At 8 am Pacific time, Lu Yinbing came back from running outside and took the breakfast prepared by her mother to the yard to enjoy in the sun. She hollowed out the toast and filled it with cheese, bacon and eggs. It looked very good. She also made a cup of oatmeal and took a sip from the edge of the cup. The concentration and sweetness were just right.
"Thank you, Mom!" Lu Yinbing shouted loudly towards the door, looking in a very good mood.
Liu Xinmin washed her hands and came out. She saw Lu Yinbing taking pictures of breakfast with his phone. "Where are you sending it to?"
"Don't send it anywhere, just save it." Lu Yinbing used software to mark the time, date and location on the photo and saved it on his mobile phone.
It has been half a month since they came out. They have traveled to three cities, but Lu Yinbing's condition has not made any fundamental progress. However, she doesn't seem to care. She goes out to exercise on time every morning and evening, and goes to the hospital for treatment during the day. The frequency of depression attacks is about once every four days, mostly at night, but the duration of the attacks is shorter than before, which seems to be getting better.
Liu Xinmin can accompany her, but no one else can do anything. She has to rely on herself to get through each day. However, when Liu Xinmin weighed Lu Yinbing yesterday, she found that she was three pounds heavier than in China. She was so happy that she immediately bought a bunch of vegetables and asked Lu Yinbing to cook a sumptuous meal.
Lu Yinbing casually checked Weibo on her phone, and the number one trending search was Xia Yitong’s name again: Xia Yitong and Chen Muyang’s Relationship.
The entry was simple and crude, and one could tell at a glance that it was made up by the media. Lu Yinbing would never click on such boring stuff. Lu Yinbing locked the screen of his phone, put it on the table, and concentrated on eating breakfast.
She took a bite of toast, took a sip of cereal, and glanced at the black screen of her phone. The screen lit up by itself. Mobile phones nowadays are really annoying. They have to light up to attract her attention when she doesn't want to watch them.
With a look of disgust, Lu Yinbing followed the "autonomous will" of the phone and clicked on the hot search. The first marketing account's press release was: Xia Yitong and Chen Muyang were flirting as if no one was around, are good things about to happen
Lu Yinbing sneered.
The marketing account listed all the reasons why the two are a good match, such as their ages, one is 30 and the other is 26; they have worked together before, and the fake play has become a real couple, which is a dream come true for CP fans; both of them are talented actors of the new generation, Xia Yitong was nominated for the Best Actress this time, and Chen Muyang was also nominated for the Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Crow Awards. If this is not a destined fate, what is it? The man is unmarried and the woman is unmarried, both are talented and beautiful. Especially some people's comments below, congratulations one by one, as if the two will get married tomorrow.
Lu Yinbing sneered again.
Liu Xinmin shuddered when she saw her daughter's expression. Her head was shaking. Was she having a seizure
Lu Yinbing took a screenshot of the news and saved it, and would settle the score with Xia Yitong in the future. He slid down the notification bar, and saw a reminder: November 23, the Golden Crow Award Ceremony.
Lu Yinbing swiped up the notification bar again.
"Which specialist did you have an appointment with today?" she asked, swallowing the last of her cereal.
…
The award ceremony process is always long, with lengthy speeches for each award, gags from the presenters, and obvious, deliberate jokes that appear from time to time. The audience is very supportive, at least on the surface, and it has been like this year after year.
Xia Yitong was quite curious when she first came here, but now, for some reasons of her own, she is completely absent-minded. She doesn't know what the people on the stage are saying, nor does she know who is going up to receive the award. Only when the applause rings out will her consciousness come back to her. A voice will ring in her mind: He/she is the one who won the xx award, and then she will applaud with a smile on her face.
"The winner of this year's Golden Crow Award for Best Supporting Actor is Chen Muyang, congratulations!"
Hearing a very familiar name, Xia Yitong raised her eyebrows and looked at the man who stood up in the audience not far away. The man hugged and high-fived the people around him and strode up.
Chen Muyang gave his acceptance speech: "I am very honored..."
Xia Yitong began to lose focus. When the light came on, she looked around at the people near Chen Muyang, looking for Lu Yinbing among them even though she knew it was impossible. Her mind kept turning, thinking about every seat she passed by just now, wondering if Lu Yinbing was hiding in them.
She felt like she was going insane. What if Lu Yinbing really didn't come? Why was she so sure
The actress next to her looked at Xia Yitong strangely, who had been showing an indescribable anxiety from the beginning to now. However, she was not familiar with Xia Yitong, so she never asked. Laiying, who was sitting in the row in front of Xia Yitong, looked back at her from time to time, with a look of worry on his face.
She was really afraid that something might happen to Xia Yitong in this state.
Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, and so on, the award ceremony proceeded step by step according to the procedure.
