Chapter 405 - "You deserve all of this." (1)
On the other side, Jiang DeXian, whose intention was to switch over to his secondary account only noticed that he had posted to Weibo from the wrong account after he had finished posting it.
Albeit he had it removed as quickly as possible but, as someone with millions of fans, there were already fans who had taken screen captures of his action. That tone of his. Why did it sound so much like a recommendation to the CP fans? Did he post from a wrong account accidentally?
All netizens were natural-born Sherlock Holmes when it came to something like this. They started going through every trace and hint with a fine-tooth comb and swore to identify Jiang DeXian's secondary account.
Fang JunRong was equally curious about Jiang DeXian's secondary account but no way was she going to look through them one by one like the netizens. That would be too much work. She had a much simpler approach.
She texted Jiang DeXian and asked him point blank.
[So, which one is your secondary account?]
Jiang DeXian finally replied back to her after 10 minutes. He had almost responded back to her instantly when she texted him in the past. The delay in time gave away the fact that he was nervous.
[Did Fang JunRong and Jiang DeXian start dating today?]
It took Fang JunRong a few seconds to figure out that that was the username of his secondary account. Her eyelids twitched. Had Jiang DeXian been sitting in front of her right now, she would have flipped him on his forehead – the username was totally biased! It was obviously one of the CP fans.
She looked up the account as she shook her head. After she had brought it up, she noticed that this account has quite a few fans, around 600,000.
Each time it posted something, it would have thousands of re-posts and sometimes even in the range of tens of thousands. It was one of the influential fans among the Jiang DeXian x Fang JunRong couple.
This account could, somehow, quickly locate high-quality fanfiction and share them with the other CP fans. It even summarized a lot of Jiang DeXian and Fang JunRong fluffiness and pinned them on the very top, so new fans who just joined could better locate them. It was extremely fan-friendly.
Under his last post were all the crying and whining from other fans.
[Big Sister, come online quickly! Our CP had just handed out sugar! Everyone, eat!]
The referral of being a big sister strongly perplexed Fang JunRong. Jiang DeXian was mighty for sure – being able to hold down the position as the head of the fans like nothing and not phased by being referred to as big sister by his group of fans. That was certainly some strong mentality.
She found that both irritating and funny. He was a big boss himself. With his thick brows and big eyes, he had been sneakily guiding the public opinion. That was some hard work on his part.
Fang JunRong even suspected that he must have personally paid for a lot of the fanfictions out there. How else would there be so many philanthropists creating all of them for free.
While she found it comical, she also felt a slight hint of sweetness in her heart. One way or another, anyone with eyes could see his efforts.
She looked down and replied to him with a "we will need to have a talk later" emoji before she looked back up at the programme.
"You look happy." It was Zhang ZhiSu's tender voice.
"Do I?"
Fang JunRong reflexively checked on herself with her cellphone screen and saw a slight smile. It wasn't her usual official smile when she met up with customers but one that came from the heart that let others know that she was in a good mood.
"This group's performance is quite good," said Fang JunRong half-heartedly.
Zhang ZhiSu, too, smiled and did not call her out on it. In the time that followed, Fang JunRong finally turned her attention back onto the stage.
When the last performance was over, she had already received the notification and got up and headed toward the backstage. She needed to start getting ready for presenting the award.
Fang JunRong had written the speech ahead of time but she still pulled out her phone, brought up the file, and looked through it one more time. Fifty individuals were nominated for the People of the Year awards and, in the end, only ten of them were selected.
Fang JunRong, however, was very certain that Jiang WenYu would be one of them.
If someone with his achievements and influence couldn't win the award, then this award probably wouldn't hold any water going forward and others would question that there was a lot going on behind the scenes.
Same was also true about Jiang DeXian. His Qixing was able to achieve what it had in just two years; he deserved this award.
As such, Fang JunRong was very chill the entire time.
Chapter 406 - "You deserve all of this." (2)
The one presenting the awards to the Emerging Award winners was Chu Kuo, an old friend of Fang JunRong. Chu Kuo was already the president of China Herbal Chamber of Commerce. He smiled and greeted Fang JunRong when he saw her.
"That Lao Jia invites me over to his place incessantly to look at that wild ginseng that you sold to him. I feel that he just wants to gloat in front of me. When you have a better one than that one, JunRong, sell it to me so I can gloat in front of him as well."
Because of Fang JunRong, the relationship between Chu Kuo and Jia Hongyuan, two former competitors, had mellowed out a lot. They would still make fun of each other whenever they met, but they were more like frenemies now.
Fang JunRong's lips curved upward some. "For sure."
She chatted with Chu Kuo some and then it was Chu Kuo's time to go up onto the stage.
Fang JunRong had her ears perked up backstage and her smile brightened when she heard Jiang DeXian's name called. Even though she knew in her heart of heart that it was well deserved, she would only feel relieved when she actually knew it for a fact that it had happened.
Every winner of the awards had a-minute-and-a-half's time to talk.
Fang JunRong was not familiar with the others and all of her attention was on Jiang DeXian.
"..."
"The person I want to thank the most?"
"Fang JunRong."
"She gave me a new life and she will be my goddess forever."
Fang JunRong was a little surprised. She didn't think that Jiang DeXian would call her out on stage. That was the equivalent of him professing his feelings for her on stage. Many thought that the "new life" he was referring to was her hiring him as her assistant. Only she knew the truth behind it.
