The Best Actor in the Vase of Meiyu

Chapter 2027 is practically perfect.
A soft, gentle murmur, drawing to a close—

The performance has ended.

Picking it up gently, putting it down gently, no one expected the performance to end in this way. After being pushed to the extreme by the storm and soaring into the clouds, it fell hard in free fall, but instead of falling into the bottomless abyss, it plunged headfirst into the layers of clouds, ending lightly in the simplest and most unpretentious way.

With a wave of her sleeve, she left without taking a single cloud with her; her gentleness and purity were beyond compare, yet they instantly touched the heartstrings.

The accompaniment disappeared, the song disappeared, all sounds vanished, but the lingering echoes in my mind began to roar, like a storm that gradually built up from scratch, but in the blink of an eye, it spiraled upward and evolved into a tornado, sweeping across the world before I even realized it.

"Wonderful!"

A shout erupted from the crowd, drawing all eyes to that direction.

Kate Winslet was bathed in gazes, but she didn't seem to care at all. She even raised her hands high and shouted again.

"Wonderful!"

Lost in their own world, completely absorbed, as if they were at a music festival, at that moment only she and Anson were trying their best to convey their excitement and joy, becoming part of this wave of revelry. The focus was not on others, but on their own immersion in it.

The next second—

Wow!
A deafening roar, an explosion.

Throughout the entire Kodak Theater, no one was exempt; cheers, shouts, and jumps filled the air, with screams and whistles mingling, and applause and shouts colliding powerfully.

The entire audience remained standing, and thunderous applause filled the room.

And soon enough, the Kodak Theatre felt the heat wave, surging in from all directions and pushing it to its limit.

At this very moment, in countless homes, a similar scene is unfolding: some are standing, some are clutching their heads, some are running wildly, some are wailing, some are screaming, and some are stunned. Amidst the chaos of intertwined emotions, some are even looking at each other, unable to believe what they have just witnessed.

"...No, I mean, how did he do that? I understand...I know...Grammys and all that...but...how did he do that?"

I was amazed, shocked, and deeply moved.

The anticipation that had been building since the Grammy rehearsals was finally fulfilled at the Oscars, far exceeding expectations and igniting every cell in their brains. Now they finally understood why Anson didn't perform "Sunflower" at the Grammys; the long wait had been rewarded tenfold or a hundredfold.

Finally, as the performers took their final bows and left the stage, the frenzy exploded, reaching a new peak, with a wave of heat sweeping across the entire venue.

Chris Rock appeared on the right side of the stage with a look of immense pressure on his face. Instead of trying to intimidate the crowd, he jumped up and down with his right hand raised high, just like everyone else, showing off his hip-hop side.

"Wow."

"Wow, wow, this is absolutely wonderful! Can you feel the chemical reaction in the air?"

“Jay-Z, if I were you, I wouldn’t trust my girlfriend to get within five meters of Anson Wood. He’s an extremely dangerous person.”

The guests who were still standing and hadn't had a chance to sit down burst into laughter.

“Such a wonderful and brilliant performance! I hope you all watched it live on TV, because that will prevent you from being outsiders in your offices or schools tomorrow. Trust me, everyone will be talking about this show, and you don’t want to be completely unaware of it.” In fact, Chris was right.

Numbers don't lie. According to Nielsen statistics, the highest viewership moment of the 77th Academy Awards occurred during Anson's performance.

Moreover, it wasn't the moment when Beyoncé, Antonio, and others took the stage, but rather the instant Anson and Kate danced gracefully, reaching the top in that one minute.

Fifty-five million!
A staggering 55 million viewers gathered in front of their television sets to witness that miraculous moment, creating the second-highest viewership in history since "Titanic" won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1998. In the most direct and overwhelming way, it once again proved that Anson is indeed a unique existence.

For Oscar, who was hit by a series of blows and imprisoned, such a result was a complete surprise and something he had never expected.

So much so that when ABC executives saw the ratings data, their hearts stopped beating, and they were so overjoyed that they lost the ability to react.

Chris had already keenly noticed this during the awards ceremony, but he didn't delve into it and changed the subject.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Academy Award winner, Prince."

The performance had just ended.

The awards ceremony is about to begin, and the prince will be there to announce the winner of the Best Original Song award.

Prince, who once reached the peak of his career with "Purple Rain" and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, served as the presenter for the Best Original Song Award on the 20th anniversary of winning the Oscar, which is undoubtedly another kind of tribute.

The prince, as always, was proud and concise, without wasting words: "Now that you have enjoyed the entire performance, it is time to announce the awards."

After reviewing the five nominated songs and their songwriters, Prince opened the envelope without hesitation and announced the answer decisively.

The suspense has just begun to build, and this is undoubtedly the most talked-about award of the night. Perhaps it is not the most suspenseful, but because of Anson's presence, it has its own suspenseful aura, and the bustling attention continues to rise, especially after Anson swept the Grammys, which has taken it to another level.

At this moment, people were still immersed in the fervor of the performance, their emotions had not yet settled, and they had not even fully reacted when Wang Ziyi announced the award in one go.

"The winner is..."

"Anson Wood, 'Sunflower,' 'Spider-Man 2'."

In that instant, before they could even process what was happening, they instinctively began to clap and politely offer their congratulations, but then they subconsciously turned to look to their left and right, exchanging glances and trying to sort out their thoughts, their eyes filled with question marks that seemed to linger in the air.

What happened just now?
Anson? Anson won an Oscar? The Anson who was rejected by the Oscars for three consecutive years and couldn't even get a single nomination? Let alone the Oscars, Anson was always ignored and overlooked even at the Golden Globes. Anson, labeled as a pretty face and trapped in the rut of arrogance and prejudice?
Anson, the one who mocked and belittled the Academy, had a strained relationship with the Academy's top leadership, and was even suspected of planning to skip the Oscars this year to humiliate the Academy? Is Anson surrounded by criticism, attacks, envy, jealousy, and hatred throughout Hollywood?

After winning the Emmy and Grammy Awards, EGOT has now won an Oscar, bringing his total to three awards. The only thing left to complete his grand slam in the industry is the Tony Award.

Is this for real? Are they witnessing all of this? Not just witnessing history, but being part of creating history by voting with their own hands?

Did they hear correctly? Did the prince not give a wrong answer?

No way, it actually happened?
Wait, wait, where's Anson? Where's the protagonist who should be in the spotlight?

(End of this chapter)