After the run through ended, Lin Cheng and Zhou Haihua walked out of the filming set.

Seeing Lin Cheng complete his run through, Lin Momo stepped forward to greet him.

But when she faced Zhou Haihua, who was looking at her with a smile on her face, Lin Momo was startled and instinctively shrank behind Lin Cheng.

She always felt that the way this old man looked at her was like a bad person who wanted to kidnap and traffic children.

“What’s wrong with Xiao Momo? Are you scared by my outfit? Don’t be afraid, I’m playing a good guy,” Zhou Haihua explained to Lin Momo with a loving look on his face.

Director Liu who walked by also nodded and agreed, “Yes, Teacher Zhou plays someone from an underground organization that contributes to the motherland. He is a good person.” 

While looking at Lin Momo, Director Liu’s eyes also flashed with a certain ‘calculation’.

… …

In fact, Director Liu and Zhou Haihua were thinking the same thing at this time.

That morning, just after Lin Cheng and Lin Momo left, Teacher Li sent Director Liu a piece of Lin Momo’s [Where Are You?] footage. Zhou Haihua happened to be present at that time, so he watched the clips together with Director Liu.

The two were both amazed by Lin Momo’s performance in the drama—what especially struck them was not what one would call superb skills but the lack of any sense of going against what was natural.

In that performance, Lin Momo’s performance was so real and natural that it made people feel like she really was ‘Xu Duo’.

Director Liu was very surprised by this.

Zhou Haihua also liked Lin Momo’s performance very much.

So, after the two of them put their heads together, they thought about letting Lin Momo play a part in their film.

Zhou Haihua and Director Liu spent the whole afternoon staring at Lin Momo, trying to figure out which role in the play was more suitable for her to play.

Lin Cheng finally noticed the overly ‘enthusiastic’ looks in their eyes, looked at them and asked, “What’s the matter?” 

“Ahem, that is,” Director Liu coughed lightly and explained, “It’s about Momo. We have already seen samples of her performance in Teacher Li’s drama. To be honest, it was very good. There happened to be a few children’s characters in our film, so…”

After a brief explanation, Director Liu took advantage of the shooting break. Lin Cheng and Lin Momo went to the temporary office set up on the set.

“These are some roles that Teacher Zhou and I selected that are more suitable for Momo. You can take a look.” As he spoke, Director Liu handed several scripts to Lin Cheng.

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

The audience in the broadcast room also saw several scripts in Lin Cheng’s hands through the camera lens.

[What is the first one? Is it ‘Xu Yunyi’? I remember in history that Xu Yunyi seemed to have been separated from her family when the enemies came in, right? Later, she was picked up by a farmer, and they fled. She suffered a lot of hardships, and was only found after a lot of trouble.]

[This is so pitiful! ]

[What is the second one? It was half blocked and I couldn’t see clearly. ]

[Looks like a flower child? ]

[Again so pitiful.]

[The third one, if I read it correctly, seems to be a scavenger?]

[What is happening, why is everything so miserable…]

[Why do I feel that the scripts the director chose for Xiao Momo is either a refugee or a scavenger.]

[Hahaha, it’s so miserable. Can’t Momo get rid of the label of ‘begging’? ]

[Do not accept! Our Momo is so cute, she doesn’t look like beggar at all.] Another viewer retorted.

As soon as these words came out, they immediately attracted the echo of other viewers:

[That’s true, the child of a celebrity is also a star, how can she become a beggar? ]

[Although the background of this drama is the war-torn era, there should be a lot of ‘tough’ characters in the drama. Our Xiao Momo is so good-looking, why not let her play the role of a warlord’s daughter?]

[Instead of being a warlord’s daughter, let her play the role of a ‘returning businessman’s child’. Who is the scavenger?!]

[Yeah! Who do you think you’re talking about?]

… …

Back on the film set, Lin Cheng was looking at the scripts and was having the exact same thoughts as the audience in the livestream channel.

Seeing Lin Cheng holding the script and frowning slightly, Director Liu seemed to have guessed what he was thinking. He coughed dryly and explained, “The main reason is that after watching the clip sent by Teacher Li, Teacher Zhou and I, we both think that Momo would be more comfortable playing a similar role… she already has experience and would find it easy to do it.”

“However, there are still many roles for young actors that have not been decided yet, and there are also a few that are suitable for Momo. You can look at it again.” 

After that, Director Liu took out a few more scripts from the bag behind him. They are: the child passing small notes outside the teahouse, the homeless child whose family was killed, the homeless child who was rescued in the church, the daughter of the photo studio owner…

Seeing Lin Cheng’s brows still frowning, Director Liu felt guilty. He smiled and added: “The main reason is that the other characters are not very recognizable…”

Their film did have characters similar to the children of wealthy families, but Lin Momo’s performance in [Where Are You?] left a deep impression on Director Liu and Zhou Haihua, and both of them subconsciously hoped that Lin Momo could bring that feeling into the film [Against the Grain].

“You can choose from these roles slowly and don’t have to make a decision in a hurry.” Director Liu said with another smile.

Lin Cheng nodded, took the script, and didn’t make a decision immediately.

Different from the work of adults, Lin Cheng was obviously much more cautious about Lin Momo’s script. He needed to consider many aspects, such as: whether there was any danger in the filming, whether the story that happened to the character would have a bad impact on the child, and whether the filming would have a negative impact on the child, and so on.

… …

Because the run-through in the morning went well, in the evening, the filming of the scene between Lin Cheng and Zhou Haihua officially started.

With the experience of the previous time, Lin Cheng’s performance this time was obviously more mature than before. In addition, Zhou Haihua—intentionally or unintentionally—led Lin Cheng in the play. Therefore, the filming of this scene went very smoothly.

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

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