I woke up to find I have a child - Chapter 34

Han Feixu’s first reaction was to laugh, but as soon as the corners of her mouth started to rise, Ye Mingxin turned her expressionless face to glare at her.

Han Feixu stopped herself from smiling. In a flash, she changed her expression and said sternly to Yiyi: “That was way out of line.”

Ye Mingxin quietly agreed in her heart, Indeed, it was totally out of line. 

“How can you take off your classmate’s pants in front of all the parents?”

Ye Mingxin: “……”

So you’re saying it’s okay to take off her classmate’s pants when there is no one around?!

Like an angel that had walked straight out of a painting, Yiyi looked so pitiful when she pouted and Han Feixu’s heart was about to melt from the aggrieved look on her face.

“I didn’t do it on purpose, Mama.”

When Han Feixu heard these words, she immediately turned around and looked at Ye Mingxin: “It wasn’t on purpose. Since it wasn’t on purpose, you should forgive her. Maybe it was just an accident.”

Ye Mingxin gave her a disappointed look, “You believe her just because she said it? Even if pulling off his pants could be written off as an accident, putting the pants onto his head is most definitely not an accident. Here is the video. The evidence is as strong as a mountain, so you can watch it for yourself and see.”

Han Feixu looked at Yiyi suspiciously. The latter lowered her head in a pitiful manner again, and put on the appearance of a poor child who was abused. She walked over and sat next to Ye Mingxin who started playing a video on the computer.

The video skipped directly to the part where Yiyi and her class were on stage. A bunch of chubby little bees poured onto the stage and Han Feixu smiled with a silly expression, “So cute! Which little bee is Yiyi?”

Ye Mingxin pointed to the background behind the bees, “She is the pink flower.”

“…..”

The show is a song and dance type of play, but while the little bees sang and danced, the flowers did not move. They just stood there silently, waiting patiently as the little bees surrounded them and gathered nectar.

Although Yiyi is the child of two actresses, she did not inherit any of the talents of show business from her parents. When she sings, she’s out of tune and acting is so awkward to the point of embarrassment. She even forgets the words to the poems she was told to recite. The teacher had no other choice but to arrange Yiyi as part of the backdrop. One must know that the teacher’s heart was bleeding when she made this decision. After all, such a beautiful child should stand in C position, at the front and center!

In the beginning, everyone performed very well and the handsome little bees flew around the stage. The little bees were dressed very lightly, but the flowers did not receive the same treatment. They had huge petals placed on their head and even with the AC on, Yiyi still felt hot and stuffy inside the costume.

So while the others were not paying attention, she raised her hand and twisted the petals, trying to loosen them a little. After twisting the petals, she naturally lowered her hand and it was at this moment that the accident occurred.

In the video, it was Yiyi who accidentally hit the butt of of the classmate in front of her. The round plushy bee’s stinger was already loose and not fitted very tightly to the boy, so when Yiyi touched it, the stinger fell to the ground. Yiyi was startled and quickly squatted down to pick up the plushie and put it back onto her classmate. Unfortunately, it just so happened that it was about time for the little bee to finish collecting its honey and take off. The little bee moved to fly away, but Yiyi was still struggling to put his stinger back on. After some more pulling and tugging, the entire lower half of the bee’s costume, the butt of the bee, fell off and the student in front of her tripped and fell to the ground as well.

Yiyi stood there dumbfounded and the little boy also lay there in dumbfounded silence. He clutched his butt and then turned his head with a look of shock as the audience silently watched on. Within two seconds, a layer of water appeared in his eyes.

When Yiyi saw that he was about to cry, she became anxious, “Don’t cry, I will return your butt to you.”

If she didn’t say anything, everything might have turned out okay. But as soon as she said that, the little boy couldn’t help but burst into tears. The parents sitting in front of the stage started making a commotion while Yiyi stood helplessly in the same place. The teacher ran up to the stage and a figure clad in a white dress stood up beside the camera. Han Feixu looked subtly to the side. Sure enough, Ye Mingxin is wearing a white dress today.

Yiyi’s eyes widened at this point and when she saw her Mommy approaching, she panicked and started getting scared. So she turned around and said to the little boy, “It’s okay, don’t cry! I’ll help you put it back on!”

And then she put the bee’s butt onto the little boy’s head.

After three seconds of silence, the little boy with a bee’s butt on his head started crying even louder.

Watching this scene play out again made Ye Mingxin feel even worse. Just who was it that taught Yiyi to put a classmate’s pants over their head when helping them put on their clothes?!!!

She pressed the pause button and raised her eyes, “Do you still believe that it wasn’t on purpose?”

