I woke up to find I have a child - Chapter 82
Han Feixu’s hands were folded in front of her, and she sat in a relaxed manner.
Hearing Ye Mingxin’s words, she turned her head, “I told you it was about you.”
“It has something to do with me and something to do with Chloe. There doesn’t seem to be any conflict.”
Ye Mingxin easily, causing Han Feixu to furrow her brows, “You knew already knew about Chloe before?”
“No, I didn’t know her, but I know when you met her.”
“When was that?”
Ye Mingxin shifted her gaze to the colorful lights in the distance, “When you were still living in Kunshan.”
Han Feixu studied her side profile. After half a minute, she said, “Ye Mingxin, I just want to ask you one question.”
Ye Mingxin turned her gaze back to her, and Han Feixu’s expression subtly changed, “Was I also kidnapped?”
Ye Mingxin froze, “Of course not, you…” In a flash, she understood, “You only remember part of it, not everything, correct?”
Han Feixu weakly lowered her head, “Obviously, if I had remembered everything, I wouldn’t need to ask you.”
Seeing Han Feixu in low spirits, Ye Mingxin sat up straight and leaned slightly towards her, “Then what did you remember?”
Upon hearing this question, Han Feixu’s eyes shifted, and then she raised her head, “I’ll tell you what I remembered, and then you tell me what I didn’t.”
What was a serious matter suddenly turned into a negotiation because of Han Feixu. Ye Mingxin looked into her eyes and, after a long pause, raised the corner of her lips and nodded, “Okay.”
Han Feixu didn’t expect her to agree so easily and looked at her suspiciously, wondering if she was being deceived again. Ye Mingxin, as if reading her thoughts, paused and spoke honestly, “I didn’t tell you before because I was afraid it would bring back bad memories. But now, you might have already remembered, so there’s no need to hide it anymore.”
Saying this, she lowered her head, smiling helplessly, “Actually, sometimes I wish you could remember, of course, not all of it, just the parts about me.”
Han Feixu was stunned, and then felt a warm sensation rise in her heart. She pursed her lips, her voice softening, “You told me that being kidnapped that day was also a good thing for you. It was because you met me, right?”
Ye Mingxin leaned against the back of her seat, naturally replying, “Why else? I was kidnapped, and in that nightmare-like experience, only you have the ability to turn it from a negative infinity point experience to a positive, full 100 points.”
Han Feixu couldn’t help but laugh at her words. After laughing for a while, she straightened her face, “How do you know that day wasn’t a full 100 points for me too?”
Ye Mingxin smiled slightly, but didn’t answer.
Han Feixu’s heart skipped a beat.
It was a feeling she couldn’t describe, but if she had to, it was as if something was always worrying her in the back of her head, and at that moment, her worry was confirmed.
She stared blankly at Ye Mingxin, who didn’t notice her sudden abnormal state, and gently asked, “So, tell me, what did you remember?”
Han Feixu blinked, taking several seconds to take in what Ye Mingxin had just said. She cleared her throat, lowered her head, and recounted everything she remembered. When Han Feixu described the scene on the mountain, Ye Mingxin nodded knowingly.
“So you even remembered the part. When I met you, you only had one shoe on, a flimsy sandal. I guess the other one was lost on the way up the mountain,” Ye Mingxin’s smile was faint, “You were struggling against my hold, so I thought you were afraid of me. I didn’t notice you were injured at first. It was only later, when the sky lightened and I wanted to wake you up to go down the mountain together, that I realized your foot was injured by a sharp thorn.”
As Ye Mingxin spoke, vague images flashed through Han Feixu’s mind. That of a little girl, wearing a thin cotton dress, crying and running and climbing the mountain in panic before disappearing into the woods.
While crying, the little girl didn’t seem to care which direction she was going. When she stopped crying, she realized she was lost. She started to feel scared and wanted to cry again, but remembered what her grandmother had said; that in difficult situations, one should stay calm and look for an adult, preferably a police officer.
She wandered on the mountain for a long time, unable to find anyone, and it was gradually getting dark. She looked ahead blankly, and then, forgetting to watch her step, fell and lost one of her shoes.
