I woke up to find I have a child - Chapter 89
Ten years ago, secret marriages were very popular in the entertainment industry. This was largely because celebrities at the time were still considered untouchable idols and how could their idols possibly get married? Even dating was not allowed, let alone marriage. If fans found out their idol was in a relationship, they would instantly turn from fans to anti-fans and haters. In fact, the more they loved their idol, the more they hated them afterward.
Now, ten years later, people are much more accepting of celebrities dating. Yet, there is still a small fraction who, even if they were to die, cannot accept the fact that Ye Mingxin had a secret marriage and a child.
This group accounted for about ten percent of Ye Mingxin’s fan base. Ye Mingxin was extremely annoyed by these excessive fans, but, luckily, the majority of her fans were lovely and quickly changed direction as they began showing support for Ye Mingxin’s daughter.
As Lan Zhu said, photos can’t be erased once it’s out there, someone will always be able to release their copy online.
Soon after, Ye Mingxin earned a new title – the nation’s mother-in-law.
Ye Mingxin didn’t like crowds and didn’t want to be followed by a bunch of people wherever she went, so she only had one housekeeper at home. Said housekeeper’s job was just to buy groceries, cook, and do simple cleaning. If deep cleaning was needed, Ye Mingxin still had to hire professional housekeeping services.
Now, however, there were too many people to count. Just for Yiyi’s bodyguards, they had hired six people and then they even hired a personal female butler, who followed Yiyi around like a nanny. Han Feixu heard that with the butler’s resume, she could easily work in Zhongnanhai*, and it was a huge step down for her to come work at their house. (T/N: Zhongnanhai is like the White House or Capitol Hill in China. It’s where all the leaders of China work.)
The environment Han Feixu grew up in taught her to respect all talented people, especially those with exceptional talents.
This was something Han Feixu’s grandfather said, but his original intention was to tell her to respect old scholars and not to argue with them when they said she memorized her music sheet wrong. The elderly teacher was someone he had personally invited, and he had been cashing in a favor to get him to teach his granddaughter. But what if Han Feixu annoyed him into quitting after just two months? = =
Grandfather’s words didn’t have much effect on Han Feixu as a child; she would still argue when needed. But they were very useful for the grown-up Han Feixu.
“Madam, there’s no need to trouble yourself with such small matters, I can get it myself.”
Han Feixu walked into Yiyi’s room with a plate of cut fruit, placed it on the table, and Yiyi thanked her mother and was about to pick up a small fork to eat the fruit.
Han Feixu gently slapped Yiyi’s hand away, “Shoo! Don’t be disrespectful, let Auntie Xing eat first.”
The new butler, dubbed ‘Auntie Xing’: “……”
The employer is always so polite, and she feels so awkward = =
Although Butler Xing’s workplace is not Zhongnanhai, the people around Yiyi are competent enough to form a security squad at Zhongnanhai.
Han Feixu returned to her bedroom, and Ye Mingxin raised her head as she heard her come in, “Little Xu, why don’t we post a couple of Yiyi’s photos online? I feel like I get an aneurysm every time I see them post that photo taken by the paparazzi.”
The paparazzi who took Yiyi’s photo had done it in a rushed manner because Lan Zhu, who was sending Yiyi into the school, rushed to block the camera. Then Ye Mingxin realized something was wrong and immediately came out of the car and took the child back inside. In that sort of situation, can a good photo even be taken?
In the photo, Yiyi looked two shades darker than usual and looked like an idiot, without a spark of the usual cleverness she exhibited.
Speaking of photos…
Han Feixu sat down on the bed, “The people who took the photos, the paparazzi, and the one who sold the information, how are they doing now?”
“Two have already been sent to a detention center, but the rest are still free. There’s nothing we can do about that. The lawyer said they did their best to change those two detained people’s cases from civil to criminal, but the rest are still civil cases,” Ye Mingxin put down her phone, “I told them to keep trying and to demand large, unpayable amounts from each person. I’ve also hired a few rowdy individuals to make trouble at their homes.”
Ye Mingxin didn’t say how her hired thugs caused trouble or what the result of said trouble was, but Han Feixu understood her meaning well enough and chuckled lightly, “Serves them right.”
She pulled her legs up onto the bed and leaned lazily against Ye Mingxin in a boneless manner. She stared at the ceiling for a while before saying, “Go ahead and post it, but not now. Do it when the time is right.”
