“You’re talented. Are you coming again tomorrow?”
“Yes, but I have to first attend a foreign language class in the morning, so I won’t be here until late afternoon.”
“Foreign languages, huh. If you want to learn Russian… Old Man Deng learned before and speaks it fluently. Let him teach you how to speak.”
“Really?”
“Of course. We won’t charge you for it either.”
Mu Jingzhe hadn’t expected Shao Dong to be so impressive. In just an afternoon, he had managed to infiltrate the grandpas’ inner circle and had even found a free foreign language teacher.
“Then study hard.” Mu Jingzhe patted Shao Dong’s shoulder.
In novels, old grandpas and grannies would usually appear as Sweeper Monks[1]. They were always quite impressive.
Although Mu Jingzhe knew that they weren’t all Sweeper Monks, many of these old men were very impressive. It should be fine for Shao Dong to learn from them.
“Mm.” Shao Dong nodded vigorously.
Compared to interacting with his peers, who gave him curious or pitiful gazes whenever he spoke, he actually preferred to interact with these old grandpas.
They had seen a lot in their lives, so these old grandpas didn’t pay much attention to his stutter.
The elderly were also fond of obedient children who liked to learn. He felt very comfortable around them.
Shao Dong and the others made arrangements for themselves.
Mu Jingzhe picked up Little Bei and Xiao Wu, planning to go back, but she was stopped by the school teacher. It turned out that a director had invited Little Bei to the audition for a television drama.
Little Bei’s little mouth widened.
She had just said on the way there that she wanted to dance and shoot an advertisement, and almost right away, the opportunity had presented itself.
Although this wasn’t dancing or shooting an advertisement, filming a television drama was awesome too.
Mu Jingzhe asked in surprise, “Really? Which director? What TV show?”
“I’m not sure about the details. We were informed by a school in the city. I heard that the director saw Shao Bei’s costume-changing performance and thought that she was cute, so he wanted her to try to portray Little Nezha.”
Mu Jingzhe was overjoyed. She hadn’t expected such an opportunity to come from Little Bei’s previous performance.
Therefore, no one knew when one’s opportunity would come. However, if one worked hard, one would always have more chances.
“If you think it’s a good idea, we can take her to the audition the day after tomorrow. I heard there are other little boys auditioning with her.”
Little Nezha was a little boy, and Little Bei was the only little girl who had been invited to audition.
The teacher was giving Mu Jingzhe and Little Bei a heads-up, but Mu Jingzhe didn’t say anything.
This was because she knew that a little girl could also portray Little Nezha. Wasn’t there a little girl in the modern era who had portrayed Little Nezha? Furthermore, she’d acted quite well.
A little girl playing the role of a little boy or a little boy playing the role of a little girl was cross-gender acting, but this was actually nothing for children.
She had to grasp this opportunity. Mu Jingzhe decided to take Little Bei to give it a try the next day, in case the role was cast if they were late.
When Little Bei heard that she could act in a drama that would be aired on TV in the future, she was overjoyed. She really loved acting.
“Mommy, I’ll definitely act well. I’ll definitely act well.”
Mu Jingzhe wanted to take Little Bei with her. This time, it wasn’t suitable to bring all the children along, so she could only keep them here temporarily.
Fortunately, Shao Qiyang had a day off from work and could take them to the county so they could continue learning.
Fortunately, the audition was held in the city.
The filming location for the television drama was originally in a specific film studio complex. This time, it would be filmed in the city because there was a lake in the city that was suitable for filming.
It was only when they arrived that they learned the details.
This little Nezha was actually just a supporting role and didn’t have many scenes. They had originally decided on an actor, but the little actor had suddenly lost his teeth, and both his front teeth were gone.
It was normal for a child to lose teeth. This couldn’t be helped, so no one could be blamed for this.
However, a toothless Nezha definitely wouldn’t do. They couldn’t wait for his teeth to grow out either. That was why they had decided to find a temporary little replacement. Hence, they’d naturally found their way to the art school.
The art school had recommended a little boy that they felt was suitable. Then, they couldn’t help but think of Little Bei’s Little Nezha. They’d found the video and sent it to the director.
Upon seeing the video, the director had felt that it was quite good. That was why Little Bei had gotten the chance to audition.
Upon hearing this, Mu Jingzhe thought to herself that it seemed like she had made the right decision by bringing the little Nezha clothes Little Bei had worn previously.
During the audition, the boys who were auditioning for the Little Nezha part didn’t think of Little Bei as their opponent. They thought that she was there to audition for another role.
When a bulky little boy saw pretty Little Bei, he even came over to talk to her with a chuckle.
Later on, when the audition started, Mu Jingzhe directly helped Little Bei put on the Nezha costume to increase her competitiveness. She wanted the director to see that Little Bei could really do a good job.
In the end, it was just as Mu Jingzhe had expected. If she hadn’t put Little Bei into the Nezha costume, the director might have hesitated, but after that, Little Bei immediately gave off the vibe of a little Nezha. When the director saw this, he decided on the spot.
The moment he learned Little Bei was their competitor for the role of Little Nezha, that bulky-looking little boy was stunned. When he heard the results, he wailed.
It wasn’t because he hadn’t been cast but because his worldview had collapsed.
“Little Nezha is a girl. Boohoo. I even said I wanted to be a brave little boy, like Little Nezha…”
“No, Little Nezha is a boy.” His mom felt embarrassed, helpless, and amused.
The little boy didn’t believe her. “But she’s a girl. She’s Little Nezha now.”
The little boy didn’t know anything about cross-gender acting. He was especially sad and he couldn’t stop crying even as his mother carried him away.
Mu Jingzhe could only apologize and proceed to discuss the details.
“If there’s no problem, let’s start filming immediately. The production team has prepared the costumes. When the time comes, we’ll look at them together and see which costume looks the best.”
The director didn’t want to waste even a day. This was different from what Mu Jingzhe had expected. She had thought that they would have to go back and wait to be notified.
However, since the director had said so, she naturally couldn’t refuse. If there was something they hadn’t packed in the luggage, she could just buy it. Anyway, from the sound of it, filming would end in four to five days.
Mu Jingzhe contacted Shao Qiyang and thought of a way to send a message to Li Zhaodi, asking her to help take care of the children.
After Shao Qiyang and Li Zhaodi got the message, they discussed how to take care of the kids. When Shao Qiyang went off to work, he would bring the kids over. After they ate at Li Zhaodi’s place, he would then take them to the art school. Finally, when he got off work, he would come and pick them up.
Mu Jingzhe and Little Bei also started filming on the set. They had said that they would start filming right away, but actually, they wanted Little Bei to first get used to it and see what filming was like.
This was also Little Bei’s first time entering a production team. The end result and the filming process were very different, and Little Bei would ask Mu Jingzhe whenever she came across something she didn’t understand.
“Mommy, why does the director film the same scenes over and over again?”
“That’s how a lot of acting is done. Sometimes it’s because the actor doesn’t perform well, sometimes it’s because the scene has to be filmed from different angles…”
The filming process was actually different from what she had imagined. It was very dry, complicated, and repetitive. It sounded very glamorous, but the actual filming process was different from what she had imagined.
It was the same even in the modern era, when the conditions were much better. Furthermore, in this era, the conditions were much tougher.
[1] a person with formidable skills who chose to conceal them
