Chapter 27

“A business trip?”

“Xiaoyu, did you find a job?”

“…Not exactly,” Ye Xiaoyu explained. “I’ve always set my own tasks. This time, I just need to travel for work—so, in a way, it’s a ‘business trip.’”

She originally planned to leave Lele with her sister, but Yang Qian offered to take care of him for two days. Even Yang Granny and another mom from their neighborhood agreed to help. Most importantly, Lele preferred staying with Haohau.

Ye Xiaoyu had already spoken to her new friend Yang Qian and Lele’s friend He Haoyu. During the day, Lele would go to school with Haohau, and at night, he would stay at their house.

Under normal circumstances, there shouldn’t be any issues. But just in case, if anything happened, Yang Qian would contact Ye Ermei and ask her to keep an eye on Lele.

Single mothers had it tough when starting a business, but there was no other choice. Hiring a temporary nanny felt even less secure.

Ye Ermei frowned with concern. “What kind of work requires you to go out of town? Can’t you skip this trip?”

“I can’t.” Ye Xiaoyu couldn’t exactly explain what she was going to do. Ye Ermei was tough but indecisive—she often backed down in the face of challenges. If she knew the details, she’d probably be scared to death. So Ye Xiaoyu downplayed it. “I’m not going alone. You know Alai, right? I hired him as a bodyguard, and he’s coming with me. It won’t take long—just two days, in and out.”

Hearing that Alai was going along, Ye Ermei breathed a little easier. Alai wasn’t just Zhao Qing’s friend; they were also somewhat related. That was why he was initially introduced to help Ye Xiaoyu with things. His size alone was reassuring.

“Two days?”

“Yes, two days. I’ll leave Sunday morning and be back Tuesday afternoon.”

Ye Ermei was still uneasy but knew her little sister was stubborn. There was no arguing with her. She sighed and said, “Fine, I can’t talk you out of it. Just be careful. We’ll watch over Lele. If necessary, he can stay with me—I’ll take time off from the stall for two days.”

“Sis, you’re the best!”

“Cut the sweet talk.”

Since it was getting late, Ye Xiaoyu and Lele stayed over at Ye Ermei’s place for the night. The next morning, they caught the earliest bus to take Lele to school.

By the time they arrived, it was 7:30 AM—neither too early nor too late. There were already many students coming and going at the school gates.

In this era, students were quite independent, and safety awareness wasn’t as strong. Many elementary students commuted alone or in small groups, while only younger children in preschool or first grade were typically accompanied by parents

Fearing that clingy little Lele might be reluctant to part, Ye Xiaoyu had prepared a whole set of persuasive words in her mind. But considering how sensible Lele was, she decided to act even more worried and sad than he was.

Sure enough, when the little one saw his mother looking troubled, he started comforting her. As they reached the school gate, he straightened his back, waved his hand, and said, “Mommy, I’m going to school now. Bye-bye!”

Ye Xiaoyu bit her handkerchief. “Boohoo… But what if Mommy misses you?”

Little Lele sighed, hugged his mother, hesitated for a moment, then kissed her. Speaking in a serious tone, he said, “I’ll be home in the afternoon. Mommy, you have to eat well at home, okay?”

Their roles had completely reversed, forming a stark contrast with the other parents and students around them.

Other parents:

“…Wait, you can do that?”

A veteran security guard at the school gate commented, “I’ve been standing watch at this elementary school for over ten years. On the first day of school, I’ve seen kids bawling, parents smacking their butts with shoe soles, and children bouncing with excitement, but this… this is a first. Not bad, parents might want to take notes.”

However, this method probably only works for obedient or tsundere-type kids, so parents should consider carefully before trying it.

A younger security guard, Qin Yang, put down his newspaper, picked up his insulated mug, and took a sip of his herbal tea.

The veteran security guard asked, “You don’t agree?”

“No, it’s just that Uncle Li is here, so my shift is over.” Qin Yang stood up.

“…Young people should work more.” The veteran security guard muttered, not entirely without reason. Their security job was easy, but the pay wasn’t high. Many were willing to work extra hours to earn more, but this young guy—though the youngest among them—had already been here for over four years and always worked precisely eight hours, not a minute more.

Ye Xiaoyu wasn’t entirely faking it. Every morning, she would send Lele off and pick him up at five in the afternoon. Without her little one relying on her during the day, she truly felt a little lost, occasionally fidgeting with the loose string on her sleeve.

Besides, in this era, teachers didn’t require parents to tutor homework, assign craft projects, or bombard them with messages in parent groups. Being a parent now was way easier compared to the future.

She had checked Lele’s workbook—he could count from 1 to 100 and write numbers, though “8” was a bit tricky for him. He always ended up drawing two very round circles stacked on top of each other. His spacing between digits in two-digit and three-digit numbers was also too wide.

