I woke up to find I have a child - Chapter 21
***Trigger warnings: Brief description/mentions of rape, violence, and suicide. Dw its not related to our protagonists, but there is discussion/description of it. I will put warnings start/end in red so that you can skip it if you want.
She had just met Ye Mingxin’s ex-fiance who did not follow the expected routine. If she encounters another ‘doesn’t follow the routine’ white moonlight*, she will really die from exhaustion. (T/N: white moonlight is usually someone’s first and failed love. Like moonlight, one can only look at them from afar but not touch)
Ye Mingxin noticed Han Feixu staring at her jade bracelet and suddenly leaned over, “Does it look pretty?”
Han Feixu nodded, “Pretty.”
“Have you seen a similar jade bracelet before?”
Han Feixu searched through her memories: “No.”
Ye Mingxin seemed to be a little disappointed. She lowered her head and slumped under the thick blankets. Han Feixu picked up her phone and saw that it was almost midnight, “It’s time for bed. I’ll get a hot towel for you. You can go to sleep after applying it.”
After saying that, Han Feixu jumped off the bed. Ye Mingxin’s gaze followed her figure until she disappeared into the bathroom.
Ye Mingxin’s eyes moved back to her wrist again. She raised her right hand, the jade bracelet shaking lightly with her movements. The three jade ropes of the bracelet lightly bumped into each other, making a clear and sweet sound. As Ye Mingxin stroked the smooth and cool surface of the jade bracelet, she closed her eyes and lost herself in her emotions.
The next day, after a good night’s worth of sleep, Ye Mingxin stayed at home for a long time before finally going out to meet with the film crew in the afternoon. Before she left, Han Feixu told Lan Zhu everything Dr. He told her yesterday and reminded her to look after Ye Mingxin carefully. Lan Zhu listened with a confused expression and when she got into the car, she scratched her head and asked, “Mingxin-jie, didn’t you send me a message last night saying you were fine?”
Ye Mingxin hadn’t moved much for nearly one day and one night, so she stretched her waist and other muscles as much as she could when she got in the car. She cracked her stiff neck again, “And I am fine. Alright, let’s go and finish the shooting as soon as possible.”
“Ok!”
Qi Yu didn’t come today and said he would meet Ye Mingxin on set. While Lan Zhu drove, Ye Mingxin sat in the back and scrolled through WeChat on her phone. She found Jiang Lingyan’s account and sent her a message.
Not long after Ye Mingxin left, Wei Xun came. Han Feixu was watching a TV series and when she saw him, she immediately paused the show, “How was it, was the date a success?”
Wei Xun replied blankly, “I don’t know.”
‘I don’t know’ was the same as saying ‘it was a failure’. Han Feixu was not surprised by this result = =
“Aren’t blind dates usually scheduled on weekends? Why did this girl schedule a date for Monday? Is she off on Mondays?”
“No,” Wei Xun shook his head, “She’s a makeup artist so she’s busy almost every day. She only had time to meet this morning.
So that’s how it is. Han Feixu’s interest was piqued, “Is she beautiful? Who introduced you to her? I heard that highly-skilled makeup artists are all very amazing, and can be considered a type of artist!”
“I didn’t look at her carefully, she seems to be okay, but doesn’t suit me very well.”
Didn’t look closely? What does this mean? Isn’t a blind date mainly based on the other person’s appearance and their introductory conversations!
However, it’s true that one must go on many blind dates before they can meet the right person. Wei Xun is still young and not in a hurry, it’s fine if they slowly take their time.
Wei Xun answered all her questions with the same blank expression. He sat in the chair next to Han Feixu and looked at her emotionlessly. Han Feixu smiled and decided to tease him, “Is this your first time going on a blind date? It’s ok, it might be strange at first but you’ll get used to it soon. You will definitely meet the right one after a few more times.”
Wei Xun shook his head, “This is not my first time,” he counted on his fingers, “this is the eleventh time this year.”
They were barely 6 months into the year, so Wei Xun had gone on at least 2 blind dates a month. Han Feixu asked, “You’re not that old yet, why is your family so urgent about you finding someone?”
Wei Xun lowered his head and rubbed his nose when he heard this question, “No one is pushing me to do this, it is out of my own volition. I just don’t want to be single anymore.”
“….”
She never would have thought that the usually stoic Wei Xun was so anxious about matters of the heart. She thought that this kind of man would only be focused on work and indifferent towards everything else.
