Female Stunt Double in the Entertainment Industry [Ancient Transmigration to Modern Times] - Chapter 2

When Tuoba Yan opened her eyes again, she saw a snow-white ceiling. Her body felt utterly weak, and a sharp pain shot through her left wrist. “Ugh…”

“Yanyan!” a familiar female voice whispered in alarm. “Yanyan!”

Yanyan? Tuoba Yan thought groggily. It had been so long since anyone had called her that. She struggled to turn her head and saw the woman who had been crying earlier sitting beside her.

Seeing her daughter awake, Qiao Chunyi wept with joy, alternating between tears and laughter. She hurried to call the nurse, who arrived promptly. The nurse lifted Tuoba Yan’s eyelids to examine her pupils, made notes in her notebook, and then asked gently, “What’s your name?”

Tuoba Yan, still disoriented by the sudden turn of events, instinctively replied, “Tuoba… Yan.”

The nurse visibly relaxed, exchanged a relieved glance with the overjoyed Qiao Chunyi, and asked, “How old are you?”

Tuoba Yan fell silent.

The nurse pointed to Qiao Chunyi and asked, “Do you remember who she is?”

Tuoba Yan gazed at Qiao Chunyi’s haggard face and murmured, “Mom…”

The nurse stopped questioning her, made a few more notes in her notebook, and told Qiao Chunyi, “There’s no major issue. Her memory might be a bit confused. Let’s keep her under observation.”

Qiao Chunyi nodded gratefully to the nurse, asking, “Then… what can she eat?”

As if possessed, Tuoba Yan blurted out, “I want meat…”

The nurse and Qiao Chunyi stared in stunned silence. After a few seconds, the nurse coughed sharply to suppress her laughter, while Qiao Chunyi was overwhelmed with such joy that she wondered if she was dreaming:

Her anorexic daughter had actually asked for meat!

“Okay, meat it is! What kind of meat do you want, Yanyan?” Qiao Chunyi asked.

The nurse had to intervene. “The patient is still too weak to handle heavy, oily, or rich foods. It’s best to stick to liquid or semi-liquid meals for now.”

Qiao Chunyi noticed the disappointment on her daughter’s face. “How about fish congee? She used to love fish congee.”

“That’s fine,” the nurse replied, “but be careful not to overfeed her. Her digestive system has weakened from prolonged anorexia, so she shouldn’t eat too much at once.”

Qiao Chunyi asked the nurse to keep an eye on her daughter while she packed her things and went out to buy congee.

Left alone in the hospital room, Tuoba Yan lay in bed, surrounded by empty beds. She slowly pieced together the bewildering events that had brought her here.

First, she was undeniably dead. The searing pain of the sharp sword slicing across her neck couldn’t have been a hallucination.

So, was she now inhabiting someone else’s body?

When the woman in white had asked her name earlier, she had instinctively replied, “Tuoba Yan.” The body’s mother showed no surprise, confirming that “Yanyan” was also named Tuoba Yan. While subtle pronunciation differences might exist, leading to slight variations in the written characters, the names were essentially the same.

Tuoba Yan had been born and raised on the Frontier, where roasted meat was a staple. After marrying the Tyrant, the Imperial Kitchen chefs, aware of her aversion to seafood, rarely served her dishes containing fish or shrimp. Later, after her demotion, the petty officials who brought her daily meals provided only near-spoiled vegetables and plain rice, depriving her of meat altogether.

That’s why, when her “mother” had asked what she wanted to eat earlier, Tuoba Yan had instinctively replied, “I want meat…”

Now, reflecting on it, even the iron-willed Tuoba Yan felt a strange sense of shame.

Soon, Qiao Chunyi returned with porridge, bustling in with a box of fish porridge. She gently asked Tuoba Yan, “Yanyan, shall I feed you?”

“No, thank you,” Tuoba Yan replied. She had never needed to be fed. Testing her body, she found she could sit up and eat on her own. “Thank you… Mom.”

Qiao Chunyi propped up the bed and placed a pillow behind Tuoba Yan’s back, fussing, “Tell Mom right away if you feel unwell anywhere. Don’t try to tough it out.”

The former Great General Who Guards the North forced a stiff smile. “Mm.”

Qiao Chunyi, assuming her daughter was still weak, didn’t pay much attention to the change in her. She placed a tray on the bed and set a bowl of fragrant fish congee on it, leaving Tuoba Yan to enjoy it.

Tuoba Yan lowered her gaze to the bowl. Tender slices of fish swirled in the creamy, slow-cooked rice porridge, seemingly drizzled with sesame oil and sprinkled with finely chopped scallions and sesame seeds. She could hardly tear her eyes away.

