The autumn wind dyed November red, the maple leaves turned red, the crabs grew fat.
The nominations for the Dreampen Award were officially announced to the public, and voting was opened. In addition to the seven official awards, as one of the best-known literary awards in China, it also established several useless awards in a down-to-earth way.
Such as the Most Popular Award, the Most Creative Award, the Best Surprise Award, and so on. These are not serious awards, but they are highly entertaining and have great flexibility in operation.
If an author's work is not up to par but still wants to gain some popularity, then the backing PR company buying votes and giving out a Surprise Award would be a decent choice.
Of course, the audience also knows that these awards have high water content and are subjected to cold ridicule every year.
Passerby 1: "What are the nominated works for the Creativity Award this year? Never heard of them before."
Passerby 2: "How is 'Love in Paris' nominated for the Welcome Award? Looks like it bombed hard."
Friendly reminder, "Love in Paris" was Morning Star's opening work of 2021, telling the untold Versailles story of a Chinese girl and a European aristocrat. It was the work that competed with "Devil Doctor 2" at the time.
Passerby 3: "Poorly written, only fit to fool little kids."
Passerby 4: "The short stories nominated for the Surprise Award are not bad."
A few days later.
Passerby N: "Damn, vote manipulation again. Hundreds of thousands of votes but sales less than 100k yuan, too blatant!"
But no one cared anymore.
What everyone seriously discussed were the nominations for the six major categories. To be nominated for the Dreampen Award, they must be outstanding works of the year, each with their own loyal fans.
The romance category had the fiercest fights, with the two most popular works, one romance and one danmei (BL), clawing at each other.
Romance novel fans said: "I've never seen such explicit descriptions of XX before. More XXX than love, it's a joke to win the romance award!"
Danmei novel fans said: "Love has no gender. If works of homosexuality can win, it would have tremendous significance in advancing gender equality and freedom of marriage!"
Romance fans retorted: "Noble sentiment? The work should be judged on its own merits, otherwise everyone will just write based on political stance in the future."
Danmei fans disagreed: "What you like is just ordinary love between a man and a woman, neither special nor unforgettable, meaningless."
The fight was very lively.
The history category was the same. The two most popular works were one about the Song dynasty and one about the Ming dynasty.
Song Dynasty Fans: "There is no China after the cliffs of Yashan." (Referring to the defeat of Song by the Jurchen Jin dynasty)
Ming Dynasty Fans: "The shame of Jingkang remains unavenged." (Referring to the Jurchen Jin capturing the Song emperor in the Jingkang era)
Song Dynasty Fans: "The eunuchs caused the downfall of the nation."
Ming Dynasty Fans: "The emperor guards the nation, the kings die for their subjects!"
Passerby: "What would happen if Chongzhen (last Ming emperor) and Emperor Huizong of Song switched places?"
Interspersed were Qing Dynasty Fans: "I really wish I could live another five hundred years!" (Referring to the long reign of the Qing dynasty)
So everyone jointly attacked: "Qing dynasty transmigration novels must rebel..."
In comparison, the suspense category was much milder.
A: "‘Rose Gold’ sold very well, but the suspense and reasoning were weak, right? More adventure elements."
B: "Who said that? The treasure code and final case reasoning are very typical."
C: "‘Rose Gold’ would actually fit better in the romance category..."
D: "Grieving till today over the killer's death, wuwuwu."
E: "Why wasn't ‘Devil Doctor’ nominated???"
F: "Are you a passerby? The Dreampen allows only one work per author to be nominated."
Lively debates continued as the awards ceremony in November approached.
As usual, the whole process was broadcasted live, and the viewership had always been good - the awards had more celebrities than film awards.
Film awards only had nominated stars attending, but literary awards were different. They could invite whoever they wanted.
This was just another variety show.
Jian Jing got up at 10am, went to the salon to do her hair, called the makeup artist to put on makeup, changed into an evening gown. The whole process took about five or six hours.
In the afternoon after 3pm, Kang Mu Cheng arranged work and got off work early to pick her up at the salon.
He was a little shocked.
Under the soft light, her well-maintained skin was fair and smooth, with a natural glow. The sheer lace dress wrapped lightly around her youthful body. Her back was straight, her shoulders relaxed, even flesh filling out the long skirt. Slender yet strong, light yet agile, involuntarily evoking the description "wasp waist and ape arms, crane posture and mantis shape”.
It's just that her wrists and neck were a bit bare, and the pearl hairpin in her hair was not exquisite enough, dimmed by the dress.
"Mr. Kang." Jian Jing turned around and smiled. "You've come to pick me up."
Kang Mu Cheng paused slightly, seeming to feel something was off about her, but figured she was just nervous since this was her first time attending an awards ceremony, so decided not to call it out.
He pretended not to know and smiled. "I came at the right time. Here, this is for you." He opened the small safe he brought and took out a set of diamond necklaces. "Don't worry, I'm not giving this to you. My mom said to let you borrow it for a day."
The cut diamonds shone brilliantly in the lingering sunset, nearly outshining the beauty.
The makeup artist said what everyone was thinking: "This is too gorgeous. Miss Jian, try it on quickly!"
"It's too heavy." Jian Jing waved her hand with a laugh. "Spare my neck please."
Kang Mu Cheng said, "It looks empty without it."
"I've prepared something else." She took out a white velvet choker necklace with fresh red roses and a few crystals from a nearby acrylic box. "I had someone specially make this for me. Doesn't it look good?"
It did look good, handmade quality, and the roses were real flowers, freshly flown in that morning, blossoms waiting to bloom, surpassing all dead objects.
Kang Mu Cheng reminded her: "It won't match the occasion."
"It's not a competition of who has more money." She smiled. "Let's keep a low profile and not steal the spotlight from celebrities."
