Chapter 192: No Bottom Line
[……]
[……]
[If I were the award presenter, I would have passed out from embarrassment after that 89 seconds of silence.]
[Ahhhhh, at that moment, I really wanted to disappear.]
[To the commenter above & the one above them, this is exactly why you two could never survive in the entertainment industry.]
[I’m not surprised at all by Director Miao’s reaction. Does anyone actually think it’s normal for Lu Xu not to win Best Actor and for Director Miao not to win Best Director? As for Best Picture—let’s be real, who else could the committee have given it to besides Fearless Life?]
[Honestly, I never expected the Golden Flame Awards committee to pull something like this. It’s really tough for Director Miao… Lu Xu has been nominated three times and never won—does he just have bad chemistry with the Golden Flame Awards?]
[…Even though I had a feeling the Golden Flame Awards committee would do this, I never thought they’d actually go through with it.]
[Fearless Life not winning? This is beyond ridiculous.]
Among the most prestigious nominations for Fearless Life, Lu Xu’s Best Actor award was the first to be announced. It was also the most anticipated moment of the entire ceremony. Data showed that at the exact moment the presenter took the stage, Fearless Life’s real-time viewership hit its peak.
After that, the ratings kept climbing—regardless of whether Lu Xu won or not, the upcoming awards were bound to be entertaining.
Even those who had no understanding of the Golden Flame Awards’ selection process believed that this year’s Best Actor award should have gone to Lu Xu.
During this awards season, no film had been more competitive than Fearless Life.
The moment the award was announced, as the presenter read out the name “Zhu Qiong,” the camera didn’t focus on Lu Xu’s face, but it did capture Zhu Qiong’s expression—unlike Lu Xu’s bewilderment at the Contention Awards, Zhu Qiong’s face showed more panic.
Shock and anxiety, mixed with a trace of unease—when Zhu Qiong went on stage to accept the award, he didn’t lift his head high. From beginning to end, he kept his head down.
[…What exactly did the Golden Flame Awards do? Is this how a newly crowned Best Actor is supposed to look?]
[Everyone nominated this year knew in their hearts who truly deserved this award, didn’t they?]
What was even more absurd was that after the Best Actor award was announced, Lu Xu practically vanished from the camera. For the next several minutes, the broadcast barely showed him at all.
Even marketing accounts trying to analyze his reaction had no material to work with.
Meanwhile, as the Golden Flame Awards ceremony continued, the hashtag #GoldenFlameAwardsBestActor had already exploded online.
Netizens all knew about the long-standing tension between Liu Rennong and Lu Xu, but no one expected a Best Actor trophy that should have been a sure win to slip away like this. Logically speaking, winning the Contention Award should have been much harder for Lu Xu than winning the Golden Flame Award, yet somehow, he had secured the former but lost the latter.
Naturally, the official Weibo page of the Golden Flame Awards was flooded with criticism.
Lu Xu losing Best Actor was enough to make this year’s Golden Flame Awards look like a complete disaster—but then, when it came time to announce Best Director, Miao Zhi didn’t win either.
The director who won wasn’t on bad terms with Miao Zhi, and he did go up to accept the award. However, his acceptance speech was remarkably short.
[Unbelievable. Did you guys catch the subtext in Director Shi Peng’s few words on stage?]
[In the choice between mainstream and niche films, individuals may prefer niche works, but I personally favor mainstream films. The struggles, the sweat, and the tears poured into them all deserve to be valued—my god, just how far is the Golden Flame Awards pushing both sides? Director Shi Peng was one step away from spelling it out.]
[I honestly feel bad for the Fearless Life team, but the winning crew isn’t in an easy position either. This is basically throwing them onto a burning pyre.]
Without a doubt, this year’s Golden Flame Awards delivered a major upset.
