Chapter 48 – Award Ceremony
The clip of Chaos Street actually had the strange effect of raising the buzz regarding Bai Lang’s Gold Emperor award nomination.
It was possibly because previously Bai Lang didn’t been in many productions. Other than “Gold” which he had been nominated for, there was only “Partners” which people could use to judge him with. However when he was filming Partners Bai Lang was really a newcomer. His acting experience was shallow and although towards the end it improved greatly, however this kind of simple production about city living didn’t really have many scenes which could display Bai Lang’s skill, the storyline was what drew people in rather than any particular performance. So there was many people who felt like Bai Lang being nominated this time was just as a lucky bystander.
However when Chaos Street’s clip was released, this completely different Bai Lang made people’s eyes light up.
From his expressions to his every small movements the Bai Lang in the clip seemed have completely changed his bones. From him exuded the feeling of someone in the lowest class of society and it felt natural as though he was born that way. Even his way of walking around in flip-flops looked totally natural, however at the same time there was a still a cool and handsome feeling. It didn’t make people feel repulsion. It was like within a group of delinquent youths, there would always be a small leader with a charisma which would always make the people around him be drawn to him and want to follow him.
Also in the clip there was a segment where Bai Lang cursed fluently as he fled. His accent was 90% similar to the actual accent of a particular place. It changed the feeling of originally coarse words to carry a special feeling associated with a place and culture, so it became a lot easier on the ears and also brought the character to life even more. His acting was apparent even in the way he pronounced his words. This type of high-level attention to detail and skill really left a deep impression in people’s hearts.
But actually regarding this accent matter, Bai Lang could be said to be using some of the experience he gained in his past life.
In his last life, this drama had done quite well. The characters and script were both very satisfactory. There were many exciting plotlines which entertained the audience greatly. However the one thing that was criticized by people as not being quite up to par was the actor who played Luo Zai, which in his past life was called Cheng Yuan. He was also a very handsome young man. His features were very delicate and feminine, and it fulfilled the requirements of Luo Zai’s image. However every time he opened his mouth to talk or swear in his extremely standardized accent, he would be criticized by sharp-tongued netiens as being too cultured and not realistic.
{T/N: China has many dialects (Hokkien, Cantonese, Mandarin, etc etc) however government stresses Mandarin as the universal dialect. So most people all over China can speak Mandarin but they speak it with a different accent influenced by the place they grew up. However there is a standardized accent which usually people will try their best to speak when trying to sound cultured and also in order to make themselves better understood by others. Less educated people or people who have never travelled much outside their towns won’t really be able to do this well.}
Some of these were due to the drama’s limitations. After all this drama still marketed itself to a general audience so it couldn’t have too frequent extreme lines. However there were still many scenes where the character Luo Zai still needed to rely on his lines to in order to express his personality and social class. So the scriptwriter was stuck in the awkward position of trying to produce lines that weren’t too extreme nor were they too moderate. {T/N: Try to imagine the way low class criminals talk on a shows like Law & Order. Obviously real people in that situation probably are a lot more coarse/have a lot more jargon and lingo, because it’s TV they have to moderate it somewhat so it’s understandable to a general audience. However at the same time they still have to show that these character’s personalities.}
When Bai Lang received the script, he paid especial attention to the problem of his character’s lines and very early on had a discussion with the scriptwriter.
The advice that Bai Lang gave was that he could express himself using a local accent. He could use special local phrases and words to replace some of the most ear-piercing swear words and curses. This way even if the audience heard it often they wouldn’t get irritated by it. And in order to demonstrate the effect, Bai Lang spoke a string of sentences using a local accent and words.
{T/N: Although they all speak Mandarin, each different place has a few of its special phrases and ways of saying things. I remember I used to date a Taiwanese guy and I told him let’s go “da di” (take taxi according to Northern/Beijing people, hence the ride-sharing app DiDi). He stared at me in confusion for some time then said slowly, “Do you mean “jiao ji cheng che”, which is how they say it in Taiwan. Actually the standardized way is different to both, which is “jiao chu zu che” haha ¯_(ツ)_/¯.}
When he finished talking, the scriptwriter’s eyes lit up. He immediately went to find a few consultants from the same area and rewrote the script, changing almost all of Luo Zai’s lines. Even the people who Luo Zai associated with had their lines and characters edited. As for how Bai Lang who had grown up in this small T City, managed to learn this kind of very accurate local Southern accent, Bai Lang of course would tell people it was because he had already worked hard for 10 more years compared to other people.
