Gu Nian walked back over to Luo Xiu, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Sorry for the wait."
"That's fine." Luo Xiu looked back over and scanned over the phone in her hand. "Was that from Aunty at home?"
Gu Nian a little dazed.
"What's the matter?" asked Luo Xiu.
Gu Nian recollected herself. Her eyes curved into two moons, she said, "Oh, nothing really. This was the very first time I've heard someone referring to my mom like that. It felt very tradition. Um, very noble."
Luo Xiu paused for two seconds. Then, with his eyes lowered, he said seeming jokingly or with a hint of regret, "You are mocking me."
"Huh?" Gu Nian immediately recollected and defended herself. "I did not!"
"Really?"
"Really!"
Gu Nian was short of swearing.
Luo Xiu looked at her, his eyes glittering. There was no way to tell whether he believed her or not.
Right when Gu Nian was starting to have a guilty conscience from his stare, Luo Xiu said, "And you too."
"Huh?"
"You've always referred to me as 'Mr. Luo Xiu". Isn't that very traditional as well?"
"Oh, that…"
Gu Nian hesitated for a few seconds and finally decided to come clean. "I have my own reasons."
"Own reasons?"
"Yes. That is… many, many people refer to you as 'Mr. Luo', so I want my own special way of referring to you."
As she was talking, Gu Nian asked carefully, "Do you not like it? If you don't, I can switch to something else."
"……"
Luo Xiu finally recollected himself.
Exchanging a look with the girl who was looking at him carefully, he nodded and said, "That's right. I don't like it."
There was panic in Gu Nian's eyes. "Then I will be sure to…"
"Because it sounds so distant."
Gu Nian, interrupted, looked up in a daze. "Huh?"
Before she could see it clearly, the soft and gentle voice with a hint of smile came closer to her, "Aren't we friends already? Don't you feel that it's a bit distance to refer to a friend that way?"
Finally comprehending what he was saying, Gu Nian was both happy and perplexed. "Then how should I address you?"
"How would you like to?"
"I want to…"
After seriously debating between "darling" and "son" for two seconds, Gu Nian, who's rationality had returned, teared up.
Neither one of those would work.
Luo Xiu smiled slightly. "If you can't figure it out. Then why don't we just knock off a word or two from what you have been using?"
"Isn't it kind of rude to just refer to you with your full name?" Gu Nian was hesitant.
"……" Luo Xiu's eyes flickered and he smiled, "No."
"Then, Luo Xiu?"
"Mhmm."
"Okay! It's settled!"
"……"
At that very moment, Luo Xiu was the only one who knew that what he wanted to hear was the word that Gu Nian had dropped: Mister.*
If she was the one who'd refer to him that way, he could then interpret it differently.
That seemed to be a little unbecoming to try to scheme a little girl that way.
Not to mention that he had failed at it.
Luo Xiu lowered his eyes in disappointment.
Gu Nian was smiling brightly at him for a change. "Let's head out then?"
"Sure."
… It's alright.
He needed to scheme her in a long run. There was no need to rush things.
***
End of June, Demons' production team finished up the last few make-up scenes and announced that their project was completed.
Even though Luo Xiu had completed his last scene a few days ago but he was still with the production team – the director team, for the sake of making sure that everybody would be around for the make-up scenes, arranged everybody to leave at the same time after the project had been wrapped up.
That same applied to Gu Nian's screenwriter team.
A wrap party was the norm and the location was Xingyue Hotel in town. Perhaps the goal was to spend all of the investors' money, the production team was very generous this time and they reserved the entire 4-star hotel for the entire day and night.
Finally being able to move out of the residences in the remote mountainous area, the workers of the production team were so happy that they were running around town madly.