While chatting with Wei Xun, the doorbell suddenly rang. Han Feixu walked over to the door before Auntie Li could open it. The door was carved out of frosted glass so one could see the person outside but the other person could not see inside. There was also a camera installed so she could look through the monitor for an even clearer picture. The person outside had their head lowered so she could not see their face.
She opened the door and the visitor raised her head to give her a smile, “Long time no see.”
She had just met the little sister, Jiang Lingyuan, yesterday and today the big sister, Jiang Lingyan, has come knocking at her door.
Her little sister’s obsessed and infatuated crying look left a real impact so even if Jiang Lingyan acts polite, elegant, and graceful like a model young lady, Han Feixu did not believe that the personality matches the outside appearance.
Auntie Li served them tea when Jiang Lingyan sat down. She thanked Auntie Li and then looked at Han Feixu, “I’ve come here to apologize. Lingyuan has troubled you again. Ultimately, it was my fault for not being strict enough with her. I’m sorry, I hope you can forgive her.”
Listen, listen, see how humble and sincere she is!
Jiang Lingyan looks exactly the same as the photos of her circulating on the Internet. She’s even prettier than her photos. She was wearing a thin brick-red jumpsuit that made her skin look fairer than it already is. A pair of pale golden glasses rested on the high bridge of her nose and her styled wavy hair framed over her small face making it even smaller, almost as small as a person’s palm. (T/N: Chinese culture loves small faces and babyish-looking faces. A small face with a pointy chin, big eyes, a tall nose, and of course, a fair complexion, is considered the epitome of beauty in China.)
Han Feixu had zero resistance against good-looking people and she immediately sat upright and said, “It’s alright, I don’t mind at all.”
Jiang Lingyan smiled and pushed up her glasses. She took out some documents from her bag, “I’ve heard that you want to participate in my next project ?I am the Protagonist?. I brought the program’s schedule with me and you can look at it first. If there is no problem with it, let your agent contact me and we can find a time to sign the contract.”
Han Feixu accepted the papers and read them. The filming was expected to start at the end of June, and she asked: “Don’t you need to discuss this with Director Cheng?”
Director Cheng is the director for ?Barrier Lake?. Jiang Lingyan shook her head, “No, he has handed all the casting responsibility to me. A variety show and a movie are two very different formats. Although he does have some say in it, the final decision still rests in my hands.”
Jiang Lingyan had a natural resting smiling face. Meaning that even if she showed no expression, her mouth naturally turned upwards and is usually supposed to look very attractive. However, after sitting down and saying all those things, Han Feixu didn’t feel any affection at all and instead felt like she was sitting in the headmaster’s office again.
Jiang Lingyan did not take long as she had other things to do. She had taken time out of her busy schedule mainly to apologize to her today. After apologizing and handing over the materials, she stood to leave. However, when she paused at the door and suddenly turned around to look at the Han Feixu who wanted to send her off, “Have you seen Shen Sangluo these past few days?”
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The gossip signal light in Han Feixu’s brain immediately started to go off. Jiang Lingyan could see the words “There is delicious gossip here! I want to eat it!” written all over her face.
“We talked a few nights ago. What’s the matter, do you want to find her?”
Jiang Lingyan picked up her bag and smiled gracefully, “Just asking out of curiosity. In two weeks’ time, the contestant list should be finalized. I’m going to host a party and invite all the participants and staff so everyone can get to know each other before the show starts. You’re welcome to bring your friends with you. The more the merrier, right?”
Meanwhile, Han Feixu thought in her heart,
“This is for work”, yeah right! How is this for work? This is clearly a scheme for personal gain! Yet she acts all polite and innocent, haha….
But Han Feixu likes this type of stuff ?(???)/
Han Feixu smiled like a big bad wolf, “No problem, I will definitely call some friends over. I love this type of excitement the most.” Watching this type of excitement that is~
Shen Sangluo had no idea that her good friend had just sold her out purely for the sake of watching the excitement.
Jiang Lingyan said goodbye and left. The first thing she did after she stepped outside was to call Ye Mingxin.
The other party picked up and Jiang Lingyan said in a good mood, “Everything’s done, now you owe me another favor.”
A favor? What was she talking about? Well, let’s start from the beginning.
