My Virtual Girlfriend-Chapter 279: Best Actress Nomination!

And just as everyone was focusing on whether the movie "Heartbreak" could stay hot, Chen Xionggang finally began to announce the first of the four major awards.

The four major awards are Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Film.

Among these four major awards, Best Actress definitely carries the least weight.

So, he cleared his throat, looked at the camera, and smiled as he said,

"Next, I will announce the nominees for the 36th Golden Shadow Award for Best Actress."

His eyes dropped to the letter in his hand and he read,

"The 36th Golden Shadow Award for Best Actress nominees include..."

"Red Wine... Xu Wen..."

The nominations for the four major awards were significantly more impressive. Every time Chen Xionggang read a nominee’s name, he would pause to allow the applause to rise.

The live chat room was also buzzing with comments,

"Red Wine seems to be quite popular too."

"Xu Wen is so beautiful!"

"66666"

"Xiao Hong, I love you!"

It seemed like something special was mixed in...

After pausing for a while, Chen Xionggang continued,

"Desert Dragon Armor... Li Junru..."

The applause still lingered.

There were two more spots left for the Best Actress nomination...

In the office, everyone was holding their breath, waiting for destiny to unfold.

After all, having worked so hard for so long, success was now hinging on this moment.

There were times in history when efforts had been made only to find out that they didn’t even secure a nomination.

Chen Yan looked at Lu Man next to him, but Lu Man was just staring tensely at the screen. freёwebnoѵel.com

Her hands were clenched tightly, her knuckles were even turning white.

Clearly, this first nomination for Best Actress in her life was making her extremely nervous.

Chen Yan gently reached out and held her hand.

Lu Man startled and turned to look at Chen Yan.

Chen Yan responded with a smile.

Lu Man hesitated at first but was soon infected by Chen Yan’s smile and couldn’t help smiling herself.

Just then, they heard Chen Xionggang announce the third nominee,

"’Twenty-Three Days of Heartbreak’... Lu Man..."

The voice seemed to travel from a distant time and space, striking Lu Man’s ears directly.

A moment ago, Lu Man had been admiring Chen Yan’s handsome smile.

The next moment, it felt like her heart stopped.

She looked at the big screen in surprise. Though the livestream had no subtitles, the flurry of discussions about her name in the comments made it clear—she had heard right.

’I... did I really get nominated?’

’I got a nomination for Best Actress?!’

Even though Chen Yan and sister Mei Li had told her countless times before today that she was very likely to get a nomination for Best Actress and she had prepared herself mentally, when it actually happened, she found she absolutely couldn’t stay calm!

After all, before she met Chen Yan, she was just an ordinary celebrity.

She played supporting roles.

Even in TV dramas, she was a supporting actor!

Now... in less than a year, she had become a popular actress nominated for Best Actress?!

This all came too suddenly!

Just when Lu Man was slightly blanking out, sister Mei Li next to her happily hugged her and exclaimed, "Man Man! Man Man! You got a nomination!"

"You got a nomination!"

Sister Mei Li’s shout brought Lu Man back to her senses; she let go of Chen Yan’s hand, happily hugged sister Mei Li back, and couldn’t help but cry, "Sister! I got a nomination!"

Without those who had been with her all along, no one could understand the lost and frightened feelings after being banned; nor would they understand how hard it was for a celebrity dependent on popularity to receive mainstream recognition.

But today, with Chen Yan’s help, she had done it!

The office erupted with congratulations, the employees all came to Lu Man to congratulate her on the nomination.

Although it was not certain that she would win an award, a nomination for Best Actress was already a shining achievement for Lu Man.

For someone who had been in the industry for only three years, had only shot two TV dramas and one movie, this was indeed a huge victory!

This caused... no one to notice that after securing the Best Actress nomination, "Twenty-Three Days of Heartbreak" had also secured the Best Actor and Best Film nominations.

In other words, Chenlu Film Company, with just this one movie, had secured nominations for 9 out of the 16 awards!

It even swept three of the four major nominations!

In no time, "Twenty-Three Days of Heartbreak" became the hot favorite to win, starting to trend on various platforms.

Even in the live chat room, the comments were non-stop,

"How long has it been since such a hot movie came out?"

"It’s been a long time."

"Is this film really that amazing?"

An expert commented, "Of course it is. This film has made history by tripling the box-office potential for a niche genre."

Of course, where there were praises, there were also skeptics,

"Just don’t end up winning nothing, that would really be a joke!"

While the online discussions were rampant, Chenlu Film Company was starting their celebration for the night.