The last time Lu Xu was nominated but didn’t win, netizens found it somewhat understandable—after all, the villain role he played in Reverse City wasn’t exactly the kind of character that award committees tend to promote. But this time, he had portrayed Bai Qianshan so vividly, yet the Golden Flame Awards showed him no recognition at all. That was something the audience simply couldn’t accept.
A good performance deserves to be honored—that’s an unchanging truth.
In the final moments of the ceremony, Fearless Life was casually awarded Best Picture. Technically, it was the most prestigious award of the night, but the problem was clear: Lu Xu, the film’s lead, didn’t win Best Actor. Miao Zhi, the director, didn’t win Best Director. With just this lone Best Picture trophy, would anyone truly find the results convincing?
The fact that Miao Zhi sent the film’s cinematographer to accept the award was already a generous gesture toward the Golden Flame Awards.
…
Regardless of everything, this year’s Golden Flame Awards was probably the most talked-about edition in recent years. From the moment Lu Xu lost Best Actor, the live broadcast’s real-time viewership had been soaring. Even though the director deliberately avoided cutting the camera to Lu Xu, it didn’t stop netizens from fixating on the stream, looking for any hint of what was happening behind the scenes.
There were more than a dozen trending topics related to the incident, ranging from #LuXuMissesBestActor to #MiaoZhiRefusesToGoOnStage, and even #ZhuQiongExpression, #YueHuiExpression, and #AudienceReactions. Netizens scrutinized every minor detail of the event.
The drama didn’t end the moment the ceremony was over.
That same night, Miao Zhi’s decision to send the cinematographer on stage sparked criticism from an industry insider. This person accused Miao Zhi of showing no respect for the Golden Flame Awards, stating: “Nothing is ever ‘deserved’ in this industry. Until the results are set in stone, even the frontrunner isn’t guaranteed a win.”
But just as this insider finished criticizing Miao Zhi, the Golden Flame Awards staff made a shocking discovery—Fearless Life’s Best Picture trophy had been left behind in the guest seating area. Miao Zhi hadn’t even bothered to take it with him.
Once this news broke, the controversy exploded even further.
Netizens had already thought Miao Zhi’s refusal to go on stage was bold—but apparently, he was even more unyielding than they had imagined.
Naturally, another wave of backlash followed.
In response to the criticism, Miao Zhi simply replied that he had forgotten to take the trophy. He added that if the awards committee wanted, they could mail it to him—but he wasn’t willing to pay the shipping fee. If they didn’t want to send it, they could deal with it however they pleased.
[…So what Director Miao is really saying is that this ‘Best Picture’ trophy isn’t even worth the cost of postage to him.]
[That’s hardcore!!!!]
[I’m dying laughing—what does Miao Zhi have to be afraid of? He clashed with Liu Rennong years ago. Worst case scenario, the Golden Flame Awards never give him another trophy. It’s not like he’ll be making films for the rest of his life, right?]
[The Golden Flame Awards just single-handedly destroyed their own credibility. Can’t blame Miao Zhi for refusing to play along.]
…
After the awards ceremony ended, the Fearless Life crew was swarmed by reporters outside the theater. Lu Xu was supposed to be picked up by Xu Wen, but even with his driving skills, he couldn’t break through the crowd. Left with no other choice, Lu Xu had to step out of the car and face the reporters.
“I have no particular opinion. I respect the committee’s decision,” he said.
“Aren’t you disappointed at all?” a reporter pressed. “You had so much support—many people believe this was the closest you’ve ever been to winning a Golden Flame Award.”
Lu Xu’s expression remained calm. “Is that so?”
“The closest moment is often also the furthest,” he continued. “That’s why I respect the committee’s decision. The judges are free to choose any film they like. Likewise, I am free to decline participation in any awards ceremony I see no need to attend.”
The reporters exchanged glances—they all caught the underlying message in Lu Xu’s words.
Sure enough, his next sentence made things even clearer:
“As a member of the Fearless Life crew, I will stand with my team. Award committees have their selection criteria, and as an actor, I have my own criteria for which awards I choose to submit to.”
