The media had been abuzz for a month, and finally, the time for the Huanghe Awards to be announced had arrived.
This year's Huanghe Awards were being held in Yuzhang City, the capital of Jiangxi Province, a feat the Yuzhang municipal government had put considerable effort into securing.
With the increasing popularity of the Huanghe Awards, it had become a super awards ceremony in China, second only to the Nobel Prize in terms of national recognition. This held significant promotional value for a city.
Therefore, after the first three editions were held in Wenzhou, the Huanghe Awards began a nationwide touring format in response to strong demands from various provinces and cities, essentially changing location every year.
By the tenth year, Jiangxi Province's Yuzhang City had managed to secure it. Many other provinces and cities were displeased, such as Chengdu and Guangzhou, major metropolises that had not yet hosted the Huanghe Awards. They questioned why a third-tier city had gotten ahead of them.
However, because the Genshin Project ultimately settled in Jiangxi's Sanqing Mountain, receiving significant support from the entire provincial government, Boss Huang readily agreed to the request to hold the tenth edition in Yuzhang City, owing to the existing favor.
Ten years ago, who could have imagined that such an award would spark such fierce competition among so many heavyweight cities across the country?
It was akin to hosting the Olympics.
As the popularity of the Huanghe Awards grew, there were noticeable changes in the guests attending the award ceremony.
At the first Huanghe Awards ceremony, the scientists who were actually invited didn't even fill the first row. None of the six winning units attended the event.
Instead, the venue was packed with reporters who were there to join the excitement.
By the second edition, reporters were seated from the third row backward.
In the third edition, they were pushed back to the fifth row.
By the tenth Huanghe Awards, reporters no longer had seats, as all available spots were reserved for experts and professors from various universities and research centers across China.
This year's award ceremony was held at the newly built Yuzhang Grand Theatre in Yuzhang City. This theatre, designed by an international master, boasted a world-class circular architectural structure and 3,800 seats.
However, all these seats were occupied by experts and scholars attending the ceremony. In fact, more experts and professors were willing to attend, with invitations to the Huanghe Awards fetching prices of up to 50,000 yuan through certain channels, yet still remaining in high demand.
After all, being able to attend the Huanghe Awards signified a certain standing within the scientific community.
These enthusiastic experts and professors left reporters relegated to standing in the aisles, striving to secure suitable shooting angles and positions.
Finally, the Huanghe Awards ceremony commenced. Unlike the Nobel Prize, which often drags on for several days, all the Huanghe Awards were presented within a single afternoon. This was because Boss Huang intended to personally participate in the entire ceremony, even reading the award speeches himself, which was quite demanding. Boss Huang did not want to prolong the event for days.
Because of this, the award ceremony had no preamble, no advance reading of the nominee list, and no suspense-building tactics.
As soon as Boss Huang appeared, he directly announced the recipient of the first award.
"I announce that the 10th Huanghe Award for Mathematics will be presented to Mr. Zuo Sicheng, whose contributions as the developer of the quinary computer system are immeasurable…" Boss Huang said with a smile, and the ecstatic Zuo Sicheng appeared on stage.
Although he was affiliated with Jiangnan Group, he also knew that Boss Huang would not give preferential treatment just because he was from his own company. He had always thought he would have to wait a few more years to receive an award, and he was pleasantly surprised to have his wish granted this year.
While the media discussed the outcome, it remained largely within acceptable limits.
After all, the influence of Zuo Sicheng's quinary computer system was immense. The current global terminal systems were all developed based on Zuo Sicheng's quinary computer system. The total number of terminals had even surpassed the global personal PC count, becoming the most numerous personal electronic computing processing products. Although its momentum could not compare to the binary computer system, it was gaining on it.
Moreover, over 2.8 million people worldwide now relied on developing programs for the quinary computer system to sustain their work and lives. In this regard, very few mathematicians in all of China could achieve such a feat.
Considering that China truly lacked prominent figures in the field of electronic computing, Zuo Sicheng's award was a natural outcome.
The reason why electronic computing and programming were included in the Mathematics Award category was that it would be even more unsuitable to place them in other awards.
The Mathematics Award was a minor surprise, but the subsequent awards were not as unexpectedly surprising, with recipients almost always being those who had the highest recognition online.
