Son, “Mom” Will Back You

Lin Nantian, Gu Nian's best friend and her mother's delegate for matters concerning her arranged date, was waiting in the lobby area of the hotel, swiping on her cellphone with a solemn look.

When Gu Nian got close enough to her, she leaned over her shoulder and asked, "What are you reading?"

Lin Nantian was startled but now wasn't the time to get upset over that. She reached out and dragged Gu Nian closer. "Isn't Demons the script that you and your team had been churning out a while back?"

"Uhuh."

"Then who the heck is this bullsh*t screenwriter beauty Qing Dengxia who stole your script?"*

"?"

Gu Nian stuck her head over and saw a piece of entertainment circle news on her cellphone. It's title was very attention-drawing:

[With her style curiously resembling that of Master Mang Zhi, new screenwriter beauty Zhuo Yixuan (going by the alias of Qing Dengxia) had returned strongly with her new show Demons!]

Looking at the beginning of the title, Gu Nian's look became thoughtful in a few seconds but she quickly returned to her sleepy self. Sinking into the couch, she said, "I think she's the one hand picked to be the named screenwriter for Demons by the director team."

"But didn't you and your team write this script?"

"Us little screenwriters with no fame or background are happy just to be paid in full. We can't expect to also get the credit."

"But it's your screenplay! Why did she get to take it over?!"

"Probably because her background allows her to do so?" Gu Nian yawned. "Besides, with the 'resemble Mang Zhi' label, there will always be those who'd want to back her."

"She? Like h*ll she's Mang Zhi! What? Just because her alias Qing Dengxia happened to be the same as the last line in Enlighten Me, and that she had paid for some water army? Could her intention of leeching off someone else's popularity be any more obvious??"

"But the fans all bought into it."

"Anyone who'd buy into that are all fake fans!"

Lin Nantian was so angry that she could dig the 7~8 cm heel of her high heels into the seams between the tiles. Somewhere in between, she caught sight of Gu Nian who had curled up comfortably in the couch and became infuriated.

She swooped down on Gu Nian, put her hands over her shoulders and said, "You tell me the truth right now. Are you the Mang Zhi who wrote Enlighten Me?"

"Oh!" Gu Nian suddenly opened up her eyes.

Lin Nantian, startled, asked, "What's the matter?"

"We are really going to be late if we don't head upstairs now," said Gu Nian as she pointed at the clock in the lobby and gave Lin Nantian an innocent look.

"Shoot! Almost forgot the most important event of the day!"

"……"

Lin Nantian bounced up from the couch in one second, picked up Gu Nian, who was already back to her listless self, and dashed toward the elevator lobby.

XingYue Hotel, 26th floor. Western Cuisine Lounge.

Looking at the tidy and clean windows and tables and that there were more male servers in tuxedo than there were customers, Gu Nian knew that Lin Nantian had sank a lot of money in this again.

Lin Nantian, on the other hand, didn't care about that. She waved her hand generously and said, "Don't mention it. I came from a parvenu riche's family."

"……"

With Lin Nantian's temperament, she had always been a calm one since she was a child. All of the boys in class, when they were nervous around her, would address her as "ge".*

Not Gu Nian.

When she was nervous, she'd address Lin Nantian as "Dad".

The father and daughter duo in spirit were shown to table next to the window by a server.

Lin Nantian frowned and asked, "Where is he?"

The server bowed and said, "The gentleman headed over to the bathroom."

Lin Nantian stopped frowning. "Alright."

There weren't a lot of people inside the restaurant.

Only the table behind them were seated.

Two men sitting side by side could be seen at the table that was a few meters away from them and separated from them with a thin gauze curtain. As there was nobody sitting across from them, the scene was very eerie.

As a screenwriter, observation was a habit of Gu Nian.

And that was what she was doing right now.

The only different was, Gu Nian became baffled as she was observing. The corners of her eyes went up bit by bit and her dole-like eyes came to life slowly.

At one point, Gu Nian looked like leaves on a tree that was well watered. Excitedly, she asked Lin Nantian, "That man looked awfully like my son from the back. Can we go and take a look first?"

Lin Nantian didn't even turn her head. She held down the girl who looked like her switch had been flipped to "on" position every time her son was mentioned. "You are so obsessed with your son that you are hallucinating."

Gu Nian said solemnly, "He really looks a lot like him."

Lin Nantian, "Do you really think that your son, who is an 180th-tier actor, can afford to dine here?"

Gu Nian, "……"

Gu Nian has woken up.

Dang! That made too much sense. Sniffle, sniffle, sniffle.

___

Meng Zhi's Diary of Raising Her Son

2020.5.30. Saturday. Sunny.

There's only two more days left in May and this was another month where my precious son, again, has no work.

My son is oh so docile and oh so handsome. Why was it that nobody wanted to see him? T^T

The adults' world is too cruel. But it's okay son; Mommy will always be there for you!

P.S. I've prepared gifts for my precious son for 6/1 Children's Day. I will send it out this evening. Here's the list of items that are included:

Tips and Hints to Staying Healthy in Summer handwritten notebook x 1

Large Vitamin B, Vitamin C, and Vitamin E gift box x 1

Nourishing green tea (detoxify, thirst quenching, anti-radiation, anti-oxidant. A must have for the summer time. I hope that son will be good and drink them per instructions as included in the notebook T^T)

___

Translator's notes:

1.     Lamps in temples use cloth lamp shades, so the light will have a bluish hue.

2.     In case there's a relevance, the nick Mang Zhi literally means "blind branch [of a tree]".

3.     Qing Dengxia – direct translation is "under the blue light". Specifically, this also coincides with the last line of MC's song Enlighten Me. As the ML wanted to become a Taoist priest in his book, there are some Buddhism references in this book.

4.     Ge – big brother

Translator's rambling:

1.     Yes, that was, indeed her son / ML.

2.     I personally like MC's personality a lot. ^__^