Chapter 338: Winners and Losers and Women and Children

After Bong Joon-ho finished his acceptance speech, and Chen Nuo went up and said "I'll be back,"

A wonderful thing happened.

On the William Hill website, the odds for *The Hurt Locker* began to slide rapidly.

In fact, after the news of Chen Nuo and Harvey came out, the odds for *The Hurt Locker* began to drop, and before the Best Foreign Language Film award, it had already fallen from the initial 1:8.3 to 1:5.6.

These odds were already not far from *The Blind Side*, and *The Blind Side* was widely regarded as the biggest opponent of *Avatar* at this year's Oscars.

But after *Mother* won Best Foreign Language Film, what made countless gamblers marvel was that the odds for *The Hurt Locker* reached 1:3.5, while *Avatar* actually rose to 1:3.8.

For a time, countless onlookers were marveling on Twitter, suspecting if there was some shady deal inside.

But soon some old gamblers clarified the origin of it to those laymen.

In one sentence, there are too many people following the bet, so the website naturally has to lower the odds.

As for why the number of people following the bet suddenly became so large?

That is naturally because everyone likes to stand on the side of the winner, especially the gamblers at the poker table.

Although it was just a Best Foreign Language Film, it had nothing to do with Best Picture, but...

"Some people are just favored by God. Don't doubt this point." A person named shock1761 said on Twitter, "I've been in Las Vegas for 20 years and have seen too many such examples."

And after this post became popular, the odds for *The Hurt Locker* on websites like William Hill dropped even faster.

The reason is that there are more and more small-amount bets, and even half an hour before the Best Picture was revealed, when betting stopped, the odds for *The Hurt Locker* had reached 1:2.8, officially becoming the biggest favorite for Best Picture at the moment.

This crazy gambling activity even made some big media that hadn't entered the field start reporting.

Just as NBC News said, "It is conservatively estimated that hundreds of thousands of Americans followed Chen Nuo to bet on *The Hurt Locker*, which is simply crazy. But this is not a good thing for Chen Nuo. Because with the birth of the result half an hour later, these millions of followers who bet blindly are very likely to become his mortal enemies."

The turbulent public opinion outside, although it made ABC firm in a belief that even if Chen Nuo has no movies nominated next year, he must be invited to be an award presenter.

But for Chen Nuo, he doesn't care about those gamblers, whether they make or lose money, whether they live or die, it's best if they lose everything.

Because he is the person who hates gambling the most.

Although he wasn't a good thing in his previous life, he traveled north and south, and never touched two things.

One is drugs, the other is gambling.

He has seen many gamblers who lost everything and sold their children.

He knows deeply,

As an individual, whether it's speculating in stocks or gambling, even if you gain for a while, there will be no good results in the end.

Because money blown in by the wind will definitely be blown away by the wind. There are too many such examples.

Therefore, he never had the thought of going to a gambling website to place a bet, even if he clearly remembered that this year's Oscars should have been a big upset, and it made the headlines of countless news media the next day.

If it weren't for Harvey bullying people too much, insisting on sending money to him, he wouldn't have done this.

"Chen Nuo-xi, *Mother* won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, what words do you have for your Korean fans?"

"Thank you all for your support all along."

"When will you return to Korea again? Chen Nuo-xi, I believe many people want to see you."

Return to? "I will go when I have time, I also miss everyone very much."

"Will you go to Korea to film movies again?"

"Of course, otherwise wouldn't my Korean be learned in vain?"

"Chen Nuo-xi, I heard that during your filming in Korea, your parents adopted a Korean girl, is this news true?"

Why don't you go ask your compatriots more, why are you staring at me and asking, what are you doing?

And the more you ask, the more boring it gets, it's not as good as pointing a few Americans to ask me about my grudges with Harvey.

Chen Nuo turned his head to look at Bong Joon-ho,

Bong Fatty immediately said to the press officer: "Let's stop here."

"Okay, thank you reporters. The current interview ends here. The awards ceremony is still ongoing."

After the group finished the interview and returned to their seats from the backstage, they were already presenting the third to last award.

And the Best Actress was indeed taken by Sandra Bullock, and the next Best Actor was taken by Jeff Bridges for *Crazy Heart*.

Then it reached the last major award, Best Picture.

At this moment, on the viewership monitoring in the Oscar director's room, the real-time number of viewers was about to break through 50 million, and the last time the Oscars reached this viewership was back in 1998.

That's right, it was the year *Titanic* was infinitely glorious, sweeping 11 major awards including Best Picture and Best Director. 【338

But this year, Avatar definitely didn't have such glory.

Before the Best Picture was announced, the all-time box office champion had only managed to win Best Visual Effects.

