I woke up to find I have a child - Chapter 49
Wei Xun led them to a private room. A waiter opened the door for them when they arrived. Zhong Yuanyuan met them at the door, leaning against the door frame as she stared curiously at the three people who came in.
“What’s going on? What happened? How did you get into a fight?”
Han Feixu motioned for her to quiet down while Ye MingDe looked her up and down, “Who are you?”
Zhong Yuanyaun straightened and shot back in a similarly churlish tone, “I’m Han Feixu’s assistant, who are you?”
Ye MingDe was still fuming from what happened earlier so his tone was quite impolite just now. He realized his mistake after hearing her reply and cleared his throat as he changed his tone and stretched out a hand as a peace offering, “Hello, I am Han Feixu’s brother-in-law.”
After shaking Ye MingDe’s hand, they all sat down. Han Feixu wore a worried expression on her face as she asked, “I don’t think he’s seriously injured, so there should be no latent health problems, right?
Ye MingDe snorted coldy, “I sure hope he suffers more health problems later, or else it would have been a waste of my peerless Iron Fist of Destruction.”
“…..”
Han Feixu looked at him in frustration, “The one I’m talking about is you! How did you survive the dangers of living abroad with that attitude?”
Ye MingDe rubbed his nose, too embarrassed to answer. A few seconds of silence later, Han Feixu sighed and asked exasperatedly, “Have you eaten yet?”
“No, not yet. I came over as soon as my meeting was finished. I had only just arrived a few minutes ago. I had planned to just say hello to MingAn and show my face for a bit before leaving.”
Then, coincidentally, he saw Han Feixu on the guest list and was overjoyed. He pushed his little cousin’s important ceremony to the back of his mind and decided to find her first. And so he found Han Feixu standing near the entrance of the venue. He walked over and was just about to say hello when he overheard that bastard’s words.
Han Feixu turned her head and said to Zhong Yuanyuan, “Let’s order a few dishes then. Neither of us have eaten yet, what about you two?”
“I’ve eaten already,” Zhong Yuanyuan stood up, “you two keep talking, I’ll go order the food first. And we’ll be leaving after we eat, right?”
“Yes.”
Zhong Yuanyuan walked over the waiter while Wei Xun stood respectfully to the side. Han Feixu rubbed her stomach. She was really hungry. Too many things needed her attention earlier so she didn’t have time to take care of her stomach. Now that everything has settled down, her stomach began to let its protests be known.
Ever observant, Ye MingDe noticed this, and peeled one of the oranges on the table. He handed her half of it and then stuffed the other half in his own mouth. Han Feixu didn’t even see him chew before he swallowed his half of the orange in one gulp.
Han Feixu: “….So you’ve returned. Why didn’t you say anything to your sister?”
Ye MingDe replied nonchalantly, “Out of the 365 days of the year, I’m usually not in the country for 300 of those days. Even when I am, I’m running around various places doing errands. If I notified her of every little place I went to, it’d annoy her to death.”
“And I decided to come over on a whim because I found myself with some free time. No one knew I was coming.”
Han Feixu nodded and poured herself a cup of tea, “Well, now everyone knows.”
When Han Feixu mocked him sarcastically with an expressionless face, she looked a little bit like Ye Mingxin. Ye MingDe studied her every movement carefully and then suddenly started laughing.
Han Feixu raised her head, “What are you laughing at?”
Ye MingDe shook his head, “Nothing, just glad that I can still call you ‘Sister’ I guess.”
Han Feixu stayed silent for a few beats and withdrew her hands from the teapot she was using. She didn’t know how to reply and so she changed the subject, “My train is scheduled for 8:30 and so I will be leaving at 7:50. When are you leaving?”
“I’m in no hurry to leave. I’ll probably stay in Shanghai tonight and leave tomorrow morning.”
Han Feixu glanced at him curiously, “Where are you going tomorrow?”
