Sheng Jiaoyang"s brows twitched. Naturally, she understood the underlying meaning behind those words. With a smile, she replied to Qu Wen, “It"s alright. Like what Gu Zhou said earlier, sooner or later, I will definitely win this award.”

“Oh, really?” Qu Wen laughed and replied disparagingly.

When Qu Wen walked past her, Sheng Jiaoyang commented, “The new generation is constantly replacing the old; each new generation always outperforms the last. Sister Qu Wen, you must take care.”

Qu Wen"s expression froze. If it was not for the cameras that were panning around and the current atmosphere, she would have long fallen out with Sheng Jiaoyang. How could a junior be so arrogant!

After presenting the award categories that were judged by professional panelists, it was now time to present the Most Popular Artiste category, which the public voted for.

The Most Popular Male/Female Actor Award didn"t necessarily require great acting skills, but the winner must have sufficient popularity. The celebrities who usually won the Most Popular Actor awards tend to be social media stars.

Gu Zhou was once again nominated for the Most Popular Male Actor award. His fellow nominees were: Zhang Yue, who had seen tremendous growth this year, and s.h.i.+ Ziyi, who had always been active on television.

“It seems that you might be bagging two awards tonight.” Sheng Jiaoyang glanced briefly at Gu Zhou.

Gu Zhou shook his head lightly. He made sure that his lips were making only the smallest movements, in case anyone could read his lips and find out that he said, “That is very unlikely, the organizers would never waste their resources like this.”

As the prestige of the Most Popular Actor award and the Best Actor award was similar, awarding both categories to him would be like adding icing on an already sweet cake. It would be better for them to cajole someone else.

“I think that this award should go to s.h.i.+ Ziyi.”

“The Most Popular Male Actor Award goes to…s.h.i.+ Ziyi!”

Both Gu Zhou and the person presenting the award named the winner at the same time.

Sheng Jiaoyang smiled at Gu Zhou. He had guessed correctly.

“s.h.i.+ Ziyi deserves this award. His development over the past few years had been great, and his career has stabilized as well.” Gu Zhou knew that Jiaojiao did not pay much heed to things happening in the s...o...b..z industry. Thus, he gave her a short introduction on s.h.i.+ Ziyi.

Sheng Jiaoyang nodded, and was about to go back to focusing on s.h.i.+ Ziyi"s speech when suddenly, Gu Zhou leaned over and whispered into her ear, “However in private, he is quite… if you wish to work with him in the future, be alert and careful. Otherwise, you might be taken advantage of.”

Gu Zhou shared with her a word of caution only because he had Sheng Jiaoyang"s safety in mind. Otherwise, he definitely would not have shared such words under normal circ.u.mstances.

Sheng Jiaoyang smiled and expressed her sincere grat.i.tude.

Gu Zhou said with a smile, “I plan to film a sequel for "Empress", although we are still negotiating with the author of the original source material. If the talks are successful, I would like to invite you to join the team.”

Sheng Jiaoyang blinked in surprise before she teased him, “I bet you are only informing me of this because you have your own motives.”

“Don"t overthink, I just wanted to bring it up. Nothing has been confirmed yet. If I can obtain the rights to adapt the source material, the project will turn into reality. Otherwise, it will all be for naught.”

“Let me know if it"s confirmed. Currently, I only have one movie planned on my schedule next year, so I should definitely be available,” Sheng Jiaoyang said readily.

Gu Zhou smiled. As he looked at the person seated next to him, he felt overwhelmed with various thoughts.

Her chestnut-colored hair that fell onto her shoulder was lightly permed into a natural wave, and delicate evening makeup was applied on her face, giving her eyes a picturesque look. Today, she seemed to be a different person from the person he had met. Back then, she looked more sentimental, even though she still possessed the same sharp eyes that she has now. Her hair, however, made her look slightly rebellious, as it was short and dyed ash-grey. Back then, he had regarded her as a talented little girl. But now…

Now, she has grown up.

Of course, he was not referring to her height or her age. Rather, he was referring to her temperament and the aura she exuded. Now, she has become more feminine, and it was impossible for others to regard her as a little sister who still needed protection.

It was almost like she embodied the spirit of the main characters in the movies and TV series. Her growth gave people a feeling of amazement.

“What is it?” Sheng Jiaoyang tilted her head.

“It"s nothing. I just thought that you looked different from usual.” Gu Zhou naturally regained his composure.

“Of course, I hired a professional team to create this look today. After all, it"s my first time attending such an event, so it"s of utmost significance to me.”

“You seem to be quite busy recently. Ye Fan complained to me that even though you promised to attend his concert, you stood him up at the last minute.”

Sheng Jiaoyang replied innocently, “I"ve never promised him that I would attend his concert. I"ve only said that I would go if circ.u.mstances allowed me to, but the circ.u.mstances didn"t allow me to attend the concert! Plus, I can"t even sing, so why would I go and crash his stage?”

Gu Zhou was tickled, and he changed the topic, “I watched the promotional trailer for the series that both of you worked together in. I never thought Ye Fan would perform so well. It seems that his singing career is actually holding him back as an actor.”

Sheng Jiaoyang"s mouth twitched as she started to recall her filming experience with him. If Ye Fan could be considered a good actor, then the standards were really too low. During the early period of filming, while they were trying to build their chemistry, Ye Fan had countless bloopers, and the set was constantly filled with his demonic laughter.

