I woke up to find I have a child Ch.5

Chapter 5: Mixed-race

She did not realize that Yiyi would be so short from the photos she had seen. When the child raised her face to look up at her, she realized that her child was like a tiny little bean, so small. 

Yiyi carried a small school bag in the shape of a cute frog on her bag and within it, there were a few crayons, a pack of tissues and what looked like a gps tracker. There was nothing else in there beside those things so her backpack was very light 

She reached over and lifted the small school bag off her daughter’s back and then studied the tender-looking, yet sharp-eyed green frog. She raised her eyebrows. The small frog was carrying its own little school bag. Is this a new anime character she didn’t know about?

No, this is the nation’s new son*.

(*T/N: I’m assuming that the green frog is the famous character from the game 旅行青蛙 or ‘Travel frog’ that was very popular in China back in 2018. Although the game was created by Japan, it was very famous in China and the cute frog character became a national mascot for some time.  See more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unviyMqOKr0 or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel_Frog)

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Since the little girl had asked so nicely and Han Feixu had nothing else to do anyways, she took her daughter to the dessert shop to get some ice cream. 

Just one cup of ice cream was enough for the little girl. Her daughter dug through the ice cream with her spoon happily as her bright eyes looked up at Han Feixu. 

“Mama, why did you pick me up today?” 

Han Feixu opened her mouth to answer, but her words were caught in her throat. She doesn’t know what Yiyi calls Ye Mingxin. So how should she call her ‘wife’ in front of this child of hers? 

The technology that allows same-sex couples to have children was invented early on in 2005. Similar to IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization), the process uses the eggs from two women and then extracts DNA from the two eggs before combining the DNA to finally form a life out of the two eggs. With this artificial embryo created, new life is born. Then the embryo is put back into the mother’s body and goes through the regular stages of pregnancy before being birthed by the mother’s body. 

Using this technology, the child born from this process is always a girl. 

This technology was still in the early stages of development back in 2008 and had a high failure rate and was very expensive. However, even with its high failure rate, lots of people rushed forward to try out this new technology. This technology caused quite a sensation and was another explosive step forward for the LGBTQ+ movement after following the legalization of same-sex marriage. 

Han Feixu naturally knew about this technology, but she had never seen children born from this technology before, let alone how these children called their ‘parents’. After a long period of silence, she acted quickly and decided to keep the title as vague as possible. 

“She had something to do.”

Yiyi tilted her head slightly, and asked her in a milky tone, “Mama, why aren’t you calling Mommy ‘that bastard’ today?” 

Han Feixu: “…..” What do I usually call her??????

Yiyi had just asked without thinking much about the matter. In her heart, currently the ice cream in front of her is the most important thing. Small talk with her mother is only secondary compared to her ice cream. Therefore, she didn’t think much about her mother’s strange reactions and lowered her head again to work hard and dig out a large spoonful of ice cream which she then promptly swallowed in one bite.

They two of them sat beside a window. The sun was still gleaming brightly in the sky as it was only a little bit after three. A large amount of sunlight poured through the window, like a layer of golden mist and fell lightly on her daughter’s hair. Yiyi’s hair color is very light, a natural sandy, almost golden, color. The child’s hair looked soft to the touch and the tips were slightly curved, some of it sticking to her cheeks. Under the sunlight, from a distance, it looks like Yiyi was shining under a golden spotlight.

Two young women, who stood at the register to buy their treats, suddenly screamed like they had seen a cute little dog when they saw Yiyi. 

“Ah! What a cute little mixed-race child!” 

Yiyi’s features are indeed more foreign-looking and not as flat as compared to her Chinese counterparts. Her eyes, instead of a black or dark brown color, is a crystal-clear gray color. When she blinked her eyes innocently, it captured the hearts of everyone in the store. The two girls’ hearts were practically bleeding from her cuteness. They chippered loudly in excitement and then waved goodbye excitedly at Yiyi as they left the shop. 

Han Feixu watched the two girls leave when Yiyi started up another conversation with her, “Mama, what does it mean to be a mixed-raced child? The kindergarten teacher also said that I am a mixed-race child.” 

“It means that you come from two different ancestries.” (*T/N: ancestry used here can also mean “lineage”, “descent”, etc.)

“What does ‘ancestry’ mean?” 

As a kid matures, there is a period of time in which they will ask ten of thousands of questions. They would ask so many questions everyday until their parents started vomiting blood. Yiyi was clearly a child in that annoying period of her childhood. 

After coming up with a random explanation, Han Feixu brought up the main topic of concern, “Yiyi, in a little bit I will take you home to play with Auntie, ok? I have to go out and do something.” (T/N: Auntie here means housekeeper and has no blood relation meaning)

“Are you going to discuss your divorce with the lawyer?” 

Han Feixu was drinking water when her daughter blurted out this sentence and she almost choked on the liquid going down her throat. She set down her glass and looked at Yiyi with surprise. Yiyi looked back at her innocently. 

“How did you know about the divorce?!”

Yiyi lowered her head, “I heard you two talking about it.”

Fu*k, didn’t they know that one had to protect children from hearing such things? What if it leaves some kind of trauma on the child later on? 

“I woke up and heard loud voices downstairs. So I came out to take a look. Mama, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

She raised her eyes timidly with a guilty look. Han Feixu was silent for about two seconds before pushing the glass in front of her to the side and then placed both her hands on the table as she leaned a little closer to Yiyi, “Then tell me what you heard.”　

She wanted to extract the information from Yiyi, but the little girl seemed reluctant to say anything. She looked up at Han Feixu strangely, “Mama, don’t you remember the things you said yourself?”

