After Flirting with the Wrong Stand-in, I Overturned (GL) - Chapter 38

“I didn’t even notice the pain.” Lin Shuyan took a closer look. The hairpin had left a small gash, and bright red beads of blood were slowly seeping out. She pressed on it, and a few more drops trickled down.

“Teacher Rong, you really are observant,” Lin Shuyan praised.

“I just happened to see it, that’s all.” Rong Yu pulled a clean face towel from her bag. “You’d better wipe it.”

“Thank you, Teacher Rong.” Shuyan didn’t refuse and accepted it politely. One woman was draped in a red wedding gown, and the woman receiving the towel was likewise clad in deep red. Suddenly, there was a click, and both turned around instantly.

“Teacher Rong, Teacher Lin, wait a second!” The person caught candid-snapping showed no embarrassment at being discovered and ran toward them with the camera.

“I was just adjusting the focus,” the girl, who looked very young, said as she approached. “I thought that scene between you two just now was particularly beautiful, so I took a snapshot.”

“Would you two like to see?” The girl enthusiastically handed over the camera. “If you think it’s bad, I can delete the original immediately. But if it’s okay, could I keep one for a memento?”

“What is your name?” Rong Yu took the camera and held it in front of Shuyan. Both leaned in to look. Whether in terms of angle, softness, or overall color tone, the photo was a masterpiece. It was full of atmosphere, the kind that immediately sparked a thousand stories in one’s mind.

“Lin Xuejin.”

“Xuejing (Snowy scenery)?”

“It’s the Jin from ‘clothed in brocade’ (yi jin ye xing).”

“What a coincidence,” Shuyan said. “We share a surname. And you are here as…?”

“I wanted to do some part-time work on Sundays, and a senior recommended me to this crew.”

“Are you from Yecheng?” Shuyan guessed, listening to her accent.

“Yes, the same city as Teacher Lin! I came to Lin City for university.”

Lin Shuyan had never attended university. She knew Ren Xuan had, and at the country’s top institution for its best finance program. Hearing Lin Xuejin mention university, she couldn’t help but ask a few more questions. She learned that Lin Xuejin was a Journalism and Photography major. The two talked happily, and Shuyan only bid her farewell when it started getting late.

“Teacher Lin,” her assistant Chen Yan said in a low voice while following Shuyan with a water cup, “Photographer Lin’s looks are more than enough for her to enter the entertainment industry herself.”

“She loves her major,” Shuyan replied. The image of the girl enthusiastically introducing her field of study kept flashing in Shuyan’s mind. There was a light in the girl’s eyes; she was a positive, confident, and sunny person. Thinking about it, Shuyan couldn’t help but look at herself.

“What are you thinking about?” The ringtone sounded. Shuyan, still thinking about the girl she had just met, opened the video call out of reflex. Her distracted look naturally fell into Ren Xuan’s eyes.

“I met someone on set today.” Shuyan propped her phone on the desk and sat obediently in front of it. “She’s exceptionally talented—a top student from Lin University, here for part-time work.”

“Talented?” Ren Xuan asked curiously.

“She’s beautiful, highly educated, has a great personality, and is well-liked by the crew…” Shuyan counted off Lin Xuejin’s virtues on her fingers. Thinking of the name, she added, “Her name is pretty, too.”

Ren Xuan sat behind the screen, listening with immense patience as Shuyan detailed every bit about Lin Xuejin. Shuyan’s voice gradually grew quieter. Suddenly, Ren Xuan heard her add awkwardly in a small voice, “And she has a girlfriend.”

“What?” Ren Xuan repeated, not quite understanding the pivot.

“She… she has a girlfriend,” Shuyan said. “A classmate from her university. She’s also a very talented girl.”

“And what about me?” Ren Xuan asked.

“Huh?” Shuyan blinked in confusion.

“How am I in Shuyan’s heart?” Ren Xuan stared at Shuyan through the screen with focused eyes. Shuyan had already lowered her head, staring at the desk. Though Ren Xuan didn’t know what on the desk could be so fascinating, Shuyan refused to look up.

Ren Xuan could only see the girl’s smooth, pale forehead and long, straight black hair.

How was Ren Xuan in Shuyan’s heart? If judged by the criteria of “talent” used just now, Ren Xuan was naturally the most outstanding person she knew.

“Am I the best?” The girl didn’t answer. Ren Xuan asked twice more with playful persistence until the girl finally gave a tiny nod. Only then did Ren Xuan stop.

“You are also the best in my heart,” Ren Xuan said with a smile.

So she understands. Shuyan felt shy about the clarification she had intentionally added just now. Her little jealous thoughts truly couldn’t be hidden from Ren Xuan. Now, she was even more afraid to look up, no matter what Ren Xuan said.

“Shuyan,” Ren Xuan said after a while, seeing no response. “You should get some rest soon.”

“I don’t want to sleep yet,” Shuyan finally looked up. There were too many trivial matters on set, and with so many people around, she only had time for video calls in the hotel. Most of the time they just exchanged messages; Ren Xuan didn’t even send voice notes often.

“How was filming today?” Ren Xuan asked with concern. “Are the ancient costumes exhausting to wear?” Ren Xuan had seen the outfits Shuyan sent photos of. As a princess and the Emperor’s sister, she was covered in pearls and emeralds—it wasn’t an exaggeration.

“This.” Shuyan raised her hand to show her. The slight scratch was still there. She hadn’t felt it at the time, but now in front of Ren Xuan, her sense of touch seemed much more sensitive; the spot actually felt a bit stinging.