When he noticed her odd expression, Gu Zhou asked out of curiosity, “Why, are there any secrets about Ye Fan?”

“During the first month of filming, he was testing my patience every day. He would create multiple bloopers before getting the scene right, even if it was a simple scene. I remember that there was one particular scene which we had started filming from early in the morning, but he laughed all the way till the sunset.” Sheng Jiaoyang was gritting her teeth in anger as she recounted the story.

Gu Zhou burst into spontaneous laughter, and he attracted everyone"s attention.

Qu Wen stared at them. If they had so much to talk about, they should have talked in private. Now, they were just chattering amongst themselves. So annoying! She had enough of their antics. Also, Xu Jiaojiao already had a boyfriend, so how dare she flirt with others!

“…The nominees for the Most Popular Female Actor Award are…”

As the emcee on stage continued to host the program, Gu Zhou continued conversing with Sheng Jiaoyang.

“Well, with his acting skills, it must have been difficult for you guys to finish filming in such a short period of time,” Gu Zhou laughed.

“I have already put him on my blacklist. I will never work with him again!” Sheng Jiaoyang said.

Gu Zhou was tickled pink. He desperately wanted to record her words and play it back for Ye Fan to listen. Earlier, when he said that Ye Fan was an "actor that was held back by his singing career" the words had actually first originated from Ye Fan himself when he heard Gu Zhou compliment his acting skills.

“Xu Jiaojiao!”

Sheng Jiaoyang suddenly heard her name being called out. Eh? Stunned, she looked towards the stage, only to see the huge screen playing a scene from one of her TV series.

What just happened?

The camera had already zoomed in on her.

Sheng Jiaoyang was still puzzled by the current situation. She was still quite engaged in her conversation with Gu Zhou, as she knew that the next award category definitely had nothing to do with her. Thus, she did not pay attention to what the emcee was saying on stage. All she heard was the female presenter calling out her name excitedly.

“Is Jiaojiao too ecstatic? Don"t be silly, come on stage to receive your award!” the emcee hurriedly added on to dispel the awkward atmosphere.

After eyeing the stage and the huge screen, Gu Zhou immediately understood the situation. He looked at Sheng Jiaoyang and said, “Congratulations on bagging the Most Popular Female Actor Award! What"s more, you even did it at your first award ceremony. Quickly head up and receive your award. Pa.s.s me the trophy in your hand first, I"ll hold onto it for you.”

Sheng Jiaoyang handed the Rookie Award trophy to Gu Zhou, and once again headed towards the stage as a round of applause rang throughout the venue.

“How is it? Was it totally unexpected?” the male presenter asked with a smile.

Sheng Jiaoyang nodded and smiled as she received the trophy from him. She hugged both the presenters to express her thanks before she walked up to the microphone. “I am definitely surprised to receive this award. With so many talented seniors around, I already feel quite honored to have received the Rookie Award. I would like to specially thank the audience for supporting me, as well as each and every member who joined me when I had first debuted. I would also like to thank everyone on the crew of "Redeeming my IGD Boyfriend"…”

After expressing her grat.i.tude to a group of people, she held the trophy up and headed off stage.

“Congratulations on returning from a rewarding journey!” Gu Zhou said as Sheng Jiaoyang returned to her seat.

“I"ve never thought that I would receive one award today, much less two of them.” Sheng Jiaoyang had thought that being nominated in the important categories was good enough for a first-timer attending such events. She had never expected to be able to take two trophies home.

“With your popularity, it"s not surprising that you had won the awards.”

When the results were announced, the feelings of the other two nominees were indescribable. Han Yaying took it especially hard, as she felt that the award should have gone to her. She had a hard time accepting this result.

Regardless of whether she could accept reality, Han Yaying had to pretend to be happy for the winner, as the camera was filming them. Although the organizer had given her an award from another category, it was not from a category she had wanted.

Meanwhile, there was someone else who was suffering alone, as she had yet to be given any awards. This person was Ren Jiayin.

As the saying goes, what tortured people was inequality rather than scarcity. If n.o.body got any awards, she would not have been thinking about the awards at all. But, when someone else had a trophy in each hand, she instantly felt that it was unfair she received nothing.

However, Sheng Jiaoyang was oblivious to the envy and jealousy of the people around her. She was very satisfied with the event tonight. Just like Gu Zhou said, she had a rewarding journey, and all the hard work that she put in the past year had paid off.

After the award ceremony had ended, there was a segment for media interviews. Some actors may accept these interviews, but others left immediately without accepting any.

Since Sheng Jiaoyang had bagged two awards, she would most definitely be the focus of everyone"s interviews.

The questions were mostly about her thoughts on winning the awards, but since Gu Zhou and Sheng Jiaoyang walked out together, they would definitely ask about their relations.h.i.+p. Of course, everyone knew Jiaojiao had a stable relations.h.i.+p with her boyfriend, so they definitely would not create any scandals involving the both of them. Rather, they would ask how they became such close friends.

“Sorry, someone is here to pick me up. Goodbye, everyone!” Sheng Jiaoyang cut off a journalist when she saw Shen Zhining walking over.Previous ChapterNext Chapter