SA CH152
The Oscar Awards Ceremony differs from China’s Golden Phoenix Awards and the Berlin Golden Bear Awards. For the Golden Phoenix Awards, film crews often walk the red carpet together, while the Golden Bear Awards are uniquely held directly during the Berlin Film Festival.
The Oscar red carpet segment, however, has always featured celebrities entering individually or with an invited companion. Many big-name stars choose to enter alone. While female stars sometimes invite male companions, male stars generally don’t proactively invite others if they haven’t been invited by a female star; instead, they walk in by themselves.
The world’s three major film awards, when they officially begin, always attract the attention of film fans worldwide.
Bright, dazzling flashlights illuminated the long, narrow red carpet. Hundreds of media reporters gathered here tonight, holding up various cameras to capture every celebrity’s entrance.
There were tall, beautiful supermodels and young, sexy popular divas. On the Oscar red carpet, you never had to worry about not seeing beauties and handsome men; the red carpet itself was a stunning spectacle.
Most of the celebrities entering early were not heavyweights. When Clemens Holt and Jennifer Scarlett walked in together, it immediately caused a small sensation. Many reporters rushed forward, raising their microphones to ask the two guests questions. Jennifer smiled as she answered their questions, but Clemens only had one line: “I also think 3200 Miles is very good. Have you seen it?”
The reporter he asked was momentarily stunned, laughing dryly, “I’ve seen a bit.”
Clemens didn’t say more. This young, prominent director has always been quite arrogant, and Hollywood reporters are well aware of his personality.
After Clemens and Jennifer walked the red carpet, more and more big-name stars arrived. There was a famous French film emperor, an veteran German director. When reporters saw Wen Xuan arm-in-arm with Elder Liu, they were all astonished: “Huh, didn’t Wen walk the red carpet with Qin?”
Elder Liu filmed a drama action film last year, which also received several technical award nominations at this Oscar ceremony. Even if the old man hadn’t been nominated, his reputation alone would have allowed him to attend the Oscars without issue.
In previous years, Qin Cheng was almost always Wen Xuan’s male companion on the red carpet, at least eight out of ten times. All foreign media seemed to unanimously agree: “They are China’s top male and female stars; they are the shining pearls of China.”
But now, Wen Xuan actually didn’t invite Qin Cheng?
All the reporters’ whispers reached Wen Xuan’s ears. The beautiful and elegant actress, holding Elder Liu’s arm, had a brilliant and charming smile on her face, but no one noticed that her mouth twitched slightly.
Elder Liu chuckled softly: “They’re probably disdaining me, this old man, thinking I don’t deserve a beauty like you.”
Wen Xuan said helplessly: “Elder Liu, please don’t mock me. It’s good that you don’t disdain me. If it weren’t for you, I might have had to walk the Oscar red carpet alone this year. I’m not like those few Hollywood actresses who like to walk the red carpet alone to show how independent they are. I’m just a little girl, and I’m scared to walk the red carpet alone in a foreign land without my family.”
Elder Liu burst out laughing: “A little girl?”
Wen Xuan secretly winked.
The two laughed as they walked towards the venue.
Qin Cheng didn’t enter with Wen Xuan. Could he be planning to enter with the lead actress of the film Limit?
Five minutes later, Taylor Vipson, the lead actress of Limit, entered with her male companion, disproving the reporters’ conjecture.
Not Wen Xuan, not Taylor Vipson, then who could it be? Is Qin Cheng going to enter alone?
The bewildered reporters on-site took photos and conducted interviews, and fans in front of their TVs and computers were also greatly surprised. Chinese fans, especially, knew that Qin Cheng usually appeared with Wen Xuan in previous years; they were good friends and had collaborated on several films.
This year, Qin Cheng was nominated for Best Actor for Limit. He would definitely attend the Oscars. Now that it wasn’t Wen Xuan or Taylor, who exactly was he planning to enter with?
The answer was finally revealed as the red carpet segment neared its end.
A handsome, tall man in a black tuxedo emerged from one end of the red carpet. His thin lips were slightly curved, and his usually aloof face held a faint smile. He was looking down, seemingly talking to his companion beside him, and appeared to be in a very good mood.