Ye Mingxin agreed.
On Christmas Day, a month after the sensational news of Ye Mingxin’s secret marriage and child, Ye Mingxin finally posted an official, frontal photo of her daughter on her personal social media account.
The photo was taken by a very professional new photographer, Master Zhong, and when Yiyi heard that her photo would be seen nationwide, she immediately became concerned. She had insisted that Zhong Yuanyuan must make her look taller and slimmer in the photos than she actually was.
Zhong Yuanyuan had practically collapsed to the ground in exhaustion to achieve the effect Yiyi wanted while Han Feixu watched from the side with a guilty expression.
Zhong Yuanyuan selected the nine best photos and sent them to Ye Mingxin’s WeChat, and then Ye Mingxin posted them on Weibo. After hitting send, the number of comments quickly skyrocketed and Ye Mingxin suddenly understood the reason why parents loved showing off their children.
Although the compliments were all for Yiyi, Ye Mingxin felt prouder over these comments than the ones she had ever received for herself. This unusual feeling of satisfaction was quite exhilarating.
In the photo, Yiyi wore a red cashmere sweater with a coffee-colored, slightly off-white puffy, tutu skirt. She also wore a fluffy reindeer hat on her head, while her soft, curly, sandy-gold hair framed both sides of her face. Smiling at the camera, her tea-gray eyes seemed almost transparent, captivating everyone who made eye contact with her innocence and delicate cuteness. One look and they were willingly offering her all they had.
With just one Weibo post about her child, Ye Mingxin became the top trending search again. Everyone was raving about Yiyi’s beauty, going so far as kneeling in awe. They had originally thought that Ye Mingxin’s daughter was merely pretty, but didn’t expect that the previous photos taken by the paparazzi could only be considered Yiyi’s “dark past” in comparison to this new photo.
Is this little girl even human anymore? No, she must be an angel!
The comments came quickly, but some people sense a business opportunity even quicker. Qi Yu received several calls that night, all inquiring if Ye Mingxin’s daughter could become their brand ambassador.
Hearing this, Han Feixu laughed, “Yiyi is really amazing. At just four years old, she can already support herself.”
Ye Mingxin rubbed Yiyi’s little cheek and joked, “More than that, the offers are enough to support both Mama and me.”
Though they had officially posted photos of Yiyi, Ye Mingxin, and Han Feixu were both adamant about not letting Yiyi do any commercials. If Yiyi wanted to follow in her mothers’ footsteps and enter the entertainment industry when she grew up, then they wouldn’t stop her. But right now Yiyi was still young and lacked a grown-up’s sense of right and wrong so they must look out for her.
Fortunately, Yiyi wasn’t like most kids, who would get excited at the thought of being on TV and would do anything to appear on it. Yiyi simply put down the spoon she was using to eat and calmly looked at them “Besides money, what are the benefits of doing commercials?”
Han Feixu thought for a moment, “You can appear on TV, and so more people will know about you.”
“But I’m already a national celebrity,” Yiyi tilted her head, “I don’t need to do ads to support Mama and Mommy. Ge-Ge told me that just one of the gifts my great-grandma gave me is enough to support our family of three for six months.”
Ye Pinlan was also a child but knew those things given by their great-grandparents were valuable, even if he didn’t know their true monetary worth. In reality, based on their current expenses, it could be said that just one of those gifts could support their family of three for a year, not just six months.
Han Feixu and Ye Mingxin exchanged glances, finding Yiyi’s mature demeanor amusing. Ye Mingxin propped her arm on the dining table and leisurely asked, “Then Yiyi, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
“I want to be Tushan Susu*.” (T/N: Protagonist from the Chinese anime “Fox Spirit Matchmaker”, also a live-action drama!)
Ye Mingxin: “…..”
Han Feixu looked confused, “What profession is Tushan Susu? Is it an emerging industry?”
Ye Mingxin hastily explained that it was a cartoon character, and not even a human character = =
Ye Mingxin paused, but maintained a smile, and asked again, “I mean, what do you want to do in the future?”
Yiyi seriously told her, “A matchmaker.”
Ye Mingxin: “……”
She could no longer maintain her smile, “A….a matchmaker is a nice profession, but is there anything else, something more realistic than a matchmaker that you want to be?”
