Chapter 22

"The winner of the Silver Pine Award for Best Actor at the 76th Lake City Film Festival is... Ye Yuze, the lead actor in 'The Painter.' Congratulations!"

As Bei Jiaxiang finished speaking, the painter's wonderful shot clips appeared on the big screen again, and the highly expressive movie interludes echoed in the hall.

Most people were stunned for a moment at this moment. After all, it is rare for a film to win two awards.

Only He Tong reacted quickly and hugged Ye Yuze sideways: "Brother, you won the Best Actor award!"

The camera panned over, and the lens clearly captured Ye Yuze's slightly surprised expression and He Tong's hearty smile.

Ye Yuze was brought back to his senses by He Tong and quickly regained his composure. He stood up, hugged everyone one by one, and then walked onto the stage.

He took the small silver pine statue representing the best actor from Bei Jiaxiang, accepted his congratulations, and then turned and walked to the podium.

Ye Yuze actually did not prepare any acceptance speech, but this did not affect his performance on the spot.

At that moment, the livestream's comment barrage had already exploded. Countless comments with the special "With You, With You" icon flew across the screen, instantly filling the entire screen.

Oh my goodness! Someone tell me this is real! I pinched my cat and it bit me. It hurts, so I wasn't dreaming! [Prosperous, hazy, uneasy, hesitant, crackling, ping-pong.] A 21-year-old international film actor... and from a prestigious international film festival... Mom asked why I was kneeling to watch the livestream.]

[Actually, I was thinking before that the 3.2 in the program booklet, only for a special award, was a bit inflated. Turns out, the score was probably for the Best Actor.] [I didn't understand the first few words Master Ze said when he came on stage. Was it the Lake City dialect? He's such a great actor and speaks foreign languages ​​so well. I'm such a fan of such a brilliant person.] [The only downside is that he's too cool. He didn't even smile during his acceptance speech. I've only seen him smile in the movies so far.] [My friend smiled for him. Look how happy he was just now. It was as if he had won the Best Actor award himself.] [Maybe that little silver pine statue will be placed next to their bed tonight.] [Hand over the pen. Madam, you know what I mean. Hurry up!]

Less than five minutes after Ye Yuze took the stage, domestic media outlets rushed to issue press releases, and "Ye Yuze Lake City Movie King" quickly became a hot topic.

Xingchen's official Weibo account quickly launched a lucky draw announcement, and the official Weibo accounts of various Qiming Group subsidiaries followed suit, with lucky draw announcements popping up non-stop. Tongze fans had already begun a New Year's celebration, quickly forwarding the lucky draw announcements and spreading them widely, which in turn attracted many passers-by to share them as well.

What's going on? Why are there so many raffles popping up in the middle of the night? And they're all offering huge prizes. [So many clothing brands, cosmetics brands, jewelry brands, shoe and hat brands, perfume brands... and several editorial offices?] [I can tell the person above hasn't looked into this. They're all under Qiming.] [Celebrating winning Best Actor. What does this have to do with Qiming?]

[The best actor belongs to Xingchen, and Xingchen belongs to Qiming. [Erha]]

I've been in the fan circle for so many years, and I only just found out that Xingchen Entertainment is part of Qiming Group. No wonder all the spokespeople for Qiming's products are Xingchen artists. [laughing and crying]] I don't know the celebrities, but for the sake of the lucky draw, I hope Xingchen artists win more Best Actor awards. [Upstairs, you think it's so easy to win a heavyweight Best Actor award? This is only the second Chinese Best Actor in Hucheng, right? [covering my face]] It's the second one. Six Chinese-language films have won Hucheng's Golden Pine Awards, but before that, there was only one Best Actor and two Best Actresses. If it weren't so difficult, Qiming wouldn't be so generous.] After Ye Yuze returned to his seat, He Tong was secretly browsing his phone. Seeing the carnival on Weibo, he was so excited that he used his second account to post an exclusive lucky draw for Tongze fans in the Yuzi Tongze super chat.

After the closing ceremony, the organizing committee will also hold a dinner that is not open to the media. The main purpose is to provide filmmakers participating in the film festival with a final opportunity to network, but attendance is not a mandatory requirement.

The "Painter" crew won two awards, one of which was for Best Actor. Although they hadn't originally planned to attend, they felt it was difficult to disrespect the organizing committee. The five of them showed up at the dinner, socializing with the connections they'd made during that time. After nearly an hour, they quickly left and headed straight for a small restaurant they'd reserved in advance.

There's no way, everyone is hungry.

It's been over five hours since I walked the red carpet that afternoon, and I haven't even had a sip of water, let alone food. While there was a buffet at the banquet, few people ate or drank at that kind of event, at most offering a glass of champagne to clink glasses with others. He Tong did take a look around, but then, disdaining the cold cuts, he grabbed some small pastries to fill his stomach with Ye Yuze.

Fortunately, the restaurant, which hosts the post-film festival celebrations every year, was experienced and had prepared a generous amount of food and drinks in a timely manner. Upon arrival, everyone dove into the food and devoured it before the celebration began.

Fang Chen opened the most expensive bottle of wine in the store and poured it full without any regrets, shouting: "Come on, come on, don't leave until you are drunk!"

Ye Yuze, however, poured cold water on him without hesitation: "My aunt told me to watch over you and not let you get drunk."

