Chapter 8: Sickness
Tang Jinyu sat there and blinked: "It's snowing, does my brother still play basketball outside?"
Teacher Xia smiled and said, "Yes, he used to play basketball the most, his school playground will be cleaned up by someone…" He coughed and didn't go on. He turned away from the topic and took the child to learn a new song.
It took a while for Tang Jinyu to realize that Teacher Xia avoided the topic because he was afraid that he would be sad.
After all, he is the only child in the entire apartment complex who has not gone to school. Tang Jinyu actually thinks that he can go to kindergarten now, he is now in good health and no longer has a problem with walking or eating.
Although he occasionally stumbles with his speech, he has to speak slowly for his words to come out more smoothly. As for other aspects, he doesn't think he is any different from an ordinary kid but his parents don't think so.
In their eyes, Tang Jinyu is no different from a baby that had just learned how to walk. Chen Suling still takes him to her workplace every day and puts him in a place where he is under her supervision. This shows how much attention she attaches when it comes to safety.
After Tang Jinyu had been with her mother for some time, he refused to go to work with her
He found a reason, "I want to stay and learn piano from Teacher Xia."
Chen Suling hesitated. The child started to touch the piano recently. She and her husband were a little worried at first, but Teacher Xia was kind and patient. Their child can sit on the piano bench for half an hour, which is better than what they originally expected.
But because of learning the piano,
Although he wanted to stay and continue learning to play the piano, Chen Suling still refused to allow her child to leave her line of sight. She bends down and coaxed him: "Xiaoyu be obedient, go to work with mom first. If you don't want to accompany mom, mom would have to eat by herself."
Tang Jinyu said, "Dad also eats alone."
Tang Hongjun was standing on the side and suggested, "Does Xiaoyu want to accompany Dad? Dad also has a big office…"
Chen Suling interrupted him and said, "The people coming and going in your office will scare him. Xiaoyu recognizes only a few people and hasn't been in contact with the people in your workplace, so don't make trouble."
Tang Gong didn't dare to speak anymore and stood staring at his son blankly.
Chen Suling coaxed for a long time and refused to let him stay home alone. Finally, the child sitting on the sofa wrinkled his brows for a while and nodded and said, "Well, I'll accompany my mother."
"That's right, mom will let someone buy you a chocolate cake tomorrow, and you can eat it at noon."
It was probably natural that he had a preference for sweets based on his young age, he wasn't surprised by this.
Before going to sleep at night, he took the initiative to go to his bed himself. When Chen Suling came to kiss him on the cheek, he stretched out his arms and hugged her and said: "Mom, I have grown up."
Her child's tone was very light, but when Chen suling heard it, she felt like her son was comforting her. She held her child and rubbed his cheek, "Yes, baby has grown up and has become more sensible."
"Mom, I will grow up even more and when I have to go to school in the future, mom will have to eat alone."
He said it so seriously, it made him look like a little adult, Chen Suling laughed and nodded.
When the lights were turned off at night, Chen Suling lay in bed for a long time and couldn’t fall asleep. She kept thinking about what her son had said.
Her heart felt like there was a small force pulling her back and forth. On one side, she wanted to let her son go but the other side wanted to hold on tightly to her son. This kind of feeling made her feel uncomfortable.
She had her eyes open almost till dawn, Chen Suling was still thinking about her decision when she got up the next day and took her son to the company.
At the end of each year, she would always be busy with a lot of things. She would personally run to several of her factories, watch each workshop complete their orders and finally make sure that each product is delivered on time.
It's just that that by the time she came back, Tang Jinyu was already sleeping on the small sofa by himself, his face flushed as he used his jacket as a blanket. While her secretary was by his side, organizing a few files.
When the Secretary saw her coming in, she stood up and waved her hand over, then continued working.
Chen Suling slowly sat on the side of the sofa and stretched out her hand to help her son cover himself more with his jacket.
On one side of the small coffee table, was a small piece of chocolate cake, which was the size of the palm of her hand. It was for her child to eat, but every time her child would cut a piece of cake for himself and leave the rest of the cake for herself.
No matter how much he likes something or how delicious the food is, her child refused to eat alone, he would either leave a piece of cake for her or put bite-sized candies in his pockets and share them with his father.
It seems that these things are even sweeter if the whole family eats them together.
Chen Suling felt that her child wasn't able to do anything without her, but now she realized that it was her that was unable to do anything without him by her side.
After going back that night, she told a story to coax her son to sleep. Chen Suling and her husband discussed for a while, her tone was no longer as firm as it was in the beginning and she hesitated: "Why don't we come for Xiaoyu , half an hour after his afternoon class."
"Why?"
“I’m usually busy in the afternoon. I'll be going to the factory and I’m going to busy designing clothes for the spring season. In this way, I don't have to worry as much and I can set up a meeting with the designer department in the morning and also stay with Xiaoyu. I can take him to dinner at noon and then let the driver take him home." After talking for a while, Chen suling sighed.
Tang Hongjun laughed and relieved her: "I think this is good but you are too worried about the baby. He is doing much better now, but we can't always be worried like this. You usually leave Xiaoyu in the company with the secretary. Now that he has been learning how to play the piano, he should feel more at ease staying with Teacher Xia."
"You are right, he can stay with Teacher Xia. I'm sure Xiaoyu has already become familiar with his surroundings. After all, if he wants to go to school in the future. We can't be there to accompany him every day."
Even though they both said this, they both kept tossing and turning, not able to sleep well.
Although Tang Hongjun comforted his wife, he became more hesitant. When he opened his eyes in the morning, the first thing he said was "You should bring him with you, so I can still call Xiaoyu…"
Chen Suling said: "There is also a phone at home, you can just call it."
