After the variety show ended, if Gu Nian didn’t deliberately pay attention to CP fans, his life didn’t change much except for having a few more “New Year Goods” fans.
The approach of New Year Goods fans to star chasing: Kid, it’s okay if you’re stupid, mommy loves you anyway.
Before meeting Duan Shen, Gu Nian had never let anyone call him stupid!
But this feeling of injustice was pent up in Gu Nian’s heart because recently he had done some really stupid things. Through the last variety show, Gu Nian suspected that Duan Shen actually didn’t like him and the babies. Out of some psychological reason, he no longer brought the babies to Duan Shen or even taught them to say “daddy”.
If the babies learned to say “daddy” but Duan Shen didn’t like them, that would be too pitiful.
However, Duan Shen’s attitude had subtly changed. Sometimes when Gu Nian didn’t call him, he would still take the initiative to help with heating water or changing diapers.
…
After the Chinese New Year, the movie in which Duan Shen and Gu Nian collaborated for the first time started shooting. The early stage was in the film and television city, and the later stage was in the mountains.
The entire crew was supported by the Emperor and veteran actors. Flowery actors like Gu Nian felt out of place.
During acting, he would often be led by the other party and sometimes even exaggerated his accent along with them, making even the director laugh.
Gu Nian was cast as the male lead by Duan Shen himself, and everyone knew it, so no one accused him of having poor acting skills to his face.
That’s when he realized that his laissez-faire acting skills, in front of real artists, were like a clown’s performance, and even his pride in his memory—when editing the video of Duan Shen giving birth, he could cite various obscure materials—didn’t give him much advantage in remembering lines.
What’s the use of memorizing them? The director isn’t looking for who can recite them word for word.
Gu Nian sat on the floor with his head empty, holding baby number eighteen in his arms, feeding milk with one hand.
Every time the director shouted “cut,” there were two reactions from the people present: one group looked at him, and the other group looked at Duan Shen. It was like being called out in class by the teacher and not being able to answer, being gossiped about by everyone.
Duan Shen didn’t have much of a reaction, doing what he needed to do as if he didn’t know him.
He had embarrassed the Emperor.
Gu Nian sighed again, and suddenly his arms felt empty. A few sheets of paper floated down lightly, and when he picked them up, he found that they were the script handwritten by Duan Shen.
The script from the Third Dimension couldn’t be brought into the Second Dimension, so Duan Shen had just written it an hour ago, detailing the scenes to be filmed tomorrow, including Gu Nian and himself, as well as some other supporting roles.
“This…”
“Slow and steady wins the race.” Duan Shen patted the baby’s back. “You haven’t had professional acting classes, so you have to put in twice or even several times as much effort as others.”
Gu Nian’s eyes welled up with tears. When did Duan Shen become so considerate?
“It’s a bit stupid, but luckily you have more time.” Duan Shen nodded. “Go over there and practice by yourself.”
Gu Nian instantly retracted his touched feelings. “But what about the baby…”
Duan Shen: “I’ll watch them for you for a while.”
Gu Nian: “It’s time to change the diaper now…”
Duan Shen’s face darkened. “…”
So it turned into Gu Nian rehearsing lines on the sofa while Duan Shen changed the babies’ diapers one by one, as if their roles had been reversed.
“Speak up.”
“Loosen up, you’re acting, not walking the red carpet.”
“Even Second Baby cries louder than you.”
Duan the Emperor was really strict, taking care of the babies while simultaneously correcting his mistakes in real time, as if he had eight eyes.
“Still speaking so stiffly, no wonder whenever Lao Zhang opens his mouth, you just follow him around. Do you think it’s cool to follow behind others?”
“Not…” Gu Nian turned around and apologized to the Emperor with embarrassment, only to find that Duan Shen had somehow brought in 36 baby seats, arranged in a 6×6 grid.
The babies were very excited to see Gu Nian, waving their little hands and tapping the guardrails of the chairs, their eyes shining brightly, giving him a lot of encouragement.
The Emperor stood on the side holding his hands. “Continue.”
He was making a fool of himself in front of his sons.
Gu Nian gritted his teeth and recited his lines, “Dad, what era is it now…”
“After drinking foreign ink for so many years, you’ve forgotten our ancestors’ words. Your childhood bowls and chopsticks are still there!” Duan Shen said emotionlessly, but his voice was full of emotion, just like Lao Zhang, who played Gu Nian’s father.
