Chapter 48 – Fair
Qiao Huaiyao narrowed his eyes, and although he didn’t speak when he opened his mouth, he made a gesture. He said, “Got it.”
No one noticed the lack of interaction between them.
The audience assumed that Bai Jinyan was answering the host’s question.
Little did they know what might be hidden in those few words between the two artists, perhaps a storm brewing beneath the surface.
However, they simply assumed that Bai Jinyan was only participating in the awards ceremony to avoid clashing with each other, so they hadn’t specifically chosen any particular day for the awards.
They just casually mentioned “yesterday.” The marketing buzz quickly faded into obscurity.
The host glanced back briefly, sensing the teacher’s expression and realizing his mistake. He chuckled and said, “Yesterday? Well, that must mean something truly remarkable happened.” The co-host by his side smoothly continued, “Speaking of remarkable things, our next award is…”
The hosts seamlessly moved on to discuss the next award. In the live broadcast, viewers began to criticize, “Who is this host? His skills are subpar, although the awards ceremony itself is grand. We need a better host!”
[“Seriously, my brother Bai Jinyan looks so confident today. If this were in the past, he would have just walked off the stage, ignoring this silly host.”]
[“Look at who’s in the audience. His wife is here. Can he really just leave like that? I recommend rewatching the variety show when his wife was present to see how gentle and kind Bai Jinyan was.”]
[“Sigh! His wife looks stunning in light blue. His outfit is truly outstanding when he’s sitting down.”]
[“Bai Jinyan is in deep blue, and Qiao Qiao is in light blue, matching brooches and the same watch. Do I really need to say more about their outfits?”]
[“!!!”]
[“Come on, don’t interrupt me when I’m at my peak. If you do, I’ll give you a big slap in the face.”]
…
Bai Jinyan returned to his seat, not holding onto the trophy, and handed it directly to Qiao Huaiyao. He said, “There’s one more nomination coming up. We can probably leave in a little while.”
“Yeah,” Qiao Huaiyao accepted the trophy and placed it down, “No rush.”
He vaguely remembered that Bai Jinyan seemed to have won a grand slam this time, and at this time in the previous life, Bai Jinyan’s name was all over Weibo. Even without going online, he could hear his classmates talking about it. After the awards ceremony on stage, they also appeared on a variety show.
Qiao Huaiyao leaned over and asked, “Brother, are we going on stage?”
Only invited guests went on stage, some sang the theme song of the movie, while others performed group dances. It was quite lively. His brother had won the award for Best Original Song, so he should be going on stage to perform.
“No,” Bai Jinyan said. He always kept it simple when receiving awards, taking the trophy and then leaving. “I like to save time during award ceremonies.”
Qiao Huaiyao nodded in understanding.
Generally, after the studio releases red carpet photos, they will edit and upload them to the internet. In addition to fan uploads, the official studio has dedicated personnel for photo editing.
However, Bai Jinyan had always been unique, and the studio’s photos were more outstanding than those of other celebrities.
This time, the studio released the red carpet photos at almost the same time as the other studio and even during the backstage photo releases of other artists.
Fans were shocked when they saw this on Weibo.
[What’s going on? Did the studio change its staff?]
[Well, leaving aside everything else, these photos are well taken. The photographer is really skilled.]
[Wait a minute… sisters, something’s not right. I specifically dug out the retouched red carpet photos from previous years. Take a look for yourselves.]
Fans carefully compared the photos. Qiao Huaiyao posted a tweet with the hashtag #CP
In the Weibo post, the front part showed previous red carpet photos taken from various angles, none of which had the celebrities looking at the camera.
However, in the newer photos, there was one exception—Bai Jinyan never took his eyes off the camera. I
t wasn’t very noticeable when viewed individually, but when lined up together, it became particularly obvious.
The comments on the trending post skyrocketed in no time: [I get it now! That’s why these photos were released so quickly. It turns out that Qiao Qiao took them, and the two of them are showing off their love.]
[Sigh, sisters, these comparison photos are too well done. How did they know I love looking at this?]
[Thanks, sisters, you’ve uncovered something big!]
[It’s roses and couples again. They’re not hiding it anymore!]
[Enough, sisters! Let’s go watch the live broadcast. I think Bai Jinyan might come out today.]
[Stop talking, sisters! I think I’ve just struck a sugar mine!]
…
On Weibo, fans were excitedly sharing edited content. Normally, after the studio releases photos, they would purchase a trending topic to boost their popularity. This time, however, due to the collision with Bai Jinyan’s photos, they didn’t buy as many trending topics.
Only real hot topics could trend, and some smaller celebrities who didn’t spend money to trend were gaining some attention because their red carpet photos were outstanding.
During breaks in watching the program, Qiao Huaiyao wanted to use his phone to create a PPT. He hadn’t logged out of his secondary account since yesterday, and when he opened his phone, he was bombarded with dozens of messages. He was startled for a moment and then found that Weibo recommended content based on his preferences. Today, there were a lot of trending topics related to Bai Jinyan, so most of the recommendations were related to him.
Qiao Huaiyao opened Weibo and found the studio’s released photos, as well as the comparison photos made by fans. When he took those photos himself, he hadn’t noticed anything unusual. Looking at the camera while taking photos was a common practice. However, it seemed that his photos were indeed somewhat different from those taken by the studio.
Even when taking photos from behind, Bai Jinyan would slightly turn his head, following the angle of his lens. It wasn’t just following the lens; it seemed more like he was following…
Qiao Huaiyao couldn’t help but squint his eyes and set one of those photos as the profile picture for his secondary Weibo account. Compared to the other images, his photos looked a bit rough.
Qiao Huaiyao had a vague understanding of why Bai Jinyan’s studio had released so many red carpet photos. They would usually select the best photos from a variety of shots, make adjustments, and then release them. However, this time, he had chosen and sent the photos himself, so the studio only needed to do minimal editing. That’s why they were able to release the photos much earlier.
“Is this a new account?” Bai Jinyan asked.
Qiao Huaiyao blushed, “I, I just occasionally follow things.”
Bai Jinyan didn’t press further and reached over to help him stabilize his phone. “Is the program interesting?”
“No,” Qiao Huaiyao pretended to be calm and locked his phone. “I didn’t watch much.”
“Yeah,” Bai Jinyan nodded meaningfully. “You didn’t watch much.”
Qiao Huaiyao blushed, “I, I just occasionally paid attention.”