Han Feixu could hear alarm bells going off in her head. 

She straightened up immediately and laughed three times, “How can I not? Of course I remember, I just want to know how much you heard.” 

“Not much, just a few words and then you left. But Mama, what does divorce mean?” 

Han Feixu froze. After thinking about it carefully for a long time, she answered ambiguously: “It means….it means that we are moving….yes, divorce means we’re moving.” 

Yiyi muttered, “Oh, we’re moving again.” 

Before Han Feixu could ask what she meant by ‘again’, Yiyi raised her head and pleaded with her earnestly, “Mama, can we not move? I like it here. Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle, and my cousins are all here with me. And Aunt Sangluo said she was going to take me on a cruise for summer vacation. And there’s Mommy, she certainly wouldn’t like it if we moved again. So is it okay if we don’t move?”

Han Feixu rested her chin in her hands, “How are you so sure that Mommy wouldn’t like it if we moved?” 

“Because Mommy cried after you left that day. Her eyes were so red from crying.” 

Han Feixu was stunned. 

She sent Yiyi home and the first thing the kid did was jump onto the couch to watch cartoons. Han Feixu found the housekeeper and told her she would be returning late tonight. She asked the housekeeper to keep an eye on Yiyi and also help her pass along a message to Ye Mingxin. The housekeeper seemed to be accustomed to such orders and readily agreed before going back to washing the vegetables. 

Han Feixu looked around the house and found there were no other servants around. It seemed to be just the housekeeper. 

She didn’t know if she could trust this housekeeper either. 

If only her mother was here. Then she would feel more at ease. Handing her child over to her mother was much more reassuring than leaving her child with a strange housekeeper. 

Before she left, Han Feixu said goodbye to Yiyi. The little girl was very sensible and was not clingy at all. She waved her little hand and said goodbye to her mother with a smile. Looking at Yiyi’s cute and lovely face, Han Feixu couldn’t help but smile. Then she promptly turned around and left. 

This time the housekeeper did not remind her to wear her sunglasses and hat. She herself had forgotten again and she walked about the community without anything covering her face. She walked about a kilometer to get to the main road. Usually, people who can live in this community have their own drivers and don’t need to walk at all, but Han Feixu didn’t know this. She also didn’t know that nowadays there were apps one could use to hail a taxi so she didn’t need to walk all the way to the main road to find one. 

Han Feixu walked all the way, and no one bothered her. Even when they looked back at her more than twice, it was because she was good looking and not because they recognized her. It seems she’s not that famous of a public figure after all. 

When she arrived at Shen Sangluo’s house, she put in the code and walked in to find a single-person apartment. There was a large living room but only one bedroom in the entire place. She sat on the sofa and started idly watching some TV. 

The TV was a smart TV so Han Feixu played around with all the different voice-functions and the buttons on the remote control. She suddenly felt that the development of science and technology was changing way too fast. In just another ten years, they probably would create a fully sentient robot! 

She flipped through the drama genre of TV shows. On the first page, in the trending section, she saw the Ye Mingxin’s face. 

Ye Mingxin had acted in a drama????

She quickly clicked on the show and read the title and synopsis. 

《The Full Moon on a Cold and Windy Night》Adapted from the famous Chinese mystery novel 《Cold and Windy Night》this is the last installment of the Cold and Windy Night series, according to the author. 

……….

The Cold and Windy Night series is over??????

She had been following this particular book series since the first day of junior high for a total of four years. She thought that the author would keep writing but it was already over and even the TV show had finished filming! 

Then who did Lu Xiao end up with? The first male lead? The second male lead? Perhaps the second or third female lead? Or did she get back together with her ex-boyfriend again? ? 　

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Shen Sangluo returned home with a tired face. She kicked off her stiff high heels and took out her soft slippers. The moment she stepped into those silk slippers, Shen Sangluo felt like she finally could relax. From her toes all the way to her head, every cell in her body relaxed. She walked into the living room, threw herself onto the sofa and breathed out a sigh of relief. Then she looked over at Han Feixu who sat next to her, “How was it? Did Ye Mingxin make things difficult for you?” 

Han Feixu shook a distracted hand at her, “Shh, don’t interrupt, this is the climax!” 

Shen Sangluo: “…”

She raised her head to take a look, only to find that the TV show starring Ye Minggxin was on the screen. This TV series had finished airing two months ago but it still occupied the top ranks of the entertainment charts. Countless media praised and critiqued this show. It was so popular that even Yiyi’s classmates knew about it. 

Shen Sangluo sat up, she took the remote control and quickly turned off the TV. 

Han Feixu looked up blankly, “Why did you turn it off?!! I haven’t finished it yet!” 

She turned her head and saw Shen Sangluo speechlessly looking back at her. 

“Is now the time to be watching TV?” 

Han Feixu’s enthusiasm instantly disappeared as she remembered her current situation. She sank back cross-legged into the sofa, one tender and toned leg over the other. On her feet was a pair of long yellow socks. 　　

Shen Sangluo was very tired. She cracked her neck and said to Han Feixu, “If you have any questions, ask them now.” 

Han Feixu looked at her earnestly, “I want to know what has happened in these past ten years. How come I married Ye Mingxin and how do I have a child that’s already so old?” 

This question…..involves a long story that cannot be explained in a short amount of time.

Translator: Riptide
Editors: Amber and Nightcrypt

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T/N: 

*Note: Being called “mixed-raced child” or “混血儿” is usually perceived as a compliment in China. They treat you almost like a special creature in China if you are mixed-race, like you’re a unicorn or something. 

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