Chapter 41: The Search For An Apartment (2)

Chapter 41 – The Search For An Apartment (2)

Ye Tianbao looked at his mother with sparkling eyes and said, “A hero? Like daddy?”

Shu Yan paused for a little. In the mind of a child, their daddy would, naturally, be a hero. Shu Yan wasn’t silly enough to reason with him. 

“Yes, a hero like daddy.”

Ye Tianbao had another half a bowl of rice happily. Ever since he had been with Shu Yan, Shu Yan had stopped feeding him. He could eat very well by himself now with a small spoon.

That’s why when they said “oh, the kid doesn’t eat and must be fed, it only meant they had been spoiled. They’d know to eat when they are hungry. 

The boss lady was super nice and gave them some of their dishes that they’ve made to take with them after they’ve paid.

“You’ve already given us a lot of food. We can’t possibly,” said Shu Yan.

“It’s fate that we run into someone from the same home town. Take these. Just come over more often, okay?”

“Well, then, thank you, older sister.” Shu Yan had found out that the boss lady was 36 this year from their earlier conversation, 11 years older than her. But she  lived a happy life and looked much younger than Shu Yan.

There’s an advantage to the hotel they were currently staying at – there was a communal kitchen in the back area. Guests could bring their own kitchenware and ingredients and cook for themselves. It’s $0.50 to use it each day. Shu Yan planned on buying some kitchenware and cooking.

There was a department store not too far away and they could find everything there. She had already planned on settling down in City Nan, so they could very well just buy everything that they need. But she has, after all, two kids with her. It’s best to keep things light, so she only picked out three bowls, three pairs of chopsticks, two spoons, a large soup bowl, a rag to do dishes with, and two more dishes for food and that was all they’d need for the time being.

Ye Jingjing was a mature child and knew to  carry the light items for Shu Yan. When Ye Tianbao saw that, he wanted to help out as well. Shu Yan did not discourage them from helping, but instead, praised both children excessively.

She had read from experts that one shouldn’t stop their kids when they offer to help, that’d encourage the children to become dependent and lazy. Shu Yan thought that made a lot of sense.

Once they got back to the hotel, Ye Jingjing played with Ye Tianbao in the room while Shu Yan went to the kitchen and washed all the kitchenware in hot water to disinfect them as she thought about their next steps.

First, they’d need to find a place to stay. If they could buy their own place, that’d be ideal. Otherwise, a rental would be fine too.

The next item on the agenda was Ye Jingjing’s school. If they wanted to register now, school has already started. They’d need to pull some strings to get into a school. When push came to shove, they could always get her into a private school. Then there was Ye Tianbao, he needed to start kindergarten as well. That too would be problematic. None of these were easy to accomplish.

She needed to settle down with the two children first before she thought about the next steps.

The next morning after she had woken up, Shu Yan went out to buy them breakfast.

“Mom needs to go out to look for a house in a little bit. You play with your brother in the room, okay? Unless it’s mom, don’t open the door for anyone who knocks and don’t go out. Can you do that?” Her daughter was very mature. And luckily her daughter was so mature, otherwise this would be even more tiring.

There weren’t a lot of amenities in the hotel. The only appliance was an electric fan. Shu Yan purposefully placed the fan higher up so the two children couldn’t reach it. She had opened up the teapot earlier in the day to cool it down. The children could just pour water for themselves when they are thirsty and wouldn’t be burned from touching it. She looked around one last time to make sure nothing could endanger them before she left.

She walked around blindly to look for houses. She knew there was an older district close by. It was a dormitory previously. When the factory moved away, the school bought it from them and let their teachers use it as a perk. Some of the teachers would rent the house out for extra income.

She looked for the guard at the front and told him her intention. Unfortunately, the guard informed her that it was very rare that there was a unit for rent and when one became available, they didn’t usually last very long.