I woke up to find I have a child - Chapter 22

The sounds of rapid knocking on her door made Ye Mingxin look up. She opened the door in her pajamas only to almost get hit by the screen of a cell phone that was thrusted into her face.

“You’re going to be a judge???”

Ye Mingxin leaned back and saw the text on the screen. She nodded, “Jiang Lingyan asked me if I could do it. Since the program’s not bad and you are in it, I thought it would be a good opportunity for us to work together and so I agreed.”

Han Feixu was confused, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Although Ye Mingxin knew every little detail of her schedule (where she is, what she’s doing, etc), she knew nothing about Ye Mingxin’s schedule.

Ye Mingxin didn’t answer and tidied the collar on Han Feixu’s shirt. From time to time, Ye Mingxin would do these small little actions such as tidying her hair, putting a cup of water into her hand, fixing her earrings when they were crooked, and so on. At first, Han Feixu felt rather uncomfortable with these moments of casual intimacy, but now she didn’t even notice these little movements anymore.

“I wanted to surprise you.”

Ye Mingxin flattened the collar twice, adjusting it carefully, before standing up straight and smiling at her, “So how was it? Are you surprised? Happy?”

Han Feixu looked at her silently, not knowing what to say. If Ye Mingxin is a judge for the show, why should she be happy? Unless Ye Mingxin was planning on showing favoritism and throwing the game for her?

Han Feixu stayed silent. No matter how dense she is, even she could see that Ye Mingxin had absolutely no intentions of divorcing her and showed all the signs of ‘boiling the frog with lukewarm water’* and she, in this case, was the frog. Once she gradually gets used to this kind of lifestyle, she’ll be trapped for a lifetime.  (*T/N: Already explained this in ch.13, but here it is again. This is a Chinese analogy that basically means to not frighten off the other party but instead slowly escalate until the other party realizes they’ve gotten into your trap when it’s too late.)

“She” wants to get a divorce, but Ye Mingxin doesn’t want to. Previously Ye Mingxin had agreed to the divorce, which was probably the result of painstaking efforts and hard work from the pre-amnesia her, but now that she had lost her memory, all that work was for naught. And Ye Mignxin has never once mentioned their previous affairs when her amnesia was discovered, so the current divorce plan was naturally put on pause.

Han Feixu withdrew her phone and raised her eyes, “Then, we’re going to shoot this variety show together?”

“We’re not going to shoot every episode together and I’m not even going to be in the first phase of the show.” Ye Mingxin indifferently took a step back and acted that her step back was an unintentional move.

Han Feixu looked at the space Ye Mingxin had made. This little move was clearly a suggestion for her to enter.

She paused for two seconds before she clasped her hands behind her back and squirmed a little awkwardly, “So it turns out that there aren’t going to be any judges in the first phase, good to know. Ok then, I’m going back first.”

After speaking, she turned around to leave. When she turned around, she didn’t see how Ye Mingxin’s eyes darkened significantly.

It looks like she’s been pushing too much. (Ye Mingxin)

Ye Mignxin felt a little frustrated when Han Feixu suddenly turned back around and stretched out an index finger with a smile on her face, as if she had just remembered something and was laughing at how bad her memory was. However, Ye Mingxin didn’t have time to hide the emotions on her face and so Han Feixu saw Ye Mingxin’s calculating and dark expression for the first time and was shocked.

Ye Mingxin herself was startled and immediately put on a gentle expression, “Is there anything else?”

“Ah? ….Oh, yeah, I just forgot to say that tomorrow the kindergarten is throwing a parent-child activity for the Dragon Boat Festival. The children and their parents will be making zongzi*and make paper dragon boats together. Are you going?” (*T/N: Zongzi is a dish made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. My mother used to make zongzi with red bean paste for her filling and I loved dipping them in honey/sugar to eat as a tasty dessert. However, Ik some people like to stuff them with egg yolk, pork, mushrooms, etc, and eat it as a proper dish. Depends on which part of China you are from. Anyone from Shandong?)

Ye Mingxin and Han Feixu are in a secret marriage. That means no one, except for their closest friends and family, could know they were together.

The kindergarten’s parent-child activity is held in a private location and all the parents are famous or well-off people who knew better than to gossip, so usually, it should be fine. However, that is the case if only one of them goes.

If both of them show up together, those bigshot parents wouldn’t be able to help themselves from spreading this matter = =

“You can’t go?”

Han Feixu bent a leg and shifted her posture, “Of course I can go, but I don’t know how to make zongzi. Besides, you haven’t spent much time with Yiyi for a long time. She can only see you if she wakes up early to eat breakfast.”