Ye Mingde took a sip of the tea, and then placed the teacup on the table with a bang, “Sokhumi.” (T/N: A city in Georgia. The country not the state)
Han Feixu blinked lightly, and not wanting to reveal her very ignorant side, she started talking nonsense, “Ah, Sokhumi. That’s in Africa, right? Yeah, I know that place.”
Ye Mingde: “No it’s in Western Asia.”
“Oh, I remember now, that’s close to Xinjiang, right?”
Ye MingDe: “No, it’s closer to Turkey.”
Han Feixu fell silent, but she still tried to rescue herself, “Haha, sounds like quite an exciting place. When I have the time, I should also visit that country in the future.”
Ye MingDe also fell silent for a few moments, “Sister, Sokhumi is not a country, but a city.”
Han Feixu: “…..” Incredible, she didn’t even get a single one right.
Zhong Yuanyuan, who has been listening in, couldn’t stand it anymore. She even wanted to tell the waiter beside her that Han Feixu is not her employer. She really isn’t = =
Ye MingDe coughed dryly seeing Han Feixu’s gloomy expression and proceeded to pretend nothing had happened just now. He glanced at her and then found something was wrong.
“Sister,” Han Feixu raised her eyes to look at him as he pointed at her neck, “Where is your necklace?”
Han Feixu looked down at the necklace she was wearing today. This necklace was picked by Zhong Yuanyuan, and it was specially chosen to match her dress. She raised her head to look back at him in confusion, “Which necklace?”
“You know, the green jadeite one with a disk-like shape at the end….”
Ye MingDe scratched his head hesitantly. He has had only one girlfriend his entire life so he had no knowledge of jewelry, let alone the brand names of the different types of jewelry. He could only continue to describe it with vague words, “The one you always wore, a dark green one with like a small eye gem in the center.”
Seeing Han Feixu stare back at him blankly, Ye MingDe fell silent. Finally, he took out his phone and found the family photo they were forced to take together during New Year’s Eve. After zooming in, he tapped on the Han Feixu in the picture, “This one. Didn’t you say you would wear this one for your entire lifetime? How come you’re not wearing it anymore? My sister always wore a bracelet and you always wore this necklace. These two pieces of jewelry are like you two’s signature characteristics. Did you lose it or something?”
As he stared at her, waiting for an answer, Han Feixu felt pressured by his gaze.
How could she know what necklace she was wearing before?! Besides, isn’t this her grandmother’s necklace? The one kept safe by her mother? Shouldn’t it be sitting securely in a bank vault right now?
Han Feixu’s brain was stuck on the loading screen, but luckily her phone rang at that moment to save her.
She took out her phone and stared at the words “Ye Mingxin” across her screen. Han Feixu lifted her phone and pointed at it, motioning to Ye MingDe that she was going to answer this call. Ye MingDe nodded in understanding and gestured for her to go ahead and answer it.
Han Feixu stood up and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, and tapped on it to answer. Suddenly, Ye Mingxin’s deep voice sounded, “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine, but your brother-”
Ye Mingxin interrupted her, “Don’t worry about him, are you hurt?”
Han Feixu stretched out her other hand to mindlessly play with the silk curtain, “No, and if MingDe hadn’t come, I would’ve beaten up the other party myself. By the way, who told you?”
“Jiang Lingyan,” Ye Mingxin paused, “You should come back. Don’t go looking for trouble. If someone tries to stop you or talk to you, ignore them. I’ll pick you up at Yiwu Station myself.”
Han Feixu glanced out at the brightly lit night scene below, “No need for you to pick me up. Wei Xun and Yuanyuan are both by my side, and no one will kidnap me. It’s too early to leave now. I’m going to have dinner with MingDe before going to the train station.”
Although Ye Mingxin didn’t want her to stay in that hotel a moment longer, she also didn’t want Han Feixu to go hungry so she reached a compromise, “Then leave after you finish eating. Don’t stay there for too long, and let MingDe escort you to the station.”
