Vase cannon fodder is pampered by the group again

Chapter 84.1

The studio fell instantly silent. Yang Ning dramatically rounded her mouth in shock: “No way! You really don’t know?”

“Brother Zhang probably forgot to mention it.” Shen Ci scratched his hair: “…What was I nominated for?”

Yang Ning touched her chin thoughtfully, frowning: “Best… Supporting Actor? Or was it Best Newcomer, seems like there were quite a few… Sorry, Xiao Ci, I only heard my agent mention it briefly, can’t remember clearly now.”

Shen Ci thought having any nominations was miraculous enough, but apparently there were many. Had Lu Xiao thrown money around again?

Tonight when he got home, he’d definitely interrogate that certain big spender thoroughly and make him confess honestly!

Shen Ci sighed mournfully. Even for Lu Xiao, money didn’t grow on trees.

The more Shen Ci thought about it, the more his heart ached, so he simply changed the subject: “I’ll ask Brother Zhang later. Let’s get to work first. Brother Ning, when do we start recording?”

Yang Ning came over carrying two cups of coffee: “In a hurry? If we start now, you can’t drink the coffee.”

Shen Ci nodded quickly. He wanted to finish recording early so he could go find Lu Xiao at his company for lunch.

“Alright then.” Yang Ning began flipping through a large stack of papers on the table, searching for a while before pulling out the lyrics to distribute to Shen Ci and Lu An: “Did you practice with my version at home?”

“Of course…” Shen Ci looked down at the lyrics, answering casually: “I’ve memorized all the words.”

Lu An gave the same answer, so Yang Ning brought over his guitar accompaniment, humming along to help them find the feeling beforehand.

Yang Ning had composed both words and music himself. It was an extremely light and ethereal song, with lyrics full of translucent boyish melancholy throughout, making both the low and high notes very difficult to control.

To sing this song well, both had often communicated with Yunxiao’s music teachers during their free time, achieving remarkable results. At least Lu An had no problem compressing and raising his pitch.

Shen Ci was responsible for the high notes. He’d been tutored individually by Yang Ning before, and following the accompaniment, he sang out clean, natural high notes with complete ease.

After finishing the song, Shen Ci and Lu An had warmed up their voices. Yang Ning immediately began showering Shen Ci with rainbow-colored praise. Shen Ci grabbed a pillow from the studio’s inner room and beat Yang Ning with it until he started seriously directing the details.

“I hear Brother Zhang praising his little treasure every day, and hearing it myself today, it really is extraordinary. You’re going to put the audio engineers out of work.”

The door had been pushed open at some point, and a young man in a suit was standing at the doorway smiling, with Brother Zhang beside him.

“Brother Zhang.” Shen Ci stood up: “Brother Ning said I was nominated for White Gardenia. Is that true?”

Brother Zhang exclaimed “Aiya”, shaking his head regretfully: “You actually found out? I was planning to wait until the day before the awards ceremony to tell you, give you a surprise.”

Last time at the airport he’d also called it a surprise… Shen Ci’s face darkened. Brother Zhang probably had some misunderstanding about what constituted a surprise.

“So I…”

“We’ll talk in my office later, anyway Yunxiao definitely didn’t throw money at this.” Brother Zhang interrupted Shen Ci’s inquiry, waving at Lu An: “Xiao Lu, come here. This is your future agent, get acquainted.”

Yunxiao had long prepared Lu An’s signing matters. Lu An had just finished signing his contract when his agent and assistant were immediately arranged.

“Hello, I’m Cheng Jun.” The agent extended his hand to Lu An, a handsome smile hanging on his refined face.

Lu An politely shook hands and greeted him. His well-behaved appearance made the agent smile even more happily, unable to resist reaching out to pinch Lu An’s cheek: “Aiya, what a cute little fresh meat…”

Brother Zhang slapped away Cheng Jun’s wandering hand: “He’s still a kid, show some restraint.”

Cheng Jun ignored him, putting his arm around Lu An’s shoulder and chattering: “After recording, I’ll take you to meet the other team members. Your assistant is super cute too…”

Shen Ci had heard of Cheng Jun. Young but already Yunxiao’s gold-medal agent, successful in his career and handsome, he was a total life winner. He probably just needed a wife.

Leaving Lu An with him should be fine… right?

Shen Ci stared at Cheng Jun’s hand resting on Lu An’s shoulder, quickly searching his mind for any scandals involving Cheng Jun, but it seemed all the artists he’d managed spoke highly of him…

Brother Zhang patted his shoulder: “Don’t worry, he’s all talk. Xiao Lu! Come record!”

• The recording process went very smoothly. Shen Ci and Lu An had been practicing every day, often nitpicking details with professional teachers. Their thorough preparation proved very useful.

As soon as they finished recording, Shen Ci hurried off because Lu Xiao’s car had already arrived downstairs.