When Ye Mingxin learned that Han Feixu wanted to participate in ?Barrier Lake?, she had used the opportunity to offhandedly ask the program’s staff if the casting list was finalized yet. Then she asked if she could be put in as a long-term judge for the show. The production team thought it was a good idea and as for Han Feixu, they let her join as well. She had just come back, her popularity was very high, and although she had only acted in two movies, one of the movies became a sensation across the country and the other was nominated for international awards. Plus since she’s not that well known, they didn’t have to pay her a high salary.
One must know that the final winners of this variety show are going to star in a movie so each player’s acting skills must not be too bad. They had spent so much time and money on gaining publicity for the movie, so they couldn’t waste it on a bunch of vases*. (T/N: vases are people who look good but are worthless. Pretty like a vase but useless for anything else but decoration.)
So in a nutshell, Han Feixu would have been chosen to participate with or without Jiang Lingyan’s help. Not to mention Ye Mingxin, who was the Movie Queen that won the “Grand Slam”* and best actresses for two out of three major film festivals. To invite her to be a judge was something a producer could only dream of. For her to ask to be on the show, any producer would wake up from the dream with a smile so of course they accepted her. How could they refuse her? (*T/N: A “Grand Slam” is when an actor wins the three biggest film awards in China, the (1) Golden Horse Awards, (2) Hong Kong Film Awards and (3) Golden Rooster Awards.)
Ye Mingxin’s behavior was a lot more casual when talking with a friend, “You don’t seem to have done anything, so how could this count as owing you a favor?”
“Ye Mingxin, don’t think just because you have such a high status that you can do anything you want. If I was stubborn enough, I could have prevented you from being a judge and no one else could do a thing to help you.”
They really wouldn’t have been able to do anything. In the entertainment industry, either the investors use money to control the director or the director uses their own strength to control the investors. Jiang Lingyan has both strength and money so if other investors tried to force her to agree to something, there can only be one outcome.
And that is to take their money and beat it. = =
Her childhood friend’s attitude of “I am the only master”* was something she had since young and Ye Mingxin could only chuckle lightly, “And you didn’t take advantage of this situation to give yourself some benefits?” (*T/N: The phrase used is ???? but the full phrase is ????????? which roughly translate to “I am the only master above and below the Heavens”. Or a better translation would be “I’m the only one who can decide my destiny.”)
Jiang Lingyan got into the car and closed the door behind her, “Take a guess.”
After a short silence, Ye Mingxin sighed lightly, “Jiang Lingyan, you really are a calculating wolf in sheep’s clothing.*” (*T/N: The actual phrase was closer to “a beast dressed in human clothing” but I think English speakers understand the wolf analogy more)
Jiang Lingyan smiled sweetly, “It takes one to know one.”
Han Feixu told Liang Zhu everything about Jiang Lingyan’s visit and Ling Zhu said that she would help her negotiate a fair contract in two days or less. After she hung up the phone, Han Feixu looked more closely at the documents Jiang Lingyan had given her and found that this variety show was a little different from what Liang Zhu had said at the beginning.
Before Liang Zhu has said that all the players will be dropped in an isolated location, however, the documents Jiang Lingyan gave her stated that the locations for each phase will be different, some being isolated and some open and public. The location seems flexible and the shooting time is flexible as well. At first, Han Feixu had thought that if was going to participate, she would have to go out and shoot for an entire month before she could return, but now she only needs to shoot two days a week for a total of 24 days. There will be 12 episodes in total and will be live-streamed. This way, the show can gauge the audience’s reaction in real-time and basically, the final champion will be whoever the audience likes the most.
As the old saying goes, the ‘audience’s eyes are as bright as snow’. With so many people watching, their opinions will be much more objective and thus whoever is selected by them will naturally be the best.
Shooting starts at the end of June and ends at the end of September, which coincides with the time when the story of ?Barrier Lake? begins– autumn when the golden-red leaves fall from the sky.
?Barrier Lake?is a crime suspense movie. It takes place in a village where floods often occur and about six years ago, someone designed a dam to contain the floods. Six years later, the dam collapsed and the floods came back in full force. Many people died in that flood and then one month later, the architect of the dam was found hanging by his neck from the roof of his house. Everyone applauded and celebrated the man’s death, and only his son mourned for his father. However, the son believed that his father’s death wasn’t actually a suicide and so he began searching for the truth behind his father’s death only to find that all the clues he had investigated lead to a seemingly ordinary village girl.
