Peerless Beauty – Chapter 61

Tattoo

Like a fiery red spider lily

Medical dramas, whether domestic or international, have a common flaw: actors love to leave their white coats unbuttoned, wearing them like trench coats.

A certain male actor had just finished a scene, and An Ruosu, sitting nearby, stood up and said, “If you leave your white coat unbuttoned in a real hospital, you’ll definitely get scolded.”

When she was interning at a hospital, she saw an intern mimic TV dramas by leaving his white coat open, striding with flair as if he owned the place, only to be caught by the hospital’s infection control director and scolded until he shrank like a quail.

The male actor took out a mirror, looked at himself from left to right, and casually adjusted his hair, saying, “Sister, it’s just a TV drama, not a documentary. Don’t worry, the audience will understand. Besides, this take has already passed, and the director didn’t call ‘cut.'”

The director of group B is the producer’s nephew, twenty-eight years old, and also plays a role as a general affairs department staff member in the drama.

These days, I’ve been preoccupied with giving myself more scenes, not caring whether doctors would really unbutton their coats and wear them like trench coats at work.

An Ruosu rubbed her temples, sighed, and said nothing more.

Today, Jian Yan came to visit the set again with a large entourage.

Because of An Ruosu, she came quite often.

Every time she came, she would also tease Lu Yinxi.

After teasing her several times, back in the hotel room, An Ruosu couldn’t help but ask Jian Yan, “Have you taken a liking to that little girl?”

Among the female actors, the young girl belongs to the category of pure appearance and clean temperament, indeed quite likable.

Jian Yan sat at the end of the bed, looked at An Ruosu, and smiled before speaking: “What a strong smell of jealousy.”

She added, “A kid who still smells of milk doesn’t catch my eye.”

It’s her disappointing younger sister who fancies her.

An Ruosu walked over, bent down to wrap her arms around her neck, and kissed her cheek: “With so many young and beautiful girls in the circle, if President Jian were moved, it would be understandable.”

“An’an, I said she doesn’t catch my eye, and she doesn’t,” Jian Yan hugged her waist, applied a little force with her arm, their bodies pressed together, and they rolled onto the bed.

When An Ruosu first entered the industry, she was a ghostwriter without even the right to her own byline, living in a basement that cost a few hundred yuan a month, writing every day, and putting someone else’s name on each piece.

One day, an industry veteran invited her to a high-end club, saying he was willing to officially bring her into the industry, take her as a disciple, and from then on, her name would appear on scripts and TV.

She believed it and went, only to be plied with drink after drink, and subjected to inappropriate touching.

She struggled to run out and hid in the bathroom to cry.

A beautiful woman appeared beside her, holding a cigarette and looking at her with a half-smile.

She looked up through her tears.

Their eyes met, and the woman bent down, blew a smoke ring in her face, and asked, “Why are you crying?”

She recounted the events truthfully.

The woman used a tissue to wipe her tears and, with a hint of alcohol on her breath, handed her a business card: “I have stronger backing. Follow me from now on, okay?”

Amidst the swirling smoke, she was dazzled by the woman’s beauty, and in a moment of weakness, she nodded.

At that time, she was a nameless ghostwriter, and Jian Yan was the deputy general manager assigned to a small company.

Later, she became a top scriptwriter in the industry, and Jian Yan turned the small company into a big one, took down several siblings, and became the rightful successor of the Jian family.

An Ruosu lay under Jian Yan, changed the subject, and asked, “Last time you said you’d find me a mentor doctor, where is that?”

“She didn’t want to come, so I found you a new one. He’ll come next week. I’ll have my assistant send you his contact information. If you have any questions in the future, ask him directly. His surname is Chu, and I think he’s called Chu Yan.”

Jian Yan originally thought Jian Qing would be eager to join the crew to spend time with Lu Yinxi, but unexpectedly, she straightforwardly refused, saying she didn’t have time.

