598. Everyday Family Life
It wasn’t yet time for the kindergarten to close, but the entrance was already packed with parents, a dense swarm like bees around a honey pot.
Ning Chu stood at a distance, peering at the near-impenetrable wall of parents, trying her best to tiptoe and catch a glimpse of the entrance.
After a few glances, she sighed and lowered her head, continuing her search for interesting job opportunities on her mobile phone.
It had been several days since her daughter started school, and she still hadn’t found a job she liked… Not to mention a high salary, at least the job content should meet her expectations, right?
But since she had to pick her daughter up at four-thirty, and the long-term childcare had thrown her out of sync with society, her job search was still fruitless.
Before long, the kindergarten gate swung open.
A line of children, led by their teacher, giggled and chattered as they streamed out of the kindergarten, resembling a gaggle of little yellow ducks following a big duck.
“Mom!”
Her daughter, with a little backpack on her back, wobbled her short legs and sprinted over, wrapping her arms around Ning Chu’s thighs.
“How was school today?”
“Bad!”
Ning Chu froze, her heart racing as she squatted down, asking anxiously, “What happened? Did someone bully you?”
“The food…” Her daughter scrunched her face in disgust, “It was yucky.”
Ning Chu furrowed her brows. The kindergarten fees and meal expenses were through the roof, and this was all they could come up with?
“Cilantro, it’s so smelly!”
“……”
Ning Chu fell silent for a moment, rolling her eyes: “You’re the only one in the family who hates cilantro.”
“It’s stinky~”
Some people just can’t get used to the smell of cilantro, and she never intended to force her daughter to eat it.
“Let’s go home.”
The kindergarten wasn’t too far from their home. Finding a parking spot while driving could be a hassle, so Ning Chu preferred to ride her electric bicycle to pick up her daughter, which had a child seat attached.
On the way home, her daughter chattered excitedly about everything that had happened at kindergarten, her little mouth never stopping.
“Mom~ The teacher taught us to dance~ And she gave me a little red flower! Look!”
“Can you show it to me and Dad when we get home?”
“No!”
“Why are you shy~”
Most of the time, it was her daughter doing the talking, and Ning Chu would occasionally interject with questions.
She noticed her daughter had inherited her gift of gab; when she was happy, she’d also chat up Wen Yang nonstop.
Once they got home, her daughter rushed off to find her stuffed bear, while Ning Chu stretched lazily, dreading the thought of dinner.
Truth be told, she actually enjoyed cooking, especially when it turned out well—watching her husband and daughter devour the food brought a sense of satisfaction and achievement that was hard to match.
But after a long day of job hunting, Ning Chu simply couldn’t muster the energy to cook.
Following her daughter into the second bedroom, she crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame, asking her daughter, “How about we just make some noodles for dinner?”
Noodles were the easiest to prepare: fry an egg, toss in the noodles with some greens and shredded meat, and it would be ready in minutes.
“I want a hamburger~”
“Then let’s order takeout? That works too~”
Ordering takeout sounded perfect, as Ning Chu really didn’t want to cook tonight, and it had been a while since she’d had a hamburger.
If Wen Yang asked about it when he got home, she’d just say their daughter threw a fit for one~
The second bedroom had originally been a game room, but a couple of days ago, her daughter demanded to sleep with the bear, so Ning Chu had transformed the room entirely into her daughter’s space.
All the gaming console and computers were moved to the master bedroom, leaving just a desk for her daughter to use as a study area.
“Starting tonight, you’ll be sleeping with your little bear, okay~” Ning Chu felt a bit uneasy, “Make sure you don’t wake up crying in the middle of the night.”
Crying would be one thing, but she didn’t want Wen Yang getting soft from the drama.
“I won’t, I won’t~”
The stuffed bear had been cleaned and was fresh, and her daughter lifted the bear’s arm, calling, “Little bear, sleep with me!”
She just hoped there wouldn’t be any midnight knocking on the door…
Ning Chu could already picture herself snuggled up in Wen Yang’s arms, while her daughter cried and clamored outside the door.
“Shuqin~ Did the teacher assign homework?”
She glanced at her phone; the teacher in the kindergarten’s group chat had sent out an assignment.
Honestly, homework was what she dreaded most—fortunately, her daughter was a succubus and not a cat, so she probably wouldn’t be as clueless as Black Bean used to be.
When she taught Black Bean, it nearly drove her to the edge.
“Seems like it?”
While conversing with her daughter, Ning Chu always made a point to raise her voice in a cute, soft tone.
“Then how about we do the homework first, and then eat hamburgers? Does that sound good?”
Her daughter hesitated but eventually nodded.
However, it quickly proved that teaching a three-year-old was even harder than teaching a cat.
At first, her daughter cooperated with the homework, but within minutes, she began to whine about wanting to play with the bear, then demanded cheese sticks, and anything Ning Chu said went in one ear and out the other. Every little noise from outside caught her attention, making it impossible for her to settle down.
“Why did I have to give birth to you, really…”
Ning Chu took deep breaths, trying to calm her growing irritation, her hand trembling slightly as she held the pen.
“She’s only three; it’s normal for her attention to wander.”
She whispered to herself, letting out a long sigh: “Why did I even have a kid? To torture myself?”
The thought of spending the next several years helping with homework, from kindergarten all the way to college entrance exams, only raised her bl**d pressure, making the future seem ominously dark.
Although she probably couldn’t solve middle school math problems anymore.
“I’m home! Where is everyone? Didn’t anyone come to get me today?”
Rarely, when Wen Yang returned, he found no sign of his wife or daughter.
As he called out, the daughter, who had just managed to concentrate, immediately bounced off her chair and ran to greet her father: “Dad! Did you bring me something to eat?”
Ning Chu, looking utterly defeated, slowly followed with heavy feet out of the second bedroom.
“I brought your mom a cup of milk tea; you can only have a sip.”
“Okay~” Her daughter nodded eagerly, then took a big slurp from the cup, cheeks all puffed up.
“You little clever thing.” Wen Yang scooped her up into his arms, and then almost burst into laughter when he noticed her expression: “What’s with that face?”
“Ask your sweet daughter.”
Ning Chu rolled her eyes: “From now on, you can help Shuqin with her homework; I can’t take it anymore, it’ll drive me crazy.”
“Homework already? It shouldn’t be too hard, right?”
“Not hard, the issue is whether your daughter can sit still for five minutes!”
With an exasperated huff, she plopped down on the sofa, curled up her legs, and started fiddling with her phone.
Wen Yang set his daughter down and sidled up to his wife with a cheeky smile: “Don’t be mad; have some milk tea.”
“Mommy, don’t be mad~”
No matter how upset she was, every time Ning Chu faced the double comfort of Wen Yang and her daughter, her anger seemed to evaporate like magic.
She let out an exaggerated “hmph,” snatching the milk tea and taking a big sip.
“Just think, tonight Shuqin will sleep alone…”
With a flat expression, Ning Chu could no longer hold back her smile, her lips curling up unceremoniously.
