In June 2003, the scorching sun blazed in the sky.
Deep in a secluded valley nestled within the northern mountainous region of Handong Province, sunlight filtered through the tree canopy, casting mottled patterns upon the crystal-clear surface of a pool of water.
The pool was surrounded by lush, verdant trees. Occasionally, fallen leaves drifted down on the breeze, gently kissing the water's surface and sending ripples spreading outward.
Suddenly, a flurry of hurried footsteps shattered the tranquility of the valley.
Two groups of martial artists in traditional costumes converged from all directions, murder in their eyes, weapons in hand, confronting one another on the bank of the pool.
"Action!"
At the command, the martial artists splashed forward into the water at a dead run, sending droplets flying in all directions.
Flashs of steel and flurries of fists crossed above the water, with the scattered spray serving as witnesses to their battle.
Three surrounding cameras shifted constantly, changing angles to capture every thrilling moment.
"CUT! The one on the left, you walked out of frame! Take it from the top!"
In sharp contrast to the bustling production by the pool, a patch of flat ground was tucked away next to a meandering stream just above the water source.
Half of this clearing lay beneath the shade of trees, offering a semblance of coolness, while the unshaded half radiated oppressive heat.
Beneath a large tree in the clearing, stones had been simply piled to form a hearth, over which a wild pheasant was roasting, its skin sizzling and releasing a rich, meaty aroma.
Using the hearth as a boundary, two men sat on opposite sides—men who looked as though they belonged to entirely different worlds.
On the left sat a young man in ancient costume, wearing a white robe and his hair tied up in a topknot.
His name was Huo Ge, an extra, and he was dressed in costume.
Tall and straight-backed, his striking brows and starry eyes radiated heroism, while the two wispy tendrils of hair framing his forehead lent him an air of youthful vitality.
Every movement he made exuded confidence and ease, radiating an ineffable, striking handsome charm.
On the right sat a young policeman wearing blue short sleeves and black trousers—the standard summer police uniform.
His name was Qi Tongwei. His back was slightly stooped, and his youthful face already bore the carved traces of passing years; his somewhat gloomy gaze revealed steadfastness and composure.
How did an extra and a policeman come to be sitting together?
After graduating from high school at eighteen, Huo Ge's family circumstances prevented him from continuing his education, so he took a job as a part-time truck driver.
Every time he drove a delivery, he would stay at the destination for a while, picking up odd jobs or hanging out at internet cafes, taking in the scenery all along the way.
In this manner, he spent over three years traveling across the country, covering more than half of Huaxia, and even taking trips to Korea, Japan, Siam, the United States, and other places.
After broadening his horizons, his mind somehow took a strange turn, and he decided he wanted to become a director.
His idol was Cameron, the United States filmmaker who went from truck driver to world-renowned director.
And so, in pursuit of his dream, this former part-time truck driver who used to make over ten thousand a yuan a month transformed into a hand-to-mouth extra—a role he had now been playing for two years.
Two months ago, while working as an extra at Hengdian World Studios, he encountered a stroke of luck.
That benefactor recommended him to the current production crew. Because of his martial arts skills, the director signed him as a special-cast actor and martial arts stuntman, and he had come along with the crew to shoot in Wudong Township.
Yesterday, while shooting a wire-fu scene, the crew member operating the wires lost his grip, causing Huo Ge to take a fall. Fortunately, he was unhurt aside from a sprained wrist, so the director granted him a day off.
Even so, he conscientiously put on his makeup and waited to shoot, but after waiting all morning, the director had no scenes lined up for him.
Huo Ge simply caught a wild pheasant in the nearby woods and dragged Qi Tongwei over to drink and eat chicken with him.
Come to think of it, Qi Tongwei was also a talented young man.
He was a top student in criminal investigation at the Handong Province Police Academy. The year he graduated, he scored first place on both the written exam and the interview, securing a guaranteed position at the Handong Provincial Department of Public Security.
Yet, having somehow offended an unknown power, when he reported to the provincial department in Hanjiang Province, he was inexplicably assigned to be an ordinary police station officer in Wudong Township—located in Wanchuan County, a deeply impoverished county in northern Handong Province.