“Dad, did you hear what I just said…”
……
The lines from page five, except for the male second lead, are all performed by Duan Shen. Gu Nian felt immense pressure at the beginning, but gradually eased into the role, even calling ‘dad’ more smoothly as time passed.
Duan Shen commented, “The ‘dad’ part is well done.”
The character of the second male lead in the play is both reverent and dependent on his father, a complex portrayal, which Gu Nian managed to embody.
“Dad—dad—”
The second baby, with some prior learning foundation and after hearing Gu Nian call out countless times today with sincerity, suddenly grasped it. He waved his little hand, accurately conveying the message — “Can the baby have milk now?”
Gu Nian and Duan Shen were both stunned.
With 36 babies, there was a powerful chain reaction. After the second baby called out, gradually, one by one, the voices of “dad” echoed. Because even their tones were exactly the same, Gu Nian couldn’t even tell who was calling. It was like a game of Whack-a-Mole, with heads popping up here and there.
“They can call ‘dad’ now!” Gu Nian happily hooked his arm around Duan Shen’s, dispelling the frustration brought on by acting.
He pulled Duan Shen along to look at each one, “Ah, this one can call!”
“Little Seventeen is the loudest!”
“Little Five’s voice is a bit soft, he needs to drink more milk.”
“If you call ‘dad’, there’s milk to drink, so wait!” Gu Nian rushed into the kitchen like a whirlwind, bustling around.
At first, Duan Shen had a straight face, seemingly indifferent to the whole thing. But he couldn’t resist Gu Nian’s constant excitement and reports of good news in his ear, which made him unable to help but smirk and pinch Gu Nian’s neck.
“You fool.”
“It’s okay if I’m a fool, my son is the smartest in the world!” Gu Nian said joyfully.
With the joint efforts of the movie emperor, Gu Nian’s acting had greatly improved, although not to the point of stunning, at least it no longer felt out of place on the set.
In early March, as the snow began to melt, the filming in the first phase of the studio ended, and they were about to move to the mountains for shooting.
This part didn’t have any scenes for Gu Nian. He volunteered to go and learn, but Duan Shen blocked him with a casual “The shooting conditions are not good, it’s troublesome.”
Gu Nian’s agent didn’t know whether Gu Nian’s film career would take off. She and the fans shared the same concern: if his acting wasn’t good, the movie might be criticized by the audience.
“Why go when you can come back and cater to your fans.”
Gu Nian had no choice but to return to his identity as a small-time celebrity.
Fortunately, they could still meet in the evening.
“I’m currently in a rapid period of acting improvement. If Duan Emperor isn’t there, won’t I just fall short?”
That’s right, just like that.
Although Gu Nian wasn’t staying with the crew, a new young man joined the crew, from Japan, seemingly trying to replicate Gu Nian’s path. But before anything substantial happened, he forcefully pushed to hype up the Duan Shen ship.
On a large-scale fan forum, a “random passerby” post suddenly became popular.
Anyone want to chat? Recently been testing the waters on the edge, Duan Shen and Yuan Yuan are really addictive.
1L: That Japanese guy? Revealing identity, give me money.
2L: I’m the world’s number one peak in shipping, who are you?
3L: Haha, don’t mess with Mount Fuji touching Mount Everest. I, the deep valley of the Himalayas, am not to be trifled with.
4L: Nian Nian hasn’t interacted much with the Emperor lately, I’m starting to feel overwhelmed.
5L: Sisters! Even if you can’t handle it, you have to support me! Even if the sky falls, you have to hold it up!
……
10: The snow of Mount Everest is my ship’s sugar.
11: Xie Xie put it so well, I can lick this sugar until next year.
……
97: What are the fans doing up so late again?
98: Hehe, spring is here, glaciers are melting, I want to lie at the foot of the Himalayas and taste the first sip of snow sugar from my ship!
99: Let me try, too!
……
After the fifth floor, the thread took a different direction, and the poster never showed up again.
But some things did come true as mentioned in this post.
In mid-March, there was a major geological disaster at the location of Duan Shen’s crew. The melting snow seeped into the slopes, causing severe landslides and mudslides. Millions of cubic meters of soil and rock destroyed all communication and transportation.
The selected filming location of the crew was relatively primitive, and with the transportation already not well developed, they almost vanished in the mountains.
