The Martial Arts Stunt Double of the Entertainment Circle – Chapter 28

Li Yanrao stepped out of the car, sunglasses perched on the bridge of her nose, her dark hair gathered in a sleek knot at the back of her head. Though her outfit was nearly all black—blending into the shadows—it only made her snow-white skin glow all the more, the whole of her like a walking light source, dazzling and impossible to ignore.

Her stride was bold and imperious, the rhythmic click of her high heels parting the crowd wherever she went. People instinctively made way for this impossibly gorgeous woman, letting her sail through the crowded lobby unhindered. Only after her silhouette vanished behind the closing elevator doors did the murmuring erupt:

“Who was that just now? A celebrity?”

            

“Doesn’t seem like it. Don’t celebrities go out wearing masks and hats, afraid of being photographed?”

Li Yanrao slipped her sunglasses back into her bag. The elevator chimed, signaling her floor.

She strode briskly down the long corridor, heading for the room at the very end—two walls lined with windows. She knocked politely three times, and Li Dingchen’s voice bellowed from inside: “This guy is sick in the head! Old Xu, I’m telling you, his brain is full of water!”

            

Li Yanrao sighed and simply pushed the door open herself. The room’s temperature was set comfortably. Her grandfather Li Dingchen was watching a TV drama with his old buddy Xu Enze, gesturing at the screen like a general commanding the battlefield:

“Eldest Girl, you came at the perfect time. Come look—is this guy sick in the head or what?”

Li Yanrao turned to look. On the screen was Peach Blossom Spring, the film Chen Wanwan had starred in as a child. The heroine’s father had caught a servant girl slighting the illegitimate daughter he’d just brought home, and concluded that his principal wife couldn’t tolerate the child—which was why the household staff felt emboldened to bully the precious darling born of his true love. The couple had a blazing row, terrifying the legitimate daughter Ou Qianwei, who had come running to find her mother in high spirits.

            

Chen Wanwan must have been only eight or nine at the time. The two adults screaming at each other had probably genuinely frightened her—the bowl of peanut pudding she was carrying slipped from her hands and shattered on the floor, the crash drawing her parents’ attention. Little Qianwei backed away with tears welling in her eyes, turned, and fled—a flash of emerald skirt vanishing through the crack in the door.

That brief crying scene through the door crack had captured countless hearts, making Little Qianwei—Chen Wanwan—a household name across the country. Even today, it was revered as a classic.

It was a pity that as Chen Wanwan grew older, the lively, endearing charm of her childhood gradually lost its pure, luminous quality. But the Chen family hadn’t fallen so low as to need their daughter acting for money. If Chen Wanwan wanted to be an actress, then let her—with the Chen family and their maternal relatives the Li family standing behind her, no one in the industry would dare give her trouble.

            

Li Yanrao, however, had her reservations. Her youngest cousin had been spoiled far too much by the family. When she was little, her coy antics could be written off as innocent and adorable—but what about now? Chen Wanwan had already graduated from university. If she kept on being this unreasonable and willful, she was bound to learn some hard lessons.

Li Yanrao had said as much before, but no one in the family took it seriously. She could only do her best to discipline Chen Wanwan through action, which over time had produced the now-universally-acknowledged dynamic in both the Li and Chen families: “Only Eldest Cousin Li Yanrao can keep Little Princess Chen Wanwan in line.”

Watching the couple on screen frantically calling Little Qianwei’s name, Li Yanrao remarked, “Bystanders see clearly, while those involved are confused¹.”

            

Xu Enze patted Li Dingchen on the shoulder, tucked his hands behind his back, and quietly left, giving grandfather and granddaughter space to talk. As he passed Li Yanrao in the hallway, he suddenly said, “The younger generation will surpass us².” He ambled off at a leisurely pace.

Li Yanrao smiled. “Goodbye, Grandpa Xu.”

Li Dingchen switched off the TV, lay back on the bed, and turned his back to his eldest granddaughter, grumbling under his breath: “Two months without a visit. Little brats, not a single one of you cares about this old man. When I die, I’m donating everything to the state—so you won’t get a single cent.”

            

Li Yanrao came in, set her handbag on the coffee table, opened the refrigerator, and dug out a few oranges. She pulled up a chair, settled in comfortably, and began peeling an orange with unhurried elegance. “We don’t care about your little allowance money. It wouldn’t even cover one year’s membership at this sanatorium. Keep it and donate it to kids in the mountains.”

The fresh scent of orange peel filled the room. Li Dingchen sat up, feigning outrage. “Don’t think you can fly just because your wings have grown. If Old Li here hadn’t held things together, would any of you be where you are today?”

