AM: Chapter 80

For the hot drama Disappearing Traces, the members who used the advanced-on-demand model watched the ending within a week and this group of people gave it 5-star praise. A large number of viewers said that it was the most exciting suspense drama they had seen in recent years.

It was just that a lot of people were confused. President Pei’s drama, Folding Paper made a lot of money and his investment profit had increased tenfold. The premiere of Disappearing Traces was so popular. Why didn’t he continue to use the box office profit share model to make money? The advance-on-demand broadcasting could only make money from a small portion of viewers willing to watch the ending in advance. Many viewers could watch it for free after two weeks. Wasn’t this a huge loss?

In fact, the major platforms also had this doubt. Once the two weeks advance-on-demand model was over, the entire Internet could watch the ending…

Then everyone saw that the traffic of the show suddenly started to skyrocket!

Since Disappearing Traces was ranked first in the category of suspense dramas, the score of 9.5 attracted a large number of viewers. These viewers didn’t like to spend money when watching dramas and only watched the free version. The following episodes relied on the free episodes to make a lot of money from advertising traffic. Once it was free, the total viewership increased by several times from before.

The income from the advanced-on-demand broadcasting plus the income from the advertising meant that Pei Shaoze made a lot more money than Folding Paper. All the platforms added up meant he made a profit of 500 million… and he only invested 10 million.

50 times the return was a really terrible number!

Investors in the circle couldn’t help being jealous while Cui Jue wanted to cough up a mouthful of blood. He failed to recover the costs for the drama he invested 100 million in. As a result, Pei Shaoze invested 10 million in two dramas and increased the profit by over 10 times. At the end-of-year general meeting of shareholders, Pei Shaoze would definitely establish his prestige. Cui Jue had a strong sense of crisis and started to immediately prepare for a retreat.

Soon after, everyone heard more news. Pei Shaoze had sent both Folding Paper and Disappearing Traces to participate in the judging from the ‘Online Drama Annual Awards Ceremony.’

Netizens suddenly realized why President Pei’s second drama was free. It was to attract the audience who only watched free dramas and to make the data of Disappearing Traces more beautiful so that it was eligible to compete for the ‘Most Popular Online Drama’ award.

The most popular online drama award was composed of several parts. Professional judges accounted for 50% of the score while the viewership and online voting were also important reference factors. As a result of being broadcasted on all platforms for free, the data of Disappearing Traces was quite good. Almost no opponent in the competition could threaten its status as ‘most popular online drama.’

This drama firmly occupied first in the rating list in the category of online dramas!

***

It was November and the online drama competition officially began.

Pei Shaoze had carefully checked the important awards of the ABO world. There were two awards ceremonies for TV dramas in March and May every year. In the second half of the year, there would be award ceremonies for movies and online dramas. Among them, the award ceremony time for online dramas was November 20th and it was co-hosted by several major broadcasting platforms.

Pei Shaoze considered it and submitted Cheng Xia, the actor of Qin Nian in Folding Paper, for the Best Newcomer Award.

The Best Newcomer Award required the first work and was of great commemorative significance. Cheng Xia’s first debut work was Folding Paper. If he missed it this time, it would be impossible for him to compete for the Best Newcomer Award in the future. The other awards such as Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor had many opportunities in the future to be won. Pei Shaoze wanted Cheng Xia to win all the awards in the entertainment industry. Then he could make a special display cabinet in their homes to collect trophies.

In the past few days, Cheng Xia finally finished filming all the commercials and had some rare free time. His agent gave him a week off so he could have a good rest and prepare for the awards ceremony on November 20th.

Cheng Xia was free and went to look at houses.

The pay for his previous two dramas might not be high but the performance of the two dramas was good. He got a big red envelope at the celebration parties. Add the recent advertisement endorsement fees and he had nearly 10 million in his savings card. 10 newcomers who debuted in the same period didn’t make as much as Cheng Xia did alone.

Cheng Xia received the first pot of gold in his life and wanted to buy something for the people he loved.

His parents were now living in the house they bought when they got married more than 20 years ago. The community was old, the decorations were outdated and the environment wasn’t very good. Cheng Xia decided to give his parents a beautiful new house. The suburbs of Rong City had been well developed in recent years, especially the Nanshan District. There were complete supporting facilities such as supermarkets and hospitals as well as a large lake for fishing and walking.

There were several newly opened renovations or real estate that could be lived indirectly.

Cheng Xia asked an agent about inspecting houses and chose a well-lit house with three bedrooms and two living rooms. He paid the full amount on the spot and planned to let his parents move in for the Spring Festival. His mother was in poor health and his father really liked fishing. This community was suitable for the elderly. The greenery in the small area was like a park and the air was very fresh. Security was also in place and outsiders couldn’t get in at all. Cheng Xia didn’t have to worry about being followed by paparazzi when he went home to visit relatives.

