Chapter 413 Chapter 431
The excitement at the end of June lingered for several days, ultimately being overshadowed by a major new event. This event was the Huacai Golden Drama Award, considered one of the benchmark awards in the Chinese television drama industry.
Zhou Xiao clutched the two tickets in his hand as he watched the Huacai Golden Drama Award nominees being announced one by one on the trending searches. Each nomination list, as it was released in real time, would spark a wave of excitement online.
As someone who got the "spoiler" in advance, this is quite interesting. Based on today's report, marketing accounts and KOLs may all meet their PKI targets for this month. This isn't surprising, after all, this is a real prize!
When it comes to applying for the Huacai Awards, the simplest and most basic point is that it must be broadcast on satellite TV, which is also a necessary condition for participating in many of the country's most prestigious awards.
Since the film and television industry's downturn and tightening domestic regulations, except for dramas that are 100% certain to be broadcast on satellite TV, getting a TV broadcast has become a daunting task for industry insiders and a blind-box experience for fans eager for the release of a film. Remember, a drama that was once clamoring for a satellite TV broadcast could suddenly be relegated to online streaming at any moment.
On a certain Weibo account, the official account of the Huacai Golden Drama Awards had already announced the "Best Supporting Actor" award. Zhou Xiao looked at the almost instantaneous surge of comments and guessed what was going on.
——A certain blog——
@Hua Cai Golden Drama Awards V: #30th Hua Cai Golden Drama Awards Nominees# - Best Supporting Actor (sorted by the first letter of the shortlisted actors' names)
[picture]
The picture shows the list of five nominated actors and the corresponding work titles.
[Eh? Why isn't Ji Shao's name mentioned? Xie Zhengyun played this role so well, isn't it a bit unreasonable for him not to be nominated?]
I don't understand what the judges are doing. Yu Jingdu, who starred in the same drama, was nominated. Are they really so against newcomers?
[I'll say the other actors are all good, but honestly, I don't agree without Ji Shao.]
My favorite part of "The Unparalleled General" is Ji Shao's steamed fish performance. What are the judges doing this year... If you can't choose, let me do it!
【Mention Yu Jing but not Ji Shao?】
【……】
The comments section under the blog post was immediately flooded with messages expressing dissatisfaction with the public list. Some uninformed fans felt incredibly upset upon seeing the list.
The end of "The Unparalleled General" was quite close to the announcement time of the Huacai Awards. For many fans of Ji Shao's fan circle, they originally did not have much hope for this award.
But when a fan shared a link to the Best Art Award nomination in the group, everyone rekindled their hopes for the Best Supporting Actor award. Moreover, even without the fan filter, Ji Shao's performance in the drama was quite eye-catching.
In fact, the saying that Ji Shao is the second lead has always been defined by the fans themselves. "The Unparalleled General" is different from other dramas that pay so much attention to the ranking. Every time the official blog posts, they are very casual and do not worry about the arrangement of the extra episodes.
When fans saw Huang Xiang and Ji Shao listed side by side on the list of leading actors, they took into consideration Huang Xiang's status in the circle, and the fact that fans also wanted to respect their predecessors in their first drama, so everyone actively promoted the drama by claiming to be the second lead.
"We didn't even fight for the first lead, and now they won't even give it to anyone else, even though we're the second male supporting role?" This was Zhu Jian's voice in the small group chat. "I don't know what Huayao is doing. They didn't even fight for Shao Zi on such an important matter. Are they really just going to disband and give up?"
Zhou Xiao's brow furrowed as she listened to this. She lowered her head and waved the two tickets in her hand. "These tickets are indeed real, right? But according to Zhu Jian, Huayao hadn't even informed the fan club of their nominations?"
If Zhou Xiao hadn't learned from the system ahead of time that Ji Shao was nominated for Best Actor and Best Newcomer, she'd probably be feeling pretty much the same as Zhu Jian and the others. Didn't you see that everyone in the fan club was already getting anxious, let alone the little fans?
Zhou Xiao listened to the chatter in the small group chat while opening the Huacai Awards' official Weibo account. He saw that the post announcing the "Best Supporting Actor" nominees had already racked up over ten thousand comments. The newly updated "Best Supporting Actress" nominees were also filled with comments demanding an explanation from the organizers.
Seeing that this situation was getting more and more serious, it would probably be difficult to resolve. After thinking for a moment, Zhou Xiao found Feng Ruogu through the communication software.
…
"Hey, sister, tell me!" A tall man sat in the corner, following a group of extras who were rubbing against the big fans in the open air venue, watching the actors who were filming in the venue.
The tall, somewhat dark-skinned man was Song Xiao, and it happened to be his turn to accompany Ji Shao on set today. As for Chen Shenju, he was instead making Ji Shao's "nutritious" lunch.
Not knowing what the person on the other end of the phone said, Song Xiao's eyes suddenly widened, and he ran towards a big tree where no one was.
"Sister, is Brother Shao really nominated for Best Actor and Best Newcomer?" Song Xiao asked without slowing down her hands. She searched directly for the official Weibo of the Huacai Awards and clicked on it to see what was going on.
The first post on the official Weibo account was still the list of nominees for the "Best Supporting Actress" award from five minutes ago. As for what he wanted to see, sorry, it hasn't been released yet.
"The Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Newcomer, and Best Director awards weren't given out until this afternoon. I've already asked about this," Feng Ruogu said sternly. "This was a mistake on my part. I should have handed the personnel over to Huayao and put in more effort myself."
