The Martial Arts Stunt Double of the Entertainment Circle – Chapter 39
by Little PandaWith the tedious launch ceremony finally over, it was time to shoot the first scene, and the entire set buzzed with activity — everyone hoping for a good start.
The scene was the Seventh Prince being toyed with by a crowd of scholars from the Third Prince’s faction in a teahouse. The male lead Xie Cheng’s makeup artist was gluing on his hairpiece, while the handful of extras already in costume huddled together, scripts in hand, running their lines.
Chen Wanwan and Zhao Mi had wandered off somewhere. The assistant Tao Shen had assigned to Tuoba Yan was a young woman surnamed Wang — competent enough at the work, but with a taste for presuming on her employer’s behalf, forever putting on an “I’m doing this for your own good” face and trying to make Tuoba Yan’s decisions for her.
Tuoba Yan found her tiresome, but it wouldn’t do to show it, so she pleaded the bathroom as an excuse and shook the woman off.
She found a quiet, out-of-the-way corner, stood against the wall, and pulled up the PDF of a line-delivery fundamentals textbook on her phone, practicing against the thick stack of script pages in her hand.
She was murmuring her lines under her breath when footsteps sounded from one end of the corridor, drawing closer and closer, until they stopped right in front of her.
So this was someone who had come specifically for her. Tuoba Yan looked up, resigned — and found a gorgeous, faintly familiar face. She recognized the female lead Bai Yi’an at once and greeted her with a smile. “Bai-jie.”
Bai Yi’an sized her up, forced to concede that this really was a born beauty. She had come up through print modeling, so she could tell at a glance that Tuoba Yan’s face carried not a speck of makeup — that fair, supple skin still holding the bounce of a young woman, a flawless base. But most arresting of all were her brows and eyes. Somehow a compliment for beauties surfaced in Bai Yi’an’s mind: brows like distant green hills, eyes like sheared autumn water1. And beyond the looks there was an innocent, quick-spirited charm about her — the kind others couldn’t obtain no matter how they envied it.
She bit her lip, unwilling, and lied to herself: the Creator was simply unfair. The opportunity she had schemed and sold her body for had been snatched away by this woman on the strength of a pretty face. Bai Yi’an buried the jealousy and lifted her chin in arrogance. “You’re Tuoba Yan?”
Tuoba Yan smiled. “I am. So Bai-jie knows me?”
“How could I not.” Bai Yi’an planted herself squarely in Tuoba Yan’s path. They were near the same height, but Bai Yi’an’s shoes had thick soles today, so they stood eye to eye. “I hear Director Fang handpicked you to play Empress Yang?”
Tuoba Yan sensed the malice in that; it grated on the ear, but she couldn’t be bothered with such a petty jab. “Bai-jie has it wrong. Chen-jiejie and I attended the audition together and were hired at the same time. Director Fang was one of the judges, of course, but I’d hardly dare claim I was handpicked.”
Bai Yi’an gave a cold laugh. “Quite the glib tongue. Let’s hope you can run your lines that smoothly.”
Tuoba Yan kept smiling. “You flatter me, Bai-jie. I’m a newcomer with no acting experience — I’ll be counting on your guidance from here on.”
Bai Yi’an was not, in truth, a woman of deep cunning. Twice denied the upper hand, she flushed with humiliated spite. “If you’re so eager to consult me, I certainly don’t have the time to teach you. Tuoba Yan, let me offer you one piece of advice: the waters in this circle run deep. You’d best learn to behave yourself and stop provoking your seniors — otherwise there’ll be no shortage of tumbles waiting for you down the road.”
“Thank you, Bai-jie,” Tuoba Yan replied.
Bai Yi’an stormed off in long, furious strides.
She swept back into her dressing room with a face like thunder. Her assistant asked carefully, “Bai-jie, where did you just go? You didn’t even take your phone — Young Master Lin called saying he’s coming to visit the set.”
The production had been shooting for all of half a day, and Lin Teng was already coming to see her. Bai Yi’an thought it was rather too high-profile, but she was, at bottom, a shallow, frivolous woman, and smug vanity won out. “Where’s the makeup artist?” she demanded. “Why isn’t he in here? What is he off wandering around for?”