Yu Zheng laughed: "Goodbye, goodbye, everyone should just be at your leisure. I have a bad stomach and can't drink too much."

Fang Chen feigned anger: "Don't spoil the fun just because you guys are the ones winning the award. He Xiaotong, let's drink!"

He Tong raised his glass: "Alright, I'll risk my life to accompany my second brother tonight."

Everyone clinked their glasses, and those who couldn't drink also took a drink.

As a frequent guest at the table and a master at livening up the atmosphere, Fang Chen was extremely excited tonight. Even Ye Yuze's aura couldn't calm him down.

Ye Yuze watched He Tong and Fang Chen finish several glasses of wine together, and reached out to take a few grapes and stuffed them into his hand: "Eat some fruit, drink less."

He Tong threw the grapes into his mouth and smiled at his brother Ye: "It's okay, I'm happy today."

Then he turned around and called out to his team, "Xiao Zheng, Lingling, Xiaoyu, Aya, eat and drink as much as you want. Don't save money for your boss, Xiao Fang. And the bodyguards, if you can't drink, eat more. You won't be able to enjoy these delicious foods when you return to China. I'm tripled everyone's salary this month!"

When everyone heard what he said, they immediately cheered.

Finally, they continued to make noise until the early morning before returning to the hotel.

Although Fang Chen was not completely drunk, he was a little drunk. A bodyguard supported him as he walked in front.

Yu Zheng held the trophy happily and said that he would take a good pat of the trophy tomorrow as a souvenir.

He Tong took Ye Yuze's award-winning silver pine and insisted on delivering it to Ye Yuze's room personally.

Ye Yuze opened the door quickly and took He Tong into the suite.

He Tong walked straight through the living room into the bedroom and walked around inside, as if looking for a suitable place.

Ye Yuze ignored him, took off his coat, hung it up and went straight into the bathroom.

When he finished his shower and came out wearing a yukata, he saw that He Tong had also taken off his coat and even unbuttoned two buttons on his collar. He was sitting on the bed, staring blankly at the silver pine statue in his hand.

Ye Yuze raised his eyebrows in surprise: "Are you drunk?"

He Tong turned his head to look at him after hearing the voice, thought for a moment, and said, "I'm not drunk."

"So what are you doing now?"

"Look at the silver pine statue."

"If it's so rare, take it back to your room and let me take a look. I need to rest now."

"No. This belongs to Yoze, you can't take it away."

Ye Yuze found it a little funny. This drunkard's answer was quite logical.

"Since it's mine, find a place to put it down."

"No. I didn't hug you enough."

"Then sit on the sofa and hold me slowly, and give me back the bed."

"No. The bed is better."

Ye Yuze picked up the coat that He Tong had taken off on the bed and hung it up. Then he sat down next to He Tong and rubbed his head with his hand: "He Xiaotong, be obedient."

He Tong stared at Ye Yuze seriously: "If I'm obedient, Brother Ye won't abandon me, right?"

Ye Yuze blinked in confusion, but he couldn't reason with a drunkard, so he could only answer: "Yes, Brother Ye will not abandon you. Brother Ye will not go anywhere."

He Tong seemed to be relieved, and the expression on his face relaxed. He stood up holding the silver pine statue.

Ye Yuze was about to make way for him when a hand suddenly reached out, pressed his shoulders, and pushed him, who was unstable, onto the bed.

Then, He Tong pressed one knee against the edge of the bed, supported Ye Yuze's head with one hand, and held the silver pine statue tightly with the other hand, thus looming over Ye Yuze.

Ye Yuze looked up at him, confused. "Are you pretending to be drunk?"

He Tong seemed not to hear it. He lowered his body and supported himself with his elbows, then rubbed Ye Yuze's face with his head like a little animal.

"Itchy..." Ye Yuze dodged.

"...Yu Ze," He Tong held up the silver pine statue, "Look, your silver pine."

"Yes, yes, my Yinsong, I saw it." Ye Yuze half-propped himself up helplessly.

"Yuze..." He Tong continued to rub against him, murmuring, "I'm so happy..."

Ye Yuze was trying to get away when he suddenly felt something soft against his forehead.

He paused when he realized what it was.

"He Tong?"

The soft thing slid down his forehead and gradually towards his eyes.

Ye Yuze closed his eyes.

Like a feather brushing past, the softness gently touched his eyelids.

Then...

Ye Yuze felt his body suddenly sink, and his chest was hit by the silver pine statue.

He opened his eyes and looked down speechlessly at the person sleeping on top of him.

After a while, he sighed and pushed the person aside.

Ye Yuze stood up, first helping He Tong take off his shoes, then moved his legs onto the bed, then loosened his belt to make him sleep more comfortably, and then went to take the silver pine statue from his arms. But He Tong was very protective of it, frowning and groaning when he realized it was about to be taken away. In the end, Ye Yuze just let him go.

Ye Yuze turned up the air conditioner and shook out the quilt, but then stopped.

He thought about it, turned around, took out his cell phone, took a picture of He Tong, and then covered himself with the quilt.

Looking at the photos on his phone, then looking up at He Tong's face sleeping peacefully, Ye Yuze chuckled, took out his room card from He Tong's coat, turned around, turned off the lights and went out.