"Scan all reader letters?" Xiao Chen felt overwhelmed by the command. Although science fiction was a niche genre, their magazine had millions of readers, and the voting for the Galaxy Award typically received around one hundred thousand ballots. If he had to check them all, he'd practically be working himself to death.
"Editor-in-chief, how can we possibly know if a reader is a celebrity just by their name? After all, there are many people with the same name!" Xiao Chen tried his best to dissuade his editor-in-chief from this absurd idea. Qin Li continued, "That's simple. If you find a name that resembles a celebrity's, check the sender's address. If it's not their hometown, or a major city like Beijing or Shanghai!"
"If it is, then investigate the address further. Is it a celebrity's home, or some hotel or guesthouse? If the address seems like one a celebrity would use, assume they are a celebrity, and then find a way to send an invitation to confirm!" Qin Li said with a grin, which completely deflated Xiao Chen's face.
Although no one in the entire editorial department was willing to do this job, it was the editor-in-chief's order, and no one could refuse. Thus, all the employees of Science Fiction World had to start working overtime for two weeks. In the end, they found two to three hundred letters from the one hundred thousand that might belong to celebrities.
Then, following Qin Li's instructions, they began a needle-in-a-haystack search for corresponding addresses. If it seemed plausible, they would try to obtain the celebrity's real address or other contact information, and then send an invitation to attend the Science Fiction World's Galaxy Award ceremony.
It didn't matter if they made a mistake or were rejected; they were used to rejection. If even one celebrity was willing to come, it would be a win.
Ultimately, from these two to three hundred letters, 58 potential celebrity voting rights were selected. Then, Qin Li leveraged her connections to try and contact these celebrities, inviting them to attend the Galaxy Award ceremony.
"Editor-in-chief, do you think this name counts as a celebrity?" Suddenly, Xiao Chen, with dark circles under his eyes, walked over holding an envelope.
"You can't even figure out if someone is a celebrity?" Qin Li grumbled, then looked at the name on the envelope and was stunned. The name written on it was Huang He.
Is Huang He a celebrity?
Perhaps not, as our Boss Huang hasn't acted in any plays. Although he frequently appears on television, he only appears on news programs, never on the drama channels. Can you say that Old Ma and Little Ma are celebrities?
But if Boss Huang isn't a celebrity, then it feels wrong. The definition of a celebrity is someone well-known, a natural person admired by millions.
In terms of recognition, probably only a few celebrities in all of China have higher recognition than our Boss Huang. Regarding admiration, while only some people might aspire to be a certain celebrity, it's likely that everyone in China would aspire to be Boss Huang. Everyone wants to experience that feeling of not needing money.
"Editor-in-chief, is this a celebrity? Should we send him an invitation?" Xiao Chen asked again.
"Xiao Chen, it's not a matter of sending or not sending an invitation. It's that this isn't about Mr. Huang He!" Qin Li patted Xiao Chen on the shoulder. "But this is probably just someone named Huang He, not the real Huang He. Let's forget about it!"
Qin Li didn't believe Boss Huang would be interested in attending any Galaxy Awards or watching Science Fiction World.
"But editor-in-chief, the address on this letter is from Wenzhou! As everyone knows, the richest man is from Wenzhou!" Xiao Chen said. "Wenzhou..." Qin Li hesitated. "The specific address is... [street name]. This doesn't seem to be the address of Jiangnan Group's headquarters!"
"But Huang He doesn't necessarily live at the headquarters. What if this is his home address?" Xiao Chen mumbled. Qin Li suddenly felt unsure.
"Why not give it a try?" Qin Li tentatively asked Xiao Chen.
"This is your issue. I'm just responsible for telling you there's such a letter!" Xiao Chen said, leaving the letter on Qin Li's desk and running off.
Qin Li had no choice but to reread the letter several times, then tentatively called Jiangnan Group's headquarters, explained her purpose, and hoped to invite Huang He to attend the Galaxy Award ceremony.
The customer service representative at Jiangnan Group on the other end of the phone was very enthusiastic. They said they would record Qin Li's invitation and pass it on to their superiors for further information collection, asking Qin Li to wait for a response.
See, the words sounded so nice. They called it "information collection" instead of "gathering dust," which left Qin Li speechless.
"Most likely, it's someone with the same name!" Qin Li said, looking at the letter, but she couldn't help but feel unwilling. She finally muttered, "What if?"
So, ultimately, a letter was sent back to that address.
