After she had gotten home from work, Yan Shuyu immediately shared the good news of having a fancy free lunch tomorrow with her son and got a cheer from him. Then, the next morning, she was woken up by her impatient son.
Zhang Yuanbao had inherited his mom's personality of wanting to look good. That was not usually obvious until it was an important day like today. As soon as the little kiddo had woken up, he sat on the bed, troubled, and asked, "What should I wear today?"
Yan Shuyu took a look at the time. It was already 8:50 AM. Even though it was the weekend, considering that her son has always been going to bed early and waking up early, it was plenty thoughtful of him to wait until this hour to wake her up. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. Without thinking, she said, "How about that new yellow sweater? Plus jeans and little boots? You will look handsome."
She hasn't gone shopping recently, but the weather has been getting colder and Zhang Yuanjia could no longer fit into his clothes from a year ago. She has been buying him clothes from the internet. Her instant son was delicate and handsome, so as long as she bought the correct size, everything looked good on him.
Hearing his mom's suggestion, the little kiddo, being a man of action, immediately climbed off the bed and pitter pattered over to the closet in his slippers.
Ever since Yan Shuyu had learned to fold clothes, she had been putting the little kiddo's clothes in the bottom drawers. That way he would be able to pull out his own clothes.
Zhang Yuanjia was quite used to doing this by now. Without messing up the clothes in the drawers, he quickly retrieved the sweater and jeans. They were both new. But in consideration that kids' skins were delicate and wanting to make sure the clothes would feel comfortable on him, Yan Shuyu had already prewashed and air dried them. Now the clothes have the scents of laundry detergent and sun.
Seeing that the little kiddo laid his clothes out on the bed, Yan Shuyu nodded with approval. "This yellow would make you look even whiter. It'd look good on you. So that's set."
Zhang Yuanjia wasn't unhappy about his new clothes, and he was never one who cared too much about materialistic goods. But this time he was a bit hesitant and asked, "Mom, do you think Xiao Yi would come in suit and tie?"
Yan Shuyu thought about it for a bit and felt that there was a good likelihood of that. The little male lead had always come to the shop in a formal suit and looking lofty. She nodded. "Probably."
This was the first time the little boy felt a bit lack of confidence. "Then is this appropriate for Yuanbao?"
"Of course. You two have different styles. Once we get to the musical institution this afternoon, you will be the most handsome little boy," praised Yan Shuyu shamelessly. Seeing that the little kiddo still wasn't too convinced after she was done, she leaned in and whispered into his ears, "Let me tell you something. Zhou Yi and his dad always wear matching father-son outfits. We can have mother-son outfits today too. We can instakill them with our looks."
Zhang Yuanjia recalled that Uncle Zhou was also always wearing a suit, indeed the same style as his little buddy Zhou Yi, and sorta got what his mom meant by father-son outfits. But then, another question popped up into his mind. "Mom, do we have mother-son outfits?"
"Of course we do," said Yan Shuyu as she excitedly went over to the closet and pulled out her pink sweater. She bought this one last time she went shopping. The original owner probably felt that she needed to look sweet-tempered and gentle, so the closet was chalked full of marriageable-style clothes. As much as she was pretty and looked good in anything, Yan Shuyu still wanted to try out different styles over time.
But as she was poor, she hadn't bought too much clothes recently. So this was her only sweater for the time being.
Even though they were different in colors, their style looked similar enough. Yan Shuyu placed her pink sweater next to her son's yellow one and forced a, "Look, this is our mother-son outfits~"
Zhang Yuanjia cocked his head and questioned life. "Mom?"
"Don't worry. Mommy has jeans too." There were three or four pairs of jeans in the closet. Yan Shuyu pulled out the one with the shade closest to Zhang Yuanjia's and placed them next to each other. Zhang Yuanjia was either convinced or resigned, he finally accepted the mother-son outfits setting and they both started changing.
After they were done changing, Yan Shuyu dragged her son in front of the mirror and shamelessly bragged some more. "Look, we are both in sweaters and jeans. Don't we look harmonious and eye-catching? Everybody will know we are mother and son when we walk out."
Zhang Yuanjia looked at himself and his mother standing still in the mirror. Their bright colored sweaters made them look as white as jade. Just this glowingly white skin alone was enough to make the two of them look like mother and son. The little kiddo, finally pleased, nodded and said, "Mommy looks both cool and pretty today."
"Such a sweet little mouth," said Yan Shuyu as she pinched his cheek a little. "Let me tell you something else in private. There will be games at the musical institution today as well. Since we are dressed up casually, we can for sure beat little Zhou Yi and do very well."
Zhang Yuanjia nodded in agreement. Little boys are always competitive.
By now, he has finally gotten over the fact that the male lead has suits and he didn't. But Yan Shuyu had made a mental note. She couldn't only change her own style. Her son was so handsome and could totally give the male lead style a try. The little male lead was so delicate that he has the kind of beauty that was above gender when he wore a suit. Her son was, on the other hand, cute and handsome and would for sure look like a little prince walking straight out of a fairy tale. In order to better live up to his status of the future piano prince, it wasn't too early for her to start preparing for it now.
But there weren't a lot of kids' suits available, and she'd imagine it'd be difficult to find the right size. She must remember to ask Manager Yang sometime and see if there were any shops around that could custom make them. Her son's birthday was coming up and it'd be a good surprise for him.