Until a certain moment, the atmosphere at the awards ceremony was obviously different. The first feeling of tension and urgency came from the host on the stage: "Next is our Best Actress. There are five talented actresses nominated. They are -"
As the host finished speaking, a short clip featuring the wonderful performances of the five nominated actors began to play on the big screen.
“Laiying—My Secret, Mei Hanxiao—A Sword of Frost, Du Ruohan—Struggle to Cross, Struggle to Cross, Ling Yu—Stone Guanyin, Xia Yitong—Adoptive Mother.”
Just like two years ago, the voiceover on the TV wall announced the names of the shortlisted actors. It was a one in five chance. No, two years ago, it was two in five. It would be the same whether she won or Lu Yinbing won.
Xia Yitong's face took up one-fifth of the screen.
Holding the golden sealed envelope, the award presenter quipped, "It seems that one of our inductees is a little absent-minded."
Xia Yitong smiled shyly at the camera.
I held the phone tighter and said, "You must come. Please."
The guests were still keeping the topic in suspense. One person asked another person to guess, and the other person said, "I don't want to guess, I don't want to guess, you are trying to trip me up." Then one person said, "Just guess, guess." The two of them kept arguing with each other. The candidates wanted to go up and grab the envelope and open it. Only Xia Yitong wished that the time could be longer.
Her cell phone hasn't rang yet.
No matter how long the gag lasted, one of the guests opened the envelope containing the honor, pulled out a card, and gave it to another guest. The guest glanced around the audience and announced loudly with enthusiasm: "Best Actress, Xia Yitong! For the work "Adoptive Mother"!"
As soon as the guest finished speaking, the soundtrack of the movie "Foster Mother" suddenly rang out throughout the entire performance hall. Stills of Xia Yitong were played on the two TV walls on the left and right of the host desk, and her name turned into three golden words.
The whole audience was in an uproar, with applause and cheers, all blessing the young new film queen.
Xia Yitong, the protagonist in the spotlight, did not move. She almost crushed the phone with her fingers. She looked down at the screen, but there was still no message.
The host thought she hadn't heard him, so he smiled and repeated, "Best Actress, Xia Yitong, nominated for "Adoptive Mother."
Xia Yiting put her phone into her bag. She stood up with red eyes and hugged familiar and unfamiliar people around her. Laiying came around from the front row to hug her. At the same time, her eyes quickly swept across the audience. It was too dark, and due to the viewing angle, she could not see anything.
Under everyone's gaze, Xia Yitong walked up to the podium, took the trophy from the presenter and hugged him. The phone in her bag buzzed once, once, then again, paused for a few seconds, and then vibrated wildly.
She didn't come, really didn't come.
Xia Yitong almost cried while standing on the podium, but she calmed herself down and managed to hold back her tears. The picture on the TV wall changed to a shot of Xia Yitong kneeling on the street, begging her child heartbreakingly not to leave.
Xia Yitong first said some polite words like thank you to the director and the crew, then took a deep breath and raised the trophy in his hand:
"Two years ago, I attended an award ceremony like this and was also nominated. However, I did not win the award that time. Instead, a very important person of mine won the award. I cried so hard in the audience. But the first thing the other party said when he came on stage was not to persuade me to stop crying. Instead, he laughed to himself for a long time. There was no humanity at all." Xia Yitong said with a smile, tears in her eyes.
Some people in the audience didn't understand and laughed along. But many people also participated in the Jin Cong Awards two years ago and still remembered Lu Yinbing's eccentric behavior. When they thought about Lu Yinbing's retirement from the entertainment industry, they all looked serious.
"Later, I kept thinking, if I won an award one day, would she also sit in the audience and cry..." Xia Yitong said with tears in her eyes, "But I didn't expect that when I really won the award, she would not be here anymore."
"I..." Xia Yitong's eyes were red and she choked for a moment.
The whole place was in silence, waiting for her next words.
"Thank you, Teacher Lu. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be standing here. It's a pity that you can't see it with your own eyes." Xia Yitong finally burst into tears and bowed deeply.
She straightened up, and suddenly saw a person through her tearful eyes. The person was so inconspicuous, but she saw him.
The man stood as straight as a pine tree, right at the emergency exit of the auditorium, wearing a staff uniform and a hat. He looked at the stage silently and raised his hand to gently wipe the corner of his eye.
After she finished speaking, the man turned around, opened the door and went out. His back looked extremely familiar.
One second, two seconds, three seconds. Xia Yitong stayed on the stage for three seconds before she lifted her skirt and rushed to the emergency exit. There was an uproar at the scene, and everyone looked in that direction.
Xia Yitong resisted the urge to call that person. If she did, it would cause a bigger commotion at the scene. She was 80% sure that the person was Lu Yinbing! She knew that she would definitely come!
The reaction at the scene was so big that Laiying naturally saw it, but she only looked over after the "staff" had left, and only saw Xia Yitong's back as she ran away.
She gritted her teeth and followed him out.