Although it wasn’t the day of the awards yet, securing so many nominations was already a moment of great honor for Lu Man and for Chenlu Film Company, a small film production company.

So, Chen Yan hosted a grand dinner for everyone.

Chen Yan never hesitated to spend money on his employees.

After all, he had come up as a struggling worker himself and knew what the employees really wanted.

Working wasn’t about dreams, but about real money.

Providing the staff with higher salaries and more benefits was far better than any grand promises.

Besides... Chen Yan’s expenses, aimed at boosting Lu Man’s career, were an investment that would pay back double. Delightful!

This time, Chen Yan was on cloud nine!

Thus, during dinner, Chen Yan raised a toast and declared that since they had secured so many nominations, every employee would receive a bonus of 3000 yuan and, in addition, everyone’s salary would increase by 1000 yuan per month.

If they actually won at the award ceremony a week later, the bonuses would double!

In an instant, all the staff became even more ecstatic!

Eating and drinking through the night, the company gathering didn’t break up until 11 pm.

During the meal, Lu Man sneaked a playful hook of her hand with Chen Yan’s.

It was their secret signal, letting Chen Yan know to come over to her place tonight.

Chen Yan... felt a bit panicked.

Although he was very confident in his abilities, he somehow felt that tonight Lu Man’s combat strength would be stronger...

Because tonight, it seemed it wasn’t just a physical battle, but a battle of spirits.

Lu Man was too spirited!

How could he possibly win?!

And indeed, that night turned out exactly as Chen Yan had anticipated.

Although Lu Man was usually quite forward, tonight she was even more aggressive, terrifyingly so.

As if to express her excitement, she performed all sorts of acrobatics on top of Chen Yan.

Heavenly music played, leaving Chen Yan almost unable to cope.

Moreover, perhaps because she had been drinking, she became a bit reckless. Caught up in the fun, she even asked Chen Yan to tie her up and do as he pleased.

Once tied up, the words she said were the kind that could make one’s blood boil, "Master~~ don’t be gentle with me."

"Tonight, I belong to you.~~ You can do whatever you want."

Chen Yan, having just fought two rounds, watched nervously as Lu Man was tied up, asking, "Are... are you sure I can do whatever I want?"

Lu Man cast a coquettish glance at Chen Yan, shyly nodding her head.

Chen Yan stared eagerly at her, "I want to sleep... is that okay..."

Lu Man: ???

The "happy" time always seemed lengthy, and after toying around all night, the couple fell into a deep sleep together.

The next day, the sun rose as usual.

But the announcement of the Golden Shadow Award nominations made the day particularly lively.

The hottest topic was, of course, the 9 nominations secured by "Twenty-Three Days of Heartbreak."

Any film receiving so many nominations would stir a lot of curious attention, even more so for "Twenty-Three Days of Heartbreak," which had been popular previously.

Thus, under these circumstances, the movie’s popularity kept climbing, and many communities and forums began to discuss it.

Discussing this movie, naturally, brought Lu Man, the leading actress and celebrity boss, into the spotlight.

So, Lu Man’s popularity also climbed.

In this situation, sister Mei Li didn’t push further promotions, but instead, after consulting with Yang Rou, tried to direct this flow toward Lu Man’s upcoming new variety show: Big Star Detective.

This variety show’s collaborations with Qindong TV and Tencent Video had been confirmed.

Produced exclusively by Chenlu Film Company and retaining all rights.

Qindong TV and Tencent Video obtained the exclusive rights to the television and online first rounds of the show for 45 million + bonuses and 32 million + bonuses, respectively, along with the right to first renewal for the second season.

The overall terms didn’t seem particularly generous. Excluding production costs, the first season didn’t seem to earn much.

But Yang Rou had secured a future profit.

She was very confident about this variety show and believed that given a chance, the show would definitely explode in popularity.

Later on, the subsequent seasons could be sold at sky-high prices—that would be the time to reap the benefits!

While the entire company was busy dealing with this wave of publicity, inside Lu Man’s villa, the couple was quietly chatting.

Lu Man lay on Chen Yan, carefully cleaning his ears while asking, "Chen Yan, do you think... I can win the Best Rookie Award?"

Hearing Lu Man’s question, Chen Yan felt like mocking a bit: Girls always like to ask such questions, right?

Yesterday it was about the nomination, today it’s about winning the award.

I’m not a fortune teller, how could I know the results in advance?

Thinking this, Chen Yan wanted to tell her that he didn’t know...

But just as he was about to speak, he suddenly paused: Eh... now that the nominations are announced, can’t I actually know the results of the awards in advance?