House Dad's Literary Life

Chapter 339: Only One End Of The Barbers Pole Is Hot

Nan Zhaoyu obediently let go of Xixi’s hand and came to Yang Yi’s side. He allowed Xixi’s father to bandage his arms layer by layer in a daze.

Xixi and her little friends also gathered around. The little girl curiously touched the somewhat rough bandage and asked, “Papa, what is this?”

“Bandages! Isn’t Nan Zhaoyu injured? I’m wrapping it up for him,” Yang Yi explained softly to his daughter.

Nan Zhaoyu finally came back to his senses and said weakly, “But, Uncle Yang, why am I injured? I’m not hurt at all…”

“I remember, Nan Zhaoyu, you are injured! The beautiful sister just said so!” Lan Xin chimed in from behind. Seizing the opportunity while Yang Yi crouched down, she affectionately hugged her favorite uncle’s neck. But the little chubby girl’s legs were a bit short, so she could only tiptoe as best as she could.

“But I think this thing is not good-looking, can it be tied with a bow?” Nan Zhaoyu protested weakly.

“What does a boy want to look good for? Haven’t you heard of the charm of a little bloodshed? Well, you probably haven’t heard of it. Anyway, boys should have some injuries to be handsome!” Yang Yi tried hard to coax him.

Nan Yiyun also walked over curiously and happened to hear the conversation between Yang Yi and Nan Zhaoyu. He nodded in agreement and said, “Uncle Yang is right, Little Yu, you should listen to Uncle Yang’s instructions.”

Nan Zhaoyu had no choice but to reluctantly accept this arrangement.

Yang Yi wrapped the bandages around Nan Zhaoyu’s arm and patted it with satisfaction, then turned around and picked up Lan Xin in front of him and stood up.

He looked at Nan Zhaoyu with his arm wrapped in bandage as if it were broken and suddenly felt that he had quite a talent in this area and was secretly happy in his heart.

Of course, with such a small child, one could only imagine, it’s not possible to actually break his arm. But this little rascal held Xixi’s hand, surely Yang Yi should be allowed to fantasize a bit too, right?

……

“All right, everyone, get ready. Action!” With a shout from Du Yuanlei sitting in front of the monitor, the first shot officially began.

Yang Yi stood with the children by the wall of the school hospital hall. Everyone was standing around Nan Zhaoyu. Yang Yi also stood on the innermost side to avoid blocking the children.

Yang Yi didn’t feel anything, but he clearly felt that after hearing the signal to start was given, each of the five children suddenly became tense. Their previously curious and expectant smiles were gone, all of them looked nervous.

Even Xixi was the same. The little girl stared with wide eyes, forgetting that she was acting, and just looked straight at the camera being moved on the track.

“Cut!” Within a few seconds, Du Yuanlei shouted to stop and then stood up with the clapperboard and walked over.

Nan Yiyun couldn’t quite understand, so he asked Wu Yue in confusion, “Is it over? So fast?”

Wu Yue also didn’t have experience in filmmaking, but she thought it should not be over yet. She guessed, “It should not be yet. Maybe the shot didn’t turn out well?”

Indeed, the shot didn’t turn out well. Although Yang Yi had told Du Yuanlei that even if the children performed well in one take, they should pretend it wasn’t good enough and shoot a few more times to make it more enjoyable for them. Du Yuanlei had to call a stop this time. For a one or two-second shot, Du Yuanlei didn’t want any flaws.

“Is it because it’s your first time shooting a movie, and you’re feeling nervous?” Du Yuanlei smiled gently as she softly patted the children’s shoulders and said, “Don’t be nervous, just treat it like chatting with each other as you do normally. Do what you need to do and relax a little.”

The little ones hadn’t recovered from their nervous mood just now. They stuck to Yang Yi’s side and looked at Du Yuanlei with some fear.

“And then Xixi, don’t always look at the camera! Although the camera is pretty cool.” Du Yuanlei looked at Xixi and made a rare joke. “But think about it. You came to the hospital this time to visit your friend who got hurt. So, you should focus on him and on his arm, right?”

After Du Yuanlei shouted “Cut!”, the little girl who knew what “Cut” meant hid behind her father after that. Only half of her body and face were exposed. She was also afraid of being scolded by Du Yuanlei!

But to Xixi’s surprise, Sister Du had a very friendly attitude. She had a smile on her face, and her voice was gentle. Xixi’s heart, which had been lifted in anticipation of scolding, slowly relaxed, and she timidly nodded in response.

“Let’s all take a moment to relax and let go of any nervousness before we start again, okay?” Facing the children, Du Yuanlei showed a level of patience that had not been seen before.

This scene made the onlookers Wang Chao, Guo Ziyi, Qin Wen and others envious. Guo Ziyi couldn’t help but mutter, “It would be great if these children had more screen time. I really don’t want to be scolded by Director Du again!”

