The Martial Arts Stunt Double of the Entertainment Circle – Chapter 7
by Little PandaTuoba Yan sat by the window, a fresh breeze brushing against her face as she took in the bustling cityscape outside—endless streams of cars and pedestrians. It was refreshing and pleasant.
The short-haired woman beside her wasn’t faring so well. She had an oversized bag slung over her shoulder, stuffed to the brim, and wore thin-heeled stilettos on her feet. Her left hand gripped the overhead strap while her right painstakingly typed out a text message one-handed. Just watching her made Tuoba Yan tired on her behalf.
Three stops passed without a single passenger getting off, and more people squeezed aboard. The bus was packed tighter than a can of sardines.
At some point, a man in a sleeveless undershirt and slippers, with a jacket draped over his arm, slunk over to the woman’s side. Taking advantage of the bus’s lurching motions, he rubbed against her repeatedly, occasionally reaching up to adjust his hair or reposition the jacket on his arm, his fingers grazing her back with suspicious intent.
Perhaps unwilling to invite trouble, the woman tried her best to dodge and endure it, but the man only escalated. Eventually, he dropped even the pretense of using his jacket as cover and directly ground his crotch against her backside.
That was the last straw. She snapped, “What are you doing!”
Every eye on the bus turned toward them. Tuoba Yan sat barely half a meter away and had seen the entire sequence of events with crystal clarity. The man, however, was clearly a seasoned creep—utterly unfazed by the crowd’s strange and disdainful stares, he offered a shameless, grinning non-apology: “Sorry, miss, stepped on your shoe.”
The woman’s face flushed crimson. She couldn’t bring herself to say out loud that she was being groped by a pervert. She bit her lip and shuffled two steps toward Tuoba Yan, putting distance between herself and the vile creature.
The man held back for a moment, not daring to continue fondling her, but it wasn’t long before he devised a new tactic.
Tuoba Yan had been monitoring the man’s movements all along. The moment she saw him surreptitiously drop a small mirror to the floor and pull out his phone, she instantly recognized what he was doing—trying to film up the woman’s skirt. The anger she’d been suppressing flared up in an instant!
She struck like lightning, seizing the man’s wrist. Her palm twisted and climbed, fingertips driving viciously into the numb point at the inner condyle of his humerus. The man howled in pain. Taking advantage of the opening, Tuoba Yan snatched his phone: “Driver, this man is harassing women!”
Half the man’s arm had gone numb, but he knew he’d been caught red-handed and this wouldn’t end well. He barked viciously at Tuoba Yan: “You little brat, what’re you squawking about!” and lunged through the pain to grab the phone back.
The short-haired woman was quick on her feet. She shrieked, “I’m calling the police!”
The mention of police sent the man into a panic. Tuoba Yan seized the opening to sidestep and hurled the phone into the crowd. Terrified that the contents of his phone would be exposed, the man scrambled to retrieve it—only to be seized by several young men who’d finally reacted, pinned with his arms twisted behind his back and forced to the floor.
The bus erupted like a boiling pot. Passengers farther away called out asking what had happened, where the harassment occurred, craning their necks to watch the spectacle; those closer joined the commotion, several simultaneously calling the police on their phones or taking the opportunity to thrash the fallen predator.
Even the elderly woman who’d been hit by the flying phone didn’t complain. She opened it and found it loaded with voyeuristic photos and videos, and cursed furiously:
“Vile, degenerate scum! They should’ve shot you years ago!”
They soon reached the next stop. Police officers who’d received the emergency call hauled away the pervert and the phone as evidence, repeatedly assuring the agitated passengers that the man would be punished to the full extent of the law. Tuoba Yan, never one to miss a chance to stir the pot, called out: “Thank you, Officer!” Her shout set off a round of thanks and cheers from the rest of the bus.
Tuoba Yan pulled the short-haired woman to the back of the bus. The crowd of onlookers had vacated quite a few seats, and the two settled down comfortably. The woman said gratefully, “Little sister, I really owe you today.”
The short-haired woman’s name was Nian Huixian. She’d been on her way to Yuchuan Hospital to visit a patient. The two of them hit it off immediately, sitting together holding hands and chatting the entire ride. When they reached their stop and disembarked, Nian Huixian and Tuoba Yan parted reluctantly, each going their separate ways.
It was already past four-thirty by the time Tuoba Yan returned to her ward’s floor, where Nurse Qiao intercepted her dead in her tracks: “Xiao Yan, why’d you go running off again!”
“I just went over to the sanatorium to visit Grandpa Li and Grandpa Lin. Didn’t go far.” Tuoba Yan didn’t dare tell the truth, using Old Man Li as her cover.
Nurse Qiao’s anger hadn’t subsided. She warned her: “Didn’t go far? Just how far were you planning to go? You’re absolutely not allowed to do this again, or I’ll tell your mom and let her deal with you.”
Tuoba Yan nodded as frantically as a chicken pecking rice, putting on an apologetic smile, and finally managed to dismiss Nurse Qiao.
