I woke up to find I have a child - Chapter 32

No one accepted Duan Weiyang’s invitation and they all went their separate ways.

Ye Mingxin put on her sunglasses and asked Han Feixu, who was walking beside her, “We haven’t seen each other in so long, why don’t we catch up over a meal? We’re going the same direction after all.”

She had said these words openly and loudly, so that no one would speculate on their relationship.

Qi Qing looked over at them curiously, “Are you two neighbors?”

“Not exactly neighbors, we simply live in the same area. I live in the Lawrence Homes community, and she lives in….” Ye Mingxin tilted her head to the side and looked over at Han Feixu, “Zhongguancun, right?”

Han Feixu was silently sipping her drink the entire time and then blinked in surprise when Ye Mingxin suddenly asked her a question. She released the straw of her drink and nodded, “Yeah, I live right across from the 86th combined junior-high school.”

Qi Qing: “That’s a good place, right near the colleges as well. If I have a girlfriend in the future and we choose to get married, I want to buy a house there so that my children can grow up in a place immersed in the aesthetics of rich academia.”

Zhang Hao said quietly from behind: “It’s hard to buy a place there even if you have the money. Only high-leveled talents recognized by the nation can live there. Can you call yourself a talented person?”

Qi Qing: “I am a person*.” (T/N: Puns. Talent/talented person= ?? Person/human =?)

Zhang Hao laughed, “Little comrade, it seems you are quite aware of your own shortcomings. Anyhow, I can’t stay and talk any longer, I gotta get on a plane in two hours.”

Zhang Hao is both an actor and model. Recently he’s been focusing more on his career as an actor, but he still has a few modeling gigs and fashion shows he had to attend. This time he’s going to Barcelona. He was invited to a small, yet high-profile fashion show there.

When they arrived in the morning, they had all taken the film crew’s cars, but now each of them took their own rides home.

Zhong Yuanyuan and Wei Xun were waiting outside for Han Feixu and quickly made their way over when they saw her come out. However, before they could do anything, Ye Mingxin gently tugged on her arm, “Let’s take my car home, those two can go back by themselves.”

Han Feixu thought about it. Ye Mingxin had already laid out the groundwork by saying they were neighbors, so it wouldn’t be odd for her to enter her car.

Thinking like this, Han Feixu got into Ye Mingxin’s car.

Wei Xun usually drives her in a off-road vehicle that Han Feixu had bought right after returning to the country this year. Although it was handsome and domineering-looking, it was not practical for many occasions. She should change to a more professional-looking movie star van when she begins filming more frequently.

Although one could buy one at any time, Han Feixu never thought about it until she got into Ye Mingxin’s van.

She adjusted her seat to a more comfortable angle and then stretched her body, “I’m so tired! I only slept for about six hours yesterday, so I’m currently in a state of serious sleep deprivation.”

Ye Mingxin’s other assistant was in the driver’s seat while Lan Zhu sat in the passenger seat. Lan Zhu turned around with a smile, “Being able to sleep for about six hours is pretty good. Mingxin-jie doesn’t sleep for days at a time and her best record is three days and two nights. She didn’t close her eyes even once during that period and she had to go directly to the hospital afterward.”

Han Feixu was shocked, “Three days?!!”

She turned her head to look at Ye Mingxin, but Ye Mignxin simply pursed her lips slightly and said nothing.

“That’s right. At the time, I was just hired as her assistant and I have never worked with any actors before. Imagine how shocked I was! At the time, I thought all actors worked that hard! Since then, I no longer feel any envy towards actors. A high investment is needed to get a high reward after all.”

Han Feixu almost couldn’t believe it so she asked Ye Mingxin, “Have you always been doing this?!”

Ye Mingxin chuckled heartily, “Of course not, it was only that one time.”

Once is already scary enough…are you sure you’re still human?

Han Feixu felt distressed for her “Were you inflicted with some sort of shock or intense stimulation that prevented you from sleeping? As if you were injected with chicken blood….”

At the time, Ye Mingxin had gotten into another argument with Han Feixu. During their quarrel, many cruel words were said and Han Feixu said a few words that pierced right through her heart and lungs. Then without even saying a word of goodbye, Han Fexiu had gone to Hangzhou with a few of her film school classmates to audition for some show and didn’t come back for an entire week. This left an angry and frustrated Ye Mingxin to toss and turn in her sleep. She couldn’t sleep at all and so she simply decided to take out her anger by tormenting her coworkers.

