My Virtual Girlfriend-Chapter 281: You’ve Secured the Best Actress Award!

Chapter 281: Chapter 281: You’ve Secured the Best Actress Award!

Oozing with confidence that had been bestowed upon him by someone else, Chen Yan walked out of the study, jingling two coins in his hand.

The future superstar Lu Man had been anxiously waiting for some time now.

Chen Yan had spent a good while perusing the system’s evaluation, and then even longer musing and deducing from that. Naturally, it took a bit more time.

So when Lu Man saw Chen Yan finally emerge, she immediately stood up, gazing at him curiously, she asked, "Got the props?"

Chen Yan pinched the two coins between his fingers and showed them off, "Of course. Look. These are my fortune-telling tools..."

Lu Man curiously peeked at the two coins in Chen Yan’s hands and asked, "These... what are they? Aren’t they just two one-yuan coins?"

Chen Yan shook his head solemnly, bluffing, "These are not just simple coins, but two magical coins."

"I’ve named them Xiao Yi and Xiao Yuen."

Lu Man: ??

"Xiao Yi and Xiao Yuen?"

Chen Yan, now bluffing to the point of almost making himself laugh, nodded earnestly, "That’s right. Put together, they make up ’yuan’. That’s not hard to understand, right?"

Lu Man felt a little disordered.

She didn’t find it difficult to understand, just that it was overly simplistic!

Is he really not kidding around?

Well...

No, she was well aware that he was teasing her!

So...

Was this him insulting her intelligence?

With that thought, she asked, "Then, how do you use these to tell fortunes?"

Chen Yan walked over to Lu Man, pulled up a chair for her, and asked, "Esteemed client, what would you like to divine?"

Lu Man didn’t pay any mind to Chen Yan’s strange form of address, and said, "I want to predict if I can win the Best Newcomer Award."

Chen Yan stretched out his hand and declared, "Alright. That will be 100 yuan."

Lu Man: ??

Faced with a barrage of question marks, Lu Man inquired, "You’re charging money for this?"

Chen Yan affirmed seriously, "Of course. You ask for a fortune-telling, I provide one. Naturally, there’s a starting fee."

With that, he nudged Lu Man, "Quick, pay up, pay up."

Lu Man couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the same time.

But after all, this situation was her own doing, so she had to fish around in her pockets, and after not finding money, she took out her phone and sent Chen Yan a 100-yuan red packet.

As she was sending the red packet, Chen Yan even peered over to check, suggesting, "Please put ’gift’ as the memo for the red packet."

Lu Man: ....

Lu Man was in disarray.

Luckily, neither of them cared about the money. Otherwise, she would have suspected Chen Yan to be one of those scoundrels who con women out of their money and love. Such a scammer!

"Ding dong~"

The red packet was received.

Chen Yan accepted the red packet first, then set down his phone and began the fortune-telling.

His method was utterly simplistic: he shook the two coins and tossed them onto the table.

The "divination pattern" on the table was: both tails up.

Lu Man curiously observed the coins on the table and asked, "Master, what does this mean?"

Chen Yan glanced at the two coins and said, "Oh. This means you’ll win the award."

A question mark slowly appeared above Lu Man’s head: ?

She wasn’t a fool...

Two tails up means a positive divination?!

Could this really be a scam?

She looked towards Chen Yan, wanting an explanation.

Chen Yan, as if anticipating her thoughts, pointed to the two coins and asked Lu Man, "What do you see?"

Lu Man examined them closely and said, "Two... two coins showing their backs."

Chen Yan shook his head, as if to say ’how could you not get it,’ and said, "What’s on the backside of this coin?"

Lu Man looked and responded, "Flowers, it’s flowers..."

As the coins were of a new design, the obverse side showed one, and the reverse side had a flower.

Chen Yan clapped his hands together, "Exactly!"

"Flower! It stands for ’flowers’!"

"How do you receive flowers? Obviously, by winning an award!"

"So, if you’ve got two flowers, doesn’t that signify you’ll win the award?"

Lu Man: ...

Despite knowing full well that Chen Yan was talking nonsense, Lu Man inexplicably felt that there was a sliver of logic to his words...

She looked at Chen Yan, who was brimming with self-satisfaction, and thought for a moment, not quite willing to give up.

She said, "Go on! Test another one! I want to see if I can become Best Actress!"

Chen Yan reached out his hand again.

This time, without waiting for Chen Yan to ask, Lu Man took out her phone and transferred another 100 yuan to him.

He took the money and continued to toss the coins.

"Clang clang~~"

After a moment, the two coins settled: one heads, one tails.

Lu Man squatted down to check the coins, then looked up at Chen Yan, "Does this mean I can win, or not?"

She guessed, "Does it mean, since it’s a tie, we have to toss them again?"

Chen Yan shook his head and said, "No, this is the divination pattern. And the answer is quite straightforward. Can’t you see it?"

Lu Man lowered her gaze and once again scrutinized the two coins.

Closely examining them, she furrowed her brows... But she still couldn’t figure it out.

With no other option, she raised her head again for Chen Yan’s interpretation, "What does it mean?"

Chen Yan spoke with a touch of mystery, "This divination pattern indicates that you will win the Best Actress award."

Lu Man: ??

Lu Man was perplexed.

Having both coins show tails meant winning an award, and one heads and one tails did too?

She looked at Chen Yan, "You’re not deceiving me, are you?"

Chen Yan replied, "How could I! I’m telling you, this divination is very straightforward. It’s right there in the ’literality’ of it."