Fortunately, the hospital leadership recommended another young talent, saying he was on vacation and had nothing to do, so it was perfect to send him to the crew as a professional consultant.

An Ruosu pushed the person pressing down on her: “I have a headache today and don’t want to do that.”

Jian Yan tapped An Ruosu’s forehead: “What are you saying? Do you think I came to you just for that kind of thing? Can’t we just share our feelings?”

She adjusted her position, half sitting up, letting An Ruosu lie on her thighs, massaging her temples, and asked, “Why do you always have headaches?”

An Ruosu said, “Migraine, an old problem. Maybe it’s from using my brain too much.”

“I insist you go to the hospital for a check-up this month. I’ll arrange for a doctor.”

“Okay, the crew is going to the affiliated hospital for location scouting on the 14th and 15th this month, so I’ll check it out then.”

“Don’t worry too much about the crew’s affairs. Once you’ve submitted the script, ninety percent of your work is done.”

“Okay.” The strength of the massage was just right, not too light or too heavy. An Ruosu lay on Jian Yan’s thighs, feeling drowsy. “Speaking of which, don’t you have a younger half-sister? Last time you mentioned going to teach her not to play with young girls’ feelings. You were talking about her, right?”

Jian Yan said, “That’s her. The lunatic I told you about last time is also her. She works at the affiliated hospital. Do you think if I expose her for playing with young girls’ feelings at her workplace, she would go crazy?”

She enjoyed building her happiness on the suffering of others.

Her sister always had a calm, expressionless face. The more such a person shows a look of pain, the happier it made her.

This statement dispelled her drowsiness. An Ruosu opened her eyes, held Jian Yan’s wrist, and earnestly advised, “Don’t provoke her. No matter what, she’s still your sister, and she doesn’t threaten you now.”

She always worried that Jian Yan, having done so many bad things, would end up alone, dying a miserable death.

Jian Yan lowered her head and kissed An Ruosu’s forehead, gently saying, “I’m just talking; I won’t actually do it. My sister is also narrow-minded. If I stab her, she would come straight to fight me.”

An Ruosu closed her eyes again, lying on her lap, continuing to advise, “Do fewer bad things.”

“That’s not right. I top the charity list every year.”

An Ruosu chuckled, “Great philanthropist.”

Jian Yan accepted it without hesitation, “Yes.”

“How old is your younger half-sister?”

“Let me think…” Jian Yan recalled for a moment and said, “Hmm, she was born in November, 29 years old, and after the New Year, she’ll be 30 nominally.” As she spoke, her tone took on a hint of nostalgia, “When my dad brought her home, she was skinny and small, like a little bean sprout. Now she’s taller than me and good-looking. If she can’t make it in the hospital, I’ll give her a career in the film and television industry.”

An Ruosu lightly pinched her thigh, “Why would you curse your own sister… 30 already, is she married?”

“A non-marriage advocate.”

“Your dad agrees too? Didn’t he arrange a marriage for her?”

In families like theirs, marriages are not up to the individuals; family interests come first. The children’s marriages are bargaining chips for strong alliances.

Jian Yan was arranged to marry the eldest son of a certain family at 24, and it wasn’t until she was 30 that she had the ability to break free from family constraints and choose divorce.

Jian Yan said, “He arranged it, but she didn’t go, and the old man couldn’t do anything about it.”

An Ruosu asked, “Why?”

Jian Yan replied, “She’s young, and the old man feels guilty toward her mom, so he’s biased in her favor, wanting to give her a bit more of the inheritance.

She’s the only one in our generation who dares to confront the family. She studied well from a young age, and now her career is going well. In another ten or twenty years, her reputation won’t lose to the old man’s.

As for the old man, you know, he used to be an intellectual, and with excellence in learning, he became an official, eventually becoming a deputy mayor. When the policies changed, he went into business. After doing business for so many years, deep down he still wants someone in the family to be an intellectual. Ideally, someone in business, someone in politics, and someone in academia.”

