637. The Kids
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By the time Lin Nan returned home from the hospital, her face was a bit pale, and her lips were trembling slightly.
She couldn’t shake the suspicion that there was something fishy about that hospital. Did Chen Yao bribe them or something?
How else could she possibly be pregnant?! Did the magic go wrong?
Lin Nan glanced at Chen Yao, who was brimming with joy, cautiously guarding his happiness like it was a prized possession.
This guy was so cheerful it was like he just won the lottery.
Letting out a sigh, she watched as Chen Yao opened the door, eagerly grabbing her slippers and handbag, all while sporting a grin that could easily fool someone into thinking it was the Golden Age of Servants.
Did he really need to be this happy?
After a moment of hesitation, she asked, “Do we even have money?”
“Of course! Hundreds of thousands,” Chen Yao chuckled, shutting the door behind them. “Aren’t all the funds with you?”
“I’m talking about if we really have a kid…” Lin Nan’s tone was as flat as a pancake.
“What do you mean if?” Chen Yao was practically vibrating with excitement, pulling out his phone to call his mother, but Lin Nan snatched it away before he could.
It dawned on Chen Yao at that moment that Lin Nan didn’t look happy at all; in fact, she had a face that could rival a rain cloud.
Seeing her expression, he cautiously asked, “You don’t want kids?”
Chen Yao was all too aware that Lin Nan hated kids, never wanted to bear them, and certainly didn’t intend to be a lifelong babysitter. But now that the situation was what it was…
Plus, he heard that once women got married and had kids, their looks went down a notch, no matter how pretty they were before.
Lin Nan was just in her early twenties, and it was totally normal for someone who cares about their looks to not want to balloon up while pregnant.
Getting married in your early twenties was a rarity among their college friends—not to mention actually having kids.
Without answering him, Lin Nan furrowed her brow and plopped down on the sofa, grabbing a half-drunk cola can, suddenly realizing that if she was pregnant, she wouldn’t have to deal with Aunt Flo for the next ten months.
Well, that’s at least one silver lining.
“Chen Yao,” she said, taking a swig of cola and looking up at him with a stern expression.
“What’s wrong?” Chen Yao rushed over, not used to seeing Lin Nan with such a serious face.
Sadly, the serious act lacked menace. Instead, she looked cuter.
“Do we really have what it takes to raise a kid right now?” Lin Nan put the cola down on the coffee table and fixed her unwavering gaze on Chen Yao.
Watching his expression turn serious made Lin Nan breathe a sigh of relief; she continued, “Before having a baby, there’s checkups, supplements, plus I can’t work. That’s at least several tens of thousands.
“After having the kid, forget the entrepreneurial dreams. I won’t even be able to work a regular job. I’d just be home all day babysitting, and you think a job that pays five or six thousand can support me and the baby? Are we supposed to live off those wedding gift funds?”
Chen Yao hesitated, “My parents could always…”
“You’re not seriously suggesting letting them babysit, are you?” Lin Nan’s eyes went wide.
Chen Yao froze, sitting beside Lin Nan with a frown. Honestly, he too wasn’t keen on his parents raising the kid.
Let’s not even mention the spoiling—he had lived under his parents’ care for over twenty years, so he knew all too well the pitfalls of how they raised him.
Back in high school, he was a little troublemaker, skipping classes and getting into fights. It wasn’t until he met Lin Nan that he even thought about taking his studies seriously.
Lin Nan’s mom had it worse, practically giving Lin Nan the freedom of a wild child. Handing a kid over to her was basically like saying, “Good luck raising yourself.”
Seeing Chen Yao deep in thought, Lin Nan went on, “At first, stuff like formula is manageable, but after a few years, school costs will skyrocket.
“If the kid is smart, we’ll have to find some fancy enrichment classes, right? Can’t have them being a bookworm! If they struggle in school, that means after-school tutoring is a must! Our kid might not be a genius, but they can’t fall behind either! A decent college is a must!”
“And the elementary schools nearby aren’t great either. If we want to find a good school, we either need to buy a house in a good district or pay for private school.”
“Right now, even if we both work, our combined salary barely breaks ten thousand. Even if we have a few hundred thousand saved, we can’t just sit back and live off that forever, can we?”
The more Lin Nan talked, the more anxious she became, probably thinking about how she was raised with little oversight, watching other kids roam free until they dropped out of school and started working. Her tone was getting more and more frantic.
