Hengdian.
【We need 10 corpses for a modern drama tonight, all male. 108+10. If you can make it, sign up with me. Urgent job.】
Chen Ming, holding a bowl of scallion oil noodles from the Shaxian Hotel, stared at the message in the WeChat group titled "Cash Job Coordinator Brother Dajin." He hurriedly swallowed the noodles in his mouth, but because he rushed, a lump formed in his chest. Ignoring the oil stains on his hands, he wiped them casually on his jeans and tapped out a reply to Brother Dajin with lightning speed.
"Brother Dajin, I can make it tonight!"
"Xiao Chen, this isn't a sustainable way to live."
"Brother, thank you, but I still want to try."
Only after receiving a "1" in reply did Chen Ming feel a sense of relief. He wiped his thumb across the phone screen to clear away the smudged fingerprints, then picked up his noodle bowl again.
The so-called 108+10 meant a base pay of 108 yuan, with an extra 10 yuan for every hour of overtime. For Chen Ming, this was already a decent gig; the original pay was 120 yuan, but the 12 yuan was the cut taken by the coordinator.
Chen Ming, class of '05 at the Beijing Film Academy, had been drifting for nearly a decade. When he first got into the academy, he had relied entirely on his handsome face. By his junior year, full of confidence, he arrived in Hengdian to chase his dreams in the entertainment industry. At first, things went smoothly.
Within half a year, he became a featured extra, earning 238 yuan for a 14-hour shift. Later, by chance, the legendary director Zhang Yimou came to shoot *Curse of the Golden Flower*. Because his height was similar to Chow Yun-fat’s and his features were superior, he was selected after an audition to be Chow’s lighting stand-in.
That meant helping the cinematographer set the lights and find the perfect shooting positions before the actual actors arrived.
Slowly, he grew familiar with the assistant directors on set and eventually landed a role as a eunuch.
With that resume, after *Curse of the Golden Flower* wrapped, he naturally transitioned into a specialty extra, earning between 800 and 1,000 yuan per shift.
Back then, the coordinator who managed Chen Ming would introduce him by saying, "Our Xiao Chen here was a lighting stand-in for Chow Yun-fat on Director Zhang's set, and he even had a speaking role!"
That was the power of working on a big-name director’s production. Even the scraps falling from their fingers were enough to change a person's destiny.
Chen Ming’s earnings grew, and his dream of becoming an actor felt within reach. Everything was looking up. But then, a dinner party derailed his trajectory.
As the saying goes, even a clever housewife cannot cook without rice—but when there is rice, a clever housewife will appear to cook it.
Chen Ming had no rice, but he was handsome, bearing a striking resemblance to a limited-edition young Louis Koo.
Looking at the heavily made-up older women at the dinner party, who were drooling over him and getting handsy, Chen Ming couldn't bring himself to play along. He was too naive then to understand the "hidden meaning" of a steel wool scrubber.
He frantically texted the coordinator who brought him, but received no response. Chen Ming realized that if he stayed a moment longer, he wouldn't escape unscathed.
So, he found an opportunity and "sprinted to the bathroom"—and never came back.
This escape was a disaster. It put the coordinator who brought him in a very tight spot.
From then on, it became impossible for him to find work in Hengdian.
All the coordinators were connected. They might not always help each other out, but they all knew that Chen Ming was someone who would stand up a benefactor. No one dared to use him.
Fortunately, a fellow townsman, Brother Dajin, gave him a hand. He let him change his identity and start over as a background extra, which barely allowed him to scrape by.
Since then, Chen Ming began a cycle of playing corpses, eunuchs, corpses, eunuchs…
Even now, Chen Ming hadn't given up. He never told his mother anything but good news, and she supported him with unwavering faith.
His creed was simple: don't share unhappiness with his mother. She couldn't help, it would only keep her awake at night, and she would only end up hating herself for being useless.
