Chapter 45: Magnolia Award Venue (Asking for Collections and Recommendations)

The Magnolia Award, fully named the Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Award, is officially organized, founded in 1986, and is one of the three major television drama awards.

The other two are the Golden Eagle Award and the Flying Apsaras Award.

Facing Jiang Wei's invitation, Qi Hui thought for a moment and still decided to go.

He said hello to Director Lin and asked for leave, which resulted in a round of envy from the same group.

Especially Lei Jiayin; he is from Shanghai Theatre Academy, yet after several years in Shanghai, he has never once been to the Magnolia Award venue.

In the past, he didn't care, but wasn't Qi Hui going right in front of him?

His own failure was naturally painful, but a brother's success made him even more heartbroken.

No way; he could only comfort himself that Qi Hui would just be running alongside the winners; winning? That was impossible!

The last person to win a major award upon debut was Li Xiaolu.

But Li Xiaolu's biological grandfather was the production director of the Beijing Film Studio back then, her biological father Li Daning was also from the Beijing Film Studio and worked as a director, and her biological mother Zhang Weixin was a famous actress at the Changchun Film Studio.

Having learned acting by osmosis since childhood and grabbing roles in plays, it was no surprise that she won the Best Actress Golden Horse Award upon debut.

However, Qi Hui is not Li Xiaolu; it is impossible for him to win a major award upon debut.

Yes, that's it!

However, no matter how Lei Jiayin criticized him inwardly, Qi Hui still went, accompanied by the envious gazes of a crowd.

If you want to see Qi Hui, you can find him in the live broadcast on Dragon TV; look carefully, and you might just find him.

According to the message sent by Director Jiang, Qi Hui waited at the destination for the cast of "The Disguiser".

The filming location of "The Return of the Condor Heroes" was just outside Shanghai, so he was very close.

Although he was the last to know, Qi Hui was the first to arrive.

Time passed bit by bit; soon, the actors from the original group appeared one by one.

Jiang Wei, Feng Enhe, Teacher Zu Feng, Wu Gang, Zhu Jie, Fan Yulin, Shen Aojun.

He had never met the last two; when he joined the group, they had already finished filming.

Interestingly, Yao Chen, the female lead, did not come.

When Shen Aojun asked about this, Jiang Wei stated that he had contacted Yao Chen, but the other party ignored him.

Actually, Jiang Wei had not nominated her for the award because, due to her injury, part of her scenes were completed using a stunt double.

In the era of little fresh meat and traffic stars, this would count as merit, proof of working hard on filming, but unfortunately, that era had not yet arrived, so Yao Chen did not meet the award criteria.

Moreover, upon learning that she was not nominated while Qi Hui could be, Yao Chen became even more depressed, didn't even say a word of goodbye, and directly hung up on Jiang Wei's phone call, making Jiang Wei's face look ugly for a time.

The last to arrive was Sun Honglei, but his appearance was somewhat unique; his right hand was wrapped tightly in bandages and gauze in a tight bundle.

Judging by the look, the injury was not light.

"Yo? Teacher Sun, how did you get hurt like this?" Teacher Zu Feng asked in surprise.

"Ahaha... got hurt while filming," Sun Honglei smiled awkwardly: "Zhang Yimou's movie."

Upon hearing this, Teacher Zu Feng instantly fell silent.

He also wanted to act in Zhang Yimou's movies!

Currently, the most popular director in the country is Zhang Yimou.

The reason is nothing else; it is simply because he directed the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

"Eh?" Hearing this, Qi Hui was immediately surprised; Zhang Yimou, Sun Honglei... could it be "The Flowers of War"?

A... well, a bad movie; Qi Hui's only impression of this film was Uncle Ben Shan's cross-eyed ancient costume chicken fight.

He remembered hearing rumors before his transmigration, saying that Xiao Shen Yang had a fight with Liu Huaqiang, got bloodied and injured... could it be because of this?

Qi Hui glanced at Sun Honglei's bandaged right hand and couldn't help but criticize inwardly.

Looking at the few people beside him, Director Jiang took a deep breath, seeming to gain a bit more confidence and assurance.

"Let's go, we'll head over."

