Chapter 46: Winning an Award? (Seeking Favorites and Recommendations)

"Distinguished leaders, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen, good evening..."

On stage, a male and female host held microphones, hosting tonight's awards ceremony with great enthusiasm.

The process was somewhat boring, consisting of nothing more than an opening statement followed by the introduction of important guests.

It would take a long, drawn-out while before the official awards could begin.

Qi Hui yawned, distracted, his eyes scanning the venue as he tried to find something less boring.

However, he didn't find anything interesting, but he did see something that made him feel depressed.

When the hosts introduced the guests, government officials and big shots like Zheng Xiaolong would stand up and bow to acknowledge the audience.

Yet, those foreigners acted as if their butts were glued to their chairs, not moving an inch.

Even when the hosts read the introductions in both Chinese and English, those few foreigners acted as if they hadn't heard a thing, appearing extremely arrogant.

People from France and Germany... Qi Hui curled his lip; these two countries that fought each other to the death were certainly united when it came to being arrogant and rude!

It wasn't just those foreigners; the people from Hong Kong were the same.

Upon hearing the host introduce her, she merely stood up, expressionless, and sat back down without moving a muscle.

Qi Hui shook his head. It was quite good; this wasn't the spineless Hong Kong of a few years later that would mobilize the entire territory to find a stolen shared bike.

Keep it up, keep it going.

Bored to the point of discomfort, Qi Hui took out his phone to play, first logging into QQ to check messages, then preparing to play Snake and Tetris.

Current mobile phones could access the internet, but data was expensive and the web pages were difficult to use.

Having long been accustomed to smartphones, he couldn't use this, so he simply didn't look for trouble.

Snake and Tetris were still more suitable for Qi.

"Hehe, Senior Brother, I see you." Jing Tian, holding her computer, sent a message to Qi Hui, along with a screenshot.

It was a fleeting shot, somewhat blurry, but Qi Hui was visible.

The audience seating at the Magnolia Awards venue was dim, but a beam of light shone upward from below Qi Hui, making him look a bit like a villain in a horror movie.

As the brightest person in the entire venue, plus the fact that Jing Tian was looking for him on purpose, she quickly captured this image.

Unfortunately, Qi Hui's feature phone couldn't view images.

Even more unfortunately, the production team seemed to have discovered Qi Hui's anomaly, and the camera never swept that way again.

"Really? The lighting is so bad, and you can still see me?" Qi Hui asked in surprise, replying immediately.

He didn't know he had already been exposed.

"Because you're playing on your phone ┏(゜ω゜)=☞" Jing Tian replied, adding an emoticon.

At the awards site.

Holy crap, she really could see... Qi Hui looked left and right. Jing Tian's words gave him the feeling of being watched, and he got goosebumps.

However, Qi Hui soon realized the reason; it must have been the phone's light, which made it easy to attract others' attention.

Still, he didn't intend to change it.

Anyway, he was just part of the atmosphere group; the awards had nothing to do with him, so what else was he supposed to do if not play on his phone?

"You have such good eyes to be able to spot me like that..." Qi Hui remarked.

"Not at all, it's just that the computer screen is clear!" Jing Tian replied immediately: "Foreign-made high-tech products are much better than domestic ones."

Qi Hui was greatly shocked: "Which company's product is this good?"

Could it be that the 4090ti came out early?

"I don't know, I don't pay attention to these things," Jing Tian replied: "Do you want one? I can give you one."

"No need..." Qi Hui's mouth twitched. The sudden generosity made him feel somewhat uncomfortable: "Don't be like this, people will say I'm being kept by a rich woman."

Jing Tian blushed: "Pah, what rich woman, that sounds terrible!"

Just as Qi Hui and Jing Tian were chatting heatedly, the awards activities on stage were also proceeding heatedly.

First, the awards for the animation category were presented, with several foreign animations winning.

Next were the awards for the documentary category, and another string of unheard-of documentaries won, two of which were foreign documentaries.

At this point, let alone Qi Hui, even Jiang Wei, Sun Honglei, and the others felt so bored they were getting sleepy.

