Chapter 172 – Protection (1)
Shu Yan wouldn’t allow the two children to leave the house on their own so they didn’t even have anything warm to eat for lunch. Shu Yan made some tremella and date soup. Shimmering them in low heat, it’d be just about ready by the time the two of them wake up.
She visited the market on her way back and bought half a pork leg. Shu Yan was picking off the hair one by one with a tweezer, ran it through boiling water, and stir fried on high heat with salt, soy sauce, cooking wine, green onion, ginger, and garlic. Placing it into a pressure cooker, it would be ready in half an hour.
Once she was done busying herself in the kitchen, Shu Yan went to check on her two kids. They were still asleep. She smiled a little and decided to go and finish up the laundry. It was already past 3 PM by the time she had the laundry hung up and the kids still did not stir. Shu Yan decided to wake the two children up. They’d be up all night if they slept too much in the afternoon. When she walked back inside the house, she saw the two children doing their home work at the table.
“When did the two of wake up? How come I didn’t hear anything at all?” Shu Yan put down the bucket and said, “Are you hungry? I made tremella and date soup. Have some for now while you wait for dinner.”
“Mom.” Ye Jingjing was so happy that one could barely see her eyes when she saw her mother.
“Mom.” Tianbao put down the pencil in his hand immediately, bounced in front of Shu Yan, and put his arms around her thigh. “I’ve missed you so much, Mom.”
Shu Yan couldn’t help but smiled. She patted him on his head and said, “Mommy goes merchandizing all the time in the past. You’ve never missed me before.”
That wasn’t the same. In the past she was only gone for one night. This time she was gone for an extra day and it felt like he hasn’t seen her in a long time.
Shu Yan scooped out some snacks for the two kids and also had some herself before she asked, “Mommy made some pork leg for dinner. What else do you feel like?”
“Anything is fine,” said JingJing.
“I want shrimp.” That was Tianbao.
“JingJing likes bean sprouts, right? I’ll make a chives and bean sprouts. You want shrimp, Tianbao? Okay, then come with me to get shrimp.” The two kids had been couped up at home the entire time. It was time for Shu Yan to take them out for a bit.
City Xi was closer to the inland and seafood was rare. Ever since they have come to City Nan and had shrimp once over at Wu Xiuyue’s place, Tianbao had fallen in love with it and had further developed a taste for other types of seafood.
With the exception of shrimp, Shu Yan had also bought some squids. Squid and preserved vegetables are quite good as well.
“Mom, this pork leg is tasty,” said Tianbao after he had a bit of the soft and mushy pork leg.
“Don’t just eat that. Have some rice as well.” Shu Yan peeled a shrimp and put it inside of his bowl before she peeled one for JingJing also. “Have some more shrimp. It has a lot of calcium. Tianbao… don’t just eat the from the dishes, have some rice as well.”
The two kids did not like City Nan’s cuisine when they’ve first arrived but had since grown to accept the taste of common family dishes. Perhaps in a couple of years’ time, it’d be City Xi’s cuisine that they were no longer fond of.
After dinner, Shu Yan sliced up some fruits and brought them out. As they were eating, she said to them, “Remember to stay away from strangers if they try to get close to you. Do not take any food from strangers.” She thought about it for a bit and added, “With the exception of Mommy, do not accept food from anyone, okay?”
“Not even Wang Yitong and Zhang Chenghan’s mothers?” JingJing was startled by the solemn look on Shu Yan.
“Okay if Mommy’s there; otherwise, no.” Shu Yan decided to lean on the safe side. “In addition, if, and I mean hypothetically speaking, someone tries to grab you, scream for help loudly if there are others around; otherwise, don’t struggle and just follow them. Wait for an opportune time like when you run into someone you know or when you see men or women in uniform, then flung away their hands and run over to these adults and let them know those were not your parents and that you don’t know them.”