The moment he signed the house purchase contract, Cheng Xia suddenly felt a sense of pride like ‘I am so awesome. I can actually afford a house.’

Housing prices in the suburbs weren’t high and he still had millions left after the purchase. Cheng Xia decided to prepare a birthday present for Brother Pei. It would be Brother Pei’s birthday in a few days. Apart from his parents, the person he loved most in the world was Pei Shaoze. For his birthday, Pei Shaoze had personally put together his favorite car model. For Brother Pei’s birthday… should he just gift a car? He would give the same type of sports car. In this way, it could be considered a ‘couple’ car with one big and one small.

Cheng Xia made up his mind and immediately went to the 4S store to buy a car. The salesperson told him, “Sir, we only have two of these limited edition sports car in Rong City. The orange one was ordered by someone a few days ago. You’re lucky. The black model is left!”

Cheng Xia had some regrets. “I can’t buy the orange one?”

The salesperson smiled cordially. “I’m really sorry. The other party has paid the full price and will pick up the car tomorrow.”

Cheng Xia carefully examined the black sports car for a moment. He thought to himself that Brother Pei had always been calm and low-key. The orange car really didn’t fit his personality and the black was pretty cool. In any case, it was the same style and only the color was different. It could also be repainted later.

The salesperson opened his mouth. “This is the last one. Can I ask…”

Cheng Xia simply said, “I will buy it!”

The feeling of swiping the card was very refreshing. Cheng Xia paid on the spot and signed the contract. He also spent a bit of money to be able to choose the license plate number. Finally, he chose RongA-P1123. P was Brother Pei’s initials and 1123 was Brother Pei’s birthday. This car was bought for Pei Shaoze as a gift. Choosing the license plate as his birthday would be better.

After buying gifts for his parents and Brother Pei one by one, Cheng Xia thought for a while. However, he didn’t have anything he wanted to buy so he saved the rest of the money.

He rarely had a vacation so in the next few days, he stayed in the artist’s apartment and read the script. Pei Shaoze already said that he would set up Tianxuan Movies next year and Cheng Xia could try to act in a movie. Thus, all the scripts Zhou Yan got recently were movie scripts.

Cheng Xia devoted himself to reading the scripts and it was soon November 20th.

Cheng Xia ate lunch at noon, took a shower, and went downstairs to head to the stylist’s studio in the nanny car. The online drama awards ceremony was tonight and he had to dress more formally. Zhou Yan had long since helped him decide on his makeup and styling. Cheng Xia just needed to sit in front of the mirror and cooperate obediently.

After one hour, it was finally finished. Cheng Xia stared at himself in the mirror and almost didn’t dare recognize himself. This was his first time wearing a suit. He was accustomed to wearing loose sportswear and always felt like his body would be restrained when wearing a suit. Still, he had to admit that the suit did make his temperament stronger.

Cheng Xia was already handsome. Now he wore a suit and tie and he would definitely be a dazzling star on the red carpet.

Zhou Yan looked at the young man with satisfaction and praised him. “You’re very handsome. It feels like you’ve grown up after you put on the suit.”

Cheng Xia smiled. “I’ve grown up a long time ago.”

He might’ve only been temporarily marked by Pei Shaoze once but Cheng Xia felt that he had experienced the ‘pheromones fusion’ as an omega. The distance to truly becoming an ‘adult omega’ was one more intimate communication with his alpha.

Brother Pei was very busy lately and he seemed to have no intention of moving Cheng Xia’s plan earlier. Thus, Cheng Xia had to put the birthday plan on the agenda.

Once the time came, the car and the ‘car’ would be delivered to the door. Let’s see if Brother Pei would refuse. (TL: Car/driving is often used as a euphemism for sex in danmei)

***

At 7 p.m., the awards ceremony began on time.

Cheng Xia’s nanny car was halfway there when Zhou Yan received a phone call. “Hello, President Pei… okay, I understand!” She hung up the phone and turned to Cheng Xia. “The awards ceremony starts at 8 o’clock. President Pei asked us to arrive at the venue on time at 7:30 p.m.”

At 7:30 p.m., the driver sent Cheng Xia to the edge of the red carpet.

The moment Cheng Xia got down from the backseat, he saw a familiar black car parked next to him, and a tall alpha got out of the car. Cheng Xia’s eyes widened slightly while Pei Shaoze headed toward Cheng Xia with a calm expression.

Both of them were wearing suits today. Pei Shaoze was in a black suit with a dark blue tie, low-key and mature. Cheng Xia was in a white suit with a light blue tie, bright and dazzling.

