Chapter 47 - Settling In (2)

“I have another question. Are there any semi-decent places for rent nearby? The remodeling can easily take up to three months and then another one to two months to air it out. That’s not a short period of time.”

Shu Yan was definitely asking the right person. Manager Yang was a City Nan native and has a wide network. Sure enough, he happened to know a man who could help with this kind of request.

It so happened that Shu Yan had set an appointment with the man in the afternoon to go look at some rental properties after she dropped off the birth certificates and immunization records at the sales office.

“Thank you so much,” said Shu Yan to Manager Wang as she handed over $500 to him. “Please see what you can do for us on the school’s end. I know you might have to treat someone to lunch and wouldn’t want you to have to spend any money out of pocket.”

That was, of course, way more than what’s necessary for a few meals, and the rest would be net profit for Manager Yang. If he could have everything taken care of without spending a penny, that’s fine as well. Shu Yan was merely spending money to buy herself the piece of mind.

And the money worked wonders for sure. Manager Yang said he’d get back to her by tomorrow and hinted that her child would be able to start going to school in the next few days.

After everything was taken care of, it was already early afternoon. Both of her children were still at the hotel, and Shu Yan wanted to go back and check on them. She left quickly after she set a time with Manager Yang. Shu Yan rushed inside the room when she didn’t hear any noises from the outside and saw that both kids were asleep in bed and the crackers on the night table were mostly gone. Shu Yan felt a pang of heartache all of a sudden.

Many females said they wanted to be single parents in 2019 and even more of them encouraged those who wanted kids but not get married to follow through with it. But what they didn’t know was the heartaches that came with being a single mother. Raising kids was not the same as having pets. The responsibilities were entirely different. It entailed a lot more than just clothing and feeding them. The amount of energy and resources that went into it was immeasurable.

Shu Yan was glad that her two children would be attending grade school and kindergarten; otherwise, she just might lose her mind.

She didn’t have time to take a break but went straight to prepping and cooking lunch, then she woke up her kids to have lunch. After she finished doing dishes, she still had to quickly do the laundry from yesterday. It didn’t seem like a lot to do, but 2-3 hours had passed when all was said and done.

“You two continue to stay in the bedroom in the afternoon. Mom needs to go take care of something. After that, I’ll take you guys out to have some fun, alright?” She got to let them out sometime. She couldn’t just leave them cooped up in the room.

She handed the birth certificates and immunization records over to Manager Wang, but she wouldn’t feel at ease until they have actually started school. Right now, all she could do was wait on news from Manager Yang.

His friend was there as well. He was a chubby, not-too-tall middle-aged man.

“Hi, I am a friend of Xiao Wang. You can call me Lao Hu. He mentioned that you are looking for a rental. What do you have in mind?”

“If it’s a traditional house, I’d like it to be a single-family unit. If it’s an apartment building, I’d prefer a private kitchen and bathroom. Something newer. That’s about it.”

She couldn’t stay at those community housing, especially for a single woman with two children. Others would ask about their father. If she said they were divorced, they’d ask why. If she didn’t elaborate, they’d think she has issues and all sorts of other speculations. If she did elaborate, others would feel sympathy for her, or to make fun of her behind her back. She didn’t care much about that, but not the two children. All the gossip would have a lot of negative impact on the children.

“Oh, and preferably somewhere close to City Xi Grade School,” added Shu Yan.