Other than these things, the clip also had something else which no one could overlook, which was Bai Lang’s action scenes. The Bai Lang who had always appeared before with the appearance of a gentle and elegant young man, seemed as though he would completely not match with the young delinquent that appeared in the drama. However just by looking at the extent of his action movements, it was possible for people to see how much effort he had placed into this role.
So although Chaos Street had nothing to do with Gold, however based on the fact that he had proved he had the dedication and focus associated with a successful actor, this newcomer Bai Lang who had entered the nominations for the Golden Emperor award, was really recognized and anticipated by people.
***
The night of the Golden Emperor award.
The evening was naturally filled with stars, bright and radiant.
The reporters had long ago begun crowding either side of the red carpet leading inside. Each of them used all their effort to grab the attention of the stars and ask their questions. A few major sponsoring companies also had their own television hosts which stood on the red carpet to conduct simple interviews with the stars as walked into the venue. Not many people would pay attention to the reporters questions however they remained in good spirits. Seeing that they raised the liveliness of the venue, the sponsor companies also didn’t stop them.
So when Bai Lang came out of the car and only just stepped onto the ground, he was immediately surrounded by a string of questions and flashing lights.
“Mr Bai, what is your mood like right now? Do you have confidence to win the Golden Emperor award?”
“Do you think your coming out of the closet has affected your chances for winning? Can you let us know your thoughts!?”
“Mr Bai have you prepared an acceptance speech!? Right now according to the gambling statistics, it seems the odds of you winning are very low. What are your thoughts about this?”
“Mr Bai, how come Mr Qiu didn’t accompany you to the awards? Isn’t tonight a very important occasion!?”
“Mr Qiu couldn’t come, do you feel regret!? Do you wish he came with you tonight?”
“Do the two of you have the intention of getting married overseas!? Is the ring you’ve started wearing recently given to you by Mr Qiu?”
“Mr Qiu has the same style of ring on his hand, this is definitely a symbol of your love for each other isn’t it Mr Bai!?”
***
Bai Lang maintained a smile and polite waves, he didn’t reply to anything. Only when he reached the end of the runway and the sponsor’s host appeared by his side did he stop. It was unknown whether it was fortunate or not but the television host present today was Guo FenFen who had interviewed Bai Lang previously regarding “Gold”.
Gao FenFen was wearing colored dress. Her hair was elegantly pulled back by a hairpin. She walked over and handed him a microphone.
“We meet again, Bai Lang. Sister Fen feels very happy to see you again here.”
“Hello Sister Feng.” Bai Lang nodded and smiled. “Sister Feng you look even more beautiful today.”
“Ai, ai, such a sweet talker as usual. I can’t feel any nervousness from you at being nominated best male actor at all ah?”
“Yes I’m not nervous. That’s because the only reason I’m here is to experience the lively atmosphere.”
“Oh? So humble? Then if you were going to guess, if it’s not you then who will win the Golden Emperor award?”
“Sister Feng please don’t dig a pit and ask me to jump in. Just then I forgot to compliment Sister Fen on how young you look, let me immediately correct my mistake.”
Gao FenFen laughed merrily, then asked. “I don’t mind saying that I personally really like Gold. After interviewing you last time, I went to the cinema to watch it more than once.”
“Thank you Sister Fen. Other than me, Outside Gold and Jade is very nice to look at.”
“Of course a handsome guy is the most rewarding thing for the eyes ne,” Gao FenFen looked Bai Lang from tip to toe then added, “En, today you’re also wearing a beautiful ring. It’s even more handsome.”
“Thank you.” Bai Lang smiled. Recently every time he encountered this question he would only reply with a smile.
This time Gao FenFen didn’t give him a hard time. She smiled kindly, “No matter what, I still want to congratulate you. I also hope that you’ll have a good result today.
