“Stagehand?”
“You lousy System.”
Looking at the new task the System had issued, Chen Cheng nearly wanted to uninstall it.
What kind of System in this world made its host do odd jobs?
Were they giving him some simple position?
However.
It seemed that this job really was quite simple.
Although he complained,
Chen Cheng suddenly had no idea what he could do in the film crew.
He had no intention of becoming an actor at present.
With Chen Cheng’s current qualifications, he would not get any decent position behind the scenes either. He could only start from the very bottom.
At the very bottom, there was only one position: stagehand.
“Forget it. I’ll be a stagehand, then.”
Chen Cheng had always been fairly open-minded.
Although stagehands did odd jobs and could be said to have the lowest status in the film crew, at least he would be staying with the film crew.
Besides, the System offered rewards.
He had nothing much to do during summer vacation anyway, so staying with the film crew and becoming familiar with everyone would be good.
Moreover.
Chen Cheng looked at himself. He was somewhat thin, so it was no wonder that his physique in the system values was only 55, still below the passing mark.
This reminded Chen Cheng of his previous life.
In his previous life, he had not been completely without opportunities as an actor.
Once, he had an opportunity to play the male lead.
But, unfortunately, he fell ill at that time, and the illness lasted for two months.
In the end, the male lead role passed Chen Cheng by.
After that, Chen Cheng never encountered another male lead role, although that particular role had not been in a major production.
Sometimes, Chen Cheng could not help sighing.
It depended on the times, and it depended on fate.
After rubbing his forehead, Chen Cheng stopped thinking about it.
He would regard the matters of the past as nothing more than a dream.
The great Teacher had once said that the body was the capital of the Revolution.
Having been given a second life, Chen Cheng did not know whether he could become a Major director in the future, but he should improve his physical condition first.
Without a good body, everything else was pointless.
Thinking no further, Chen Cheng prepared to go to the film crew for an interview.
…
Ring…
Just then, a ringtone sounded, and Chen Cheng took out the secondhand Nokia Cell Phone he had bought for 200 yuan.
Looking at its black-and-white screen, Chen Cheng felt a sense of familiarity.
These black-and-white phones were much better than the smartphones of later generations.
After all, apart from making calls and sending messages, they could no longer be used to idly browse beautiful women, watch videos, or waste time.
“Brother Gouzi, what’s up?”
The person on the other end was Chen Cheng’s classmate and roommate, Zhang Wei, whose nickname was Brother Gouzi.
“Chen Cheng, what’s your situation over there? Have you auditioned yet?”
“Auditioned for what?”
“Damn, you didn’t forget, did you? Didn’t the school assign us a month-long summer assignment to gain experience with a film crew?”
“Uh… I’m already in Hengdian.”
“Not bad! Are there any good roles? Recommend one to your Gor Gor.”
“Not a damn one.”
“Then what do we do?”
“What can we do? I’m going to try out as a background actor.”
“What? A background actor? Brother, you’re a top student from the Beijing Film Academy Acting Department, and you’re actually going to be a background actor? Is that even acceptable? You’ve completely disgraced the Beijing Film Academy. As for this decision of yours, I can only say: you little clever devil, I’m going to get a background actor job too.”
“…”
That fellow was quite a character as well. Chen Cheng smiled and hung up.
There was nothing else he could do.
There were so many students in the Beijing Film Academy Acting Department. How could there be enough productions to act in, let alone enough roles for everyone?
Not to mention that they had not even reached their second year. Even among those who had graduated in their fourth year, many still could not get particularly good roles.
If they truly could not secure a good role, they could take a background actor job and return, treating it as completion of their summer assignment.
However, Chen Cheng did not want to be a background actor. For now, he only wanted to interview for the position of stagehand.
After looking at the film crew’s recruitment staff ahead, Chen Cheng walked over.
Just like background actors,
the interview for stagehands was very simple.
This was mainly because stagehands, like background actors, did not require much technical skill.
However, although the job did not require technical skill, stagehands still needed to be in fairly good physical condition.
Seeing that the somewhat thin Chen Cheng was responsible for recruiting stagehands and managing on-site affairs, the “unit production manager” frowned. “Young man, being a stagehand is very hard work. Can you handle it?”
“Teacher, I can handle it.”
“Then… all right.”
The unit production manager hesitated somewhat, but after looking around and seeing that hardly anyone else had come to interview for the stagehand position, he nodded.
That was simply how reality was.
Although the work of a stagehand looked simple, it had one major drawback.
Apart from requiring good physical condition, the job was truly, incredibly exhausting.
At times, it was even more tiring than hauling bricks at a construction site.
That was why one would see
large numbers of people applying to be background actors
on a film crew, while hardly anyone applied to be a stagehand.
That was also why the unit production manager hired Chen Cheng.
“Pack your luggage first. Starting tomorrow, you’ll have to follow the film crew. A bus will come to pick you up tomorrow morning. The whole period will take about a month and a half. The film crew provides food and lodging, and it’s best not to request leave midway.”