Han Feixu waved a hand, “No, Wei Xun will drive us. He-”
Ye Mingxin interrupted her again, “Little Xu, give the phone to MingDe please.”
Han Feixu’s hand immediately dropped as she obediently agreed, “Ok.”
You can’t blame her for having no backbone, after all, Ye Mingxin’s stressed out voice was just too intimidating. As a 16-year-old high school student, she couldn’t stand this type of pressure = =
Ye MingDe took the phone and readily agreed to whatever Ye Mingxin said. He had nothing else to do tonight anyways and was planning on going back to his own hotel after dinner. And since he was escorting Han Feixu, he refrained from drinking.
During the meal, both Han Feixu and Ye MingDe’s phone rang several times. With Ye Mingxin’s reminder, both of them ignored their phones and didn’t answer. At one point, Ye MingDe’s phone rang for more than 30 seconds and Ye MingAn’s number showed up on the screen, before it stopped. When Han Feixu glanced at it, Ye MingDe placed a piece of chicken on her plate, “Ignore her, her concerns are a little too late.”
Han Feixu snorted, “Belated concerns are one thing, her real problem is her vision. Just how did she fall in love with someone from that family?”
Ye MingDe sneered coldly, “Do you even need to ask? Why else if not for their family’s money? They think as long as the other family has lots of money, then it doesn’t matter if they have a good character or not.”
Han Feixu glanced at her phone again, but said nothing.
Under Ye Mingxin’s orders, Ye MingDe obediently acted as the driver. It was quite a novel feeling for Han Feixu to see Wei Xun sit in the passenger seat. When they arrived at the train station, Han Feixu and Zhong Yuanyuan got off while Wei Xun stayed behind with MingDe. Han Feixu had given him the night off and he will drive the car back to Hengdian tomorrow morning.
Around a little past ten o’clock in the evening, Han Feixu walked out of the train station wearing a mask and sunglasses. There were not many people loitering around the exit but Han Feiux saw Lan Zhu waving excitedly at her as she got out.
Han Feixu pulled her sunglasses down and squinted in the dark before recognizing Lan Zhu. She walked over quickly, “Where is Liang-jie?”
“Mingxin-jie asked her to return to the office first. Speaking of, she’s waiting for you over there. Let’s hurry.”
Lan Zhu has always done things in a neat and orderly way, so this was her first time seeing her in such a hurry. Han Feixu walked beside her and whispered, “What’s the hurry? Are there paparazzi here?”
There may not be any paparazzis here, but there is one humanoid cold air diffuser that can freeze anyone into an ice cube.
They turned the corner and saw Ye Mingxin waiting in a mini sports car. With only two seats in the car, after Han Feixu got in, Lan Zhu pulled Zhong Yuanyuan’s arm and said, “ Let’s go, Yuanyuan. We should take a taxi back.”
Zhong Yuanyuan: “….”
Is there no other option besides taking a taxi? = =
After she closed the car door and fastened her seat belt, Han Feixu stepped on the accelerator and the sports car flew forward instantly. Han Feixu jumped in her seat, “Slow down! I don’t want to throw up in here!”
The car slowed down and after being silent for a minute and a half, Ye Mingxin whispered quietly, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you go by yourself.”
“What does this have anything to do with you?” Han Feixu tugged absentmindedly on her seatbelt, “My mother once told me that every girl will unfortunately encounter a few scumbags in their life. This is only the first one, there will probably be more in the future.”
Han Feixu’s original intention was to console and comfort Ye Mingxin, but her words had the opposite effect. Not only did it not comfort her, but Ye Mingxin’s face grew even more ugly after hearing her words.
“….”
Her phone was placed on a gps mount on the dashboard. She reached over and typed in the address before asking quietly, “What did Chang Siyan’s brother say to you?”
Han Feixu blinked in confusion, “Didn’t Jiang Lingyan already tell you?”