Chen Ming picked up his chopsticks, wanting to finish his noodles, only to realize the previous mouthful hadn't gone down yet. His chest felt tight.
He looked around frantically for water, but all he found were empty mineral water bottles in the room.
Chen Ming choked to death.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a familiar-looking hostel. Instinctively, he reached for his phone on the bedside table to check the time.
He couldn't afford to miss tonight’s shift, but he paused when he picked up the phone.
"Who the hell stole my phone?"
Chen Ming stared at the N97 in his hand, stunned.
How unscrupulous! If you're going to steal, why leave me this piece of junk?
To make me want to crack my own skull open with it?
He got up and searched the room, but the door was locked tight. He just felt like something was off.
Chen Ming didn't have time to dwell on it; luckily, he remembered Brother Dajin’s number.
He turned on the phone and suddenly realized something was wrong.
Why is it 2010?
【You have bound to the Actor Counterattack System.】
An electronic voice rang in his mind. Having read countless transmigration novels, Chen Ming steadied his trembling hands.
Finally… it’s finally my turn, damn it!
【The system is gifting the host a beginner's package. Would you like to open it?】
"Open, open, open!"
【The system will detect the role the host understands most deeply and elevate that understanding to the max level. Detecting now…】
Chen Ming, initially excited, suddenly calmed down.
Wait, no. The role I understand most deeply?
I play corpses and eunuchs the most. If you match me with a corpse, what use is that?
Max-level corpse understanding? A Chen-style method of corpse acting?
Am I going to become the world’s best corpse actor? Will all the top directors hire me to play dead?
A eunuch wouldn't work either. How deep does this "max level" go? It wouldn't go as far as maxing out my sexual orientation, would it?
If it adds any more traits…
A chill ran down Chen Ming’s spine.
"Spare me! System, listen to me!"
【Ding! Detection complete. Elevating host’s understanding of the role "Eunuch." Commencing host modification…】
Chen Ming’s head swam as a wave of dizziness hit him.
Before collapsing, he clutched his precious parts for dear life.
When he woke up, Chen Ming reached down to check…
"Thank goodness, thank goodness. Wait! It isn't just for show, is it?"
Chen Ming panicked. He didn't care about the system or the max-level rewards anymore; for a man, nothing was more important than this.
He glanced at the old Nokia to check the time, confirming he had indeed transmigrated, then tossed the phone onto the bed.
He lunged toward the desk and, relying on his memory, pulled open the third drawer!
Come forth! *Men’s Health*!
Help me test my mettle!
He held two issues of *Men’s Health* from 2009: the July issue with Christy Chung and the October issue with Fan Bingbing.
These two classics were still the best!
Chen Ming rushed back to the bed to conduct the most important experiment since his rebirth!
Three minutes later.
Good, it still works!
Tsk… Why do these two look so… soul-snatching today?
That nightgown Fan Bingbing is wearing looks familiar—why is it shorter than the ones from later years?
No, no, I’m already here.
I’ve been reborn; why should I care?
Consider it a celebration. This one is for my youth that has returned to me!
No, I've been reborn; am I really going to do this?
Chen Ming sat up.
Come out, system!
But the system didn't respond.
Could it be that I’m not allowed to do things a eunuch shouldn't do? But didn't eunuchs have their own partners, too?
Chen Ming walked to the mirror in a panic, and a moment later, he froze.
There was no reason, other than the fact that the man in the mirror was handsome. If he used to only slightly resemble a young Louis Koo, now he was the "DeepSeek" version of him!
But how could someone this masculine play a eunuch?
He tried to use his years of experience acting as a eunuch to see if there was any difference. Just as he was about to enter the state, a strange sensation flooded his entire body.
Seeing his reflection suddenly turn delicate and feminine, with his fingers poised in a graceful gesture, Chen Ming was stunned.
He wanted to pull a pack of Hongtashan cigarettes from his pocket to calm his nerves, but what he pulled out instead was a celadon snuff bottle!