Considering that this was Lin Momo’s first time filming a drama, the director only arranged the scene of ‘picking up buns’ for this morning.

But what no one on the crew expected was that Lin Momo would go through this scene in one go.

Including the time for makeup and scene set up, the whole scene was shot in less than an hour and a half.

Seeing that there was still plenty of time, the director and Li Jianhong looked at each other and simply arranged for the next two scenes that were intended to be shot in the Film and Television City.

… …

One scene showed ‘Xu Duo’ packing up her belongings at home and getting ready to leave.

The director did not tell Lin Momo any extra details about the scene but let her play it by herself, and they would just adjust the shooting as needed.

The house they built on the set was small and dark.

When she first entered this strange little house, Lin Momo was still a little uncomfortable and would bump on things.

But soon, she adapted to such an environment.

According to the director’s prompts, Lin Momo quickly determined the places where things inside the house should be.

Under the crew’s surprised looks, Lin Momo took out the things that needed to be taken away and placed them on the wooden bed in an orderly manner.

Lin Momo squatted down, pulled out the woven bag from under the bed, and then began to pack things—first she tore off a few old calendars posted on the wall and put them at the bottom of the woven bag, and then neatly folded the quilt on top. She then placed some bottles and jars she planned to bring as well as some uneaten dishes in the middle, then the dried food, and finally her clothes.

There were not many clothes, only three or four sets in total.

Lin Momo put several pieces of clothing into the woven bags, but she packed one set separately, placed inside a plastic bag—this was the best among her clothes. ‘Xu Duo’ planned to wear it when she finally reached the city and met her parents and younger brother.

After packing everything, Lin Momo put the heavy woven bag on her back and walked out of the house.

When leaving, Lin Momo turned her head reluctantly and looked at the home where ‘Xu Duo’ had lived for a long time. After taking two steps, Lin Momo turned back again and checked the door. After ascertaining that the lock was indeed locked, she completely turned around and left the house.

“Cut——!”

“Okay, no problem!” the director said, turning his head and looking at Li Jianhong behind him.

At this time, both of them felt like they had ‘picked up a treasure’.

The entire drama was shot using a documentary method. Therefore, there was no need for the actors to deliberately find the camera and act where the camera could see them. As long as they acted realistically enough, it was okay.

But they didn’t expect that Lin Momo could actually play ‘Xu Duo’ so realistically that it didn’t even look like she was acting.

“No problem, let’s play next.” Li Jianhong touched his chin, nodded and said.

The director also nodded and said to everyone on set, “Then let’s go to the next scene. All departments will prepare.”

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

The next scene was the one where ‘Xu Duo’ goes to her grandma’s grave and tells grandma that she is leaving to find her parents. This was also the only scene in the entire unit script in which ‘Xu Duo’ has many lines.

Lin Momo, carrying all her worldly goods on her back, went to the graveyard and squatted down in front of grandma’s grave.

“Grandma, I’m leaving. I’m going to the city to find my parents and Xiaobao¹,” Lin Momo said. In her hand was a train ticket stub left by her parents when they last visited their home. It said: ‘N City East Station to Mallard Village Station’.

“I brought all of Xiaobao’s clothes. I don’t know how much Xiaobao has grown in the past two years and whether he can still wear them. 

“Also, the quilt that you made my parents when they got married…

“I gave the two chickens we were raising to Zhang Xiaofeng and his family…

“I’m leaving now. We’ll come see you again when I find my parents.”

Lin Momo stood up. She took out a piece of dry bread from the bag behind her, broke off half of it and put it in front of the grave, then turned around and left.

It wasn’t until Lin Momo’s back walked away and gradually blurred in the camera lens that the director called out ‘Cut!’.

Except for some detailed shots that needed to be reshot, there were no major problems with this scene and it passed smoothly.

… …

At this time, it was time to break for lunch.

On the second day of filming in the Film and Television City, Lin Momo and Lin Cheng finally had their first lunch box provided by the crew.

Before the staff could bring the meal to Lin Momo, she had already excitedly pulled Lin Cheng and followed the crowd to queue up.

The father and daughter lined up in front of the food staff.

Looking at Lin Momo, the staff member was surprised and said, “I was going to send it specially to you, so why did you come here yourself?” 

After all, Lin Momo was also a protagonist of this drama. According to the usual treatment afforded to main leads, it was only to be expected that someone would bring her food to eat.

“I came here because I smelled the aroma of rice!” Lin Momo said to the auntie with a smile.

Hearing this, the staff serving the meal couldn’t help but smile.

“This is yours.” The staff packed a large lunch box for Lin Momo and handed it to her.

“Here’s another chicken drumstick.” As she said that, the staff put another large chicken drumstick into Lin Momo’s lunch box.

Looking at the big lunch piled up in front of her, Lin Momo suddenly felt a kind of pressure.

“Not that much, I only eat a little,” Lin Momo said.

But the staff looked at Lin Momo with concern and said, “It’s okay, we have to film in the afternoon again. Eat more.

“Here, these little fried mantou are also delicious. I’ll give you two and some condensed milk. Come back any time.”  As she said that, the auntie got very excited and stuffed two more golden buns into Lin Momo’s lunch box.

She had watched the filming this morning from the sidelines. Lin Momo looked so pitiful while eating the fallen steamed bun. So, at this moment, the staff member unconsciously wanted the child to eat more, completely forgetting to consider whether Lin Momo’s tummy could actually hold that much.

And so, at noon, Lin Cheng had to eat lunch enough for one and a half people all by himself.

Serve as Contrast Team in a ‘Dad with Baby’ Show translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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T/N: The way this story makes my heart ache. Sigh…

Let’s just talk about food! We encountered mantou back when Dad and baby Lin didn’t have enough money to eat as LPG deliveryman so Momo only planned to eat mantou—it’s just a plain bun, no filling inside. Here, it’s deep fried so it has a crisp, slightly greasy texture—like a donut—and goes well dipped in condensed milk.

FOOTNOTE:

1. Xiaobao means ‘little treasure’. A very common nickname for a young child. ↩︎