Han Feixu racked her brains for a long time before she came up with some kind words in her daughter’s defense, “Strictly speaking, what was taken off wasn’t his pants, but his costume. Look, he’s still wearing his shorts, so he wasn’t stripped fully naked or anything!”

“…If he was stripped fully naked, Yiyi and I will not be here right now but bowing and apologizing at someone else’s house.”

Ye Mingxin turned his head and scolded Yiyi: “Have I ever taken off your pants and then put them on your head when you were crying? If today’s situation was reversed, if you were the one whose pants were taken off and the culprit put the pants onto your head, what would you do?”

Yiyi’s eyes turned red as Ye Mingxin’s tone changed for the worse. She lowered her head, teardrops streaming out of her eyes, “I’m sorry, Mommy.”

Upon seeing this, Ye Mingxin calmed down slightly, but her stern attitude remained the same, “It is not me you should be apologizing to, but your classmate. In the morning, when I asked you to apologize, you said you did not want to. So we’ll try again this afternoon. This time you will sincerely apologize to them, do you understand?”

Yiyi’s volume was as quiet as a mosquito’s as she answered, “I understand.”

“In addition to an apology, you will write a card by hand and then choose one of your favorite toys and give it to them. Remember, it must be a toy you like. Since you have done something wrong and not only disrespected your classmate but hurt their self-esteem as well, you need to be punished.”

Yiyi wiped her eyes, sniffed and raised her head, “Will giving him my little white bunny work, Mommy?”

The little white bunny is part of a set of resin ornaments that Yiyi likes a lot. When she had just returned to China earlier this year, Yu Tingxue, Ye Mingxin’s friend, gave them to Yiyi as a welcoming gift. Now, Yiyi’s room is filled with all kinds of little whie bunnies. Using her own words, it’s because she wants to “say hello to the little white bunny” wherever she goes.

Ye Mingxin laughed with relief. She lifted Yiyi up and let her sit in her lap, “It’s good that you understood you were wrong. You have six little white bunnies, don’t you? Then give three to him and keep three for yourself. This way, both of you can have a little white bunny. Once he sees you give him your favorite little white bunnies, he will definitely forgive you.”

Children are easily appeased, and Yiyi’s heightened emotions quickly calm down. Once Ye Mingxin let her go and play, she ran off, shouting, “Grandma Li, where are my crayons!”

Auntie Li, the housekeeper, moved her other half of body out of her hiding place near the kitchen, “They’re upstairs, Do you want grandma to also grab you a Christmas card?”

“Ok! Ok!”

It is inevitable for children to make mistakes. Their childish personalities are bound to make wrong choices as they make their way to maturity and it is the burden of adults to clearly point out their mistakes and help steer them onto the right path.

Yiyi sat down on the carpet and thought long and hard about what to draw on her card.

Ye Mingxin looked down at her with soft eyes, no longer stern and cold like she was just now.

She felt the eyes of the person beside her staring holes into her, and when she turned around, she found Han Feixu looking all teary-eyed at her.

Ye Mingxin: “…What’s wrong?”

Han Feixu sighed, “Compared to you, I really am unqualified to be a mother.”

Ye Mingxin raised an eyebrow, “You only say that now because you can’t remember. Do you want to know how you used to educate Yiyi before?”

“How did I educate her?”

Ye Mingxin shook her head as she recalled the past, “One time when Yiyi made a mistake and was crying up a storm, you just stood next to her and stared at her blankly. Once she had cried enough that her tears started to dry up, she came up to you, but you would not give her a hug. You would only coldly ask her one question, ‘do you understand what you did was wrong?’”

“She would say yes, but you would continue and ask her to tell you what exactly she did was wrong. After she answered, you still wouldn’t do anything and just let her wipe her own tears. Then you would wait until she completely calms down and is no longer crying nor feeling bad about herself. Only then would you hug her, pick her up, and then softly, but gently explain reason with her.”

Han Feixu: “….” Was I that terrible?!!!

“And so, the reason why I’m like this now is because I learned it all from you. Although the old adage says that daughters must be raised carefully*, it doesn’t mean she should be spoiled. We can only stay by her side for the first eighteen years of her life. Once she enters college, she will have to pave her own future.” Ye Mingxin laughed lightly, “Although we can’t stay by her side forever, we can at least teach her to choose the right path. Yiyi is a very smart child, and will most definitely become more brilliant than even the two of us combined.” (*T/N: The full adage is: ???????????, which roughly translates to “sons should be raised poor, and daughters should be raised rich”. It means sons should experience hardship to toughen them up while daughters should be pampered and carefully raised to be cultured young ladies.)