The role Han Feixu wanted to play was that village girl.
**Trigger warning starts here**
From just the first glance at the script’s introduction, one would think this was an ordinary mystery film, but this was not actually the case. This film was actually about the tragic life of a kidnapped girl. The girl was kidnaped and sold to this backward and closed-minded village when she was 12 years old. She was too old to be someone’s daughter and too young to be someone’s wife. In the end, she was sold to a middle-aged man who worked in the village’s ruling committee. As one might have expected, he raped this girl and then kept her locked in his own house like livestock. And like livestock, he made her sleep in the yard. When others entered the house, the first thing they would see was this young girl with chains around her neck and ankles.
However, the entire village turned a deaf ear on her situation and some pretended they had never seen/heard such a thing. Even when she tried to escape, others in the village would help to catch her and return her to the man. In addition to the man who bought her, the village committee’s head, the committee’s secretary, and the man who later became the architect of the dam, all of them treated the girl as their own sex slave and raped her to vent their own desires.
As the girl grew up, she no longer tried to escape so the man grew tired of her and let her go. However, even then, she did not try to leave the village. Then, two years later, that man died suddenly. A few years after that, the village committee’s head also died from drinking too much. It was said that he accidentally fell into a latrine pit when he was drunk and had drowned and suffocated to death in that pit. The last one died in the devastating flood and finally, the architect committed suicide.
**Trigger warning ends here**
The story is told through disruptions in the timeline, slowly revealing the relationships between the girl and the different cases bit by bit in flashbacks. Finally, the male lead would realize that his father truly had committed suicide, not because of the collapse of the flood, but because of the remorse, he felt towards the girl. The male lead was the kind and sympathetic type, so although he knew that the girl had taken over a hundred lives, he did not wish to bring her to justice. He felt that his father truly deserved all those curses and insults to his name.
Usually, the script would end here and the film would be over, but this film does not end here. When the girl heard that the male lead was going to let her go, she let out a very sunny and beautiful smile yet said to the male lead, “You want to let me go, but I do not want to let you go. I should have taken your father’s life myself, but he died before I could. He owes me a life and it is said that ‘a dutiful son is obliged to pay his father’s debts.’ This blood debt that he owes, you will pay with your life.”
The movie then ends with the girl bringing out a pair of scissors from behind her back, as she still holds that beautiful smile on her face.
Han Feixu liked the script and thought that it was very good, but understood that it would be difficult to make it a reality. The requirements for each role were very steep and it would be very hard to find suitable actors through just auditions. = =
Director Cheng also liked the script so much and it was because of this that he had racked his brains to finally come up with the idea of using a variety show to both gain publicity for his movie and find astounding actors to act in it. As long as the pre-movie publicity is high, the box office sales are guaranteed in the later stage and it will be much easier to entice those gold-medal actors and other veterans of the industry.
Before the filming of the variety show, Han Feixu had nothing else to do. Only some brands came to Han Feixu to talk about endorsement and sponsorship. However, none of them were well-known brands, at most they were some daily-use household products, cosmetics, or some semi-luxury brands. None of the big ones had come calling yet and it seemed they were still waiting.
After all, just being on a web show is not considered an official comeback. Not to mention, that web show had been cursed and scolded like a dog three times over after the whole ‘delete’ and ‘like’ fiasco. However, Han Feixu must maintain her current popularity. Even if she has nothing to do, Laing Zhu assigned her tasks to do.
For example, posting selfies on her social media, taking some acting lessons, and taking care of her kid.
One of the other tasks Liang Zhu left her was in relation to her Taobao shop. Apparently, recently her shop has not been doing very well due to some malicious negative reviews. So Liang Zhu had asked Han Feixu to place a few fake orders and overwhelm the negative reviews with her own glowing reviews.
Meanwhile, Han Feixu learned that Ye Mingxin’s mother was the type to keep their word. At first, Han Feixu had thought that she had meant it casually when she said she was moving in. After all, her home was still in Shanghai and there was a husband and company to take care of back in Shanghai. At most, she would only stay for a few days before running back. It would be inconvenient for her to run back and forth after all. However, only a few days later, Yan Yuerong had sent over all of her belongings.