---
On June 18, 2005, on this holiday artificially created by businessmen in later generations, the 17th Galaxy Awards were held as scheduled. The venue was in a conference room of a four-star hotel near the Science Fiction World magazine office.
Don't think the venue is not grand enough. Science Fiction World was genuinely poor. Being able to book a four-star hotel's conference room for an event was already a remarkable achievement.
Did they have to be like Boss Huang, planning to rebuild Jixia Academy for his Huang He Awards!
That's right, according to media reports, Jiangnan Group had purchased several thousand mu of land near Xiaoxu Village West, Qidu Town, Linzi District, Zibo City, Qi Province, intending to rebuild Jixia Academy.
Of course, these were rumors, and Jiangnan Group had never officially confirmed this information. However, it was true that Jiangnan Group had purchased the land, and these were all on record.
This plot of land had little development value. It was far from the urban area, and there would be no subway in the future. No normal person would buy this land for commercial development. The only possibility was likely to build some cultural attractions.
Hence, the saying spread that Jiangnan Group intended to use this land to rebuild Jixia Academy. Some even confidently stated that Huang He's intention in establishing Jixia Academy was to permanently use it as the venue for the Huang He Awards ceremony and to develop it into academic real estate rather than tourist real estate.
Although these were just rumors, the news that Huang He was so commanding that he intended to directly rebuild an ancient architectural complex to hold his awards ceremony shocked many people.
Of course, for such news, Science Fiction World magazine could only envy it in their minds; they wouldn't dare to think about it.
Qin Li was pondering these miscellaneous thoughts when it turned to afternoon, and the attendees and guests for the awards ceremony began to arrive at the hotel entrance.
Unlike typical events, there were no VIP passages and audience passages here. Everyone entered through the main hotel entrance, so it became a small fan-gathering scene, with many audience members shouting the names of their favorite science fiction authors in surprise.
And among all the authors, the most resounding name was naturally Da Liu.
How should I put it? Since 2000, Da Liu had not missed this award.
In 2000, Da Liu won his first Galaxy Award trophy with "The Wandering Earth."
Then followed "Full Bandwidth Jamming" in 2001, "The China Sun" in 2002, "Earth Cannon" in 2003, "Mirror" by Liu Cixin in 2004.
And this year, 2005, Da Liu was nominated for the Galaxy Award again with "The Wandering Earth," and based on reader popularity, Da Liu winning again this year was almost a certainty.
Dominating the Galaxy Awards for four consecutive years, and seemingly continuing to dominate in the future, such an achievement... was not unprecedented, as Wang Jinkang, who was walking beside Da Liu at this moment, was also a formidable figure who had dominated the Galaxy Awards for several years.
Later generations recalled that the period from 1990 to 2010 was the most beautiful 20 years in Chinese science fiction history, after which it became difficult to describe.
Of course, this is the low-EQ way of saying it. The high-EQ way of saying it is "the era of online literature science fiction from Qidian has arrived!"
To get back to the point, although the appearance of star authors like Da Liu and Wang Jinkang created quite a stir and a bit of fanfare, the scene soon quieted down. Although science fiction readers continued to enter one after another, the atmosphere was very calm, not at all like an awards ceremony about to begin.
"Editor-in-chief, Miss Wang's agent just called. They said their event in Chengdu today has been delayed, so they probably won't be able to attend the awards ceremony!" Xiao Chen reported to Qin Li, and Qin Li's expression immediately turned grim.
This Miss Wang was one of the few celebrities who had agreed to attend the awards ceremony. However, three days ago, one had refused because they were going to join a film crew.
Yesterday, one claimed to be injured and refused.
Today, they were counting on this Miss Wang to add some prestige, but now she had also refused due to a delay in her event... This woman was barely a third-tier celebrity, and she was holding an event less than four blocks away from the venue, yet she was unwilling to come to their awards ceremony. Qin Li's expression was as unpleasant as one could imagine.
Of course, Qin Li could only grit her teeth and swallow her anger. Such was the state of Chinese science fiction!
Just as Qin Li was sighing, a pleasant female voice asked, "Excuse me, is this the venue for the Galaxy Awards ceremony?"
"Yes..." Qin Li nodded, looked over, and saw a woman of extreme beauty. She seemed very familiar, but she couldn't recall where she had seen her before.
Next to the woman was a girl who was clearly her younger sister. She was holding onto her sister's arm. Upon receiving Huang He's affirmative answer, the sister excitedly exclaimed, "Brother-in-law, it's here! It's here! So, award ceremonies can be held in hotels like this too!"
Qin Li's expression immediately collapsed.