CH 15

Chapter 15 - “All you want is to have a new character added, right? I can do it. Please let me do it.” (3)

At the Director Team, half an hour later.

“Gu Nian, the filming team only asked you to take this on because we have a lot of faith in the three of you as the original creators of this screenplay. Don’t you think it is very irresponsible of you to refuse your responsibilities like this?”

“Director Lin, you must be joking.” Three girls were standing in front of the table and the one who seemed to be the leader looked languid, but also unlikely to back off.

The middle-aged man frowned. “What do you mean I am joking?”

“From a creative perspective, we will, indeed, be irresponsible if we accept your suggestion of adding another character nilly-willy at this point.”

“Ahem. You also need to look at this from a pragmatic perspective. We have a need here…”

“The pragmatic perspective is even more straightforward.” Gu Nian interrupted him at a moderate pace. “We have already turned in our screenplay. It is Screenwriter Zhuo Yixuan’s job to follow up from this point forward. We have completed what we were paid to do. That’s the pragmatic perspective.”

The deputy director was at loss of words all of a sudden.

After being speechless for a few seconds, he put down his cup of tea and said, “Your generation of younglings are too impetuous. You put monetary gain above everything else. Whatever happened to idealism or sentiment? Even if your names are not associated with this, but if this screenplay is a success, those within the field would still know that this was your work. You still stand to gain a lot.”

Gu Nian was not moved. “What we stand to gain will not turn into food on table. Screenwriters are mere mortals first and foremost. Without food, we will starve to death Everything else is secondary to that.”

“……”

Deputy director stared at her for a few seconds before he shook his head and smiled. “You are a screenwriter after all and I can’t outtalk you. Well, this is not my call anyway. Why don’t we do this? The director is meeting up with the new actor right now. I’ll bring you to him and you can talk to him directly.”

Gu Nian nodded nonchalantly. “Please.”

Gu Nian and the others walked side by side as they followed behind the deputy director from a reasonable distance.

Jiang Xiaoqing pouted the entire time. “First, he brought up responsibilities; when you talked about responsibilities, he mentioned pragmatism. When you talked about pragmatism, he brought up idealism and sentiment. So shameless… lucky you were the one who was doing the talking, Gu Nian. His muddling would have totally worked on me.”

Gu Nian sighed while holding back a yawn. “The real battle is still ahead of us.”

“We are counting on you! You go, girl!”

The deputy director brought the three of them to the front of the director team’s temporary office and took a step aside. “This is it. Knock and go in. You take it from here.”

“Alright.”

“The new actor for the new role is here as well. Watch what you say once you get inside. Don’t offend the others instead of settling this matter.”

“……” Gu Nian gave the deputy director a surprised look and nodded. “Thank you for the reminder.”

“Off you go.”

Gu Nian lifted her hand and knocked.

After a two-second pause, she heard a “C’mon in.”

Gu Nian depressed the door handle, pushed open the door, and stepped inside. “Hi, Director Geng. I am Gu Nian from the screenwriter team. We are here to…”

Gu Nian stopped abruptly.

Her hand still on the door handle, Gu Nian stared dumbfoundedly inside the room.

Sitting across from Director Geng Hongyu, the poised man with delicate features looked up. His dark brown eyes behind the thin lens of his spectacles were filled with tenderness.

That very second, all the tenderness under his eyes shattered and his emotional turmoil was visible.

Unfortunately, Gu Nian saw none of those.

The air had come to a stop for a few seconds.  

“……”

Gu Nian’s foot that had already stepped inside of the room retracted abruptly as she closed the door in front of her. Jiang Xiaoqing and Qin Yuanyuan, who was just about to follow her in, looked at her. Both of them at loss.

Gu Nian turned her head stiffly. “The one sitting inside is the new actor who just got here?”

Deputy Director Lin paused for a little and said, “I guess so. I think his name is Luo Xiu? What is it? Do you know him?”

Gu Nian, “……”

Her child’s success.

Her dream coming true.

All of them could happen tonight.

Choking back the tears of an old mother, Gu Nian gave the deputy director the sincerest look as she said to him. “All you want is to have a new character added, right? I can do it. Please let me do it.”

Deputy Director Lin, “?”

Jiang Xiaoqing, “?”

Qin Yuanyuan, “?”

___

Author’s rambling:

Gu Nian: I can do anything for my precious son!

Luo Xiu: ?