She tried to climb back to find her shoe, but the mountain was too vast, and everything looked the same. Even if her shoe was only fifty meters away, she wouldn’t be able to find it, and so she wandered farther and farther.
These images appeared all at once in Han Feixu’s mind. With her eyes lowered, she reviewed the scenes again in her head and then raised her head, “And then? Why did I go up the mountain in the first place, do you know?”
Ye Mingxin shook her head, “I don’t know why. When I saw you, you were walking towards me. You were dirty, but your clothes were different from the average child’s, so I thought you were also kidnapped. But you were just walking forward without any caution and then when you saw me you were about to speak loudly. Too loudly. I was afraid you would attract the kidnappers, so I held you in my arms.”
Human memory can sometimes be biased. Now, when Ye Mingxin recalls the past, she includes her subjective speculations. In reality, back then, when she saw a dirty child appearing in front of her back then, she didn’t consider the child’s cleanliness at all as her only thought was to not let the kidnappers discover this child.
The strength of the human survival instinct in critical situations is still not fully understood by scientists. But instinct made Ye Mingxin act, and she grabbed ten-year-old Han Feixu then, quickly securing her in her arms before covering her mouth firmly. Naturally, Han Feixu struggled; she was scared after all. She was like a fish on a chopping board, desperately trying to get away. Her foot was injured then, and Ye Mingxin, focusing entirely on the kidnappers, failed to notice this.
Han Feixu’s first impression of Ye Mingxin was that she must be a bad guy. But later, hearing Ye Mingxin’s almost pleading and fragile voice, she gradually stopped moving. Children are sensitive and can sense the emotions hidden in others’ voices, as well as the meaning behind them.
==========
“Jie-Jie, have they left yet?”
“I don’t know, don’t move, and don’t make a sound.”
Little Han Feixu obediently nestled in her arms. After a few minutes, she spoke again, “Jie-Jie, are they bad guys?”
“Yes,” Ye Mingxin was on high alert, and extremely tense. The slightest movement made her break into a cold sweat, “Be good, don’t talk, and jie-jie will protect you.”
Although Ye Mingxin told her not to speak, Han Feixu couldn’t help it. It was so dark around her, and the thought of many bad guys lurking in the darkness scared her to death. She snuggled closer into Ye Mingxin’s embrace. A few minutes later, she spoke in a muffled voice, “Jie-Jie, I want to go home…”
It had been half an hour since the group of kidnappers left, and Ye Mingxin knew they probably had gone, but she was still scared. She didn’t know if those people would return. What if they did come back? What if they discovered them? She didn’t dare to take such risks.
But the child in her arms was young. She was pressing tightly against Ye Mingxin’s chest, making her feel both too hot and painful. She relaxed a little as she leaned against a big tree and then reached into her arms to touch the child’s forehead.
The forehead was too hot to the touch, it was definitely a fever. Ye Mingxin started to panic. She shook Han Feixu, asking in a very soft voice, “Kid, kid? Don’t fall asleep, talk to me, what’s your name?”
After a day full of shock and fear, Han Feixu’s body had started to react to the stress and her forehead had started heating up earlier that evening. Now, she was in a stage of persistent high fever. She answered drowsily, “Little Xu…”
“Little Xu, is it? How old are you, where do you live? Tell jie-jie where you live, so I can take you home.”
Ye Mingxin’s voice was gentle and patient, although very quiet. Han Feixu answered her questions and told her everything she knew. They whispered to each other with bated breaths. After some time, Ye Mingxin glanced up at the sky. She didn’t know the time or when this terrifying darkness would end.
But going down the mountain at night would be more dangerous than staying here. The mountain was quiet, and even a single footstep could be heard from a kilometer away. Moreover, she didn’t know the way down, so they might lose their lives if they accidentally stepped off a cliff or into a deep pit.
She made up her mind to leave at dawn, shaking Han Feixu again as she said, ”Little Xu, as soon as it gets light, jie-jie will take you down the mountain. Don’t sleep now, it will be daylight soon, and then you can go home.”
But Han Feixu, who initially wanted to go home, suddenly shook her head in fear, “No, no, I don’t want to go home, I want to find my mom, jie-jie can you help me to find my mom, please?”
“Okay, okay, we’ll find your mom, I’ll take you to her.”
