Zhang Qi led Lin Nuonuo out of the car. Buying candy was secondary. Getting some fresh air and easing the awkward tension was the real goal.
She walked beside him, though her gaze darted restlessly around them.
“Uncle Xiao Qi.”
“Huh? What is it?”
“Is my da—” The word ‘dad’ twirled around the tip of her tongue several times, but in the end she swallowed it back. “Is Lin Chen here to film?”
She had realized she knew almost nothing about her father.
In the novel, very little was written about him. Even when he did appear, he was mostly a background figure for the male protagonist, Lin Zeyu.
And those scattered dream fragments she had seen rarely included him.
Beside her, Zhang Qi froze at the question. His focus, however, was on the way Lin Nuonuo addressed Lin Chen. Shouldn’t she be calling him ‘uncle’? She was actually calling him by name?
What a strange family dynamic…… Zhang Qi thought to himself.
“Yeah.” He replied with a nod.
“Da— uh…… Lin Chen came here to film a drama, right?” She asked again.
“Ah, yes.”
“Do you know how long he’ll be filming?”
“About ten days.” Zhang Qi said after thinking for a moment.
Hearing that, the dimness in Lin Nuonuo’s eyes finally brightened.
“After ten days, will he be able to go home?” She followed up quickly.
“Uh……” He had no idea!
Zhang Qi howled inwardly.
He was just a tiny assistant. All he had been told was that Lin Chen needed to film with the crew of 《Attending Physician》. As for what would come after, he had no clue.
“Not necessarily. He might immediately join another crew, or take on something else.” After all, despite the bad reputation, refusal to join variety shows, refusal to accept advertisements, and refusal to cooperate on building a persona, Lin Chen was still considered a workaholic in the industry.
“Oh……” Lin Nuonuo’s gaze lowered, but a moment later, she lifted her head again. “Then—”
She had just opened her mouth when Zhang Qi’s phone rang.
“Sister Zhou? What’s up?” He answered.
“Sister Yunshan’s schedule for the next two days changed, so Lin Chen’s scenes need to be rearranged too. Come to the back lot right now.” The woman on the other end spoke with a faint edge of irritation.
Xie Yunshan was the female lead of 《Attending Physician》. She had taken a variety show for Orange TV and needed to ‘disappear’ for two days. With her sudden absence, the upcoming filming schedule had to be urgently shuffled.
“Okay, I’m coming.”
Zhang Qi took Lin Nuonuo to the set.
Lin Chen was filming at the moment, and Chen Yi was chatting with Assistant Director Chen. Zhang Qi looked around but couldn’t find either of them, so he settled Lin Nuonuo in a corner of the props room.
“Nuonuo, stay here and don’t wander. I’ll go handle something backstage and come right back.” He instructed.
“Okay.” She nodded.
“Don’t wander off.” He repeated.
“Okay.”
After he left, she returned to the stool in the corner and truly didn’t run around, just like she promised.
Until she heard two women talking outside.
“Did you see Lin Chen and Teacher Li’s confrontation scene earlier? They got it in one take!”
“I saw a little. Honestly, Lin Chen’s acting isn’t bad at all. Even when going up against a veteran actor, he kept his rhythm and held his presence.”
“Yeah, his acting has always been decent. It’s just a pity that……” The problem was the man himself.
The moment she heard ‘Lin Chen’, Lin Nuonuo dashed for the door.
But the two chatting staff members had already walked far away. She stood there for a bit, just in time to see Lin Chen walking toward the props room.
He had just finished a scene. He was still in costume— jeans and a worn sweatshirt. His slightly long hair was falling into his eyes. Maybe it was the makeup, but his face looked thinner than before, with stubble across his jaw and a scar added at the corner of his eye.
He looked nothing like his usual self, more like a bankrupt drifter.
But Lin Nuonuo recognized him instantly.
She ran toward him in delight.
Seeing the child suddenly bounce in front of him, Lin Chen frowned. “Why are you here?”
“Uncle Xiao Qi went to work over there and told me to wait.” She explained, pointing in the direction of the back lot.
He glanced at the props room where she had been sitting. He was about to say ‘Then stay there and wait’, but the child had already planted herself at his side, gently tugging at the corner of his shirt— clearly determined to follow him.
Lin Chen: “……”
“Let go.”
“Okay.” She let go, but continued trailing him without taking a single step away.
Looking at the little tag-along, he felt speechless.
“Forget it. I’ll take you to the car.” He turned to lead her outside, only to be tugged again.
This time, she only caught a tiny bit of his sleeve, cautious and timid.
“Um…… may I follow you?” Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at him.