Bai Lang thanked her again, this time with more sincerity. Then Gao FenFen made a signal to indicate her interview was at an end so he nodded at the camera and followed the staff into the venue.
***
After successfully finishing the interview and entering the venue, Bai Lang felt much more relaxed.
Just as he said to Gao FenFen, Bai Lang really didn’t feel he would get any award tonight. Although after his rebirth, his acting skill had increased greatly, however when comparing himself to a veteran like Que QiMing, Bai Lang could still feel he had a lot of room for improvement. And right now he was just in the process of working hard to chase the next level. So to be honest if he really got the award, Bai Lang would have felt somewhat disappointed.
Thus since he wasn’t fated to win the award tonight, Bai Lang only wanted to be a cooperative audience. During the moment when his name was called during the nominations, all he had to do was show a suitable expression and clap his hands.
So after entering, Bai Lang had a relaxed attitude. Using the small interval before the awards started, he went around to make his greetings to various actors, directors and producers that he had worked with before. This was the show of respect that Fang Hua had especially given him instructions to do, so as to avoid people thinking he was an arrogant newcomer.
But in this life, the people that Bai Lang had worked with weren’t many. Very quickly Bai Lang finished up this job. The last person left was last year’s film empress Fei Hong. Today she was one of the people invited to hand out the awards. Previously Bai Lang had filmed the beer commercial with her. Although the process wasn’t exactly happy however Bai Lang was a tolerant person and still approached her to make his greetings.
Right now Fei Hong was just talking to a director. She turned around and saw Bai Lang. She smiled and very cooperatively exchanged some polite chatter with him, such as if he felt nervous and if he had confidence etc. The unhappiness from the last time they saw each other couldn’t be detected at all.
Bai Lang thus exchanged friendly words for a few minutes and only when it was announced that the proceedings were about to start that he said his goodbye and wanted to leave.
At the moment that he passed Fei Hong, he heard something.
“You guys should be careful.”
It was a softly spoken sentence. In the noisy and crowded venue, if you weren’t careful you would definitely overlook it.
But strangely Bai Lang heard it very clearly. So his footsteps slowed and he turned around to look at Fei Hong.
However Fei Hong behaved as though she hadn’t said a thing. She had already turned around and was walking in the opposite direction, chatting to someone else already.
Thus Bai Lang didn’t chase her. He only looked at Fei Hong’s back and thought about the meaning behind her words.
She said “you guys”, not “you”. This gave Bai Lang a bad feeling.
After that, there were many exciting performances during the awards however Bai Lang was not able to recover his relaxed feelings from before to enjoy it.
Bai Lang suddenly had the strong feeling of wanting to hear Qiu Qian’s voice. Although tight now Qiu Qian was in V country doing the final touches on the contract for the oil business. This project was something that Qiu Qian had won personally. And Qiu Qian had told him that obtaining this project was something that would be greatly beneficial to him when winning the power and control of the Qiu family.
Because of this, the entire process might have been moved forward compared to his previous life by quite a few years. {T/N: In BL’s previous life QQ became head of the Qiu family but it was many years later. In that life they weren’t able to win the oil project.}
This butterfly chain of events, it was unknown if it would change even more of the things that he knew…
Just as Bai Lang was thinking chaotically, on the stage it was finally time to call the best male actor award.
The master of ceremonies was loudly introducing into the microphone,
“The nominations for best male actor are…
Long River’s Jin ZhiQuan,
How to Say I Hate You’s Wu YunTian;
Water and Sky’s Chen KanDao;
And Outside Gold and Jade’s Bai Lang.
The award goes to, ….”
At this time the mobile phone in Bai Lang’s breast pocket suddenly began vibrating.
This was the sound of a message coming in after the phone had been put on silent.
Bai Lang knew he ought not look at it because the camera was likely on him right now.
However the suspicion which had just been flashing through his mind made Bai Lang feel that even waiting one second longer was intolerable.
So Bai Lang looked at it.
The message that jumped out shocked him to the core.
Brother Qiu has been seriously injured in a car crash in V country. The plane has already–
Bai Lang didn’t have time to read the last few words clearly.
He had already jumped up suddenly in the midst of the loud applause. With loud footsteps he rushed out of the award ceremony.