It was one of the final scenes in the movie and the most important one as well. Ye Mingxin’s character was supposed to be so downhearted and depressed in this scene that she threw herself off a cliff and into the sea. The huge waves of the sea would swallow her up and the camera would keep following the character that had fallen into the sea until the icy water would force the character to open her eyes and she would suddenly be filled with regret as she looked up at the sun above. She stretched out her hand, hoping against hope that whatever or whoever it was, they would come and pull her up. She didn’t want to die.

However, since the moment she had chosen to jump to her death, there was no turning back.

In order to shoot this scene, the props team set up a green screen platform for Ye Mingxin to jump off of. Then as Ye Mingxin jumped, they had little time to take good shots of her jump and then the subsequent drowning clip. The director was a picky person and Ye Mingxin was fearless enough to try everything, so the final scene took place at a real beach in Tianjin.

They were stuck on that one scene for three whole days. Ye Mingxin had jumped 7 times, and the director felt it was perfect, but Ye Mingxin herself was not satisfied. She jumped into the sea again and again, until the suffocating waters finally forced her to sober up in the end.

In short, it was not a good memory and one that Ye Mingxin didn’t want to talk about anymore. So she changed the topic, “Let’s eat out tonight. I’ve made a reservation at a private restaurant a friend recommended to me. It is said to have the taste of old Beijing. Why don’t we give it a try?”

The subject change was a bit sudden so Han Feixu blanked out for a moment before she replied, “Ok, but if we eat out now, we won’t get home until after nine. Probably closer to ten.”

“It’s fine, Yiyi is staying at her great-grandfather’s house for the night and I’ve told Mom to pick her up tomorrow.”

They drove all the way from Hebei back to Beijing, but luckily there was no traffic so they arrived half an hour earlier than expected. The private restaurant Ye Mingxin mentioned is located in the suburbs and from the outside, it looks like a simple villa, but one you open the doors it becomes a beautiful paradise.

There are only two tables on the first floor, and this is because, despite it being a restaurant, most of the guests choose to eat in the spacious private rooms upstairs.

A gentle-looking young man walked over and smiled at the both of them, “Miss Ye, your reserved seats are over here.”

The waiter pointed at a carved, old-fashioned, 8-seat table that stood next to the floor-to-ceiling windows.

This caused Ye Mingxin to frown, “Didn’t I book a private room on the second floor?”

“Apologies, Miss Ye. Your reservation was a little last minute so we only had this table available. If you are not satisfied, I can adjust your appointment to an opening three days later.”

….who would want to come three days later? They’re trying to eat a meal now, not later.

Han Feixu whispered, “Just sit there, I’m hungry.”

Ye Mingxin still had her doubts but she nodded anyway, “Ok.”

After they sat down, they were not given any menus and instead there was a mini-tablet with a stylus lying next to it. She picked up the tablet and took a lot of it.

The rules of the private restaurant were written on the screen and there were…..a lot of rules.

For example, one could reserve a seat but not a time slot. Their business hours were only five hours, from five to ten pm. If they arrived before five, they would be forced to wait outside. If they haven’t finished eating before ten, they would be directly kicked out.

There are only ten reservations a day, and each reservation cannot exceed four guests. At the same time, the guests cannot be older than 60 or younger than 6. And once you’ve arrived at the restaurant, you can’t order your food either. The restaurant changes their menu every month and serves different dishes every day. There are always four dishes and one soup. Whatever is on the menu that day is what you eat. Furthermore, you can’t ask the chef for any changes to the dish unless you prove you have a food allergy with a certificate issued by the hospital.

Once Han Feixu put the tablet down she quietly asked Ye Mingxin, “Is the food really that delicious here?”

Why does she have a feeling that the restaurant was ‘hanging a goat’s head but selling dog meat instead’?* (*T/N: idiom that means to falsely advertise and sell a different (and often cheaper/worse) product than the customer expected.) 

Ye Mingxin was also not sure. She regularly patronizes private restaurants because they usually have tasty, albeit expensive, food and they offer the privacy she wants. However, she has never been to this restaurant before and only came here because of another’s recommendation.

Therefore, her answer was somewhat hesitant, “Jiang Lingyan recommended this place to me, so it should be fine….right?”

Han Feixu: “….” Can you be any less confident? = =

They chatted a little more as they waited for the food to be served.

“Yiyi is leaving next week. Should I buy her some extra clothing to take with her?”

“No need, Mom will have everything prepared. Besides, they won’t be gone for long. They’ll probably return home covered in dirt in just a few days.”

Ye Mingxin had finally agreed to Yiyi staying abroad for a month after much pressure from her family. She had no choice. Who knows what her mother said, but she was able to convince both Han Feixu and Han Feixu’s aunt into agreeing to her request. If it was just Yiyi, Ye Mingxin would have been able to reject her since she was used to shooting down her daughter’s nonsensical requests. However, as soon as Han Feixu opened her mouth to persuade her, she immediately surrendered.

