The Golden Phoenix Awards, one of the world’s top three film awards, was once again held this year at the Capital Theater.

By 2 p.m., a backstage live stream of the ceremony had already started online. A stylishly dressed female host spoke directly to the viewers on screen, explaining the nominations for this year’s Golden Phoenix Awards one by one. She walked through the bustling backstage of the theater, attracting over a million live viewers.

Just the pre-ceremony live broadcast attracted so many viewers. When at 7 p.m. the Capital Satellite TV suddenly switched to the red carpet, the TV ratings soared sharply. Tens of millions of viewers all turned on their TVs to watch the live broadcast.

The online live stream continued but only briefly showed some celebrities about to enter. Meanwhile, the televised awards ceremony began in earnest. From the other end of the red carpet, a beautiful and graceful figure slowly appeared, and the audience instantly burst into cheers.

“Wen Xuan! Wen Xuan! Wen Xuan!!!”

As the first celebrity to walk the red carpet at this year’s Golden Phoenix Awards, Wen Xuan did not walk with her film crew. She wore a nude gold backless fishtail gown, and her long curls fell casually over her bare shoulders. As she slowly approached the autograph wall alone, the screaming from the crowd filled the ears of the TV audience, making everyone truly aware that—

The Golden Phoenix Awards had officially begun.

The awards ceremony always needed someone who could command the stage to open the show, and that person was none other than Wen Xuan. This year, she earned a Best Actress nomination for a low-budget anti-genre film, in which she broke her usual image to play an ordinary mother. The calls for her to win were very strong.

After Wen Xuan, the next stars walked the red carpet either in male-female pairs or as entire film crews entering together.

Only at the Golden Phoenix Awards could one see so many of Huaxia’s top stars gathered together.

Veteran artists and the fresh faces of the younger generation—anyone nominated could enter. Moreover, if a film one participated in was nominated, the organizing committee would send a number of invitations to that film’s crew. The director then chose which actors to bring.

The dazzling red carpet was always the most eye-catching part. Every female star wore the most stunning and dazzling gowns, competing fiercely to grab the audience’s attention.

Rong Xu appeared right after a top-tier movie starlet.

The entire “Silent” film crew was led by director Xu Sheng, with the male and female leads standing on either side of him, walking forward together. Whether it was Rong Xu, Lin Xuan, director Xu, or Xiao Zitong, once they appeared, the cheers from the audience instantly surpassed those for the previous starlet.

Countless people wildly shouted Rong Xu’s name, waving light boards vigorously. The sound was like waves, starting from the far end of the audience and crashing at the red carpet with deafening volume, completely drowning out the fans of Lin Xuan and Xiao Zitong.

“I don’t agree. Rong Rong, your fans just shout louder. That doesn’t prove I have fewer fans here today!” said a reluctant doll-faced little king in a gray gown. “This bet doesn’t count as my loss. I’m not treating anyway.”

Rong Xu raised his hand, lightly waving toward the crowd. The reporters’ camera flashes were too dazzling for him to see the fans’ faces clearly, but he vaguely saw many light boards flashing the character “容” (Rong).

Hearing Lin Xuan’s words, Rong Xu raised a brow calmly: “Playing dirty and denying it?”

Lin Xuan: “Nonsense, I’m not cheating.”

Rong Xu ignored him, curling his lips and turning to director Xu: “Director Xu, look, Lin Xuan’s cheating. He won’t treat us to supper.”

Director Xu, unfazed by the fact that they were still on the red carpet with many cameras focused on them, stared at Lin Xuan: “What about the treat you promised? Xiao Zitong and I witnessed this bet. Treat! If you don’t, I’ll make sure to ‘deal’ with you, you little punk!”

The “Silent” crew soon reached the autograph wall, and the next film crew began to enter. But the media’s cameras still focused on this crew, snapping photos of director Xu, Rong Xu, Xiao Zitong, and Lin Xuan. Only after the crew completely left the autograph wall did the photographers reluctantly put down their cameras.

“Wang, why are you still shooting the ‘Silent’ crew? I think their box office was about 3.9 billion yuan, which is top in art films, but compared to the ‘Wind Chaser’ crew now, that’s almost half.”

“What do you know? Remember the Lu Xiangbo incident? He’s in jail now! This crew knows how to stir up trouble. I think they might cause a scene tonight. I’m grabbing a big scoop here, got it? Booking a major news story!”

Putting aside the big news for now, after entering the theater, Rong Xu quickly slipped out through a side door and reached backstage.

When viewers watching the online stream saw that hurried figure leaving, they excitedly flooded the chat with comments. The female host doing the live stream immediately explained: “That’s Rong Xu! Tonight he received two Best Actor nominations. The ‘Silent’ crew just walked the red carpet. He’s probably going to join the ‘Black Clouds’ crew now.”

[Aaaah, host, please follow Rong Rong! We want to see Rong Rong!!!]

[Our Rong Rong’s back view is also so cute, licking Rong Rong’s back view~~(≧▽≦)/~ lalala]

The host regretfully said: “I have to stay here for the broadcast and can’t follow Rong Xu.” The young female host winked mischievously and said with a disappointed tone: “What can I do? I’m really desperate. I want to follow Rong Rong, but if I do, the director will fire me on the spot, and I’ll have to sleep on the street!”

