After the French Film Festival closes tonight, "Devil" will premiere in China at twelve o'clock in the morning.
At this time, all the tickets had been booked. As "Devil" won two major awards in a row abroad, the tickets in the capital had been sold out and were difficult to get.
"You want to go and see?"
Xiao Liu was very surprised. Feng Zhongliang's eyes fell on the TV and his expression softened:
"Let's go and have a look."
In the two years that Jiang Se has been with him, she always mentioned work matters to him. Every time he heard it, he would scold her. Now he felt a little regretful, but he couldn't say it. This was the only way to express his love for his granddaughter.
Feng Zhongliang had no time to explain his change to Xiao Liu. He just looked at Jiang Se on the TV screen and picked up the mobile phone several times, but sighed and put his hand down every time.
It was already dark in the capital, and in the undemolished area of the West City district, almost no one dared to come out after 10 o'clock in the evening.
This area has been designated as a planned new urban area by the government, and many houses have been labeled "demolished". After Jiang Zhiyuan was released from prison in Hong Kong, he found a house nearby and rented it.
The house was facing demolition and was in a very dilapidated state. The rent was very low. When he came back, everything was very quiet around him. Every time he took a step on the ground, the gravel under his feet would make a squeaking sound.
He returned to the house, pushed the door open, and a damp, moldy smell hit him in the face.
The room was quiet. He turned on the light. As he had not been back for a day, spider webs had formed on the bulb. In the dim light, the simple and shabby room was clearly visible. Apart from a single steel bed, there were two woven bags containing his clothes and some simple daily necessities in the corner.
There was an old computer in the corner. He turned it on and took out the gas tank and pots and pans.
Everything that happened back then seems like a dream to him now.
It was very quiet at night, the only sound was the sound of him washing the pot. Jiang Zhiyuan's dinner tonight was a big bowl of noodles boiled in plain water with a few vegetable leaves that had been left for a few days.
He sat in front of the computer with the bowl in his hand, and as usual, he turned on the computer and searched for the name 'Jiang Se', and most of the web pages popped up.
Jiang Se is different now. She is already very famous in China. News about her has been on the headlines in recent days, including various pictures of her at the French Film Festival.
The news mentioned that she filmed "The Devil", mentioned the praise from domestic film critics, mentioned her dispute with Tao Cen, and there were also predictions that she would win an award at this film festival.
Jiang Zhiyuan watched for a while and started eating noodles in big mouthfuls. At the top of the webpage, a piece of news popped up: French Film Festival Live Broadcast. Jiang Zhiyuan clicked on it without hesitation.
After the web page scrolled for a while, a picture suddenly appeared. On the picture was Jiang Se wearing a purple off-shoulder dress.
She was surrounded by a group of reporters and countless microphones were handed to her.
"Ms. Jiang, may I ask..."
"Ma'am, regarding losing the Best Actress award, you..."
There were several times when several microphones almost hit her face, and the female assistant beside her had to block the reporters with great difficulty.
Jiang Zhiyuan, who was eating noodles in big mouthfuls, saw this scene and his face darkened. He stopped eating the noodles, clenched his calloused hands into fists, and placed them on his legs without saying a word.
The words "Jiang Se missed the French Film Festival's Best Actress Award" appeared above the video, and Jiang Zhiyuan's expression became serious.
He pushed the bowl of noodles away and moved the computer screen closer to himself. Jiang Se's figure in the video was almost submerged among the reporters.
Pushed by a group of reporters, Jiang Se could hardly move forward. No matter how hard the female assistant beside her tried, she was unable to push the crowd away.
His expression gradually became scary, and his cheek muscles twitched slightly because of the action of clenching his teeth. The reporter in the video was still asking:
"Ms. Jiang, as the female lead of "Devil", what do you think of the director and the male lead winning awards separately?"
Outside the French Film Palace, Jiang Se was surrounded by reporters, and there was even a trend of more and more media people coming. Mo Anqi was angry, but helpless.
This time, Jiang Se was accompanied by not many staff members, and most of them were girls. They were completely helpless in front of these reporters who were trying hard to dig out news from Jiang Se.
The security of the film festival was completely unable to take care of this side. The reporters kept passing the microphones to Jiang Se, almost hitting her in the face several times.
The flash of the spotlight made Mo Anqi's eyes sore, let alone Jiang Se in the crowd.
"Do you think that the judges were unfair because your acting skills were well received at this film festival, but you didn't win the title of 'Best Actress' in the end?"
"I believe that the jury of the film festival adheres to the principles of fairness and impartiality." The reporters refused to give up until they got a few words out of Jiang Se's mouth. Jiang Se was somewhat helpless, so he grabbed a few of the microphones and quickly answered in English:
"I am very happy for Liu Ye to win an award for The Devil. During the cooperation, I learned a lot from him and it was a pleasure to work with him."
As soon as she started talking, the reporters around her suddenly fell silent, as if they were afraid of missing her answer. Many of them held up their recorders and dared not even breathe.
“It’s been a great experience for me to be able to come to the festival and watch other people’s performances.”
She answered several questions in a row, and the reporters were naturally not satisfied with the answers, so they started asking more questions.
Jiang Se communicated skillfully with domestic and foreign media in fluent English. In the video, once she opened her mouth, she took control of the situation.
She was not frightened by the sharp questions from the media, but faced them bravely.
When seeing this scene, Jiang Zhiyuan showed a very faint smile on his face. This was his daughter, even though she might not know of his existence.
He stretched out his hand cautiously, wanting to touch her face, but as he was about to reach out, he seemed to think of something and pulled it back.
This is wrong! He reminded himself secretly.
He shouldn't disturb Jiang Se's life. She now lives in the sunshine and is full of glory.
She is the pride of China, a well-known actress, who can speak English, which he cannot understand, and is beautiful, smart and capable.
Without a family background, she still got into the top university in China and entered the entertainment industry. She shouldn't have a father like this who would taint her identity and reputation.
The smile on Jiang Zhiyuan's face slowly disappeared, and he took his hand back. He watched Jiang Se in the video in silence. After a long time, he covered his chest. There was a pocket on his shirt, and in the pocket was a ticket for the movie "Devil" in the capital at 3:00 a.m. that he had managed to snatch. He touched it again and again through his shirt, and only then did he feel his heart calm down again. (To be continued)