He indeed felt a bit unsure because competing against "The Disguiser" were Gao Xixi's "Paper Drunk and Gold Obsessed" and Teng Huatao's "Wang Gui and Anna".

In addition, there was another heavyweight opponent: Kang Honglei's "My Chief and My Regiment".

"The Disguiser" was indeed not bad, but facing these opponents, the pressure was still very great.

At the Magnolia Award venue, there were quite a few people; however, apart from those nominated to win awards and the judges, most others were artists invited by the organizers to show support.

This was actually also a stage for socializing; big shots who were hard to meet on ordinary days might appear; if lucky, one might just connect with a big shot and advance one's career further.

Qi Hui and his group did not walk the red carpet; they just showed their faces in front of the camera lenses before Jiang Wei ushered them in in a rush.

Jiang Wei was a somewhat old-fashioned person, uninterested in flashy things like red carpets and autographs.

Actually, it was easy to understand; his undergraduate major was history; it would be strange if he wasn't old-fashioned.

Qi Hui looked around and found that for such a big event, there were no school leaders present, such as the round-faced little old man Old Wang, or other school leaders.

But thinking about it, it made sense; they were from Beijing Film Academy, and this was Shanghai.

Although not explicitly stated, there was still some competition between the two sides behind the scenes.

Even if the Magnolia Awards wanted to invite someone, they should invite the leaders of Shanghai Theatre Academy; why invite the leaders of Beijing Film Academy for no reason?

"Eh?" Teacher Zu Feng suddenly said in surprise: "Isn't that Zheng Xiaolong?"

"Who?" Qi Hui followed his gaze and saw a middle-aged man; his posture was still upright, but he looked somewhat aged.

"A big shot from the Beijing circle, Zheng Xiaolong," Teacher Zu Feng explained.

Qi Hui looked, thought briefly, and quickly realized who he was: the director of "Empresses in the Palace".

This was his very famous work, but in his early years, he was a big shot in the Beijing circle.

As for how big... that requires talking about his background.

He came from a courtyard compound, specifically the General Logistics Department compound; his father was the head of the Propaganda Department of the General Logistics Department; later, Zheng Xiaolong retired from the army and transferred to the Beijing TV Art Center as a deputy director.

The reason Little Steel Cannon could get to know Wang Shuo was that he had been the one to pull the strings and build the bridge.

In the eighties, Zheng Xiaolong, Wang Shuo, and others, bringing in Ye Daying, Ma Weidu, and the rest, put together the Haima Dance Hall, making quite a spectacle of it.

But later on... they got hit by the iron fist of justice.

Wang Shuo went far away to America, to New York, and Zheng Xiaolong also fell into silence.

The leading figures of the Beijing Circle became Feng Xiaogang and Zhao Baogang, these two children of commoners.

As for that bunch of children from the big courtyards, they could only remain beneath these two.

Zheng Xiaolong is a big shot of the Beijing Circle; his appearing here already says a lot. Either he is so awesome that everyone submits, or he is so lousy that no one cares.

Clearly, the current Zheng Xiaolong belongs to the latter.

However, when "Empresses in the Palace" comes out, he probably won't be like this anymore.

Although period dramas with queues are somewhat disliked, "Empresses in the Palace" is indeed a phenomenon-level TV series.

For a time, Heilongjiang Satellite TV broadcast it on a nearly 24-hour rolling loop, once being mocked as "Zhenhuan Satellite TV"; just this point alone already demonstrates the heat of "Empresses in the Palace".

And this drama also allowed Zheng Xiaolong to regain his former glory; he proved he was not a remnant of the old era, and that the new era still had a ship capable of carrying him.

Qi Hui surveyed the ceremony venue and saw many familiar faces: Huang Shengyi, Song Dandan, Duan Yihong, Zhang Yi...

Of course, there were also some unfamiliar people, such as the ghostly foreigners... ah no, one should call them foreign friends.

Although Qi Hui didn't quite understand why the Magnolia Award, one of the three major television awards on the mainland, also had foreigners, he did indeed see Westerners here.

At seven in the evening, the guests took their seats, and the music began.

A troupe of dancers dressed in white robes slowly approached, holding Magnolia Award trophies, displaying their dance moves on the stage.

The award ceremony officially began.