Chapter 19: Now, I Have Arrived

Amidst the applause, Cao Yang stepped onto the stage.

The award presenter chattered away for a while and even patted Cao Yang on the arm with a smile; Cao Yang had no idea what language it was and could only face them with a smile.

Once the presenter finished speaking, he said "thank you" several times, shook hands with the other party, and accepted the Silver Bear.

It felt about the same in his hand as Li Xiaoran’s Silver Bear.

Cao Yang thought idly; he hadn't prepared an acceptance speech in advance, as he had thought it would be good enough just to get a Best Actress award for the Berlin film, and he never dared to hope he would win a major prize.

It seemed the school had put in a lot of effort, and teacher Xie Fei had also gone to great lengths; it was almost turning into a Chinese-language special event.

"Thank you to the jury, thank you to the film festival. This is my first film, and there are so many people worth thanking: my teacher, Mr. Situ; my guide, Director Tian Zhuangzhuang; my parents; and my lead actress, Miss Li Xiaoran."

"Last year, my alumnus, Director Zhang Yimou, won the Jury Grand Prix here. I was very envious at the time, thinking to myself when I would be able to stand there myself. Now, I have arrived!"

"Clap, clap, clap..."

The applause was like a tide.

Raising the Silver Bear in his hand, Cao Yang said at the end: "Finally, thank you to my alma mater, the Beijing Film Academy. This was a student practice film I shot, and it received great support from the school. I am proud to be a student of the Beijing Film Academy."

Well, in the end, Cao Yang still couldn't resist sucking up to the Beijing Film Academy... he gave them a wave of advertising, even pushing it all the way to the Berlin Film Festival. This was what you call returning a peach for a plum; in the world of adults, how could this be called sucking up? This was called mutual benefit.

The school should be very satisfied now, right?

I hope the school can be even more supportive next time; I’ll take your advertising all the way to Venice and Cannes for you.

The final Golden Bear went to *Intimacy*, which kept the biggest prize in Europe, but even so, having given so many awards to Chinese-language films, I fear there will be no shortage of controversy tomorrow.

However, it was not without precedent.

In 1999, the 56th Venice Film Festival gave the top prize, the Golden Lion, to the National Master’s *Not One Less*, and then gave the Silver Lion for Best Director to Zhang Yuan’s *Seventeen Years*.

The influence was only greater than this time, not less.

After the awards ceremony, one couldn't leave yet; there was still a press conference waiting for the winners.

Cao Yang and Li Xiaoran accepted interviews together. They were all routine questions; the reporters who could get in were all insiders of the film festival, and most of the questions focused on the film itself, without asking sharp questions just to grab attention.

By the time they returned to the hotel, it was already eleven o'clock at night in Berlin. Cao Yang wanted to make a call to share the good news, but he had to convert the time first to avoid being inappropriate.

Berlin is in the UTC+1 zone, and the country is in the UTC+8 zone, but it isn't a simple 7-hour difference because they have both daylight saving time and winter time.

The time difference during daylight saving is 6 hours, while the difference during winter time is 7 hours.

It is February now, which is winter time; eleven o'clock here is morning back home.

Then, a knock sounded at the door outside.

Cao Yang opened the door and saw, to his surprise, that it was Zhao Tiantian standing outside.

"Tiantian, is something the matter?"

"Director Cao, can I come in and sit for a while?"

Cao Yang understood Zhao Tiantian's meaning in an instant.

To tell the truth, Cao Yang was not a person who had transcended low-level interests, but there were some things that still required a bottom line—for instance, an investor's woman was best left untouched, otherwise, it was easy to ruin one's reputation.

Just imagine, a financier spends money to promote a mistress, the money is given to you, yet you lack integrity and sleep with his woman; once your reputation is ruined, who would dare to invest in you?

"Tiantian, it's too late today. I still need to report the good news to Boss Feng later. Can we talk about whatever it is tomorrow, okay?"

Cao Yang deliberately mentioned the coal boss, and the meaning was self-evident.

Less than two minutes after sending Zhao Tiantian away, there was another knock at the door.