Yang Ning watched his idol’s hurried retreating figure and sighed: “Ah, choosing romance over friendship again.”

Cheng Jun stroked his chin: “Hmm… Shen Ci’s singing is pretty impressive. Why didn’t you make him take the singing-dancing route?”

Brother Zhang’s mouth twitched: “Give me a break. Make him do radio calisthenics on stage?”

Cheng Jun laughed: “Is his dancing that bad? Ah well, that’s more like a proper pretty face! Otherwise, with good singing and great acting, that standard pretty-face would be completely wasted, practically a disgrace to the pretty-face industry.”

Brother Zhang smiled: “Actually… I originally wanted him to take the traffic pretty-face route too. For him to act in some dramas, sing some songs, then retire after having enough fun. After all, with President Lu backing him up, he could play however he wanted.”

“Who could have imagined his acting talent was so good… Thank goodness Director Min was willing to develop his abilities. Shen Ci can go far. When the time comes, future Movie Emperor Xiao Lu will have to help him out, okay?”

Brother Zhang nudged Lu An’s shoulder, trying to build connections for Shen Ci.

Lu An’s expression was usually distant, but he showed a rare smile: “Of course.”

---

On days without major schedules, Shen Ci remained busy every day.

A year of massive exposure had made Shen Ci famous. As soon as he returned to the country, Brother Zhang showed him the endorsement and commercial performance invitations, a dense string that startled Shen Ci.

After Lu Xiao learned of the situation, he immediately called Yunxiao Entertainment’s executives, forbidding them from booking too many engagements for Shen Ci, afraid of exhausting his precious baby.

So in the end, Shen Ci only accepted a few that didn’t conflict with Yunxiao’s products, but he was still incredibly busy.

His hotpot restaurant was also thriving. Many people came specifically to check it out, with reservations fully booked every day.

But Shen Ci had no time to manage it, leaving everything to his big brother and Lu Xiao’s people. He didn’t even have time to count the money.

Busy as he was, the White Gardenia Awards ceremony soon arrived as scheduled.

G City’s weather had already turned cold. Before leaving the Shen residence, Shen Ci was nagged by his big brother into putting on layer after layer until he was swollen like a big loaf of bread.

Getting into Lu Xiao’s car, Shen Ci finally escaped the heavy coat, clinging to Lu Xiao like a koala.

Shen Ci still had a hydrating face mask on, specially instructed by the makeup artist. His hair was clipped up into antenna-like spikes, looking particularly ridiculous.

He counted on his fingers: “Later I need to find Brother Ning first, then walk the red carpet, and I have to sign autographs… Sigh, so troublesome. I wish I could be like Little Uncle and not appear publicly, just take the VIP passage.”

Lu Xiao had come as an entertainment industry investment mogul, so naturally his treatment differed from the brick-moving workers.

Hearing Shen Ci sigh, then lips of Lu Xiao, who was playing with his earlobe, curved into a light smile: “If baby wants, you can walk with me.”

With Lu Xiao’s face, the organizers naturally wouldn’t dare refuse. Shen Ci pouted: “Even so, artists definitely have to appear on camera. Speaking of which… I got so many nominations at once, Little Uncle, did you really not throw money around?”

He squinted suspiciously again, trying to see through Lu Xiao’s deep, ink-like eyes.

Lu Xiao sighed helplessly: “Baby, you’ve asked this for the fifth time.”

Shen Ci deflated, pouting: “…I just think it’s ridiculous. Best Actor, Most Popular Newcomer… how could I deserve any of it?”

Lu Xiao leaned down to help him remove the face mask, pinching Shen Ci’s sensitive waist with just the right pressure. Shen Ci almost cried out: “…Little Uncle, what are you doing!”

Lu Xiao smiled gently, lifting Shen Ci’s chin: “Say such defeatist things again, and I’ll punish you.”

“…” Shen Ci was examined by his deep, ominous gaze and immediately pressed his lips tightly shut in fright.

Shen Ci parted from Lu Xiao in the underground garage, turning to get into Brother Zhang’s van for makeup while waiting for Yang Ning to arrive.

With Yang Ning leading the way, they went through the entire entrance process. Although Shen Ci lacked experience, at least he didn’t make any mistakes.

Yang Ning pulled him to sit in the front row artist seating. Bored, he surveyed the people around him and unexpectedly caught sight of Shao Jinhuan.

Was he nominated for Best Actor from “Don’t Say Farewell”? Then his own Best Actor award was hopeless.

Shen Ci shrugged. He hadn’t expected it anyway.

The awards ceremony began quickly. Knowing he was just a pretty vase in his first two productions and was only here as a runner-up, Shen Ci sat obediently in his seat with a pleasant smile, cooperatively showing joyful expressions and applauding congratulations, constantly watching for cameras that might cut to him.