As for her husband, apparently, he was packing up as well. He had to take some time to sort out the affairs of the company and he should arrive in Beijing at the end of the month. = =
Ye Junyuan, otherwise known as Chairman Ye, is now taking a back seat. The company’s affairs will be handed over to the CEO and he himself will do nothing more except for signing a couple of papers and occasionally look after the company’s stocks. Of the two heirs he had trained, one of them became an actress at a young age and would stay in the entertainment industry for the rest of her life. Meanwhile, the other one disdained his old-fashioned industry and had made a fortune on sustainable energy. He wouldn’t come back to China if he could help it, not to mention going home to take care of the company.
When he heard that his wife was going to stay in Beijing to take care of her grandchild, Chairman Ye pondered for a while before he decided to pack up and return to his old residence in Beijing.
He also wanted to see if he could pull Han Feixu over and convince her into inheriting the family business. If she didn’t want it, then he could only try again with the youngest person in the family….
Yiyi: (?v?) Grandpa, what do you want to do?
Grandpa’s secret calculations and plans were naturally unknown to Yiyi. In fact, she had just recently returned home after her grandmother took her out to play for two days.
She hadn’t seen her mother for two days and so Yiyi was so excited that she stuck herself into her mother’s arms and refused to let go. However….a four-year-old girl is quite heavy to carry.
Han Feixu: “Sweetie, get down for a little while. Mama’s arms are about to break.”
Yiyi: “…..” First, you say that I’m too short, now you’re calling me fat?!! Mama, you have changed, you no longer are the Mama who would endlessly praise me without conscience.
Since Han Feixu didn’t have anything to do, Yan Yuerong sent Yiyi back. Once the variety show started shooting, her other appointments will disappear like snowflakes and she will have almost no time to spend with Yiyi. It was better to let the mother and daughter enjoy the time they had together now.
So during the day Han Feixu supplemented her missing acting knowledge and took care of children at night while also doing various skincare/body treatments every day. Han Feixu had originally thought that her body had no signs of pregnancy anymore, but she learned that although she may no longer have any stretch marks there were still some details that have not recovered.
For example, there were a few small moles on the back of her neck. This is due to the increase in melanin production that had occurred during pregnancy. Han Feixu didn’t think much of the moles before as she never thought she would appear in front of the camera, so she never had them treated. However, now that she focused on them, it was a lot more obvious than she thought.
Moles can be removed through surgery, but there is a long period of recovery afterward. To speak honestly, Han Feixu actually recovered quite well from pregnancy compared to the average woman and didn’t need to get rid of the moles, but as an actress, the standard is much higher than the average person. Who knows if one day she will be criticized for her shortcoming in appearance.
A few nights later, Han Feixu applied a face mask to her face and laid down as she waited for Liang Zhu to send over the finalized list of variety show contestants and guests. Her phone vibrated and she opened a message from Liang Zhu. The list was sent and the first location has been decided with the shooting date being June 26th, an auspicious date.
Han Feixu looked at the names of the people on her phone and committed their names into her memory.
Female contestants: Lu Ersi, Han Yiren, Han Feixu, Chi Qiu.
Male contestants: Zhang Hao, Qi Qing, Zhang Tonghui, Nie Kaiyuan.
Other than Chi Qiu, Han Feixu did not recognize anyone else. Also, Chi Qiu had told her in advance about her participation so it was no surprise. The relationship between her and Chi Qiu had gotten better after filming that web show, from unfamiliar strangers to nodding acquaintances.
Chi Qiu is a veteran TV show star. She has acted in 6-7 TV series and has now wanted to try her hand in movies. Although her national popularity is not low, if she wants to act in a famous director’s movie as the female lead, then she is still a little lacking. So this show was an excellent opportunity for her. If she participates in the show, she’ll show the audience her determination and desire to act in a movie. This way she’ll also let those so-called “movie critics” evaluate her acting skills.
They have always said that the acting skills of TV actors are not as good as movie actors. Chi Qiu didn’t believe in this and wanted to prove them wrong.
Han Feixu was rather happy to see that Chi Qiu was participating as it was always better to have someone you know than participate in a show with all strangers. She then moved her gaze down to the look at the judges’ column.
Invited judges: Yuan Jize, Duan Weiyang, Ye Mingxin
Han Feixu’s eyes widened when she saw that familiar name and brought the phone closer to her face. However, she didn’t hold it firmly enough and the phone accidentally fell on her face.
Han Feixu: QAQ It hurts!!!!
T/N:
Lol happens to me a lot