The assistant hastily rang the makeup artist, who hurried back in short order. Bai Yi’an snapped a few disgruntled reprimands at him, then had him redo her makeup from scratch — she meant to greet her sugar daddy in peak condition.
Tuoba Yan, having stood there and been finger-wagged at for no reason at all, found her good mood thoroughly curdled. On the way back she ran into Chen Wanwan, and the moment Chen Wanwan heard what had happened she was incandescent with rage. Her family’s little mop, insulted like this! If Eldest Cousin ever found out she hadn’t protected her properly, she’d be killed on the spot! She declared then and there that she was going to demand justice.
Tuoba Yan held her back, exasperated. “What good would going at her do? Would she admit to any of it? Besides, Bai Yi’an never actually said anything truly out of line — her whole aim was just to put a burr under my saddle. Today is the first day of shooting; if we make a scene, isn’t that a slap in Director Fang’s face? And I wasn’t even riled — she’s the one who worked herself into a lather. Who knows how sore and stifled she is right now, stewing over it.”
A petty villain without much cunning was always easier to handle than a honey-mouthed, dagger-hearted hypocrite.
Chen Wanwan spun in a circle on the spot. “But why is that woman singling you out? You two have never even met — why did she come out biting the moment she saw you?”
Zhao Mi said quietly, “Could she be treating Xiao Yan as her rival?”
Chen Wanwan and Tuoba Yan both turned to look at her, and Zhao Mi explained: “Bai Yi’an’s backer is Lin Teng, the Little Boss of Huayu — an unreasonable young wastrel. A large share of this production’s investment comes from Huayu. A year ago Bai Yi’an was still just circulating in the print-model world; then out of nowhere she starred in two idol dramas, both as the female lead. Later the paparazzi got photos of them together, and that’s when everyone found out she was mixed up with Lin Teng.”
“I watched those two dramas of hers a while back too.” Chen Wanwan had no patience for the arrogant and talentless. “For her crying scenes her eyes would go round and staring — she wouldn’t so much as crease a brow, just holding that stiff face square to the camera, as if she were afraid the audience couldn’t tell she’d dripped in the eye drops.”
Zhao Mi went on: “Everyone in the industry knows Lin Teng is behind Bai Yi’an. She wears the title of investor-appointed female lead, but nobody actually respects her for it — she’s probably a bit insecure about that herself… And now Xiao Yan, a complete newcomer, has landed a role not much smaller than hers. Of course Bai Yi’an can’t stomach it. Looked at that way, it all makes sense.”
Tuoba Yan turned this over thoughtfully. Whatever the case, now that there was friction with Bai Yi’an, she would have to be doubly careful and keep contact with the woman to a minimum.
The three of them were talking as they walked back when they caught several crew members gossiping: “Young Master Lin has come to visit the set — looks like the rumors about him and Bai Yi’an are true.”
One of them said, “If her backing weren’t rock solid, how does someone with zero credentials get appointed female lead?”
“That guy Lin Teng is here.” Chen Wanwan tugged Tuoba Yan’s sleeve and steered her toward the other side. “Let’s get out of here. That guy is worse than a dog-skin plaster2 — get the slightest bit stuck to him and you’ll stink for half a year.”
Tuoba Yan said, “I need to go back and grab something. You two go on ahead.”
Lin Teng traded a perfunctory greeting with Fang Zhengqin, then carried an enormous bouquet of roses into the dressing rooms to find Bai Yi’an — who happened to be emerging fresh from her touch-up, delighted. “Darling, you came.”
“For you. Do you like them?” Lin Teng handed over the roses. He had no substance whatsoever, but he’d been issued a fine hide at birth — tall, well-built, with a face that was, for all the dog-in-human-clothes of it, genuinely handsome. Otherwise no woman would have gone to him so willingly. Beyond the money, it was naturally the face; next to those pot-bellied middle-aged tycoons, Lin Teng was a fragrant slab of pork belly — and besides, if she could manage an upgrade to Mrs. Lin…
Bai Yi’an sniffed at the flowers, smiled sweetly, and had her assistant take them, gazing at Lin Teng with limpid adoration. “Of course I like them.”