Her left hand was injured, so she eagerly reached for the disposable spoon with her right hand. After a moment’s hesitation, she lifted a spoonful of congee and awkwardly offered it to Qiao Chunyi. “Mom… you eat too,” she stammered. It still felt strange calling a woman who looked about her age “Mom.”

Qiao Chunyi nearly burst into tears again. After such a traumatic experience, her daughter had become so thoughtful and considerate. She struggled to suppress her tears, not wanting to worry the child. “Mom’s not hungry. You eat up.”

Tuoba Yan stubbornly held out her hand, her face paling slightly. “Mom, eat.”

Qiao Chunyi, deeply moved, finally opened her mouth and took a bite. Mother and daughter shared the bowl of porridge, filling the hospital room with warmth and contentment.

To outsiders, Tuoba Yan seemed to be recovering remarkably quickly. Eager to learn about her new family and this world, Tuoba Yan asked Qiao Chunyi to bring her Tuoba Yan’s old books. These were mostly celebrity magazines and publications related to beauty, dance, and music. Initially, Tuoba Yan struggled with simplified Chinese characters, but after Qiao Chunyi found her old school dictionary, she quickly mastered reading them.

Qiao Chunyi’s motherly care was meticulous and unwavering. She granted nearly every request that wouldn’t harm Tuoba Yan’s health. After a week of recuperation, Tuoba Yan gradually returned to a normal diet and finally gained some weight, no longer appearing as a shocking skeleton covered in skin.

Whether it was her imagination or not, Tuoba Yan felt a deep-seated trust and reliance on Qiao Chunyi. The memories of her previous life seemed to fade under a thin veil of mist each day, and the hopeless despair that had once consumed her gradually lost its grip on her present self.

After much contemplation, Tuoba Yan could only attribute the former to the innate connection between mother and daughter, a bond forged by blood.

As for the latter, this transformation was entirely beneficial to her new life. Having inherited Tuoba Yan’s body and enjoyed the tender care of her mother, Qiao Chunyi, she naturally felt compelled to repay this kindness tenfold. In the days to come, she would honor her mother and never again cause her tears or heartache.

After finishing the large box of magazines Qiao Chunyi had sent, Tuoba Yan retrieved a delicate pink notebook carefully hidden within a hollowed-out dictionary. The dictionary, along with the notebook, had been pressed at the bottom of the box. Inside were nearly a year’s worth of Tuoba Yan’s diary entries.

It was through these diary entries that Tuoba Yan finally uncovered the circumstances surrounding Tuoba Yan’s suicide, a mystery that had long haunted her.

Tuoba Yan had grown up in a single-parent household. Her mother, Qiao Chunyi, and father, Tuoba Xiu, divorced when she was young. Qiao Chunyi never remarried, dedicating her life to raising her daughter. Tuoba Xiu, on the other hand, had divorced Qiao Chunyi because of an affair. Shortly after the divorce, he hastily married his pregnant mistress, Gu Min, and four months later, they had a daughter named Tuoba Jiao.

Qiao Chunyi had single-handedly raised her daughter, Tuoba Yan, with great effort. But as Tuoba Yan entered her rebellious phase, she became increasingly difficult to manage, determined to compete with her father’s side of the family. When she learned that her younger sister, Tuoba Jiao, had entered a talent competition, the already striking Tuoba Yan resolved to follow suit, aiming to make a name for herself in the entertainment industry and prove herself to Tuoba Xiu and the rest of them.

However, Tuoba Jiao’s participation was largely due to the Tuoba Family’s sponsorship. Without such backing or any cunning strategies, Tuoba Yan was eliminated in the first round.

The young woman became fixated on surpassing Tuoba Jiao. Despite Qiao Chunyi’s desperate pleas, tears, and even scolding, Tuoba Yan stubbornly dropped out of school. She frantically searched for opportunities to become a star, finally discovering that a girl group was recruiting new members. After carefully preparing her appearance, she went to audition.

Qiao Chunyi had already struggled to afford her daughter’s tuition at a prestigious high school, let alone fund dance or physical training. Tuoba Yan’s stiff and awkward performance naturally failed to impress the judges. One woman even sneered, “You’ve clearly understated your weight. Come back after losing twenty pounds.”

The room erupted in suppressed, gloating laughter from the other auditioning girls.

******

Note:

We’ve now uncovered half the mystery surrounding Tuoba Yan’s suicide. Stay tuned to see how General Yan fulfills her final wish.

Support Female Stunt Double in the Entertainment Industry [Ancient Transmigration to Modern Times]