I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!
Chapter 322 - 122: Annual Awards Gala!_2

Chapter 322: Chapter 122: Annual Awards Gala!_2

The little girl was extremely excited throughout the trip, even video-calling Xinlin while shopping, eagerly introducing her to the splendor all around.

Xinlin listened enthusiastically, occasionally exclaiming in amazement.

"Hehe, even though Xinlin has never been here, following my view, she’s pretty much toured Beijing in the clouds, not a bad deal."

"Yeah, sure," Xinlin responded with a light laugh.

As she was about to hang up the phone, she accidentally let slip, saying, "That five-star hotel we passed just now, I think my dad has invested in it, I even ate there last year. The taste is good—I recommend you guys try it sometime."

She had just meant it as a friendly recommendation, but when she realized what she had said, she saw the Ke siblings’ faces covered in shock, and Xinlin immediately covered her mouth.

The two glanced at the grand and imposing modern hotel that towered dozens of stories high and then at Xinlin’s face, flustered as she said she had something to do and hung up abruptly.

"Sigh, it’s just life." Ke Yu sighed.

It’s maddening. Ke Jin thought to himself.

Although the siblings both knew that Xinlin’s family was well-off, living in a villa and driving a luxury car.

Still, Ke Jin had underestimated just how wealthy Xinlin’s family was.

The main thing was that the girl was usually so gentle with others, she hardly ever made people feel uncomfortable with her sense of superiority.

This was evident even from her several hours of on-and-off video calls with Baby Yu.

Ke Yu thought that Xinlin had never been to Yancheng, and meticulously introduced her to it.

But Xinlin had already visited several times, and still listened with a smile and full of patience.

If it hadn’t been for the food recommendation that gave her away at the end, even Ke Jin might have thought she found everything here fresh and new.

Just this kind act of listening was enough to outdo many insincere friends.

"What a great girl, Baby Yu, you need to step it up," Ke Jin exclaimed. "If you don’t step up, don’t blame me if you end up hiding under the covers alone, listening to the clock ticking the wrong way."

"Psh, like it would ever be your turn," Ke Yu shot back with a roll of her eyes.

"What makes you so sure?"

Ke Yu pouted her lips, mimicking Ke Jin’s silly laugh: "Xinlin... hehe, my Xinlin... what girl would like someone so creepy."

Ke Jin: "..."

This damn sister!

Always misrepresenting others.

It was clearly, ’Xinlin... take me with you, Xinlin! How could I live without you...’

She couldn’t even imitate it properly, I’ll have to punish you to learn it all over again!

Bantering all the way, they returned to the hotel.

He waved goodbye to his little sister temporarily.

After walking around all day, they were indeed tired; after a round of washing up, they hit the bed and fell asleep.

The night passed without incident.

And finally, the day of the awards ceremony arrived.

Ke Jin led two or three hundred people from the company in a grand procession towards the venue of the evening event at the Arts Association.

As soon as they entered, they were stopped outside.

It even gave the security guards a scare.

After some communication, unfortunately, they were told they could not bring so many people inside.

So the plan for every employee to have the chance to take the stage fell through.

As a result, Ke Jin could only select a few department heads and senior executives to enter, while the other employees continued their holiday.

Additionally, as compensation, all employees were allowed to claim a team-building expense reimbursement of 1,000 yuan per person from the company for the day.

After entering, they followed the staff’s directions to the inner venue.

The hall was decorated very exquisitely and luxuriously, although it was not very large.

After all, those attending were celebrities or artists, and there would even be a few leaders; it wasn’t open to the audience or bystanders, thus no need for expansion.

Using the number plates distributed by the staff, they found their seats.

Ke Yu, who usually had a carefree personality, now sat obediently with a hint of nervousness, placing her hands on her thighs.

Those in the back row, including Gou Chehua and others, also seemed somewhat restrained in their expressions.

Looking around at the smartly dressed and handsome men and beautiful women, they were all somewhat out of their element.

Gou Chehua even asked Ke Jin, "Mr. Ke, should I go sit in the back row instead..."

"How come?"

"Thinking that there might be a celebrity with millions of fans sitting next to me at any moment makes me a bit panicked... I feel like this isn’t a place for someone like me..."

"It’s okay," Ke Jin waved his hand casually, "It’s just a small event. You’ll face much bigger stages than this in the future. If you get nervous here, how are you going to handle those? You need to overcome this."

Gou Chehua was not clear on the context, but Ke Jin was well aware.

This was just the tip of the iceberg.

Only one 3A blockbuster had been released so far, and it was a relatively early game at that.

Many more classics hadn’t even begun to make their appearance, among which were some pioneering masterpieces.

Not to mention the minor cultural and artistic events, there weren’t even many gaming categories to compete in.

The awards with real value naturally belonged to the global gaming community.

Whether it was DICE, GDC,

or the well-known but controversy-ridden TGA.

There was also the highest-valued GJA (Golden Joystick Award) from Blue Star and the world’s largest game exhibition + annual awards ceremony, the E3 expo.

Even the Hugo and Nebula awards had, in recent years, established categories for Best Video Game.

These were the real main events.

In comparison, Blue Star’s exclusive Nine Major Arts and Culture Festival seemed a bit trivial to Ke Jin.

It was nothing more than a toy for the staff to practice with.

Ke Jin was just trying to comfort his employees, making an offhand remark.

However, upon hearing his words, the celebrity who had just taken his seat beside him couldn’t help but glance sideways at Ke Jin.

After noticing that Ke Jin’s name badge had the word "game" on it,

his brow immediately furrowed, as if distancing himself a bit from Ke Jin with a kind of germaphobia.

"How did I end up sitting in the same row as someone from the gaming circle? That’s really unlucky. When the camera pans over, won’t it downgrade my image?" he quietly complained to his female assistant sitting next to him.

"Then how about, Chen, I go and talk to the organizers about it?" the assistant offered right away.

"Forget it," Wu Chen then revealed a somewhat mischievous smile, "Actually, I’m quite looking forward to seeing his reaction later."

"What reaction?"

"He just said..." Wu Chen lowered his voice, repeating Ke Jin’s words.

"A small event? Practice? Is he joking?" the assistant said, furrowing her brows and sending a look toward Ke Jin that said, ’how dare he?’

"Shh," Wu Chen made a silencing gesture and continued, "Don’t make such a fuss, I don’t want him to hear us later and start an argument, that would be too embarrassing."

Pausing for a moment, Wu Chen then crossed his legs and leaned back with a casual smile, saying,

"The less worldly people are, the more they tend to belittle things that they’ve struggled hard to achieve, attempting to show that their potential is far from being realized. I’ve seen too many people like that, there’s no need to take him seriously."

"I just don’t know what his face will look like when the host announces ’this year’s winner of the Best Art Award’ and I suddenly stand up from beside him."

"I’m really looking forward to it, haha."

The assistant also laughed, "This year’s Best Art Award is bound to go to ’Blooming Heaven,’ starring Chen. Whether it’s box office figures, online voting, or..."

She didn’t finish the sentence.

But the primary organizer of this year’s Art Awards happened to be one of the shareholders behind Wu Chen’s company.

No matter how fiercely the fans argued online lately, the decision had already been made.

Nobody could change the outcome.

"Ya, make sure you take a sneaky photo of that guy’s face later for me. I want to savor it as entertainment. Filming can be so stressful sometimes, even cutting my hand and going to the hospital can draw mockery from those idiot netizens, I need to find some fun in life to lower my blood pressure."

"Got it," the assistant said with a laugh, agreeing to do so.