Leaving a bunch of award winners with darkened expressions.
Sun Yiwu and Ji Cheng laughed and shook their heads. “Fortunately, we didn’t win any awards or we’d have been embarrassed.”
Though both their works got nominated, in order to prevent rousing suspicion, they’d decided to remove themselves from the competition since they were a part of the film festival’s judging panel.
Such an award had lost its appeal to both of them, but there were many other more prestigious awards waiting for them in the future; they had many more opportunities next time.
***
Over at the Lu Family.
Lu Qiyuan had been out of the hospital for a month and was recuperating at home currently.
He was extremely fortunate, even if his anger previously hindered whatever small progress he had made.
After the surgery, he recovered and was almost as good as new, his speech and mobility unhindered.
But the doctor advised against returning to work soon. He might not need to be hospitalized, but he was still expected to stay and rest at home for a few months.
Lu Qiyuan was worried about his company after being hospitalized for a long time, so he ordered all the work accumulated or settled during his stay at the hospital to be compiled and reported to him at home.
One had to praise He Zhengbai’s ability, and he also told his family of Xia Qingyang’s and Lu Qi’s plans.
Since taking over a company was a major process, he himself could not handle everything alone, so obviously, he had to tell his family.
He Zhengbai’s father, He Qingyang, and big brother, He Zhengsong, were bold too, agreeing to the plan without any hesitation.
Hence, with He Qingyang’s and He Zhengsong’s help, the accounts of Lu Qiyuan’s company were tweaked without being suspicious.
Even now, as Lu Qiyuan was hearing the report, he could find nothing wrong with it.
With nothing to do at night, Lu Qiyuan used the tablet to project and watch the award ceremony.
He had no idea why; he just wanted to.
He’d heard that Lu Man was attending.
Lu Qi was watching at the side. She’d had no roles for a long time, so she had no chance of attending such film festivals.
She could still walk the red carpet when it started.
But she’s not involved at all in the award ceremony.
Now, she could only sit in her living room and watch it with Lu Qiyuan and Xia Qingyang on the TV.
When the red carpet segment played and Lu Qi saw Lu Man walking down the red carpet smugly, she gritted her teeth in anger.
Xia Qingyang said saltily, “Lu Man’s walking the red carpet and didn’t even invite Qi Qi. Now that she’s so great, she doesn’t even care about her blood, ignoring her family to curry favor from Wang Juhuai.”
Lu Qiyuan’s face darkened, and he asked suddenly, “Does Lu Man know about me being hospitalized?”
Lu Qi said hurriedly, “She knows. I told Big Sister the moment Dad fell ill. But… But she said…”
“What did she say?” Lu Qiyuan said darkly.
“She said it’s none of her business, that there’s no need to inform her whether you’re dead or alive, she wouldn’t care,” Lu Qi said softly.
Xia Qingyang sighed and sobbed. “Qiyuan, don’t blame me for not liking her. I think I treated her okay when she was young, treated her like I would Qi Qi. I felt sorry for her and wanted to treat her especially well, even better than Qi Qi. But she’s always hated me and stayed away from me, and when you’re not around, even bullied…”
Xia Qingyang shook her head. “Whatever, there’s no use speaking of these now. All in all, that’s how our relationship deteriorated. Then I reckoned that there’s no point expending so much energy on her. As long as we could live together peacefully, I wouldn’t care about her. I know that she hates me and Qi Qi. But how could she even not care about you? Calling Wang Juhuai ‘Dad’ left and right as if he’s her real dad, did she really think she has no biological dad that she’d treat Wang Juhuai as her blood?”
