Chapter 63: A Moment of Passion

Suddenly, a roar like an earthquake or tsunami was heard. Xiao Ran, who was about to invite Cheng Long in together, turned around in surprise. It was Zhang Guorong, the superstar of the music industry. With a smile on his face, Zhang waved at the fans around him. What was terrifying was that those fans tried to break through the security, causing a disturbance.
Terrifying! Such is the charm of a superstar! Xiao Ran marveled in awe. At a party at the beginning of the year, Zhang Guorong had told him that at a music award ceremony, his fans had clashed violently with Tan Yongling’s fans. That day, Zhang was trapped in the parking lot by Tan’s fans for six hours, and even his new car was scratched.
The charm of a superstar is truly terrifying! That was all Xiao Ran could think. He nodded at Zhang Guorong as he approached and signaled that they could talk inside, then entered together with Cheng Long.
Once they reached a less crowded area, Cheng Long firmly grabbed Xiao Ran’s shoulder and asked in a low voice, “A Ran, can you stop being so close to Lin Qingxia? You know she was once my elder brother Qin Xianglin’s fiancée!”
Xiao Ran smiled bitterly. He knew it was because of this. It wasn’t Qin Xianglin who was the issue, but Cheng Long. He said helplessly to Cheng Long, “Brother Long, you know about my relationship with Sister Lin. I like someone else!”
“That’s good!” Cheng Long relaxed and patted Xiao Ran’s shoulder again. “I won’t talk anymore. Next time, you really should write a script for me! I’m going in first!”
Watching Zhang Guorong approaching quickly, Xiao Ran grinned and slapped his shoulder hard, trying to relieve the frustration from being slapped by Cheng Long earlier. “Sure enough, he’s truly a superstar—popular everywhere!”
Zhang Guorong smiled bitterly and waved his hand instinctively. “When you’re in my position, you’ll understand how hard it is! Enough talking, let’s go in!”
As they talked about recent events while entering the venue, Xiao Ran scanned the area and spotted Lin Qingxia, Wei Jiahui, and Wei Dongling. After agreeing with Zhang Guorong to go out and relax another day, he began scanning the venue like a scanner.
Soon, he saw Liang Jiahui waving at him. He walked over, chuckled, and sat down in an empty seat. “How was filming ‘Prison Storm’? You’re doing well at Yin Du now, right? You’ve been nominated again!”
Liang Jiahui nodded happily and introduced the unremarkable middle-aged man beside him. “This is Jiang Shang, the production manager at Yin Du. And this is…”
Jiang Shang laughed heartily, showing his boldness. “No need for introductions. Anyone in the film industry knows Boss Xiao Ran. It’s amazing to rise to become Boss Xiao in less than two years—heroes often emerge from youth!”
“You’re amazing too!” Xiao Ran grinned, without any mockery. Hearing that the man was from Yin Du, he wanted to get to know him. “Like Jiang Taigong fishing—those who want to get caught will. I wonder if I’m the fish that gets caught?”

“Haha, even I find this name awkward, let alone you.” Jiang Shang sounded like a northerner, with a straightforward personality: “It was my grandfather who gave it to me, saying it would make me smarter. Looks like intelligence isn’t in the cards now!”
“That’s not necessarily true. Several good movies came out from Yin Du this time, like ‘Brothers’ and ‘American Heart’. The latter even won an international award in Turin, Italy!” Xiao Ran was speaking the truth rather than flattery, as he was well aware of Yin Du’s role in the next twenty years.
“‘Brothers’ is a Depple film; it has nothing to do with us at Yin Du!” Jiang Shang laughed, a sly look in his eyes: “The main issue is that Shadow has yet to release any films. Otherwise, things would be tough for us!”
Xiao Ran couldn’t help but smile. Indeed, ‘Brothers’ was produced by Depple. But industry insiders knew that Yin Du had secretly collaborated with Depple to help Leung Ka Fai break through Taiwan’s censorship and indirectly undermine certain Taiwanese policies, allowing Depple to reap all the benefits.
However, Xiao Ran really liked Jiang Shang’s straightforward personality. After chatting for a while, he checked the time and felt it was time to return to his seat. He then said to Leung Ka Fai and Jiang Shang, “Brother Jiang, Ka Fai’s contract with you guys is about to end. How about transferring him to my Shadow? I’m in need of staff there!”
“Well, you need to give me some time to think about it!” Jiang Shang was firm on this matter, saying with a smile, “But whether it’s Shadow or Yin Du, there will be opportunities for cooperation sooner or later, right?”
“Of course. That’s exactly what I was planning to suggest to you, Brother Jiang!” Xiao Ran laughed nonstop. He had already intended to build ties with Yin Du, so it was perfect that Jiang Shang brought it up first.
After saying goodbye to Wang Jing and the others, and giving a smile to the group from New Art City led by Fa Ge, he returned to his seat. Looking around, he saw Wei Jia Hui and Wei Dong Ling, while Lin Qing Xia was sitting right in front of Xiao Ran.
Hong Kong’s three major companies each formed their own groups, and at the Golden Horse Awards, they were clearly separated. People from New Art City sat together, those from Golden Harvest in another group, and Depple in yet another. Of course, this mainly referred to company employees; as for the celebrities, they were more scattered.
Since Shadow hadn’t released any films yet, none of their movies were nominated, so there was no need for many people to attend. Only a group of celebrities showed up, each sitting in different places rather than clustering together.
Before he could chat much with Lin Qing Xia and the others, he heard a deep voice say, “A Ran, why are you here too?”
Xiao Ran turned to look and saw Huang Zhan and Gu Jia Hui, his two golden partners. He quickly said with a smile, “I didn’t see you two. You must have just arrived. Uncle Zhan, it seems quite disappointing this time—no nominations at all!”
“What’s the difference between being nominated or winning an award?” Huang Zhan replied with a smile, truly acting like an old rascal: “It’s lively here. Just joining in the fun is interesting enough!”