Yiyi went to bed early, but Ye Mingxin usually wouldn’t come back until around 10 in the evening. There are a lot of tasks an actress must do such as sponsorship activities, advertisements, etc. In a year, it’s hard for her to get even a few days off. Based on her previous few years, she can take no more than three days off a year.

Even if she fractured or broke a bone, she would go to work with her injuries.

When it comes to asking for delicious food or fun toys to play with, Yiyi does not hold back and always asks directly. But when she wants her Mama and Mommy to play with her, Yiyi feels embarrassed to say it out loud. She knows that this is something that is hard to fulfill and the two of them may not agree to it.

Who knows how long this little girl had been thinking about it for yesterday, she repeatedly hinted to Han Feixu that she wanted her Mommy to participate in the parent-child activities with her.

Ye Mingxin pursed her lips. Every time something like this happened, she always felt extremely sorry towards her daughter and had an urge to just rip her contracts up.

But, of course, it is impossible to break your contracts every single time so usually when the next day arrives, she still goes on set to film, does her duties for certain endorsements and ads, etc. By the end of the day, she would have long forgotten about her daughter’s pitiful little face.

Then she returns home and the above process is repeated…again and again. = =

“What time will it be?”

Han Feixu couldn’t remember and turned on her phone to read a message sent by the teacher to the parent group chat, “It starts at nine in the morning and ends at half-past eleven.”

Ye Mingxin went over her schedule for tomorrow morning and decided it was no problem if she pushed it back a little, “Ok, I’ll take Yiyi tomorrow.”

Han Feixu smiled and this time she left without looking back.

Back in her room, Han Feixu continued to read through the messages in the parent group chat. They were mostly mothers and occasionally a few of the fathers would pop in and say something. Everyone was excitedly discussing the parent-child activity tomorrow and one mother was so enthusiastic that she wanted to invite all the parents of the ‘Starfish’ class for a playdate at her house.

Han Feixu doesn’t really speak in the group chat and mainly just reads the messages on her screen.

There are nineteen children in total in the ‘Starfish’ class and this enthusiastic mother invited each of them one by one and soon it was Han Feixu’s turn. With Han Feixu, she was even more enthusiastic about her invitation. Maybe it was because she wanted to see what the parents of the only mixed-race child in the class looked like.

It was already the limit to have Ye Mingxin, who had a secret marriage and then a child, participate in a parent-child activity. How could it be possible for her to have the time to also participate in a playdate/party at someone else’s house?

The next day, Ye Mingxin went with Yiyi to participate in the parent-child activities. After sending Yiyi back, Ye Mingxin didn’t even have time to enter the house as she had to directly go to the studio to film.

Meanwhile, Han Feixu laid on the couch and listened to Yiyi excitedly describing what had happened.

“Everyone was staring at Mommy! They were so surprised that their faces looked exactly the same as the gorilla when he opened the box in that one movie our teacher showed us!”

Han Feixu didn’t hold back her laughter and almost fell off the sofa with how hard she was laughing. They were indeed mother and daughter, for they both had no qualms about laughing at Ye Mingxin and making her the butt of the joke.

Yiyi took out the little zongzi she had made today from her little school bag and presented it like a valuable piece of treasure, “Mama, I made this for you with Mommy. Try it, please?”

Han Feixu’s joyous laughter came to an abrupt end after receiving the messy sticky clump of glutinous rice that was sitting on the reed leaf.

“…..”

Yiyi: QAQ! Mama hates it.

Jiang Lingyan’s party was to be held on the weekend. The night before the party, the variety that Mao Yangjun participated in aired. The first showing was okay as the footage of Mao Yanjun’s accident was cut out of the final product. No one knew about the accident and after Mao Yangjun felt better, he had simply returned to the set and continued shooting. He endured the pain and finished his scenes before going back to the hospital to finish his treatment.

Because of his attitude, the director and producer both praised him for being serious and dedicated to his work.

However, this was just the calm before the storm….

In the middle of the night, an entertainment blogger, with only about ten thousand followers or so, suddenly posted the news of Mao Yangjun almost drowning on set of the variety show and being the victim of attempted murder.

There were pictures to verify his claim. They were pictures of Mao Yangjun being fished out of the water and being taken to the hospital. They were all very clear photos and from just the first glance, one could tell these photos were taken by someone on-site. Even the paparazzi couldn’t have gotten their hands on something this good.

As soon as the news broke, it made it onto the trending searches list in less than an hour, but it occupied the bottom-lower positions. Then some netizens saw it and fanned the flames as they wrote conspiracy theories about their thoughts on the incident.

