Chapter 189 - "Mom, did you do something bad?" (3)
Shu Yan went to pick her children up with her facial mask and hat. Had she not spoke first, Lin Hui and Wu Xiuyue would never knew it was Shu Yan standing next to them.
“What is going on with you?” Wu Xiuyue looked Shu Yan up and down. She was covered up tightly from top to bottom, like she was about to go rob a bank.
Shu Yan moved cover to them and said in a low voice. “I went to have my spots removed at the hospital. I am unpresentable right now.”
“I’ve heard that procedure is very expensive.” Wu Xiuyue pulled open a little bit of the mask and was a bit shocked by how Shu Yan’s face looked. “Aiya, how come it looks so scary? How much did you pay to have that done?”
“Well, I just had it done. It will be fine once I recovered. It’s a little bit on the expensive side but the effect was great. I know someone who had it done before. Her face is white and delicate, not a trace of any spots left.”
Wu Xiuyue felt that it was unnecessary to spend money on something like that. Lin Hui, also listening in on the conversation, was tempted, “Do you think mine can be removed too?”
“You only have a few on your face! You don’t need that,” said Wu Xiuyue.
“Well, that’s not true. Look at my cheeks. These happened after I have my kid and they never went away. It’s so ugly. If I can have them laser removed, why not?”
“I agree with Xiuyue on this. Yours don’t need to be removed. Just cover them up with some light makeup. I didn’t have a choice. I looked like a Dalmatian. So ugly without them removed.”
Lin Hui was the palest one among the three. The kids walked outside and, being called by her own mother, JingJing looked at her and asked curiously, “What’s going on, Mom?”
“Nothing. Let’s go. Let’s go pick up your brother then go take a look at our new place.” She turned around, waved at Lin Hui and Wu Xiuyue, and walked over to the kindergarten with her daughter.
Tianbo, too, was startled when he saw the tightly wrapped Shu Yan.
“Mom, did you do something bad?” Tianbo gave her an understanding look.
“What bad things have you done, Mom?” Shu Yan pulled her hat down some more to block the curious look from the passersby.
“Whisper to me, Mommy. I promise I won’t tell anyone,” said Tianbao suddenly in a very, very low voice.
Shu Yan rubbed his head. “I’m afraid I will have to disappoint you. Mommy really didn’t do anything bad. Let’s go. I’ll show you our new apartment.”
The apartment had more or less aired out by now. But, for safety’s sake, Shu Yan still decided to not move in till the end of the year.
“Mom, this is our new place?” JingJing and Tianbao had only been here twice during the remodeling. This was the first time they were here after the remodeling was completed.
“Yup. This will be our home in the future.” Shu Yan, with Tianbao in her hand, waved for JingJing to come closer to her. “Do you see this? You and Tianbao will be recording your height here in the future. Next to this will be the photo wall. We will put the pictures that we have taken at the zoo on it later. When winter vacation comes, I will take you two to visit other places, then we can add those pictures on here as well.”
All Tianbao heard was “play” but JingJing understood the meaning of it. Pointing at the other empty wall, she asked, “What about this one?”
“That’s the award wall. We will post on there the little red flowers that Tianbao has earned and the other awards that you will earn.” Shu Yan chuckled. “So you two need to work hard now. If we can’t even fill this wall, Mommy will be very embarrassed.”
“I have lots of lots of little red flowers. I want to put them here, here, and here,” said Tianbao as he ran around the entire living room.
“Come here, JingJing. Let me measure your height.” JingJing who was already seven-and-a-half years old was only at 114 cm. For sure her height was below average. Shu Yan made a mental note to go to the hospital when she has a chance and find out what kind of calcium would be good for JingJing.
She wrote down the year, month, and date next to the mark before she dragged Tianbao over and did the same with him. The first recording of their heights was completed.
That night, when Shu Yan went to bed, she felt a burning sensation on her face. The pain itself was not intolerable, but the worst part was that she couldn’t sleep on her sides, worried that she’d press on her cheeks.