The child cried, her face full of tears, but remembering what Ye Mingxin had said about making loud noises and she tried her best to suppress her sobs.
Ye Mingxin held her, gently patting her shoulder. Gradually, Han Feixu started talking nonsense, “D-Don’t, don’t hit me… help, save…”
The last word was too soft for Ye Mingxin to hear clearly so she couldn’t tell who Han Feixu wanted to save. She was getting more anxious and scared with each word, and she could only keep patting Han Feixu and occasionally asking her to make a sound to ease her panic.
She initially planned to leave at dawn, but seeing Han Feixu’s worsening condition, she feared delaying any longer might lead to serious consequences. So, around 4 a.m., when the sky just turned deep blue, she pulled Han Feixu up and tried to make her stand. As soon as she put Han Feixu on the ground she noticed Han Feixu’s face turn pale and suddenly jolt in pain.
It was only then that Ye Mingxin discovered the wound on her foot. Over the course of one night, who knows how much blood Han Feixu lost from that wound. From blood loss to a high fever, it was no wonder the little girl was losing consciousness.
With no other choice, Ye Mingxin squatted down and urged the girl to climb onto her back.
She didn’t know the way down the mountain, and who knows how many detours she took, but in the end she was able to escape the mountain while carrying Han Feixu with her.
Han Feixu, drowsy and dazed, felt the bumping and jolting sensation and opened her eyes to find herself lying on a warm back. She tightly hugged Ye Mingxin’s neck and after being carried like this for a while, Han Feixu suddenly remembered something. She touched both pockets on the side of her skirt before finding the bracelet that looked like a twisted doughnut. Struggling to reach her arms out, after many tries she finally managed to put the bracelet into the pocket of Ye Mingxin’s school uniform.
Ye Mingxin realized what she was doing but couldn’t see, so she could only ask, “What’s wrong?”
Han Feixu felt extremely tired after all that and even opening her eyes felt exhausting. Hearing her jie-jie’s question, she rested her cheek on jie-jie’s shoulder and said in the same quiet volume she had spoken all night, “A gift, jie-jie, thank you.”
At that time, Ye Mingxin thought that the child’s gift might’ve been a piece of candy or a bag of snacks. She smiled, and didn’t refuse or mind her gift. It wasn’t until Han Feixu was taken to the hospital by the police, and her own parents finally arrived to pick her up that she remembered the little girl had left her a gift.
Sitting in her family’s car, she rummaged through her pocket and then took out the valuable bracelet. Ye Mingxin looked blankly at it for two seconds, then couldn’t help but laugh.
Before reuniting with Han Feixu, the significance of the bracelet for Ye Mingxin was that it was the first meaningful gift she had ever received in her life. It didn’t matter how much the gift was actually worth, it was the meaning behind it. As for Han Feixu at that time, this bracelet was equivalent to a piece of candy or a bag of snacks. Ye Mingxin was very happy to receive such a gift, as a bracelet could last much longer than some candy and snacks.
==========
This was all Ye Mingxin knew. She spoke slowly, and Han Feixu listened quietly. The first half of the story felt familiar to Han Feixu as she had a bit of an impression of it, but the latter half felt very strange to her.
This was normal, however, seeing how she was dazed and falling unconscious during that second half of the event. She couldn’t even understand what she was talking about then, let alone remember it.
Han Feixu closed her eyes, the river of memories constantly eroding the dam she had built in her subconscious a long time ago. Ye Mingxin’s story only accelerated this process, and the already fragile dam was finally broken, allowing Han Feixu to finally fully recall that day’s events.
She sat silently in the passenger seat, and although Ye Mingxin was worried, she didn’t disturb her. After about three minutes, Han Feixu let out a long breath and raised her head. Ye Mingxin looked into her eyes, but couldn’t make out any emotion behind it.
“I remember it all now.” Han Feixu slightly tilted her chin up, looking at the scenery outside the window, “’Serge, and that bit*h, they had come to my house with Chloe. They were demanding my grandmother to give them the house as they wished for their family of three to live there.”
Han Feixu laughed mockingly, “That idiot Paulina, she really thought she was Serge’s true love. Serge had countless mistresses and lovers outside back then. Paulina was just someone who bore him his child, so Serge didn’t break up with her. He only brought her and Chloe to our door because Serge wanted the house for himself. It was all for his own gain, but she really thought Serge was going to marry her.”