From the variety show to the contestants and the guest stars, every single one of them were attacked.

The unluckiest of the group was a person named Zhang Hao who was the closest physically to Mao Yanjun at the time. Although there were no pictures proving it, many people insisted that Zhang Hao had hidden when Mao Yanjun fell into the water. Mao Yangjun stretched out his hands as he fell and Zhang Hao who was in front of him at the time would have been able to catch him. However, because Zhang Hao hid somewhere or had intentionally avoided Mao Yangjun’s hands, Mao Yangjun had fallen into the water and almost died.

….This was the perfect example of the saying, ‘The pot falls onto the person sitting in front.’* (*T/N: Original saying is: “Pot falls onto the person sitting at home.” It is a saying that means a person sitting at home/doing nothing/just simply minding their own business takes the blame for something he/she didn’t do)

Han Feixu sat in the car and clicked on every hot search about Mao Yangjun.

Zhong Yuanyuan, who was sitting next to her, said, “Trust me, Mao Yangjun must have done it himself.”

Han Feixu didn’t say anything. Although she felt that Liang Zhu’s guess from last time was correct, she didn’t dare to make any final conclusions on the matter. Everyone seemed to be criticizing and insulting the variety show and the other contestants, but at the same time they weren’t exactly praising Mao Yangjun either.

“Does one need to be praised to be famous? Look, isn’t every single hot search full of comments supporting Mao Yangjun? Their comments are very similar every single time, along the lines of ‘Why are they picking on the nameless little fresh meat* with no background?’ Clearly these words are trying to garner sympathy for Mao Yangjun.” (*T/N: little fresh meat here has a double meaning, while it also means ‘newbie’, in Chinese, it also means a fair-skinned young boy/teenager in the entertainment industry and is often a term used on kpop idols) 

Han Feixu carefully looked through the comments and found that Zhong Yuanyuan was right, “You can become famous with this kind of approach? Why do I feel like he will be blacklisted by the entire entertainment industry before he can even become famous?”

A person without professional ethics and uses human life to threaten/trample their seniors….anyone who was stepped on and used by him in this way would not let him go so easily. As the comments said, he is someone with no name and no background. If people he used wanted revenge, he would have no way to protect himself.

Zhong Yuanyuan shrugged, “This is a suicidal way of getting famous. If the flames become hot enough then he becomes famous. If it doesn’t, then it’s possible that he’ll lose his life.”

In the entertainment industry, where the rich and famous are gathered, relationships are complicated like the twisted roots of a big tree. By doing this, although Mao Yangjun might still have resources offered to him in the future, it will never be good. It’ll be even harder to get decent sponsorships and endorsements. Big brands cherish their clean feathers the most and will not let such a celebrity tarnish their brand value.

And the people he provoked. If they are all like him, those with no background, then he might come out untouched. However, if one of them is the hot-tempered and arrogant type with a a big background, then he is simply done for.

Zhong Yuanyuan tsked in amazement, “I’ve seen people like him who seek their own deaths, but I have never seen someone rushing towards their own death so urgently. Is there something wrong with his brain? How can a normal person do such a thing?”

Han Feixu only met Mao Yangjun once and the two of them barely exchanged more than a word. She didn’t really care if Mao Yangjun was going to die or not, but she did care about Liang Zhu and if Liang Zhu was about to lose all her hair from this stress.

The party was held at a lake view house that was owned by Jiang Lingyan. The scenery outside the car window slowly shifted from the city landscape to the beautiful rustic view of the countryside. She was almost there, Han Feixu clicked out of her Weibo and opened her messages on WeChat.

?Han Feixu: Are you there yet??

?Shen Sangluo: I’ll be there soon.?

That was the same as saying she hasn’t even left the house yet = =

?Han Feixu: I’m almost there already! Hurry up and get out the door, or else I will force feed you my daughter’s alien* zongzi!?(T/N: The word is ?? which can mean strange, odd, atypical, etc. I decided to just pick a synonym that fit Han Feixu’s vocab)

Shen Sangluo: “…..”

What is an alien zongzi?

Han Feixu had told her that this was just a small ‘get-together’ and the host of the party had asked that everyone bring as many friends as they could. The more, the merrier. Han Feixu told her that since she was her only friend, she could only bring her.

Shen Sangluo didn’t want to go at first. Her company likes to organize gatherings and parties just like this one, so much so that she’s grown sick of them and does not have a good opinion on the term ‘party’ any more.