And right beside him was an elegant and beautiful young man. His dark brown suit made his already fair skin appear almost translucent, and his exquisite eyes were full of smiles. He chuckled softly, his clear eyes curving into beautiful crescent moons. As he walked with the top film emperor beside him towards the end of the red carpet, no one felt anything was amiss. A powerful, calm aura slowly permeated, exuding exceptional grace and nobility.
The two of them walking together created an incredibly harmonious picture; everything seemed perfectly natural.
The reporters on-site were all stunned, and in front of their televisions, viewers were equally dumbfounded. When a reporter finally reacted and rushed forward with a microphone to ask questions, Rong Xu and Qin Cheng showed no signs of abnormality. They calmly answered the reporter’s questions.
Finally, the reporter couldn’t help but ask: “How did you two decide to walk the red carpet together?”
It’s not very common for same-sex celebrities to walk the red carpet together, but it has happened. Some of these same-sex celebrities are actual couples, some are just close friends, and more often, they decide to walk together because they co-starred in a project.
But now, Rong Xu was nominated for Best Actor for 3200 Miles, and Qin Cheng was also nominated for Best Actor for Limit. In the past year, these two hadn’t collaborated at all, so it couldn’t possibly be because they co-starred in the same work.
Listening to the reporter’s words, Rong Xu smiled faintly, not answering directly. Instead, he turned to the man beside him, and fluent, melodious English quickly flowed from his mouth: “I think he’s quite right. Let’s part ways here, Mr. Qin. What do you think?”
As soon as these words landed, before the reporter could even understand what was happening, Qin Cheng raised his hand and draped it over the young man’s shoulder, embracing him openly, and said with a surprised look, “Why can’t we walk the red carpet together?”
Rong Xu burst out laughing.
The two of them behaved completely normally, with natural gestures and casual attitudes, showing no hint of trying to hide anything. It was as if they were very close friends, and it was only because of their close relationship that they walked the red carpet together and were completely unbothered by intimate gestures in front of the cameras.
Watching such a scene, the reporters’ doubts gradually disappeared. Among the viewers in front of their televisions, ordinary fans couldn’t help but exclaim:
[God Qin and Rong Rong are truly best bros! They started “showing off their affection” last year, and now they’re doing it at the Oscars!]
And the CP fans had already excitedly grabbed their phones, frantically posting messages.
[OMG OMG OMG MY CHENGRONG BIG SUGAR! CHENGRONG BIG SUGAR! SUPER BIG SUGAR!]
[Showing affection in front of the whole world, who else but my Chengrong, I ask, who else!!!]
[Hehehe, no regrets joining Chengrong in this life. As a fanfiction writer, I wouldn’t even dare to write about Rong Rong and God Qin walking the Oscar red carpet together, showing affection in front of film fans worldwide. They actually dared to do it. I feel that our dignity as fanfiction writers has been severely provoked. No one stop me today; I’m going into seclusion, and I won’t come out until I’ve written 10,000 words of glorious, delicious content!!!]
Across the ocean, it was daytime in China, but in every street and alley, countless Chengrong fans temporarily put aside what they were doing and secretly started posting on Weibo and other forums, celebrating today’s Oscar Chengrong “big sugar.”
In an office, a young white-collar worker secretly posted on Weibo: [Boss isn’t here today, our whole office is having a party watching the live broadcast of the Oscar Awards! First time I’m so grateful I majored in English in college; watching the awards is no problem at all!]
In a classroom, a student was in the most hypnotic math class when he suddenly received a friend request. Opening it, he saw: “AHHHH? Rong Rong and God Qin walked the red carpet together?!!!”
“Wang Zhenzhen, go stand in the hallway as punishment!!!”
Such incidents were common. Not only in China, but many foreign fans were also enthusiastically “shipping” this Oscar Chengrong “big sugar.” Black Clouds was the first film Rong Xu and Qin Cheng collaborated on, and Zhuang Hua Luo was the second. These two films were ultimate “food” for the Chengrong CP, both widely renowned internationally, attracting countless foreign fans.
However, at this moment, no one realized that this was just the beginning of the official Chengrong “big sugar.”