This left Chen Nuo at a loss for how to start a conversation when he ran into James Cameron at the Vanity Fair party after the awards ceremony.

In the end, he could only walk over, gently clink his glass against the other's, take a small sip, and gaze at the resplendent party, falling into a long silence alongside the most profitable director in history.

What a star-studded party it was, unfolding before his eyes.

The Vanity Fair party after the annual Oscars is not only the most anticipated social event following the ceremony but also the place where the world's most famous filmmakers, directors, and actors gather.

There isn't a star in the world, big or small, who doesn't want to get in on the action.

There is a saying that to judge whether a star has established themselves in the American entertainment industry, you only need to see how many people come up to talk to them when they attend the Oscar Vanity Fair party.

For instance, a certain four-member Korean girl group that later became popular across Europe and America had a member who stood alone here for over half an hour before awkwardly leaving.

Likewise, because this venue refuses entry to agents and reporters and prohibits photography, many Hollywood celebrities are willing to come here to chat with old friends they might not have seen in a long time.

For example, the Pitt couple, Leo, Emma Stone, and other acquaintances of Chen Nuo who hadn't attended the awards ceremony were all here now.

Leo was chatting across from him with Kate Winslet, who had returned empty-handed tonight, occasionally glancing over here, clearly waiting for him.

Angelina was with her husband, exchanging pleasantries with Spielberg and George Clooney, occasionally turning her head to let her gaze sweep across his face—if this wasn't waiting for him, it was likely just a simple longing for his "bus."

Emma Stone stood alone, holding a golden glass of champagne not far away, looking bored; most of the time she was watching him, seemingly wanting to come over and say hello but not daring to.

Besides them, there was Scarlett Johansson, who, while talking to Robert Downey Jr., kept glancing over from afar with an icy look, clearly having something to ask him.

That feeling was much like Harvey Weinstein, who had come over not long ago to hand him a check.

As for Harvey, Chen Nuo accepted it.

After all, anyone—remember, anyone—

under the eyes of the whole world, losing two million dollars to someone else, and in such an absolutely humiliating way—when the whole world thought he would win, only to be turned around against the wind.

Afterward, becoming a laughingstock mocked by everyone on various social media platforms, and being grouped by many industry insiders with Polanski—that guy who was chased back to France and has since disappeared—as the two biggest losers of 2010.

No one's mood would be very good.

Not sending him a bullet but sending a check instead was absolutely Harvey Weinstein's version of "honor among thieves."

But for this Scarlett woman to look at him like that, Chen Nuo wasn't too pleased.

Damn it, what does your business with your husband—oh no, your soon-to-be ex-husband—have to do with me? Looking at me like that, it feels like I'm the one who corrupted him.

No wonder everyone calls you "Widow" later on; you deserve not to find a man.

Chen Nuo was lost in thought when he suddenly heard someone beside him say, "Did you know this would be the result all along?"

Chen Nuo took a sip of champagne and nodded truthfully: "That's right."

James Cameron smiled and said, "Actually, I don't resent losing to Kathryn. Although she and I have separated, we are still friends."

"I understand."

"When I heard about the bet between you and Harvey, I thought you were just at odds with him. Now it seems you were trying to warn me, right?"

"That's right," Chen Nuo nodded solemnly. "After all, some things happened two years ago. Of course, I didn't know it would really be The Hurt Locker, I just..."

"Just felt that this might let the whole world see more clearly."

Chen Nuo let out a sigh of relief and nodded, "Yes."

"It's not fair."

"It's not fair."

"Best Visual Effects. Ha. I feel like they're teasing me now."

"Actually, it's better than us; we seemed to have Best Sound Editing back then."

"Hahaha, very interesting. What did Christopher say to you back then?"

"He said he would make an unprecedented film to prove himself."

"Prove himself..."

"Yes, he was furious at the time. He didn't even attend the banquet and rushed back to the UK overnight. Until a year later, he brought out a script, slapped it in front of me, and said, 'Hey Chen, this is what we're shooting this time.'"

"Is it the one you're shooting now?"

"Yes. At first, we only started from the plot and special effects, but later, he got those two cameras from you. To be honest, I've never seen him so happy. Actually, when I first heard him talk about it, I disagreed, Warner disagreed, and perhaps everyone in the world disagreed, but he insisted on his own way. In the end, he convinced all of us. The reason was simple: he wanted to prove some things, to prove it to those who created the unfairness."

James Cameron fell silent, took a sip of wine, and then said, "If I were twenty years younger, I probably would have said the same thing to him. But now, I think Avatar is probably my limit, and Chen, this will be my last time attending the Oscars."

Hearing the old man's flat, calm voice, Chen Nuo finally sighed sincerely.