If Yiyi’s next answer was that she wanted to become a Taoist priest, then she’s going to have to put her foot down and forbid Yiyi from watching that Fox Spirit Matchmaker cartoon ever again!
Yiyi pondered for a moment, “Then I’ll go be Grandpa’s successor to his company.”
Han Feixu and Ye Mingxin were both taken aback; they had never known Yiyi to have such thoughts. During the previous summer vacation, Ye Junyuan had taught her some of the family business for a while, but due to the short time and Yiyi’s fickle nature, they assumed she had quickly forgotten.
To their surprise, she actually still remembered about it
Han Feixu was the first to respond, “Business successor, huh? That’s great, Mama will support you in this. Whatever you want to do, as long as you like it, Mama will support you.”
“Really?” Yiyi immediately smiled, “I really like the matchmaker, so I’ll still become a matchmaker then!”
Han Feixu: “…..”
She also is going to start banning Yiyi from watching that cartoon ever again.
As the storm from Yiyi’s public reveal finally subsided. Ye Mingxin received a call from Tian Chengxian a few days later.
Tian Chengxian beat around the bush for a while before finally getting to the point, “We’re about to start promoting soon and the drama is going to air in mid-January. The copywriting team asked me yesterday what I wanted to write for the promotion and you see… you and Han Feixu are the female lead and the second female lead. I didn’t bring it up before because I know you didn’t want to go public, but now that even the kid is being shown off on social media, you’re probably not afraid to go public, right? So I wanted to ask, would it be okay for us to hype up you two’s CP?” (T/N: CP stands for shipping)
There were already rumors online claiming Han Feixu was Ye Mingxin’s secret wife, but such statements were quickly drowned out by Ye Mingxin’s fans and even the original commenters began to doubt themselves. Ye Mingxin had looked up those comments and found that people she didn’t even know actually knew they were married For example, one of the most criticized commentators was an assistant makeup artist on the crew of ?Return of the Phoenix?and had since signed with another company.
Ye Mingxin thought for a moment. She glanced over to where Han Feixu was rehearsing a scene with Nie Kaiyuan. The next scene is an emotional one between the two, where Nie Kaiyuan’s doctor character finally shows a hint of his true feelings, though he’s facing Xia Ning’s clueless No.2 personality. It’s only after he gives up and leaves that Xia Ning No.1 appears as she glances expressionlessly in the direction he left in.
Han Feixu’s performance was decent. She could switch between different personalities seamlessly now and a simple closing and opening of her eyes would completely change her aura. In reality, any professional actor should be able to portray split personality disorder quite well, as each role they play is essentially a different personality.
The challenge lies in the intricate relationships between these personalities and the heavier emotional burden they carry compared to other roles.
After being scolded by Dugu Yuehua a few times Han Feixu’s acting had barely reached a “passing” level in his eyes, so he momentarily shifted his criticism to Nie Kaiyuan instead.
Nie Kaiyuan had been criticized by him five or six times today and couldn’t take it anymore, so he had sought out Han Feixu for a rehearsal during one of their breaks.
Watching them, Ye Mingxin replied to Tian Chengxian on the phone after a long while, “That’s not a good idea. Mere speculation will only ruin our reputations and we plan on straightforwardly announcing our relationship to the public in the future. A not so distant future for that matter. If we start hyping it up now, people will definitely say we’re only going public for publicity instead and that we’re doing it to make money.”
Tian Chengxian had also considered this, but he still wanted to give it a try. Hearing Ye Mingxin’s words, he said, “Actually…”
Before he could finish, Ye Mingxin interrupted, “But you could use a different approach.”
Tian Chengxian was taken aback, “What kind of approach?”
“Hype up the CP of our characters instead. Don’t make it too obvious. Hire a few literary and historical marketing accounts to subtly promote it. Isn’t that the trend now? Without implicating the actors directly, it can still hit the audience with cuteness and preserve the reputation of both the production team and the actors.”
It was indeed a solution. Nowadays, people are desperate for novel fictional relationships. Current relationships in fictional stories include male actors in ‘pigs hoofs*’ roles, especially emperors with multiple consorts like the male lead of ?Return of the Phoenix?who are considered the biggest pig hoofs out there. So promotions for emperor-concubine CPs were useless. With no other option, why not create hype around concubine-concubine relationships instead? (*T/N: pig hoof is basically slang term for scumbag men)
So Tian Chengxian happily agreed, and after hanging up, Ye Mingxin was also pleased with the outcome.