An Ruosu said, “Going into politics is fine, but doing academia doesn’t earn as much as inheriting the family business; that’s a loss.”

Jian Yan replied, “She doesn’t care, let her be. She’s already the youngest associate chief physician in their hospital. Last time I asked her to come back and help me, she refused.”

An Ruosu was curious: “Did your family pull some strings for her?”

Jian Yan: “No, they didn’t. A few years ago, a contagious disease broke out in Country F, and many people died. She wasn’t afraid of death and signed up for the foreign aid medical team, staying in that godforsaken place for 15 months. She came back alive, and there was a special order for her promotion.”

“That’s truly seeking fortune amidst danger.”

“At that time, the old man heard from her mentor that she signed up for foreign aid and also heard from employees of the multinational branch in Country F that the place had many infectious diseases, poor security, frequent gunfire at night, bullets piercing through windows, discrimination against Asians, and they were most prone to robbery… It scared him terribly. My sister is as beautiful as a fairy, and if anything happened to her, if she were violated by those chaotic people, it would be a fate worse than death—so the old man immediately dispatched a few bodyguards to protect her, but I intercepted them.”

An Ruosu lightly pinched her thigh again: “Do you have a grudge against your sister?”

Jian Yan shook her head, smiling broadly: “That’s a false accusation against me. As the old saying goes, ‘The sharpness of a sword comes from honing, and the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from bitter cold.’¹ Young people need more practice. Other members of the medical team were also anxious and fearful, so why should she be special? Besides, she said herself that she didn’t need us to take care of her.”

“She said that to you?”

“She told me before. One year, I ran into her abroad; she was working as a translator for one of my clients. At that time, she was still studying abroad on a government scholarship. The tuition was covered by the state, but she had to cover her living expenses, so she worked while studying.

She was just in her early twenties then. I saw her, a young girl working two or three jobs, and I felt both sorry for her and that it was a bit embarrassing for our family. So I transferred her some money, telling her to stay at school, but she refused, saying she didn’t need us to take care of her.”

An Ruosu laughed and said, “Your sister is quite stubborn.”

Jian Yan smiled: “Stubborn to the point of being annoying. That person has ability, but not necessarily a conscience, just an ingrate. If the old man hadn’t taken her home back then, who knows which orphanage she would have ended up in. Now that she has grown wings, she doesn’t even come home anymore.”

The rooms booked in advance for the business trip were all double rooms, requiring sharing with someone else.

Jian Qing was accustomed to sleeping with the lights on and didn’t like having someone beside her, so she paid for a single room herself.

On this foreign night, there was no gunfire or bullets, no war or political turmoil, no need to sleep on the floor, no need to stay away from doors and windows.

In the bathroom, Jian Qing turned her back to the mirror, unbuttoned her shirt, and slipped off her top, revealing skin as white as mutton-fat jade.

She turned her head to the left rear, looked into the mirror, and saw on her left scapula a vivid, fiery red spider lily tattoo.

There used to be an 8 cm long stray bullet scar there.

She gently stroked the tattoo, took off all her clothes, stepped into the bathtub, and soaked.

Lu Yinxi calculated the time and sent a message to Jian Qing at the right moment: 【Dr. Jian, isn’t it time to sleep? Good night.】

Jian Qing lay in the bathtub, grabbed her phone, and replied: 【This time, I really am taking a bath.】

1. The sharpness of a sword comes from honing, and the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from bitter cold: A metaphor that emphasizes the idea that true strength and beauty are often the results of enduring hardship and rigorous challenges.
   
   The first part, “The sharpness of a sword comes from honing,” suggests that a sword becomes sharp and effective only after careful and repeated sharpening. Similarly, a person develops skills, strength, and resilience through persistent effort and challenges.
   
   The second part, “the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from bitter cold,” refers to the fact that plum blossoms bloom in the cold of winter, symbolizing that beauty and excellence often emerge from difficult circumstances.
   
   Together, the saying encourages individuals to embrace challenges and hardships as opportunities for growth and development.