Actresses

Chapter 15 Glutinous Rice Balls

He Yuran felt a chill in his heart.

The pain was so familiar, the feeling so subtle, she cried out in her heart, "Oh no!"

However, a sliver of hope remained. She checked the date on her phone, and her heart sank. It really was her period.

Unfortunately, I was in such a rush when I left home that I didn't prepare any sanitary pads or anything beforehand. What am I going to do now?

But a living person can't just die from holding their pee. He Yuran instinctively called Xiao Zhao immediately.

Fortunately, Xiao Zhao hadn't left his phone in the car, and he answered it within seconds. His voice sounded furtive.

"Sis, is something wrong? I'm here, I've been watching them the whole time. They just bought groceries and are picking out fruit now."

He Yuran thought to herself, "I don't care what they buy," and said anxiously, "Go find Jiang Fan right now and tell her to open the door for me right now, immediately."

Xiao Zhao on the other end of the line exclaimed, "Sister? You mean... should I go talk to her now?"

He Yuran grew increasingly agitated: "Yes. I need to go to her house to use the restroom, I can't hold it anymore! Tell her directly that I'm your driver and ask her to come back right away, I'm downstairs. No, I'm going straight up to her house now!"

Xiao Zhao stammered, "Then... what about the car?"

"Never mind, I'll just throw it on the roadside." As she spoke, He Yuran felt something strange again. She couldn't wait any longer, so she immediately opened the door, got out of the car, and rushed towards the building entrance.

Without even looking down, there must have been a lot of bloodstains on his pants. Fortunately, the distance was close enough that no passersby should have witnessed this embarrassing scene.

As she climbed the stairs, she cursed inwardly, "Jiang Fan, couldn't you live in an apartment building with an elevator? Why do you have to live in this old building?" She arrived at Jiang Fan's door, still grumbling, only to find it locked.

He Yuran yelled into the phone again, "Hurry up! I can't wait any longer!"

There was static coming from the speakerphone, followed by the sound of people talking; it seemed Xiao Zhao had approached them. A moment later, Xiao Zhao called out, "Sis, she's gone back! I'll wait for you in the car."

He Yuran closed her eyes, mumbled a few perfunctory "uh-huhs," and hung up the phone. She leaned against the door, clutching her lower abdomen, feeling waves of discomfort.

In the past, menstrual cramps would at least last for a few hours after the period started, but today I suddenly felt half-dead. It's probably related to my recent irregular sleep schedule. I have something on my mind, and I'm not tied down by work. Plus, Shi Jiahe hasn't checked on my schedule these past few days, so it's no wonder it's a mess.

It felt like an eternity before footsteps finally echoed in the stairwell, approaching from afar. Listen closely, and you could hear even lighter, more hurried steps, skipping and hopping up the stairs, arriving at Jiang Fan's door ahead of time.

She is Jiang Fan's daughter.

The little girl looked He Yuran up and down, then spoke loudly, "You're the friend who came over to poop, right?"

He Yuran's mind went blank for a moment. She thought to herself, "Please, child, can you keep your voice down... Wait, what exactly did that brat Zhao say?" But she couldn't care less about saving face at this point. All she could say was, "Yes, Auntie is about to burst. Open the door quickly."

The child pinched his nose and said, "Then stand back a bit."

He Yuran thought to herself, "They still dare to look down on me... Oh well, I need their help now." So she stepped back a little.

The child quickly opened the door, solemnly found her shoes, and before she could even speak, He Yuran rushed straight to the bathroom.

At times like these, people feel that nothing is more urgent or pleasurable than satisfying their physiological needs. This is especially true when these needs are about to reach a breaking point and are also intertwined with personal and social dignity.

An ordinary toilet gave He Yuran the greatest sense of security.

After relieving herself, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. Just then, there was another noise outside the door, and Jiang Fan's voice came through. "Ranran? Everything's on the shelf. Call me if you need anything."

He Yuran turned her head and, thankfully, there was a half-used pack of sanitary napkins on the top shelf. She called out towards the door, "I don't need any!" But then she thought for a moment, realized something was wrong, and quickly called again, "Fan, could you please find me a pair of pants? Your old sweatpants will do!"

She couldn't bring herself to say anything else. The pants were covered in blood; they were probably ruined.

Jiang Fan answered from outside the door, "Okay, I'll bring it in for you in a bit. Would you like to take a shower?"

"No need for that!"

Next, Jiang Fan handed over the pants, and He Yuran cleaned them thoroughly, finally regaining his freshness.

When He Yuran sat down on the sofa, she was holding a cup of hot tea that Jiang Fan had handed her. Her health bar, which had dropped by more than half a bar, finally started to grow back. She was almost in tears, but just as she was about to express her gratitude, she saw Jiang Fan's face darken.

"Rice Dumpling, you go inside and play by yourself."

He Yuran blinked, realizing that Mi Tuan must be Jiang Fan's daughter. So, the child's full name should be Jiang Mi Tuan.

But Jiang Mi Tuan was full of resentment. Not only did she not obey and go inside, she walked over and sat down next to He Yu Ran, saying with a grin, "So, you really did come to my house to take a dump."

He Yuran's head immediately started buzzing. She really wanted to say, "Can't kids spend less time on their phones these days?" But all she could do was smile and say to Jiang Fan, "Your baby is so cute."

Before Jiang Fan could speak, Jiang Mi Tuan interjected, "Are you an actress like your mother?"

"Yeah, your mom and I were classmates. Otherwise, how could I possibly come to your house to poop?" He Yuran was completely resigned to her fate.

The child suddenly changed his expression and said, "Then I won't like you anymore!"

Then he stood up and ran into the house.

