Chapter 67 - Chatting with the other parents (3)

When she woke up in the morning, Shu Yan felt that she wouldn’t be able to go on. Dieting was painful; working out was even more painful. So why was she trying to lose weight? No, she couldn’t keep up like this. She would go and buy a mirror in a little bit. Watching her progress would motivate her.

After seeing her kid walk inside the kindergarten, Shu Yan purposefully stayed behind a little bit to chat with the other parents of Ye Tianbao’s schoolmates about the after-school program.

“Oh, that? I went to check it out. It was all taught by foreigners. They’d teach through playing games and the kids liked it a lot. Even I can say a few words already. More importantly, it was located right next to the kindergarten and the teachers here can just bring the children over after school and we just have to come and pick them up after work. And the kids can go there on the weekend too. What else are they doing at home anyway? Might as well just play at school and learn at the same time. Perfect!” The one who spoke was the same grandmother who said she’d go talk to management yesterday.

Shu Yan: Boy, your tune sure changed quickly.

She asked a few others and most of them had registered. There were a few others who were in the wait-and-see-how-things-pan-out boat with Shu Yan. Shu Yan went to check out the after-school program. The atmosphere was quite good, and she also heard that they didn’t require the students to memorize everything by rote learning. And the kids also seemed to be happy learning there.

“The teachers only have the kids’ best interest in mind, and we shouldn’t hinder them as parents. You should sign up too and spend some time learning with the kids on the weekend and grow with them,” another parent said with a smile.

She had already signed her child up to the kindergarten, so she should follow the other parents’ lead. She shouldn’t let her child be singled out; that’s not a good thing for a child.

The after-school program cost $100 a month. That was fairly high for the standard back then. The four-legged, gold-eating monster certainly lived up to its reputation.

***

As usual, Shu Yan swung by the new apartment to check on the progress of the remodeling before going home. In the afternoon, she went over to Lao Hu’s to find out what he has for on the store front’s end. Lao Hu’s door was closed. Shu Yan knocked, but nobody was home. She figured he was out and about. Lie was so inconvenient without cellphones. Otherwise, all these things could be taken care of with simple phone calls.

Shu Yan brought home groceries for dinner on her way back and also picked up a full-length mirror while she was at it. She had a simple lunch, took a nap, then began her daily burpee exercise routine. It felt much more difficult today than the last couple of days, especially when her thighs and stomach were sore. Shu Yan gritted her teeth and followed through with it. She was heaving in 10 minutes’ time before she switched to cooling down.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she had already lost quite a bit of weight since the first day. Shu Yan turned around. She wasn’t quite there yet. She must persevere and prevail.

She cleaned up around the house, did the laundry, washed and chopped up the vegetables. It was already 4 PM. Shu Yan had one hand on her waist as she lamented about the difficulties of being a housewife. She must find a store front quickly and launch her own business. She needed to be relieved from these trivial chores. Such a golden period of time with golden opportunities. Wasting her time on these household chores was like wasting away her life.

She was going to pick up her kid from the kindergarten at 4 PM originally; but now that the kid had signed up for the after-school program, she could go at 5 PM. That was a great help for the parents.

“Mom, the teacher praised me today!” said Ye Tianbao proudly.

“Oh, yeah? And why did the teacher praise you?” Shu Yan saw the little red flower on Ye Tianbao’s forehead and smiled lightly.

“The teacher said I had already memorized all the vocabulary words from yesterday!” said Ye Tianbao as he thrusted his little chest out. He couldn't be prouder of himself.

“Our Tianbao is so smart. Here, you’ve earned yourself a large chicken leg!” Shu Yan squatted down in front of him and studied his little red flower closely. “The little red flower is so pretty. You should work on earning more of them in the future!”

“I shall!” said Ye Tianbao as he lifted his little face, full of self-confidence.

Sometimes it’s easy to raise a child. This was why a good environment was very important. Shu Yan felt that this kindergarten was quite good. Ye Tianbao has been much more polite and tidier than before.