There were more orders that afternoon than in the morning, and he ran himself off his feet. He squeezed in time to drink a bottle of water, then kept working for another three hours.
While waiting at a red light, a thought suddenly occurred to him. The system forbade him from taking side jobs in other entertainment fields, but it had never said he couldn't make videos documenting his life.
If he went viral, he could land advertisements even as a cannon fodder actor. Advertising was a branch of acting, so that wouldn't break the rules.
He really was a genius.
[Commercial work such as advertisements will only become available after you pass actor certification.]
When Song Shi'an heard that, he figured that worked too. He could build up the account first. Who knew when playing cannon fodder would qualify him for actor certification?
That very night, he registered an account on D Station called "Has Shi'an Eaten Today?"
His first video captured his daily routine of picking up food orders. The camera pointed toward the phone mount on his handlebars, showing a bustling pickup counter and a serving of malatang being packed.
He added some upbeat background music and titled it: "A delivery guy's daily life, day 1."
Three days later, he opened his dashboard. Zero views.
Song Shi'an silently logged out of the account. Forget it. Sure enough, it just wasn't his fate.
The text confirming that he had passed the audition arrived on the third evening.
Song Shi'an was sitting at the table eating steamed buns, scrolling through his phone with one hand. The instant he saw the message, he nearly dropped his chopsticks.
He put down his chopsticks and read the message again to make sure he hadn't misread it.
He had landed the role of Meng Zhen! His second cannon fodder role was in the bag!
He started counting on his fingers. At this rate, if he consistently landed two cannon fodder roles every month, a hundred would take a little over four years.
Brother Liu could work on twenty productions in a month. He had barely even started by comparison. The man played corpses, passersby, and villains sent flying by a single slap from the protagonist, twenty different roles a month without a repeat. He needed to get his act together.
After passing the audition, all he could do was wait for notification to join the production. The exact date hadn't been set, but it would probably be after the semester started.
There was no rush. He would finish Ying Qi's final scene first.
The notification came quickly. The final scene took an entire afternoon to shoot. Ying Qi fell on the heir's path to seizing power, his black clothing stained in uneven shades, making it impossible to tell the fabric's original color from the blood.
The director wanted his mask to fall off as he collapsed, and it took several attempts to find the best angle.
The instant the mask slipped off, the camera caught half his face in profile. The bloodstains on his face gave him a battle-damaged look, shattered yet razor-sharp.
With a "Cut!" from the director, filming wrapped perfectly.
Before Xu Che could rein in his tears, Song Shi'an's eyes snapped open. He tilted his head up and flashed him a grin. "My lord, I'm alive again!"
Xu Che's eyes were still red. That shout left him not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and he raised a hand to pat Song Shi'an's shoulder.
That single remark completely shattered the somewhat melancholy atmosphere on set. The young man holding a reflector nearby shook with laughter.
The director laughed behind the monitor too, raising his megaphone. "That bit just now-release the behind-the-scenes footage after the scene airs. Once the audience finishes crying and sees this, it'll be absolute dynamite."
Song Shi'an stood and stretched his back. After lying on the ground for almost an hour, his back had gone stiff.
He rolled his shoulders a couple of times, and people from the crew came over one after another to ask for photos together.
Their thinking was straightforward. Once the drama aired, barring any surprises, this guy was bound to blow up. If they took a photo with him now, they could ride that wave of traffic later.
Director Wang came over and handed him a fairly thick red envelope. "A wrap gift. Take it. Your semester starts in a few days, doesn't it? If I come to you with another role, don't turn me down."
Song Shi'an accepted the red envelope with both hands and nodded obediently. "Of course, of course. Call me anytime you have supporting roles or anything like that."
Director Wang sighed, looking at him with the frustration of someone wishing iron would turn to steel. "You kid, why do you only ever want supporting roles? From what I've seen, you're not exactly well-off. What's wrong with playing the lead? You'd earn dozens of times more and wouldn't have to work this hard."
Song Shi'an started acting again, his expression genuine and his tone sincere. "My studies should come first. I'll consider other things after I graduate. Playing supporting roles is just a way to put food on the table and cover tuition and living expenses. If you have any suitable roles later, Director Wang, I'll definitely come as long as I have the time."
Director Wang gave his arm a light pat, a little helpless. "All right. Here's to success in your studies and a happy wrap."
The next second, the system popped up in his mind.
[Congratulations, host. Your first cannon fodder role has been successfully recorded. To encourage your continued efforts, you have been granted one spin of the Lucky Wheel.]
Song Shi'an's heart raced and his hands trembled. There were hidden rewards too!
"What's on the wheel?"
[Everything you could want.]
Song Shi'an said goodbye to everyone on the crew, climbed onto his little electric scooter, and rode home.
As soon as he got inside, he locked the door, took a shower, then dug out the mosquito coils he had bought at the general store last time and lit one. Bathed and incense burning, he had maxed out the sense of ritual.
His luck ought to be better now that he was clean.
He sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed and drew a deep breath. "Let's spin."
[Congratulations, host. You have obtained: God-Level Acting Skills.]
Song Shi'an fell apart.
What did he need God-Level Acting Skills for when he was playing cannon fodder? He only had a few lines in total and died within minutes of appearing. Was he supposed to use God-Level Acting Skills to play a corpse?
He tried reasoning with the system. "Can I draw again?"
[Milestone rewards are triggered randomly and cannot be exchanged. Please keep up your efforts, host.]
He really had no words for this sneaky bastard. Whatever. Looking on the bright side, at least he wouldn't have to grit his teeth and force his way through awkward performances anymore.
At least that embarrassing scene from his audition, laughing and shouting at thin air, wouldn't happen a second time.
Over the next few days, he was either delivering food or packing up his rented room.
His landlady was in her fifties. Song Shi'an had a sweet tongue, and when he went to end his tenancy, he kept saying, "Auntie, you look so young," until she was beaming.
There were still three months left on his one-year lease, and ordinarily, moving out early meant no refund. But he had charmed the landlady into a good mood, and she refunded those remaining three months.
Three thousand yuan. It practically saved his damn life.
Housing in the Capital wasn't cheap. Even a shabby single room tucked away in some remote corner cost a thousand a month.
Adding together his acting pay, the wrap red envelope, and his delivery savings, he had less than ten thousand left in his account after paying tuition and dorm fees.
The debt collector agreed to give him three months of breathing room.
Ultimately, the other party had only agreed to budge because he was a student at Jingchen University, the top university in the country.
The monk could run, but the temple couldn't. A student at a top university couldn't possibly throw away his future over a hundred thousand yuan.
The company that had scammed him back then had also feared that a newcomer unable to pay might do something extreme, so it hadn't dared demand an astronomical termination penalty. Still, a hundred thousand yuan was no small sum for a student.
Song Shi'an found the chat logs and emails the original owner had saved on his phone. The company arranging drinking parties, threatening him over terminating his contract-it was all evidence.
Any lawsuit over these things would be a sure win. The other party had banked on the original owner not daring to make a fuss. What could a poor student with no connections use to fight a company?
Song Shi'an took screenshots of all the evidence and saved them in an encrypted folder.
He would make them pay for all this, but not now. Right now, he could barely keep his footing. Going head-to-head with them would be courting death.
Survive first. Everything else could wait.