Chapter 58 - Weight Loss (1)
This was a parallel universe after all and there were noticeable differences between this world and Shu Yan’s original one. For example, some of the locations that were not yet developed in Shu Yan’s world had already been developed; other locations that have already been developed in her world had no signs of being developed. Shu Yan took it all in stride. City Nan, being one of the biggest cities of the country, would be developed fully in the future. There was not enough land for the developers; it was all a matter of time.
Nobody is stupid. The country needed development and City Nan needed development. All the locals were waiting to strike rich when the developers purchased the land from them. Everybody was holding onto their houses, and nobody would sell right now.
It was best to buy a few old houses in the countryside where nobody lived and wait for it to be bought after 1999. Then one would really strike it rich.
After walking around the entire morning, Shu Yan had a much better idea about the surrounding areas. She wouldn’t be able to cover the slightly farther areas today. It was time to go home and cook for her kids.
Ye Tianbao’s kindergarten would provide lunch, but Ye Jingjing’s school did not have a cafeteria. Many of the parents would prepare ahead of time and put the food in thermos for the kids to bring to school with them. Shu Yan didn’t realize that before. She, too, should buy a thermos for Jingjing to bring with her. That way she wouldn’t need to go back and forth in the hot summer days.
“Mom, where’s little brother?” It’s natural for a kid to be close to their mothers. It had only been a few days and Jingjing was already quite close with Shu Yan.
“Tianbo will be eating at school. Do a lot of your schoolmates go home for lunch?” Shu Yan saw the pouring sweat on her daughter and quickly handed her a wet towel. “Wipe your face with this. When you go back in the afternoon, bring an umbrella with you. Too much sun can be bad for you.”
Shu Yan wasn’t sure about the original owner, but Ye Zhiqiang was pretty light-skinned. When Ye Jingjing was born, she was a lot like Ye Zhiqiang and was quite light-skinned. She had become much darker from being exposed to the sun a lot back in the village. She should be able to go back to being light-skinned after a while.
Ye Tianbao, on the other hand, looked more like Shu Yan. His features were quite elegant and also light-skinned. Shu Yan hoped that his skin tone was also liked hers; that’d mean that her skin tone was also lighter by nature. She might still have a shot of becoming lighter colored. But no point in worrying about that right now. First and foremost, she needed to lose some weight.
“Other than the few who lived right next to the school, most of the other kids bring lunch to school. I’d like to do that too,” said Ye Jingjing as she carefully looked at Shu Yan. She had never been with so many kids before. The boys back in the village were very naughty and always picked on the girls. As for girls, most of them had to stay home to help out with housework. Those with younger brothers needed to take care of their younger brothers. Very few of the village girls had time to play outside.
Plus, the girl sitting next to her in class was very nice and said she wanted to have lunch with her.
“Sure. That has been my plan anyway. The sun is too strong these few days. It’s too much for you to go back and forth.”
It was too hot in the afternoon, so Shu Yan didn’t cook rice but bought a few steam buns instead. In addition, she made some potato and spareribs with the pressure cooker. For ingredients, she had added corn, taro, and mushrooms. It made a big pot of food. So there was both soup and vegetables. Ye Jingjing had two large steam buns and two full bowls of sparerib soup that were full of vegetables.
“Mom, this is so tasty,” said Ye Jingjing as she burped.
“If you like it so much, I will make it for you again next time.” Shu Yan learned this lazy way of cooking from her own mother. Shu Yan’s mother was always busy with manning the fruit store, so during summer, she’d make a big pot of sparerib soup in the afternoon with different ingredients. It’d be potatoes one day, taros the next, and corn on another day. According to her mother, the dishes were different every day. Then, she’d buy a big bag of steamed buns. It fed the entire family plus there would be left over for soup at night.
Shu Yan did that a lot when she was living alone. She had ran around all morning long. And, as it was too hot out, she decided to go with the lazy man method today.