Chapter 64: The General Trend

Major web portals like Sina, NetEase, and Sohu all updated their news feeds at the very first moment.

"Yu Feihong crowned Best Actress at Venice!"
"Following Gong Li, Yu Feihong becomes the second Venice Best Actress winner from our country."
"Director Cao Yang helps Yu Feihong claim the Venice Best Actress crown."
"At the 58th Venice International Film Festival, Yu Feihong wins Best Actress in one fell swoop with *3-Iron*."
"Yu Feihong clinches the Best Actress award at the 58th Venice Film Festival, becoming the nation's second Venice queen."
"Yu Feihong's journey to becoming a Venice International Film Festival Best Actress."
"Joyful News: Yu Feihong captures the Venice Best Actress title."
"Following Liu Ye winning Best Newcomer, *3-Iron* crowns Yu Feihong as the Venice Best Actress."
……

For a moment, the three major portals rapidly published a flurry of articles, all about Yu Feihong winning the Venice Best Actress award. It was clear they had been well-prepared in advance.

On Tianya Forum, beneath a thread titled "Who will be the next Best Actress at Europe's top three film festivals?", users began to reply.

"No need to argue anymore, this thread can be locked. The results are out. It's neither Actress Xun nor International Zhang; Yu Feihong just won Best Actress at Venice."

Some people found it hard to believe and replied, "Really or fake? Yu Feihong? With her acting skills, she can win Best Actress at Venice?"

"Absolute truth. I reckon Sina and Sohu probably have the news up by now. Yu Feihong really gave everyone a huge surprise."

"This... I still find it a bit hard to accept. Her acting... a Venice Best Actress?!"

"Didn't you guys notice? Before Li Xiaoran won Best Actress in Berlin, her acting in TV dramas wasn't that impressive either—pretty much on par with Yu Feihong's TV performances."

"I posted about this before, and a whole bunch of people argued that TV dramas and films have different requirements, claiming Li Xiaoran wasn't even trying. Well, what do you say about Yu Feihong now? Gonna make excuses for her and say she wasn't trying in TV dramas either?"

"I get what the person above me means. Both Li Xiaoran and Yu Feihong ran into a crucial figure—Director Cao Yang."

"Now that you mention it, it clicks. Damn it, I actually followed a thread earlier and cursed at Cao Yang. It was the one claiming he just got extremely lucky by running into Li Xiaoran, whose acting was god-tier, which was how he got those two Silver Bears."

"Earlier, there were posts claiming it was utterly impossible for Yu Feihong to win Venice Best Actress, and whole crowds of people were supporting them with absolute certainty."

"Suddenly I remember over the past six months, certain directors stated in public that if someone gave them a Li Xiaoran, they could also win a Silver Bear. I wonder how they feel right now?"

"How else could they feel? They're definitely going to say, 'Give me a Yu Feihong, and I can win a Venice Silver Lion too, hahaha...'"

"Hey, don't say that—you actually shouldn't say that, haha..."

"Hey upstairs, hurry up and delete your comment. Trust me, they really have the guts to use it."

"Haha... I believe it."

An industry big shot looked at these posts, his face turning livid. He genuinely couldn't comprehend how Yu Feihong, with her mediocre acting skills, could possibly win Best Actress at Venice.

Looking at the endlessly emerging new posts and sarcastic remarks, it felt like slaps landing across his face one after another. The more he read, the angrier he got, especially at one particular comment:

"Industry big shot, quickly write this down. Next time you can tell others that Cao Yang just got lucky running into Yu Feihong, and that if they give you a Yu Feihong, you can also win a top Venice award, haha..."

"Upstairs, he shouldn't be that shameless, right? After all, he just said earlier that if Yu Feihong could win Best Actress, he'd change his last name to Cao, haha..."

"Industry big shot, congratulations, time to change your surname."

Onlookers never feared adding fuel to the fire, so replies piled up rapidly.