At the 2046 Oscars, neither Rong Xu nor Qin Cheng won the Best Actor award, but after the ceremony, global media prominently featured photos of the two walking in harmony on the entertainment headlines.
From this moment on, the world seemed to suddenly realize: these two have “bromance”!
—Who says “bromance” must mean they are a couple?
In Hollywood, there were two big-name stars who grew up together, had a deep bond, entered Hollywood together, and became famous together, inseparable good brothers. They both got married, and even their wives said: “I feel like I’m a third wheel between A and B.”
But even though everyone believed these two stars were “good bros,” they were just bros—more than friendship, less than lovers.
The more overtly and openly they behaved, the less people suspected.
After Qin Cheng and Rong Xu’s “bromance” was revealed, Xu Jin was on edge for a long time, unable to eat or sleep, fearing that fans would notice something. But in fact, both CP fans and solo fans calmly accepted this “bromance” relationship.
Solo fans found it interesting, thinking how good the relationship between their male gods was; CP fans had no extravagant hopes and were already very satisfied with “sugar” to consume.
Finally, after worrying away his ten-thousandth hair, Xu Jin completely relaxed.
On Rong Xu’s side, Rosie didn’t feel anything was amiss, but Luo Zhentao slowly began to notice a problem. Finally, a month after the Oscar Awards ceremony, he raised his doubts with Rong Xu.
The refined and handsome young man smiled at him and countered, “Brother Luo, is it not allowed?”
Luo Zhentao was stunned. His lips moved, thoughts swirling in his mind, but when he finally spoke, he could only utter four words: “I wish you both well.”
The current Rong Xu no longer needed to rely on Qin Cheng’s connections to climb higher. Rong Xu once said that if Luo Zhentao knew about their relationship, given Luo Zhentao’s personality, he might have wanted to gain some advantage from Qin Cheng to help Rong Xu achieve fame faster.
However, now, that assumption was meaningless. Rong Xu had already grown to a point where he no longer needed to look up to Qin Cheng. Even if he couldn’t truly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Qin Cheng yet, he was no longer that fledgling, budding star.
At this point, Luo Zhentao looked at the gentle, graceful, and affectionate young man in front of him and suddenly realized: his artist, this shamate he once looked down upon and scorned, was no longer Young Master Rong, but Rong Xu.
Just Rong Xu.
In late April, Everlasting March was officially released.
If the Oscar Awards ceremony was the first big “sugar” for the Chengrong CP, then the premiere of Everlasting March was the second, and it far surpassed the first!
Qin Cheng was already scheduled to attend the Oscar Awards ceremony, so him walking the red carpet with Rong Xu, though unexpected, wasn’t a huge problem upon closer thought. But for the premiere of Rong Xu’s Everlasting March, which had absolutely nothing to do with Qin Cheng, he actually showed up to help promote it!
CP fans were already getting cavities from all the “sugar,” and regular fans jokingly commented: [Ship Chengrong! Chengrong is so sweet 2333]
Everlasting March had a first-day box office of 560 million yuan!
Three-day box office of 1.2 billion yuan!
This film ultimately became the top-grossing Chinese art-house film of 2046 with a box office of 5.6 billion yuan, and also Rong Xu’s highest-grossing art-house film personally, surpassing Silence by a full 1.7 billion yuan.
However, box office was just one striking aspect of Everlasting March. Art-house films that achieve over 5 billion yuan in box office are invariably classic works in art-house film history. This film was released too late to catch this year’s Golden Phoenix Awards and Oscars, but it made it to the Berlin Golden Bear Awards in July.
Perhaps because global film fans had known about Rong Xu and Qin Cheng’s close relationship over the past year, the Golden Bear Awards organizing committee intentionally arranged the seats for the Limit crew and the Everlasting March crew together to create a buzz.
Thus, Rong Xu and Qin Cheng sat together.
Everlasting March had only been released for three months but had already received six Golden Bear Award nominations, including Best Actor and Best Actress. Limit was released last year, and probably due to its stronger commercial nature, it only received a Best Director nomination this time, with the rest being technical awards. Qin Cheng did not receive a Best Actor nomination.