With the ongoing rumors outside, coupled with the character CP, the double psychological suggestion would gradually make people aware of the possibility of her and Han Feixu being partners. These would serve as preemptive measures so that when they eventually go public, it won’t cause much of a stir, and the public’s acceptance would likely be higher.
If anyone still criticized Han Feixu, Ye Mingxin would simply share another photo of Yiyi. Yiyi doesn’t look much like Han Feixu, but she definitely looks more like Han Feixu than Ye Mingxin. By the time that happens, they could simply state that Yiyi inherited her good looks from Han Feixu…
Perhaps Han Feixu could then claim the title of “national mother-in-law” away from her.
Ye Mingxin’s plans were coming together nicely.
By 5 pm in the evening, they finally finished the scene with Nie Kaiyuan and Han Feixu, famished, immediately returned to the dressing room to eat.
Liang Zhu came over with a mysterious look on her face, not even trying to suppress the smile on her face. She suddenly slapped Han Feixu’s shoulder, causing Han Feixu, who was taking apart a pair of disposable chopsticks, to drop them.
Han Feixu looked up at Liang Zhu with a blank face.
Liang Zhu: “……I’ll go get you another pair right away.”
The dressing room next door only had disposable spoons, not chopsticks, but fortunately, Han Feixu’s dinner was a small portion of Spanish fried rice with a container of borscht, so a spoon was just fine.
After handing the spoon to Han Feixu, Liang Zhu pulled up a chair and sat next to her, asking, “Do you know what I just heard?”
“No idea.”
Liang Zhu excitedly slapped the table again, almost spilling Han Feixu’s soup.
“Han Yiren just got dumped!”
“Hahaha, it’s so thrilling! I heard that Chang Hao’s wife gave Chang Hao an ultimatum. Which was, he must change to a new mistress and Han Yiren must disappear from her sight or else she’ll file for a divorce! She even said that she’ll accept Chang Hao raising 100 lovers because she has many lovers herself, but she cannot accept him raising Han Yiren.”
Han Feixu was not as jubilant as Liang Zhu after hearing this news. She simply asked curiously, “Why can’t she accept Han Yiren?”
“Heck if I know! It doesn’t matter what the reason is, but she just can’t accept Han Yiren so Chang Hao dumped her! Now she has no backer and I can punish her to death if I wanted to! Hahahahaha!”
Liang Zhu cracked her knuckles, looking very much like a butcher getting ready to chop someone up. Han Feixu thought about it for a moment and gently reminded her, “Enough. Don’t cause any more trouble.”
“Don’t worry, I am not as extreme as Chang Hao’s wife,” Lan Zhu paused, “The most I’m going to do is drive her out of the entertainment industry.”
Han Feixu: “….”
I think you’re even more cruel than Chang Hao’s wife = =
They had another scene to film tonight so the filming didn’t end till late at night. It was way past eleven before Dugu Yuehua finally let everyone go. Han Feixu took a short nap in her RV trailer before they finally arrived home.
Yiyi had already gone to bed so Han Feixu and Ye Mingxin returned to their room, washed up casually, and prepared for bed.
Before sleeping, Han Feixu turned on the bedside lamp and used its light to review the script for tomorrow’s scenes.
Tomorrow’s scenes in the film are like the calm before the storm. Qi Hanxue finally realizes something is off with Xia Ning and seeks out the only doctor who knows Xia Ning’s condition. The doctor reveals to her that Xia Ning indeed suffers from dissociative identity disorder, and contrary to Qi Hanxue’s suspicion that she has two personalities, Xia Ning actually has four distinct personalities.
Qi Hanxue’s expression remained unchanged as she listened to the doctor, that is until she heard how Xia Ning’s personality had split in the first place.
Xia Ning was only fourteen when she accompanied her father to interrogate a prisoner. Her father then discovered she was similar to the criminal he interrogated and out of deep love for his daughter, he resorted to drastic measures in a misguided attempt to “cure” her. In order to protect herself from the mental trauma, Xia Ning’s first split personality emerged. In other words, everything started with that interrogation, and Qi Hanxue’s expression changed drastically when she learned the criminal interrogated was none other than the serial killer who killed her brother.
