Pet King

When the old woman gave her speech, Lin Feng’s assistant keenly perceived that the name she was going to read out must have been a film actor that was not in an English or German film. The assistant held in her ecstasy and quietly poked Lin Feng, hinting for him to prepare himself for the camera and the stage.

Lin Feng was also overjoyed. Although he had prepared his awards speech beforehand, the chances of him using it were still very low. He had only prepared them just in case there was a need for it.

In the foreign language films participating in this Berlin Film Festival, there were only three to four foreign language films that were influential, including Dog Warrior. There was also another Chinese criminal investigation film that was shortlisted for the main competition segment. In that film, the male and female leads had more scenes.

Therefore, since it was a foreign language film that got the award, Lin Feng believed that the old woman was going to read out his name. His body involuntarily leaned forward, with the intention of standing up and waving to the surrounding crowd.

At the same time, Zhang Zian and Famous were both very calm. Because Feng Xuan missed the Best Director’s Award, the only award left to compete for was the Best Film Golden Bear Award.

No one would have expected that the old woman, one of the founders of the Berlin Film Festival, would actually mention Famous’s name!

Instantly, everything went quiet below the stage.

Most of the celebrities were in shock. It was easy to read from their lips that they were mumbling, “unbelievable,” while the reporters were all so excited that their legs were shaking. They knew that they were witnessing history.

The camera accurately focused on Zhang Zian’s and Famous’s face and faithfully recorded down their shocked expressions.

In his pocket, a notification tone suddenly rang from his phone, but he had no time to look.

[Game Notification]: Congratulations! Your Reincarnated Dog has collected sufficient strength of faith. It has reached the level up requirement!

[Game Notification]: Your Reincarnated Dog is currently Elite/Epic level. After the level up, it will be Epic level.

[Game Notification]: Do you want to level up now? If you select “No,” you can still level it up at your own convenience at a later time.

[Yes, No, or Remind me later]

The hostess had probably expected the situation to happen, so she said twice, “May Famous and its dog trainer come up to the stage? The dog trainer shall receive the award on behalf of Famous.”

The audience members below the stage finally reacted. There was a mix of exclamations and applause, but there were more people who were furiously posting on various forms of social media. They wrote something along the lines of, “A dog actually won the Berlin Film Festival’s best male lead!”

Nie Yuan, Lin Feng, and the other members of the crew were all stunned. They would never have imagined the situation that was unfolding. Were they dreaming or were the Germans so crazy that they actually awarded a heavyweight class award to a dog?

Feng Xuan nudged Zhang Zian and motioned for him to go up the stage.

Feng Xuan’s depressed mood was now taken over by surprise and relief––no matter what, winning an award was always good.

Zhang Zian didn’t know how he got up on stage––his mind was muddled and he felt like he was stepping on cotton with every step he took. He followed behind Famous and walked mechanically up to the old woman’s wheelchair.

The old lady smiled as she extended her arms to hug Zian. She whispered softly in his ear, “You have a great dog.”

Her body was bony like dead wood and her weight was very light. When Zhang Zian hugged her, he did not dare use too much force, for fear that he might hurt her.

After the hug, the old woman bent over and lightly caressed Famous’ head and said, “You performed very well. These human actors should be ashamed of themselves.”

Following closely, she playfully winked at Zhang Zian. “Go on and give your speech; I hope you’ve prepared for it.”

Zhang Zian’s mind was blank as he stood before the podium facing the countless pairs of eyes from below the stage. Famous sat next to him.

For five full seconds, Zian did not say a word.

The hostess frowned slightly, and just as she was about to intervene to save the stage, the old woman spoke first.

She laughed and said, “When I was much younger, probably about the age of those children outside the film palace, I saw a film that starred another dog as the lead. Out of every one of them––of course you all know who I’m talking about, and I believe that out of everyone here––I’m the only one to have seen those films in the theater.”

The audience below the stage caught onto her joke and laughed.

She then continued. “I was very surprised when I saw Famous because it looked exactly like the other dog in my memories. But unfortunately, because of some reasons outside of films and the prejudice from people, that dog never made it to highest podium of that time, so I am really honored to be able to present Famous with this award. It seems like nearly a hundred years have passed and the human society has finally made a little progress, after all.”

The audiences below the stage laughed out harder, due to her witty humor.

“My children may have already forgotten, but when they were younger, at the time when the Berlin Film Festival was just established, I told them that if such a miracle ever happened, I was going to bark once like a dog for them. Now, it is time to fulfill that promise.” She looked around and softly “barked” once, then she smiled.

There was a burst of laughter and applause from below the stage.

The old woman nodded to Zhang Zian. She has already earned him enough buffer time, now it was time for him to perform.

Of course, Zhang Zian did not prepare any award acceptance speech. No one would have thought that Famous would win an award. It was not a question about the acting––in his opinion, Famous was much more outstanding than the other male actors at the film festival––he just didn’t believe that the jury of the Berlin Film Festival would defy the world’s opinion and push a dog up the podium, much less have the Berlin Film Festival Organization Committee agree to that decision.

Maybe out of every country in the whole world, only Germany would do it.

After the old woman finished speaking, the applause and laughter came to a stop, and Zhang Zian finally calmed himself down. He knew what he had to say––it needed to be tactful, and it also had to make the organizing committee feel that presenting Famous with the award was a right decision.

Zian raised up the Silver Bear Trophy. Following the old woman, he also started off with a humorous opening to ease the awkward atmosphere. “As you all can see, I am very surprised, and the reason for that is because I never thought that by following a dog here, I would still be bringing a bear back…”

The audience started laughing again.

Zhang Zian smiled and recovered, then turned serious again.

“From the moment I stepped foot in Germany, I earnestly felt that Germany was a model example for the world in caring for animals. You have all made a very loving decision in treating animals as our equal, providing benefits, and protecting animals rights.”

Zian paused for a moment, then raised his hand and pointed in a direction outside the film palace.

“On the way here to the film palace, I saw an angel in Berlin—it turns out that the angel does not only exist in the Berlin Victory Column at the center of the city, but it also exists in all of your hearts.”

The audience recovered from their earlier amusement and listened carefully.

Zian looked down at Famous and exchanged glances with it.

“Famous really likes its name a lot because it’s a loyal fan of Audrey Hepburn, and Audrey Hepburn also had a dog named Famous. Famous had always wanted to be an angel like Audrey Hepburn—the guardian angel of the children. I know that there are still many children in the world suffering from hunger, so I intend to donate all of Famous’ earnings to the UN World Food Program so that more children will be able to have food to eat. I think, if Famous was able to speak, it would definitely support this idea, too.”

Famous had let Zian decide on what to do with its earnings, and that was Zian’s decision after some careful consideration. But he did not expect to speak about this on a podium in front of the public.

At that moment, he felt very honored for Famous.

In his pocket, a line of texts flashed across the screen of his phone.

[Game Notification]: Congratulations! The likability of Reincarnated Dog has increased to trustful, gaining the freedom to move around!