Fine, go, go. Anyhow, with the little girl gone, the two of them can enjoy their little two person world for a while.

Yan Yuerong’s best friend and her fiercest rival from when she was young are both settled in Switzerland. All three of them have daughters around the same age, but her friends’ daughters are still single. As the only one of the three with a grandchild, and such a cute grandchild at that, she really can’t help but want to show off  to the both of them = =

Before, Han Feixu had been living abroad with Yiyi. Forget showing off, it was as difficult as ascending the heavens to go and visit Yiyi even once. Now it is much better. Yiyi has returned to the country, and her mother has forgotten all of the unpleasant things of the past. So now Yan Yuerong can finally stand up straight and righteously take Yiyi out to play.

The gentle-looking waiter walked over with a tray balanced on one hand. Han Feixu watched as he put down the plate of roasted duck and then promptly left.

Han Feixu picked up her chopsticks, but didn’t dare to move them for a long time before she looked up with doubt in her eyes, “These are the standards of a private restaurant nowadays?”

Ye Mingxin stayed silent for a long time, before she begrudgingly said, “Roasted duck is naturally the most authentic dish if one wants a taste of Old Beijing. Give it a try.”

Han Feixu picked up a piece of duck meat and chewed it slowly. She tried her best, but after mulling over the taste for a long time, she couldn’t tell the difference between this roasted duck and the dozens of other roasted ducks in Beijing. In fact, one can say it isn’t even as good as those ordinary roasted ducks they sell at the street stalls.

She put down her chopsticks and then lowered her voice to a whisper in fear that the people behind her might hear her, “Why do I feel that this roasted duck can’t even compare to the delicious roasted duck I tasted at the vegetable market last time?”

It was not only Han Feixu who thought so, but Ye Mingxin also had the same opinion.

This roasted duck….is a bit too ordinary, alright?!! How could this be considered the taste of Old Beijing, this is simply the taste of cheap, New Beijing!!

Ye Mingxin asked her, “Is authentic Old Beijing style supposed to taste like this?”

Han Feixu: “I don’t know, I only moved here about six years ago.

Ah, that’s not right. Although her 16-year-old self has only lived here for six years, her older self is supposed to have lived here for way longer.

Han Feixu looked up, “Aren’t you a Beijiner? You should have the best understanding of Beijing cuisine.”

Ye Mingxin shook her head, “I am not from Beijing. Although my grandparents have lived in Beijing all their lives, my parents got married in Shanghai, and so I was born and raised in Shanghai. After graduating from high school, I went to Tianjin for college and later became an actress before finally moving to Beijing to further my career.”

“Ooooh, Shanghai,” Han Feixu’s eyes lit up, “I used to live in Kunshan as a child. It was very close to Shanghai and I remember going on a cruise when I was a child and having to wait on a pier in Shanghai.”

The topic of one’s hometown is always one of those topics that can bring any two people closer together. When speaking about her childhood, Han Feixu’s mood brightened, “I’m actually craving a bit of Jiangnan cuisine right now, like the Taihu white fish and their stir-fried green vegetables!”

“My grandmother never cooked when I was younger since she didn’t know how to cook at all. The only dish she did ever cook me was stir-fried green vegetables, somewhat black and burnt, but still pretty delicious!”

Ye Mingxin nodded, “I know how to make that dish too, I can burn some for you later.”

Han Feixu laughed loudly, “Yes, yes, it’s the best when it is burnt. In the words of today’s slang, it can be considered a dark cuisine.*” (*T/N: it means when the food is slightly bad but in a amusing way)

Southern China’s most famous home-cooked meal is the stir-fried green vegetables. Just like the famous scrambled eggs dish of the North, when there is no food left in the fridge, one can always whip up a dish of stir-fried green vegetables.

After talking about food for quite a while, Han Feixu started getting hungry and took a few more bites of the roasted duck. No matter how ordinary the roasted duck is, at least it is not unpalatable.

The dishes here are not only ordinary in taste, but also small in quantity. After a few minutes, they finished off the plate and waited for the second dish.

Ye Mingxin’s current expression was not very good. She had taken Han Feixu out for dinner, so this was equivalent to a date. Originally she had wanted to take Han Feixu to a place she frequented, but when Jiang Lingyan heard of her plans, she told her to try out this newly opened private restaurant. Jiang Lingyan had praised it as a secret treasure and swore that they would be pleasantly surprised if they went.

Well, she can admit she was surprised. Surprised at the fact that although this was a place that clearly served rich patrons, they served the most common foods. Creating a most pretentious style and teaching their wallets a most painful lesson.

