European and American feminist.

On the contrary, he, this Barbie boyfriend and Halston spokesperson, was clearly on the same path as Yu Yu Peier.

Others might not know, but he knew very clearly.

Six years later, Yu Yu Peier, who was currently not showing her true colors and seemed to be just muddling along in the male-dominated film circle, would tear off her submissive mask and reveal a cold and ruthless woman's face.

This red-haired lady, who had filmed quite a few large-scale films in the past and was uninhibited, was a deeply hidden feminist.

At that time, with a film with strong feminist colors, *Elle*, after being nominated for the Oscars and Golden Globes, she threw a left punch and a right punch in various speeches and interviews, leaving the European and American film industry speechless.

Moreover, it wasn't just random talk in interviews and social media. After 2016, she really only filmed films with female leads.

As stated in the interview with *Elle* magazine that Chen Nuo saw at the time, Ms. Yu Yu Peier would use the rest of her life to "emphasize the diversity and importance of female roles in films, actively strive for equal opportunities and status for women in the film industry, and promote the improvement of women's status in the entire film industry and social cultural field."

Therefore,

Fan Fan Binbing thought he was going to lose until he had to sell his pants,

Bong Joon-ho had made tragic preparations for coming away empty-handed and had cleared out the copyright for *Mother*.

And countless other people, big and small,

were all waiting for him to repeat the scene from three years ago.

At that time, it was also like this, before the awards, the hype and pursuit of major media made the whole world feel that the Best Actor trophy belonged to him. But the final result was that he was like a stray dog, going back to lick his own wounds.

Even if the media said more afterward, it couldn't cover up the fact that he was a loser.

Just like the Russian actor Konstantin Lavronenko back then, even if his award was criticized by everyone as a "robbery," so what?

It didn't hinder him from sitting on the title of Cannes Best Actor, eating and drinking, and doing very well.

Thinking about it left and right, after sorting it out, Chen Nuo didn't feel he was wrong anywhere.

Even if Harvey appeared in front of him at this moment, he might still make another bet with him.

And because of this, when he walked into the Lu Miai Theater, which served as the venue for the awards ceremony, he was still full of spirit, feeling not the slightest bit discouraged.

This made the Pitt couple, who saw him enter from afar, a bit surprised.

"Why does he look like he's in a good mood?"

"Who knows?"

Mr. Pitt said thoughtfully, "Could it be that he heard something again?"

Angelina Jolie said, "Relax, honey, tonight has just begun, everything is an unknown."

Brad Pitt shrugged and said, "OK, then do you want to go over and say hello to your friend?"

Angelina Jolie raised the corners of her mouth slightly, blooming with a charming smile, and said, "Alright, but you have to know, although I am friends with Chen... I will always stand on your side."

Mr. Pitt sat in his seat, watching Angelina Jolie walk gracefully toward that young Chinese boy.

For some reason, a strange feeling suddenly rose in Mr. Pitt's heart, but it was only a fleeting moment.

He saw Chen Nuo notice Angelina's arrival and also stand up, greeting her in advance.

The two greeted each other with cheek kisses, then stood together, exchanging pleasantries with polite smiles.

Mr. Pitt felt he could guess what these two were talking about, nothing more than some polite greetings.

Calling them friends, he didn't believe his wife really had any friendship with this Chinese boy. It was nothing more than the two of them getting to know each other and hitting it off by chance.

But when he turned his head to look around, he found that in the entire theater, everyone's eyes were gathered in front of the first row, watching his wife and that man talking.

There were even some English words and phrases reaching his ears.

"Jolie and... didn't expect it, really good friends."

"Why is Angelina alone?"

"Brad probably doesn't like him."

"Haha, which man likes him, right?"

"That's true."

In Mr. Pitt's heart, the uncomfortable feeling that had just disappeared returned, becoming even more gloomy, just like a dark fire burning silently.

Angelina Jolie actually didn't spend much time over there, maybe only two or three minutes, but in Mr. Pitt's view, it felt as long as two centuries.

When Jolie smiled elegantly and waved to some fans in the theater who were calling her name, and walked back elegantly. As soon as she sat down, Mr. Pitt grabbed her hand.

To outsiders, this was just a normal holding of hands between husband and wife, but Angelina Jolie's expression changed instantly.

