“Although our drama is a pseudo-documentary and has little commercial value, you don’t have to worry about this aspect.” The investment in this drama was indeed not inferior to that of similar-sized films. Yang Dong added, “As for the remuneration, we can negotiate it when we get back to the crew. But it would definitely not be bad.” 

Lin Momo was a little moved by the other party’s words, but she did not make a decision immediately. Instead, she turned to look at Lin Cheng next to her, with a hint of expectation in her eyes. 

While his daughter only cared about the pay, Lin Cheng asked the two crew members more details, such as the shooting time, the duration of shooting every day, whether there were night scenes, whether there would be dangerous scenes, etc. 

After roughly confirming the details, and getting assurance that the filming process would not be dangerous or too strenuous, and would not affect the child’s normal schedule, Lin Cheng nodded and decided to take Lin Momo to the filming crew and give it a try. 

 

The four of them went to the set of [Where Are You?]. 

At this time, the director was talking about the drama with several main actors. After listening to Guo Fei and Yang Dong’s explanation, the director looked at Lin Momo. He was stunned for a moment, and then a look of happy surprise gradually appeared in his eyes. 

“Yes, yes! This is what it feels like!” the director said excitedly.

The biggest difficulty their drama faced was casting, and the character ‘Xu Duo’ was undoubtedly the most difficult due to her unique living environment and experience.

The true story happened a few years back. At the time, ‘Xu Duo’ was 9 years old. Her parents had gone to the city to work, and she and her younger brother originally lived with their grandmother in their hometown. When her younger brother got sick, their parents came back and took him to the city for treatment. They also took away almost all of the family’s savings. In the next two years, there had been no news from her parents. ‘Xu Duo’ took care of her grandma and supported their family in her own way. When her grandma died of illness, ‘Xu Duo’ carried all the ‘valuable’ things from home and went to the city to look for her parents and younger brother.

The most incredible thing was that ‘Xu Duo’ actually succeeded in walking out of the mountains by herself and eventually reached the city after much perseverance, without even knowing the way.

Although ‘Xu Dou’ was young and had little experience, the role was quite complicated to play— she was confused and timid, cautious when facing a strange environment, but she was also tough and persistent at heart. Growing up in a closed village has resulted in innocence and simplicity, but she was also mature since she had to help raise a family at an early age.

If a child with a similar background was cast to play such a role, she may have stage fright and be unable to adapt to the crew. If a child actor was cast, it would be difficult to find someone who could fit the character.

But this child in front of them was surprisingly similar to ‘Xu Duo’, especially her eyes, which seemed to be covered by the dust of the world, but there were still a few stars peeking from inside.

“She’s really so similar…” the director couldn’t help but sigh again and began to look forward to Lin Momo’s performance.

The director put down his work and said to Lin Momo, “Let’s give it a try first.” 

“How about you play this part?” The director handed the script to Lin Momo and explained it to her.

This scene was very simple: ‘Xu Duo’ was walking down the street carrying her family’s belongings. A well-meaning passerby came up to her to ask her about her situation. However, some unpleasant experiences from the past have made her wary of strangers. Faced with the passerby’s questions, ‘Xu Duo’ ran away, quickly disappearing into the crowd.

“For this part, just imagine that there is a passerby in front of you who wants to help you, and you are surrounded by other passersby in a crowded area,” the director explained patiently to Lin Momo.

“Okay,” Lin Momo nodded.

The director made use of a space available on the set and asked the props team to bring necessary props, including a large woven bag.

Perhaps because they were worried that the woven bag would be too big for the child actor to carry, part of the bag was filled with foam.

Lin Momo tried it, and it wasn’t too bad. She picked up the bag, pulled the handles over each of her shoulders, and carried the woven bag on her back like a bulky backpack.

Afterwards, Lin Momo followed the director’s instructions and started walking from a corner of the set and towards the other side.

However, before Lin Momo could take two steps, she was stopped by an assistant director on the scene.

“Stop first, you’re not carrying that bag right,” the assistant director pointed at the woven bag that Lin Momo was carrying behind her back and said, “Those two handles are for you to carry in your hands, not on both shoulders.”

The director on the side touched his chin, nodded, and said to Lin Momo in a calm tone, “You have to carry this bag in your hand, not like a schoolbag.” 

After hearing the words of the two directors, Lin Momo Momo nodded and put the woven bag down from her back. But the bag was too big and she found that carrying the woven bag this way would make it drag it on ground, so she hugged the woven bag to her body instead.

“No, it’s still wrong!” the assistant director frowned and said.

At this moment, Lin Cheng, who had been on the sidelines, spoke.

“It seems that no one has stipulated how to carry a woven bag.”

Hearing this, the assistant director and director were stunned. “This…”

Then, Lin Cheng continued, “How to carry a woven bag is a matter of habit for the person carrying it. It seems that there is no need for any correction.”

“…”

Due to the psychological ‘shadow’ left behind by the naughty child who was originally supposed to play the role of ‘Xu Duo’, when they heard Lin Cheng’s words, the director and others members of the crew instinctively thought that Lin Cheng was just indulging his wilful child. They all frowned and showed displeasure.

“There is no standard way to carry it, but normal people carry it this way. It’s too strange for her to carry it like that, and it’s wrong to mess around with props like this,” the assistant director said.

At this time, Lin Momo said, “I’m not messing around with the props.”

Although Lin Momo’s voice was not loud, everyone present heard it. Everyone’s eyes fell on Lin Momo, as if they wanted to hear her explanation.

However, Lin Momo’s answer was, “It saves effort to carry it this way. I would be able to carry everything.”

Hearing this answer, the director and others were slightly surprised.

“Also,” Lin Momo added after a pause, “when walking on the road, it is less likely to bump into others or rub against other people’s clothes if it’s on my back like this.”

As soon as Lin Momo said these words, the scene suddenly became quiet.

Although Lin Momo’s method of carrying a woven bag was indeed strange, if one thought about it carefully, it seemed to make sense after all.

But… what kind of experiences would this child have had to live through to have such a perception?

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

---

T/N: It could be a different bag but this is a very common version of the ‘woven bag’. The text specified that it was large, and this particular bag is indeed that—it would reach up to my upper thigh. I don’t know how the crew expected a 9 year old child to lug this around by hand without it dragging on the floor. Momo was right to carry it the way she did. It was either that or carry it by hugging it and that’s too inconvenient.

If you’re enjoying my translations, do consider buying me ko-fi and get access to advance chapters as reward. Thank you for your support! ☺️