The Ye Mingxin who said all this was very different from the usual Ye Mingxin. This Ye Mingxin is a mother. Every word she says and every thought she reveals is for her daughter’s sake. And if you read between the lines, she was also talking about the lives of three people.

–They are a family of three.

Han Feixu suddenly realized something very clearly. That these two were her closest relatives in the world.

If she can live like this for the rest of her life, perhaps it won’t be half bad.

Han Feixu’s gaze wandered to somewhere far away, but Ye Mingxin didn’t notice and stood up, “I’m going to call Qi Yu. I forgot to notify him about my whereabouts due to Yiyi’s trouble. I’ll be skipping out on this afternoon’s activities to escort Han Nianyi.” (T/N: Remember that Yiyi’s full name is Han Nianyi and Yiyi is just her nickname) 

“You sound like you’re going to send Yiyi to a juvenile detention center. Alright, go quickly, I’ll look after her.”

Currently, Yiyi has forgotten all about writing an apology card and her full attention is now immersed in the fun of drawing although…her drawings are still so horrible.

Han Feixu has never appeared in front of the class’s other parents before, and didn’t plan on doing so for the time being. That might change in the future, but that’s for another time.

Around two in the afternoon, Yiyi woke up from her nap and Ye Mingxin drove up with the car. Yiyi sat in the passenger seat, holding a bulky gift box in her hands with a huge bow tied around the box.

After sending them off, Han Feixu returned inside and began to memorize her lines. It won’t be long before the filming for ?Return of the Phoenix? begins. So she had to take this opportunity to memorize her lines.

?Return of the Phoenix?is based on the life of Concubine De. The story starts in the 12th year of Kangxi, during the beginnings of the palace draft*. Wu Yayingxiu, the future Concubine De, first appears in a scene for her coming of age ceremony. Her family was poor, and the only thing she could put up as an offering for her ancestors were some flatbread that was too inferior to bring out in public. There weren’t many guests either. In contrast, Guo Luoluo’s family next door, who was also holding a coming of age ceremony for their eldest Miss Wen Shan, was filled to the brim with guests. All wives nobility were there in attendance, along with the regional lord of the country. Meanwhile Wen Shan sat in her boudoir, choosing through a pile of expensive jewelry to wear.(*T/N: In ancient times, every 1-5 years, depending on the emperor, women were chosen from all over China and brought into the palace to be chosen as consorts)   

Yingxiu and Wen Shan were born on the same day, but they lived different lives. After their respective ceremonies, they both went to participate in the draft. Only after entering the Chuxiu Palace did Wen Shan learn that Yingxiu was born on the same day as herself, but seeing as the girl looked prettier than her, she held no affection for her. Later, Wen Shan became a concubine, but Yingxiu was assigned to be a mere palace maid in another imperial concubine’s palace. Thus, the brief interaction between the two quickly disappeared into the back of their minds.

Four years later, Wen Shan was promoted to imperial consort of first rank and became master of the first palace. However, she wasn’t happy for long when she heard that Yingxiu had leaped through the ranks, from palace maid to the rank of a Noble Lady. Furthermore, Wen Shan had been the favored concubine for four long years, but there was no news about her stomach. Yingxiu only slept with the emperor once, and she was already pregnant and was about to steal her limelight. Thus, from then on, Wen Shan regarded Yingxiu as an ugly thorn in her side, and made life difficult for her for the rest of their lives.

In the early stages, Ye Mingxin’s Yingxiu was like a delicate, little white flower, silently doing her own thing as she avoided conflict with everyone. However, her closest and dearest friend, a lady-in-waiting, suddenly died with no explanation. The friend was wrapped in a torn straw mat and thrown into a mass grave before dawn. It was in front of her grave that Yingxiu finally understood that her silence would only meet one end. That is, a dog’s death.

This caught Han Feixu’s interest. What would an innocent “little white flower” version of Ye Mingxin look like?

Her lines were covered in a bright yellow highlighter, so when she was memorizing her lines, she would only look at her lines. But now, she was intrigued by the plot and so she turned back the pages of her script to see Ye Mingxin’s lines.

Except for the first episode, she and Ye Mingxin’s characters are always in some sort of rivalry. There were only about six episodes worth of time where their scenes do not overlap. Although she is a supporting role, she often communicates with the emperor. Meanwhile, Ye Mingxin’s character is constantly acting against one of the noble consorts and the Empress.

The noble consort in question is Consort Tong Jia played by Yin Jiahe and the Empress Heseri is played by Lin Yi.