Han Feixu didn’t have any ill feelings on the matter because to her this type of situation is quite common. She had often rushed to try the specialties of a new restaurant in the past, only to end up disappointed when she realized it was overhyped. In the end, those types of restaurants were blacklisted by her for a lifetime.

Therefore, there are always risks associated with trying new things and one must be cautious, whether they are buying or selling.

“By the way, have you made a decision about which company you’ll join.”

Ye Mingxin spoke with an indifferent tone, and pretended to casually bring up the matter.

Han Feixu nodded, “I have.”

Ye Mginxin smiled, “So what did you decide? Which company?”

“I’ve decided to open my own studio.”

“….”

Ye Mginxin’s expression did change as she replied, “It’ll take a while to set up your own studio, have you thought about who to hire?”

“Not yet, I want to open up the studio first and then have Yuanyuan and Liang-jie to help me find the right people. If the people in question do not live up to expectations, we can just switch them out. Funding is not a problem.”

Han Feixu’s tone sounded equivalent to a newly rich upstart who just came into a large sum of money. She paused to pick up her cup of water and then took a sip before continuing, “Speaking of funding, I want to meet with my financial manager. My money is currently being taken care of by him and he said he can come over any time. However, when I call him over, what should I say to him and what should I do if I don’t understand what he’s saying?”

Han Feixu’s financial manager belongs to an American group called the Chris Foundation and he is said to be a highly skilled and professional manager.

Ye Mingxin took a sip of her red wine and said, “I’ll help you translate when the time comes.”

Han Feixu nodded, “Then I’ll send him another email and invite him over. I’ll even reimburse him for the transportation fees. Some things are just better to talk about in person after all.”

“There’s no need to invite him over if you’re just trying to get your money through him. I can provide you with the necessary funds and the people if you can’t find enough. I can divide up some of the people under me and I’ll still pay their wages and benefits so you don’t have to.”

Han Feixu quickly declined her offer, “That’s too much, it’ll be embarrassing for me to take advantage of you like that.”

Ye Mingxin lightly tapped against her wine glass, long and crisp sounds ringing out in the silence, “Ms. Han, no, Mrs.Ye, have you forgotten you are my wife again? All of the money I earn is yours to spend on whatever you want. Please think about it on my behalf at least. I don’t spend much in the first place, and if you don’t spend any, when the public finds out how large my assets are, I will be at the top of the trending pages and the conspiracy theories will start again. It could severely damage my reputation.”

“…..” There’s a risk associated with having too much money????

The logic sounded solid on the surface, but Han Feixu always felt like there was something wrong, “Kangxuan Group belongs to your family, and Xiuzhi Chemicals also belongs to your family. So there shouldn’t be any conspiracy theories on how you got your money, no matter how large your assets are, right?”

Kangxuan Group is one of the top 500 businesses in the nation and Xiuzhi Chemicals, named after Ye Mingxin’s paternal grandmother Xiao Xiuzhi, is one of the most famous comosestics and skin care brands in China. Those two businesses are both big cash cows that have once placed Ye Mingxin’s father on the list of the super rich for quite a while. Although he has long been squeezed out by now = =

“That money belongs to my parents, not me.”

Ye Mingxin had declared independence from her family since she was 18 years old and she has never spent a single cent of her parent’s money since then. Her little brother took after her and did the same when he came of age. The moment he turned 18, he went abroad to start his own business and has continued to stay there to this day.

Hand Feixu blinked, “Then what you’re trying to say is that as long as I help you spend your money, your reputation will be safe?”

Ye Mingxin nodded, “That’s right.”

…That’s right, her butt! She may have lost her memory of the last 10 years, but she has not lost her IQ! It would be strange for her to just believe her words!

Although, she will never admit she had almost been pulled in by Ye Mingxin’s words just then. If she had been, she would never be able to escape = =

After the meal, Ye Mingxin asked the waiter who had been serving them who the chef was. She especially wanted to know the name of the chef, so she could have a good “talk” with him.

The man smiled, “Our chef is surnamed Zheng, but he does not ever come out to meet guests. Please forgive us, but if you really wish to contact him, I can give you our boss’s contact information instead. Communicating with our boss is the same as communicating with the chef.”

Ye Mingxin felt that it was very strange, “Are you allowed to give out your boss’s contact information so freely?”

How can that be, the waiter couldn’t be the boss’s partner or something, right?

The man smiled again, “Normally I would not be allowed to, but today the boss specially ordered me to give you their contact information. Here, this is our boss’s business card.”

