Chapter 267 - Played by a Little Girl
Chapter 267: Played by a Little Girl
“However, if we didn’t use it, we would delay the filming process. That would cost a lot for the sponsors. Fortunately, Tan Mo is Professor Guo’s student as well and had some first-hand experience in scriptwriting,” Director Liu went on, lying about the fact that Tan Mo had never written a script before. “Of course, Tan Mo did her best to write the script as fast as she could, but it would have been almost impossible for anyone to finish the whole thing in a week. In the end, we decided to film an episode as soon as she finished the script for that. This was a slower process than filming after completing the whole script, yes, but at least we could start filming as scheduled.
Director Liu paused to take a breath and went on, “The reason Tan Mo used a pseudonym was that she doesn’t want to stand out. Also, she’s afraid that people might judge her negatively because of her age, and it would affect the drama. It’s amazing how a young lady like her was willing to sacrifice fame for the drama. Now that the series has concluded and had been well received by the community, I believe it’s time for me to introduce the most important piece of its success.”
The cameramen did not stop snapping pictures of Tan Mo and Director Liu, while the reporters swiftly sent messages back to their companies, asking their colleagues to help confirm the story.
They could either interview people at Beijing University or Tsinghua University to learn if the director was telling the truth or not.
The best outcome for these news agencies was if they could either interview President Mu, Professor Zhao, or Professor Guo, but even if they couldn’t, asking about Tan Mo from her fellow students would be more than enough to judge the authenticity of the story.
Fortunately for them, they were able to run into a lot of students on the campus at the time they arrived.
“That was informative. Thank you for introducing us to Tan Mo and clearing up all the questions that everyone had ever since the scandal surfaced,” the host thanked Director Liu and turned to Tan Mo. “Ms. Tan, it’s no secret that you are nominated for the Best Script Award. How confident are you at winning the title?”
“I’m more than honored enough to be nominated for the award,” Tan Mo said, smiling. “I’m still inexperienced compared to all the other nominees and still have a lot to learn from them. It’s natural that they would win instead of me.”
That was the answer that the host had expected. Whenever he interviewed a nominee and asked about their confidence in winning the prize, everyone would give the same answer so that they would appear humble and would not embarrass themselves if they didn’t win the award.
“That’s right. You are still young after all and have a lot to learn. But I’m sure that with time and hard work, you’ll be able to achieve even greater success,” the host smiled.
Unfortunately for the host, he didn’t know Tan Mo’s true personality.
As soon as the host said that, the students of Beijing University and Tsinghua University could only smile bitterly.
Some of the Tsinghua University students even covered their faces when they saw that.
They knew the next scene would be brutal.
Back at the event, Tan Mo nodded happily and replied, “That’s right! I’m still only 17 years old after all. Oh, wait, my birthday is in a few months, but since we are going by the year, I’ll say I’m 17, right? Well, anyway, I was only 16 when I wrote the script, so you’re right. I still have a lot to learn.”
The host could only look at Tan Mo speechlessly, unable to tell if the young lady was being humble or was trying to boast.
It was already a huge honor for someone to be nominated for the award, but achieving that at the age of 17, or, technically, at the age of 16, was something else.
The host almost forgot the fact that Tan Mo had written the script a year ago.
She’s being humble, right?
That was the only thought going through the host’s head right now.
“But…am I the youngest to ever get nominated?” Tan Mo asked as she stared at the host with her big eyes.
“Uh…I…I think so…” The host thought about it and quickly came to a different conclusion.
Not only had the host never heard of any scriptwriter being nominated at the age of 16, but he’d also never heard of a single person writing scripts for successful dramas at that age.
The host had finally recognized what kind of a person Tan Mo was, that she wasn’t as humble as he thought.
Afraid that he was going to get played by this little girl and, in turn, offend someone else, the host abruptly ended the conversation. “I see. Thank you for your time. Ladies and gentlemen, once again, this is the team that created the successful ‘Legend of Wei and Jin’!”
The host then quickly urged the team to enter the venue because he was completely afraid of the little girl among them now.
After the team left the red carpet event, the surroundings finally returned to their normal state.
As soon as Tan Mo was out of the cameras’ range, Zhou Jingan quickly helped put her jacket back on for her.
“Oh, my God! I’m freezing!” Tan Mo wailed as she wrapped her jacket around her body tightly.
“Let’s hurry inside. There are heaters in there, and all the chairs have warming pads on them,” Zhou Jingan urged. “Mrs. Tan also brought a thicker jacket for you as well. You’ll feel better once you sit down.”
Tan Mo was rubbing her hands while blowing warm air onto them.
Seeing Tan Jinqi was with Tan Mo, Zhou Jingan leaned in and whispered to the oldest Tan sibling, “I’ll take my leave first. I need to tell Young Master Wei about Yu Yixian.”
Tan Jinqi immediately understood what Zhou Jingan wanted to do and nodded, “Sure thing. Tan Mo will be fine with me around.”
There was no way the oldest brother would let his cute little sister get bullied.
Zhou Jingan nodded and left. It didn’t take him long to locate Wei Zhiqian among the crowd.
The man was sitting in the audience, but fortunately the venue wasn’t crowded yet as the celebrities were still having their interviews and photos taken outside.
Zhou Jingan approached Wei Zhiqian and noticed Tan Mo’s name tag was stuck on the back of the chair next to the man.
“Young Master,” Zhou Jingan greeted him.
Wei Zhiqian turned around and was surprised to see his personal assistant here. “Did Mo Mo finish the red carpet event?”
Zhou Jingan nodded and leaned in to whisper next to Wei Zhiqian’s ear.
The man’s expression turned cold the next instant, and Zhou Jingan could faintly hear him grinding his teeth.
Wei Zhiqian stood up and said, “Let’s go!”
Zhou Jingan didn’t need his boss to tell him where to go to know what the man was planning to do.
However, Xiao Menghan wasn’t in the loop and didn’t know why her son was suddenly leaving his seat. “Where are you two going?”
“Oh, I’m just a tad interested in the list of nominees,” Wei Zhiqian answered with a smile.
“Ah, I see! You want to see if Mo Mo won or not, right?” Xiao Menghan grinned.
“No. I would rather wait for Mo Mo to find out. There’s no point in learning about the result first. The unknown is what makes this exciting.”
Wei Zhiqian wasn’t really bothered if Tan Mo didn’t win the award. It was okay if she didn’t, as the award wasn’t the only thing that decided if her work was good or not. The success of the drama was more than enough to prove that.
However, if she did win the award, Wei Zhiqian wanted to be there to see Tan Mo’s genuine reaction.
He could already tell how cute she would look.
If he were to learn about the result beforehand, he knew that he would never be able to hold himself back from telling her.
That was why he decided to hold back his urge to learn about the result first.
Xiao Menghan was completely confused now. She wondered why her son was interested in the nominees if it wasn’t about Tan Mo. He was never the type of person who was interested in things that didn’t concern him or the people he was acquainted with.
But, seeing how serious Wei Zhiqian was at the moment, the mother decided not to ask about it and nodded. “I see. Hurry up then.”
Wei Zhiqan smiled and left with Zhou Jingan.
Just a few seconds after Wei Zhiqian left, Tan Mo arrived inside the venue with her oldest brother.
They quickly spotted their parents and Xiao Menghan and walked toward their seats.