He knew James Cameron wasn't joking with him. 13 years later, Avatar: The Way of Water was nominated for 8 major awards including Best Picture at the 95th Oscars, yet this man never went to the Dolby Theatre again.

Thirteen years, many things have changed, yet this person still never went.

From this, it's clear that even though the old man looks indifferent now, Chen Nuo would bet that the hatred and resentment in his heart are likely deeper than the sea and higher than the sky.

"James, actually you don't have to..." Before he could finish, because the proud King of Commercial Cinema didn't need comfort at all, James Cameron interrupted faintly: "I'll say hello to them, go back and tell Warner that at the original price, you can use those two machines for another three months at most. Also, tell Christopher for me: shoot well. If you need anything regarding post-production effects, you can also contact me. I hope to watch him stand on the Oscar podium in front of the TV next year."

"Alright, I should go. Actually, if it weren't for wanting to chat with you for a bit, I wouldn't have come here."

"Fuck the Oscars."

After finishing the last uncouth swear word, James Cameron put down his glass and left the party with his third or fourth wife.

This left many big and small stars, film company bosses, and producers waiting to chat with the Master of Avatar feeling deeply disappointed.

Consequently, they focused their curious gazes on Chen Nuo, wondering what exactly these two had said.

Could it be that a recognized big winner tonight had angered a recognized big loser into leaving?

It's not impossible.

Look at that fat guy Harvey.

Clearly there to give a check, yet he had to be called a "loser" by that narrow-minded Chinese boy, his complexion turned bad on the spot, and he didn't even dare to deny the debt, resulting in him staying for less than ten minutes before leaving, even leaving before James Cameron.

James Cameron gave up his spot, and Emma Stone, who had been waiting for a long time, prepared to go over, but immediately, she saw the person in front of him occupied by a brown-haired woman again.

Emma Stone recognized this woman; she was the big winner tonight, the director of The Hurt Locker, and the first female director in history to win Best Picture, Kathryn Bigelow.

Seeing the two big winners of the night meet, the feeling was completely different from before. They chatted happily for a long time before smiling and parting ways.

Emma Stone had just taken a step when she stopped helplessly. Because another blonde woman had arrived.

Alright, Scarlett actually has a friendship with him too? This is too strange. Oh no, it looks like she's looking for trouble.

At this moment, Emma Stone vaguely remembered that when My Blueberry Nights was released, her agent at the time had said some things to her, and now it seems not a single one of them came true.

Look, he already has friends, rivals, fans, and lovers here.

This Chinese boy didn't become a shooting star but has developed some intricate connections in this La La Land, like a big tree, slowly taking root.

Although it looks like it's just the beginning now, and everything is still so thin, but who knows how the future will happen?

Emma Stone was daydreaming when she suddenly saw the other party turn around and wave at her.

The girl immediately revealed a smile and walked over with her champagne glass.

After dealing with some irrelevant people, seeing Leo and Kate walking towards him with smiles, Chen Nuo also waved at Emma Stone, who had been waiting for a long time.

Leo introduced Kate Winslet to him, and of course, he had to introduce a friend of his. Lest others think that when he arrived in Hollywood, besides knowing directors, he didn't have a single friend of his own age, which would be too embarrassing.

And isn't the circle built from one friend after another?

Actually, thinking about it, these two pairs are quite interesting.

Kate and Leo turned from friends-with-benefits to best friends because of Titanic, and he and Emma seem to have such a trend too.

He omitted the term "friends-with-benefits" and said this to the group; all three laughed.

Hey, actually there's nothing funny about it.

This is the sorrow of many actors: besides acting, they have no life of their own. The friends and lovers they meet are all fucking connected because of the play. Similarly, when chatting, they have to talk about movies after a few sentences.

"Did Quentin tell you?" Kate and Emma were chatting, and Leonardo also started talking to him about a new play.

"Yeah, he did. Why, did he invite you too?"

"Yes. Hello? I said, what's wrong with you? Did Quentin tell you about me? Why aren't you surprised at all?"

So, did Django Unchained really become "Chinese Laborer Unchained"?

Did the black slave rebellion become a Chinese laborer rebellion?

This...

Motherfucker, this butterfly effect is really fucking interesting.

Chen Nuo smiled, "I guessed it, otherwise why would you mention this?"

"Pretty fun, isn't it? Quentin said we are mortal enemies in the play. To be honest, this is much more interesting than Shutter Island."

"Have you read the script?"

"No, just heard Quentin talk about it for a few sentences. I'm quite interested. How about you?"

"Of course, I'm looking forward to how he will write it."

The Vanity Fair party could theoretically last a long time, but Chen Nuo and Leo agreed that after he finished Inception, they would gather at his LA mansion, and this time he would definitely not run away, and after hanging out with him for a few days, he left.