“This is my phone number. Write it down. My surname is Liu. Call me if anything comes up. Any questions?”
“Thank you, Teacher Liu. No questions.”
After accepting Liu Qiang’s business card, Chen Cheng saved the phone number.
At the same time, on the Producer Track section of the system panel, 【Stagehand】 lit up instantly, with the words “In Progress” displayed above it.
…
“Chen Cheng, lift the equipment.”
The next day, Chen Cheng boarded a bus early in the morning and headed to the film crew.
As a stagehand,
Chen Cheng did not need to know what the production was about, nor did he need to know which Director was filming it.
His task was to handle all kinds of odd jobs for the film crew.
For example, transporting equipment, setting up set scenes, laying down shooting tracks, distributing boxed meals… as well as running all sorts of errands.
In short, he had to do everything and remain with the film crew at all times, waiting for assignments.
“This is really heavy.”
Although Chen Cheng knew the film crew well, it was only after actually becoming a stagehand that he understood how heavy some of the equipment was.
Fortunately, Chen Cheng was not the only stagehand.
The particularly heavy items could be carried by two people together.
Even so,
after continuously moving various pieces of equipment for two hours, Chen Cheng’s legs had begun to go numb.
Fortunately, once the heavy work for the day was finished, the rest was relatively easy.
“Chen Cheng, take a break.”
Chen Cheng’s partner was a middle-aged man surnamed Leng, whom everyone in the film crew called Uncle Leng.
“That wore you out, didn’t it?”
Handing Chen Cheng a bottle of water, Uncle Leng said with a cheerful laugh, “I really don’t understand. Why would a young fellow like you come to be a stagehand? If you really like filming, go be a background actor. The pay for background actors isn’t high, but the work isn’t tiring at all. When there’s nothing to do, look at them—they rest for most of the day.”
“This, well… Uncle Leng, I mainly want to train my body.”
“Train your body?”
“That’s right. Look, being a stagehand both trains your body and earns you money. How great is that?”
“Hahaha…”
Uncle Leng burst out laughing. “That’s a pretty fresh idea.”
“Uncle Leng, what about you? Why did you become a stagehand?”
“Me? I’m doing it to make money.”
Uncle Leng answered directly.
However, Chen Cheng said, “But it seems stagehands aren’t paid very well either.”
“The pay isn’t high, but stagehands get food and lodging. I don’t have many expenses in my daily life. On top of that, filming often involves overtime, and the overtime pay is pretty good. I didn’t study much, and I don’t have any special skills. All I have is my strength. Since I still have some strength left, I want to earn more money.”
“Uncle Leng, you’re awesome.”
Chen Cheng gave Uncle Leng a thumbs-up, feeling deeply impressed.
“What’s so awesome about it? Look, more work’s coming. Come on, let’s get to it…”
“Let’s get to work.”
After patting his backside, Chen Cheng followed him.
…
“I’m exhausted.”
At ten o’clock that night, the film crew finished for the day.
But when the film crew finished, Chen Cheng could not finish work.
After the film crew wrapped, Chen Cheng still had to spend time organizing all kinds of equipment and tidying up the entire set.
It was not until midnight that Chen Cheng finally went to sleep.
At six o’clock the next morning, none of the actors had woken up yet.
However, since the film crew had to start work again that day, Chen Cheng had to finish a series of preparations before everyone else.
After spending only twenty minutes washing up and eating breakfast, another day of work began.
For an entire week, this was how Chen Cheng got through each day.
Throughout that week, Chen Cheng felt every time that he could not hold on.
Even
several times, Chen Cheng wanted to quit, but Later he gritted his teeth and endured.
On the one hand, having lived a second life had made his resolve more mature, so he would not give up easily.
On the other hand, it was also because, during that week, Chen Cheng saw that his physique had changed considerably on the system panel.
Previously, Chen Cheng’s physique was 55+0.1.
After a week of labor, Chen Cheng’s physique had become 55+1.2.
Although adding 1.2 attribute points had not caused any major change, Chen Cheng could still feel the subtle differences.
For example, when transporting equipment, Chen Cheng felt that he had become somewhat stronger.
His endurance had also improved somewhat.
Of course,
there was one more thing that was most important.
After a week of labor, Chen Cheng received a skill reward from the System: Vigorous Energy.
This skill was a passive skill and could not be activated or displayed in any obvious way.
However, after this skill appeared, Chen Cheng discovered that his sleep had become extraordinarily good.
Whenever he wanted to sleep, Chen Cheng would usually fall asleep in less than five seconds.
Not only did he fall asleep quickly, but Chen Cheng also discovered that his sleep quality was extremely high.
Thus, although the film crew worked overtime until midnight every day over the past few days, Chen Cheng felt fully revived as soon as he woke up, and all the fatigue from the previous day had vanished.