Chapter 59 - Weight Loss (2)

After lunch, Ye Jingjing helped packed up the dishes and Shu Yan didn’t tell her not to. Many parents felt that kids need to focus only on school work and not be bothered by housework at all. More importantly, they also worried that the kids’ “help” would end up creating more work for them. That was how Shu Yan’s family was like. No matter how busy or tired her parents were, they would never let herself or her brother help out with housework. They’d be scolded for preparing dinner. Over time, Shu Yan and her brother had got into the habit of not doing housework.

The experience that Shu Yan learned from herself and her brother was not to assume that the kids wouldn’t be able to do a good job. How’d one even know if they wouldn’t even let the kids do them at all? Of course, she wasn’t suggesting to let the kids take care of all the housework either, but to let them do what they could and help where they could. That way, the kids would learn that it wasn’t easy to be parents and also not be lazy and ignorant about housework and cooking after they’ve grown up.

“Alright, why don’t you go take an hour nap? Mom will wake you up when it’s time to go back to school.” Shu Yan dried her hands and lit up the incense to repel mosquitos. City Nan had a ridiculous amount of mosquitos, even worse in this older small district. The two kids have delicate skin and each insect bite would end up to be a big lump. It was impossible for them to sleep without incense.

The sun was right smack in the middle of the sky in the afternoon and Shu Yan dared not go outside. She decided to go take a nap herself as well, but worrying about oversleeping and making Ye Jingjing be late for school, she woke up about every ten minutes or so and felt even worse than not napping at all. She should probably get an alarm clock; it was too difficult without one.

After Ye Jingjing had gone back to school, Shu Yan was the only one left at home. She put a straw mat on the ground and started doing burpees on it. It slipped after a couple sets, so she decided to do it on the ground directly. She had done this for a while in the past, so she knew the proper way of doing it. She rested for a few seconds between each set. Her thighs started to get sore after five sets, and she started thinking about giving up.

She already has kids, a house, and money. Was it really necessary to go through the pain of losing weight? She should give up. What’s wrong with laying down? What’s wrong with enjoying yummy food? As long as she gave up on the idea of losing weight, her life could be so much easier.

No! Shu Yan shook off those dangerous thoughts. She started thinking about all sorts of pretty dresses. She wanted to become so pretty and beautiful that those back at City Xi would go blind from just looking at her. She must change herself and look like a real 25 year old, so she could have a real life.

She did burpees for five minutes and wanted to just lay down on the ground and not get up again. She sipped a little bit of water, took a two minute break, and resumed exercising.

“I must prevail. Victory is mine. I want to wear dresses. I want to wear cheongsam. I want good-for-nothing men to go blind from looking at how much I shine. I want compliments when I go pick up the kids – ‘oh mi, you don’t look like you have kids…’”

After ten minutes, Shu Yan’s legs were trembling, and sweat soaked through her clothes. Okay, ten minutes was good enough for today. One couldn’t push too hard when one first started out. It could injure the muscles. She needed to increase the intensity gradually.

Having rested a little, it was already 3 PM in the afternoon and the sun wasn’t as deadly as before. Shu Yan decided to go look for Lao Hu.

She had a preliminary idea of her future business. Of the four major areas – food, clothing, living, and transportation – living and transportation required too much capital, she didn’t have what it would take. Food and clothing had a lower barrier to entry with high return. Selling food out of a stall was easy, but she has no skills, so clothing was the only option left.

A direction by itself wasn’t enough. One would need connections and that’s where a local like Lao Hu came in.

Last time, before Lao Hu took off, he gave her an address that wasn’t far from the sales office. That area has not yet been developed and were mostly old houses. One of the courtyard’s doors was wide open, so Shu Yan knew that must be Lao Hu’s place.