Rong Xu was not attending the Golden Bear Awards ceremony for the first time. Last year, he entered this venue for Zhuang Hua Luo and watched his beloved walk onto the stage and take the Best Actor trophy for that film.
But this time, Qin Cheng was a spectator, and he had to await the announcement of the Best Actor award.
In over three years since his debut, Rong Xu has had three films grossing over ten billion yuan and two albums selling over a million copies, yet he has consistently failed to win a “Three Golds” Best Actor trophy. The “Three Golds” Best Actor award seemed to elude him. 3200 Miles had a huge global impact, even entering the film association’s list of classic films, yet it still couldn’t help him win an award.
And now, Everlasting March was facing its first major “Three Golds” award.
The awards ceremony began, starting as usual with the announcement of the Best Supporting Actress award. Rong Xu chuckled and applauded the actress. The ceremony proceeded smoothly, the host’s humorous remarks drawing laughter from the audience, creating a pleasant atmosphere. But as one award after another was announced, in a place unseen by the audience, the atmosphere gradually became somewhat solemn.
Through television screens, the audience couldn’t perceive this solemn atmosphere circulating among the celebrities, but those present knew—
Facing these final major awards, even the most seasoned veterans couldn’t remain completely relaxed.
When “Wen Xuan’s” name suddenly rang out in the venue, thunderous applause immediately erupted. Rong Xu was slightly startled, and after a second, he applauded his friend.
These past few years had not only been a low point for Rong Xu’s awards but also for Wen Xuan.
In the past, Wen Xuan would usually win at least one “Three Golds” award every two years; she was amazingly talented, otherwise, she wouldn’t be known as China’s top actress. However, surprisingly, in the last three years, Wen Xuan hadn’t won a single “Three Golds” Best Actress award. Even Xia Muyan won the Golden Phoenix Award for Best Actress this year, while Wen Xuan still had nothing.
Her acting was fine, her skills hadn’t declined, but she just couldn’t win awards.
During these three years, her haters even mocked her: [Actress Wen is in her mid-thirties now, right? Past her prime, she should quickly find someone to marry, that’s the right path. While she still has some fame, marry quickly, don’t wait until later when no one wants her even for leftovers, hahaha.]
Wen Xuan’s status would naturally not be shaken by these haters, but she indeed hadn’t won a major award in three years. When the award presenter loudly called out her name, the usually composed actress’s eyes suddenly reddened. Suppressing tears, she embraced the director, then stepped onto the stage to receive the award.
This time at the Berlin Golden Bear Awards, three members of the “Qin Crazy Group” were present. Wen Xuan was nominated for Best Actress, Rong Xu for Best Actor, and James for Best Supporting Actor.
James, who rarely played supporting roles, also won the Best Supporting Actor award this time.
Since the beginning of this Golden Bear Awards ceremony, members of the “Qin Crazy Group” had already received two trophies, with only Rong Xu remaining without an award.
Rong Xu opened his phone and saw a message from James: [Rong, good luck, let’s snatch all the Golden Bear Awards trophies!]
Seeing this message, the young man chuckled lightly, replying optimistically: [James, just wait and see.]
However, after putting down his phone, the smile on Rong Xu’s lips slowly faded. He calmly watched his phone screen gradually dim. When he looked up, he saw Wen Xuan, with slightly reddened eyes, standing center stage, wearing a beautiful and elegant white dress, giving her acceptance speech to the world.
Wen Xuan had suppressed her emotions for three years and finally proved herself again with a trophy. Her talent actually didn’t need trophies to prove it, but this trophy was enough to silence those annoying people.
However, if Wen Xuan won Best Actress, then his chances of winning…
His thoughts suddenly paused. Rong Xu turned in surprise to look beside him, only to see a certain man watching the stage intently, his right hand subtly reaching out from beneath the armrest of the chair, gently hooking his little finger.
Fingers intertwined, just simply hooked together like that, Rong Xu’s mood slowly calmed. He looked at Qin Cheng’s calm and composed face, closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, he was all smiles:
“It’s nothing, just the Golden Bear Award. Sister Xuan won Best Actress, so the organizing committee usually won’t give Best Actor to another Chinese person; it should go to another actor. I’m not in a hurry, I’ll wait for next year’s Oscars.”
