The term was too unfamiliar to Luo Xiu. Like a stone being tossed into a pond that had been undisturbed for a thousand years. The stone sank to the bottom immediately but it had stirred up rings and rings of ripples.
The surface of the pond had come to life, the fallen leaves had come to live, the dried-up trees next to the pond had come to life. In fact, the entire temple covered in dust was waking up slowly.
Luo Xiu looked up.
"Brother Luo!"
A voice coming out of nowhere interrupted all of those.
Gu Nian stood up, turned around, and saw the little assistant running toward them. He, stood, had noticed her and had stopped what he was going to say.
Gu Nian got the clue. She turned and said to Luo Xiu. "Okay, I should not bother you any longer. – There is still a little bit of time before your scene. Be sure to get some rest. Be well rested so you can do a good job!"
Having said that, Gu Nian nodded at the little assistant, turned, and walked away.
The little assistant walked up after Gu Nian was a little distance away and asked nervously, "Brother Luo, she didn't do anything to you, did she?"
"Like what?"
"Like touching you, trying to take advantage of you. You know, things of that sort."
"……"
Luo Xiu had already returned to his calm self. He looked up when he heard the little assistant's words and smiled at him.
The little assistant explained himself immediately. "I am just worried about your wellbeing. Didn't you hear her telling the field service man earlier that she is going to try hard? I feel that she will for sure make a move on you."
Luo Xiu looked back at him and said, "What were you going to tell me?"
"What was I… Oh! --- Yeah, yeah." The little assistant smacked himself on the back of his head and said, troubled, "I have bad news for you. The books that you wanted have already been loaded into a car but the car broke down on its way here tonight."
"Meaning?"
"Uh, it probably won't arrived, until tomorrow…"
Luo Xiu looked up and asked in a tender voice. "What am I going to do today then?"
The little assistant was almost scared chitless by his "tenderness". He carefully pulled out something from his bag. "I brought this for you to kill some time."
A brown notebook laid in the little assistant's hand and Luo Xiu, too, recognized it.
Mengzhi's Son-Raising Diary.
Seeing that Luo Xiu hadn't said a word, the little assistant pulled it back dispirited. "I thought I'd give it a try. Since you don't like it, I will go look for something else. Huainanzi might be difficult to find. We might have better luck with Tao Te Ching or Zhuangzi."
"Never mind."
"Eh?" The little assistant looked up, at loss.
Luo Xiu reached out his hand. His fingers long and his knuckles prominent. Gesturing toward the little assistant's chest, he said, "Give me that notebook."
"Oh oh." The little assistant quickly placed the notebook into Luo Xiu's palm.
Luo Xiu took it from him and started flipping through it casually. "What time is filming going to start?"
"I just checked with them. It is probably going to be another two hours or so before your scene."
"Let me know when it's time."
"Will do!"
"……"
Gu Nian spent all night trying to figure out how to salvage her precious son's horrible acting.
After brainstorming for half an hour, she was, indeed, able to come up with an idea.
"More makeup?" The makeup artist frowned. "Didn't we put makeup on him already? Besides, with that look of his, Luo Xiu didn't need much makeup to begin with."
Gu Nian, "It's not about how handsome he looks, it's about the presentation of the character. I am wondering whether it will be possible to convey the message that youtanhua was demonized through makeup."
The makeup artist figured out what she was trying to say. "You worry that Luo Xiu won't be able to convey it so you want to rely on makeup to make up for it."
Gu Nian wanted to deny that instinctively but finally resorted to nodding with tears in her eyes. "This will also lighten up our workload. Reapplying makeup will be a hassle to with repeated NGs."
"That is true too. Okay, tell me what's on your mind."
"Okay, so here's my idea…"
Gu Nian put forth a lot of effort and was finally able to see eye to eye with the makeup artist. Unfortunately, before she was able to see the outcome, she was summoned by the director team again.
When she finally returned from the director team, Gu Nian was already so tired that she was yawning nonstop and only wished that she could napped in a corner like a cat. But, considering that it was her son's upcoming "life-and-death moment", she had no choice but to walk over to the corner where Luo Xiu was with tears in her eyes.