"Industry big shot, congratulations, time to change your surname."
"Industry big shot, congratulations, time to change your surname."
"Industry big shot, congratulations, time to change your surname."
……

With his face flushed red and his neck bulging with anger, the industry big shot cursed an oath, "Let you bunch of grandsons gloat for a bit longer. My movie is finished filming too, and it stars that grandson Jiang Wen. We're heading to Venice next year! I refuse to believe that with Jiang Wen's connections, I won't be able to bag a few major awards! I graduated with a master's degree. If Cao Yang, a mere undergrad, can pull it off, am I possibly going to be worse than him?!"
……

When Yu Feihong stepped up to the stage, it was quite obvious that the Fairy Feihong, who always presented herself as calm and detached as water, was rather emotional this time.

Even her acceptance speech was halting and disjointed. She thanked many people in succession before finally thanking Cao Yang.

She said, "During the early days of filming, I remember it clearly—the director scolded me sixty-two times in a single day. I originally thought he was definitely too furious to ever give me a pleasant look, but that very evening, he called Liu Ye and me over and spent over two hours coaching us on the scenes... Thank you. Meeting you was my good fortune; I was 'brought back to life.' I also thank the jury for giving me this award. Thank you, Venice Film Festival."

Yu Feihong walked back down amid applause. The moment she sat down, Liu Ye couldn't help but borrow her Silver Lion, compare it with his own, and even weigh it in his hand.

"Not gonna lie, the two of them look identical."

Then, with a beaming smile, he said, "I'm so envious of Sister Feihong. Yours is the Venice Best Actress Silver Lion; mine is Best Newcomer—there's simply no comparison."

Even so, Liu Ye was already more than satisfied. Best Newcomer was still a Silver Lion, after all, which was vastly better than walking away empty-handed.

From now on, he would no longer be just an obscure rookie actor. Though he couldn't quite compare to Xia Yu, who peaked right out of the gate and won Venice Best Actor with *In the Heat of the Sun*, this starting point was already exceptionally high.

At least when talking about it in the future, everyone would know they both won Silver Lions, haha!

Cao Yang couldn't help pondering to himself that, given Liu Ye's performance and screen time in the film, his statistical probability of winning Venice Best Actor should theoretically have been even higher than Yu Feihong's chances for Best Actress.

Yet the jury only awarded Liu Ye Best Newcomer rather than Best Actor.

Could it be because there were too many female judges this year, causing a heavy bias?
Or was it driven by the film's content and broader socio-political impact?

Thinking about how all sorts of righteous figures across Europe were currently standing up to speak out for women, staging protests and parades that made the place feel like New Year's festival, giving Yu Feihong the Best Actress award could also be seen as going with the current tide.

Damn it, the domestic media wouldn't spin this into another wave of "independent woman" hype upon his return, would they?
Whatever.

Best Newcomer was a special award, so giving it to multiple people was quite normal. The gold content of this award was relatively mediocre; compared to other major prizes, its nature was far more of a consolation.

However, Yu Feihong winning Best Actress as a tied prize (shuanghuangdan) felt somewhat abnormal.

Having gathered such immense momentum, they shouldn't have just settled for a tied Best Actress award, right?
Would there be more?

Cao Yang began to feel a sense of anxious gains and losses.

Next up was the Best Actor award, which went to Luigi Lo Cascio for the Italian film *Light of My Eyes*.

The award presenters took the stage to announce the Best Director.

Cao Yang grew nervous. He was both reluctant to settle just for Best Director and worried that they might end up with nothing at all.

When the presenter announced that the winner of Best Director was Babak Payami, director of the Iranian film *Secret Ballot*, Cao Yang had no idea what kind of emotion he ought to feel.

Only the Grand Jury Prize and the Golden Lion for Best Film remained.

However, Lao Tian had just delivered some rather discouraging news to Cao Yang: there were still two films on-site that hadn't won any awards yet.

Could it be that *3-Iron* was completely out of the running?