深藏不露 (Beneath the Surface) by 退戈 (Tui Ge)
Ancient Chinese historical romance
Song ChuZhao, who grew up in the border area and is unrivalled in her skills, exchanged “souls” with Gu FengJian, who lived in seclusion due to an injury in his childhood. Since then, the weak scholar Gu Wulang can ride a horse and draw a bow, and the unrestrained Song Sanniang can debate with scholars. Gu Fengjian was thinking about how to deal with it when he heard something knocking on the window pane from outside. The sound was very light and varied in pitch. It must be a stone. He walked out of the door silently, turned to the side, and sure enough, he saw the person who had been muttering just now on the high wall not far away. The two of them, one tall and one short, looked at each other from a distance, and showed extremely complicated expressions at the face that was extremely familiar to each other. Song Chuzhao’s voice trembled, and he tentatively asked: “Gu…Gu Wulang?” Gu Fengjian nodded quickly. Song Chuzhao was obviously relieved and adjusted [her] posture to make himself more stable. Gu Fengjian: “…” In his life, he never thought that his face would appear in a place like the top of the wall. – Translated from the original book page
Or the blurb on NU:
On such a day, the fifth young master, known for his secluded scholarly pursuits and refined demeanor, accidentally revealed his mastery of martial arts and was now capable of effortlessly piercing a target with an arrow from a hundred paces.
The third young miss, raised in the untamed borderlands and unbound by convention, revealed a hidden talent. She could now debate with a room full of scholars, her wit and knowledge matching theirs blow for blow.
To everyone’s astonishment, these two had been hiding their true abilities. They were both forces to be reckoned with!
November’s prompt is “it came from the 1990s” and … knowing absolutely nothing about the author let’s just pretend she was born in the 90s. That’s my prompt connection. I already skipped October’s “Spooky (Gothic)” because I felt nothing matched as much as Carrying a Lantern in Daylight so, yeah. Anyway, Beneath the Surface was an absolute delight. It might just come in second as one of the softest sweetest books I’ve read in my c[romance] novel journey, and that’s really saying something. If not clear, we’re talking about a body swap romance. And the most perfect delightful one. Imagine if you swapped bodies with the person most suited to fill in all your “deficiencies.” That’s what we’ve got going on with our pair. And they overall have the most wonderful, loving families – which also (sadly) isn’t something you see too often in cnovels. Anyway I loved this book and I know I’ll absolutely be re-reading it. I also keep clicking on the author’s name in NU hoping there will be more books for me – another historical, but no such luck yet. Alas. Another important thing is I think this book would be a great introduction or onramp to reading cnovels – nothing too difficult to accept culturally.
Our heroine is Song ChuZhao (SCZ). Her family situation is complicated, and it does start with a bit of drama – I was very “oh no!” but then the body swap happens almost as soon as she arrives in the capital, and Gu FengJian (GFJ) is more than able to handled things “properly” and with etiquette and rules. I thought it was a pleasant surprise the author fully acknowledges a lot of what SCZ does as herself “isn’t okay” simply because she’s a woman. If she were a man, there wouldn’t be a problem. Stupid society. What’s even better is GFJ understands this, and fully supports her. As does her maternal grandfather. (And mother once she arrives/changes her mind.) It just so happens that SCZ’s experiences, straightforward personality, and skills make her perfectly suited to handle a number of situations she finds herself in while living in GFJ’s body. Her father is a general, her mother the daughter of a general, she grew up on the border of the country – a more barren, desolate place, less concerned with the things that trap those in the capital. SCZ in skilled in martial arts and her parents have never spoiled or indulged her. She really can’t be bothered with petty bullshit, and she’ll let you know it.
Gu FengJian (GFJ) has a bit of a tragic past, which has led to him being frail, and his parents indulging him. However, because it seems he didn’t get to return home until late childhood I think, he doesn’t turn into some spoiled master. He’s just distant from his family – they don’t really know how to handle things either. He’s incredibly smart, and very aware of the politics and relationships of the capital and noble families. He’s also a bit sly in the most delightful way. Thus, he’s the perfect person to handle SCZ’s awful grandmother and half sister, who are trying to suppress her and ruin her reputation. He’s also better suited to handle the difficult servants they put by SCZ. I loved how openminded he is, and actually the history he has with SCZ. Due to his experiences GFJ is also quite calm and open minded – hence him supporting SCZ in her actions and thoughts.
Not only do they fill in each other’s gaps, living as the other person lets them mend the broken relationships they’re currently dealing with. SCZ’s open nature leads to the first steps of GFJ’s family – especially his father – opening up about the past and apologizing. Meanwhile GFJ’s scheming and detachment allow SCZ first to leave her “natal home,” then to establish a relationship with her maternal grandparents, and start building a relationship/for them to indulge her. When they switch back souls/bodies, it’s the final step to truly mending the relationships. GFJ is able to communicate with his father, and SCZ’s grandfather is beside himself with delight his granddaughter is “finally” willing to get close to him.
Normally I hate misunderstandings, but they’re hilarious here – how the change in personality is something that acts for the character’s benefit. Nothing major happens as a negative, but the different actions lead the parents/grandparents to think the character has been “wronged” or treated badly. GFJ’s older brother is often a hilarious scapegoat too. I found myself laughing so many times as I was reading, and so many other scenes gave me the warm fuzzies. GFJ’s brother is great, and SCZ inadvertently makes friends anywhere and everywhere she goes.
I found this book really satisfying in that so many problems and issues were explained and resolved, relationships that ought to have been mended were, and evil people were punished. It was nice that things generally weren’t pushed to extremes either. SCZ was a bit bewildered to find people she scolded then stuck to her like glue. Her “… the people in the capital truly have unique tastes” amused me. There’s a lot of humor but it isn’t all fluff either. We have well rounded characters that go through highs and lows, and a lovely pair who support each other. GFJ’s mother is also a determined match maker.
This book was like a warm hug. It was fun, enjoyable, and I have good feelings towards almost every character. The emperor is an utter chaos muppet too, and one of the few emperors we encounter who isn’t awful. Clearly the author’s sense of humor matches my own. Just writing this review is making me want to re-read the book and I only just recently finished it. I’m even tempted to try to see if I can find the author’s books elsewhere – would even consider trying to read the books via browser translations, and that’s saying something. I really hope someone will read this book as well so we can discuss it. And so you’ll experience the fun of it too – and bonus, it’s not long as compared to other cnovels. In fact when I finished it I screamed and say “THAT’S IT?!” I wanted more!
Grade: A
I read the book here and you can too! Thanks translator!