I woke up to find I have a child - Chapter 35

Shen Sangluo raised her eyebrows, “What do you mean ‘also know her’? You only know Lin Yi because of me.”

“What do you mean?”

During her sophomore year in college, Shen Sangluo worked as an assistant to the chairman of the Youth League*. At the time, Lin Yi was acting in several films and one of the film’s settings was Shen Sangluo’s school. The film borrowed one of the laboratories on campus and as a staff member of the school, Shen Sangluo was assigned to escort the crew. She followed the crew out of duty, but also to see the excitement.(T/N: The author most likely meant one of the many branches of the Communist Youth League of China) 

Coincidentally, Han Feixu visited the school that day to play with Shen Sangluo. While Han Feixu waited outside for Shen Sangluo to finish her work, she went to the bathroom. When she was washing her hands at the sink, she just happened to run into the famous Lin Yi. However, unlike other celebrities, Lin Yi wasn’t standoffish or arrogant. So when she saw a student in the bathroom, she stared for only a moment before extending a friendly smile.

Lin Yi is 7 years older than Han Feixu and is a mature, smart, and charming woman. Even straight girls can’t help but be deeply attracted at the very sight of her.

Shen Sangluo smiled in a teasing manner as she remembered Ye Mingxin’s attitude towards Lin Yi, “When you’re acting with Lin Yi, better tell your crew to open up the windows, otherwise….the set will become a Shanxi Vinegar shop*.” (*T/N: Shanxi is well known for their vinegars, and in Chinese, when someone is jealous, we say they are “eating vinegar” (??) See here for more info)

Han Feixu couldn’t understand the meaning behind those words, but Shen Sangluo didn’t bother explaining.

She straightened up, stretching her arms upwards and then searched in the gaps of the sofa. After some searching, she finally found her phone, “ Are you eating dinner here? If you are, I can order some takeout for you too.”

Han Feixu: “Can’t you cook instead? Such a good kitchen has gone to waste as a storage unit.”

Shen Sangluo: “The food I cook doesn’t taste good and it’s too much work to cook.”

Han Feixu: “Ah, forget it, what did I expect from such a lazy person.”

Shen Sangluo: “I might be lazy, but you’re not. If you want food, then you can go make it. There are still some eggs and tomatoes left in the fridge. Might as well make some stir fry with that.”

Han Feixu: “Let’s eat takeout.”

Shen Sangluo: “…..”

When she arrived, Han Feixu brought only one bag, but left with two large bags of garbage. Han Feixu speechlessly walked out with the garbage while Shen Sangluo sat on the now much cleaner sofa and waved at her with a smile, “See, I told you it would only be dirty for a day or two! Isn’t it much cleaner once you throw away the trash? Bye bye, darling~ Don’t forget to sort the trash!”

Han Feixu made a vow. She won’t step foot in Shen Sangluo’s house for the next two months! = =

The next day, in the early light of dawn, Yiyi pulled her suitcase roller behind her.

Her tiny suitcase was smaller than an adult-sized backpack. She could only fit about two sets of clothing in it, but Yiyi happily opened the suitcase with the intention to put her entire bedroom in it.

She grabbed her little white bunnies, the little frogs, oh, the cute bird too! She stuffed a bunch of useless things in her suitcase until it was bursting and couldn’t be closed anymore.

Han Feixu sat on her small bed and watched her rummage with her things until the little girl finally gave up and cast a pitiful gaze at her. Han Feixu shook her head and walked over, taking out all the items that were put in haphazardly, and reorganizing them to fit perfectly in the case.

“When you arrive, make sure to listen to your Grandma, alright?”

“I know.”

“No matter where you go, make sure to follow your Grandma and never, ever, act alone. If I hear anything about you not listening to the adults or that you went out by yourself, I will ask grandma to send you back home immediately.”

Yiyi fiddled with a little toy in her hands, “En, en, I got it.”

“Also, even if you are going on vacation, you must play in moderation. You must go to bed before nine o’clock and don’t eat too much. You can only drink one cold beverage a day, and you are not allowed to eat sweets after six and…ah, forget it. You won’t understand most of what I’m saying. I’ll just tell Little Zhao to watch over you.”

After they finished packing things up, Han Feixu lifted the suitcase to test its weight. At roughly 5-6 pounds, it was acceptable and the little girl should have no problem pulling it. She set the suitcase back onto the ground and squatted in front of Yiyi to ask, “I heard that Grandpa is also coming along. Didn’t he say he wasn’t going before? Do you know why he changed his mind?”

Yiyi raised her head and blinked her tea-grey eyes, “Grandpa said to Grandma, great-grandfather always nags him about this and that when he goes home. He says that if he stays any longer, he’s going to jump off the building. Mama, what does Grandpa mean when he says he wants to jump off a building?”

“…..”

Han Feixu was silent for a moment, and then smiled softly, “He just wants to play a game. Don’t you like to play a game called ‘Bunny hopping’? Grandpa also likes to play.”

Yiyi nodded in understanding, “Then I’ll take my game console with me and play it together with Grandpa.”

Han Feixu watched as Yiyi jumped up, ran to the side of the cabinet and grabbed a small step stool. Then she stood on it, and grabbed the game console from the cupboards. Han Feixu was silent. Yiyi was too young. Everyone believed that a kid couldn’t remember anything, so they didn’t try to hide their thoughts. Who knew that this little scoundrel actually remembers everything, and she can remember it for a long time. For example, Han Feixu has forgotten what she said two months ago, but Yiyi remembers them very clearly.

Ai, wait a second.

Does that mean that Yiyi also remembers what she and Ye Mingxin said on that day?

