The Martial Arts Stunt Double of the Entertainment Circle – Chapter 5
by Little PandaJust as she was about to take an embarrassing fall—especially in front of Tuoba Yan, whom she could not stand—Chen Qing felt utterly mortified. She regretted listening to Fu Shuya’s suggestion to visit that arrogant girl; otherwise she would not have been rendered speechless, and now she was about to make a fool of herself on top of it.
Chen Qing squeezed her eyes shut and threw her arms over her head.
She braced herself to crash onto the cold, hard marble floor and shatter every bone in her body, but instead, a warm, soft body cushioned her fall from beneath.
It was Tuoba Yan.
Tuoba Yan had lunged forward at the critical moment to catch Chen Qing, but in doing so, she had torn the wound on her wrist. Bright blood rapidly soaked through layer after layer of gauze, flowing down her pale fingertips. Tuoba Yan’s face went white with pain, but she managed to curve her lips into a smile that could hardly be called pretty, directed at Chen Qing.
Chen Qing froze. Fu Shuya and Fang Qinying screamed. Tuoba Yan struggled to her feet and hauled up Chen Qing, who still lay dumbfounded on the spot.
Nurse Qiao from the nearby duty station rushed over. Fu Shuya, having recovered her wits, hurriedly helped the nurse support Tuoba Yan, while Fang Qinying steadied Chen Qing, and they escorted both girls back to the ward.
Nurse Qiao was Qiao Chunyi’s distant maternal cousin. She usually looked after Tuoba Yan a great deal and was very fond of this well-behaved, obedient girl. Seeing her drenched in blood now, Nurse Qiao’s heart ached even as panic set in. She swiftly unwrapped the gauze—Tuoba Yan’s wound was a mangled mess of torn flesh—and drew a sharp breath. She immediately opened the emergency medical kit, took out absorbent cotton soaked in alcohol, and cleaned the wound.
Chen Qing and the others stared dumbly at Tuoba Yan’s gash—a long, ragged tear where the flesh had split open. The fine sutures had been pulled loose, disrupting the wound that had been gradually healing and re-tearing the muscle. Alcohol cotton pressed against raw flesh—how excruciating must that be?
Yet Tuoba Yan acted as though nothing had happened, even finding the energy to joke: “Scared?”
Beads of sweat dotted the tip of her nose, and the healthy flush she had painstakingly regained over these past days had drained from her face. Chen Qing bit her lip, tears welling in her pretty almond-shaped eyes, and asked Tuoba Yan:
“Why?”
Fang Qinying and Fu Shuya could not understand either. Why had Tuoba Yan thrown herself forward without a second thought to shield Chen Qing?
Nurse Qiao, her face cold and stern, reinforced the sutures on Tuoba Yan’s wrist. Tuoba Yan paid it no mind and beckoned to Chen Qing: “Chen Qing, come here.”
Chen Qing stood and walked slowly over to Tuoba Yan’s side. Tuoba Yan reached out, pinched Chen Qing’s chin, and turned her pretty face left and right. Then she smiled and said:
“Good thing your face was not hurt. Be more careful from now on—a girl’s face is a precious thing.”
The moment Qiao Chunyi returned, she was waylaid by her cousin Nurse Qiao, who was absolutely fuming. “Chunyi, you need to have a serious talk with Xiao Yan when you get back. She is far too careless. Her hand was almost completely healed, but she just had to play the hero and shield her classmate. I am telling you, if she keeps acting this recklessly, she is going to pay dearly sooner or later.”
Qiao Chunyi was completely baffled. The bloodstains at the ward entrance had already been mopped clean by the janitorial staff, and the bedsheets and clothes had been replaced with fresh ones. But Tuoba Yan’s pale face and the even thicker bandages wrapped around her wrist were impossible to miss. Qiao Chunyi nearly dropped the food container in her hands. “Yanyan, what happened?!”
Nurse Qiao, still not satisfied despite having already scolded Tuoba Yan thoroughly, came back in to explain: “It was her classmate—she was not watching where she was walking and nearly took a fall. Xiao Yan went to catch her and got pulled down, tearing her wound open. She had to get three more stitches.”
Tuoba Yan gave a placating grin. Qiao Chunyi had zero resistance to her daughter’s smiles, and she vigorously ruffled the top of her head. “You silly girl! Do not ever do that again.”
Qiao Chunyi had brought her three-delicacy wontons. She lifted the lid of the food container, and the fragrant, savory steam that wafted out made one’s mouth water. Tuoba Yan sat on the bed, gazing eagerly, and Qiao Chunyi handed her the spoon. “Careful with your hand. Eat slowly.”
Tuoba Yan still followed the old customs, insisting her mother eat first. Qiao Chunyi tried hard to keep a stern face as she ate two wontons with the spoon, and only then did Tuoba Yan happily dig in.
The “three delicacies” in three-delicacy wontons refer to fresh fish, lean pork, and deveined fresh shrimp—all three finely minced into filling, wrapped in supple wonton skins kneaded from dough enriched with egg white, then boiled in water and topped with carefully simmered clear chicken broth. It was a bowl of wontons perfect in color, aroma, and flavor.
This was Tuoba Yan’s recent favorite. Though Qiao Chunyi could sometimes be scatterbrained and oblivious, she had a keen eye for her daughter’s preferences.