[I’ll sponsor the live stream, sending the host a deep-sea torpedo! Please follow Rong Rong, even just to say one word to him!!!]

[I want to send a deep-sea torpedo too! Aaaah!]

[Then I’ll send a rocket! It’s almost the end of the month, and the landlord is out of food…]

The host chuckled softly and quickly hurried to catch up.

On the blurry, shaking screen of the phone, the handsome and beautiful young man looked at the camera with surprise. At the host’s prompt, he slightly curled his lips and waved to the fans on the other side of the screen, saying, “Hello everyone, I’m Rong Xu. How do I feel tonight? Pretty happy, but I have to go quickly—the crew just texted me to hurry up.”

The female host casually asked, “Was that Director Zheng texting you, Rong Rong?”

A flash of smile appeared in Rong Xu’s clear, bright eyes. The smile on his lips grew even more radiant as he thought for a moment and then answered with a faint smile, “It was Qin Cheng.”

[Aaaaaahhhhhhh, God Qin!]

[Cheng-Rong is the best, best, best!! I’m eating this dog food!!!]

[Someone, bring me my imperial golden dog food!]

Ten minutes later, the “Black Clouds” crew was scheduled as the evening’s grand finale by the organizing committee, performing second to last. The last to appear would be a few committee members of the Golden Phoenix Awards.

Looking back at 2044, “Black Clouds” grossed over ten billion yuan at the box office, unquestionably the top box office winner in Huaxia that year. Even on a global scale, “Black Clouds” ranked second in total box office for the entire year, only behind a certain American superhero franchise.

With such achievements, it was only natural to schedule this crew for the finale.

And among this crew were Rong Xu and Qin Cheng, aside from those top cameo stars who obviously wouldn’t appear. Of the two, Rong Xu was the first nominee with two Best Actor nods at the Golden Phoenix Awards, and Qin Cheng was one of Huaxia’s top leading men in recent years. If Wen Xuan was the perfect choice to open the show, then Rong Xu and Qin Cheng were undoubtedly the best to close it.

When these two walked side by side on the red carpet, time seemed to freeze, painting a moving picture.

The impeccably handsome man wore a black suit, his gaze calm and steady as he walked forward, while the youth beside him wore a light-colored gown, smiling and waving at the audience. Halfway through their walk, Qin Cheng suddenly bent his head and whispered something into Rong Xu’s ear.

After hearing this, Rong Xu raised an eyebrow and looked at the man beside him. Rarely, Qin Cheng curled his lips into a faint smile and lowered his eyes to look at him.

Countless photographers hurriedly pressed their shutters, capturing this moment. As for the fans in front of their TV screens, the “Cheng-Rong” pairing was so overwhelming that they nearly fainted with excitement. They crazily posted related #ChengRong# threads on Weibo, Tieba, and forums, pushing this tag past the names of several young popular stars to enter the trending list!

However, once inside the theater, when the live broadcast camera shifted indoors, the ecstatic “Cheng-Rong” ship fans were disappointed to find Rong Xu seated with the “Silent” crew.

They were disheartened but quickly understood: “Black Clouds” already had Qin Cheng and Director Zheng present, but the “Silent” crew couldn’t be without its lead actor, Rong Xu.

This choice was completely correct, but their frustration was palpable: [They promised Cheng-Rong PDA, but we got only a little taste—then nothing! Waaaahhh QAQ]

Regardless, the Golden Phoenix Awards ceremony continued.

In 2044, Qin Cheng starred in three films. Except for “Makeup Flower Luo” which was not eligible for this year’s Golden Phoenix Awards, he played the second male lead in “Black Clouds,” earning a Best Supporting Actor nomination; “Storm Messenger” was a purely commercial action film and did not earn him any Best Actor nods.

The first award of the night was for Best Supporting Actor.

Chu Qi took the stage, delivering a short and humorous opening speech before announcing Qin Cheng’s name amid widespread acclaim.

Fans of Qin Cheng watching on TV screamed excitedly. Many special guest fans were also seated at the ceremony, shouting “Qin Cheng” loudly. At that moment, the entire internet was ablaze. Qin Cheng’s fans were even more excited than if he had won Best Actor, because—

[Hehe, this is God Qin’s first Best Supporting Actor award! The first ever!!! Our Qin is so amazing, first time winning supporting actor, so hard-earned! Big kisses to God Qin =3=]

Though many onlookers were annoyed by such fandom enthusiasm and even mocked them, Qin’s fans remained calm and collected all these years—except today, when they just had to go wild.

Winning Best Supporting Actor was even harder than Best Actor for Qin Cheng!

For so many years, “Black Clouds” was Qin Cheng’s first time playing a supporting role—if he hadn’t done supporting roles, how could he win?

Fans happily watched as their idol calmly stood, embraced the director, and then walked confidently toward the stage. However, just before stepping onto the stage, he suddenly turned and walked over step by step to the “Silent” crew.

Under the watchful eyes of the global audience, the handsome and aloof man slowly stopped in front of Rong Xu.

Under the spotlight, Rong Xu looked up at him with a smiling gaze, but said nothing.

Qin Cheng calmly stretched out both arms—

For a hug.