However, what Han Feixu said was really too pitiful. From the sounds of it, it seemed like everyone had a friend or two going with them and she was the lonely woman who didn’t have one. Shen Sangluo thought about it twice and decided to go in the end. Not only would she be supporting her friend she would also be saving money on dinner.

After changing her shoes, Shen Sangluo was ready to leave. Suddenly, she heard a noise coming from her bedroom. She went in and found that her calligraphy box had somehow fallen open. The rice paper scrolls inside were scattered all over the ground, but the most obvious one was the beautiful wrapped-up scroll.

She squatted down on the ground and unfolded the scroll before sighing deeply as she looked at the words, “A single mistake leads to a lifetime of regret.”

Then she carefully put the scroll back inside the box.

She never would have thought that this was a sign from the universe.

By the time Shen Sangluo got onto the road, Han Feixu had already arrived. The moment she walked inside, she heard a man crying in the living room as he poured out his grievances.

“I was wronged! The photo was inaccurate, it was a matter of perspective! In reality, I was far, far away from him and there was a distance of at least three Nie Kaiyuans combined between me and him! How could I have been able to catch him!”

There was no need to ask, this person must be Zhang Hao, the man who was ‘unjustly’ blamed.

Nie Kaiyuan’s face darkened when he was suddenly mentioned, “I say, can you stop using me as a unit of measurement?”

Compared to other male artists, Nie Kaiyuan belonged to the muscular category. His full body was made up of bulging muscles and he was very tall. At a glance, he looked like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson but two sizes smaller.

Chi Qiu sat on the sofa and listened to Zhang Hao’s complaints with a smile. When she heard the sound of the door opening, she turned her head and then immediately stood up when she saw who it was. She walked towards Han Feixu, “You’ve finally arrived. If you had come any later, the party would have already ended.”

She was exaggerating a bit as Jiang Lingyan had set the party to start at four in the afternoon and it was currently only 4:10. Han Feixu herself hadn’t wanted to arrive late, but she had to pick up Yiyi from kindergarten and say goodbye to the child before rushing over here. She dragged her feet and so by the time she arrived, she was late.

Han Feixu would have felt quite apologetic towards the host even if no one mentioned it, but Chi Qiu had said it so loudly and in such a carefree manner she could tell it wasn’t that big of a deal. The apologetic feeling in her heart disappeared and she smiled, “I had something to take care of at home and was delayed. What are you all talking about?”

Zhang Hao is also a young idol star like Mao Yangjun, but his personality was like an experienced middle-aged man.

He is from the northeast and is familiar with everyone here. Although he has never met Han Feixu before, it did not deter him at all, “What else are we talking about besides me getting implicated in the Mao Yangjun incident? Oh, that’s right! Han Feixu, Mao Yangjun is your junior, right? When is he going to come out and clarify everything for me?”

Han Feixu hurriedly waved her arms, “No, no, he’s not my junior. I’ve been out of the spotlight for six years and my comeback was later than his debut. So I’m not even as familiar with him as you guys are with him.”

Yuan Jize, who was also implicated in the incident, laughed heartily, “Understood. Everyone here is not familiar with him, only he is familiar with himself.”

There are basically no newcomers here, except for Lu Ersi, but even Lu Ersi is a little flower* who debuted over a year ago. And after some careful consideration and discussion, everyone understood how this accident came to happen today.

Most of the artists sat on the sofas and chairs in the living room while the film crew were mingling beside the bar. Meanwhile, Jiang Lingyan and the other directors sat outside the french windows on the patio chair.

Seeing that basically everyone had arrived, Jiang Lingyan went back inside the house to talk with everyone one by one. She arrived at Han Feixu last and as she took a sip of the glass of red wine in her hand, she asked, “When is Ye Mingxin coming?”

She asked in a low whisper so no one else besides Han Feixu could hear her. Han Fexiu replied in a similarly quiet whisper: “She’ll be here once her filming is finished. Probably around eight or nine in the evening.”

The party would still be going at that time and would in fact go on until midnight. Jiang Lingyan took another sip of red wine, and finally asked the question she really cared about, “When is Shen Sangluo coming?”

Han Feixu calmly looked at her and held the powerful woman’s gaze for a long time before she opened her mouth to ask, “Answer a question for me first. Didn’t you say that everyone was inviting their friends over? Why don’t I see anyone besides the contestants and film crew?”

Although most artists’ friends are also artists, there are only eight of them here and only ten including the judges and excluding the staff. How are there any extra “friends”?

Jiang Lingyan’s expression didn’t change, “If there are too many random people here, then this party will lose its original purpose. Besides, I don’t like large parties very much.”