They stood face to face. Pei Shaoze was half a head taller than Cheng Xia. The handsome and steady alpha with the handsome and cute omega instantly attracted the attention of the audience at the scene. This scene was too eye-catching and the clothes of the two people were a bit like ‘couple clothes.’ Unexpectedly, President Pei and Cheng Xia matched really well when standing together!

The surrounding fans screamed crazily. “Ahhhh! Xia Xia is so good-looking!”

“President Pei is so handsome!”

Some fans secretly supported the Pei Shaoze x Cheng Xia CP and talked together privately. “They are so good.”

“President Pei didn’t mark Xia Xia at the beginning. Could it be that he was tempted by Xia Xia?”

”I don’t accept Xia Xia’s relationship with other alphas but it’s possible if it’s President Pei!”

Cheng Xia was excited and smiled at the other person. “What a coincidence that we came together.”

Pei Shaoze lowered his voice. “It isn’t a coincidence. I did it on purpose.”

To everyone’s surprise, the always indifferent President Pei suddenly smiled. His smile was very shallow and didn’t reach the corners of his eyes, but his lips were raised in a small arc as he made an inviting gesture toward Cheng Xia. “Shall we go together?”

Cheng Xia’s heart thumped as he nodded. “Okay.”

Pei Shaoze stepped forward and Cheng Xia followed him. The two people walked forward side by side.

Media reporters were everywhere on both sides of the red carpet. There were camera flashes and the deafening screams of fans. Cheng Xia was walking on the red carpet for the first time and he should be nervous. However, today his most trusted Brother Pei was accompanying him on the red carpet and he wasn’t nervous at all.

The red carpet was very long and Cheng Xia had the illusion that the two of them were walking on the wedding red carpet. It was because his brain was imagining the wedding that Cheng Xia’s smile was particularly bright. Fans were crazily taking photos with their mobile phones.

At the end of the red carpet, the host excitedly held the microphone to them. “Welcome to President Pei and Cheng Xia! Can you tell me if the two of you discussed it ahead of time to meet on the red carpet?”

Cheng Xia took the microphone and joked, “This is my first time walking the red carpet. I was worried that I would fall out of nervousness and shame the Tianxuan Group so he accompanied me for a while.”

Pei Shaoze’s gaze was gentle. “There is indeed this worry. If Cheng Xia falls down on the red carpet then the stock price of Tianxuan will plummet tomorrow.”

There was a burst of laughter around them.

The host didn’t expect Pei Shaoze to be so easy-going today. He actually cooperated with Cheng Xia in joking?

The simple interaction between the two people made the host dizzy. He didn’t know if it was an illusion but just then, Pei Shaoze watched Cheng Xia with a particularly gentle gaze. The host came back to his senses and asked, “President Pei, the profits of the two online dramas you invested in have surprised netizens! Many netizens have wondered if we should add a ‘Best Investor Award’ to our awards ceremony. This award should go to none other than you. What do you think?”

Pei Shaoze answered calmly, “It’s normal to have losses and gains in investing. I had better luck this year.”

He was rather modest.

The host then asked Cheng Xia, “Cheng Xia, you have been nominated for the Best Newcomer Award and Best Supporting Actor. Do you think you have a great chance of winning?”

Cheng Xia wanted to say, ‘Of course, other competitors definitely won’t be able to compete with me.’

However, Brother Pei was so modest and low-key just now. He wanted to keep pace with his boyfriend. Therefore, Cheng Xia answered modestly, “I think there is still a lot of room for improvement. Of course, it’s best to get an award but it doesn’t matter if I don’t win. I will continue to work hard in the future.”

The fans, “???”

Xia Xia stood next to President Pei today and inexplicably became mature!

Pei Shaoze glanced at Cheng Xia with satisfaction. The two of them looked at each other before Pei Shaoze led Cheng Xia into the venue.

The online drama awards ceremony was co-hosted by several major domestic online platforms. Due to the strong financial resources of the organizer, many stars and movie stars were invited to come today. There were many celebrities and Cheng Xia’s status meant he couldn’t sit in the first row. He could only sit in the third row.

Pei Shaoze greeted the organizers and had his seat arranged with Cheng Xia.

The awards ceremony started and all the lights at the scene were dimmed. Only the lights on the stage were left. On the big stage, the performances began. Pei Shaoze gently held Cheng Xia’s hand under the seat. Cheng Xia’s heart jumped and he hurriedly interlocked his fingers with the other person.

Then Pei Shaoze’s deep voice entered his ears. “You look good in a suit.”

Cheng Xia asked in a low voice, “Really?”

“Of course.”

Cheng Xia blushed and thought, ‘Then I’ll wear a suit in front of you more often. I’ll wear it like this on your birthday.’

Proofreader: Cat