Professional Body Double - Chap 0

Volume 1

Chapter 0 – Prologue

Some of you might have already read this in our Status – Whats’ Next post from April 5. This is just an introduction. We will start posting this story on May 12 (the second anniversary date from when we posted our first translated novel, Addicted2). This date holds great significance to us. It was our first time translating and has since become somewhat a habit. And here we are with our 4th novel two years later.

Any case, with this story, we have decided to change the title we originally had from Unique Tishen to Professional Substitute to align more with its actual Chinese title 職業替身. This story is written by Shui Qian Cheng (水千丞), the same author as Beloved Enemy.

One change that we are making, the first two posts will be out of sequence from the author’s novel. The main lead of the story is ZhouXiang; however, the author later wrote two chapters from YanMingXiu’s point of view. We will post these two chapters first… and then start with chapter 1. These two chapters will help with the understanding of the story right from the get-go.

Characters:

ZhouXiang: Uke. Independent. Easy going, not very ambitious, caring towards people around him. His parents and sibling passed away when he was 8 years old. Before rebirth, he lives by himself in a condo. After rebirth, he lives with his rebirth mom. Older/younger ZhouXiang will be used to distinguish the ZhouXiang before birth and after rebirth. In instances where Older and Younger is used, Older ZhouXiang is before rebirth. Younger ZhouXiang is after rebirth.

YanMingXiu: Extremely attractive, cold, indifferent. Youngest of the three Yan siblings. Comes from a weathly, prestious, millitary family. Has a crush on WangYuDong.

LanXiRong: Young attractive popular actor who was once close to ZhouXiang. He likes ZhouXiang.

WangYuDong: YanMingXiu’s crush, who also eventually becomes his brother-in-law.

CaiWei: ZhouXiang close friend, his boss and close buddy almost like that of a brother

ChenYing: ZhouXiang’s mother after rebirth.

YanDeJiang: YanMingXiu’s grandfather. A prominent figure in the country’s government arena. Patriarch of the Yan family.

YanFei: YanMingXiu’s father

YanMingSu: YanMingXiu’s older brother

YanMingMei: YanMingXiu’s older sister. Becomes WangYuDong’s wife later in the story.

Prologue:

ZhouXiang didn’t know if God was giving him a second chance to live because he wanted to give him extra loving care or was it because he hasn’t messed with him enough.

Otherwise, how could it be that both in and out of his entertainment career, whether it was in his past life or his current life, YanMingXiu would consider him as the substitute for the same person.

He also didn’t know, between him and Young Master Yan, who was actually more pitiful; the one who could only be treated as a substitute or the one could only find a substitute.

In his past life, ZhouXiang was the stuntman for the big star WangYuDong.

But not just as his martial art stuntman…..

Even within his deeply ill-fated relationship with YanMingXiu, he was also undeniably a complete substitute.

Disheartened, ZhouXiang went with a group of documentary film crew into the deep valleys of the treacherous mountains. Unexpectedly, he lost his footing and fell off a cliff .

When he awakened again, it was already two years later. Nevertheless, he awakened in another person’s body.

What is even more tragic is that he still couldn’t escape the fate of being a substitute…

T/N: 替身: Tishen is a person who replaces another; a substitute, in filming the tishen is a stuntman/body-double.

Pov 2 – The Past – Yanmingxiu’S Pov 2

The world is so vast… ZhouXiang disappeared from then on. Everyone thought that ZhouXiang is dead. But as long has he didn’t see ZhouXiang’s corpse, his heart held onto that glimmer of hope. This hope is like the sparks of fire in his heart. The more the sparks accumulates, the thicker it is, and it is only waiting for the day to start a prairie fire.

He entered into an unprecedented hopeless predicament. Under the unfathomable uncertainly of whether ZhouXiang is dead or alive, with nobody able to provide him with a definitive answer to this question, he became manically depressed. He couldn’t eat, couldn’t drink, and couldn’t sleep. He felt that the sky above his head had collapsed.

This man (ZhouXiang), whom he had never paid attention to… this man whom he thought would continue to stay by his side without needing him to put in much effort…after he (ZhouXiang) had completely disappeared is when he (YanMingXiu) realized how important this person (ZhouXiang) was to himself.

He began to remember every little bit of his past memories with ZhouXiang, repeating over and over again, not missing any details. In fact, he even tirelessly tried to recall every word that ZhouXiang said, his expression when he said it. The more he remembered, the more he felt ZhouXiang’s goodness and the more he felt his heart cracking.

