Zhao Yaojin swirled the red wine in his glass and downed it in one gulp.
He stared fixedly at the screen on the television.
The background noise from the television was bustling and lively.
What was currently playing on a loop was the red carpet segment of the Starlight Night Awards Ceremony. Many familiar faces were on it, with well-known trending starlets and long-established big-name goddesses gracefully and smilingly walking past in gorgeous gowns.
Next came the male stars.
On the red carpet, a veteran actor who had cultivated deep roots in the entertainment industry and enjoyed high prestige stood shoulder to shoulder with a young man.
The young man lagged slightly behind by two steps, appearing courteous and proper, which instantly won people over.
His ink-blue suit fit his slender and well-proportioned figure to perfection, and his white shirt buttons ran straight up, pressing close to his chest line, while the topmost collar button was left slightly open, revealing his slender neck.
A gorgeous brooch trimmed with diamonds and sparkling with rubies did nothing to obscure his striking demeanor, and instead added a touch of magnificence and brilliance to his overall styling.
Jiang Shiyue. This was his sixth year of being a top star.
Zhao Yaojin took a light sip of the red wine.
The tart and astringent taste of the wine bloomed in his mouth, and before he even waited for the aftertaste to hit, he swallowed it down.
Jiang Shiyue was currently the most sought-after newborn male movie star in the film industry.
With his delicate yet heart-piercing acting skills, coupled with his superior external conditions, a single blockbuster drama instantly elevated him to legendary status. From then on, he was surrounded by crowds wherever he went, boasting tens of millions of fans. It could truly be said that flowers were blooming upon brocade and oil was boiling over a blazing fire.
Zhao Yaojin watched as the young man conversed politely and smilingly with others, looking exceptionally eye-catching even while sitting among a group of male stars.
The glow of popularity nourishes a person. The original unpolished jade had been sanded down to become even smoother and more lustrous, resembling a piece of exquisite jade ware. Precious though it was, the distance between him and ordinary viewers also appeared far greater.
Yet, just watching his expression from afar gave one a sense of happiness.
It was a feast for the eyes.
The stars had already taken their seats.
Pretty young actresses one after another, and batches of handsome men with both good looks and acting prowess, held their breath in anticipation.
The announcement of the Best Actor award finally arrived tardily amidst everyone’s expectant gazes.
Song Tian, the host on stage, wore a floor-sweeping gown, glanced down at her cue card, and paused to build suspense.
“Our competition for the Best Actor award is exceptionally fierce. Not only do we have veteran actor Jin Kongyun, who has spent decades intently refining his craft on the theater stage, but we also have young talent Cheng Yulin, who has emerged brilliantly in film and television dramas over the past few years, and even more so, Teacher Jiang Shiyue, who dominated the entire summer and moved more than half of China with the drama Green Cliff.”
The follow-up spotlights hit the three of them. They all nodded and smiled politely, with no trace of anxiety or shrinking evident on their faces.
Everyone was a universally acknowledged powerhouse.
Yet among the powerhouses, some enjoyed an even more outstanding audience affinity.
Take Jiang Shiyue, for instance. When his sharply contoured profile appeared on the giant screen, the cheers from the audience rose wave upon wave.
“They are all exceptionally powerful and full of drive. So, where will this year’s Best Actor award presented by Starlight Night ultimately fall?”
“The winner of this year’s Best Actor is!” Everyone held their breath. Although the auditorium was packed with excited fans, at this exact moment, all hearts rose to their throats, and everyone held their breath.
“Jiang Shiyue!”
The name expected by all was announced out loud. Applause rang through the audience like thunder, and a beam of light landed on Jiang Shiyue.
The brow that had been slightly furrowed gradually relaxed, and the unmelting icicles in his eyes slowly thawed.
A faint smile surfaced across Jiang Shiyue’s frost-like, cold expression.
Exhaling lightly, he exchanged brief, gentle embraces with the friends who stood up to congratulate him, and stepped onto the podium.
“With his masterclass acting and precise sense of rhythm, he uses his own experiences to bring the character he shaped from the virtual world into reality. Thank you, Jiang Shiyue, for bringing us the ultimate sensory enjoyment in Green Cliff!”
The award presenter handed this heavyweight trophy into Jiang Shiyue’s hands. Under all the camera flashes, everyone was anticipating his acceptance speech.
