My Wandering Swordsman

Immediately afterwards, the surrounding extras seemed to be ignited, and cheers rose and fell.

"Well done!"

"That son of a bitch deserved a beating long ago—"

"Dude, you're awesome!"

"One more lash, to vent my anger—"

The sound grew louder and louder.

The attendants and staff who were still greeting the monk Hua then realized what was happening.

Wait a minute, why are they fighting again?

When they turned around and saw the scene, their jaws nearly dropped, and they roared as they charged at me.

I chuckled and casually pushed the eldest prince into the crowd.

The extras had been holding back their anger for a long time. When they saw the arrogant prince fall in front of them, they took advantage of the chaos and started hitting the prince. No one knows who made the first move.

"I'll beat you up, you capitalist dog!"

"Kick it, might as well kick it!"

Now things have really gotten out of hand; the scene has become complete chaos.

The henchmen were practically grinding their teeth in frustration. Should they save the boss first or take me down? It was obvious. Save the boss! If the boss gets killed, the whole gang will starve.

They exchanged a glance, then reluctantly began to squeeze into the group of extras...

When everything calmed down, the eldest prince had already been carried out by his followers.

Me, the Flower Monk, and Liu Zi were blocked on the roadside by Deputy Director Wang and several staff members.

Assistant Director Wang was so frightened that his face turned pale. He pointed at the three of us, his fingers trembling, and said, "Holy crap, holy crap, you three... you know you've made a huge mess."

The monk wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and grinned, "He hit my brother first."

Assistant Director Wang angrily slammed down his notebook:

"Production manager, production manager, keep a close eye on these three! Don't let any of them leave!"

After saying that, he ran off without looking back, presumably to check on the eldest prince's injuries.

Niu, the production assistant, trotted over from a distance, cursing and swearing, his face flushed red.

"Damn you three! You three are really something!"

"Day after day, I give you work and food, and this is how you repay me? Huh? Hitting someone! Hitting the eldest prince! Do you even know who his father is?"

The monk frowned, about to speak, but I quickly grabbed his shoulder. I smiled at Niu Ye, the production assistant, and said, "Brother Niu, that bastard whipped my brother first. We were just acting in self-defense."

"Self-defense my ass!" The production assistant slammed his hand on the notebook. "All three of you are out of pay for today!"

Liu Zi immediately panicked: "No, that won't do! The three of us have been working since six in the morning without even a sip of water. You're just going to deduct money from our paylist like that?"

"So what if they deduct it?"

"You dare hit me? Come on, hit me here!" He pointed to his face. "If you lay a hand on me, you'll be going to jail."

The Flower Monk clenched his fists so tightly they cracked.

I took a deep breath and suppressed my temper: "Brother Niu, we didn't start this fight. The First Prince started it, and dozens of extras witnessed it. If you want to deduct our wages, fine, we'll accept it. But you have to be reasonable. We didn't do anything wrong."

"Reasonable?" Niu, the production assistant, sneered. "I'm the one who's reasonable here! You poor wretches, you think you can reason with me? Let me tell you, not only is today's pay docked, but starting tomorrow, none of you three can expect to get any more work."

"With a single word from me, Niu Dafa, no one in the entire film studio will dare hire you!"

He finished speaking and left immediately.

The three of us were stunned.

After a long while, the Flower Monk spat a mouthful of bloody foam onto the ground: "Damn it."

My eyes flickered a few times as I silently pondered a solution.

The monk over there vented his pain a few more times, then paced back to me and looked me up and down.

"You..." he began, his tone much more serious than usual.

"I saw it all clearly just now. The moment that bastard prince raised his whip, you grabbed his wrist. If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't have escaped this beating."

I waved my hand: "We're all roommates, I can't just watch you suffer."

"Brother Ji."

The Flower Monk suddenly changed his way of addressing me; if I remember correctly, this was the first time he had ever called me that.

I looked up and found his eyes had become very serious: "I, Hua Hailong, have been down the mountain for so many years, and I've seen too many people who call each other brothers but stab each other in the back. You... not bad, I'll remember this favor today."

As he spoke, he extended his fist and gently punched my chest.

From now on, your business is my business.

I chuckled and punched him back: "Alright, stop with the act, it's giving me goosebumps."

Liu Zi recovered, clutching his arm, and sidled between us, tears welling in his eyes: "Brother Hailong, Brother Ji, thank you..."

The flowery monk reached out and ruffled his hair:

"Shut up! A real man can stand up straight when he's being whipped, but he can't shed tears. It's just a lash, I'll treat you to kidneys later."

When I heard that, I laughed.

"Monk, you should eat less kidney, it's so pungent and unpleasant. Besides, how many skewers can you buy with your meager salary? You even got docked money today."

The Flower Monk was taken aback: "Damn it, I had completely forgotten about it until you mentioned it. I didn't make a penny today."

Liu Zi smiled wryly, "That's right, a whole day wasted."

The three people stood by the roadside, looked at each other, and suddenly laughed.

After laughing for a while, the Flower Monk patted his belly:

"Let's go back to lying in bed."

"Didn't Assistant Director Wang tell us to wait?"

"We've all been fired, he's nothing!"

"Haha~"

As we turned to leave, a banknote suddenly fell to the ground beside us.

Two yuan, crumpled, probably pulled out of a pocket.

We were taken aback and looked up.

Standing in front of me was an extra, a middle-aged man in his early forties, but his face was deeply lined with wrinkles, clearly a low-level actor who had been playing minor roles for many years.

He grinned at me:

"Good job, young man. That bastard always acts like a bully in the group, and we've all suffered a lot because of him. Today you've stood up for us. This little bit of money isn't much, take it and buy yourself a pack of cigarettes."

Before I could refuse, he had already turned and left.

We looked down at the two-yuan note on the ground, a little bewildered.

Immediately afterwards, another person came over and put down a one-yuan bill.

Then there are the 50-cent ones.

One piece.

There are two more.

The coins jingled as they fell onto the grass.

I looked up in surprise and found that a small group of extras had gathered around me at some point.

There were old and young, men and women, soldiers in armor, civilians in patched clothes, and even people dressed as beggars...

"Good job, bro."

"If the production crew doesn't pay you, I'll pay for it myself."

"If you need anything in Hengdian in the future, just let me know."

"..."

More and more banknotes and coins are falling into the air.

The Flower Monk stood beside me, his lips trembling.

I noticed that the seven-foot-tall, burly man's eyes were slightly red.

Actually, it wasn't just him; my throat felt like it was blocked by something, and I couldn't speak for a long time.

To be honest, I spent less than five days at most in the film studio.

But I saw the living conditions of these extras all in my own eyes.

I've seen them squatting by the roadside looking for work at six in the morning, seen them being treated like dogs and ordered around, and seen them falling and getting bruised and swollen after filming an action scene, yet not even willing to buy a band-aid.

They are the lowest rungs of the film and television industry.

Working from dawn till dusk, enduring wind and rain, they earn only a dozen yuan a day.

Yet these are the very people standing before me now, using their meager salaries to build a small wall in front of us.

If this wall had a name, I think it should be called...

dignity!