During that time, it didn’t matter whether it was day or night. Every single moment was endless despair. He really wished that he could open his eyes and find that it was all but a nightmare. He only needed to reach his hand out and could touch ZhouXiang’s warm body. He will turn his body over and embrace him tightly…this time, he will definitely not let go.

He was really willing to give up everything that he has, only if ZhouXiang could stand in front of him healthily.

He felt that his life is over.

He didn’t understand how a person (himself) could be stupid to such an extent to have only come to the realization of someone so important and precious to him after he had irreparably lost him (ZhouXiang).

Why did it have to wait till after he could no longer find ZhouXiang for him to dare admit that he had unknowingly fallen for ZhouXiang, that he had already gotten use to ZhouXiang being a fixture in his world. He had already regarded ZhouXiang as a part of his life that could not be separated.

It is all too late.

All that he now understood and what he had to endure in the future have no practical meaning…because no matter how painful and hopeless he is, ZhouXiang would never know. No matter how remorseful he is, he had no way to turn back time.

He even wanted to disappear along with ZhouXiang, as long as he could go to where ZhouXiang is now, this is also a good thought.

He didn’t know how many days of uttered darkness passed. He could no longer feel the passage of time or any changes around him. His heart is already dead. What is the meaning of everything in the outside world?

Unable to determine how much time had passed, a monk appeared in front of him.

During this lengthy period of time, a lot of people came and went around him. He felt a bit weak but he couldn’t hear their voices nor see their faces. He didn’t want to hear nor did he want to see, but the appearance of this monk clearly appeared in his mind. The voice of this monk is like the sunrise passing through the dense fog, penetrating his ears.

He knew this monk. This person is his brother’s master, JiKong Master. He has seen him once. He is an extremely wise person.

A thought came to his mind at this time.

When it is impossible to find ZhouXiang through any scientific or theoretical means, he began to depend on supernatural or religious powers. He thought that maybe this monk has a way, maybe there is really a….

JiKong Master didn’t do much. After sitting down, he merely said softly, “He is not dead.”

Just this sentence alone is enough to make him crazy. He rushed toward JiKong Master. He couldn’t speak. His throat painfully felt as if it was burning, not being able to utter a single sound. He could only glare fixedly at this grand master, requesting him to continue.

JiKong Master touched his beads, his voice natural, “He is not dead, nor is he alive. I have been entrusted by your brother and can only tell you this much. Do what you need to do. Make the best of it.”

He gripped tightly onto JiKong Master’s clothes, getting emotionally choked up. He does not understand what, “Not dead, nor is he alive” meant. But he believes… he believes that ZhouXiang is not dead. He had always believed that ZhouXiang is not dead, and now that he got confirmation from one other person, he is definitely more convinced.

He didn’t care what “nor is he alive” meant. Even if ZhouXiang is in a vegetative state, he still must find him. As long as ZhouXiang is not dead, as long as he can still feel ZhouXiang’s body temperature, or even a bit of the clothes he’s wearing… it is enough for him.

As long as ZhouXiang is not dead!

He will use all the patience in his life to find and wait for ZhouXiang. ZhouXiang is alive. ZhouXiang is not dead. ZhouXiang will not leave him. As long as he is willing to wait, ZhouXiang will one day return to him.

He started to be enlivened day after day.

His older brother brought him back to Beijing and stayed with him for two months. He finally became completely “normal” for a bit. As for making his brother worried about him for more than three months, it wasn’t that he didn’t feel guilty. Even though he remained dispirited most days and have completely lost his soul, he still appeared to be “normal” in front of his older brother.

After his older brother left feeling a bit relief, he contacted a friend whom had opened an entertainment company and told the friend that he wanted to take on filming roles and advertisements, that he wanted to be a star.

His friend was very shocked. The friend couldn’t understand why he would do that, but at the same time, he was unexpectedly pleased.

His thought was very simple. He wanted to make himself more famous, the more famous the better. He wanted ZhouXiang to be able to see him on TV no matter where he (ZhouXiang) is in the world.

Even if ZhouXiang hated him and is not willing to reconcile with him, as long as he appears day after day, perhaps ZhouXiang will change his mind. If ZhouXiang is alive, he will definitely return to his side one day.

He must be persistent on this, and wait for ZhouXiang’s return. This is the biggest motivation supporting him.

Although on those days without ZhouXiang, he is deeply immersed in yearning and remorse. The pain is endless, but he can’t collapse. ZhouXiang is not dead. ZhouXiang can’t be dead. One day he will surely come back. He must wait until that day. Because that day exist, it is worthy for him to painfully endure and continue to live on without ZhouXiang.

He began to frantically take on advertising and commercial activities. His family and friends could not understand his intentions but he didn’t need anyone to understand. He only needed one person to be able to see him in every corners of the world.