Regardless, as long as the contract has not expired, New Town must hand over the Huacai Award to Huayao. This is both to respect the agency contract and to prepare for a peaceful separation in the future.
Feng Ruogu was struck by lightning when she received Zhou Xiao's call. She had been following public opinion in real time, and when she discovered that the accounts expressing her disapproval for Ji Shaoming were just random people, she assumed Huayao had done something to influence her.
How could they have known that the other party hadn't even informed the fans of the final nominations? If this were discovered by someone with ulterior motives and they instigated the fans to cause a stir at the Huacai Awards, Ji Shao's future works would never be eligible for this award.
This kind of grand prize, with its strong official nature, would be very concerning for an out-of-control fan base. Add to that Ji Shao's massive fan base, and the resulting commotion was unimaginable.
Feng Ruogu was grateful for Zhou Xiao's reminder. After earnestly thanking her, she contacted the Huacai Awards' contact person to exchange information. As for why Zhou Xiao knew this, she felt that since he was close to industry figures like Director Fang and Weng Fei, this inside information was nothing.
"Xiao Song, tell Xiao Chen to tell the fans about this as soon as possible," Feng Ruogu continued, "I see some people are already posting messages in the super chat room protesting their rights. This needs to be handled quickly!"
"No problem, I'll go find Brother Chen right now," Song Xiao agreed immediately. After thinking for a moment, he said, "How about I also tell Teacher Xiao Zhou about this? Brother Chen might even need to file a report, so we can pass the news on to both sides."
Feng Ruogu was about to agree, but when she realized who Song Xiao was referring to, her eyes shifted slightly. She sighed and said, "You don't have to tell her. She told me about this. Go call Xiao Chen!"
When the phone hung up, Feng Ruogu pulled over the keyboard and began tapping away rapidly. Huayao could afford to ignore the artists' nominations for the Huacai Awards, but New Town artists couldn't afford to lose this opportunity and offend the authorities.
If Huayao doesn’t come, she will come!
…
"...Precisely because the production team nominated Xiao Shao for the Best Actor and Newcomer awards, there is no nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Our most urgent task right now is to stabilize the fans' emotions." Zhou Xiao explained to the people in the group what he knew and the information he got from Feng Ruogu in a simple and clear manner, and also pointed out the current problems.
"good!"
Zhu Jian believed Zhou Xiao's words without hesitation. Furthermore, the low morale at the moment needed to be boosted, and this news came at the perfect time.
"But the fans can't be blamed for this. Wei Ba, you should talk to the fan club about this first." Zhou Xiao thought about it and felt that he could bring out the previous nearby supermarket and hold a prize draw to divert everyone's attention.
"Well, I'll leave first~"
When Zhu Jian happily entered the fan club group with this news, everyone in the group was also feeling embarrassed about this matter.
The fan club represents millions of fans, and the fact that Ji Shao's name has not appeared in the list announced by the Huacai Awards has caused their private messages backstage to "explode".
In addition to fans who sent private messages to the fan club, many casual fans also came to offer their support. This support can be roughly divided into two categories. The first category is fans who have shown signs of following "The King's Man" on their homepage, and their tone is mostly filled with resentment and regret.
The other category is mostly small accounts. In addition to words of comfort, they also submitted some negative information about the Huacai Awards judges. They said they were dissatisfied with the judges' behavior and hoped that these would help their family defend their rights.
"Don't act rashly when it comes to defending your rights." The person who spoke was Muzi. She looked at the censored black materials posted by the penguins in the group and spoke very cautiously.
"I think so too," the penguin in front of the screen scratched her chin. The pictures she sent to the group were all blurred, mainly to let everyone see the person's comments. "Are they trying to use us as pawns?"
There's no evidence to support the claim that the black material is real, it's all based on the ugly pictures and densely packed text of the fan circle's mutual attacks. It feels like the people who submitted the material have ulterior motives and really want to trick them as fools.
Zhu Jian had finally finished climbing the "stairs." Seeing the silence in the group chat, she hummed in the chat. After garnering everyone's attention, she said, "Xindong asked me to tell everyone to wait for the finalists this afternoon."
At this moment, everyone in the group focused on the second half of Zhu Jian's sentence. This afternoon's shortlist? What was going on? Could it be...
As for whether it was true or not? If Zhu Jian had changed any of the names in his words, the group would have been filled with doubts. But seeing everyone pondering the list that hadn't been made public, it was clear how much they trusted Zhou Xiao.
"How about I set the permissions for posting on the super topic higher?" Penguin, sensing everyone else's concerns, voiced her own thoughts. As for the level, she planned to set it above 15, directly filtering out a large number of people.
"good!"
Shuozi and Muzi said in unison, feeling the tacit understanding between them, both of them couldn't help but laugh.
"Actually, I was quite surprised that 'The Unparalleled General' was nominated," Muzi said after a moment's deliberation. "Based on my experience, the production team should have been planning this from the very beginning."
Cheese, who remained silent in the group, said, "Although Sister Xindong said so, everyone should put their expectations aside. The most important thing is to comfort our own fans first."
"Well! Ebao, go to the super topic and set the permissions first," Digital said, "and the rest of us can discuss how to say it better."
So, everyone fell into silence again. However, as the drafts were shared in the group, everyone's editing ideas became clearer.
The afternoon's shortlist was so impressive I wish I could have a time machine to see it the next second! Fortunately, there was work to do, which helped everyone in the group feel less anxious.
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