With multiple landslides, the scope of the search and rescue expanded. There were many small villages in the mountains, and the crew was just one of them. Even the most glamorous stars had no privileges in the face of natural disasters and could only wait quietly.
Duan Shen’s studio immediately issued a statement, donating a million for rescue efforts in the disaster area. Despite their urgent concern, they still stated that they would not ask the police to conduct rescue operations first.
When Gu Nian saw the designated location of the disaster, his blood ran cold. It was exactly where Duan Shen was. Last night, Duan Shen was still talking to him, reluctantly mentioning a few words about the local natural environment, saying that there would be a scene on the snow line tomorrow, and they could come back after shooting.
Duan Shen looked at him with a smile but not a smile, “Seeing each other in the evening isn’t enough?”
There was indeed a difference between the real person and the spiritual one… Gu Nian retorted stubbornly, “I’m worried that if you don’t come back, I’ll forget how to act again!”
Duan Shen said, “Alright, you’re confidently foolish.”
……
As the crew’s whereabouts remained unknown, As the messages from the crew continued to be absent, Gu Nian finally put down his phone and lay on the bed, trying to self-hypnotize: “I can see him in the 2D world, I need to sleep immediately…”
The more anxious he became, the more he tossed and turned. In the later hours of the night, Gu Nian made an excuse to go to his agent’s room to get the script and stole three sleeping pills from her.
He swallowed them all in one go, and the effects were evident. Half an hour later, Gu Nian successfully entered the 2D world.
But Duan Shen didn’t come.
Gu Nian anxiously curled up on the sofa, waiting for Duan Shen. Tonight, the children all slept soundly, as if they also knew that their two dads were too preoccupied to attend to them.
There won’t be any problems.
It’s possible that Duan Shen can’t sleep now either.
He’s so clever, there won’t be any problems.
Four hours later, just before dawn, Duan Shen still hadn’t arrived.
Rationally, Gu Nian knew this was a normal situation. No one could sleep peacefully in a place where another landslide could occur at any moment.
But being worried was another matter.
He gritted his teeth and decided to call out to the system. Duan Shen forbid him from talking to the system alone, but Gu Nian couldn’t care about that right now.
He could be occasionally clever!
System: Sorry dear, under normal circumstances, if the other party is not sound asleep, we cannot freely detect their information. It would disrupt the 3D world and cause unnecessary trouble.
Gu Nian: “What about special circumstances? Please.”
Could something have happened to Duan Shen, so he can’t come? Gu Nian dared not to think.
System with a smile: “It’s not impossible, but it requires a certain amount of energy, unless you agree to something else.”
Just as Gu Nian was about to blurt out “I agree,” he suddenly remembered Duan Shen’s warning and asked, “What else?”
System: “Well, you see, the passage of time in both dimensions is the same. During the time you and Duan Shen are awake, the 36 babies are left unattended. The system temporarily takes care of them, which consumes energy. If I use energy to detect information from the 3D world, then I won’t be able to do both. So, if you’re willing to extend the time you spend taking care of the babies in the 2D world, I’ll have extra energy to use.”
Gu Nian: “How do I extend it?”
System: “Don’t worry about that. It’s just during your nap or when you’re dozing off, relatively light sleep, you can enter the 2D world.”
Gu Nian thought about it. This didn’t seem like such an unacceptable thing. After all, it’s all sleep. It didn’t matter where he went. From his experience, taking care of the babies in the 2D world, though tiring, didn’t really affect his work the next day. Plus, he could spend more time with the babies.
“I agree.”
“Transaction successful. Now I will check Duan Shen’s information for you… beep… Checking result, all good. Status: tired; external injuries: none; danger: none…”
“Phew… thank you.” Gu Nian breathed a sigh of relief, sitting on the floor. He had taken sleeping pills today, so his time in the 2D world was unusually long.
Long enough for Duan Shen to briefly enter for thirty minutes.
Just as the crew finished work, they encountered a landslide. Fortunately, they noticed it early and ran to a safe place. Communication was cut off, they were hungry and thirsty, and everyone stayed up all night, afraid to close their eyes. But everyone had been filming overnight, and they were exhausted. In the end, the director decided to take shifts resting, with someone on duty to wake everyone up if there was any danger.
Whatever difficulties Duan Shen faced in the mountains, he still appeared clean and elegant when he entered the 2D world. He glanced silently at Gu Nian, surprised that he was still in the 2D world at noon. He really could sleep well.