Ye Mingxin didn’t speak as she frowned at Han Feixu. As the old saying goes, every family has their own hard-to-read scripture*, but while other families may have a book a few pages long, Han Feixu’s family seemed to have a closet full of these scriptures. (*T/N: ????????? = “Every family has its own hard-to-read scripture.” Eng equivalent = “Every family has its skeletons in the closet,” but in this case they are emphasizing that these skeletons are hard to understand and difficult to resolve, much like how a scripture is challenging to understand.)
“My grandmother said the same things to that bit*ch, but she didn’t believe it at first. It was only when my grandmother took out the photos that she finally believed. Can you guess what she did? She started cursing loudly.”
Normal people can’t understand the thought process of mistresses. The most terrifying thing about these mistresses is that they don’t feel they have done anything wrong, and continue to act as if they were the righteous ones all along. Their confidence makes others only helplessly watch and shake their heads.
Zhong Manwei was a well-cultured woman. She was extremely angry but only showed it through the heaving of her chest before sitting down slowly as she stared coldly at the other party.
Serge disliked her exactly for this reason. He felt that she was always putting on airs, and pretending to be noble and above everyone. Serge himself didn’t have a penny to his name and was essentially married into the Zhong family and this had always been a shameful thing to him.
He was French, but grew up in China and so inherently had the mindset of a Chinese man. In his youth, he was nice to his wife on the surface but secretly despised her parents. After his in-laws died, he no longer had to hide his feelings.
Hearing Zhong Manwei lay bare all the things he had done over the years, he felt as if he was hit in his sore spot. He didn’t curse loudly like Paulina, instead, he dragged Zhong Manwei into another room for a fierce argument.
During this entire ordeal, Han Feixu stayed upstairs since Zhong Manwei had ordered her back to her room. Han Feixu’s heart was pounding this entire time, and she fidgeted restlessly. Suddenly, there was a sound of something falling downstairs. Han Feixu stiffened, placing the bracelet in her skirt pocket, before hurrying downstairs.
Paulina had just opened the door so Han Feixu could see everything. Zhong Manwei was half-lying on the floor, with Serge holding a stick above her. Zhong Manwei was shoved back by him and her lower back had hit a sharp-edged statue behind her. Blood was trickling down her back, a bright red color that made Han Feixu’s mind go blank.
Even a weird-looking doll in a horror movie could scare Han Feixu so much that she wouldn’t dare to sleep alone for a month. So suddenly seeing her grandmother lying in a pool of blood, one can only imagine the impact this scene had on ten-year-old Han Feixu.
The blood in movies and TV shows, no matter how much you look at it, wouldn’t cause any lingering effects on someone’s heart. However, a pool of blood in real life was something much more, it represented someone’s life.
Han Feixu ran over in terror, and pushed Serge as hard as she could while glaring at him. Serge, already furious, swung the stick down mercilessly at Han Feixu.
Zhong Manwei’s heart was tearing apart, but she couldn’t stand up and was only able to shout, “Little Xu! Run!”
Han Feixu recounted all this to Ye Mingxin, her eyes squinting, “When I ran out, I saw Chloe standing at the front door. She was looking at me, terrified.”
“I wasn’t wrong to say that she really is a good person. She is nothing like her parents,” Han Feixu turned her head towards Ye Mingxin, “But I just can’t accept her. Am I wrong to do so?”
Ye Mingxin extended her hand, gently wiping away the tear that had fallen from Han Feixu’s eye “No, you’re not wrong. You’re not obliged to be nice to her, and she has no right to expect your kindness.”
Han Feixu understood what Ye Mingxin was saying, but still felt very wronged and guilty, ‘”So many years have passed since then, and even my parents have passed away. Now, the only ones left in the Zhong family are me and Yiyi. These are grudges and grievances held by previous generations, so why can’t it end even now? When will it finally be over?”
With Chloe’s sudden appearance acting as a catalyst, Han Feixu was able to remember everything from her childhood. However, her focus was not on that terrible experience, but on the expression Chloe had on her face when she looked at her. She could tell that Chloe was shocked, scared, and ashamed, and she watched as the girl stood at the door, too ashamed to come in.