"Brad, no."

"Angie, I saw you two chatting very happily."

"I was just... let go of me, Brad, you're hurting me."

"Angie, smile, someone is watching us now."

"Brad, you... let go, otherwise I swear, I will scream."

"Relax, Angie." Brad Pitt laughed, looking at her with tenderness, "I was just joking with you."

He slowly let go of the hand he was holding Angelina's with.

Angelina immediately pulled back the hand that had been squeezed white, and said with a serious face, "Brad, you said you wouldn't do this again."

Brad Pitt said, "Sorry, I couldn't control myself just now, Angie, forgive me, okay?"

Angelina looked at him for a while, then suddenly said, "Forget it. But remember, Brad, there won't be a next time."

"Okay, I swear."

Compared to the last time, the host of the 62nd Cannes, this one called "Edouard Baer," seemed to be a local French comedy star.

Chen Nuo didn't know this person, and at first, he couldn't understand what this person was saying, but it didn't hinder him from knowing the person's excellence. Because in a short opening monologue, every sentence this person said would cause laughter from the whole audience.

The Lu Miai Theater was not like the Kodak Theatre; there was no big screen on site, only two roaming cameramen in front of the first row, capturing shots for the audience in front of the TV.

After laughing a few times, Chen Nuo guessed that it should still be the routine of making fun of celebrities.

Because this guy suddenly mentioned the word "Chen" on stage, and twisted his body as if he were dancing, triggering a burst of laughter from the whole audience, and Chen Nuo also had to follow along and giggle a few times.

After surviving this monologue he couldn't understand, it finally entered the awards stage.

The Cannes Film Festival awards ceremony had a lazy and romantic style unique to the French.

It was not like the Oscars, full of commercialism from beginning to end, wishing that every part of the scene could be precise to the second.

Cannes was different; it didn't have such high viewership ratings, didn't have so many awards, didn't have so many advertisements lined up by the second, and didn't have any superstar performances.

Although there was a general time limit when everyone gave their acceptance speeches, it would absolutely not be like the Oscars, using a huge countdown stopwatch to remind the winner that it was time to step down.

Compared to another film festival Chen Nuo had attended, the Tokyo International Film Festival, Cannes appeared even more loose and casual.

More importantly, the nine-member jury would sit on the awards stage from beginning to end.

The award presenters were only responsible for giving the trophies and certificates, and the work of announcing the winners would be personally performed by the jury president.

This was completely different from the Oscars or other awards.

After entering the main topic of the awards, the first award tonight was still the Caméra d'Or, and the winner was an Australian director.

When Yu Yu Peier, wearing a pure white carved lace dress, held the microphone and read his name, that Australian indigenous person, Warwick Thornton, was a bit carried away with joy.

After going on stage, he held the Cannes award certificate in one hand and a small golden camera in a box in the other, speaking incoherently in front of the microphone for quite a while.

Afterward was the second award, the Jury Prize.

This time, just like three years ago, it was a tie, won jointly by the British film *Fish Tank* and the Korean film *Thirst*.

Watching Park Chan-wook, Song Kang-ho, and others go on stage to receive the award in high spirits, Bong Joon-ho's expression began to change.

He hadn't spoken since the awards ceremony started, but now, the fatty couldn't help it, the fat on his face trembling, and he said to Chen Nuo in a low voice, "Brother Chan-wook's *Thirst* only had a 2.6 rating, and he could still win the Jury Prize? Do we still have hope?"

"Of course, brother." Chen Nuo nodded steadily, "I said before, I feel we haven't lost yet. You gave up too early."

Park Chan-wook stood behind the podium, holding the Jury Prize trophy. It was an exquisite open gift box, inside which was a crystal base with a palm leaf made of 18k gold on it, beaming with joy and giving all kinds of thanks in Korean.

Bong Joon-ho looked at the stage with complex eyes, then suddenly turned his head and said, "The next one is your Best Actor, brother, are you confident?"

Chen Nuo felt his mood couldn't be described as confident or not confident.

He would rather call his current state "bright and clear."

If the timing, location, and human harmony added up to seven and a half points, and it was still the wrong answer, then there was no other way.