“She didn’t hear what he said and she only knew that he said something disrespectful to you that caused both you and MingDe to get angry. After the two of you left, the Chang family made a fuss about suing you two, and Chang Siyan even scolded MingAn a few times. The engagement party was a mess afterward and the faces of both families were not good.”
Han Feixu didn’t hide her glee at the others misfortune, “They deserved it! This is karmic retribution!”
Then she proceeded to tell Ye Mingxin every single word Chang Siyan’s younger brother said to her. Meanwhile, Ye Mingxin listened without saying anything, but the hands on the steering wheel tightened and her expression grew sullen. Even her breathing grew heavier as she finally spoke, “I’m going to kill him.”
Her voice was quiet and her tone was normal, so Han Feixu thought she was joking, “You and your brother are so similar. We live in a society ruled by laws, so if you kill him then you’ll go to jail. Ai, enough, I’m just ranting a little too you, no need to say such violent words.”
Ye Mingxin turned the car to the right and parked the car on the side of the road. Then she picked up her phone, opened up WeChat and started furiously typing away.
Han Feixu leaned over, “Who are you texting?”
Ye Mingxin’s texts were everything Han Feixu said the man had said in verbatim. And the texts were sent to a certain Yu Tingxue.
….Oh f*ck.
Han Feixu’s eyes widened and after Ye Mingxin clicked send she turned head, “There’s also a gray area in our little society ruled by laws. Let Yu Tingxue handle the violence, and I’ll handle everything other than the violence.”
Han Feixu stared at her, her heart full of suspicion. She suddenly felt that this version of Ye Mingxin was a little scary, “What are you going to do?!”
Ye Mingxin flashed a grim smile, “You’ll see soon enough.”
When they arrived at the hotel, Ye Mingxin pushed Han Feixu towards her room and didn’t even give her a chance to refuse. Han Feixu stood hesitant at the door for a second before deciding to just go with teh flow.
She laid on the bed, stretching out her arms before sitting up again after a few moments of silence.
“There’s one thing I don’t understand.”
Ye Mingxin gave her a pair of pajamas, “What is it?”
Han Feixu turned and looked up at her curiously, “Do I have some sort of bad reputation? Why did Chang Siyan’s brother say that ‘everyone knows I’m a slut’?”
Ye Mingxin sneered coldly, “You are the most refined and pure person I’ve ever seen. Don’t listen to him, he said all that because his brain was soaked in reused dirty cooking oil for too long and his eyes have long dissolved into toilet paper!”
Ye Mingxin’s compliments were still full of that same genuine and honest tone, even when blinded by anger.
Han Feixu smiled at her pearly whites and laughed. Then she got serious, “However, I think there’s something wrong. He seemed to be convinced that he was right, is it possible that someone is spreading rumors about me on the outside?”
Ye Mingxin frowned, “If there are any, I haven’t heard them. My studio’s PR team also collects any information with your name involved in it, not just mine, so if there were any serious rumors they should’ve notified me as soon as possible.”
Han Feixu tilted her head, “This whole affair seems a little strange? Perhaps I offended someone and they just happened to be Chang Siyan’s younger brother’s friend? Then they said some bad things about me and he heard them?”
“Impossible. You don’t know anybody from the Chang family, let alone their friends,” Ye Mingxin replied confidently, “Their family and ours do not run in any of the same circles, and rarely have any interaction at all.”
Han Feixu smiled again, “But there doesn’t seem to be a clear line between the entertainment and business circles? After attending a few more charity banquets or endorsement activities, it seems that everyone knows each other.”
Ye Mingxin patted her head, “You’re thinking about this too simply. Just like how there are different types of celebrities, there are many different types of business. The difference between us is like the difference between the Southern and Northern Shaolin Temples*. The Chang family is simply an entire world apart from us.” (T/N: Shaolin temples are buddhist temples known to have developed many “kung fu” fighting styles. The north and south temples have two distinct fighting forms)
Han Feixu listened in puzzlement. Why does she feel like Ye Mingxin was still hiding something? The more she thought about it, the more curious she became and so she asked, “So what’s the big difference?”
