Chapter 18 - Picking Up The Kids (3)

When they heard the sound from the motorcycle, the two children look up with curiosity. Old Mrs. Ye wouldn’t let them go over to the Shu’s, so they didn’t recognize this uncle of theirs.

They might not know him, but old Mrs Ye did. She put down what she was working on and greeted him with passion.

“Aunty, please don’t trouble yourself. I came as a favor to someone else. Zhiqiang was too busy with his business, and my cousin has been sick the last couple of days. School is about to start in the next couple of days. and it so happened that I have a friend who has a car and is heading into the city. We thought we could trouble him to take the kids into the city.” Shu Jianbo didn’t take a seat. The bus stop was about 20 minutes from where they were. He worried that they’d miss the last bus if they didn’t hurry.

“Neither Zhiqiang nor his wife had told me about this. This is so sudden,” mumbled old Mrs. Ye. She didn’t care if the granddaughter left, but the grandson was like her lifeline. Even dinner didn’t taste as good if she didn’t see him for a day. Once he left, she wouldn’t be able to see him till the end of the year.

Old Mrs. Ye grumbled and packed up their stuff at the same time. Ye Jingjing didn’t have a lot of clothes; everything of hers fit into one bag. Ye Tianbao, on the other hand, had much more – all sorts of clothes, shoes, toys, snacks. He had two full bags plus another denim backpack.

“Should we give Zhiqiang a call?” Grandpa Ye was a little worried.

Neither Zhiqiang nor his wife had said anything but suddenly sent Shu Jianbo over to pick the children up. Was everything okay?

“Never mind that. Round trip to make a call would take more than 10 minutes. They will miss the last bus. Plus, it’s Principal Shu who came to pick up the children, what could go wrong with that?” said Grandma Ye as she hugged her precious grandson. “Aiyo. Our Tianbo is going to go back to mom and dad’s. Grandma doesn’t want you to go!”

“Then I won’t go. I will stay and keep grandma company.” Instead of his mom and dad, Ye Tianbao much prefer to stay with his grandma and grandpa who always let him have his way.

“You can’t do that. Our Tianbo is a city boy and will need to go to a kindergarten in the city so you can become the number one scholar in the future.”

“Okay, I will become number one scholar for grandma.” Ye Tianbao patted his own chest and made a promise to his grandmother.

The two elders wanted to take the children to the bus stop, but after Shu Jianbo had loaded up all their bags, there were only room enough for the two children.

“It’s almost 2. Uncle, Aunty, I am going to take off now.”

***

Ye Zhiqiang held his hand over his stomach. His entire body ached, but nobody could figure out what was wrong with him. He knew he had ran into professionals this time.

“Qiang-ge, are you alright?” Li Jiaojiao had her checkup as well. She felt a little discomfort around her stomach after the scare. She wanted to make sure her child was alright.

“I am fine. What about you?” Ye Zhiqiang looked more relaxed when he looked at Li Jiaojiao.

“Qiang-ge, I am so scared!” Li Jiaojiao threw herself into his chest and so happened to bump into where it hurt the most. She quickly backed off after she heard his soft moaning nose. “I thought you said you weren’t hurt. Where was it that hurt? Let me see.” Li Jiaojiao rubbed his chest and her heart ached for him, “How could she do that? Having so many people to beat you up. That was so awful of her!”