Originally, he wanted to sleep for a while to let Gu Nian know he was safe, but it seemed unnecessary now.
Gu Nian wasn’t surprised to see him, after all, the system had already explained his situation. “You’re here. Is everything okay?”
“No problem, I should be able to come out tonight.” Duan, the movie emperor, said faintly, breaking his usual demeanor by picking up a baby and concealing the inexplicable emotions that welled up inside.
…
The agent’s sleeping pills were stolen, and they almost thought Gu Nian had committed suicide. They were so scared that they rushed him to the hospital. After a thorough examination, the doctor said everything was fine, which eased their worries.
Later, Duan Shen donated two million to the disaster area. Gu Nian hadn’t been in the entertainment industry for long, so he didn’t have that much savings. He quietly donated five hundred thousand anonymously.
Suddenly, the relationship between Duan Shen and Gu Nian cooled down, even the fans of their “couple” noticed.
“I stand at the top of the world, with thousands of acres of good sugar beneath my feet. The wind is so strong, I’m so cold, why hasn’t the wedding candy been distributed yet.”
Gu Nian was completely guilty! He made a deal behind Duan Shen and the system’s back, just for temporary peace of mind. But from the final result, it was almost useless.
He didn’t dare to tell Duan Shen, and recently he was so tired. Clearly only slightly drowsy, in the past, he could just blink and wash his face, and continue reading, but now if he wasn’t careful, he would sleep for an hour, drawn into the 2D world.
His self-control was completely nonexistent, reverting to his state during college calculus classes.
If it weren’t for the fact that he and Duan Shen hadn’t done anything, he would have suspected he was pregnant!
It wasn’t until one time when Gu Nian attended a late-night interview that he almost fell asleep on the studio sofa. That’s when he realized he might have… definitely been tricked by the system.
What they called “fragmented time” was clearly just whenever he felt even the slightest drowsiness, he would be dragged into babysitting mode regardless of time or place.
Gu Nian felt somewhat frustrated. “I really am an idiot.”
Even so, he still didn’t dare to tell Duan Shen.
But one day, while they were reshooting a scene for a movie, Gu Nian actually found himself dozing off on Duan Shen’s shoulder. When he woke up, he felt a bit terrible.
Too unprofessional!
Sure enough, Duan Shen’s eyes darkened slightly, a complex expression crossing his face that Gu Nian couldn’t understand.
“I heard from your agent that you’ve been particularly prone to drowsiness lately?” Duan Shen asked, cutting right to the point.
Gu Nian smiled awkwardly. “How come you’re so familiar with my agent?”
“Don’t change the subject.” Duan Shen couldn’t answer that question.
“Well, you see, I’ve been playing games at night recently, so I feel a bit tired during the day… I’m sorry, I know it’s unprofessional. I’ll stop tonight.”
Without a second word, Duan Shen grabbed Gu Nian’s index finger and unlocked his phone. The screen was clean, with no games downloaded at all.
“I play on the computer!” Gu Nian hastily stood up, but Duan Shen pressed him back down with one hand.
“On the day of my accident, did you take sleeping pills?” Duan Shen looked at him deeply, his emotions unclear. When he was chatting on the phone with his agent earlier, he happened to overhear about this incident.
Duan Shen connected Gu Nian’s calm behavior that day with his reaction today and came up with a guess. He punched Gu Nian’s side, startling him into crouching down.
“I… I didn’t do anything.” Gu Nian’s scalp felt numb.
Duan Shen glanced at him, his chest heaving violently, then turned and walked away.
Gu Nian wanted to sigh with relief, but ended up yawning instead. It seemed like he had managed to get away with it, and Duan Shen probably just disagreed with him taking sleeping pills.
What he didn’t know was that Duan Shen immediately went through all of Gu Nian’s recent schedules.
In the end, he came to a conclusion: Gu Nian’s increasingly severe drowsiness symptoms were affecting his normal life.
At 8 p.m., after Gu Nian had showered and lay down in bed, feeling drowsy, he received a call from the movie emperor.
This was the second time Duan Shen had called him.
The content of the call was eerily similar to what he had imagined the first time.
Gu Nian was so scared his phone almost slipped from his hand.
“We should have a child,” Duan Shen said.
He was really going to drive me crazy!!!
Rain : yes I think so too.. hh