“Raising kids nowadays isn’t just feeding them and getting them educated! My parents did it that way with me! If I hadn’t met you, who knows where I’d be right now!”
She and Chen Yao were already lucky; their parents provided support, and they had a home and car. But those who couldn’t afford a house or still had loans… they couldn’t even hope to raise kids, probably struggling just to survive.
“Have you seen the price of pork? Thirty bucks a pound! Eggs are two bucks and up! A decent kindergarten starts at thousands… Want to sign the kid up for an extracurricular? That will set us back tens of thousands!”
“If you really want a kid, why not wait a few years until both of our careers are in full swing?”
After Lin Nan finished her rant, there was an uncomfortable silence between the couple.
Chen Yao stared blankly at Lin Nan. Let’s face it, her childhood clearly left some scars, and now that she had the chance, she had high expectations for her future kid.
To be fair, her expectations weren’t unreasonable. Compared to those parents who dream of enrolling their kids in classes as soon as they hit preschool, she was downright generous.
“So… what do we do?” Chen Yao awkwardly asked.
He realized that neither of them seemed ready to raise a child at just over twenty.
But then, Lin Nan fell silent, her eyes wide in confusion as she gazed at Chen Yao.
After a moment of silent staring, Lin Nan sheepishly looked down, “Um… maybe let’s think about it some more?”
Her original intention was to absolutely not have a kid, loathe the thought of the sticky little monsters, and wasn’t too keen on becoming a housewife at this age, bound by a child and sacrificing her quality of life.
Plus, with the expenses from raising a child growing by the day, even if they had wedding gifts, living off savings would be impossible.
But for some reason, saying they’d terminate felt heavy on her heart.
Their own child surely wouldn’t be a little monster, right?
Lin Nan appeared anxious, standing up and pacing between the sofa and coffee table, her irritation growing.
Chen Yao didn’t dare speak, looking down while scratching his head, his leg bouncing nervously.
If he could rake in over ten grand a month, maybe they could make ends meet with an extra kid.
But after just graduating for a year, he didn’t have that capacity.
At that point, Chen Yao began to resent his high school self. If he had studied harder back then and got into a prestigious university, he’d be able to find a decent job more easily now.
He sighed, “What if we call our parents?”
“Call them for what?” Lin Nan shot him a glance. “They gave us the house and car. Are we supposed to ask them for kid support too? Isn’t that a bit too much?”
If that won’t work and this won’t work, Chen Yao didn’t dare leave Lin Nan’s side to go job hunting, fearing her current anxiety might lead her to make some impulsive decisions.
He stood up, heading toward the kitchen. “Let’s make some lunch first. We can figure this out after we eat.”
Honestly, there wasn’t much to figure out. If they didn’t want to rely on their parents, the only option was to find a good-paying job.
But Lin Nan had zero inclination to think about starting a business now. When she saw Chen Yao going to cook, she headed straight upstairs to their bedroom.
Sitting in the quiet room, she curled up with her knees hugged to her chest, staring blankly at the pristine white walls.
The thought of having a baby… she was completely resisting it.
Even normal girls probably wouldn’t want to get tied down with children in their twenties, sacrificing their quality of life as a couple.
It was fine if the kid was easy; if it turned out to be a little troublemaker, rebellious and stubborn, then it’d be a whole different ball game.
Lin Nan recalled her mischievous childhood. If someday her kid was out on the street throwing a tantrum over a toy, crying and refusing to get up, she’d probably lose it and slap them without a second thought.
After all, she couldn’t help but feel disgusted whenever she saw kids like that on the street.
If her kid became a delinquent in high school and dropped out… What if it was a daughter who ended up pregnant in middle school…
Terrifying.
Lin Nan shivered.
And of course, there was the money issue.
Normally, raising a child while they attended public school without tutoring, not going on trips, wouldn’t cost much.
But Lin Nan had possibilities, and naturally, she wanted to give her kid a better future: somewhere nice with good teachers. Even her mother was willing to pay a hefty sum to transfer her school when she was in junior high.
Absentmindedly, Lin Nan gently stroked her flat belly, unable to feel the life that was growing inside her at all.
Suddenly, cute, well-behaved kids from short videos popped into her mind.
“Honey, lunch is ready.” When Chen Yao walked into the house to call Lin Nan for lunch, he was taken aback to find her smiling gently.