At this moment, Jiang Fan sighed. "Sigh, I'm sorry, but children at this age are often disobedient. No matter what I say, she won't listen. You're a guest, so she can chat with you a bit more. I was quite angry at first, but seeing you like this, I couldn't bear it. Anyway, you should rest for a while and then leave. I'm still not interested in what you wanted to say, and I don't want this kind of uninvited visit to happen again."

He Yuran felt another wave of pain in her stomach, unable to tell whether it was nerve pain or just feeling upset.

She frowned and curled up. Seeing this, Jiang Fan asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

He Yuran waved her hand, but thought to herself, "This shouldn't be the case. Jiang Fan must have seen some news online these days. Even if she remained calm and didn't show any happiness, why does she seem to be in a worse mood?"

Or maybe we should try to provoke them with some words.

He Yuran propped himself up and sat up, took a sip of tea to warm his stomach, and then mustered his strength to say, "I've been reading a lot of news about you online lately."

Jiang Fan nodded. "I don't know why, after so many years, my past with my ex-husband has suddenly been brought up again, causing chaos in my family."

He Yuran quickly asked, "What's wrong? Why don't you tell me?"

"Isn't it all online? Since you've already seen it, what else can I say? It's just about who's right and who's wrong in a divorce."

He Yuran feigned surprise and said, "Not only that, there's a lot of discussion about it. I've even seen a lot of people wanting to see you act again."

She tried to control her tone as much as possible when she said these things, not wanting Jiang Fan to notice anything amiss.

Jiang Fan's expression showed no joy; he simply sighed. "What netizens think is irrelevant to my life. My daughter saw these things online and came home asking me, 'Mom, so Dad isn't a good person?' How am I supposed to answer that? Join the marketing accounts in criticizing her dad? He's still her father, after all. We still have to deal with him for our child's sake; we can't afford to have a falling out. Then, my daughter's classmate saw it and asked her, 'Isn't your mom a celebrity? Why didn't you go to an international school? Don't they say celebrity kids go to international schools?' My child comes home and asks me these questions, and I can't answer them. You can't tell such a young child that Mom isn't a celebrity anymore, that it's from a past life." "That's all settled. This ordinary life is the best now. Does she understand? You know what the teacher said? The competition among children is, in some ways, more naked and direct than in the entertainment industry, because children haven't yet formed a systematic concept of right and wrong; they just learn from adults. I spent a lot of effort to escape from that kind of environment—it's a place where one is never satisfied. And the peace I've worked so hard to maintain for so long has been easily shattered by these recent, inexplicable online revelations. Now I just hope no one mentions me, leaves me alone, and doesn't bring up those past events anymore."

Jiang Fan rarely spoke at length, but He Yuran listened without daring to breathe. She was terrified that Jiang Fan would discover that she was behind all these recent events, so she held her breath the entire time, even stopping her period on its own.

From the perspective of an artist in the promotional period, the recent gradual review and conclusion regarding Jiang Fan's past relationships and career was actually a flawless case study. After all, Shi Jiahe put a lot of effort into overseeing every detail and even found the most meticulous suppliers. If Jiang Fan were the customer placing the order, he would definitely be 100% satisfied. However, He Yuran never expected that this incident would affect the child, and the child's state of mind would further impact Jiang Fan.

...It seems that it has completely backfired.

The worst part is that He Yuran doesn't have the slightest courage to admit that she did it. Otherwise, Jiang Fan would definitely block her completely from now on.

He Yuran thought for a long time before stammering, "I'm sorry, I came here unexpectedly today, and I didn't expect this to happen. I've caused you trouble."

Jiang Fan shook his head. "You can't control getting your period suddenly. We're all women, I can understand you."

He Yuran felt a pang of sadness. This time it wasn't her lower abdomen.

Perhaps it really is time to say goodbye. A forced relationship will never be happy.

She stood up. "Well... I'll say goodbye to Jiang Mi Tuan and then head back. I probably won't bother you again, Fan."

Jiang Fan stood up and called out to the inner room, "Mi Tuan, come see Auntie off. Say goodbye to her."

The child flew out like a cannonball, crashing into He Yuran's arms, then looked up at her innocently and said, "You're here to take a dump, right? Can I call you Poop Auntie?"

After saying that, she started laughing again.

He Yuran patted Jiang Mituan's head, unable to suppress a sigh. "Sigh, if I had a daughter like this, I'd give her the whole world." She then looked up at Jiang Fan and smiled, "I understand you now."

Jiang Fan smiled. "Thank you, Ranran. You already have the whole world."

At this moment, Jiang Mi Tuan let go of He Yu Ran's arms, turned around and rushed back into the house, shouting, "Auntie who poops! I have something to show you!"

He Yuran's tone became cheerful as well, and she imitated a child's voice, saying, "What? What?! Let me see too!"

At this moment, Jiang Mi Tuan ran out with an iPad, and saw that a clip of a role played by Jiang Fan more than ten years ago was playing on the screen.

Jiang Fan's expression changed. "Why are you still looking at these?"

Jiang Mi Tuan ignored her and handed the iPad to He Yu Ran. "Look, isn't Mommy pretty?"

"Of course! Mom is the most beautiful woman in the world! Mom can be even more beautiful!"

Mi Tuan frowned: "Are you a magician? Can you turn Mom back to this state?"

He Yuran glanced at Jiang Fan, noticing a slight change in his expression. Suddenly, an idea struck her. She took a step back and hid behind Jiang Mituan, then whispered in Jiang Mituan's ear, "Sure, Auntie has a way. But you have to help Auntie persuade Mom, okay?"

"Okay!" Jiang Mi Tuan shouted loudly.