Regarding the wound, Ren Xuan frowned. “Was it a zipper or a hairpin?”

“A hairpin.” Shuyan said admiringly, “How do you know everything?”

“What else would you come into contact with on set?” Ren Xuan sighed. The scratch was long but shallow; it was an easy guess. “Does it hurt?”

“It didn’t at the time,” Shuyan said.

“You were busy with other things then.” Ren Xuan looked at the wound with heartache. When a person is highly focused, they often don’t perceive physical pain. Only during downtime or when the hands are idle does the pain finally register.

“It doesn’t hurt now,” Shuyan said obediently. “I just wanted to tell you.”

“Good job.” Ren Xuan nodded in approval, meeting Shuyan’s puzzled gaze. “I’m your girlfriend; of course, you should tell me things immediately. Especially if you’re hurt or feel wronged, you mustn’t hide it. Hiding things isn’t ‘doing what’s best’ for the other person, understand?”

“Then will you also not hide things from me?” Shuyan’s heart felt sweet as she followed up eagerly.

Ren Xuan’s heart felt as if it had been blocked by a thick layer of cement. Her facial expression, however, remained perfect. Her mouth was full of bitterness, yet she could still nod heavily. “Mhm.”

“Has the wound been treated?”

“It has.” Shuyan smiled. “It’s just a tiny scratch. Chen Yan even used alcohol to disinfect it for me.”

“Don’t be careless.”

“I was just too fast when I pulled the hairpin out.” Shuyan detailed the scene for Ren Xuan. The night was hazy, and the moon hung mid-sky. Ren Xuan took the initiative to hang up so Shuyan would be forced to sleep. She slept soundly, only to be woken by her alarm the next day.

The investment for The Princess of Qin wasn’t massive, but the director and producer spent most of it on set design, headpieces, and clothing. Shuyan’s daily transformation was the most tedious part, requiring her to arrive several hours early.

One of the leads, Qin Yuantang, was the core of the script. She followed her brother’s arrangement to marry Ning An, completely unaware from the beginning that it was a conspiracy against the Ning family.

The court of the Great Chu was far from being as calm as it appeared. Beneath the surface, the winds of politics were treacherous. Qin Yuantang was merely a chess piece planted in the Ning family by her brother, the Emperor.

The Ning family had been military leaders for generations. Since the founding of Great Chu, by the time of Ning An’s father’s generation, the common people sometimes knew of the Ning Family Army but not the imperial court. They only knew that every foreign invasion and every rebellion was quelled by the Nings. The people viewed the Nings as gods; whatever the war, a move by the Ning family would soon bring peace.

Qin Yuantang’s life could be divided into three stages: the princess struggling to survive in the Cold Palace; the Eldest Princess married into the Ning estate as a wife; and finally, the transformation from a young girl into the feared “Princess Protector of the Realm.”

The late Emperor had countless daughters and about five or six sons. The mother of Qin Yuantang and Qin Yuanzhao had once been the favored consort, but she couldn’t withstand the schemes of the harem. The siblings grew up in the Cold Palace under the protection of their mother’s old servants, until the other princes died or were injured in the struggle for the throne one after another. Only then did the late Emperor remember there was still a prince in the Cold Palace. He hurriedly brought him out and personally trained him.

A few years later, the Emperor passed away. Qin Yuanzhao ascended the throne smoothly, and Qin Yuantang’s status skyrocketed. She could have married any suitor she wished, yet she married into the Ning family without hesitation—simply wanting to see for herself how good the “Ning family” was, as someone had once told her.

“Come play at my house! I can take you horse racing in the mountains and catch rabbits with you.”

“With your stature, you can only ride a pony. I won’t laugh at you—I’ve ridden a pony too. I can lend you the one I used to ride.”

“Falling off hurts a lot, so don’t be a crybaby.” The boy speaking was clearly the same age as the dirty girl before him, yet his clothing gave him a more spirited, youthful air.

The girl looked up slightly, listening with yearning to his stories: mountain climbing in spring, catching cicadas in summer, riding horses and catching rabbits in autumn, and throwing snowballs in winter. Someone trapped by high walls could only imagine such joy—until she met a boy who seriously invited her to the Ning Duke’s Estate.

The boy had no idea that she, having seen all sorts of people in the palace, could tell at a glance he was a girl wearing someone else’s clothes to sneak in. He was not the “Young Master” of the Ning Duke’s Estate.

Since she could wear the clothes of the Ning Duke’s heir, she must be related to the Ning family—likely the Duke’s daughter.

Only much, much later did Qin Yuantang learn that the Ning Duke’s Estate had a pair of twins. The brother was named Ning An, and the sister was named Ning Chun.

Ning Chun used her brother’s identity recklessly, without a single worry for his reputation. She told Shuyan everything she could.

“Are you reluctant to see me go?” Ning Chun asked, thinking herself exceptionally considerate. “I can still come into the palace. I’ll chat with you again next time.”

Qin Yuantang, whose only focus was whether she had brought food, couldn’t wait to usher her away once she got the treats. It had to be said, the things Ning Chun told her were very attractive, but to a young girl who couldn’t leave the Chu Palace, the more beautiful the world outside was, the more cruel it felt.

“Don’t come next time,” Qin Yuantang said coldly. She wanted Ning Chun to bring her good food, but this wasn’t a sustainable method. If one day Ning Chun were discovered to be a girl and associated with a princess from the Cold Palace…

Since she was a relative of the Ning Duke’s Estate, she would likely be fine, but Yuantang herself would not escape the consequences. Qin Yuantang decided to cut off these food deliveries.