Chapter 10: Persuading Sleep, Not Tears

By the sixth take, Zhang Yi was already struggling to suppress his temper.

"He is your boyfriend! Do you know what a boyfriend is? Have you ever been in love? Would you wipe your boyfriend's mouth while he's eating? You aren't his mother! Don't act out being in love; I want you to actually be in love, understand? Again!"

This time, Zhang Yi didn't even return to the monitor; he simply stood to one side with his arms crossed, watching.

As it turned out, even Chen Nuo could see that Nini’s demeanor was wrong this time; she was extremely tense.

Sure enough, they had only been filming for half a minute when Zhang Yi called cut.

"Do you even know how to act!" Zhang Yi roared immediately. "What kind of look is that on your face? Does he owe you money? Are you still capable of doing this? If not, let's just stop filming for today!"

Nini’s eyes turned red instantly, and she sank to the ground, burying her face in her knees and sobbing.

Zhang Yi took a deep breath and said, "Forget it, the whole crew take a break, we'll film again in a bit."

He then walked over to Chen Nuo, gestured toward Nini with his chin, and said, "Go comfort her."

Chen Nuo looked at him as if he were insane. You’re the one who yelled at the girl until she cried, and you want me to comfort her? Why should I?

Zhang Yi said indifferently, "Xiaozhu is crying, and you’re just going to watch, Mute?"

Fine.

However, comforting a sixteen-year-old girl to stop crying was, for Chen Nuo, truly harder than convincing a twenty-six-year-old woman to go to bed.

He could only try his best.

After having Zhang Yi and the others move further away, Chen Nuo squatted down beside Nini and said, "Hey, stop crying. If your eyes swell up, we won't be able to film at all today. By then, it won't just be the director who's angry; the entire crew will be."

Nini lifted her face. Fortunately, she was wearing no makeup for the shoot, and Chen Nuo saw that aside from a mess of snot and tears and slightly red eyes, there were no other issues.

Chen Nuo handed her the roll of paper he was holding and said, "Wipe your face. Look, your snot is about to run into your mouth. I ate snot when I was a kid; do you know what snot tastes like? It’s sweet."

Nini had been pouting, but she reacted to this, glancing at him with a look of disgust, and said, "You're lying, it's not."

"Oh, you seem pretty sure. Looks like you've eaten it too."

"I have not!" Nini said, finally unable to hold back a giggle. She took the paper from Chen Nuo, wiped her tears, blew her nose, and asked gloomily, "Am I really that bad? Such a simple scene, and I’ve acted it so many times, but I just can't get it right."

Chen Nuo didn't say anything.

Nini gave him a strange look and said, "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Chen Nuo put on a bewildered expression. "You're asking me? How would I know? I'm just as much of a hack myself."

"That's not true. I think you act really well; it's just me... I don't know how to coordinate with you."

"You want to coordinate with me? How about you give me a kiss then?"

"What are you saying!" Nini’s face turned a little red, and she turned her head away.

"Just kidding," Chen Nuo said, lying through his teeth. "My first kiss is still reserved; I can't let you have it that cheaply."

"Ha," Nini let out a short laugh. "As if anyone cares."

"Exactly, nobody cares. Have you ever had those moments, deep in the night, lying in bed tossing and turning, suddenly feeling incredibly lonely, thinking how nice it would be if someone could just hold you right then? You don't need to do anything else, just hold you. Have you?"

"I have... I guess?" Nini glanced at him. "Why are you suddenly asking this?" "Because I want to be the person who holds you," Chen Nuo said softly, looking into her eyes.

"Hey, you..." Nini exclaimed instinctively, her face turning completely red. "You, you, you... stop talking nonsense, okay?"

Chen Nuo asked again, "Are you planning to come to Jingcheng for university?"

"I don't know." Nini glanced at him and said, "My mom wants me to stay in Jinling for university... but... I feel like being close to home isn't good at all; it feels a bit like I have no freedom."

"Some birds aren't meant to be caged, because their feathers are too bright."

Nini said with pleasant surprise, "The Shawshank Redemption! You like that movie too?"

Chen Nuo smiled and nodded. He had indeed watched the movie, though he had fallen asleep halfway through. The only thing he had done was memorize a few lines for emergencies.

The way Nini looked at him changed slightly. "I didn't expect... I used to think that guys like you, as long as you were good-looking, were all very shallow and spent all day thinking about how to trick girls."

Chen Nuo twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "You can't generalize."

Nini hummed, then suddenly looked toward Zhang Yi and said, "Do you think the director is still angry?"

Chen Nuo turned to look as well. "Probably not. Look at how long his hair is; his personality should be just like a girl's—broad-minded."

Nini giggled again, looked at Chen Nuo, and whispered, "I'm sorry for dragging you into eating so many bowls of eight-treasure porridge."

"It's fine, I have a big appetite. Besides, the porridge Xiaozhu brought me, I can't get enough of it. Xiaozhu, I won't be able to talk in a moment, so I'll tell you in advance: thank you for the porridge."

Nini turned her head quickly to glance at him, then turned it away even faster. Chen Nuo couldn't see her expression, only that she nodded very, very lightly, and said in a soft, gentle voice, "Eat more, if it's not enough, I'll go get you some more."

"...I'll go tell the director now that we can do another take?"

"Okay."

When Chen Nuo said Nini was ready and they could do another take, Zhang Yi didn't actually hold much hope.

But once they started, Zhang Yi immediately realized that Nini’s feeling was right.

Mute sat below the steps, eating porridge while watching Xiaozhu, not taking his eyes off her for a single moment. His eyes were slightly curved, his brows relaxed, and his affection for Xiaozhu was about to overflow.

Xiaozhu sat beside Mute, hugging her knees with both hands, her chin resting on her arms, tilting her head to look at Mute with a faint, almost imperceptible smile on her lips.

"Eat more, if it's not enough, I'll go get you some more."

Her voice was very soft, so soft it was like a kite, drifting and fluttering into Zhang Yi’s heart. This was the childhood sweetheart love he had in mind; it wasn't as intense as love at first sight, nor did it need to be as deliberate as a man chasing a woman. It was like the string of this kite, long and continuous, unbroken like a thread.

"Cut! That's a wrap!"

Zhang Yi clapped twice, and the atmosphere of the entire crew instantly became cheerful.

The head cameraman said in his booming voice, "There's a feeling to it. I think this take was especially good. In our old terms, this is called a chemical reaction; it looks really good on film."

Chen Nuo smiled at Nini and whispered, "He's complimenting you."

Nini’s face was slightly flushed, and she looked a bit embarrassed, but joy sparkled in her long, slender eyes. She whispered, "I'll treat you to dinner tonight."

(End of chapter)