Chasing the Light

Advertisement

The awards ceremony of the Golden Pine Awards was in mid-October. Liang Xincheng returned to Beijing again to attend the ceremony and walked the red carpet with Xie Qinfeng and the director and producer of ‘Wanted’.

This was the first time for Liang Xincheng to participate in such an official award ceremony; he was a little nervous, but more excited and looking forward to it.

He wanted to win the award. In those years when he was doing extra role for various films, he didn’t even dare to think that he would be able to have what he had today, but when he really sat here, he longed for more; he wanted to stand on the podium, and he wanted to take the first trophy that belonged to him and truly valuable from the award presenter.

“Brother Xincheng, jiayou. You’ll be fine.”

It was a WeChat message from Ding Yao. Many of his familiar and unfamiliar friends were also cheering him on. Liang Xincheng couldn’t help but smile when he looked at it, but he couldn’t help but feel a little lost. Among so many people, there was no Xia Yuanhang.

They had not been in touch for more than a month. Since that awkward and unhappy parting, there had been no contact with each other. He was very busy, and Xia Yuanhang was also very busy, but they all knew the real reason.

Liang Xincheng never understood what Xia Yuanhang was referring to when sent him ‘I’m sorry’, but it didn’t matter anymore. From the beginning, he had expected too much. Before that night in Macau, he was obviously mentally prepared not to say anything for the rest of his life. Perhaps it was the time he spent together that gave him the illusion and made him mistakenly think that he had a chance. But in fact, it was all wishful thinking from the beginning.

“Did Yaoyao send you a WeChat message?” Xie Qinfeng, who was sitting beside Liang Xincheng and saw him holding his phone while in a daze, asked him casually.

Liang Xincheng came back to his senses, nodded his head and showed the WeChat sent by Ding Yao to Xie Qinfeng. Xie Qinfeng patted his shoulder to encourage him, “Don’t be nervous, just get used to it. You acted well and the competitors today are also average, so the chances are great.”

Liang Xincheng smiled, and without explaining much, he made others mistakenly think that he was distracted because of nervousness.

The guest of honor for the Best Supporting Actor Award happened to be the Queen of Movie, Gu Rong; the actress who once acted with Liang Xincheng. Seeing her glamorously walking up to the awards stage in a long dress, Liang Xincheng sat up a little straight, with a faint premonition in his heart that the award might really be his.

When Gu Rong smiled and read out the word ‘Liang Xincheng’, his brain remained empty for several seconds until Xie Qinfeng beside him stood up and applauded. Only then did he come back to his senses. He got up and hugged the people around him one by one, walking through the crowd amidst their blessings and applause, and striding onto the stage.

Advertisement

After receiving the trophy from Gu Rong, Liang Xincheng walked to the microphone and paused. He swept his gaze across the room and smiled as he began to give his award speech.

He thanked a lot of people; the producer, the director, Xie Qinfeng, his company, and the boss of the company, Yu Mingxiu… At the end, Liang Xincheng’s voice was even a bit choked up. As he bent down and bowed deeply towards everyone, the live camera was fixed on his body for a long time.

Xia Yuanhang closed his eyes and leaned his back against the wall behind him. After turning off the live video, the only sound in the unoccupied corridor was his quiet heartbeat, and after a long time, he smiled and raised the corners of his lips and said softly: “Congratulations.”

The night shooting was not over yet and the crew was discussing the results of tonight’s Golden Pine Awards. When the makeup artist came over to touch up Xia Yuanhang’s makeup, he casually found a corner and sat down, silently listening to a few staff joking not far away.

“Xie Qinfeng is really amazing. This is the second time he won the Best Actor Award at the Golden Pine Award.”

“That’s normal. It’s more strange if he didn’t win the award, but it’s really surprising that Liang Xincheng won the best supporting actor.”

“Yeah, he’s lucky. He won the Golden Pine Award for supporting actor so soon. His value will rise again in the future.”

“What is he, can he convince the public with that kind of acting skills? Who knows if there is any shady business here, maybe his boss Yu Mingxiu helped him buy it.”

Advertisement

Such sour words were not unusual, there must be a lot online, but Xia Yuanhang did not expect to hear it from the people around him. He glanced at the person who spoke, and his expression turned cold instantly.

It was Huang Tian’an. This person was the head cameraman of the crew. This was not the first time that Xia Yuanhang worked with him. When he and Liang Xincheng were working on a movie more than two years ago, this person was also the cameraman of the crew at that time. He was the one who made up the behind the scenes story about Liang Xincheng’s slutty private life and sleeping all over the set, and he said it as if he had seen it with his own eyes. Xia Yuanhang didn’t know why he believed what he said at the time. It was really ridiculous. He didn’t expect that two years later, this person was still making rumors to smear Liang Xincheng.

“Didn’t Liang Xincheng used to get small roles in the past? He dared to do anything in order to get on the top. He slept with people who gave resources. He was willing to climb on anyone’s bed. He didn’t have any scruples. Later, he was wrapped up by Yu Mingxiu and started to pretend to be noble…Ouch!”

Huang Tian’an, who was talking vigorously, didn’t expect to be suddenly punched in the face. He was punched back two steps before Xia Yuanhang’s second punch followed. Xia Yuanhang didn’t have any scruples when he started, and he punched Huang Tianan fiercely in the face with every punch. After two punches, Huang Tianan had already rolled to the ground with nosebleeds and wailing.

The people around were all stunned. After they realized it, they rushed up one after another, holding Xia Yuanhang who was about to hit Huang Tian’an again. Huang Tian’an also recovered, enduring the pain and clamoring while rushing up, trying to fight Xia Yuanhang desperately. However, he was a small man around 170cm, so he was no match for Xia Yuanhang who was over 185cm. Even though Xia Yuanhang was dragged by someone, he still punched him twice, breaking Huang Tianan’s front teeth.

The director, who heard the sound, came over and shouted for people to drag them away, Xia Yuanhang, who was full of anger, was finally dragged away by four or five staff members while Huang Tian’an, whose face was swollen into a pig’s head, was also held down. Huang Tian’an was so angry that he was shaking and cursing at Xia Yuanhang, using all kinds of unpleasant swear words. Xia Yuanhang coldly watched his performance, waiting for him to finish cursing before coldly replying to him: “You deserve to be beaten for having such a foul mouth. If I hear you making up rumors about others behind their backs again, I will beat you up once I see you.”

These people around didn’t know why Xia Yuanhang suddenly went crazy, but now they seemed to understand. Huang Tian’an was infamous for his boorish mouth but most people really didn’t dare to offend him. This was probably the first time he had been beaten so hard. And the reason Xia Yuanhang went crazy and hit him was actually because of Huang Tian’an making up stories about Liang Xincheng?

The director was already mad at the crew for suddenly staging such a farce. Tonight’s night scene was destined to fail to shoot. Xia Yuanhang didn’t want to explain to anyone, let alone apologize. No matter how Huang Tian’an clamored, he stopped paying attention. He got rid of the person who was dragging him, turned around and left directly.

His assistant whispered to the director, “Sorry, I’ll go persuade him,” and hurriedly went after him.

Advertisement