“Then how do you plan to repay me?” Lin Teng flashed a wicked grin and pulled her lecherously into his arms, his hand sliding suggestively along the curve of her waist and down. “I remember we’ve never done it in period costume before, have we? Shall we try today?”
Bai Yi’an’s body went rigid. She hadn’t dreamed Lin Teng could be this adventurous — the female lead, on the production’s very first day of shooting, having a tryst in costume? If Fang Zhengqin ever found out, it would be the end of her!
She bit her lip and rapidly calculated an escape, then cooed, “But I have scenes coming up soon — what if there isn’t time? Director Fang is terrifying. Why not tonight, back at my place? I’ll do whatever you like.”
But Lin Teng, inflamed by the pictures running through his own head, could no longer hold out, and his hands began roving over her:
“Baby, I promise I won’t wear you out — it’ll only take a minute. Come on, let me touch you…”
“Fine.” Out of options, Bai Yi’an shot her assistant a look. “Let’s go to my private lounge — not only are the costumes kept there, there’s a full-length mirror too. Darling, you’d better be careful not to stain the costume, or how am I supposed to show my face on this set afterward?”
“Need you even say it.” Lin Teng agreed to everything.
The two of them went into the lounge, and Bai Yi’an’s assistant stood guard at the door in a state of nerves, making sure no one would walk in and catch them in the sordid act.
Tuoba Yan had just reached the dressing room door when she ran into Assistant Wang, who had clearly been hunting for her a good while:
“Where did you go? Xiao Yan, today is the first day of shooting — you need to be waiting on this side, stop running off everywhere. Sister Tao just called to check in. What exactly am I supposed to tell her?”
Even with Tuoba Yan’s good temper, being ordered about by an assistant like this sat badly. She said coolly, “It’s fine. I know what I’m doing. Just see to your own duties — I know my own measure.”
The two were at a standstill when the door of the private lounge inside swung open. Bai Yi’an’s assistant, who had been standing there, hastily cleared out of the way — and out walked a man with a roguish, dissolute air about him.
One glance at his unfastened belt, the clothes hanging loose and askew off his body, and the sated, lingering glow of climax still on his face, and Tuoba Yan knew precisely what business had just concluded in there. Repulsed, she turned to leave.
Assistant Wang pressed on unrelentingly. “Xiao Yan, where are you off to now? Did you hear a single word I said? Don’t take my bluntness the wrong way — I’m only saying it for your own good…”
Lin Teng, freshly sated and stepping out of the lounge, found his attention snagged by a delicate, pretty face he had never seen before. The girl’s plain, simple dress couldn’t begin to conceal her looks; her small face bore not a trace of powder, which somehow made her seem all the more coolly lovely. She stood gazing down from her height at the short woman across from her, her upright bearing radiating a stern, self-disciplined air.
Lin Teng had been through women beyond counting, yet he had never once tasted this cold, aloof type. Even the ones who came close were merely putting on an act of refinement, running their play-hard-to-get games — far less satisfying than an uninhibited little slut like Bai Yi’an.
He straightened his tie and walked over.
The author has something to say:
I’m really not in form today — something’s off — so I can only post this part for now. Tomorrow I’ll top it up to 3K. For this chapter you can spend half the price for 3K of content, and then I’ll put out one regular update on top of it. I know you folks3 aren’t in it for the money — but I genuinely can’t think of any other way to make it up to everyone. I’m truly sorry. Sorry to everyone who waited this long — the first time I owe a make-up chapter and I go back on my word… Criticize me as you see fit!
Making it up in full QAQ
Footnotes
- 眉黛青山，双瞳剪水 | Méi Dài Qīngshān, Shuāng Tóng Jiǎn Shuǐ | Literally 'brows of kohl like distant green hills, twin pupils like sheared autumn water'; a classical poetic formula for praising a woman's striking, natural, unadorned beauty.
- 狗皮膏药 | Gǒupí Gāoyào | A traditional Chinese medicated plaster historically spread on dog hide and slapped on the body for aches and sprains; in slang, a clingy nuisance that sticks fast and refuses to peel off.
- 筒子们 | tǒngzimen | Internet-era homophone pun on 'tongzhimen' (comrades); a playful, affectionate form of address webnovel authors use for their readers in author's notes.
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