“Thank you very much to all the staff in front of and behind the scenes. The success of Green Cliff is inseparable from the hard work of the director, every single screenwriter, and every lighting technician. Thank you all so much for your help.”
Jiang Shiyue’s speech was extremely poised. From once being mocked for having a face as expressionless as a paralyzed person to now effortlessly commanding various emotions, everyone had witnessed every step of his growth with their own eyes.
Song Tian smiled and summarized: “Such a humble actor! I believe everyone is very curious: at such an exciting moment, is there anything you would most like to say to someone? You can use our awards ceremony platform to broadcast what is truly in your heart.”
Jiang Shiyue pondered for a moment and turned to face the camera.
Normally, in moments like this, people would thank their mentors and lovers, and people would use this to peer into who the most important person in this young Best Actor’s heart was, and when that most important moment took place.
“As everyone knows, there are many people I want to thank along this journey. Thank you to my grandfather for being willing to support my acting career, thank you to Director Cui for giving me my first script, and thank you to my family. But there is still one more person I want to thank.”
“He made me stand under the magnesium lights with greater confidence, firmly anchored the path I chose, and let me see the power of striving forward toward my dreams.”
Jiang Shiyue’s voice was clear and rich with magnetic resonance. He lifted his gaze toward the camera, the light rippling in his eyes as if brimming with affection: “He is, Zhao Yaojin.”
“Waah!”
“Ahhhhhhh!” The gasps and screams of the fans in the audience surged forth like a tidal wave!
What is going on here? Why are dead memories suddenly attacking me?
Fans covered their mouths in disbelief, almost shedding tears.
All because of that name, Zhao Yaojin.
All because Jiang Shiyue had once again mentioned his teammate, Zhao Yaojin, in an occasion like this!
They had thought they had already transformed into dignified film and television fans, but no, the moment that name rang out, their memories were instantly hauled back to that passionate summer, to the miracle-inducing youth.
That youth who was once red-hot across the nation had vanished as swiftly as a heavy storm of red roses falling in everyone’s hearts, only to rapidly quit the industry and disappear from sight.
Was he blacklisted? Did he offend someone? Or did he simply want to be an ordinary person?
Where is he now? Will he ever appear again?
All of this had once caused a massive uproar online, but amidst the long wait and silence, everyone had no choice but to bury those thoughts deep in their hearts.
Hearing Jiang Shiyue’s earth-shattering remark, enormous waves stirred within everyone’s hearts.
Zhao Yaojin, where on earth did he go?
Cries calling out Zhao Yaojin’s name in the audience shifted from scattered voices to hoarse shouting. The roaring cheers felt as though they could sweep the awards ceremony venue away.
Jiang Shiyue stared fixedly, waiting for the cheers to subside.
Witnessing this scene, his heart felt both bitter and proud.
That most passionate youth!
That energetic youth who was just like a little lion!
Why did he vanish without a sound right before his debut, yet remained silent after returning?
Under layers of appeasement, the audience gradually quieted down.
Jiang Shiyue looked toward the audience, gently covered the microphone, and leaned in to explain: “I regret to tell everyone that we have not managed to get in touch either.”
He turned back around, his eyes shining like stars, as if conversing with someone through the screen: “But I hope this sentence of gratitude can be heard by you.”
“Ahhhhh, it is the person our newly crowned Best Actor wants to thank!”
“Oh god, their bond is real! I am going to rewatch that variety show right now! Immediately!”
“Wuwuwu no, I am going to faint!” Someone frantically pinched the space under their nose, trying to inject some oxygen into themselves for emergency rescue.
“Thank you, Jiang Shiyue, for your acceptance speech!” Host Song Tian had never witnessed such an ecstatic awards ceremony scene either. Audiences outside the venue were choked with tears yet unable to hide their excitement and jumped up and down.
“This is a truly wonderful bond. Everyone accompanied both of you through that summer together, and it has become an unforgettable memory for us.”
Song Tian also turned toward the screen: “If Zhao Yaojin hears this, you must definitely contact our newly crowned Best Actor, Jiang Shiyue! Wishing your friendship to last forever!”
Zhao Yaojin stared unblinkingly in front of the screen, watching the young man stride gracefully off the stage and hand the main stage over to others.