This was because Boss Huang's personal opinions were quite similar to those of netizens nationwide, with the only significant gap being with the experts and professors.
Finally, it was time for the Literature Award, which had garnered the most attention.
Without any hesitation, Boss Huang took the microphone and announced that the recipient of the 10th Huanghe Literature Award was Teacher Yi Xingjun, for his work "Selling Crutches."
"…"
"…"
"…"
Three consecutive ellipsis dots were enough to convey the atmosphere in the venue, as almost no one knew who this award-winning Yi Xingjun was, nor what his work, "Selling Crutches," was about.
Of course, there were a few who had guessed, as some individuals in the arts and literary circles wore expressions of disbelief, clearly indicating they knew who Yi Xingjun was.
Others immediately took out their terminals and started making phone calls.
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"Old Yi, the script was still rejected by the director's team after review. Director Zhao has explicitly stated he won't be participating in the Spring Festival Gala anymore. His apprentices are also not up to par, with very few able to carry the show. The only one who was somewhat promising, but after leaving Old Zhao, he's just not the same and can't make anyone laugh!"
"Our entire Northeast comedy circle is counting on your script. If you can come up with another 'Selling Crutches,' we can fight for another decade. You're the backbone of our Northeast comedy!" a voice said in standard northeastern dialect through the terminal.
Yi Xingjun sighed, "Old buddy, I think we should forget it. The atmosphere of the Spring Festival Gala has changed. What we used to write no longer aligns with the spirit of the times. I think it's good that it was rejected."
"Do you know that my script has been rejected over twenty versions? I don't want to do it anymore. I'm not going to starve as a teacher, and I'll never write another skit. Even if the Spring Festival Gala begs me to write, I won't!" Yi Xingjun said angrily, kicking a radiator pipe.
"The Spring Festival Gala director's team begging you? You must be dreaming!" the person on the other end of the terminal retorted. Yi Xingjun huffed a few times and hung up.
Then he saw his son sneakily reaching for the TV remote.
"Did you finish your homework? How dare you watch TV at this hour!" Yi Xingjun said with a glare.
"Dad, I wanted to watch the live broadcast of the Huanghe Awards to see which big shots won this year. I want to learn from these people and win a Huanghe Award myself someday!"
"Forget it. With the talent in our family, don't expect any Huanghe Awards in this lifetime! You'd better study hard, strive to get into Jiangnan University, and work for a company like Jiangnan Group. Then your old dad can live out his retirement peacefully." Yi Xingjun tapped his son's head and sent him back to study.
Then, the terminal in Yi Xingjun's hand rang!
"Brother Fan, we haven't been in touch for a while. I heard you're attending the Huanghe Awards ceremony. How do you have time to call me?" Yi Xingjun asked in surprise upon hearing the voice on the other end.
"Old Yi, you've made it big! You have to remember that I was the first to bring you the news. Hurry up and turn on the TV, tune it to Channel One. I heard the live broadcast has a few minutes' delay, so you might even catch the moment Boss Huang announces your name!"
"No, why would I want to see Boss Huang announce my name? I just lectured my son about not watching TV. Don't make me a bad father."
"Don't worry about your son. Your family will have enough money for the next three generations. Just turn on the TV! I guarantee you'll be smiling in your sleep after watching it!" At Brother Gao's persistent urging, Yi Xingjun reluctantly turned on the TV.
He himself worked at a TV station, which made him dislike watching TV in his daily life, especially CCTV. However, given Brother Fan's strong request, he had no choice.
After all, the person's status in the industry was soaring, and he couldn't afford to be disrespectful.
And as the person had said, there was indeed a delay in the live broadcast. So, he happened to see Boss Huang holding the microphone and saying, "The recipient of the 10th Huanghe Literature Award is: Teacher Yi Xingjun, and his work 'Selling Crutches.'"
Yi Xingjun's entire body felt as if it had been electrocuted. It was true that Yi Xingjun was his name, and "Selling Crutches" was indeed his famous work. But when these were connected to the words "Huanghe Literature Award," everything felt unreal, as if there must have been a mistake.
It wasn't until Boss Huang began reading the award speech, especially reciting the classic lines from the skit, such as "Take a few steps," that Yi Xingjun finally felt that the person speaking was indeed himself.