He was learning pinyin letters too, already grasping simple ones like a, b, c, d, p, m, and f. But more complex ones like ai, ei, ui, and ao hadn’t been introduced yet—especially ui and iu, which he kept mixing up.

Lele could now recognize his own name and those of a few friends, though he couldn’t write them yet.

He was adapting well to school, even better than in kindergarten. He made many friends, learned several nursery rhymes, and had more frequent smiles.

Seizing the opportunity, Ye Xiaoyu suggested, “Lele is a big kid now, and big kids sleep by themselves.”

Lele clung to her arm without saying a word, pretending to be asleep.

Ye Xiaoyu didn’t push him, but the next morning, she “accidentally” muttered to herself, “I wonder if Haohau sleeps by himself…”

Sure enough, at school, Lele couldn’t resist asking his classmates.

One said he slept with his parents. Another said she slept with her grandma. But most claimed they slept alone—whether true or not, it had to be true.

Yang Haoyu went even further: “I’ve slept alone since I was born!”

Another child countered, “I slept alone in my mommy’s belly!”

“My dad slept alone when he got married!”

“My mom slept alone when she was born!”

“My grandma—”

The soon-to-be elementary schoolers started a bizarre competition, leaving the preschool teacher speechless. She mentally noted to remind them not to repeat these tall tales to their parents.

When Lele got home, he voluntarily announced that he would sleep alone that night. He even excitedly recounted his classmates’ outrageous statements, recalling them with remarkable accuracy.

Ye Xiaoyu’s expression mirrored that of the teacher. She had anticipated this outcome—if she had miscalculated, it just meant Lele would transition to sleeping alone a bit later. But what she hadn’t expected was how hilarious children’s logic could be. Thank goodness smartphones weren’t widespread yet—otherwise, their silly antics would have been recorded in HD for eternity.

Suppressing her laughter, she took Lele to his new bedroom.

Without him knowing, his children’s room had already been secretly set up. She had gotten his approval beforehand, on the condition that it could be restored to its original state when they left.

Opening the door, Ye Xiaoyu beamed and added a dramatic voice effect: “Dun-dun-dun-dun! Dun-dun!”

The ceiling and walls were no longer plain white. Since time was short, she hadn’t used wallpaper or paint, just decorated with cartoon stickers of the sun, rainbow, and clouds to avoid large blank spaces. The bedsheets were light green, featuring Lele’s favorite character—Sun Wukong. A matching blue pillow and a plush Sun Wukong doll were also on the bed.

The wall lamp now had a rainbow-shaped lampshade, and the curtains were changed to a light green shade. The wardrobe had been replaced with a larger, matching one. A new bookshelf, study desk, chair, and fan were added. Beside the bookshelf was an open storage rack filled with baskets—two of them packed with Lele’s toys.

Lele was overjoyed. He threw his arms around Ye Xiaoyu and exclaimed, “Mommy, I love you!”

Then he pounced onto the bed, hugging his Sun Wukong plushie and rolling around in excitement.

Ye Xiaoyu’s eyes curved with a smile. “Mommy loves you too.”

And just like that, Lele no longer resisted sleeping alone.

Some things simply needed a sense of ceremony. When Ye Xiaoyu helped him hang a nameplate with “Ye Lexuan” on the door, he felt an immense sense of pride.

Of course, even though Lele now had his own room, their bedtime stories and mother-son bonding time remained intact. This reassured Lele—just a little.

To tell bedtime stories, Ye Xiaoyu bought many books to enhance her knowledge.

Besides Journey to the West, she also got Fable Stories, 100,000 Whys, Aesop’s Fables, Andersen’s Fairy Tales, One Thousand and One Nights, Gulliver’s Travels, and many more.

For foreign classics, she purchased bilingual editions. Since young children have a great talent for languages, wasting this opportunity would be a shame. Learning in such an entertaining and educational environment was both easy and enjoyable.

In his new room, Lele hugged his pillow and slept soundly.

Ye Xiaoyu gave him a goodnight kiss, but her little one, who could sleep through a bus ride, didn’t wake up. She walked to the door, said, “Good night,” and turned off the light.

Back in her own room, she found that sleeping alone now felt like something was missing.

“…”

Wuwuwu, where was her little handkerchief?

Ye Xiaoyu tossed and turned in bed, rolling around just like Lele did when he first saw his children’s room. They were truly mother and son.

The next morning, Ye Lexuan, ever the punctual one, knocked on his mother’s door, waking up the lazy little “kid” inside. Ye Xiaoyu could only comfort herself—her child just didn’t need as much sleep.

After morning exercises and breakfast, Ye Xiaoyu took Lele to his preschool class. Lele proudly bragged to his classmates that he was now a “big kid” with his own room.

Soon, Sunday arrived.

After dropping Lele off at school as agreed, Ye Xiaoyu packed a bag with a change of clothes and toys for a visit to Yang Qian. Then, she hurried to the airport