—Weren’t you the one who said ‘the more the merrier’? 

Those words were still ringing in her ears and Han Feixu wished she could slap her with her own sentence but she didn’t dare to TAT

“Come on, everyone here is related to?I am the Protagonist?! When Shen Sangluo arrives she’ll immediately notice that the party isn’t what I said it was. She’s going to be very angry with me! Even if you wanted to trick her, you should at least try to put up a decent illusion, alright?!!”

“At the very least, you cannot expose me! If she loses her trust in even me, her best friend, then next time you try to lie to her or trick her into meeting with you, it’ll be basically impossible.”

Shen Sangluo’s admission into Peking University was not just based on hard work. She is a bona fide genius with an IQ that was quite a bit higher than the average person.

Although her IQ often collapses unexpectedly = =

Jiang Lingyan quietly listened to her and thought it over for a moment, “What you said makes sense.”

She nodded and continued, “Alright, I’ll call some people over and fill up the space. Thank you very much for your help this time. If you need anything from me in the future, just speak up.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t bother being polite with you.”

Jiang Lingyan: “….”

Han Feixu had felt in the beginning that Jiang Lingyan had a terrifying aura, fitting of her reputation as “Skin-Flayer Jiang”. She really was afraid of her at first, but when they talked about Shen Sangluo, Han Feixu’s heart rate recovered. In the end, wasn’t this just another person who wanted to pursue her best friend? Even after chasing for more than a month, they hadn’t even seen each other more than once in that time let alone made any substantial progress.

Thus, Han Feixu could only conclude that the other person was stupid if they haven’t even won over the Shen Sanglue who is actually someone very easy to pursue.

In Han Feixu’s heart, Jiang Lingyan had stepped down the glorified altar she had made and was naturally no longer that terrifying – –

After Jiang Lingyan left, Han Feixu returned to mingling with the other artists. After she sat down, Chi Qiu walked over and the two of them began talking about the web show they were on together before. When they talked about the web show’s current bad reputation, Chi Qiu’s face was full of satisfaction.

Han Feixu’s gaze casually swept across the room during the conversation and it just so happened that a nearby female artist raised her head when their eyes met. When she saw Han Feixu looking at herself, she immediately flashed a polite smile on her face.

Before she arrived, Han Feixu had already read up on the information of all of the contestants. The artist who had smiled at her just now is called Han Yuren, a very nice sounding name, and is the youngest among all the contestants present.

At only 20 years old.

Han Feixu smiled back at her which made Chi Qiu curiously follow her gaze and turn her head around, “You know her?”

Han Feixu shook her head, “I do not.”

“I thought so. You have just returned to China after all and she only had her debut about two years ago. You two wouldn’t have had the chance to meet yet. I thought that perhaps the two of you were relatives, seeing how you’re both surnamed Han.”

Han Feixu replied helplessly, “There are so many people surnamed Han, and many of them are not related at all.”

At around five, a bunch of young men and women, from who knows where, came in. They directly walked into the house and filled the house up to the brim. Chi Qiu looked at the crowd in bewilderment, “What is the DG group doing here?”

DG is the nickname for a group called the ‘doppelgangers’ and are basically doubles of each other. There are a total of three pairs in the group and each pair looks almost exactly alike to the other person in their pair. They are very popular nowadays and regarded as one of the most popular boy groups in the country.

Chi Qiu: “Every time I see them, I feel like their faces were all surgically fixed by a hospital.”

Han Feixu: “…..” They seem to be a bit alike.

To be able to call the DG group over on such short notice…it seems that Jiang Lingyan’s influence in the entertainment industry is not ordinary.

Han Feixu swirled the red wine in her glass and sighed in her heart, so what if one has high influence or status? Wasn’t she still abandoned by a certain someone else in the end?

Shen Sangluo finally arrived at the address Han Feixu gave her. When she parked outside, she could hear voices coming from inside and could see just how lively it was in there. She fixed her hair and sent a message to Han Feixu as she walked.

When Han Feixu received the message, she immediately told Jiang Lingyan.

The butler managing the door was baffled when he was unexpectedly driven aside by the host of the party.

Shen Sangluo rang the doorbell and two seconds later, the door opened. Jiang Lingyan’s hand was still against the door as she tilted her head and smiled at Shen Sangluo, “Long time no see.”

Shen Sangluo stood there frozen, her hand still on the screen of her phone. A moment of silence later, she stretched out her hand, grabbed the doorknob and quickly closed it.

Boom! 

She had closed the door from the outside.

Goodbye!!

T/N:

Zongzi when they are wrapped and when they are unwrapped: