The others from the “Strong Yet Broken” team already stopped expecting to win more awards after this. The competition in the film festival was extremely fierce. Take the Best Soundtrack Award, for example. It was just one award but there was a total of sixteen nominees. Sixteen nominees already seemed a lot, but other categories actually had more. Some even had more than twenty nominees. Only a few award categories had less than five nominees.
It was already a miracle that Iris won against such stiff competition. This was what the cast and crew of “Strong Yet Broken” thought in their minds.
If he could hear what they were thinking about, Jin Liwei would disagree with them. It certainly wasn’t a miracle that his baby girl won the Best Soundtrack Award. His baby girl deserved it and so much more. It was fortunate that the jury knew quality music when they heard one and chose his baby girl to win the award. If she didn’t win, then he would inwardly accuse them of having poor taste and not knowing how to judge properly.
To him, his baby girl was the greatest musician in the whole world, even more so than her legendary music mentors, Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Enrique Valdez. In his love-filled mind, his baby girl was the best. Nobody could defeat her when it came to music.
After Iris won the award, their group calmed down a lot. They were no longer nervous. They all felt very happy and proud. Their film won an award in the world-renowned Sommet International Film Festival!
They all settled down on their seats. The beautiful trophy made its way back to Iris after the others finished admiring it. She cradled it on her lap with one arm while her other hand continued to hold her darling’s hand. His presence made her feel safe, secure and comfortable.
Later, the Best Actor Award had just been given out. Iris glanced at Yin Meixing, the actress playing Guan Jintao’s mother, who was sitting a few seats away from her. Her name would be called shortly as one of the nominees for the Best Actress Award.
Yin Meixing looked relaxed, not nervous at all. It seemed that she wasn’t expecting herself to win. After all, there was a couple of world-famous, big name movie actresses competing against her. The others also looked like they felt the same way. They were just enjoying the rest of the evening, already content with the Best Soundtrack Award that Iris Long won for them.
Back at the stage, a new pair of guest presenters appeared holding an envelope.
“The nominees for the Best Actress Award are…”
However, Iris believed that based on pure acting talent and skills alone, Yin Meixing had a good shot on winning the award. Although she wasn’t the most physically attractive woman, her acting was superb.
The guest presenters onstage opened the envelope.
“And the Best Actress Award goes to…”
Iris didn’t look at the stage at all. Instead, she looked to her side, continuing to observe Yin Meixing. The actress looked excited while watching her image being shown on the giant monitors alongside the other famous actresses. She was acting like a total fangirl instead of a nominee for a serious acting award.
“Meixing Yin, ‘Strong Yet Broken’!”
“…”
Everyone from their group, except for Iris, all had blank expressions on their faces. At first, they thought that maybe they heard the name of the winner wrongly. Then when the guest presenters repeated Yin Meixing’s name, they were all taken aback. It was only when Yin Meixing’s expression of shocked disbelief was shown on the giant monitors that they realized she really won.
Iris smiled and started clapping her hands with the rest of the audience. Even Jin Liwei was surprised, but his reaction wasn’t as dramatic as the others.
“Congratulations, Miss Yin. Hurry and go up the stage now to receive your well-deserved award,” Iris encouraged the actress.
Her shock made her mind completely blank out. When she regained her senses, the mic was already poking in front of her mouth and the beautiful trophy was in her arms. She saw the audience all looking at her, waiting for her to say something. Her heart was racing inside her chest, feeling like it was going to jump out at any moment. The quick lub-dub lub-dub of her heart was the only thing she could hear.
“I…” she began in English. She had decent English skills. “I don’t know what to say… I didn’t prepare any speech for tonight at all because I wasn’t expecting to…oh my GOD! I wasn’t expecting to win at all! Is this really happening? I… Wow.”
The audience found her reaction adorable and couldn’t help but laugh.
In the end, Yin Meixing was able to get a hold of herself. She properly thanked all the important people in “Strong Yet Broken”, her management team, her fans, and of course, her family. It was a very generic speech but her heartfelt reaction touched the hearts of the audience. She was crying so much, but her professionalism still kicked in, making her speak clearly.
The audience gave her a deafening standing ovation after her speech ended.
When Yin Meixing finally returned to her seat, it felt like she was floating. There were many people—most of them strangers but some were famous celebrities—who congratulated her on the way back. Everything that was happening right now didn’t feel real. Maybe she was still dreaming.
Everyone in her group was very emotional when they welcomed her. Tears flowed down most of their faces.
The awards ceremony continued until finally, it was time for the final and the most important award of the film festival—the Soleil d’Or Award.
“Strong Yet Broken” didn’t win it, but there was no disappointment in the group of Chinese participants. They were only filled with pure joy, excitement and pride.
Two!!!
And it was these two amazing women who won those awards for them.
After the awards ceremony ended, Iris Long and Yin Meixing joined the other award winners on the stage for a group photo before heading for the post-ceremony press conference.
Of course, it was being livestreamed to the viewers back in China.