Empress Heseri’s reign was short-lived as she died of childbirth complications. From the first episode, the Empress will look weak and sick. Although she looks weak, she is the most noble of all the ladies in the harem. While she was alive, the harem was stable and peaceful, but the moment she died, chaos erupted. Both the harem and the court began to stir as they eyed the empress’s throne. There were also many wolves who coveted the young crown prince’s position*. (*T/N: The Emperor named Heseri’s second son as the crown prince the moment he was born (that’s when Heseri died) and the dude kept the position for 30 years. See more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yunreng) 

Lin Yi has three episodes in total, so she can only be regarded as a cameo in this show. Her character only has two important tasks in the show, one is to be the white moonlight in Kangxi’s heart. So whenever a concubine causes a ruckus, the emperor would take out a portrait of her and look at it sadly while lamenting her early death.

The second task is to lay the groundwork for Yingxiu by having her personally point out that Yingxiu is no ordinary person. Yingxiu’s temperament is very similar to hers and the Empress even conceded that Yingxiu was even better than her, hinting that there was great potential in Yingxiu.

If you only look at the script but not the history, it is very easy to see that this story is a love story. However, among the many concubines and consorts, only one of them truly loves the Emperor and this is Noble Consort Wen Xi. Everyone else has ambitions and goals they can only fulfill by pleasing the emperor. They either want to become Empress or Empress Dowager. In short, they all wish to use the Emperor as the springboard for their careers. (*T/N: Empress Dowager is the current Emperor’s mother, so wanting to become Empress Dowager means you want your own son on the dragon throne.) 

With not much time left to brush up on her Qing Dynasty history, Han Feixu could only turn to other sources for help.

When her brain isn’t working, she finds Shen Sangluo, the all-knowing encyclopedia, to help her out. No matter what type of history it was, Shen Sangluo knew them all. Han Feixu was able to reap a lot of benefits from one lesson with Shen Sangluo.

After the lesson, Shen Sangluo remarked as she licked her ice cream, “I heard your daughter took off a classmate’s pants.”

Han Feixu, who was still recovering and digesting from the history lesson just now, was silent for a while before replying, “How do you know?”

“Ye Mingxin’s mother sent a video and some pictures to her friends circle on social media. The truth is clearly laid out in those pictures.”

“Yiyi has already admitted to her wrongdoing and is even giving away her favorite little white bunnies as an apology. Next time you see her, try not to bring this matter up or it might hurt her self-esteem.”

Shen Sangluo snorted, “Do you think I’m such an insensible person?”

On the outside, she is the proper and strict Section Chief Shen, always dressed up nicely. But at home, she is messy-haired and dirty. When she heard Han Feixu was coming over, she didn’t even bother washing her face before opening the door.

After receiving the history lesson from Shen Sangluo, Han Feixu finally noticed the sorry state the house was in. There were takeout boxes all over the table, a half-crushed plastic milk tea cup on the ground, and even the trash can was inadvertently overturned, spilling the shells of the macadamia nuts all over the ground.

Han Fexiu’s expression collapsed, “Why can’t you clean up your room a little bit, or at least clean yourself up?!”

Shen Sangluo lounged on the sofa, throwing the ice cream plastic packaging onto the coffee table after she finished the last of her ice cream. She then picked up the script Han Fexiu brought with her and looked around the room with a calm face, “Don’t be so anxious. I’ve set up a whole year’s worth of housekeeping service. The housekeeper comes to clean up the place every week so it’s only messy for one or two days at most.”

Is that so?

Han Feixu asked, “What day does the housekeeper come on?”

Shen Sangluo: “Friday.”

Han Feixu: “….But today is Saturday.”

Shen Sangluo looked up and stared at her silently, “So what if it’s Saturday?”

Section Chief Shen, no wonder you are the Chief. You were able to turn a human’s home into a pigsty with such speed and efficiency! Even a Maserati wouldn’t be able to catch up to you!

She hasn’t washed her hair in three days, the black hair messy and oily at the same time. She fumbled around the coffee table for a long time before finding a hair tie in a plastic cup. The hair tie was still covered in water, but she didn’t seem to care and tied her hair up with it.

Shen Sangluo put the script down only to see an incredulous expression on her best friend’s face.

Shen Sangluo didn’t take any offense, “This is called the two faces of an office worker. What, have you never seen it before?”

Han Feixu replied sincerely, “Yup, I have never seen it.”

“90% of single working women live like this. You know, half-worked to death by their bosses. Can I not relax when I go home?”