In order to give the children some space to adjust, Du Yuanlei walked away after she finished speaking.

At this moment, Lan Xin, who had been looking around since the beginning, finally couldn’t help but ask, “Xixi, didn’t you say that acting in a movie would have a lot of delicious food?”

That’s right! Why can’t they see any delicious food here?

“Delicious food?” Xixi blinked her eyes and turned around to look for it.

“I want to eat delicious food. I’m so hungry that I have no energy left.” Lan Xin shook Xixi’s hand and said unhappily with a pout.

Chen Shiyun also remembered why she came here at this moment. She joined in, exclaiming, “I want to eat delicious food! Did you all eat all the delicious food? Xixi, you tricked us. I even said I would help you finish it!”

This little girl has this habit when she speaks, she always seems a bit extreme.

Xixi became anxious after hearing her words. She said, “I don’t know why the food has disappeared! There used to be a lot of food.”

“Then acting in a movie isn’t fun at all! And there’s no delicious food.” Chen Shiyun muttered.

“So boring!” Lan Xin also nodded.

Nan Zhaoyu quietly followed the crowd on the side, saying, “I also think it’s not fun.”

Xixi was nearly on the verge of tears as her friends all chimed in. The wronged little girl looked at her father for help.

At this moment, Yang Yi finally understood why these children, who had never known what acting was like, suddenly became enthusiastic about acting! It turns out that their real interest wasn’t in acting itself!

Today, he was so focused on taking care of the children for the shoot that he didn’t even think about bringing any snacks or treats for them.

“Okay, everyone, don’t worry. Uncle will tell you, there are delicious foods. Uncle has prepared some cakes and drinks for you.” Yang Yi quickly spoke up to help his daughter.

“Really? Where? Where is the delicious food?” Lan Xin and Chen Shiyun’s eyes lit up.

“It’s still on the way, but there’s a rule, that is, you have to act well in the next scene, and only when the director says it’s okay, will you have delicious food!” Yang Yi said seriously.

“Okay then! Let’s start quickly!” With the motivation of delicious food, Chen Shiyun’s energy returned.

“Then we have to act well!” Lan Xin said.

Xixi saw that her little friends were no longer blaming her, so she breathed a sigh of relief and smiled along with them.

Yang Yi found an opportunity and quickly called the shop, asking Yang Huan and Ding Xiang to pack all the ready-made cupcakes in the shop, buy some drinks, and send them over.

Despite the motivation of delicious food, it took nine takes for the children to barely get their scenes right, even though it was just a one or two-second shot. Even with the additional scenes like Guo Ziyi and Qin Wen appearing in the hospital, the whole scene was only over ten seconds long. It unexpectedly took so long to shoot that Du Yuanlei was about to collapse!

Fortunately, these children didn’t have more scenes. Du Yuanlei breathed a sigh of relief and asked Yang Yi to take the children to another borrowed room for waiting and rest. She still had to continue shooting another scene of Guo Ziyi and Qin Wen in the hall.

After filming, Lan Xin and Chen Shiyun finally saw the delicious food they had been looking forward to for a long time. The children ran over happily and began to feast on it.

“Is acting in a movie fun?” Wu Xue also walked over at this time. She smiled and helped her daughter tidy up her hair, then asked softly.

Yang Luqi’s cute little mouth was full and she couldn’t speak.

Nan Zhaoyu, with his arm still in bandages and suspended, couldn’t eat anything. He found an opportunity to speak and rushed to answer, “It’s not fun, not fun at all.”

“Yeah, I’m so tired!” Chen Shiyun said with cake crumbs spraying out of her mouth.

“I’m so tired too.” Yang Luqi finally swallowed it down. She looked pitifully at her mother and said, “I don’t like acting in movies either.”

“Then let’s not act in movies anymore. We’ll just eat food! Let’s go to Xixi’s house to eat!” Lan Xin, holding a piece of cake, said with her mouth bulging.

“Yeah!” Chen Shiyun exclaimed in excitement.

Sure enough, only one end of the barber’s pole is hot. Yang Yi helplessly shook his head on the side.

Xixi was a little unhappy in her heart when she heard her little friends say this. She pulled her father’s hand and whispered to him, “Papa, why do they say it’s not fun?”

Yang Yi squatted down, touched his daughter’s little head, and said softly, “It’s normal not to like it because it requires doing it over and over again. Without patience, it can’t be done well.”

“But I think it’s interesting!” Xixi pouted her little mouth, twisted her waist, and said unwillingly.

Yang Yi smiled and said, “That’s because our Xixi has patience! You are the best!”

“Hee hee, just now Sister Du also said I’m really good!” Xixi was praised by her father and became a bit shy, but she was still very happy inside. She hugged her father’s neck and whispered in his ear.

TN: About the title of this chapter: “Only one end of the barber’s pole is hot”. It’s a Chinese idiom, which means being enthusiastic at the beginning but losing interest halfway.