Seeing Han Feixu wear a look that said she was determined to get to the bottom of things, her lips curled up in amusement, “In terms of our bottom line.”
Han Feixu still looked confused.
When Yu Tingxue saw Ye Mingxin’s messages, she exploded in fury. She quickly withdrew any cooperation on business dealings between the Yu and Chang family. Meanwhile, Ye Mingxin moved even faster than her. Although she didn’t want nor care to take over the family business, she still held significant power in her family’s conglomerate group.
Meanwhile, outsiders drew their own conclusions on the whole debacle and that conclusion was that everyone in Ye Junyuan’s* family is notoriously short-sighted and petty. After all, they even beat up their own relatives. (*T/N: friendly reminder that Ye Junyuan is Ye Mingxin’s dad)
And how could they refute that? Ye MingDe had indeed beaten up his future brother-in-law’s younger brother after all.
Good news never leaves home, while bad news is shared across a thousand miles. Although the two families tried to cover up the matter, they couldn’t stop people from spreading rumors. Almost everyone at the party saw Ye MingDe beat people up, but they didn’t know why. The final consensus among the gossipers was that Ye MingAn had cheated on her future fiance with her future brother-in-law and when Ye MingDe found out he couldn’t hold back his anger and turned around to beat up the adulterer.
When Ye MingDe heard the news: “…This is pure slander! Even if MingAn had cheated, what does any of that have to do with me? I am just her cousin, not her brother! Why would I care about these things?!”
In short, the cooperation between the Ye and Yu families with the Chang Family were suspended indefinitely with all families being dragged into the stink. A few days later, Chang Siyan’s younger brother disappeared then showed up again three days after he went missing. The people who found had discovered him on the most desolate shore of the Huangpu River. One couldn’t bear to look straight at him as he was covered head to toe in wounds, wearing dirty clothes that he obviously stole from somewhere. The second he saw another person, he burst into tears and kept shouting over and over again that he would never do it again. He was obviously traumatized.
The Chang family burst into even more anger after seeing this and logically concluded that this was Ye Mingxin’s handiwork. However, they were wrong. In fact, Ye Mingxin is not someone who’s anger could be relieved with a single beating but rather someone who enjoyed a slow sort of tormenting spread over a long period of time.
First photos of Chang Siyan’s debauchery in various different night clubs were released to the public, and irrefutable evidence was found of his illegal drug use. As Chang Siuyan is the heir of the family, once the heir falls so do the stocks. The Chang family’s stocks tumbled more than two percentage points in a row and, as these shares were sold off at a discount, Ye Mingxin bought up most of their shares. By the time the Chang family tried to do risk control and save their image, the stock price slowly recovered but Ye Mingxin had already bought a large percentage of their stocks.
Then she proceeded to throw out all her stocks to the Chang family’s enemies, and then asked subordinates to contact the reporters. She then sold them evidence of the Chang family’s dirty dealings such as building dangerous buildings not up to code that ended up killing six workers and how the family concealed the news while still selling off the building to the unsuspecting buyer.
Now the Chang companies’ stocks were so red that they couldn’t be read anymore.
Ye Junyuan couldn’t help calling up his daughter, “Look at how well you did! I told you, didn’t I? You should follow me and take over the company! What’s so good about being an actor? You can’t even go out without being swarmed by crowds! In comparison, see how good it feels to be an executive of a company? How does it feel to make tens of millions in the matter of minutes? Pretty cool, right?”
Ye Mingxin: “Mmm, it is a little cool.”
“Right? Right? Our Ye family is born to make money, the money-making gene is practically engraved in our DNA! Besides you, our little Yiyi is also a little money grubber. How about you take over the company first and then you can hand it to Yiyi after she grows up. The child may be four now, but in a blink of an eye she’ll be graduating from college soon! After rounding up a few years here and there, I estimate that you will be free to do whatever you want in as little as ten years! So, what do you say? Will you inherit the family business?”