Qi Hanxue’s feelings towards Xia Ning suddenly became complicated. Xia Ning’s father had saved Qi Hanxue’s life; without him, she too would have fallen victim to the killer. Yet, Xia Ning shared a similar psychological profile with that criminal, and that revelation instilled fear, revulsion, and disgust in Qi Hanxue.
Unsure of what to do next, Qi Hanxue returned to her family home, stood in her brother’s bedroom, and took out a ring he had given her when he had returned home all those years ago….
As Han Feixu reviewed this part, she blinked her eyes.
Ye Mingxin emerged from the bathroom, her bathrobe loosely draped, and barely worn properly. After getting into bed and turning towards Han Feixu, about to kiss her, she heard Han Feixu ask, “Where did we put our wedding rings?”
Ye Mingxin paused, “At the Hua Cui villa, why?”
Han Feixu looked at her, “I’ve never seen them before. Can you find them and bring them over when you have a chance?”
Two seconds later, Ye Mingxin nodded, “Okay, do you want me to bring our marriage certificate too?”
Han Feixu replied happily, “That would be great.”
“Then, as my reward for the effort, shouldn’t you show some gratitude?” Ye Mingxin teased, removing the script from Han Feixu’s hands before straddling her.
Han Feixu smiled wickedly, stretching out an index finger to gently lift Ye Mingxin’s chin, “My little beauty, are craving for it already?”
Ye Mingxin looked at her calmly, and then after a long pause, she let out an incomprehensible laugh.
It wasn’t incomprehensible to Han Feixu. Outsiders might not understand, but Han Feixu got the message—it was a challenge.
Han Feixu, feigning anger, rose to assert her authority as Ye Mingxin’s wife.
The next morning, Ye Mingxin went to Yiyi’s room first, and dragged her out of bed. Yiyi, still groggy, looked up to see her mommy and softly asked, “Mommy, why are you waking me up today?”
Ever since Yiyi was revealed to the public, it was Han Feixu who would wake her up every morning, while Ye Mingxin would send her off if she had time; otherwise, someone else would drop her off if she couldn’t.
Ye Mingxin smiled gently, “Mama was too tired from yesterday, so she’s sleeping in. Come on, stretch your arms, let Mommy dress you.”
Since they had filmed until late into the night yesterday, everyone from the crew was tired. Thus, Dugu Yuehua, showing a bout of rare kindness, gave everyone a day off, with work resuming tomorrow morning.
For others, this meant a day of rest, but not for Han Feixu. Having some free time, Liang Zhu quickly contacted Pinko to say they could shoot the advertisement.
However, with only one day off, they couldn’t film a commercial, but Pinko thought it would be perfect to do a feature interview, especially since Han Feixu and the designer were both available. They could get both of them together, and get more material for the feature.
But appointments with Marie Claire required at least half a month’s notice. Since Pinko was working with Marie Claire, they could get away with a week’s notice, but it would be almost impossible to book and film an interview on the same day.
Hearing Pinko’s staff express doubts, Liang Zhu pondered for a moment, “Just try calling them. Maybe they’ll agree.”
“Why would they? They’d probably just ignore me outright.”
“No, they won’t. Just say Han Feixu only has today free. It might increase our chances.”
Skeptically, the Pinko staff called, knowing Marie Claire’s reputation for being unforgiving. Even celebrities dared not show any arrogance, for fear of being blacklisted by Marie Claire, which could lead to official statements being issued against them. In fact, to most, Marie Claire was even more scary than mainstream media.
But as Liang Zhu said, it was worth a try; at worst, they have to bear the criticism and smile more.
After explaining the situation to the Chief Editor’s secretary, the secretary, in a professional tone of voice, asked the Pinko staff to wait while she checked with the Chief Editor.
Half a minute later, the secretary returned, “Hello, the Chief Editor has agreed. Where would you like to conduct the interview? Our photographer is quite busy today and is only available in the afternoon. Please choose a location within a thirty-minute drive. If that’s not possible, you’re welcome to come to our studio, and the Chief Editor has agreed to reserve an interview room and a photo studio for you.”
The staff member who called them: “….”
After hanging up, she looked at Liang Zhu in amazement, “What the, what is this? Why did they agree?”
Liang Zhu smiled mysteriously, “Because we have a backdoor.”