It was only because it was a live broadcast that they weren't already yawning.

Fortunately, after the documentary category ended, it was finally time for the film and television awards.

The many producers, actors, and directors who were feeling sleepy were suddenly energized and no longer tired.

"Among so many television dramas, I think what the audience is very concerned about must be the television series *Lurk*." On stage, the female host mentioned *Lurk* as soon as she spoke.

"Eh, I remember that *Lurk* viewers have this kind of aftereffect," the male host took over the conversation and continued: "That is, whenever they see a chicken coop, they want to reach in..."

Offstage, Kang Honglei, Duan Yihong, and other members of *My Chief and My Regiment* crew had their expressions change slightly; a bad feeling emerged in their hearts.

"Damn, they're pointing at *Lurk* right from the start?"

"Suddenly I don't have any expectations; *Lurk* will likely win."

"Bullshit, *Chief* is so powerful, how could it not have a fighting chance?"

On the internet, the live broadcast comments were rampant, with supporters from both sides engaging in high-intensity arguments, neither able to convince the other.

"Exactly, who said *Lurk* is guaranteed to win? *Wang Gui and Anna* hasn't even made a move yet!"

"What is that? How dare you bark here?"

"Is that trash from Teng Huatao even worth bringing out?"

"Pah! Trash!"

The blind *Wang Gui and Anna* instantly drew fire from *Lurk* and *Chief*, and was suppressed into silence in a few moves.

"Hehe, a bunch of trash, so what if you argue? The result is already out, you just don't know it yet."

That person left a vicious comment and then went silent.

Just as he said, the results were already out!

One award after another was revealed: Best Screenwriter, Best Television Drama Gold Award, and Best Actor—all went to *Lurk*.

However, the Best Director was not Jiang Wei, but Teng Huatao.

Jiang Wei and Sun Honglei went up to receive awards one after another, and then the entire group went up together to receive the Best Television Drama Gold Award.

As for *My Chief and My Regiment*, it had few gains in these heavyweight awards, only winning a few in the audience-voted categories.

When this award was being presented, Qi Hui looked up twice.

It wasn't because he was thinking "I can replace him," but because the presenter was Gao Yuanyuan.

Moreover, she was dressed in a black dress with short hair, looking quite a bit like a widow... *cough cough*, Qi Hui couldn't help but take a few extra looks.

On stage, Sun Honglei was giving his acceptance speech: "Actually... hahaha, my eyes really aren't that small..."

"Bigger than Duan Yihong's, right?" The female host kept stoking the fire.

The most powerful competitors for the Best Actor award were Sun Honglei and Duan Yihong.

Facing the female host's provocation, Sun Honglei couldn't control the smile on his face, but he didn't lose his mind; he asked for a microphone and chatted about his and Duan Yihong's time in school.

Both of them came out of the Central Academy of Drama; Duan Yihong was the senior, and Sun Honglei was the junior.

But now, the junior had beaten the senior.

Sun Honglei held it together, but not entirely.

The joy on his face was impossible to control.

Qi Hui looked for a moment, then went back to chatting with Jing Tian.

Human joys and sorrows are not connected; he only felt they were noisy.

The awards ceremony continued and soon entered its final stages. Qi Hui counted the time, looking forward to the moment the gala ended.

This thing was like a school leader's speech—extremely boring.

"The next award is also an audience-voted award: Most Potential Actor Award."

"Let's take a look at which works' actors are on the list."

On the big screen, the images changed, and scene after scene appeared: Zu Feng from *Lurk*, Wang Dazhi from *My Chief and My Regiment*, Huang Zongze from *Jewel's Splendor*.

And the last one: Qi Hui from *Lurk*.

"Let us reveal the answer: The winner of the Most Potential Actor Award is: *Jewel's Splendor*'s Huang Zongze..."

"And, *Lurk*'s Qi Hui."

As the voice fell, the lights came on, and beams of light hit both Huang Zongze and Qi Hui.

Having been prepared, Huang Zongze smiled and nodded, gentle and refined.

But Qi Hui was holding his phone, completely stunned, looking up blankly:

What's going on here?