“No.” His refusal was swift and cold.
“Then…… can you not send me back to the Lin family?”
“No.” Where else would he send the child Lin Zeyu picked up?
“Then…… if it’s not too much trouble, could you throw me away?” She asked earnestly. “Anywhere is fine.” She added.
If she were lucky, maybe she would get taken back to the orphanage. If she were even luckier, maybe another family would adopt her.
If no one wanted her, she could beg for food.
If she were unlucky, she might get kidnapped and sold off to hard labor or to a remote mountain village……
In just a few seconds, she imagined countless possibilities. Yet every single one seemed better than being taken back to the Lin family’s house to wait for death.
Lin Chen stared at her, utterly speechless at her bizarre ideas. “What do you think?”
“Um…… is it okay?” She asked cautiously.
“No. It. Is. Not.” He enunciated each word. He had no intention of risking an abandonment or trafficking charge over Lin Zeyu’s child.
“They will come to pick you up soon.” So give up.
At that, her expression instantly collapsed as if she had just swallowed bitter melon.
“I……”
She wanted to say more, but Zhang Qi had already come out from the back lot with the newly adjusted shooting schedule, followed by Chen Yi and the assistant director.
After a few words of greeting, the assistant director’s gaze landed on Lin Nuonuo.
“And this child is……?” He asked.
Chen Yi signaled Zhang Qi. Understanding instantly, Zhang Qi cleared his throat and forced a smile. “She’s a daughter of a distant relative of mine. The adults at home were busy today, so I brought her with me.” He pulled Lin Nuonuo closer. “She’s very well-behaved and won’t cause trouble for the crew.”
The assistant director didn’t care much about the matter. He nodded and casually reminded them to be mindful of safety before returning his focus to Lin Chen and Chen Yi.
“Teacher Xie won’t be here for the next two days, so to avoid delays, the director team decided to move up several later scenes. Your assistant has the details. Prepare as soon as you can.” He explained, then left for the temporary meeting room.
Because of the female lead’s sudden ‘disappearance’, the meeting room was now busy reshuffling scenes and contacting actors.
Everything had been going smoothly until they tried calling one of the child actors.
“No issues with costumes or props. As for actors, everyone except Yang Zixuan is available.”
“Yang Zixuan? What happened?”
They were scheduled to film a storyline about a middle school graduate who worked as a repairman. His wife ran off, his child developed leukemia, and he brought the child to the big hospital where the male and female leads worked.
Lin Chen played the repairman, Mo Hai.
Yang Zixuan had been cast as Mo Hai’s daughter, Mo Bei.
“We reached her parents. They accepted a fantasy drama for her, and filming has already started. She’s in N City and can’t return in time.”
“Didn’t we have another child who did well in the audition?”
“That one won’t work. Her parents illegally accepted advertisement jobs for her, and they’re probably still tangled in lawsuits.”
“Then……”
“Find a few more child actors to come in.”
In a place like the film city, it wasn’t hard. They located seven or eight children quickly.
Unfortunately, after a round of screen tests, none of them fit.
Mo Bei didn’t have many scenes or lines, but she was crucial to the emotional impact of the arc. A mismatch could ruin the entire sequence.
Of the children brought in, some didn’t look the part, others acted poorly, and the only one with decent looks and skill had appeared in too many hit dramas and variety shows. Her image was too fixed in the public eye, and audiences would never see ‘Mo Bei’.
“What now?” If they delayed again, neither the actors nor the various departments— props, lighting, costume— would be willing.
Just as the team was sinking into despair, the assistant director suddenly thought of someone.
“Right! I thought of a child who might work!”
“Who?”
“The child that Lin Chen’s assistant brought. I happened to catch a glimpse of her outside.”
“A child brought by an assistant? Is she a trained actress?”
“Probably not……”
Not trained? Only saw her once? And he was recommending her?
The director gave his longtime partner a doubtful look. “You sure?”
“Ahem…… Hard to say.” The assistant director admitted. “But her look fits Mo Bei very well.”
Even more than the originally chosen Yang Zixuan.
As for why he was so confident after one glance, well, Lin Nuonuo’s appearance was unforgettable.
Nowadays, even families with very little money try their best to care for and raise their children. So usually, even if a child wasn’t wearing anything fancy, they were at least clean and healthy. A child like Lin Nuonuo— thin, sallow, and obviously malnourished— was rare.
More importantly, she lacked the usual confidence and brightness of children her age. Instead, she looked cautious, tense, and deeply insecure.
“Really?” The director was tempted. After working with Assistant Director Chen for so long, he trusted his eye.
“We won’t know until we try.”