Xiao Ran wasn’t as relaxed as Uncle Fang; after chatting with the two for a while, the Golden Statue Awards began. Zeng Zhiwei and Shen Dianxia stepped forward to host, still joking around, which was much better than the serious atmosphere of the 24th edition.

The first award presented was the Newcomer Award, which Xiao Ran paid close attention to. Every year, this award attracted actors sought after by major film companies. As the boss of Meiying, he surely couldn’t be so oblivious to this.

Among the six newcomers shortlisted, aside from Li Zixiong and Li Guohao, the son of Bruce Lee, he only recognized another well-known musician, Huang Yaoming. Huang Yaoming and Liu Yida formed the famous band Daming Yipai, which had countless fans even on the mainland.

Xiao Ran was thinking about whether to stop Li Guohao from going to the U.S. to film, to prevent him from being killed by a prop gun firing real bullets. On stage, Zeng Zhiwei awarded the Newcomer Award to Li Yujuan from *American Heart*. Xiao Ran had no idea who she was.

After a singer took the stage to sing and prolonged the award ceremony as much as possible, Zeng Zhiwei stepped down with a smile alongside Shen Dianxia. At that moment, Lin Qingxia left the stage and headed backstage. Xiao Ran knew that Lin Qingxia was going to be an award presenter this time.

“The next award to be presented is for Best Screenwriter…” Zeng Zhiwei’s distinctive voice uttered these words, followed by Shen Dianxia’s perfectly timed smiley reply, “Now, let’s welcome our award presenter…”

Lin Qingxia, whose calm beauty became even more evident on stage, stepped down the stairs together with the chubby Huang Bingyao. As usual, the award wasn’t given right away. So, Huang Bingyao smiled broadly, “You know, I used to think being a screenwriter was easy and that I was a great one. But on this list of nominees, there are some screenwriters who are far better than me!”

“Who do you mean?” Lin Qingxia glanced at the audience with a smile, her gaze not fixed on Xiao Ran, but he knew she was looking at him. “As far as I know, among Hong Kong screenwriters, you’re the worst. Uh, I mean in terms of physique!”

The audience burst into laughter. Huang Bingyao shook his arm helplessly, “Take Xiao Ran for example—he’s really talented. Even I, a screenwriter with years of experience, admire him. I’ve watched his works, and I’m far inferior to him in terms of both storytelling and creativity.”

Wei Jiahui and Wei Dongling immediately looked at Xiao Ran with smiles. Even others in the venue turned to look at him; those who knew him had knowing smiles, while those who didn’t nodded at him. Huang Bingyao shook his head shamefully on stage again, “Xiao Ran isn’t just a good screenwriter—he’s also a great director. Have you seen *Eight Stars Bring Good News*? It’s hilarious and a heartwarming family story. Now he’s even the boss of a film company—I must have wasted decades of my life!”

“There were articles calling Xiao Ran Hong Kong’s best screenwriter. The fact that he hasn’t won an award is the biggest regret,” Lin Qingxia said with a smile, also looking at the audience. “If he wins an award this time, then the title of Hong Kong’s best screenwriter will truly be well-deserved! Uncle Bing, don’t you agree?”

“That’s right! If he wins an award this time, I’ll admit it!” Huang Bingyao then announced the list of nominees: “Nominees for Best Screenplay at the 6th Hong Kong Film Awards are: Li Jie and Qiu Dai’anping for ‘Underground Love’; Xiao Ran for ‘True Colors of a Hero’; Er Dongsheng for ‘The Madman’s Story’; Xu Guanwen and Chen Xinjian for ‘Detective Chocolate’; Wang Qingxiang and Zhou Qiyue for ‘Fire Dragon’.”
Xiao Ran smiled bitterly. He felt like Liu Hua twenty years later, constantly being teased at award ceremonies. Last year he was teased by Zeng Zhiwei, and this year by Lin Qingxia. How frustrating! Of course he knew whether ‘True Colors of a Hero’ had won the award. There was no hope for him this time; he might as well wait for ‘A Fairy Tale in Autumn’ next year.
“You read it!” After some hesitation, Lin Qingxia and Huang Bingyao decided that Lin Qingxia would announce the list. Lin Qingxia opened the note containing the names of the winners, her expression suddenly changing as she looked at Xiao Ran with complexity: “The winner of Best Screenplay at the 6th Hong Kong Film Awards is…”
PS: The promotion is over. Such speed—just as it is.