Ye Mingxin tok the card and lowered her head to read the words. Three characters were imprinted in a large font on the business card, Jiang Lingyuan. (T/N: For those who don’t remember, she is Jiang Lingyan’s little sister and Han Feixu’s obsessed admirer) 

“……”

The two siblings had worked together to dig a hole for her to jump into and make a fool of herself!!!

No wonder this private restaurant hasn’t gone out of business yet despite her being served such ordinary yet expensive dishes! And she had clearly booked the private room on the second floor but was then told the reservation was too last minute and arranged to sit near the window on the first floor. So it turns out it was Jiang Lingyuan who had specially arranged for all of this!!

Han Feixu also leaned over to take a look, “So it turns out that Second Young Miss Jiang is the owner of this place.”

Ye Mingxin said with a blank expression on her face, “You should drop the middle two words in her title.”

Han Feixu was dumbfounded for a moment, if she dropped those two words, wouldn’t it just be….Second Jiang? = =

Ye Mingxin laughed angrily, “Jiang Lingyan specifically recommended this place to me because she knew that her sister could view the guest list and see my name on it. With such a good opportunity, Jiang Lingyuan would naturally take the chance to swindle me. However, I bet she never expected that the person I brought with me would be you.”

In Jiang Lingyuan’s understanding, Han Feixu is currently in the middle of a divorce with Ye Mingxin and would definitely not go out to eat with her. Thus, she wasn’t worried when she boldly replaced the dishes Ye Mingxin ordered.

Ye Mingxin laughed coldly three times. After taking a deep breath, she put on a gentle smile, “Little Xu, let’s take a photo together.”

Han Feixu: “…..”

Today, Second Young Miss Jiang is her usual bright and beautiful self as she sat in the center of the reception and elegantly listened to the host recount her fun adventure in Iceland earlier this year.  Suddenly, her phone vibrated twice and she picked it up only to find that Ye Mingxin had sent her a couple of  WeChat messages.

The first one is a group photo.

In the photo, Ye Mingxin has her arm wrapped around Han Feixu’s waist as both of them look up and pose together to smile happily into the camera. The background is the private restaurant she had recently invested in and opened up about two months ago.

Jiang Lingyuan’s eyes widened in an instant. Her eyes are not small in the first place, so when she widened her eyes it would take up one-third of her face. The girl sitting next to her was startled by this and was just about to ask what was wrong when she saw the arms of the usually calm and graceful Jiang Lingyuan tremble abruptly while holding her phone.

In the midst of a boisterous celebration filled with a happy atmosphere, Jiang Lingyuan suddenly stood up, causing everyone to be confused. Seeing her so agitated, the good mood of the party quickly disappeared.

The person closest to her asked, “Lingyuan, what’s wrong? What happened?”

Judging from her appearance, everyone thought that something unfortunate had happened to her family. However, Jiang Lingyuan ignored them all as her chest rose and fell, her agitation causing her to feel like she was about to suffocate.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!!! Pisses me off! I’m going to die of anger! I’ll go find them right now, if they don’t tell me what’s going on, I will call a demolition team and break into their home directly!!”

After she finished speaking, Jiang Lingyuan fiercely threw her phone into her bag and then walked out, dragging the chain of her bag. Like a violent gust of wind, she was out of there in no time, leaving the rest of the guests to look at each other in bewilderment.

The one who just threatened to illegally break into someone’s house just now is….the normally low-key and quiet Jiang Lingyuan??? Did she get possessed by some strange spirit?!!

The perfect image Jiang Lingyan had painstakingly urged her little sister to cultivate collapsed in just one night.

Meanwhile, Ye Mingxin and Han Feixu were on their way back home. After sending those messages, YE Mingxin smiled evilly and then put away her phone, hiding her devious achievement.

Han Feixu could tell that her smile boded some ill intention and so she asked, “Who were you texting just now?”

“No one, it’s not an important person. Don’t you feel sleepy? You should sleep, I can wake you up when we get home.”

Han Feixu really couldn’t help but feel sleepy in the smoothly driven car and as soon as she closed her eyes, she fell into a state of light sleep.

On the other side, Jiang Lingyuan sat in the back seat of a car, gritting her teeth as she read the last message from Ye Mingxin.

—We’ve gotten back together. Please wish us well. 

The interior of the car is very quiet, and the driver’s heart is also quite calm. He likes driving at night because the atmosphere is so good.

At least that’s what he thought until his employer behind him uttered a scream that could tear one’s eardrums.

“I wish you well, my ass*!” (T/N: Jiang Lingyuan used:  ?????, which literal translation = your grandmother’s claw, but it’s kinda more like the Chinese version of “my ass” or smth similar)