Assistant Bai Really Does Have a Three Year Old Child - Chapter 6.2

But hearing his logical analysis, no one in the room thought he was actually going to let it go “just like that.” Thinking about the timeline, everyone’s eyes instinctively turned toward Xiao Wan in the corner. She kept her head down, her exquisite crystal nails digging hard into her palms.

Huo Yang smiled and said no more, stating only that he had other work to do and wouldn’t be staying. After speaking, he turned and left. Bai Tan bowed politely to everyone, slung his massive tool bag over his shoulder, and chased after him.

Huo Yang had long legs and walked very fast. Although Bai Tan wasn’t short, he was still half a leg shorter than him and had to follow closely behind.

“It’s 11:30. Would you like to have lunch first? I made it myself, purely natural and harmless.” Bai Tan took a lunch box out of his bag, wrapped in a checkered cloth.

“No need.” Huo Yang opened the car door, looking straight ahead. “Go back and rest. I’ll call you this afternoon to come over.” After saying that, he drove away.

Bai Tan hugged the lunch box tightly. Last night, the manager said Huo Yang preferred sour flavors, so he had specially gone to a 24-hour supermarket ten kilometers away to buy chicken feet. Removing the claws and deboning them was incredibly troublesome. He had even learned how to mix the sauce online, staying busy until 1:00 AM before soaking the feet in the sour and spicy sauce. Eating something sour and spicy in the summer is refreshing.

That was his plan. He had even fantasized about the scene where Huo Yang would gently praise him after eating his sour and spicy chicken feet.

But things didn’t go as planned.

Bai Tan held the lunch box, lifting it and putting it down, looking back and forth, feeling a bit lost. His home was in the suburbs, twenty kilometers away from the studio. If he took a taxi home now, he would probably have to rush to the even further film base before he could even catch his breath.

Should I rent another place closer to Huo Yang’s house?

While lost in thought, Bai Tan felt tired from standing all morning, so he simply sat down on a stone bench by the flower bed at the studio entrance. The bright sun overhead made him see stars, and the cicadas chirped incessantly and annoyingly. He took his sketchbook out of his bag, biting the pen cap as he recalled the morning’s events, organizing what he had seen and his observations of Huo Yang line by line. His palms were sweaty, making the pen a bit slippery to hold.

Beep—

A horn suddenly sounded nearby.

Bai Tan was startled, and his pen slipped to the ground. He looked up toward the sound and saw a black car parked by the road. The window rolled down, revealing a familiar face: “Bai Tan? Why are you sitting outside? Isn’t it hot?”

Bai Tan put away his sketchbook, walked to the car, and bowed: “Good afternoon, President Li. What are you doing here?”

Li Wenyan opened the car door, smiling gently: “Get in first.”

The air conditioning inside the car dissipated the heat and dried the fine sweat on Bai Tan’s forehead.

“I remembered it was your first day on the job, and I saw the trending searches, so I came to check on you. Where’s Huo Yang?”

“Teacher Huo left first.” Bai Tan stretched his hand toward the air vent. “Have you had lunch, President Li?”

“Not yet. Since I ran into you, would you do me the honor of having lunch together?”

“I have some sour and spicy chicken feet here, do you want some?”

Li Wenyan looked at the exquisitely wrapped lunch box with a beautiful butterfly knot. His smile deepened: “You made it? Or bought it?”

“I made it. I heard from the manager that Teacher Huo likes sour flavors, so I made it for his lunch.” Bai Tan smiled. “But he seemed to have something urgent and left first.”

“Give it to me.”

As soon as Bai Tan finished speaking, the lunch box was taken by Li Wenyan. Bai Tan was stunned for a moment.

“If Huo Yang didn’t ask you to prepare a meal, don’t waste your effort. Besides, it’s going into a stomach anyway; we can’t let it go to waste on someone else,” Li Wenyan said as he opened the box.

Every deboned chicken foot was neatly arranged in the sauce, lined up in order, decorated with lemon slices and mint leaves. The colors were bright; it was clear Bai Tan had put a lot of heart into preparing this snack. It was no different from the lemon chicken feet Li Wenyan had eaten before his sense of taste had developed issues.

It was truly strange.

Li Wenyan then asked Bai Tan how his first day was, whether Huo Yang was easy to get along with, and if he had been bullied.

“Teacher Huo doesn’t talk much, but he’s treated me well. He knows I worked hard and hasn’t required me to be with him 24 hours a day,” Bai Tan said truthfully.

“That’s good.” Li Wenyan closed the lid. “Now that I’ve enjoyed your handmade snack, will you do me the honor of joining me for lunch?”

“Okay~” Bai Tan smiled, the rising tone of his voice sounding a bit like he was pampering a child.

Though they were having lunch together, Bai Tan did most of the eating, while Li Wenyan only ate a few pieces of fruit disinterestedly. After lunch, the timing was about right, and he personally drove Bai Tan to the film set.

Before officially starting the job, Bai Tan had looked up a lot of information online about being a celebrity assistant. Many said it was essentially being a live-in nanny, handling everything from food and clothing to daily life you had to be meticulous in every aspect.

Bai Tan didn’t know how other celebrities were, but he felt that Huo Yang wasn’t as difficult to serve as the internet suggested. Or perhaps, because a celebrity’s work involves privacy and Bai Tan was a complete stranger to him, Huo Yang did most things himself. Consequently, Bai Tan found himself with nothing to do, only able to sit aside and watch Huo Yang film or zone out.

As he watched, his gaze fell on other actors, and Bai Tan deeply felt the meaning of the phrase “all living beings suffer.”

In the peak of summer, the temperature reached over thirty degrees. In a coastal city, the air couldn’t even hold the heat waves, thick with heavy, humid steam. The big stars at least had assistants, managers, and the director’s team serving them. Those unknown minor actors didn’t even have an assistant; they might even be worrying about next month’s rent.

“Cut!” the director suddenly shouted, his voice full of dissatisfaction.

After all the actors and staff stopped their work, the director stood up, pointing a megaphone at a young man who looked no more than eighteen or nineteen. His voice was raspy as he yelled: “Can you film or not? If not, get the hell out! How many times have you messed up such a simple scene? If it weren’t for you, everyone would have finished and gone home to the AC long ago!”

The young man, wearing heavy period costumes, was covered in sweat under the high temperature. He looked solemn and bowed deeply ninety degrees to the director and the crew: “I’m sorry, Director Guo. I have a bit of a fever today and I’m not in top form. Please give me one more chance, I promise I won’t make another mistake.”

Even from a distance, Bai Tan could see the sweat on the young actor’s face shattering on the ground. His face was as pale as paper.

“What is it, him again?” some staff member complained.

Huo Yang, who had been affected by the multiple stops, didn’t say anything. He just hooked his finger at the makeup artist to come and help touch up his makeup.

Director Guo sighed heavily and pointed at the young actor’s nose: “I’ll give you one last chance. If you NG again, I’ll tear up the contract right now, and you can go back to wherever you came from!”

The young actor swallowed and nodded cautiously.

At 3:00 PM, the worst of the heat had mostly passed, but the sun in the coastal city seemed particularly fierce, making everyone feel scorched. Under such high temperatures, the young actor had no one to care for him; he wiped his sweat away awkwardly and apologized to Huo Yang, who was still getting his makeup touched up.

“It’s okay, stay focused,” Huo Yang said in a relatively friendly tone.

Once the two were back in position, the clapperboard snapped. The young actor took a deep breath and began to recall his lines.

Suddenly, a cicada chirped somewhere, exceptionally sharp and prolonged, like a blade stabbing into the young actor’s ear. Already a bit disoriented from being unwell, the untimely chirping caused the lines that were about to come out to be swallowed back down. In an instant, his mind went blank. He stood there like a piece of wood, unmoving.

“F*ck!” Director Guo lost his patience. He cursed, stood up again so violently that he knocked his chair over. “You, surnamed Yang, are you intentionally messing with me? You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I wasn’t ready.” The young actor wiped the sweat from his chin. “I definitely won’t make a mistake this time.”

“Get out! Get as far away as possible!” With a roar, everyone present instinctively shrunk their necks.

The megaphone in Director Guo’s hand flew like an arrow toward the young actor.

Smack!

A loud thud as the megaphone hit flesh, then hit the ground.

Bai Tan, who had just been watching the scene, suddenly stood up. Amidst the staff members’ incredulous gasps, Director Guo’s face darkened even further.

“Are you okay?” The next second, Huo Yang’s gentle voice sounded.

The young actor’s mind was already drifting in outer space. He froze on the spot, his mouth opening and closing, but he couldn’t say anything. He hadn’t expected Huo Yang to stride over and raise his hand to block the megaphone for him.

After a long while, he finally came to his senses: “I… I’m okay.”

Bai Tan ran over and asked Huo Yang, “Are you okay?”

The gentle, spring-breeze-like attitude Huo Yang had shown toward the young actor suddenly turned cold the moment Bai Tan appeared: “I’m fine.”

The director was stunned for a long time, terrified. If this guy’s fans found out about this, they could drown him with their spit. He immediately shifted the blame to the young actor: “Why didn’t you dodge! I must have been lightheaded from the heat when I signed you. Bringing such a jinx through the door!”

“That’s enough.” Huo Yang rubbed his arm, his voice neither heavy nor light. “This actor is unwell, which is understandable. It’s too hot to continue wasting time; we can film other scenes instead.”

The young actor blinked, his mouth hanging open. He stared blankly at Huo Yang’s face, his eyes slowly turning red. His mouth trembled, and his voice cracked, sounding extremely unnatural: “Thank you… Teacher Huo…”

Director Guo sighed heavily, rubbed his temples, and waved impatiently at the young actor: “Go rest first. I’ll notify you separately for the reshoots. You better be available whenever I call, do you hear me!”

The young actor, eyes brimming with tears, nodded vigorously. He picked up the megaphone, placed it carefully on the table, took one last deep look at Huo Yang, and left, looking back every few steps.

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