One year passed … two years passed.

There was still no news of ZhouXiang. He didn’t know how he endured the more than seven hundred days and nights. This far away immeasurable hope is the only driving force supporting him.

In this world, it’s likely that he is the only person that still stubbornly insisted that ZhouXiang is not dead. He didn’t know where this perseverance came from but he firmly believes that as long as his heart is still beating, he will believe that ZhouXiang is not dead.

One day, his schedule couldn’t be adjusted and he had to shoot an advertisement at 7:00 in the evening. When he walked into the shooting location, the moment the elevator opened, a man stood in front of his eyes.

The person was an ordinary man. Normally he would not take a second look at someone looking so ordinary. But when the two men are standing not more than two meters apart, his heart felt an inexplicable huge shock… as if there is something with this person that is stopping him from going forward, desperately pulling him in at the same time. When their eyes collided, his entire body could not move from this electrical shock, his heart becoming excruciatingly painful, so painful that he could hardly stand still.

This person’s expression, he can’t describe it thus far. This expression is far too deep, too depressing, as if there is endless sadness and suffering. The influence of this mournful emotion is so great that it literally rendered him motionless. He could pass through this invisible barrier and feel this person’s pain, at the same time, he actually felt even more painful.

Who is this person!

Why does his entire body feel so unsettled! This apparent striking familiarity is like an invisible hand, tightly gripping onto his throat. At this very moment, he thought of the person who had made him felt such agonizing excruciating pain that he wished he was dead – ZhouXiang.

Their eyes interlocked but it was just a matter of a moment. And then, the person walked past him.

He grabbed the man almost without thinking.

“Who are you?” he asked gritting his teeth.

“Who exactly are you?!”

Pov 1 – The Past – Yanmingxiu’S Pov 1

Today is mothers day’s here in the US. Happy Mother’s Day to all you beautiful moms out there.

“A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dates all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.” — Agatha Christie”

Without further ado…. we continue with our story….

The Past – YanMingXiu POV 1

As mentioned the story’s lead is ZhouXiang but the author later wrote two chapters from YanMinXiu’s point of view. We are starting with him first.

In fact, a few months ago, he already felt that his feelings for ZhouXiang were a bit different. But at that time, he didn’t care because ZhouXiang was the first person he allowed to enter his life and was even the person he lived with. The difference with ZhouXiang, setting him apart from others, should be entirely because ZhouXiang is very much similar to WangYuDong.

When WangYuDong and his sister got engaged, he had already planned to give up. Pursuing with this kind of feeling knowing that it is hopeless is obviously not worth it. Moreover, being persistent could ultimately hurt his sister. This kind of matter, he should not stubbornly persevere. Adding on, when ZhouXiang is by his side, he no longer felt empty. In fact, he felt content.

At this time, he decided that he could consider accepting ZhouXiang.

What he had not thought of was that ZhouXiang would find out about everything. Not only that, his reaction to it was extreme. In fact, toward the end, he must sacrifice ZhouXiang for WangYuDong’s benefit, or vice versa. When WangYuDong personally opened his mouth to ask him, he really had no reason to refuse. He had his reasons. First, if WangYuDong got this role, his added value is ten folds and ZhouXiang’s added value is one hundred. However, if he lost this role, at most ZhouXiang’s loss is ten, but for WangYuDong, it is a thousand. Secondly, he could give ZhouXiang a better role, paving the way for a better and smoother journey in his career. Finally, and most importantly, he will not let his person be in the same movie with this surname Lan. He hated for other people to look to at his things, not to mentioned lust after it.

In his opinion, he could give ZhouXiang a lot of things that he (ZhouXiang) needed, such as good roles, a great environment and what ZhouXiang especially wanted most – his affections toward him. ZhouXiang likes him so much. He (ZhouXiang) should gladly accept all these, so he didn’t spend too much time considering before making a decision that would ultimately make him regret his entire life.

The two days that he kept ZhouXiang under house arrest, he contacted a director, intending on giving ZhouXiang a better role than WangYuDong’s as compensation to him. He is not a person who is good at expressing his feelings. He only thought that by using this method, ZhouXiang would feel his importance in his (YanMingXiu’s) heart. It never occurred to him that ZhouXiang would not be grateful. Not only did he not accept, he also used the cruelest way to punish him for everything that he had done wrong.

When ZhouXiang left his line of sight, using the excuse to go to the bathroom, it never occurred even in his dreams that this would be the last time he would ever see this man again in his life. From now on, he would never have the slightest chance to see this gentle and tolerant smile on this face once again.