A soft, gentle smile touched the young man’s voice. Qin Cheng subtly turned his gaze, looking at his beloved beside him. He earnestly gazed at the handsome and beautiful young man. The world’s attention was currently focused on the stage, but his gaze was solely on his Rong Xu.
After a long silence and much thought, Qin Cheng finally curled his lips and said seriously, “I really want to kiss you.”
Rong Xu was slightly startled: “What?”
Qin Cheng’s smile deepened: “I really want to kiss you right now.”
Rong Xu immediately shook the man’s hand away and turned his face: “Stop messing around.” He said this, but his cheeks were slightly flushed.
Qin Cheng gazed at him intently. After a long time, he finally shifted his gaze. And when he turned his gaze away, Rong Xu quietly curved his lips, his disappointment and sadness vanishing completely at that moment.
Even if he didn’t win an award this time, what did it matter? He was still young, and he still had many opportunities.
A moment later, Qin Cheng whispered, “I’m going to the restroom.”
Rong Xu didn’t think much of it and moved aside for him.
TAfter Wen Xuan finished her final acceptance speech, the host returned to the stage for a transition. The witty French host, with his rich and magnetic singing voice, wonderfully sang all six nominees for the Best Actor award into a song, drawing hearty laughter from the audience.
In the end, he said with a very wronged expression, “Is my song not good? I’m so hurt. I should have known not to accept the Golden Bear’s invitation, or I wouldn’t have been forced by the organizing committee to sing. Please, organizing committee, remember to calculate more remuneration for me; I did sing, you know.”
The laughter in the venue grew louder.
“Everyone knows I’m an excellent host, but who says a host must be able to sing?” the host said with a serious expression, but everyone couldn’t help but laugh when they saw his face. “You all say people who sing well can act. Oh, right, like Rivka. He sings very well, but with all due respect, his film Southern Woman… Hmm, Rivka, please give me my ticket money back.”
Below the stage, American music king Rivka cooperatively raised his fist.
The host continued: “So, people who act well must sing well? I don’t think so. Hehehe! Don’t point at Rong Xu; I can see him. Let’s put that damn Rong Xu aside, okay? Let’s forget about that annoying genius, alright?”
Rong Xu blinked innocently, and the camera quickly moved away from him.
However, the host clearly didn’t want to let go of the topic of Rong Xu easily: “Speaking of Rong Xu, I think everyone should remember someone… That’s right, Qin Cheng. I really like Qin, everyone, I really, really, really like Qin. I’ve seen all his movies. Hmm, I’ll begrudgingly not ask him for my movie ticket money back, but what I like even more is that Qin never sings! Perhaps it’s because his singing voice is as beautiful as mine, so he cherishes it and can’t show it to everyone?”
The audience immediately booed.
The host immediately retorted, “You still don’t believe me?” As soon as the words fell, he directly turned around and looked backstage: “Qin, tell us yourself, why don’t you sing? Unlike your good~ friend~ —yes, you are just friends, the whole world knows you are truly just friends—unlike your good friend Rong Xu, try singing?”
The smile on Rong Xu’s lips suddenly froze. He straightened his back, his eyes wide, staring fixedly at the back of the stage. Beside him, Director Qian whispered, “So the Best Actor award presenter this time is Qin Cheng? That makes sense; there’s a rule that last year’s Best Actor often presents the award to the next year’s Best Actor.”
On the brightly lit stage, under the gaze of film fans worldwide, a tall, handsome figure strode onto the stage. He walked calmly to the host’s side, his right hand slightly raised, adjusting the cuff of his shirt on his left wrist. His long fingers moved deftly. He seemed unaware that this was the Golden Bear Awards stage, doing something so casual, yet when Qin Cheng did it, everyone felt—
[AHHHH SO HANDSOME AHHH! God Qin is so handsome even when just buttoning his cuffs!!!]
With one hand steadying the microphone, the stern and indifferent man lowered his eyes slightly, his thin lips curved. “How do you know I haven’t sung? David, I just haven’t sung in front of you. Rong Xu can testify for me; my singing is definitely better than yours. Rong Xu, right?”
The whole world immediately erupted!