After returning to the ward and changing clothes, she soon received a call from Qiao Chunyi. Tuoba Yan initially feared that Nurse Qiao had changed her mind and reported her, but it turned out Qiao Chunyi’s supermarket required overtime. Her mother instructed her to take the meal card from the drawer of the bedside cabinet, inside the medicine box, and go get her own dinner.
After running around outside all afternoon, Tuoba Yan was absolutely famished. At the hospital cafeteria, she got a large bowl of millet porridge, a portion of sour and spicy shredded potatoes, and two boxed meals to go.
Carrying her haul, she strolled down to the base of the ward building—and spotted Nian Huixian sitting on the edge of a flower bed, eyes red-rimmed and looking utterly haggard.
“Nian-jiejie?”
Nian Huixian looked up to see the tall girl who’d stepped forward to protect her on the bus staring at her. She managed a weary smile: “It’s Xiao Yan. What a coincidence.”
“Are you alright? You don’t look well.” Tuoba Yan asked her. “Did something happen?”
Nian Huixian shook her head: “I’m fine, just got my period today and I’m feeling under the weather.”
With Mom not around, Tuoba Yan was also feeling a bit bored. She extended an invitation: “Nian-jiejie, do you have anywhere else to be? Would you like to come sit in my ward for a bit? I can make you some brown sugar water1.”
Exhausted in body and spirit, Nian Huixian figured she had nowhere else to go, so she followed Tuoba Yan upstairs.
Inside the ward, Tuoba Yan set down the food she was carrying and settled Nian Huixian on the empty hospital bed. She took out a bag of brown sugar, carefully poured it into a disposable paper cup, mixed it with hot water, and handed it to Nian Huixian: “Nian-jiejie, I didn’t have any ginger tea prepared, so you’ll have to make do with brown sugar water for now.”
“It’s no hardship at all.” Nian Huixian cradled the warm brown sugar water, feeling her heart warm as well. “Thank you, Xiao Yan.”
Tuoba Yan said, “Have you eaten, Sister? If not, I got double portions today—let’s share.”
Nian Huixian was initially too embarrassed to accept. Tuoba Yan, thinking she was put off by the humble fare, somehow ended up with the two of them sitting face to face, each working through a box of half-cooled rice with canteen-style stir-fried shredded potatoes, filling their stomachs.
It turned out Nian Huixian was a newly promoted junior talent agent. The idol artist under her management had gotten herself entangled in a scandal and was hospitalized; when Nian Huixian went to visit her, she was subjected to a barrage of cold mockery and sarcastic remarks. Coupled with the genuine physical discomfort of her period, she’d ended up sitting on the flower bed in a sorry state, staring blankly.
Sipping her brown sugar water, Nian Huixian said gratefully, “I have you to thank for today. I really owe you one. Let me treat you to a proper meal sometime.”
“Being so formal takes all the fun out of it.” Tuoba Yan waved her hand with a smile. “Speaking of which, I don’t have Nian-jiejie’s phone number yet.”
The two exchanged phone numbers. Nian Huixian explained that this was her personal number, not the work number printed on her business card, and told Tuoba Yan to reach her on the personal one. She also handed Tuoba Yan one of her business cards.
Tuoba Yan saw off a re-energized Nian Huixian, then stood holding the business card for a long time.
Nian Huixian, Talent Agent, Huashuo Entertainment.
She pulled out her phone and searched on Baidu. The company did indeed exist, and it was no small operation—Huashuo had a branch office in Yuchuan City. Nian Huixian was most likely an agent under the Yuchuan branch, though she hadn’t managed any major stars, which was why her name didn’t come up in searches.
Truly, an unintentionally planted willow casts the deepest shade2. Perhaps this connection would prove useful in the future.
But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. Tuoba Yan slipped her phone back into her pocket. If she wanted to enter the entertainment industry, no matter what capacity she debuted in, the scars on her wrist would be a major obstacle—one she absolutely had to eliminate.
Yet right now she was flat broke. Even though she knew where to source the required medicinal herbs, even the cleverest housewife couldn’t cook without rice3.
Tuoba Yan lay down on her bed, her mind rapidly turning the problem over.
The author has something to say:
Nian Huixian: A certain Sugar’s internet had problems, almost delayed this baby’s grand entrance!
Li Yanrao: Heh.
Footnotes
- 红糖水 (hóngtángshuǐ): Brown sugar dissolved in hot water, a traditional Chinese home remedy commonly consumed by women during menstruation to alleviate cramps and replenish energy.
- 无心插柳柳成荫 (wúxīn chāliǔ liǔchéngyīn): A Chinese proverb meaning unintentional actions can yield unexpectedly beneficial results, literally 'unintentionally planted willow trees cast shade.'
- 巧妇难为无米之炊 (qiǎo fù nán wéi wú mǐ zhī chuī): A Chinese proverb meaning even the most capable person cannot accomplish a task without the necessary resources, literally 'even a clever housewife cannot cook without rice.'
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