Sister Bao Works as an Extra, Traveling Through the Past and Present to Support the Whole Family

Nobody in Lijia Village thought much of Li Chuwan. The matchmakers avoided her house, saying she was born under an unlucky star, destined to bring her husband misfortune and spend her life lazing around at home. Her father fell while chopping wood in the mountains and broke his leg. The doctor demanded two taels of silver, but the whole family could scrape together only thirty-eight copper coins. As the eldest daughter, she swallowed her tears and went to gather herbs on the back mountain in the pouring rain. She slipped inside a cave. When she opened her eyes again, she was standing on the bustling streets of Hengdian. Before she could make sense of what was happening, someone grabbed her by the arm. “Miss, we're short a background actress to play a palace maid. Fifty yuan for half a day, lunch included. Interested?” Lunch included? Startled and doubtful, she made up her mind on the spot. “I'm in!” The old hands who'd spent ten years working as extras in Hengdian had never met anyone as strange as Li Chuwan. The whole crew laughed at how hopelessly country she was. But when she was in costume and began acting, everyone was stunned. Playing a palace maid, she had the high-paid etiquette instructor hired by the production saying, “I've taught ancient etiquette for over a decade, but I've never seen anyone with a bearing so deeply rooted in her bones.” Playing a servant girl, a nationally acclaimed actor held her hand after filming and asked her three times, “Are you sure you never served in a wealthy household?” A nationally renowned director famous for being fussy, who had gone through eighteen professionally trained actors for a minor role, said, “Her! Replace the other one!” Even the assistant director was amazed. This girl didn't even have a proper agency. She was just an extra? Even an international movie star who had made it big in Hollywood told his assistant, “Go ask for that girl's contact information.” Everyone in Hengdian wondered who this young woman was, appearing out of nowhere. No one knew that she guarded the bluestone slab on the back mountain that connected two worlds, and somehow turned her dirt-poor family's life into one so prosperous that the entire village had to look up to them.