Ye Mingxin sighed, “Dad.”
Ye Junyuan replied excitedly, “Yes, my amazing daughter?”
“I still have no interest in making money. I just think it’s fun to oppress other companies. I feel very happy when I see their stocks turn red and their shareholders grow so heartbroken that they want to die on the spot.”
Ye Junyuan: “….”
Oh no, he seems to have raised a dangerous deviant = =
After listening to her words, Ye Junyuan didn’t say another word about inheriting the family business. He handed the phone over to Yiyi instead and let the mother-daughter duo say a few words before hanging up.
After the call was finished, Ye Mingxin paused in through before tracing out a heart on her screen. (T/N: I did not know you could call someone by drawing a shape/letter on the screen, apparently that’s a thing, see here-> https://android.gadgethacks.com/forum/make-phone-calls-by-drawing-gestures-screen-0164707/ )
Immediately her phone started calling Han Feixu’s number.
Ye Mingxin raised her phone to her ear. The only reason she insisted on using this brand of mobile phone was because of this function.
Meanwhile, Han Feixu was sitting in her room, watching Zhong Yuanyuan pack her things when her phone rang. She picked it up,
“Are you done packing?”
“No, Yuanyuan is still packing up.”
“Remember to bring mosquito repellent stickers and spray repellents, there are many bugs over there.”
“Yes, yes, you’ve told me twice already.”
Ye Mingxin raised an eyebrow, “Since I’ve told you twice, have you put the things I told you to in the suitcase already?”
Han Feixu grew quiet for a few moments, “Not yet, I’ll get them now.”
For the fifth episode of their variety show, they are going to an autonomous prefecture in Sichuan. Who knows how or where Jiang Lingyan finds these places, and she tortured her contestnats ruthlessly at every location.
The contestants were told to head to the shooting location first while the judges will arrive the next day. This time, Han Feixu and Yin Jiahe didn’t book the same flight as they needed to avoid suspicion. Although, Yin Jiahe doesn’t really talk much to her anymore anyways.
At first, when she arrived in Sichuan, Han Feixu didn’t feel anything. However, as the car drove away from the cities and into the mountains, Han Feixu pressed against the window with a surprised face.
OMG, such clean and fresh air!
So this is the taste of negative ions*! (*T/N: Negative ions are found in natural, clean air and are molecules that are good for the human body)
She took two big breaths and then laid back on her seat with a content face, “Ah, this is heaven. I don’t want to ever leave.”
Zhong Yuanyuan looked at her in disdain, “Is there a need to be so dramatic? If one didn’t know any better they would think you’re on drugs.”
Han Feixu shook her head, “You haven’t been affected by smog for years, so you don’t understand the feelings of us victims.”
Zhong Yuanyuan: “I have lived in Beijing for nearly 30 years! Longer than your so-called lifetime!”
Han Feixu satu up in surprise, “30 years?!!!”
Zhong Yunayuan raised her chin proudly, and was just about to brag when Han Feixu continued, “Yuanyuan, you’re that old?”
Zhong Yuanyuan: “….” I want to hit a certain someone.
When they arrived at their destination they checked into the hotel first. But the hotel wasn’t an actual hotel but more of a local inn and an inn in the remote mountains at that.
As Han Feixu walked into the large yard of the inn, she saw Chi Qiu sitting with folded legs on a rattan chair. Lounging against the back of the chair, the woman was the very picture of relaxation.
Hearing movements near her, Chi Qiu raised her eyes lazily and landed her gaze on Han Feixu. She smiled lazily and said slowly with a wink,
“Long time no see, baby~”
Han Feixu: “….”
To forget the past pains once the scars have healed, this idiom seems to fit Chi Qiu perfectly.