Not wanting to think about Chloe anymore, Han Feixu raised her head and forcefully wiped her eyes. Her eyes were red as she said, “Look, I remember it all now, and I’m taking it well. You should have told me about this earlier. It was our first meeting, after all, and although it wasn’t very romantic…it was still a symbol of our connection, how we were fated to be!”
Han Feixu’s eyes were red as she spoke indignantly, making her look like a puffy rabbit. Ye Mingxin gently stroked the hair at her temples, and decided then to not tell Han Feixu the reason behind her silence was because of Zhong Ya’s request. Instead, she said softly, “It was my fault, I really should’ve told you earlier. But it’s not too late to tell you now. It’s all in the past now, so it doesn’t matter if it is mentioned again. And although our first meeting is a memorable one, I prefer our second meeting.”
Han Feixu sniffed, asking curiously, “Why?”
Ye Mingxin smiled lightly, “Because the first time we met by chance and then got separated. This is the ending of our first meeting. Neither side had thoughts of anything more. Our second meeting, however, was the beginning of our story. It was then that I began paying attention to you, and even if you didn’t end up becoming an actress, I would’ve looked for you again.”
Han Feixu couldn’t help but laugh, “So did you fall for me then?”
“Not exactly,” Ye Mingxin replied truthfully, “I only regarded you as a cute little sister. You had called me jie-jie so many times when we first met, so I felt it only right that I should take on this title and carry out my duties till the end.”
Han Feixu’s interest piqued and looked over at her curiously, “So when did you fall in love with me? And when did I fall in love with you? Actually, who was the one to first pursue the other?”
Ye Mingxin looked at her in amusement, “Why are you asking about all this? Are you treating your own matters like a gossip column in a magazine?”
Han Feixu shook her arm impatiently, “Just tell me already. I asked Shen Sangluo before, but she said she doesn’t know. And since I’ve forgotten everything, you have to tell me. So quickly, tell me everything.”
On this subject, Ye Mingxin showed a rare shy and embarrassed look. She lowered her eyes as she bit her lower lip anxiously, but the corners of her lips still curled up unconsciously. Seeing her like this, Han Feixu felt her mood lift again and she was itching with curiosity. She shook Ye Mingxin’s arm again, “Hurry up, you’re driving me crazy!”
“Technically speaking, you were the one who pursued me first.”
Ye Mingxin looked over at Han Feixu. The other party didn’t seem surprised by this result. To use a popular slang seen on the internet, the eighteen year old Han Feixu was a simp*. When she couldn’t see the actual person she would be drooling over Ye Mingxin on the screen like crazy. (T/N: technically the phrase used here is ?? which directly translates to “licking dog” but basically the same thing as a simp)
“Technically speaking…then is there a ‘in reality’ part?”
“Of course,” Ye Mignxin held her hand as she smiled playfully and proudly, “You thought you were the one to chase me first, but in reality, before you even confessed to me, I had already flirted with you a countless amount of times. For example, during a scene together, I would look deeply into your eyes with an affectionate look, causing you to blush and your heart to skip. Then I would lie and say that the director wanted to add a scene of us kissing. I would give a reason such as he wanted to deepen the characters’ on-screen chemistry. Then after rehearsing that scene, I would tell you that the director canceled it for the actual filming.”
Han Feixu’s forehead was full of black lines, “You are so sneaky.”
The smile on Ye Mingxin’s face deepened, as if to say she was proud of her actions.
Although Han Feixu didn’t remember any of it, she still felt extremely embarrassed at having been led into a trap every step of the way, “Please, was I really that stupid? As if I would simply rehearse a kissing scene just because you said there was one. Such a lie seems a little too silly. Why didn’t I confirm with the director and were there no staff around to remind me that such a scene doesn’t exist?”
Ye Mingxin agreed with her, “With how smart you are, of course you wouldn’t be that stupid to believe. The lie I made was indeed a little silly. However,” Ye Mingxin gave her a teasing look, deliberately pausing for a while as she looked at Han Feixu quietly. It was only after Han Feixu’s face had turned red that she smiled and said, “You still willingly believed it anyways. So, you tell me what does this mean?