He only found out later that the new recruits of his year had not been assigned based on their exam rankings.
Furthermore, he was not from Handong Province and had few connections here. Coupled with the fact that he had buried himself in his studies at university without taking the time to build good relationships with his teachers and classmates, he was essentially banished to the worst possible post.
However, his organizational affiliation still remained with the provincial department, and the cadre division of the provincial department's personnel department had stated back then that the recruits of his batch were all required to spend at least two years sharpening their skills at the grassroots level, after which those who produced results would be rotated and cultivated within the province.
Yet he had spent nearly two years here, and far from achieving results, he had not even won a single county bureau annual excellence award, and had even received a disciplinary warning over a minor mistake.
The once high-spirited and sharp-edged Qi Tongwei had now had his youthful vigor nearly ground down to nothing.
A thoroughly unremarkable extra and a frustrated, down-on-his-luck policeman should never have crossed paths, yet they met because of a production crew filming The Great Swordsman.
The production required the local police to help maintain filming order because the locals possessed a fierce temperament; when the crew first came to film in this valley, the villagers blocked the road and delayed them for two days, only letting them pass after collecting a toll.
It was the worldly Huo Ge who suggested the director spend money to solve the problem—on one hand, ordering meals from the villagers, and on the other, asking the local police station to dispatch officers to keep order.
With these two approaches deployed together, the production finally got under way smoothly.
Qi Tongwei was the youngest single policeman at the station, and since the station did not have an overwhelming amount of work, he was sent to squat in this mountain ravine, ostensibly to—safeguard the security of the production.
As for minor thefts, fights, or spats within the crew, the production handled those internally.
As long as the money was right, there were zero issues with the crew's relationship with the villagers.
Qi Tongwei had been stuck here for a month with nothing to do, passing his days watching filming, eating, sleeping, or reading books.
If not for the stunning scenery here, he would have been depressed enough to quit and walk away.
Later, after learning his name, Huo Ge took the initiative to cozy up to him, asking one day how to take the police exams, and the next how to wipe a gun to avoid accidental discharges.
At first, Qi Tongwei couldn't be bothered with an extra like Huo Ge, but Huo Ge was eloquent, spoke with wit, and maintained a pleasant attitude, so Qi Tongwei gradually began opening up to him.
Using goodness knows what method, Huo Ge had even managed to get a public relations budget from the director specifically to treat Qi Tongwei.
And so, Huo Ge frequently dragged Qi Tongwei along to drink and eat meat.
The dishes Huo Ge cooked rivaled those of a hotel chef, tasting vastly better than the fast food made by the villagers.
After several barbecue sessions, the two transitioned from strangers to friends who could actually talk.
"Wei Ge, try a cicada pupa! These are great for the kidneys!"
Huo Ge had dug up a large pile of cicada pupae from somewhere, gathered a good amount of wild vegetables, and started grilling them right on the spot to eat hot.
"Don't call me Wei Ge!"
Because Qi Tongwei's name sounded similar to a certain blue pill, his classmates used to tease him about it back in school.
"Got it, Wei Ge!"
Huo Ge bit into a cicada pupa. "After we wrap up filming, come with me to the provincial capital. I'll introduce you to Old Li."
Huo Ge had previously mentioned that while he was at a park in Handong Province, he played Chinese chess with an old man surnamed Li, who claimed to be the newly retired director of the provincial public security department.
Qi Tongwei took Huo Ge for a braggart and didn't pay much attention to it.
He did have connections within the provincial public security department; the section chief of the cadre division in the provincial department's personnel department back then was his senior schoolmate, who thought quite highly of him.
During festivals and holidays, Qi Tongwei would still call or text his senior to send greetings, and whenever he occasionally visited the provincial capital, he would bring modest gifts.
Yet at the county bureau and the local station, one occasionally had to treat people to dinners and such, and his meager salary could not support that kind of interpersonal networking, leaving him no choice but to rely on hard, grinding labor.
Yet without results and without someone to pull strings, no matter how hard you worked, it amounted to very little.