The movie “Late Winter” is an art film that lasts two hours and forty minutes.
It took Guo Yi three days to intermittently finish watching it. But even when he reached the last second of the progress bar, he still didn’t understand why Lin Guo would wear that red sweater at the end.
Perhaps it was to celebrate his departed youth, or perhaps it was to commemorate the decline of an era. Guo Yi pondered for a while and sent a message to Lin Guo.
[Guo Yi: Red represents hope, so it should be to balance out the tragic tone of the movie]
He thought he’d have to wait until midnight for a reply, but this time Lin Guo’s message came back quickly.
[Lin Guo: That’s not it]
Guo Yi thought for a moment, prepared to send another reply, but by then Lin Guo had already sent the correct answer.
[Lin Guo: Because the costume department made me wear it]
[Lin Guo: ^ ^]
Guo Yi took a deep breath, suppressing the vein that was popping up on his forehead. He kept reminding himself to stay calm like Manager Ding and not offend the client.
[Guo Yi: Can you tell me the shooting location now?]
[Lin Guo: You can Google it yourself]
Guo Yi searched for information about Lin Guo’s new film on Baidu and quickly found out that the filming location was a well-known film and television studio in China.
Then why did he spend so much time watching this movie?!
“What’s wrong? Why the gloomy face so early in the morning?”
Ding Yinan came to Guo Yi’s desk with a mug in hand and placed a stack of documents on his table.
Guo Yi shook his head, his gaze lingering on the documents. “Difficult client,” he said.
“Which client?” Ding Yinan asked.
“Lin Guo,” Guo Yi replied.
“You might as well just mail him the color cards and samples.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Sounds like a plan,” Ding Yinan said. “That would be best.”
Although the words were encouraging, Guo Yi knew that Ding Yinan was just trying to comfort him. At this stage, he wouldn’t be able to finalize the details of the later stages, meaning he would still have to contact Lin Guo in the future.
This weekend, for the first time in his life, Guo Yi came to a place like a film studio. Lin Guo was considerate enough to promise to spare half an hour in the evening to meet with him.
However, as Guo Yi waited on the set until eight o’clock in the evening, Lin Guo was still not done, repeatedly shooting scenes of jumping from the roof of one small building to another.
With nothing else to do, Guo Yi chatted with the crew. They said there were a lot of fight scenes in this movie, and Lin Guo, as the male lead, had undergone three grueling months of training before shooting began.
In Guo Yi’s perception, men as fair and handsome as Lin Guo were invariably effeminate. However, upon meeting Lin Guo in person, he realized that this big star was not as delicate as he had imagined; his lean body exuded great explosive power.
As the director shouted “cut” once again, Lin Guo finished the shot of maneuvering between buildings. With the assistant by his side, he headed toward the direction of the shuttle bus.
Seizing the opportunity, Guo Yi approached Lin Guo and said, “Hello.”
Lin Guo didn’t stop, just glanced at Guo Yi casually. But in the next second, he must have remembered who Guo Yi was. He slowed down slightly and asked, “You’re the assistant designer, right?”
Guo Yi nodded. “Yes.”
“Come to my car.”
The assistant brought three boxed meals and handed one to Guo Yi. Guo Yi thanked him and set the boxed meal aside temporarily. He took off his backpack and placed it beside him.
He intended to seize the opportunity to confirm various details with Lin Guo. However, Lin Guo didn’t seem to have any intention of paying attention to him. He simply took off his right Martin boot and said to the assistant, “Check my ankle.”
It wasn’t until this moment that Guo Yi noticed Lin Guo’s ankle was quite swollen. He thought of the leaping figure between the buildings just now and briefly wondered if Lin Guo had used a stunt double. But he knew Lin Guo hadn’t.
“My ancestors, couldn’t you have mentioned it earlier?” The assistant lifted Lin Guo’s ankle to inspect it, a pained expression on his face.
“If that damn shot had been finished earlier, it would’ve been easier,” Lin Guo said.
The assistant went outside to get a first aid kit, leaving only Lin Guo and Guo Yi in the shuttle bus.
Guo Yi was hesitating whether he should talk about work when someone was injured. Unexpectedly, Lin Guo extended his hand towards him and said, “Show me what needs to be confirmed.”
Guo Yi took out the color cards from his backpack while asking tentatively, “Is your ankle feeling better?”
In truth, Guo Yi didn’t usually engage in such meaningless conversations. It wasn’t his place to care about Lin Guo’s ankle, and asking such questions with his position and status could easily be seen as meddling.
