Chapter 15

Chapter 15: 015: Accident? Surprise? Shock?

The ceremony drifted toward its end.

Best Actress went to a current traffic star, Da Hua, and for this film she truly deserved it. The box office numbers spoke louder than anyone.

Then the hosts announced the final major category.

“Now, let us invite Veteran Artist Ms. Qian to present Best Actor.”

An elderly woman with white hair stepped onto the stage.

Ms. Qian was the only person in the industry who held an international lifetime achievement award. The weight she carried made the room sit straighter.

She unfolded the cue card. When her eyes landed on the name, something unreadable moved across her expression.

“This year’s Best Actor is…”

“It is…”

She let the pause stretch, gaze slowly sweeping left to right, then right to left.

At last, her eyes settled on a corner of the hall.

“Let us congratulate Fu Yan Shi… Emperor Yan.”

The spotlight snapped to a seat.

A noble, cold man rose unhurriedly.

In a black suit, he looked like something carved out of ink and snow—stepping from a monochrome painting into the living world. His features flickered under the shifting stage lights, sharp enough to cut, too perfect to fully grasp.

His phoenix eyes were deep as winter stars—cold, unfathomable, carrying an aristocratic pride that felt inborn.

He walked through starlike light and took the stage as if it had always belonged to him.

“Thank you, Old Madam…”

His voice was low and smooth, slow and deep, thick with a sensual magnetism that tugged at attention whether you wanted it or not.

[master, it’s the Child of Fortune.]

Qiao Qing Yan had been staring at her phone, watching the internet grind her name into mud with endless ridicule.

Little Tabby Cat’s warning snapped her focus upward.

She caught the tail end of that voice, and for a moment it really did feel like a note of music falling from some distant, ancient sky—beautiful and cold at once.

But when she looked, she only saw his back as he descended the stage steps and vanished into shadow.

So that was this world’s Child of Fortune.

Emperor Yan.

Interesting.

How long would a favored child hold up when the world began to collapse?

Little Tabby Cat went tense.

[master, what are you trying to do?]

It had followed her through countless worlds. The instant it sensed the danger in her gaze, it panicked.

[master, didn’t you say you wanted to slack off and retire?]

Qiao Qing Yan smiled and lifted her hand, as if stroking a cat that wasn’t there.

“Xiao Hua Hua,” she murmured, sweetness edged with warning, “knowing too much isn’t good for you.”

“A good child listens. Don’t get curious about things you shouldn’t look into.”

The system went rigid, then disappeared as if it had been cut off mid-breath.

Qiao Qing Yan glanced at the empty space where Little Tabby Cat had been and rubbed her fingertips together.

This was getting more interesting by the second.

Just as people began to relax—thinking the ceremony was about to end—Ms. Qian didn’t leave the stage.

The hosts didn’t step forward either.

Her voice dropped like a stone into still water.

“We still have one last award we haven’t announced.”