After Yan Shuyu had made a mental note of that, she picked up the little kiddo's hand and said, "Let's go get some breakfast first. Then mommy will come back home to put some makeup on while you practice the piano a bit, okay?"
Zhang Yuanjia nodded docilely. "Okay."
And just like that, the mother and son duo walked across the streets holding hands, had breakfast across the street, and went about their own businesses after they got home.
Yan Shuyu spent almost an hour applying her makeup. Sometimes when she was lazy, she would only apply foundation, color in her brow, and add on lipstick before going to work. But she has time today and there would be lots of activities, so she spent a lot of time on really applying her makeup. She even picked a deep red color that wasn't too appropriate for work.
After applying the lipstick, she was so pretty that she could make a man lose his kingdom for her. Yan Shuyu spent a little more time appreciating her beauty. When she looked at the time again, she noticed that it was already almost 11 AM.
Even though the boss hadn't reminded her that he was almost there, Yan Shuyu didn't think that boss was the kind who'd be late given all the servants and chauffeur that he have and that he wouldn't have to do much to be on time. She stood up and announced decisively, "Darling, let's get ready and go downstairs."
As his mother had spent an hour applying makeup, Zhang Yuanjia had also spent an hour practicing on his piano and was beginning to get tired. Hearing his mother, he quickly leapt off of the chair and put away his digital piano.
Yan Shuyu had also packed up their backpack and happily headed downstairs with her son.
She went down almost 5 minutes early and had expected that they'd have to wait for a little bit, but as soon as the two of them walked out of their building, her phone rang and it was from Zhou Qinhe. "I parked at the 6 o'clock position. I put my blinkers on, can you see me?"
The boss's car was as attention-grabbing as usual. Yan Shuyu looked around for a little and locked onto the luxurious car with its emergency lights going off. She still didn't recognize what kind of car it was, but as far as its being luxurious and not low-key, that was doubtless the boss's car.
Yan Shuyu, with her phone in her left hand and her son in her right, walked toward the car. At the same time, she said in a surprised tone, "Have you been waiting long? I thought we came down before our meeting time already."
"No, we just got here as well," said Zhou Qinhe with a smile. "Parking isn't easy over here, so I didn't walk up to you."
Yan Shuyu didn't feel that she was so exalted that she needed the boss to walk up to her for the few steps over to his car. Quite contrarily, she was very surprised. From what the boss said, it sounded like he drove himself today. She seemed to recall that kids were not allowed to sit in the passenger seat. So when she got into the car, should she sit in the back with her son or politely take the passenger seat?
Once she walked up to the car, she realized that she had overthought it. Zhou Yi was, indeed, sitting properly in the back seat. And, next to his car seat, there was another car seat. The two car seats had taken up the entire back seat. If she didn't want to sit in the passenger seat, then her only other option would be the trunk.
Naturally, Yan Shuyu wasn't entirely happy about that, "You even prepared an extra child's seat. How thoughtful..."
Zhou Qinhe got out of the car and personally put Zhang Yuanjia into the seat and buckled him up as he explained nonchalantly, "Neither one of them are over 7 years old. It's safer for them to be in child's seats."
As the boss was being so thoughtful and with her son's best interest in mind, Yan Shuyu has even less room to complain. She would just have to be displeased about that.
That was when the little male lead tried very hard to lean over from inside the car and said, "Hi, Aunty Yan."
"Hi, Xiao Yi," said Yan Shuyu as she bent down to see him. She seemed to have noticed the little male lead carrying something in his hand. She quickly walked over to the other side and Zhou Yi opened up the window from inside the car and handed a rose over to her. "This is for you, Aunty Yan. Its' from my dad and I."
"You and your dad?" Yan Shuyu was pleasantly surprised and at the same time, a bit baffled. She felt that one rose was very out of character for the boss's nouveau riche's style. If he was going to give her flowers, shouldn't it be like a bundle of 99 roses?
Wait, what? Why did the male lead and his dad gave her a rose for no reason?
The little male lead went and explained, "This is the prettiest flower in our garden. I picked it out myself and dad cut it off. It's a gift for you, Aunty Yan."
Yan Shuyu looked at the flower that was trimmed and wrapped prettier than one from a florist and thought to herself that the boss's employees at home were certainly very talented. They even knew how to package a rose.
But a gift like that certainly made her very happy. "I like it a lot. Thank you so much."
As the saying goes, pretty flowers always go with pretty women. Shameless Yan Shuyu, on the other hand, naturally thought that only a fiery red, delicate, and alluring red rose could go along with her incredible beauty. Most importantly, this was from the boss's garden. He must have only given it to her because he found the rose pretty and that there was no special meaning associated with it. Naturally, she very much appreciated it.
With the flower in hand, Yan Shuyu happily climbed into the passenger seat. As all her attention had been diverted by the rose, she was no longer dwelling over having to sit in the passenger seat. In her previous life, her boyfriend was just a student and was very limited when it came to being romantic. Which was why the hint of romance suggested by a flower that was hand picked struck her immediately. Yan Shuyu liked it so much that she couldn't let go of it. She took a lot of pictures of it. When they arrived at their destination, she even carried it with her out of the car.
Zhou Qinhe, who was completely forgotten: "......"