Anyway, his US stock account, under Obama's $787 billion US economic stimulus plan and the Federal Reserve's crazy QE in March, had rebounded by nearly 30% in the two major stock indices from March to now, and the money earned was enough for him to pay for his impulsive bet, without needing to really spend Fan Fan Binbing's money.

Thinking of this, Chen Nuo couldn't help but want to look back and find where Fan Fan Binbing, Liu Yifei, and the others were.

Fan Fan Binbing didn't know if it was because she had shown off in front of her little sisters this time, but now she had to finish the act even if it meant holding back tears.

She really gave up walking the closing ceremony red carpet, and together with Liu Yifei, Liu Xiaoli, and Qi Yuntian, the four of them took the complimentary tickets Cannes gave Chen Nuo, and quietly slipped into the Lu Miai before Chen Nuo entered.

Chen Nuo only knew their seats were on the second floor of the theater, but he really didn't know the specific location.

When he was a bit nervous in his heart and wanted to find his support group,

the award presenter for the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor appeared, radiant and glamorous, amidst the host's exaggerated and loud introduction.

She was none other than Miss Zhang Ziyi, who was from China and had just turned thirty this year.

Zhang Ziyi was seen wearing a bright pink Chanel haute couture long dress, like a mermaid; the design of the whole dress was particularly bold, with the entire back completely hollowed out, almost revealing her butt crack.

Compared to the backless long dress that Chen Nuo had sourly commented on Fan Fan Binbing, it was simply not on the same level of "open."

Zhang Ziyi walked to the front of the awards stage, looking a bit nervous, and the English she spoke also seemed rigid, with a slightly heavy accent.

Chen Nuo felt that it was indeed a bit difficult for this level of spoken English to enter Hollywood, and even communicating with her Israeli billionaire boyfriend usually couldn't be said to be very smooth, right?

Chen Nuo, you really are a petty man.

Even now, he was still jealous of what happened three years ago.

So much so that ever since Zhang Ziyi appeared, he had been picking faults in his heart.

"... As an actor, I am very honored to be here to present the award for the best actor in the world."

Zhang Ziyi's eyes swept across Chen Nuo's face, who was in the first row to the left, maybe only five or six meters away from her, her smile not changing in the slightest, making it impossible for anyone to see her true inner thoughts.

But only Zhang Ziyi knew that if Chen Nuo won the award, he would become the second Chinese actor after Maggie Cheung to win acting awards at both Berlin and Cannes.

She felt particularly complex about this.

So complex that she had to act as if nothing had happened.

After Zhang Ziyi's brief English introduction, Edouard Baer pretended to be intoxicated by the goddess Zhang, muttering a lot of things Chen Nuo couldn't understand, triggering laughter from the whole audience, and he followed along, twitching his stiff muscles and pulling the corners of his mouth.

After the damn joke was finished, the French finally remembered the main business.

Amidst Edouard Baer's introduction, Ms. Isabelle Yu Yu Peier stood up for the third time tonight.

The moment she stood up, her expression was as relaxed as if she were going to pick flowers in the countryside; it was impossible to tell who this 50-something French actress liked or hated.

Unlike the first two times when she announced the winner's name as soon as she stood up, her speech this time was clearly longer, with a few more sentences at the beginning.

Chen Nuo didn't know what Yu Yu Peier was saying, but it should have been some explosive words, because many French people in the Lu Miai were clamoring and exclaiming, and the whole hall was buzzing.

His palms were sweating a little, and he was also a bit restless.

At this moment, he suddenly felt several gazes from the jury looking over, landing straight on his face.

One was Li Cangdong, one was Shu Qi, and another was that British male writer Hanif Kureishi.

What did this mean?

Chen Nuo's heartbeat accelerated.

The next second,

amidst Yu Yu Peier's full-mouth French, two words suddenly popped out that were incompatible with the soft French, appearing stiff and stubborn, and the key was that they were correctly arranged according to Chinese word order:

"Chen Nuo."

He didn't know what Yu Yu Peier said before, or what she said after,

but the moment these two words were spoken.

All of Chen Nuo's conjectures, all his doubts, and all his questions instantly vanished.

Amidst the applause that resounded through the hall, only one thought remained in his heart: He was right, they were all wrong.

PS:

The author has a cold and has had a low fever that won't go away.

Wanted to finish this plot but couldn't do it.

Beware of the flu, everyone!!!!!

(End of chapter)