Still not giving up?

Cao Yang opened the door, about to sternly refuse again, but to his surprise, it was Li Xiaoran.

"Disappointed to see it's me?"

Li Xiaoran quipped, and without waiting for Cao Yang to reply, she walked in very naturally, not acting like a guest at all.

"You saw it all?" "Couldn't sleep, so I came out for a walk, and just happened to see a certain actress knocking on the door of a certain famous director surnamed Cao in the middle of the night."

I believe you, Cao Yang thought, but he didn't take the bait.

"My agent asked me when I'm returning to the country, whether I'm going back tomorrow or returning with the crew." Li Xiaoran asked suddenly: "Do you have any suggestions?"

What kind of suggestion could I have?

You've already accepted your award, there's nothing left to do, so leave if you want to leave, or stay if you want to stay.

"Cao Yang, let's stay here. You promised me—we'll go to that small town by the sea, watch the ocean together, stroll along the beach together, and grow old together slowly."

Li Xiaoran rested her head on Cao Yang's shoulder, wrapped her arms around him, and whispered: "Have you forgotten all of this?"

"Hiss..."

Here we go again; didn't she say she had mostly recovered?

Cao Yang was stunned; was she unable to get out of character?

Seeing Cao Yang's face change, Li Xiaoran burst into a giggle.

"Alright, no need to be self-reproachful all the time; perhaps I'm willing. Look, I'm abroad, and you're abroad too; just pretend you came to find me. My wish is fulfilled, and maybe I'll be out of character then."

!

Cao Yang thought for a moment and asked, "Does this count as taking advantage of someone's vulnerability?"

"It doesn't."

"I'm helping you fulfill a wish?" Cao Yang took off his coat.

"Yes, do you know how long I've been waiting for you in this foreign land?" Li Xiaoran threw off her top.

"Mmm..."

Then what else was there to say? You miss me, and I crave beauty—that’s just how it is, truly and genuinely feeling each other's delicacy and roughness.

At the age of twenty-something, when one is always hungry for the next meal, facing temptation after temptation, one can still strike hard; this night was destined to be sleepless.

There were many others who were sleepless; Li Chang, a reporter for the entertainment section of Sina, also didn't sleep all night.

He had been following the news from Berlin, and at 3:27 AM, Li Chang shouted "Yes!" and ran toward Editor-in-Chief Hu's office.

He shook the sleeping Editor-in-Chief Hu awake on the sofa and shouted excitedly: "We got it, we got it."

Editor-in-Chief Hu gave a start and sat up immediately: "Got what? Best Actress?"

"Best Actress! Berlin Best Actress, Li Xiaoran won the Berlin Best Actress, the first Berlin Best Actress from the mainland!"

"Publish, publish, publish! Front page headline, push it for me immediately, hurry up." Editor-in-Chief Hu waved his hand imposingly and asked: "Have you made contact over in Berlin?"

"It's already settled; they will send the photos over via email as soon as possible."

"Good, good, hurry up and get it done."

Editor-in-Chief Hu opened his computer, used a special account to connect to the external network, and scrolled through the news of the Berlin Film Festival.

"Holy crap! Wang Xiaoshuai won Best Director?"

Editor-in-Chief Hu paused, thought for a moment, strode out of his private office, went outside, and beckoned for the intern, Xiao Li, to follow him.

Back in the office, Editor-in-Chief Hu let Xiao Li look at the content on the monitor and whispered: "In a moment, you will post a text message on the page under the identity of an intern reporter."

Xiao Li’s naive, big eyes revealed a clarity not yet polluted by society; he didn't ask for the reason and nodded, following the editor's instructions.

He even thought the editor was grooming him and felt grateful.

Editor-in-Chief Hu felt everything was under control, sat down, crossed his legs, and leisurely sipped his coffee. Refreshing...

Pfft!

"Damn, damn, damn! Jury Grand Prix? Is this f***ing fake news?"

Even he, a news professional, suspected it was fake news written by foreigners.

Thank you, brothers, for the monthly tickets and recommendation votes. Thank you.

(End of chapter)