At this moment, it was already getting dark, and no one needed to be shy anymore. Leaning against the car, everyone started taking off their clothes to change into costumes. Of course, they only needed to take off their jackets and put on the prop costumes. Henry Clark's outfit was a bit small, and a big lump of stuff in the crotch area was stuck, making him very uncomfortable. Coincidentally, the extra who had just spoken to him was also wearing a Nationalist Army uniform, but his pants were too big.

“We should swap pants, mine are a bit tight,” Henry Clark suggested.

“Sure,” the extra agreed readily.

While changing pants, Henry Clark asked, “My name is Henry Clark, I’m from Huaicheng. What about you?”

“Simon King, the 'Ji' from 'Four Seasons.' I’m from Jinhua City.”

“How long have you been in Hengdian?”

“A month.” Simon King changed clothes quickly and even had time to give Henry Clark some advice. “Fold up the cuffs of your pants before putting on the boots, that way they won’t wrinkle.”

After changing, Henry Clark followed the others’ example and put his phone, actor’s ID, and other valuables into the pocket of his undershirt. His jacket went into a bag with a sealing strip, which had a label with his name on it. Once all this was done, the group of extras had nothing left to do.

Those who wanted to chat kept chatting, those who wanted to play cards kept playing cards.

“When will it be our turn to shoot?” Henry Clark asked Simon King again.

Simon King shook his head. “No idea, just wait. We might be up next, or we might not have any scenes all night. By the way, how do I look in this outfit? Help me take a picture. Let’s do it over here, don’t let the crew see us—they don’t allow photos.” As he spoke, he took out his phone and handed it to Henry Clark.

The two of them found a spot with less light, turned on the flash, and started taking pictures.

After taking a few photos of Simon King, Henry Clark also asked Simon King to take a few of him. It was his first time acting, first time in costume, first time wearing a Nationalist Army uniform—Henry Clark was very excited. It was just a pity there were no bayonets or AKs as props, so his hands felt a bit empty. Leaning against the wall, Henry Clark first struck a moody pose with one elbow propped against the wall.

Click.

The phone’s flash went off, and Simon King immediately called out, “Henry Clark, you closed your eyes, let’s do it again.”

“OK, I won’t look at the camera this time.” Henry Clark tilted his head, eyes glancing at the wall, continuing his moody pose.

Simon King snapped a few more shots, then they switched to other poses. After all, taking photos on a phone didn’t cost anything, and they were bored anyway, so the two of them had a great time taking pictures. In no time, Henry Clark’s phone was filled with cool photos of him in the Nationalist Army uniform.

Unfortunately, since it was nighttime, the lighting wasn’t great, so the results weren’t as good.

“The phone’s camera isn’t that great either, a lot of the photos are blurry.” Henry Clark leaned against the wall, deleting the bad photos as he asked, “Simon King, you’ve been here a month—how many shows have you acted in?”

“I’ve been to five crews. I don’t do crowd scenes, so I’ve been to fewer crews,” Simon King replied.

“Why not do crowd scenes?”

Simon King smiled. “I’m just here in Hengdian for fun for half a year, not planning to stay long. Extras get 70 a day, so it’s worth it, but crowd scenes only pay a bit over 40 a day, really not worth it. Actually, I want to do featured extra roles—at least you might get a line or two. As for crowd and regular extras, sometimes you might not even get on camera.”

Hearing that Simon King was just here for fun, joining or not as he pleased, Henry Clark felt a bit envious. He, on the other hand, had staked his whole future on this.

And when he heard Simon King say that crowd and regular extras might not even make it onto TV, Henry Clark was surprised. “No way, even if you don’t have lines, you should at least show up on screen, right?”

He was still fantasizing about conquering the audience with his cool aura. So what if he was an extra? Can’t extras shine too? Like those “Milk Tea Girl,” “Sugarcane Girl,” “Watermelon Girl”—they all got famous from a single photo, let alone extras who actually appear on TV.

But if extras don’t even make it onto TV, isn’t that a rip-off?

Simon King didn’t know what Henry Clark was thinking, and continued, “Because each TV episode is only forty or fifty minutes, they shoot a lot more footage than they use, and tons of useless shots get cut during editing. You know, the audience mainly comes to see the leads, not the extras. I know an extra who’s worked with dozens of crews and appeared in over a dozen shows, but he’s never once made it onto TV. He spends all day in internet cafes watching videos, desperately trying to spot himself, but never finds himself.”

“Damn!” Deep down, Henry Clark silently gave the middle finger. Simon King’s words made his heart feel icy cold.

Just as he was about to ask Simon King more, Director Warren’s voice called out from over there: “Extras in Nationalist Army uniforms, hurry over here!”

Henry Clark and Simon King quickly ran over, and two other “Nationalist Army” extras threw down their playing cards and ran over too. When Director Warren saw all four of them empty-handed, he immediately scowled and scolded, “What’s going on? After all this time, you still haven’t gotten your prop guns! Little Grace, Little Grace, what are you doing? Hand out the props!”

Little Grace, the round-faced girl from before, ran over and said a bit aggrievedly, “I’m not in charge of the extras’ props, it’s Sister Scott’s responsibility.”