Lu Xu didn’t explicitly spell it out, but the implication was loud and clear.
[Is he saying… he’s refusing to submit to the Golden Flame Awards?!!!]
[This is huge news!!!]
[Fearless Life is really going head-to-head with the Golden Flame Awards! First, the director left the trophy behind, and now the lead actor is refusing to compete—this is chaos, absolute chaos!]
Lu Xu later offered a brief explanation, emphasizing that his acting abilities had limits and that he would rather spend his time improving himself than chasing after something vague and boundless.
[So basically, the Golden Flame Awards have no real standards or limits—he can’t keep up, and he doesn’t want to.]
[Dignified little puppy!]
Although both Miao Zhi and Lu Xu faced criticism, the Golden Flame Awards committee bore the brunt of the backlash.
First, they appointed Liu Rennong—someone with a scandal-ridden past—as the jury president. Then, the most highly anticipated contender of the season, Fearless Life, ended up winning nothing but a hollow Best Picture award. Typically, a Best Picture win is accompanied by other major accolades—Best Actor, Best Director, or at least a few technical awards. Without those, the credibility of the Best Picture title itself became questionable.
[Given Liu Rennong’s past scandals, was it really appropriate to have him chair the jury?]
[For Director Miao Zhi, isn’t this just reopening old wounds?]
[Zhu Qiong’s reaction at the ceremony was already strange enough, but then after the event, he even posted a thousand-word essay emphasizing that he didn’t deserve the Best Actor trophy. @GoldenFlameAwardsCommittee, maybe take a moment to listen to public opinion instead of basking in your so-called ‘prestige,’ huh?]
In response to the uproar, the Golden Flame Awards committee released a lukewarm statement, insisting that the selection process had been conducted with “absolute fairness and impartiality.” They emphasized that any “certain nominees” who had failed to win had done so as a result of collective jury decisions, not due to the influence of any one individual.
[What a snide response!!!]
[I’m punching a wall out of frustration!!!]
Netizens were furious, but the Golden Flame Awards remained unfazed.
As for this year’s nominees, very few openly criticized the results—after all, no one wanted to offend such an influential award body, knowing that future nominations could still be on the line.
The audience, however, began to subconsciously distance themselves from the Golden Flame Awards.
As one film critic observed while following the online discourse, the Golden Flame Awards may have “forced Fearless Life into submission,” but in doing so, they lost the audience’s trust.
…
Following the Golden Flame Awards, Fearless Life swept the Critics’ Choice Awards, with Lu Xu winning his first-ever Critics’ Choice Best Actor trophy. During his acceptance interview, reporters revisited the controversy, pressing him for a definitive answer on whether he intended to boycott the Golden Flame Awards in the future.
Lu Xu nodded candidly.
After the Golden Flame Awards concluded, he hadn’t continued attacking the committee—after all, the results were set in stone. No amount of discussion could change what had already happened.
Similarly, Director Miao Zhi and the rest of the Fearless Life team refrained from making further statements.
Criticism of Fearless Life persisted online, but since these arguments were overwhelmingly in defense of the Golden Flame Awards committee, they failed to resonate with most audiences.
However, today—perhaps in good spirits after his win—Lu Xu finally decided to open up about his thoughts on the recent controversy.
“I was already mentally prepared for that outcome,” he admitted with a faint smile on camera. “From the moment the Golden Flame Awards announced their jury lineup.”
“The style of the jury determines the style of the awards. They may not necessarily elevate the standard of the winners, but they can absolutely drag the bottom line as low as they want.”
“We all know that some people have no bottom line.”
The reporters: “……”
The netizens: [……That’s the Lu Xu we know and love!]
So much for not throwing shade—he really couldn’t resist getting in one last jab.
[I KNEW my little puppy wouldn’t let me down! Hehehe!]
