The room went silent. The only sound that could be heard came from a small electric fan that was blowing at the lady wearing an ancient dress. She laid languidly on a chair with her legs crossed while her assistant held the electric fan at her. These soulless beings have had life sucked out of them.

A sudden bang knocked Shiguang back to reality, “You want me to be a body replacement?”

“Naked replacement to be precise. We need to shoot a sex scene.”

The director scrutinized her body. “The height doesn’t match. But that wouldn’t matter if we only shoot the upper body.”

“Sorry, I don’t do such roles. I have no intentions of playing as a body double at the moment.” Shiguang’s head was still buzzing from the shock.

All she wanted was to turn around and leave.

“I’m very sorry.” Shiguang didn’t even know what she was apologizing for.

The director immediately went into another fit of rage. He threw the script at the assistant director: “I asked you to find a body double. What idiot did you just bring to me!”

Shiguang left quietly. Her clothes were sticky with sweat. She gritted her teeth and looked up when she was out of their sight. There were so many extras in the yard. Everyone is waiting for a chance to climb up.

With so many people graduating from the Film Academy this year alone, how many will become popular in the entertainment industry? Some will slave away and never be able to play the lead and some will never stand out to the public no matter their training and determination.

In such industry, the world will be wrapped in your fingers if you get ahead. Money will pour in like torrent. But on the other end, you’ll be earning less than a blue-collar worker unless you throw away your dignity.

Everyone is working hard for their dreams, and Shiguang is no different- for money, for life, for dreams.

Wang Mei was shocked when she saw Shiguang walking outside in a daze: “Hey! What’s going on? Why did you come out?”

“They wanted me to be naked for the scene.”

Shiguang buried all her pains and shrugged it off with a smile “I couldn’t…”

“That’s not a problem.” Wang Mei embraced her. “Let’s just be little extras.”

“I seem to have offended the assistant director.”

“It’s no big deal just don’t audition for this crew in the future.”

Wang Mei comforted her: “Let’s just pretend that we’re here today for a trip to see the excitement and eat crayfish. My dad just paid for living expenses a few days ago so I am loaded.”

Shiguang choked out a laughter until she saw Hu Lin come out of the room.

“Hey, I’m sorry.” Scratching his head, he muttered. “I didn’t make it clear to you before that the assistant director said he wanted a double.”

“It’s okay.”

Hu Lin paused for a while, not knowing whether or not to continue. His face flushed red: “We already have enough female extras in the crew right now.”

Shiguang who understood the underlying message spoke up.”It’s okay, you go and do your work. We just happened to be here for a stroll.”

Hu Lin raised his head and glanced at Wang Mei, hesitant to speak.

Wang Mei rolled her eyes, tugging Shiguang along. “We’re leaving, you can go.”

“Work Permit–” Hu Lin gritted his teeth and said, “It cannot be taken out of here.”

Wang Mei turned her head exasperated before pulling out the lanyard on her neck and threw it at Hu Lin.

The weather outside the set was even more dreadful. The scorching hit mixed with the crowd of tourist created an unmatched humidity. Shiguang grabbed Wang Mei and asked, “Why are you so angry?”

“More like infuriated.”

“What’s wrong?” Shiguang smiled, pulling her to a stop in front of a convenient store. She got two bottles of water. This was all she could afford right now. In a tourist destination like this, goods are so overpriced. It was basically highway robbery.

Shiguang handed her friend a bottle: “People help us out of kindness. It’s not their duty. Why are you mad?”

Hu Lin has been flirting with Wang Mei for some time now. Others say that he’s enamored with her. Wang Mei knew this as well. After today’s trouble, Wang Mei felt unexplainable shame.

“I am not angry.”Wang Mei took two sips of water.

Shiguang didn’t push further. She was irritated herself. I don’t have much money on me. There hasn’t been a single advertisement recently. At this rate, I wouldn’t be able to last through the month. I need to figure it out soon.

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