I woke up to find I have a child - Chapter 51
Although Han Feixu arrived earlier than most of the crew, Chi Qiu arrived even earlier than her. A while ago, she had a TV series to promote but now that TV series has begun airing and her next job hasn’t been determined yet. So one could say that this is her most idle time of the year.
When she arrived this morning, Jiang Lingyan had booked out the entire inn and was talking to the staff. With nothing to do, she started living the leisurely life of a retired worker.
Han Feixu left her suitcase with Zhong Yunayuan and walked over, setting up a chair for herself before sitting down, “You’ve arrived quite early. The environment here is so clean and nice, I almost don’t want to leave.”
Chi Qiu replied calmly, “You won’t say that after seeing a snake.”
Han Feixu almost jumped 3 feet into the air, “Snake?! Where is it? Are there snakes here?!”
Chi Qiu placed a hand under her chin, “There are lots of them out there and probably some inside too. When I first arrived, I saw someone carry a snake out of their room.”
WTF.
No matter how nice the environment is, it is not worth being exposed to the danger of a cold-blooded animal. Han Feixu immediately looked over at Zhong Yuanyuan, “Yuanyuan, we are sleeping together tonight.”
Zhong Yuanyuan: “Let’s not…”
Han Feixu stared straight at her, “No, we have to. The thing I’m most afraid of is snakes, you must accompany me.”
Zhong Yuanyuan: “….But I’m also afraid of snakes. What good can come out of two people who are afraid of snakes living together? Perhaps holding each other while crying?”
A picture of this scene flashed in Chi Qiu’s brain and she burst out laughing, “Aiya, I was just teasing you. They’ve checked the rooms several times, there’s no way there are snakes in there. Besides, there aren’t many rooms in this inn. We only have about 12 in total and two of them have their water pipes broken so no one can live there. Plus three of the rooms are reserved for the judges and so that only leaves a few rooms. So there will be two contestants per room and I’ve already asked Jinag Lingyan to see if she can arrange for us two to be together.”
As long as someone accompanies her she’ll be fine. Han Feixu relaxed and let out a sigh of relief.
Chi Qiu tilted her head and stared at her for a while. Han Feixu couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong, do I have something on my face?”
“No.” Chi Qiu hesitated. She and Han Feixu aren’t close enough to talk about this topic, but at the same time she wouldn’t be able to satisfy her curiosity without asking. A few seconds later, she finally asked, “Did you offend anyone recently?”
This wasn’t the first person to ask her this question. Ye Mingxin has asked her, Liang Zhu has also asked her. This is because recently there were more and more rumors spreading about her on the internet. Most of them were focused on her years abroad when she disappeared and right before she suddenly came back. There were all kinds of speculations. The most widely spread one was that she couldn’t make it abroad and tumbled into poverty after living a rich life was too much for her. So she couldn’t bear it and returned to China to fish for money.
At this statement, Han Feixu only wanted to coldly sneer. Please, although her family were not billionaires, they were still considered middle class at least. What do they mean she can’t stand living in poverty? She doesn’t even know what living in poverty means.
A bunch of people are helping her to find out the source of these rumors, but these rumors are like little ripples in a large pond. When they occasionally appear, hundreds of people will comment but then half a day later no one will talk about it again.
Han Feixu believed it was a simple case of idle gossip. When people who love to gossip start, even Gandhi can become the second Hitler once they’ve said enough words. In the end they are just baseless rumors, so she was not very concerned.
However, new rumors keep popping up every day and they are increasing in frequency as time goes on. Liang Zhu felt that something was not quite right. If it really was just idle gossip among some netizens, the frequency rate wouldn’t be so high. Furthermore, it was quite clear who the intended target of these remarks was and it was all centered around Han Feixu’s comeback. This wasn’t caused by the Yin Jiahe incident, as Yin Jiahe’s fans are not so polite in their attacks. If if was Yin Jiahe’s fans, they would reveal every single piece of blackmail they could find instead of these “light” rumors that almost seem like actual facts.
Therefore, Liang Zhu came to the conconclusion that someone was deliberately attacking Han Feixu and subtly trying to worsen her public image.
Liang Zhu returned to Beijing to solve this matter. Meanwhile, Ye Mingxin was too busy to oversee this problem herself, so she simply handed over all her subordinates to Liang Zhu and told them to do everything they can to investigate this matter.
Han Feixu smiled awkwardly at Chi Qiu, “So you’ve also seen the conversations on the internet.”
“I’ve seen and heard them.”
“Heard?”
Chi Qiu nodded, “I attended a press release for a new film and afterwards when everyone went to get dinner the executive producer told me everything.”
The executive producer in question was the head writer who manages the screenwriters of the film. Chi Qiu frowned, “And what he said was much worse than what’s on the internet.”
“But I really didn’t offend anyone…” Han Feixu couldn’t understand why this was happening either.
Chi Qiu leaned back against her chair and said nonchalantly, “You don’t need to offend anyone for stuff like this to happen. Perhaps you accidentally blocked someone’s way, or someone just thinks you’re an eyesore. Anywhere there are humans, there will be selfishness. When there are benefits to be had, people’s hearts will be tested. Especially in this circle where profiteering is king, the dirty black spots of a person’s hearts are easily exposed.”
Silence followed her words and Chi Qiu sat up in concern as she looked over at Han Feixu only to find the person in question giving her a gaze full of admiration, “Wow….you’re words are so scholarly and philosophical!”
Chi Qiu’s ego immediately inflated after seeing her like this and waved her hands as if to say it was nothing worth mentioning, “That’s nothing. I used to work as an intern war journalist and I’ve seen many much more horrible things, so something like the darkness of the entertainment industry is….ha, a trivial matter in comparison.”