“Jiang Shiyue, thank you for remembering me.” His long eyelashes drooped, and a few specks of starlight splashed across the corners of his eyes.
Opening his phone, he retrieved from the blacklist the phone number he had looked at for a long time without ever summoning the courage to dial.
“But I really failed your expectations.”
Originally, they could have walked side by side as good teammates for a lifetime.
Yet, his luck was a bit too rotten.
On the eve of his debut, when he was coaxed and deceived by his relatives into being locked inside a storage room, he had no way to contact the outside world.
When he panicked and felt helpless under a massive amount of liquidated damages, it was Jiang Shiyue, the young master of Starlight Entertainment, who extended a helping hand.
Yet he had no room to complain. He had been fostered at his uncle’s house since childhood, and a casual, lightweight apology from them could cover up all their mistakes.
Whose hand actually turned that lock remained unclear to anyone.
Unless he truly had the heart to watch his elderly grandmother send her son to prison?
For an old person who had already lost one son, that would be far too cruel.
His fair, slender arm shook slightly, tapping point by point on his cracked phone screen.
Since it was impossible to explain or clarify things, he might as well not go and disturb him.
Beneath the flush of intoxication lay a sickly pallor.
He narrowed his eyes as wave after wave of post-drinking dizziness struck him, and his finger gave a light touch.
Delete contact.
The young man had just taken his seat with the trophy in his arms when the phone in his chest pocket vibrated.
Setting the trophy aside, Jiang Shiyue pulled out his phone from his chest.
His fingers trembled slightly as they slid across the screen.
He cleared his throat and answered it amidst the intense attention of the crowd.
“Hello?”
An unfamiliar number, yet there was no sound at all.
Jiang Shiyue’s faint smile vanished from the corners of his lips.
Someone must have dialed it by mistake.
Zhao Yaojin sank into a deep slumber.
Past events replayed in his mind like a slide show.
Because of the explosive eye-catching performance in his first stage, he became the target of public criticism among the capitalists behind this batch of trainees from Idol Workshop.
On the night before his debut, he received a call from his uncle.
He said that grandmother was sick, very sick, and wanted to see him one last time.
He rushed over. They treated him to good food and drink, and his uncle wore a slick, oily smile.
“Xiaojin, sleep here for one more night.”
“Tomorrow I will take you to Grandma’s place. Your cousin is taking care of her in the countryside, do not worry, there will not be any issues at all.”
The next day, however, the house was completely empty.
Without a phone, unable to contact the outside world, after being locked up for a day and a night, everything was already too late.
With false apologies plastered across their faces, his uncle’s family visited grandma in the countryside. She was in extremely robust health and straight away asked when she would be able to see her little Jin on television.
But debut night had already passed.
Her grandson Xiaojin would no longer be a rising idol superstar, but instead turned into an ordinary person burdened with massive liquidated damages.
Because of his unexplained disappearance, all sorts of speculations wove together into a massive net. This net shrouded every groundless rumor, and countless sensationalized headlines and gossip columns accompanied by blurry, authenticity-unknown screenshots poured dirty water over him.
The voices of his true fans were gradually drowned out by the wave of revelry. The commercial opportunities he had been negotiating with during his time in the camp all fell through because he failed to debut, casting a heavy shadow over his commercial value.
It was only then that he learned that his training partner, Jiang Shiyue, turned out to be the hidden boss behind the company, the major shareholder holding ninety percent of Starlight Entertainment.
With Jiang Shiyue’s help, he managed to extricate himself from the debts.
He became an ordinary person, a street dance teacher.
He thought this was the life he wanted. His star-studded teammates also gradually grew distant from him, shifting from “Zhao Yaojin, we have a public schedule coming up, let us have dinner next time” to “Oh, okay, a bit busy, let us talk next time.”
But what was there to talk about? His life was utterly dull and uneventful.
Later on, he simply blocked everyone’s WeChat accounts.
Life seemed to grow much quieter.
On an evening with a gentle night breeze, he ran all alone along the river embankment for a long, long time.
After his breathing stabilized, he lifted his head and saw the fish-scale patterns weaving across the sky into an extraordinarily gorgeous sunset glow, looking as though a piece of fluttering brocade had been scattered across the heavens.
Draped in the sunset glow, a lone figure walked toward him head-on.
Just like that, he encountered Jiang Shiyue once again.
Bansha Novel, much happiness