But the reason he asked was because he felt somewhat guilty deep down. He subconsciously believed that big stars were difficult to please, so he had assumed that Lin Guo was intentionally giving him a hard time. Yet, once he arrived on set, he realized that Lin Guo’s job wasn’t easy either – he truly didn’t have time to manage the house matters, except, of course, for “Late Winter.”
Everyone had its reasons, and maybe Lin Guo’s personality was a bit off-putting, but at the very least, he wasn’t careless in his work.
“Do they look okay to you?” Lin Guo casually asked while taking the color cards from Guo Yi’s hand and flipping through them. “Just these few colors?”
“Yes, you can choose from these.” Guo Yi said, “These tones align well with the overall style of the house.”
“Then this lighter one.”
In the next five minutes, Lin Guo confirmed all the details that needed confirmation. The process was surprisingly smooth.
Guo Yi had encountered many people with decision-making difficulties, so he had thought Lin Guo would drag it out. However, Lin Guo was much more carefree than he had imagined.
Now Guo Yi felt even guiltier because, until just now, he thought Lin Guo was a temperamental diva.
The assistant quickly came back carrying a medical kit, holding a hot towel in his hand. While complaining about Lin Guo’s carelessness, he lifted Lin Guo’s ankle and placed the hot towel on it.
“Tomorrow’s scene still involves going into the water. Look at your foot, what should we do about it?”
The pain made Lin Guo’s brow furrow suddenly. Guo Yi, who was beside him, felt increasingly uneasy as he looked at Lin Guo’s expression. He quickly interrupted the assistant’s incessant muttering, saying, “Um, his ankle shouldn’t be heated right now.”
“Heat is usually applied for a sprain, right?” The assistant looked at Guo Yi inquiringly.
“Heating a freshly sprained ankle could actually exacerbate the injury.” Guo Yi glanced at the portable fridge nearby and asked, “Do you have frozen bottled water or something like that in there?”
At first, the assistant was skeptical, but after searching online, he found that what Guo Yi said was indeed true – heat should not be applied to a sprain within the first 24 hours.
Seeing that the assistant didn’t quite understand, Guo Yi decided to place Lin Guo’s heel on his own thigh and fetched a bottle of ice water from the fridge to use for cold therapy.
In theory, Guo Yi didn’t need to go to this extent, but since he had slightly changed his opinion about Lin Guo, he didn’t mind lending a helping hand.
“Does it feel better now?” Guo Yi lifted Lin Guo’s calf with one hand and asked. The fair and slender calf, devoid of any excess flesh, contrasted distinctly with Guo Yi’s wheat-colored hand.
“It’s okay,” Lin Guo responded lazily. Judging from his expression, the pain had subsided.
“You shouldn’t have overexerted yourself just now.” Guo Yi said while continuing to apply the cold compress to Lin Guo’s ankle.
“I know what I’m doing,” Lin Guo said.
“If you knew, your ankle wouldn’t be like this right now.” Guo Yi said. “I suggest you rest tomorrow, or else…”
“Hey,” Lin Guo interrupted Guo Yi, “are you trying to lecture me?”
Guo Yi closed his mouth and focused on tending Lin Guo’s ankle.
“How old are you?” Lin Guo asked.
“22,” Guo Yi replied.
“So young.”
As Lin Guo spoke, he suddenly relaxed the upward bent knee, allowing the entire weight of his leg to press onto Guo Yi’s hand and thigh.
The relaxation of his knee caused Lin Guo’s leg to stretch straight, and his heel moved a bit towards the base of Guo Yi’s thigh.
Without overthinking, Guo Yi held onto Lin Guo’s foot and continued with the cold therapy.
“Do you think ‘Late Winter’ is a good movie?” Lin Guo asked again.
Guo Yi hesitated for a second and responded, “It’s alright.”
“You think it’s not good.” Lin Guo immediately saw through Guo Yi’s thoughts. At this moment, he suddenly furrowed his brow, wiggled his toes, and let out a hiss of discomfort.
“Hm.”
“Does it hurt?” Guo Yi lifted his gaze, looking at Lin Guo as he asked.
“It’s manageable.” Lin Guo relaxed again, his heel once again moving towards the base of Guo Yi’s thigh. With an air of casualness, he said, “My calf feels a bit sore, can you give me a massage?”
One of Guo Yi’s body parts was brushed against, causing him to slightly freeze for a moment. He thought, why is this client acting like a young master?
Yes why I wonder …. eheheheheheh
Thank you for translating !