Yiyi had told her some time ago that two days before she became an amnesiac, Ye Mingxin made a deal with her. And after that day, Ye Mingxin finally let her go and agreed to divorce her. Han Feixu never understood what happened that day, and what were the reasons for their divorce in the first place? Maybe if she asks Yiyi, she might be able to figure out the matter.

She woke up on May 10th, so the day where she made a deal with Ye Mingxin must be May 8th. Han Feixu sneakily pulled up to Yiyi’s side and bent down, half-kneeling by the cabinet with one hand on the handle, “Yiyi, do you remember what important day May 8th is?”

Yiyi turned her head and looked at her, “Of course I do. Mom, do you not remember?”

“I also remember,” Han Feixu laughed dryly. She didn’t know why, but she always felt nervous talking to her daughter, as if those innocent eyes could see right through her, “Mama just wants to test if your memory has improved or not.”

Adults will always come up with the most sudden and stupid questiosn like ‘how old are you?’, ‘what are your parents’ names’, ‘what is your surname?’, ‘do you know how to count from 1-5 in English?’, etc. Naturally, Yiyi can’t avoid these questions either and so she turned her head to return to her previous task, “Mama, your question is so dull. Of course I know what day May 8th is. That’s Mommy’s birthday.”

Han Feixu was stunned silent for a moment, “Birthday? Isn’t her birthday April 27th?”

“Mama, you even forgot about this?” She put down the game console she was tinkering with and grabbed a small desk calendar from the cupboard, turning the pages back to May. The date for May 8th had a red flower painted on it, “Look, you even painted this on it for me. Mommy is like us, she celebrates the Chinese birthday, not the Earth’s birthday.”

What she meant was that Ye Mingxin uses the lunar calendar for her birthday, not the solar calendar. But Yiyi doesn’t know what the difference between the two is, she only remembers Han Feixu explaining to her that their birthdays were different every year because they use the Chinese calendar. Meanwhile, the kids in America all used the same calendar that everyone else on earth did, and that’s why their birthdays fall on the same day every year.

Yiyi raised her head after not hearing a response from her mother and saw her mother’s expression was a little strange. As if she was having a difficult time accepting what she had said just now.

“Mama, what’s wrong?”

Yiyi’s voice brought Han Feixu out of her messy thoughts. Han Feixu gently blinked her eyes and picked Yiyi up before setting her on the bed.

She knelt beside the bed and raised her head to look at Yiyi earnestly, “My little treasure, that day, the things said between Mommy and I, can you repeat them to me?”

An adult’s emotions can easily affect their children, so seeing Han Feixu’s serious expression, Yiyi lowered her eyes and tried hard to recall everything from that day. But even if her memory is really good, she cannot remember everything word for word from an event two months ago.

“I-I can’t remember.” The more anxious she was, the more Yiyi couldn’t remember.

Han Feixu knew that Yiyi couldn’t be forced, so she softened her voice, “It’s okay if you don’t remember everything. Take your time, and tell me whatever you can remember.”

Yiyi looked up, her tea-grey eyes looking to the right for a long time, before she finally remembered something, “You told Mommy that you didn’t need her charity. You said that you two aren’t walking the same path anymore, and something about how it is normal to split the sheep.”

Split the sheep????

Han Feixu furrowed her brows and pondered the words, “Do you mean ‘to go our separate ways’?” (T/N: Homophones. Yiyi thought that she said “???” when she actually said “????”)

“I think so.” Yiyi tugged her hair, “You said, a lot of time has passed and the scary things have already gone away. And that Mommy can live a life of planting five-petaled chrysanthemums, so why doesn’t she go live it up.”

“…..”

What kind of mess is this!

Han Feixu’s mouth was half-opened. These sentences are too vague. She really can’t translate any of them into human speech. What the hell are those chrysanthemums about? And there are people who like to grow chrysanthemums here???

Han Feixu’s mouth pulled into a hard line and she fell into deep thought. Then she asked again, “Anything else? What did Mommy say?”

“Mommy said, she likes caviar.”

Han Feixu’s face collapsed and she lowered her head.

Then Yiyi’s eyes suddenly lit up, “Oh, and…!”

Han Feixu hurriedly raised her head and stopped her, “Yiyi, I want you to think carefully and ask yourself first, are what you’re going to say human words?”

“….I am talking in human words,” Yiyi lowered her volume, “Mommy said, if you wanted to go, she’ll let you go, but I had to stay.”

After dragging out this conversation, they finally landed on a logical sentence. And the sentence is information she already knew.

Yiyi ran out to go watch TV while Han Feixu remained at her child’s little desk. She grabbed the calendar and flipped it page by page.

Little red flowers were painted on the important days. This is because Yiyi doesn’t know many Chinese characters, only the simplest of numbers, and her own name. She does know more in English, but not by much.

Some of the dates were marked in English, some were not. Turning the date from May to February, she saw the only Chinese characters written on February 4th.

—–Return to China. 

The words were slightly rounded and the iconic sign of Han Feixu’s unique handwriting that she’s had since childhood. Shen Sangluo has always said that she writes like a primary school student, and that fact will never change in her life. But although these characters still have a round foundation, there were adult-like traits in them. The strokes were connected, revealing the matureness of the writer and the writer’s resolute mood.

Tracing these words lightly, Han Feixu can feel the dents in the paper done by the pen. She turned the desk calendar back to May and looked at the only small red flower on the May page. Han Feixu paused on that page and it was a long while before she put down the desk calendar.

Author’s notes: 

Someone in my family is getting married today, so let’s put only the first part out and write the rest later tonight. I won’t post till much later, stay tuned for tomorrow.