Kang Mu Cheng didn't insist either: "No one can steal your spotlight today."
Rightly said.
The award ceremony started at 7pm, with an hour of red carpet time. The lower the seating, the more forward the position, and the greater the status.
Golden Crow had rented luxury cars early, one for each author, to avoid them squeezing into taxis in suits and evening gowns and becoming a laughing stock.
Since Jian Jing was with Kang Mu Cheng, it saved her the trouble. They could just go eat first.
She ordered takeout.
The designer was scared witless, gently reminding her in French from time to time: "Darling, be careful not to ruin the dress shape, can we just have a salad?"
Jian Jing: "Je ne peux pas (I can't)."
Designer: "......"
She ate pizza and fried chicken, plus half a cup of coffee.
After eating, she touched up her makeup and they set off.
--
Jiahui had no classes that night. With nothing to do, she and her roommate sat watching the livestream of the Dreampen Award ceremony.
The two girls chatted animatedly.
Roommate lamented: "Literary awards have gotten so rich in recent years, even livelier than film awards. So many celebrities!"
"Film awards only have nominated stars attending, but literary awards are different. They can invite whoever they want." Jiahui spoke vaguely while eating chips. "Big names are guests giving out awards, small names perform, very reasonable!"
Roommate agreed: "Wonder who they invited this year. Oh, isn't that Cai Tonger?"
On screen, Cai Tonger stood radiant on the red carpet in a little dress.
The host asked: "What are your thoughts on attending the Dreampen Awards today?"
Cai Tonger answered: "It's my great honor. I got to see authors I really liked as a kid."
Roommate snorted in disdain: "Pretentious. How many books has she even read? Probably just textbooks from primary school."
Jiahui laughed out loud.
After a few celebrities, it was the authors' turn. They were unfamiliar faces, so the host had to introduce each of them, announcing their representative works, for the audience to know who was who.
The two girls reacted dramatically.
"Ah, he's actually XX! I love his food writing, thought he'd be fat. But he's so skinny! Balding is not at all surprising though."
"So he's XXX! Ew... An oily stallion man for sure."
"Oh oh oh, so handsome! Is that his girlfriend beside him? No wonder the romance is so sweet."
"The lady is so elegant, who's she? XXX? Hey, I really like her poetry collection, want to see?"
Then came a wave of currently popular idols.
The host asked: "Which work are you supporting?"
The idols answered: "Spring Flower Buds, the story is great and the writing very elegant."
Silence descended.
The bullet screen ruthlessly plastered over the screen:
Bullet 1: Spring cauliflower buds??
Bullet 2: Wtf, that's a surrealist novel!
Comment 3: Moreover, it's particularly depressing. The writing style is also twisted, very hard to understand.
Comment 4: Who can explain what this is?
Comment 5: The Chinese version of One Hundred Years of Solitude.
...
The host glossed over it with an unchanged expression.
The writers that followed were all somewhat famous, so the host didn't need to introduce them, and the audience could recognize them too. For example, a series of romance writers from Morning Star, though their looks varied, they were all dressed beautifully and shone brightly.
My roommate said, "I find that romance writers have the best looks."
Jiahui disagreed: "That's because our Teacher Jian hasn't come on stage yet!"
Indeed, with her alone, Jian Jing upheld the looks of mystery writers.
When she arrived, it was already 7:50 pm. This time slot was reserved for the bosses of the major publishing houses, and the other writers had already gone in and sat down.
But Kang Mu Cheng always favored her and brought her out last like the climax.
The crisscrossing camera flashes nearly blinded her.
There were many media outlets on both sides of the red carpet, not only comprehensive media, but many entertainment outlets also came to get in on the excitement because of the celebrities attending. There were short barrel cameras, tripods, cell phones, and colorful microphones everywhere.
It was very lively, extremely lively.
Jian Jing held onto Kang Mu Cheng's arm as she slowly walked through the crisscrossing lights and shadows. She would stop and smile from time to time, using the most beautiful posture to deal with the harsh lenses.
She also performed perfectly.
On the live streaming websites, the colorful barrage comments were like a congested freeway during rush hour, packed densely together.
"My wife, my wife! I declare that from now on Teacher Jian is my wife!"
"We're already married, thanks everyone!!!"
"Ahhhhhhh, help! The writers are stealing the celebrities' jobs!"
"The angle of her lowered head looks a bit like Namie Amuro! What aura!"
"Golden Crow's deputy general manager is so handsome, he matches perfectly with Teacher Jian! This pair wouldn't be out of place at all at a film festival!"
"Overbearing president and his little secretary, I can sketch out 10,000 words!"
"Oh my god, this year's new autumn haute couture!"
"I went with my rich young lady bestie to Paris last month, heard about this show, so high class!"
"Is it that wedding dress, I've seen the video, it's so beautiful!"
"Celebrities, hurry and change your press releases. Stop hyping up the dresses."
"They're all borrowed anyway, who's more noble than who?"
"Borrow my a**, this tight fitting dress must be custom made."
"Excuse me, is this a celebrity? How extravagant!"
"Wake up fans, she's the main character today."
...
In the dorm, Jiahui asked her roommate, "Don't you feel like Teacher Jian walking the red carpet with her boss in this outfit looks a lot like a wedding ceremony?"
Roommate: "I also want a dad like this!!"
Jiahui: "...Now that you mention it, something seems off?"
The two looked at each other, then hurried to look at the host at the end of the red carpet.
The host also laughed: "Wow, Teacher Jian looks so beautiful today. When she walked towards me, my heart was beating so fast, it really felt like the bride in a church."
Kang Mu Cheng raised his brows.
"Is that so?" Jian Jing smiled, her countenance radiant, looking much more beautiful than usual, just like a rose in full bloom under the camera lens. "I must look very much like a bride today."