Han Feixu had no words until she suddenly thought of something, “Why don’t I take a photo of you like this with the coffee table in the background? Since you want Jiang Lingyan to stop chasing you, if I send a photo like that to her, I guarantee that she will no longer bother you.”

Shen Sangluo didn’t even think before the words came out of her mouth, “Don’t you dare!”

Han Feixu laughed, “Why not? Isn’t it such a good idea? Or are you afraid she really won’t come looking for you anymore?”

Shen Sangluo’s face stiffened, she quickly changed the topic, “When are you filming the next episode?”

“Next Wednesday. Yiyi will be leaving the day after tomorrow, so we’ll send her off to the airport first before shooting the third episode.”

Shen Sangluo nodded, “I heard Yin Jiahe is joining in this episode. Good luck, she is a formidable opponent.”

Han Feixu asked, “How do you know this?”

“Friends circle*, Yu Tingxue posted some news about the show on social media. So how could I not know?”(*T/N: On Weixin, you can post news to your “friends circle” where only certain friends/followers can see your photos. Also known as “Moments”)  

From Ye Mingxin’s words, Han Feixu did not see Yin Jiahe as a competitor. Also, she rather likes Yin Jiahe’s supposed personality type, quiet and obedient, like a cute little sister.

Han Fei kicked off her slippers and sat on the sofa, “Next week we’re going to the Beijing Film Academy to film the show. I don’t know what Jiang Lingyuan has in store for use this time. She’s already tortured us plenty the first two episodes, and she’ll most likely won’t show any mercy this time either. I suspect she wants us to lose face in front of a group of college students next.”

Shen Sangluo smiled with schadenfreude, “You’ve already lost face with the people of this country, why be afraid of losing some more in front of a few measly college students. I saw the previous episodes, your disguise was pretty good my dear Shandong sister.”

Han Feixu rolled her eyes and said coldly, “Isn’t it al’ ‘cause of that ‘close friend’ of yers?”(T/N: Yes, she purposefully speaks in the Shandong accent here.) 

“…” Shen Sangluo was once again defeated. She was beginning to understand that there will always be risks involved with this topic and so she once again changed the subject, “I heard that you and Ye Mingxin will be in a drama together soon and Lin Yi will have a guest cameo too.”

Han Feixu was surprised once again, “How do you know?”

“Lin Yi sent the news to her friends circle, I only had to click on it to know.”

The friends circle is really the most popular and extensive news network = =

Seeing that Han Feixu only looked surprised at her information-gathering but nothing else, Shen Sangluo shuffled closer and asked, “You know Lin Yi very well. Did you know that?”

Han Feixu’s eyes widened. It was very obvious that she, in fact, did not actually know.

“I even know Lin Yi?” Wow, she is so awesome!

Lin Yi debuted one year before Ye Mingxin and is three years older than Ye Mingxin. Han Feixu knew Lin Yi’s name because she saw her often on TV, on the billboards in the streets, on the posters in the stores, but she didn’t actually see any of her works. Her last impression of Lin Yi was that the star was about to expand into the foregin markets, preparing to propel herself into the European and American entertainment markets.

Shen Sangluo supplied her with the missing information: “She has expanded into the foregin markets long ago. She has spent most of her time abroad and has only returned a handful of times. But around 2012, there was a bit of an economic depression in Europe and America so she returned to China for 2 years. 2 years later, she went abroad again. It’s a coincidence that the film is going to start just when she returned for a short trip. So this drama’s popularity is going up another level.”

“I heard she’s not going back this time since the opportunities for Asian actresses are too little in Europe and America. Most female lead roles are not played by Asians, and even an Asian playing the second female lead is as rare as a phoenix’s feather or a unicorn’s horn. I heard she was nominated for the Oscar for ‘Best Female Supporting Role’ but in the end the winner was someone from a Spanish movie. She’s a bit discouraged so she’s preparing to return to China instead.”

Shen Sangluo narrowed her eyes in thought, “She’ll probably decide to be a producer or director this time. As you know, once an actor reaches her level, there is no room for further development and a change in careers will give her a nice challenge to complete.”

Han Feixu stared at her dumbfoundedly, “You know all this from her friends circle?”

“As if. This is what Lin Yi told me personally.”

Now Han Feixu was even more dumbfounded, “You also know Lin Yi?”

T/N:

I feel like I need to make this clear before a history buff calls me out, but I am in no way an expert in Qing Dynasty history. So some names, titles, etc. might be translated incorrectly. Not to mention that most noble ladies of the harem had like a billion different titles and names, with their personal names usually not being written down in history (cuz history be sexist like that). So yeah, if I get a title or name wrong, sorry in advance.