Lu Man, "Huh? What literality?"

Chen Yan first pointed to the coin that was tails up, "Which side is this?"

Lu Man, "The reverse."

Chen Yan then pointed to the coin that was heads up, "And this one?"

Lu Man, "The obverse."

Chen Yan slapped his hands together, "That’s it! This divination pattern is called [Winning Regardless]!"

Lu Man was stupefied, almost turning to dust.

Chen Yan, reveling in his own analysis, inquired, "Both of my divinations make sense, don’t they?"

If Brother Ying were there, he would have probably chimed in.

But alas, Brother Ying was not there, and Lu Man had no desire to entertain Chen Yan...

Not only did she not want to deal with him, but she also felt like tossing Chen Yan to the ground and squeezing him over and over.

After all, she felt like her intelligence had indeed been put on a show.

But just as she was thinking this, Chen Yan actually asked her, "Do you feel like I’m pulling your leg?"

Lu Man solemnly nodded her head.

Chen Yan, in front of her, took out his phone and made a call.

Suddenly, on the other end, the call connected.

Chen Yan gave instructions, "Mei Li, it’s Chen Yan."

"There’s something I need to arrange."

"Here’s the thing. I’ve received some extremely accurate information from a source. Man Man is highly likely to win both the Best Newcomer and Best Actress awards."

"Yes, yes, exactly. Very credible. The credibility is about 99%."

"Yes. So, I’m asking you to change the publicity strategy."

"Man Man’s foundation isn’t yet solid, and with her winning Best Actress, if we push out as many press releases as we had originally planned, it might invoke a lot of envy and also damage her public favor."

"Right, right. What I mean is to switch to a more low-key publicity. Moreover, it would be best to arrange an exclusive interview for Man Man. Control the content of the interview."

"I’m talking about having Man Man be humble, saying that winning the award was just luck, a hope given by the committee. Her exceptional performance was only due to the character coinciding with her own personality. That she still has a lot of room for improvement in acting, she will work hard to improve her skills, striving to deserve this award."

"Right. With the Best Actress award, Man Man’s status and popularity will naturally rise. What we need to do is to capitalize on these resources, not to keep playing big from the start..."

Chen Yan and Mei Li discussed for a good fifteen minutes, and during this time... Lu Man was absolutely blown away by the conversation.

What the heck?!

Acquiring a list from what channel?!

Does Mei Li know that this ’source’ is just two coins?!

Lu Man felt she was going insane!

What was all this about?!

Why, all of a sudden, did she become Best Actress?

And at the end of the call, Chen Yan didn’t forget to tell Mei Li not to disclose this matter outside of Yang Rou and a few core members.

When discussing with the other publicity firms about altering the publicity strategy, he also said it was an adjustment in case of winning the Best Newcomer award.

Mei Li, on the other hand, agreed with a demeanor that suggested "I understand, I get it all."

After hanging up the phone, Lu Man looked at Chen Yan, bewildered.

She said, "Chen Yan... you’re definitely joking with me, right?"

Chen Yan spread his hands, "I’m serious."

"You saw it yourself. I’ve already arranged the work."

Lu Man:...

Lu Man felt like she’d dug her own grave. She thought she was foolish enough, but who could’ve guessed Chen Yan was even more so...

So, as soon as she left Chen Yan’s house, she immediately called Mei Li.

"Beep... beep... beep....."

Suddenly, the call was answered.

Lu Man bluntly asked, "Sis, where are you?"

Mei Li answered, "I’m at the company. In President Rou’s office, discussing the changes to your publicity strategy."

Lu Man was even more disoriented. Mei Li was quick to act...

She said, "Sis, wait for me. I need to talk to you."

Having said that, she hung up and floored the gas pedal heading to the company.

At this moment, at the film company’s General Manager’s office.

Mei Li and Yang Rou were discussing the changes in the publicity plan.

After all, the new publicity plan involved a new variety show.

The two of them sat on the couch, discussing the matter, while Yang Nuannuan sat at the secretary’s desk nearby, working on something...

...

After a bit, the call was answered.

Lu Man directly inquired, "Sis, where are you?"

Mei Li said, "I’m at the company. In President Rou’s office, discussing the changes for your publicity strategy."

Lu Man was getting even more baffled. Mei Li acted rapidly...

She instructed, "Sis, hold on. I’m coming to talk to you."

After finishing her statement, she hung up and hit the gas to drive to the company.

Meanwhile, back at the film company’s General Manager’s office.

Mei Li and Yang Rou were there, delving into the recent change of publicity plans.

Because the current publicity plan was tied to a new variety show.

They sat on the couch deep in conversation, while not far away, Yang Nuannuan was seated at the secretary’s desk, absorbed in her work...

Suddenly, the phone rang again.

Lu Man went straight to the point, "Sis, where are you right now?"

Mei Li replied, "I’m at the office. I’m with President Rou, sorting out your new PR strategy."

Lu Man’s confusion grew deeper. Mei Li’s efficiency really was something...

Determined, she said, "Sis, just hang on. I need to come and talk to you."

With that, she hung up the phone and stepped on the gas, racing toward the office.

And at that moment, in the film company’s General Manager’s office.

Mei Li and Yang Rou were deep in a discussion about the sudden shift in PR strategy.

Of course, this change had implications for the upcoming new variety show.

They were seated on the couch, engrossed in conversation, while in the not-so-distant secretarial spot, Yang Nuannuan was engaged in penning something down...