A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

“Me?” Chu Chen was dubious.

“Yes,” the director said. “There will be no lines, you only have to make a few movements and reveal your face a few times. Your figure is just perfect,” he said while stuffing a costume and a wad of cash into his hands. “This is the fee for your delivery. Don’t go back today, wait till we have finished our work here, then I’ll give the pay for being an extra to you.”

Chu Chen lowered his head and looked at the wad of cash. He said, “Okay.”

He was willing to do anything for money. From the day his family had met with mishaps, he had sworn to support the family. One day, he would not have to endure being looked down upon by others. He would not have to beg for favors from them nor suffer from hunger.

He worked hard to play as a part of the extras.

The snow was too heavy and everyone was unbearably cold. Only Chu Chen was not hesitant in sprinting and lying down when instructed. He lied on the ice-cold ground without moving for a good few minutes, pretending to be a dead body. Someone stepped onto his body, and he controlled himself to ensure his expression did not even have the least bit of change.

Within one day, his four limbs had frostbite.

The director handed him medicine and cash. “Not bad, young fellow. Are you still coming tomorrow?”

Chu Chen looked down at the wad of fresh red hundred-yuan bills in his hands and said without hesitation, “Yes!”

He followed the crew for one week and earned 700 yuan.

He took the money and searched the whole market before buying a wheelchair for his mother. He carried her carefully to the wheelchair and pushed her outside to take a walk in the sunlight. She grabbed onto his hands and cried.

“Son, I’m sorry…” The disabled woman wept.

Chu Chen knelt down and wiped her tears away bit by bit. He remembered how before he had dropped out of school, a teacher would often say that when God closes a window, he opens another. Now, he reassured his mother with the same logic. However, he had not expected that God would open a cold and rugged yet magnificent window for him.

His experience in being an extra made Chu Chen realized that it was much easier to earn money in this job as compared to being a dishwasher for restaurants.

He quit his job at the restaurant and obtained a place amongst the extras in the suburban city’s Film and TV industry. The building was very far from his house, and he had to leave the house before the sun had even risen. He would cross half of the city in search of opportunities. After work, he would then spend another three to four hours rushing home to help his mother boil water, cook, and wash her feet.

Occasionally, when he looked into the mirror, he was already unable to recognize himself.

As compared to his pictures as a student living a worry-free life, his life now seemed worlds apart.

His mother’s heart ached for him, and she would weep alone frequently thinking that he was unaware. However, the wet towels and her swollen red eyes had long betrayed her. Her tears made Chu Chen even more heartbroken and guilty.

If only he was more useful and powerful, then she would not need to be so sad.

Chu Chen worked from dawn to dusk in the Film and TV industry, observing and learning. He could not be resigned to being an extra forever. He aspired to learn even more and climb even higher until one day, he could finally allow his mother to live an affluent life and prove his father’s innocence. He wanted to step on every one of his father’s family who had trampled on them!

Opportunity favors only the prepared mind.

One time, he had followed a martial arts production crew. The crew had used a young script logger who had just graduated from university. He had been professionally trained but had no experience. He would do things in a fluster and made mistakes incessantly, causing everyone to voice their complaints. The director was also angry. He hit the boy right in the face and scolded him until he cried. The young boy then washed his hands off the job and quit right on the spot, throwing his sleeves angrily and leaving. The director was furious, but he could not do anything about it.

Chu Chen had been standing at the side watching the scene. He walked up to the director from amid the crowd and said, “Let me try.”

The director looked at him doubtfully. “You?”

Chu Chen reported some details to him on places where the young script logger had remembered wrongly. He explained clearly to him about which scene required which tools, which line could be removed from which episode, and which scene needed to be refilmed…

The director’s eyes lit up. He was surprised. “You’re just an extra, yet you noticed all these?”

Success or failure was dependent on just one action. Chu Chen stared him in the eye and tried hard to hide the tremble in his voice, a result of his excitement and nervousness. He told the director, “I don’t want to remain as an extra for the rest of my life.”

The director looked at him deeply and smiled. “Okay, I’ll give you a chance.”

This opportunity was not an easy one. It was more difficult than the other extra jobs and had a lot more stress. Chu Chen gritted his teeth and pulled through. He worked till midnight every day. He was the latest to end work and the earliest to start work the next morning. He would often sleep only two to three hours before rushing down to work and would drink cup after cup of tea to give himself more energy.

Fortunately, all the hardship was worth it.

When the film ended, the director patted his shoulder and said, “Not bad, young fellow. Follow me from now on.”

Chu Chen was ecstatic.

However, following the crew all around the country to film would mean he could not be at home. He gave it numerous thoughts, and after discussing it with his mother, he decided to sell the house, rent a tiny room and use the remaining money to hire an hourly worker to take care of her. The day he sold the house, he carried his bags while pushing his mother’s wheelchair and turned around to take one last look at the place he had spent his whole life in. He swore silently to himself that one day, he would be back to repurchase this house. One day he would.

He spent two years being a script logger. He was intelligent and hardworking and received the director’s appreciation.

The director cultivated him wholehearted and brought him everywhere he went.

Slowly, he began to have a tiny reputation.

The director took on an Imperial Entertainment’s film. It was a major project and had heavy investments. However, during the filming, an accident happened—the female lead suddenly announced her departure. She would rather pay the expensive fee for terminating the contract than to continue filming. No matter what kind of threats and benefits the actors and producers gave her, she would not change her mind. The whole production crew was in a mess. If the female lead was changed, that would mean that a huge part of the previously filmed videos would be entirely useless and they would have to refilm everything.

If that was the case, then they would not be able to meet the second year’s golden period and be able to be nominated for awards.

During break time, the director laughed bitterly. “This is not our fault. When there are internal fights in Imperial Entertainment, us small fishes in the moat suffer.”

Chu Chen instinctively caught the meaning behind his words and pestered the director to tell him the details.

The director let him in on it. Imperial Entertainment’s Pei family was alternating between new and old power. The head of the house was critically ill, and the heir Pei Ziheng had accepted orders to take over Imperial Entertainment on the brink of his death and to prepare for the official succession shortly. However, Pei Ziheng was still young, and some of the old officials who had partial stocks as well as his fellow brothers were not satisfied. They were trying to trip him up secretly and jeopardize his road to succession. Thus, this film was being secretly disrupted and would not be filmed smoothly.

Once such a big production was to suffer losses, the stockholders would be able to question Pei Ziheng’s abilities and make things difficult for him.

Chu Chen gathered information and investigated on this person.

He was young, only sixteen years old. Yet, he had already accomplished many big things that had shaken the business world. His actions were tyrannical and more ruthless than many adults. Seeing how he had communicated with pictures and texts in his press conference, it could be seen that he was full of temperament and had been inculcated with the Imperial Entertainment style since young. He had deep thoughts, showed no distinction between joy and anger, and had unpredictable expressions.