There was a big screen in the backstage as well and those in the backstage could also see what was going on on stage.
Jiang DeXian, on the stage, was tall and outstanding, and his handsome face really made him stand out among all of the mediocre-looking individuals.
With the trophy in his hand, his look under his prescription-free glasses was both loving and profound. The smile on his lips was charming and meaningful.
"I am giving you all of my glory."
Fang JunRong felt something exploding next to her ear. By the time she had recollected herself, the interview of the final award winner was almost over.
She stroked her own cheek and it seemed to be somewhat warm. That was not good. Perhaps she should go splatter some water on it.
Her assistant asked her softly next to her, "Do you need your makeup touched up?"
Fang JunRong said reflexively, "No, I want to wash my face."
Her assistant Yu Huaizhen's lips twitched involuntarily. "Boss, if you wash your face, all of your makeup will be gone."
Whatever had happened to her normally brilliant boss?!
Fang JunRong, too, had recollected herself by now. A look of embarrassment flashed across her face and she said casually, "Oh, I misspoke. Yes, let's re-apply some makeup."
She hadn't been in a relationship for too long. That was why the flirting from so far away had made her lose her mind.
She returned to her dressing room and only came back out after her makeup had been reapplied. Mm... right now she was the most beautiful.
After Chu Kuo had presented all of the Emerging Awards, there were a few other consolation prizes before the People of the Year awards. It was time for Fang JunRong to step onto the stage.
She was already very used to this kind of environment and looking at all the eyes that were locked onto her from below the stage, Fang JunRong was not nervous at all, but had a gentle smile on her face.
Before she went onto the stage, an envelope was thrusted into her hand with the winners' names inside. Even she didn't know who they were ahead of time.
She had on her a perfect smile and her voice was like a lake under the moon, quiet and elegant.
"..."
"They are the stars. They are the moon. The light coming from them lights up our land."
"Let's give them a round of applause."
"The following are our winners for the People of the Year award..." As everyone looked on, Fang JunRong opened up the envelope and pulled the red card out from inside. She saw the familiar name right away and a smile could be seen in her eyes.
Chapter 407 - "You deserve all of this." (3)
"Li GuoQiang, Qin Jianyuan... and Jiang WenYu. Congratulations." She read out all ten names one by one.
A round of warm applause came from the audiences and the camera swept past all the winners and their emotions – sadness, happiness, anxiety, anger – were all displayed on the big screen. Among everyone with their unconcealed happiness, Jiang WenYu's calmness seemed very out of place.
The 10 award winners walked onto the stage, all of them looking high-spirited. This award in and of itself was a recognition of them.
Regardless of how these individuals were like in private, they had contributed a lot to the society as far as everyone could see. They would not otherwise have been selected. Fang JunRong smiled at them.
She presented the trophies to these winners one by one and, along with that, some of her praises and encouragement. A few of them were so excited that they would not stop talking when the host interviewed them.
Fang JunRong shoved the final trophy into the hands of Jiang WenYu. There was a lot that she wanted to say but they all boiled down two one simple word, "Congratulations."
When she saved Jiang WenYu, she was thinking that he could be of use, as he too was an enemy of Jiang YaGe. After spending all the time together in the last few years, they had become real friends with each other. Jiang WenYu was much more outstanding than Fang JunRong had expected. In her previous life, he had wasted all of his talent on fighting Jiang YaGe.
During this lifetime, he was like a raw gem that had been polished and was able to shine in front of everyone else.
Jiang WenYu's lips curved upward. "Thank you."
He talked a little more in private and still seemed very reserved in front of others. Staying in the laboratory day in and day out, he was not good with socializing with others.
Fang JunRong contemplated whether she should help him out during his interview.
Suddenly, she felt something cold being shoved into her hand.
Fang JunRong, who had spaced out for a few seconds, saw that Jiang WenYu had casually given her his trophy.
Fang JunRong suddenly felt that many pairs of eyes were looking at her. She asked softly, "Do you need me to carry this for you?"
Jiang WenYu shook his head, "It's for you."
He added, "It's what you deserved."
Shrieking could be heard through the venue at this moment.
Jiang WenYu really didn't give it that much thought when he did that. As far as he was concerned, with the exception of his grandmother who had raised him, Fang JunRong was the most important person to him.
Not only because she had provided him with opportunities, but also because much of his research stemmed from the strange plants that he had no idea where she got from.
She was also the one who quelled his dark thoughts when he learned of the truth behind his mother's death and finally opted for a more legal way to avenge.
She had contributed to half of his medal of merit. Because of her, he did not need to worry about all the hassles in the real world and could focus all of his energy on research.
He had no idea how to repay her so he tried his best to make sure that his research was fruitful and to give his award to her.
Unfortunately, this award was not an international research award and he still had a long path ahead of him.
The others had no idea that Jiang WenYu thought that this award was not grand enough but gasped from witnessing the scene and some even let out loud shrieks.
The handsome young scientist of little words had just given the trophy that he had just received to the award presenter – she was the one who discovered him and his confidante. In the eyes of the others, his action was doubtless a wordless professing of his love.
Fang JunRong took the trophy from him after being dazed for a few seconds and thanked him.
Jiang WenYu was smiling gently and he looked tender.
This scene was so beautiful that it made many women at the venue envious. They only wished they were Fang JunRong at that moment in time.