After dinner, in the conference room of the hotel.
Qin Wei: “Him?”
Li Yao nodded: “Him.”
Qin Wei sat in the chair, resting her cheek in one hand, tapping the table lightly with the other, deep in thought for a long time before speaking again:
“May I ask how old you are?”
“Yada yada yada~”
Qin Wei: “?”
Looking at the little boy sitting in a toddler's high chair across from her, sticking out his tongue and making faces at her, Qin Wei had a bad premonition.
“Don't mind him, Teacher Qin. Young children are all spoiled by their elders at home, a bit mischievous and naughty.”
The woman sitting next to her explained to Qin Wei with a smile,
“He's two years and six months old. He can speak and act, his mother is an actress, he takes after her and is very talented in performing.”
Qin Wei looked at the unfamiliar woman, so she asked:
“Then you are...”
“I'm the auntie his mother hired to take care of him after he was born. I'm mainly responsible for his living needs this time as he joins the crew. The director said Hong Dou...that's right, our darling is called Hong Dou.”
As she spoke, the auntie picked him up from the high chair and brought him to Qin Wei,
“The director wanted Hong Dou to get familiar with you these days, after all you two have the most scenes together. Come on, Hong Dou, call big sister.”
The little boy looked chubby and fair, with a cute round face and some baby fat. His eyes were bright and lively, and he was as pretty as a beautiful doll.
Qin Wei looked at Hong Dou, and Hong Dou looked back at Qin Wei. Under the auntie's repeated urging, he reluctantly blurted out two words from his mouth:
“Doggy.”
Qin Wei: “Oh...excuse me?”
Hong Dou pointed at Qin Wei:
“Dog.”
“Let's switch actors.”
Qin Wei got up to leave.
But Li Yao pulled her back and whispered in her ear:
“His mother is one of the investors, if we make a switch, it would be you...”
Qin Wei sat back down and said to Hong Dou:
“Alright.”
The auntie was stunned for a moment, then pretended to be stern with Hong Dou:
“Tsk, how can you insult people like that? If your mother finds out, you'll be punished with standing!”
Hong Dou pouted sullenly:
“I'm hungry, I want beef rice!”
He spoke quite fluently. Qin Wei had thought he couldn't talk yet, so she praised him:
“Wow, so amazing, you speak so well!”
Hong Dou glanced at her, tilting his head as if looking at a fool:
“You can't even say when you're hungry and want to eat? What's so amazing about that?”
Qin Wei was at a loss for words. Fortunately, the auntie carried Hong Dou away from the conference room to eat. Otherwise, Qin Wei felt they might have come to blows after chatting a while longer.
After they left, only Qin Wei and Li Yao remained in the conference room.
Qin Wei leaned back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling:
“What’s going on here? He's so young yet his words are so harsh! Li Yao, I can't get along with him. I can't scold him either, oh dear, my blood pressure is high, what should I do? I hate him...”
Li Yao was also a bit helpless. This wasn't their own production, so there were many things beyond their control:
“To be honest, he was quite polite to you. This morning when he first joined, he either cried or threw tantrums. The key issue is he's the child of an investor, his family is bringing in capital, we can't offend them, just have to appease...
For work, just endure a little, it will pass after enduring a bit.”
Li Yao continued reassuring her:
“He's just a child, very easy to coax. Plus his auntie said he can act, so there's no issue there. Over the next couple days just get acquainted with each other. His nanny is here, his bodyguards are here too, it's not like you have to keep watching him the whole time.”
“That makes sense.”
In just a few minutes, Qin Wei kept psyching herself up mentally,
“Alright, Li Yao, have you counted how many scenes I have with him? If not, help me count...”
“One hundred scenes.”
Li Yao blurted out.
Qin Wei: “......”
Qin Wei asked again: “Then how many scenes does he have in total...”
“One hundred scenes.”
Qin Wei: “............”
Oh, so it meant she had to welcome him in and see him out huh.
Qin Wei took out her phone to message Xu Mingchuan —
【Qin Wei: Boss Xu, are you interested in investing in the drama I'm filming? I'd like to kick someone off set.】
Before Xu Mingchuan replied, Li Yao glanced at her phone and poured cold water on her:
“His mother's company owns the IP rights.”
[You have deleted a message]
...
After leaving the conference room, they could hear the child crying and shouting. The crew had booked the hotel, so everyone around was part of the crew, but no one dared to say a word about the racket.
Mainly because they didn't dare offend him.
Seeing this, Qin Wei turned to leave, but was called back by Director Yao:
“Teacher Qin! Perfect timing, bring your son away, strengthen the mother-son relationship!”
Qin Wei pressed on her philtrum, trying her best not to faint.
In the drama, this child played her son. Although not her biological child, he was raised by her side from a young age, so they had the most scenes together.
Other than some apprehension over the amount of horse riding scenes and action scenes, and now this extra headache of having a son in the drama, she had been quite willing to take the role previously.
She didn't have experience interacting with young children, so she was worried he would be uncooperative and delay filming progress.
But Li Yao said this was historical fact, the female lead and this child got along extremely well, like her own son.
It wouldn't have been an issue originally, but...
Seeing her about to refuse, Li Yao whispered two words in her ear:
“Paycheck.”
Qin Wei took a deep breath, then walked over and bent down to say gently to Hong Dou, who had demanded and gotten beef rice but was still refusing to eat:
“Let's go, let your auntie carry you back to your room. I'll personally go feed my darling.”
Her smile was gentle as a spring breeze.
The little demon king was coaxed and tricked into being brought back to his room. His cries were cut off as the door closed, and the crew members present finally breathed a sigh of relief. Since his arrival until now, the child had basically never settled down.
Staff A: “The little demon king knocked over two fill lights as soon as he arrived, and used oil paint pens to scribble all over the hotel lobby sofas. His aunt didn't scold him at all, just lightly said 'we'll pay for it'.
He's utterly spoiled.
Staff B: “He's an investor's child, how poor could his family be? It's just pity for Teacher Qin. His constant crying, tantrums and bossiness, if he angers Teacher Qin to the point she quits, what do we do...”
Staff C: “Yeah, it's not impossible. To be honest, Teacher Qin is actually quite nice, I've followed her crew before. She has a bad temper in private, just don't provoke her and it's fine. But she doesn't mistreat the crew, back when she was at her peak she also hardly caused trouble for us. Sounds contradictory but it's true.
Later when she was slandered online, there was an element of kicking someone when they're down...
With her status unable to compare to before, she has to lower herself now. If this was in the past...”
Staff D: “At first I thought maybe the child was just not used to the environment, but after a whole day, whether in the hotel or on set, he's either crying or causing a scene, but then behaves himself when he quiets down to cause mischief.
I brought over some prop cups and plates to take inventory, and he was wandering around nearby. I said don't touch them, be careful you break them.
But as soon as I said it, he swiped all the cups onto the floor. Shattered all over the ground.
Then he looked up at me and asked, 'Is this broken now?'
What could I do?”
Li Yao listened in worry on the side.
...
Half an hour later, no movement.
After an hour, the room door opened and Qin Wei emerged.
Hong Dou followed behind, still looking a bit unhappy:
“Let go, let go, I want to follow my sister! Sis! Sis! Sister, wait for me!!!”
Li Yao: “?”
Staff: “??”