Li Yanrao knew all too well that her old urchin³ grandfather loved picking fights, too proud to say what he really meant. She smiled and handed him the whole peeled orange:

            

“Grandpa, have an orange to soothe your throat.”

Li Dingchen was pleased as punch but stubbornly refused to let it show. “Hmph. At least you have some filial piety.”

The two chatted about family matters. The Li family’s children had all turned out well—nothing much to worry the old man. The one exception was Li Yanrao herself: the most accomplished and the most rebellious, she was the one Li Dingchen could never quite stop worrying about. He stole a glance at his granddaughter as she tidied the orange peels into the wastebasket, then suddenly asked, “Yanrao, do you have a steady partner now? When are you going to bring someone home for the family to meet?”

            

Li Yanrao genuinely hadn’t expected her grandfather to ask this out of the blue. She’d come out to the family at eighteen, telling them she liked women and would never marry or have children. Li Dingchen had been furious—ordered her to kneel, threatened her with family discipline. But looking at his granddaughter with her jaw set and her expression defiant, and remembering that her parents had died young, that he’d raised her under his own knee since she was ten… Li Dingchen raised his cane but couldn’t bring himself to strike. Instead, the old man himself toppled over and had to be sent to the hospital.

Even after all that, Li Yanrao hadn’t relented. She insisted she was a lesbian through and through, and when she later went to university and started her own company, she never once asked the family for help.

Yet in all those years, Li Dingchen had never seen Li Yanrao date anyone. Though anyone with connections knew about the eldest Li daughter’s orientation, and her looks were striking enough to attract no shortage of beauties throwing themselves at her, people soon discovered that the rumor-filled Li Yanrao actually lived more ascetically than a monk.

            

At first, Li Dingchen had been relieved his granddaughter wasn’t like some girls in those circles who didn’t respect themselves. But as he watched Li Yanrao reach twenty-six, always alone, he’d begun to worry in the opposite direction—was something wrong with her love life?

Li Dingchen ventured carefully, addressing Li Yanrao’s rare look of bewilderment: “Back then, when you insisted to Grandpa that you liked women—was that just angry talk?” It was the best-case scenario.

Li Yanrao shook her head. “Grandpa, I’m not the type to say reckless things in the heat of anger.”

            

Li Dingchen was a little disappointed, though he hadn’t held out much hope. Back then, the family had tried everything—beatings, scoldings, threats of disownment—and Li Yanrao hadn’t caved.

Li Yanrao finished clearing the orange peels. She hesitated for a moment, then said it:

“Grandpa, I think I’ve fallen for someone.”

            

Li Dingchen thought he was dreaming. He was beside himself with joy. “Really?”

“I have feelings for her, but I don’t know if I’m ready to commit to a lifetime…” Li Yanrao coughed. “I like her quite a bit. She’s a very interesting girl.”

Li Dingchen slapped his thigh. “Aiyah, as long as you like her, that’s what matters! Who cares about a lifetime or not? If it works, stay together; if it doesn’t, break up. Even married couples get divorced and remarried. What are you afraid of?”

            

Li Yanrao was genuinely stunned now. Her stubborn old grandfather, who used to rail that homosexuality was nothing but hooliganism—since when had he become so open-minded?

She said, “Grandpa, you’re really not angry anymore?”

Li Dingchen laughed. “Since I can’t stop you, can’t pull you back, and can’t bear to actually cut you off—all that’s left is to accept you.”

            

Li Yanrao was silent for a long while.

Li Dingchen rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Hey, one of these days—no, this weekend—I’ll go home, gather everyone, you bring your partner over, and we’ll all get to know each other. Haha!”

Li Yanrao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Grandpa, I don’t even know if she’s interested in me yet.”

            

Li Dingchen scolded, “Useless! Once you’ve set your sights on someone, make your move—lest the good cabbage get rooted up by a pig⁴, and then crying won’t do you any good! You’re usually so decisive and efficient—how come I have to teach you how to date? What are you standing around for? Go get it sorted and bring her back for me to see!”

Li Yanrao thought to herself: if she really did bring young Tuoba Yan home, with Old Man Li’s temper, he’d definitely accuse her of being an old cow eating tender grass⁵. No—he’d probably add “corrupting someone in my circle” on top of that. She couldn’t help but sigh in resignation.

She’d cross that bridge when she came to it.

            

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The author has something to say:

Thank you all for loving a certain Tang and the General. No update yesterday, so today’s the usual double release! This chapter is President Li’s special feature~~~~

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