Han Feixu blinked a few times, “Huh?”
When saying a joke, the most embarrassing thing to happen is when the other party doesn’t understand it = =
Chi Qiu coughed dryly and sat up, “Let’s go eat. I believe only Qi Qing will be arriving tonight while the others will arrive after midnight or tomorrow morning. Since it’s just the three of us, wanna play ‘Fight the Landlord’*?” (T/N: A card game)
This time there was no requirement to draw a lottery in order to determine the room assignments. So Chi Qiu asked Jiang Lingyan if they could share a room together. The other party’s eyes moved back and forth between the two before she let out an unexpected smile, “Okay, you two can share a room.”
Chi Qiu: “….”
Why does she feel like she has fallen into another trap?
In the evening, while lying on the bed and staring up at the ceiling, Chi Qiu told her, “I will be eliminated this episode.”
Han Feixu, who was sitting cross-legged on her own bed, raised her head in astonishment when she heard these words, “How do you know? They’ve already decided?”
Chi Qiu shrugged, “Pretty much. In another week I’ll be joining another crew. I won’t be acting in a TV series with a lot of different characters like yours, but more of a romance film where the protagonists fall in love with each other over a long period of time. I can’t leave the set for even a moment, and, not to mention, my performance in the last two episodes were rather mediocre. So if my performance in this episode is even a little bit dull, I will be eliminated.”
Chi Qiu raised her eyes and found Han Feixu looking at her at a loss. She sat up and said in amusement, “Sometimes I really wonder if your stated age is fake. Are you sure you’re 26 years old? I feel that 16 years old is more correct. Don’t act so surprised, everyone knows this is going to happen. One, because my schedule won’t match up with the filming schedule and two, my acting skills aren’t suited for acting in movies.”
From the guidance of judges and her first-hand observations of how movie actors acted, Chi Qiu found that she was much more accustomed to the way TV dramas are filmed. When shooting a scene that is only a couple of seconds, a movie may film said scene for several days! Such delicate projects required only the best of actors and it was obvious that she wasn’t quite there yet.
Of course, for a shoddy commercial film, her acting may be enough but she wants to act in a film that is more art than entertainment. The type of film that will be remembered forever and ever.
Han Feixu also realized that her reaction wasn’t quite right and smiled shyly, “So I’ll guess we’ll see each other again?”
“Of course we will, I’m not leaving this industry anytime soon.” Chi Qiu glanced at her, “Don’t you worry about me. You should worry about yourself instead. Reputation is still very important for an actor and if these rumors keep going at their current pace, it will definitely affect your final score for this show.”
And as Chi Qiu was someone who said her thoughts out loud the moment they came up, she asked, “And last time when the scandal between you and Yin Jiahe broke out, there was a photo leaked that was taken during the filming of this show. Did you find out who shot that photo?”
Han Feixu shook her head, “No. Jiang Lingyan fired 7 employees over this matter, but she never found out who did it. During our investigation, all we could find out was that the photo was edited but not what they were taken with.”
“In other words, it could have been taken with a camera or it could’ve been a cell phone.”
Han Feixu nodded and hesitated as the other party stared at her expectantly, “You suspect that the person who leaked the photos in the Yin Jiahe debacle is also the one who is currently spreading rumors about me?”
Chi Qiu couldn’t confirm nor deny, “The last episode was filmed at the Women’s Federation, a place where there aren’t many bystanders and a place where paparazzi can’t get in. Therefore, it has to be one of our people but who knows if it’s a staff member or a contestant.”
When rumors broke out about Han Feixu and Yin Jiahe, most people would think it’s just a tabloid account trying to increase their popularity through outrageous scandals. However, if one thought about it carefully, Han Feixu is an actress making her comeback while Yin Jiahe is a famous celebrity with a large fanbase. Once can easily tell who has the higher status in this case. It would be very easy to accuse one party of trying to take advantage of the other party’s fame by dragging them down in a scandal. Gossip like this is very hard to wash off and someone would always pull this scandal out for the next 20 years at least.
Everyone knows that Ye Mingxin has the most powerful fanbase, but Yin Jiahe has the second most powerful. If caught in their claws, Han Feixu’s reputation will be stained even if she doesn’t want it to be.
All the gossip and rumors around her are bad, so the person behind it all must want her reputation ruined. But among the staff and crew, the only person who could benefit from this is Han Yiren. However, she is still a student and the management company behind her is not very well-known, so how could she have the ability to even think about provoking someone like Yu Tingxue.
Chi Qiu explained these thoughts to Han Feixu, who replied, “Don’t worry, we just have to slowly investigate it. Everything’s fine, I’m not afraid of a stain on my reputation. I have ways of proving the truth.”
Chi Qiu laughed, “And how are you going to prove it?”
Han Feixu picked up her phone and pulled up the financial statements she got from her financial manager two days ago. She held up her phone and showed Chi Qiu: “This is a statement of all the assets I own. If they keep forcing me into a corner, I’ll post a screenshot of this.”
Looking at the complicated English terms and the countless zeroes at the last line, the ending balance line, Chi Qiu’s jaw dropped.
“Y-You’re a rich second-generation?!”
Han Feixu dropped her arm and corrected her with a serious face, “I’m a rich third-generation and the third-generation of a literary family. In other words, they shouldn’t mess with me. If they make me too angry, the consequences will be unimaginable.”
Seeing Han Feixu’s serious demeanor, Chi Qiu couldn’t help her growing curiosity. She wanted to know how rich people dealt with those trolls and keyboard warriors, “What consequences?”
Han Feixu sneered coldly, “I’ll crush them to death with my money!”
Chi Qiu: “…..”