After ZhouXiang used the excuse and left, he was in no hurry to chase after him. He wanted to give ZhouXiang time to calm down for a few days. But he didn’t expect ZhouXiang to turn off his phone completely and his whereabouts completely unknown.

On the first day, the second day, and even the third day, he could still bear it. But after that, he could no longer stand it anymore. He reached out to a contact and forced CaiWei to reveal the truth. Finally, he found that ZhouXiang had taken on a documentary filming job and had entered the XiWan Mountain.

He felt heavyhearted. The phone signal in the mountains is not good. There is no way for him to get connected to ZhouXiang. It may be a few months before ZhouXiang would be able to come out.

Since the two met, they have never been separated for this long. Thinking that it might not be possible to see ZhouXiang for two to three months, adding on, their separation was under extremely unpleasant circumstances, he felt very unsettled. After a few days, this feeling became painfully insufferable.

When he got home, he couldn’t see ZhouXiang, couldn’t eat the foods made by ZhouXiang, and couldn’t hold ZhouXiang to sleep at night. These things that he had never been mindful before, after it had completely disappeared, were actually so unbearable.

For the first time, he realized that he needed someone by his side, and that person is not WangYuDong, not anyone else, but is ZhouXiang. When he came to this realize this point, he even wanted to go search for ZhouXiang in the mountains.

With this thought, he almost blew up calling ZhouXiang’s phone. Finally, he was able to get connected to ZhouXiang but the signal was really poor. Adding on, the content of their conversation was extremely unpleasant, becoming even more intense.

He began to delegate all his work at hand and got in touch with a crew member to assist in taking him to the mountains, unbeknownst to ZhouXiang.

He needed to see ZhouXiang.

His most intensive thought at this time is to shove ZhouXiang beneath him and ruthlessly fuck him. He wanted ZhouXiang to know who the master of this relationship is. He will not allow ZhouXiang to leave him. He also needed to tell ZhouXiang that he wants to start over, to seriously start over with him.

He missed ZhouXiang immensely. He wanted to immediately appear by ZhouXiang’s side.

But before he could leave, he received the nightmarish news.

ZhouXiang had an accident in the mountains.

It is difficult for him to recall the pain he felt when he received the call. He began to disbelieve every words spoken by the other party, the words filtering through his ears sounded gibberish. He felt that the other party is spitting out nonsense.

ZhouXiang could not be in an accident. What rainstorm? What mudslide? He absolutely does not believe it.

He thought about the many possible images when he and ZhouXiang would meet again, but it definitely did not include this.

At that time, he still hasn’t panic because ZhouXiang was only missing. At the same time, there were also a few people missing. They are very likely trapped somewhere and will definitely be found.

He couldn’t wait to delegate all his work at hand, and immediately flew directly to Guangxi, entering the mountains as fast as he could. His only thought at the time was that he needed to find ZhouXiang first, to make sure he is safe.

It had never occurred to him that ZhouXiang would really disappear completely.

He’d never dared to think that…

Time passed day by day. On the first day and the second day, he was still able to remain calm. But when the rescue team found a body of a crew member on the third day, he was already on the verge of collapse.

Everyone knew that the longer the search and rescue time drags, the less likely the victim would be rescued.

Looking at the appalling deformed corpse and thinking that ZhouXiang might have become like this, he went insane. It’s likely that he didn’t eat for a few days, likely due to the high degree of mental stress, and likely his fear and hopelessness … all of it led to the gradual erosion of his heart, he lost consciousness.

When he woke up again, his brother appeared. Time has passed and it was the fifth day.

The fifth day of ZhouXiang’s disappearance.

The rescue team has begun to wrap up their work. They believe that ZhouXiang had likely perished in an unknown corner somewhere in the mountains. After all, the mountain area is an unimaginable vast area. To find a person is easier said than done.

His feeling at the time was that the whole world had completely shattered before his eyes. He forgot who he was, who was around him, and what was around him. Everything became a non-essential bubble. Only his determination to find ZhouXiang is real.

He did not believe it. He did not believe that ZhouXiang is dead. He felt that ZhouXiang is still alive. He can’t tell why. His older brother thought that he is crazy, but he really felt that ZhouXiang must be alive, must be…

He forced the rescue team to search for an entire month, searching the scope of a radius of ten kilometers but still came up with nothing. He even wanted to expand the search.

His older brother yelled at him and said that he is wasting resources, said that he is insane, said that he had gone crazy.

But he didn’t care at all. If ZhouXiang’s deformed body is really in front of him, he will really go crazy. But he must have a conclusion; otherwise he won’t be able to move on.

However, God bestowed upon him the most cruel and hopeless conclusion —- and that is uncertainty between life and death.