Liu Yifei's phone call is one thing, Emma Stone is another.

Or, there's no need to separate them so clearly; in fact, under certain circumstances, the two can actually overlap.

"Yeah, nothing to be happy about, it's not like I won the award. The trophy isn't kept with me either. Not even a necklace. I'm purely here to make up the numbers."

"Then if you had a necklace this time, whose name would you write?"

Chen Nuo could guarantee that in LA tonight, there were definitely more than one or two pairs of "wild mandarin ducks" like him and her.

Coming from Hollywood Boulevard, he saw several G-Wagons or similar SUV nanny cars parked on the side of the road, and they were still shaking slightly.

Chen Nuo could guarantee that it definitely wasn't the wind blowing.

When hearing Liu Yifei's question, Emma Stone suddenly went all the way through, and the pleasure that came from it made him almost scream.

But in the end, he held it back.

To Liu Yifei on the other end of the phone, it might have sounded like he was just silent for two seconds.

"Your name."

"Really!?"

Chen Nuo's brain shouldn't have any brain matter at this time, it was all another kind of white liquid, "Really..."

He originally wanted to talk nonsense for a few sentences,

but suddenly seeing Emma Stone twisting and twisting on him like a Yangge dance, he didn't know where he touched, her red lips opened, and it looked like she was about to scream.

Fortunately, Chen Nuo's Inception wasn't filmed in vain; the action scenes were truly practiced. He saw his eyes and hands were fast, grabbed something from the side, and stuffed it into Emma's mouth.

As a result, it was that black thong she had just taken off.

However, Emma Stone's pair of azure blue eyes were completely lost at this time, she didn't care what it was at all, and bit it tightly in her mouth.

But this bit of fabric was really too small, it didn't completely block her mouth, and she still let out a whimper.

At this time, one has to thank Apple.

As always, the iPhone's microphone couldn't pick up the side.

Liu Yifei laughed, "I don't believe it, you're just lying. Then tell me, how do you plan to spend the 2 million you won tonight?"

This time Chen Nuo chose to tell the truth: "Buy a house."

"Ah?"

"Preparing to buy one here in LA. Lest I stay in a hotel every time I come."

"No need." Liu Yifei's voice suddenly became a little smaller, a little shyly, "Doesn't my family have a house? You can go stay there."

Heh heh.

It is clear that Xixi looks down on Brother Nuo's character too much.

Brother Nuo's character is very noble.

It is absolutely impossible to live in a girlfriend's house and bring another woman back.

At that time, in case of any surprise situation, who would climb over the balcony?

Liu Yifei's home is an apartment, what if someone dies?

Could he do such a thing?

In order to be responsible for life, Chen Nuo could not agree.

After he refused, they chatted for a few more sentences. Tonight's phone call with Xixi could be considered a high start and a low end, ending unhappily.

Perhaps the moment he pressed the hang-up button, Emma Stone's groan, which she had been holding back for a long time, suddenly burst out from her throat.

In that slightly hoarse voice, it was full of an emotion from the inside out, which made Chen Nuo's blood boil. He reached out and pushed her forward, the girl's body tilted forward, and she lay prone between the two front seats like boneless.

Chen Nuo turned over and got up without hesitation.

Until the two separated, Emma Stone didn't ask a word about who the girl on the phone was.

This again has to scold Apple.

As always, the iPhone's earpiece is like naturally on speakerphone.

But Emma Stone acted as if she didn't hear it.

Undoubtedly, such a woman is absolutely a "py" worth long-term dating. American girls are indeed very sensible.

Emma Stone left in her Mercedes, and Chen Nuo got into the crew's Ford car driven by Qi Yuntian and Linghu.

Not having a residence has this disadvantage, even a car wasn't bought, so Chen Nuo is really prepared to turn the money he won into real estate this time.

After getting in the car, Qi Yun said: "Where to?"

Chen Nuo looked at the time and said: "Back to the hotel."

He saw Qi Yuntian looking like he had let out a sigh of relief, and couldn't help but say: "How long can you hide? If you don't go tonight, you have to meet tomorrow anyway. I think, whether it's test-tube baby or something else, anyway, you're not short of money, get a child out, let your mom and dad take care of it, complete their wish, what's the problem? Can you really bear to let your Qi family have no descendants?"

Qi Yuntian laughed: "You say it easily. It's not raising a cat or a dog, it's raising a child, do you think it's really that simple? Throw it to them, and I do nothing?"

Chen Nuo said disapprovingly: "What's difficult? If you ask me, it's all about the same."

"Have you raised one?"

"No, I guessed it."

"Heh heh, then wait until you have one later, you'll know."

"What do you mean? Don't curse me, damn it."

(End of chapter)