Yan Shuyu was going to say no, but a look at the hopeful face on the little kiddo and she couldnât help but nod. âEm⦠alright.â
Zhang Yuanjia had already bounced up and down three times in front of her to express his excitement. Her instant son cocked his little head and pondered aloud, âHow are we going to decorate our house?â
Yan Shuyu finally looked at him. âYou want to decorate our house too?â
This little kiddo was not deterred at all by hassle.
Zhang Yuanjia said to her matter-of-factly, âOf course we need to decorate for a holiday. Many of our classmates had already started doing that.â
After Yan Shuyu heard that, she lamented how fortunate kids nowadays were. Back when she was going to school, the parents didnât even know what Christmas was. But as her son had already told her that other kiddos were decorating for Christmas at home, then they probably should do the same as well.
Yan Shuyu finally agreed to it. âOkay, you can decorate however you want.â
Yan Shuyu had given her blessing generously, but little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao looked at her blankly. âYuanbao doesnât know either. This is also Yuanbaoâs first time celebrating Christmas.â
Zhang Yuanbao wasnât going to have a Christmas until this year, at 6 years old. That was somewhat sad compared to the other kids his age. Yan Shuyu could understand the reason behind that.
Her instant son had lost his father when he was just 3 or 4 years old, and his birth mother wasnât someone very resourceful. With the exception of some difficult days when she first eloped, she was kept home by her little husband afterward. Life wasnât exactly grand, but at least, she didnât have to worry about food or clothing. As such, when she lost the backbone of the family, the two of them quickly became down on their luck and fell into poverty. The original owner, with no skills to speak of but had to prop up the family, finally decided to do something with her looks.
Even though the original owner made fairly decent income during the two years that she was working in the night scene, that must have been difficult. She wanted to wait for the right person to show up, but she looked down on those less refined bosses that usually visited her workplace. Yan Shuyu could only imagine how exhausting it was to deal with those bosses without letting them take advantage of her. Naturally, she would not have the time to tend to other unnecessary details in life.
When the original owner decided to quit her job as the âmodel of the night sceneâ and got her much more Tall, Big, and Classy job at a high-end hotel, the mother and son could finally enjoy a more peaceful life. But, that didnât last too long before she had transmigrated over.
All in all, it wasnât easy to be the adult and being the child was no better. As she thought about all the hardships that her instant son had been through with his mother, Yan Shuyuâs compassion overflowed. In the heat of the moment, she volunteered herself. âOkay, I will decorate for you.ân/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
***
Christmas this year fell on a Sunday. The boss had already called dibs and made plans to spend Christmas with Yan Shuyu, just the two of them. On Christmas Eve, she was decorating the apartment with the little kiddo.
The mother and son kept themselves busy until after 10 AM before they were done with wrapping ribbons and balloons. They havenât even put on the lights yet when they heard knocking at the door. Yan Shuyu opened the door and looked at the father and son in surprise. âHow come you two are here already?â
The boss had not contacted her today, so she just assumed that heâd be working overtime as usual and only come over to join them in the evening.
Zhou Qinhe smiled. Before he could say anything, his son squeezed over very familiarly and greeted Yan Shuyu sweetly, âGood morning, Aunty Yan.â
Hearing the familiar voice, Zhang Yuanjia, who had been running around the house like a chicken with its head cut off to decorate the house, came running over. âXiao Yi, Uncle Zhou.â
When he squeezed his way to the front door, he saw the mini Christmas tree sitting next to Uncle Zhou. He was pleasantly surprised. âThis Christmas tree is so pretty!! Did you bring it, Uncle Zhou?â
Uncle Zhou smiled and nodded. âYour mom told me that the two of you are decorating the apartment, so I thought this might be helpful.â