Watching her fish out wontons with her spoon, eating with beaming delight, Qiao Chunyi suddenly sighed. “Silly girl, I do not know what you are so happy about all day.”
“Huh?” Tuoba Yan was catching flak just lying there1.
Qiao Chunyi did not want to spoil her daughter’s appetite, so she just shook her head and gestured for her to keep eating. It was not until Tuoba Yan finished her wontons and—most unladylike—drank every last drop of the broth that Qiao Chunyi spoke again:
“Yanyan, your classmates came by today, so you probably know about the academic leave situation, right?”
It turned out that the original Tuoba Yan had insisted on dropping out to debut as a celebrity. Qiao Chunyi, left with no choice, had not processed a full withdrawal but had instead managed to arrange a one-year academic leave. Although Tuoba Yan had become normal and rational after her suicide attempt, Qiao Chunyi still had not dared bring it up, for fear she would revive the old argument.
Tuoba Yan set down her spoon and nodded. “I know.”
“What are you thinking?” Qiao Chunyi asked cautiously.
What was Tuoba Yan thinking? Tuoba Yan was absolutely going back to school!
In her past life, she had been raised as a boy from childhood. From the age of three, her grandfather had kept her by his side to teach her, and she had yearned to match his feat of placing first in all three tiers of the imperial examinations2, riding through the streets on horseback in red robes, then making her mark in officialdom—earning noble titles and high ministerial office, bringing glory to her ancestors.
Who could have predicted that the Xiongnu cavalry would launch a surprise attack on Shengzhou? Her grandfather had sworn he would never surrender to the Xiongnu. His declaration—”A barbarian tribe dares invade the Celestial Court?”—enraged the Xiongnu chieftain, and he was pierced by ten thousand arrows, dying a gruesome death within the city walls.
Who could have imagined that the Tuoba family’s celebrated child prodigy, the young master Tuoba Yan, was actually a girl? She had been changed into women’s clothing well in advance by her maidservant and hidden away in a farming household, thus escaping the Xiongnu’s extermination sweep.
Then, her heart full of vengeance, she had abandoned the brush for the sword3, vowing to take the head of that Xiongnu chieftain and avenge her grandfather.
After her death and resurrection in the modern world, Tuoba Yan felt this must be heaven’s compensation for her.
Tuoba Yan sat speaking with Qiao Chunyi, laying out her thoughts in detail.
First and foremost was recovery. She would not do anything foolish again—on this point, she could put Qiao Chunyi’s mind at ease. She had taken her academic leave in April, and Fu Shuya and the others had told her she could enroll as a transfer student when the next cohort of second-year students advanced to third-year, then take the university entrance exam.
It was now August, meaning there was still over a full year before the next school year began. Tuoba Yan knew her family’s financial situation was not good, and she planned to move back home to recuperate in a few days once she was stable, rather than staying at the hospital long-term. That way Qiao Chunyi could go to work normally, and she herself could handle what chores she was able. Naturally, she would also need to pick up her coursework—after all, she had school to attend next year.
Tuoba Yan’s words were exactly what Qiao Chunyi wanted to hear. She was overjoyed, exclaiming one after another that her daughter had truly grown up and become sensible, and she could not help tearing up again.
Tuoba Yan was telling the truth—she had simply left part of it unsaid.
She also wanted to find a job and ease the burden on her family.
Qiao Chunyi held Tuoba Yan’s hand, unable to contain her happiness. With a touch of regret, she said, “It is just a pity that your wrist is bound to leave a scar.” But fearing she might touch a raw nerve with her daughter, she quickly changed the subject.
A scar…
Tuoba Yan had never given it a second thought, but it seemed Qiao Chunyi cared a great deal?
In her past life, she had accumulated no shortage of battle scars. Several of the military strategists in her command had been well-versed in medicine, and she had learned much from them—enough to qualify as a half-decent physician. One strategist had even passed down to her a scar-removal prescription.
Later, after Tuoba Yan had married into the imperial palace, she discovered that the Emperor was deeply reluctant to face the small scars on her body. So she followed that prescription, brewing the medicine for internal consumption and personally preparing the Flesh-Engendering Scar-Eliminating Ointment to apply to her scars. The results were remarkable; combined with medicinal baths and massage, she soon cultivated a body of delicate skin.
Looking back now, those intimate whispers and sweet affections during their newlywed days had been nothing more than fascination with her young, tender flesh.
Since her mother cared about this scar, she did not mind putting in the effort to remove it.
The author has something to say:
General Yan: Seeing so many people who like me, I can rest easy. Tomorrow I will browse the medicinal market and kick off my grand scar-removal and skin-nourishing project~
Li Yanrao: Yay! Yay! Yay!
Old Man Li: Good granddaughter, stop getting so worked up. You do not have any scenes tomorrow.
Li Yanrao: Huh?!
Thank you to everyone who left comments of support. Peanut is so happy!
Footnotes
- Chinese internet slang literally meaning 'getting shot even while lying down,' used to describe being blamed or affected despite having no involvement.
- A Chinese idiom referring to placing first in all three levels of the imperial examination system—county, provincial, and palace—an extraordinarily rare scholarly feat.
- A calque of the Chinese idiom 投笔从戎 (tōubǐ cóngróng), literally 'to throw away the pen and take up arms,' originating from a Han dynasty scholar who abandoned literature for military glory.
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