Tang Hongjun said again: "Then you wait for me to ask for a leave and I will watch him at home in the afternoon? This is the first time that Xiaoyu is not with us. My heart can't help being anxious."
Chen Suling poked his forehead and laughed at him: "How did you comfort me yesterday?"
Tang Honjun wanted to take back what he said before, but once Chen Suling decides something she will follow through as planned.
On the same day, she went to see Teacher Xia. After getting teacher Xia's consent, she picked the afternoon to let him give piano lessons to her child.
On the first day, Tang Hongjun secretly asked for a leave of absence, and watched by the window of his home for more than an hour, and saw that his child was getting along with Teacher Xia very comfortably, and he felt sad for a while.
He watched for a while, then went back to work, but he felt relieved when he saw the pictures of his child sitting by the table as he played with a toy train, that he had bought for him on the way home.
Chen Suling thought of buying something for her son. On her way back home, she went to the cake shop and bought a chocolate cake. This time she did not buy a small one.
Instead, she bought the largest double-layered one in the shop and brought it back to her son.
Tang Jinyu did not expect to receive such a big gift and was overjoyed.
He stepped his feet and looked at the cake on the table, watching his mother cut a very large piece and handed it over to him, shook his head, and said, "Mom, I want one more piece!"
If it was before, Chen Suling would have been afraid that he would eat too many sweets and would damage his teeth, but today was an exception. She didn't see her son all afternoon, and she wanted to give him everything that he wanted at the moment.
She neatly cut another piece and put it on his plate and asked, "Is that enough?"
Tang Jinyu nodded, holding a plate with two slices of cakes, and went to the next door, happily giving it to Teacher Xia.
They lived nearby each other, Tang Jinyu had walked in that small corridor so many times. He couldn't be more familiar with it.
Tang Honjun saw as his son knock next door, as he sat there and muttered in jealousy.
Chen Suling got close and could hear him clearly. She nudges him with her arm and laughed and said, "Don't make a fool out yourself. You do scientific research, do you even have a piano level higher than ten?"
Teacher Xia is a gentle and patient person.
Tang Jinyu likes him very much because he usually spends half an afternoon studying with him. As he interacted more with Teacher Xia, he routinely praises him to his parents a few words every night, saying, "Teacher Xia can play any musical instruments."
Tang Hongjun and his wife had been neighbors with Teacher Xia for several years, and their knowledge of him was limited, only knowing that he used to work for a private school as a music teacher. The rest is not very clear.
This old house was also left by Mr. Xia's father. The old man once worked with Mr. Tang Honjun in a design institute, but now he is no longer here.
The Xia family is left with only Xia Ye and his father that have supported each other for so many years.
Tang Jinyu was taken care of by Teacher Xia, and the Tang family naturally repaid them back and take extra care of them.
Tang Hongjun felt that his son had troubled Teacher Xia, and he asked someone to find a cram school with a famous teacher and planned to pay back some favors.
After all, Xia Ye is going to be in high school next year and might have trouble choosing a school.
Tang Honjun enthusiastically talked about this with the father and son, but Xia Ye politely refused.
"Thank you, Uncle Tang but I really don't need it, my grades are already good."
Tang Hongjun did his homework in advance and inquired about Xia Ye’s grades. The grades requirement of the nearby schools for children were average.
Xia Ye’s grades were among the top ten in his class, and all the school nearby high schools in the area can't give him as many opportunities to grow.
He knows that young people at Xia Ye’s age have high self-esteem, and he was enthusiastic: "Xia Ye, there is a remarkable teacher that I know that can give you lessons. The test papers that they provide are from past examination questions. It's no harm to do more questions and get familiar with them. How many lessons would you like to listen to?"
Xia Ye still did not agree.
Teacher Xia also smiled and said: "There's no need to trouble yourself. Xia Ye has studied very well here. As for which high school he wants to go to, let him choose himself
Tang Hongjun has never brought up a teenager before, but after a moment of thinking about it, he subconsciously thought of his precious son, he nodded and said cheerfully, "Okay, let them decide for themselves. You can read and study whatever you want. Okay, don’t worry about choosing a high school that is not close to home."
The tutoring class failed. Tang Hongjun bothered his father who lived in the provincial capital to send some books. This time, it was Xia Ye's favorite content, mostly about programming. There were also two original editions of English books, which were not easy to get.
Xia Ye liked this gift very much. After receiving the book, he offered them a bag of fruits to thank him.
Tang Hongjun opened the door to him and took the fruit, smiled and patted him on the shoulder and said: "Don't be so polite, you guys are family, you don't have to be polite with your uncle in the future, feel free to call me whenever you need my help."
Xia Ye smiled, "Thank you, Uncle Tang."
He didn't take his words seriously. Many people have said this to the father and son for so many years, but only a few people lend a helping hand when they were encountering difficulties.
There is a saying that it is normal for people to help others when in need but they always can't help you for a lifetime. This is simply human nature
But he did not expect that the words of the Tang family would be fulfilled so quickly.
It was the time when the Chinese New Year was approaching. The street outside was already covered with colorful lights. There were red lanterns everywhere. In addition to a few restaurants that were still open, while other shops were closed and ready for the new year.
Chen Suling went to the company to give a few gifts to her employees. In the afternoon, she specially asked the driver to send him a gift that she prepared, for Teacher Xia.
It might have been fate, but as soon as the driver arrived, he saw his boss child outside in hallways, crying and knocking on each door desperately.
When he saw him, he ran towards him.
. The child had trouble walking, his clothes were covered with dirt and his hands were bruised and bleeding.
The driver was startled, and hurriedly threw down his things to look at him: "Xiaoyu, what's the matter? What's wrong?"
Tang Jinyu pointed upstairs and stammered a bit from his heavy breathing, crying out: "Home, Teacher Xia…Uncle help!"