“There was one time when I was at a set during winter, working as a stunt double. We were done with filming on that day, but the director sought me out and asked me to shoot another scene, since the female lead was having her period.”
“I agreed. Then I found out it was a scene where I had to jump into the river, which was completely frozen during winter.”
“Did you do it?” asked Lu Yi as he cleansed her fingers with a towel.
“Yea. I did,” said Yan Huan. The bad times were already over, so speaking of the past wasn’t that hard anymore. She wouldn’t have become who she was or achieve what she had without the hard work she put in and hardships she overcame.
“At that time, I had my period too,” continued Yan Huan, holding her hands out for Lu Yi to clean. “But they were too busy fussing over the female lead to notice. By the time the shoot ended, the pain was unbearable. I found a resting bench and sat down, drenched in cold sweat.”
“I felt hot and cold in turn, and it hurt so badly I wanted to cry.”
“Then a cup appeared before me, and I heard the most beautiful words in my life.”
“Here, take this.”
“I accepted it. It was a cup of warm milk tea.”
Lu Yi exhaled slowly. “It was you at that time?”
“Yeah! Can’t you see the semblance?” she said, pointing at her face. “I wasn’t as pretty then, but still a charming young girl. Now I’m a charming young wife.”
She tried to sound airy, but it wasn’t an easy subject for her.
A brave man doesn’t talk about his past glory, the same as how a successful person keeps silent about his past hardships.
“Let’s eat,” said Lu Yi, holding her fingers tightly with a sullen look on his face. Yan Huan did as he said, knowing that he wasn’t in a good mood after hearing how she badly she treated herself in the past.
But who doesn’t want to treat themselves right? Life had forced them to do so. Life abused them, and so they had to abuse themselves.
Outside, the nanny was just done with the soup she had been brewing for three hours, a black chicken broth laced with herbs, ginger, and red sugar.
“Here, eat more.” Lu Yi scooped up a spoonful of soup and offered it to Yan Huan.
“Okay,” said Yan Huan. She took the spoon and sipped. It was tasty. She hasn’t eaten any proper meals on that day, and now the hunger was starting to kick in, especially with Lu Yi beside her and the pain at her tummy subsiding.
She ended up finishing one bowl of soup, a small bowl of century-egg and lean meat porridge, and two Xiaolongbaos. By then, she was feeling bloated.
After dinner, Yan Huan sat down, cradling her stomach and reluctant to move. Lu Yi filled a hot water bottle and passed it to Yan Huan to warm her tummy.
He placed hot water bottle on Yan Huan’s tummy before wrapping her in a blanket.
“Sit here and stop moving around.”
“I won’t,” promised Yan Huan. The hot water bottle took the chill off her tummy and fingers. It was comfortable and relaxing.
“I still have some work to do, but I’ll be back when I’m done,” said Lu Yi as he picked up the remote control. “What do you want to watch?”
“The new Demi-gods and Semi-devils,” said Yan Huan. That was the only thing she wanted to watch right now. Not for its content, but for the pleasure of criticizing it.
“I get a kick out of criticizing it.”
Lu Yi browsed through the channels and found the show. Fine, she can go have her fun.
The drama began at a few episodes past the first. Soon, Wang Yuyan will be making her appearance, but not before a couple more scenes of Duan Yu’s hilarious dancing.
She remembered an excerpt from the original novel; Duan Yu’s eyes never left the young girl as he stood up. The girl didn’t look exactly like the jade figurine in the cave, he realized, now that he could see clearer. The likeness bore by the jade figurine was beautiful and coquettish, much unlike the prim and childlike girl before him. In comparison, the figurine seemed more…alive.
Can Su Muran handle such a beautiful character?
Good genetics ran in the Su Family who had many beautiful people to boast. Su Muran didn’t fall far from the tree either. Unfortunately, she looked more like her mother, else she would’ve been more beautiful.
Su Muran was pretty, but far from dazzlingly beautiful. Her “stunning” beauty, as purported by the media, did not manage to impress Yan Huan.
The truth, when put plainly, was hurtful; Su Muran wasn’t all that beautiful.
Much of her beauty could be attributed to the combined effect of expensive makeups, haute couture closet, and years of painstakingly-cultivated mannerism. Su Muran was only at her current popularity thanks to all these expenditures.
When Su Muran’s Wang Yuyan made her appearance, many people would’ve shown the same expression as Yan Huan.
She looked nothing like a fairy, but more like a rustic countryside girl.
There wasn’t even anything fairy like about her, and even the servant girls, Ah Zhu and Ah Bi, were prettier than her.
Yan Huan pressed the hot water bottle closer to her stomach, and was immediately rewarded with a strong sense of gratification. For the first time in her life, she thought that having a period wasn’t that bad after all, now that the pain was gone.
The show went on in the television. Admittedly, the new Demi-gods and Semi-Devils wasn’t a bad show, with all the investments that had been dumped into it. The scenes, costumes, makeup, and actor selections were all up to Yan Hua’s standards. It was only unfortunate that he picked the wrong leads.
An awkward Duan Yu and plain Wang Yuyan. Despite the good overall performance, these two had made it impossible for the show to be a hit.
Once again, Su Muran had established her position as the “Box Office Poison”.
Turning the television off, Yan Huan brought the hot-water bottle to the kitchen with the intention to boil more water. Having a freshly-filled bottle on her tummy at night would make her much more comfortable.
Just as she was about to do it, a hand reached out and took over her task of boiling water and refilling the hot-water bottle. When he was done, Lu Yi passed the hot-water bottle back to her.
“Can I sleep now?” asked Yan Huan, looking up whilst clutching the hot-water bottle tightly.
“Yes. Go to sleep,” said Lu Yi. He wasn’t planning on working too late into the night since Yan Huan wasn’t feeling well. She tended to overthink whenever she was sick, which affects her sleep and causes her to be restless the next day, leaving her more susceptible to other illnesses.
Making sure she gets enough rest was important.
Yan Huan placed the hot-water bottle on her tummy and heaved a sigh of pleasure.
