"Come to your place?"
Chen Yuan’s expression faltered. He hadn’t expected Jiang Wanyi to say that.
"You’re on vacation with nothing to do anyway, so just think of it as a part-time job. I’ll pay you 1,000 a day, starting today. You can also give me some pointers. I have no idea what I’m doing, and just looking at her all day is stressing me out."
Jiang Wanyi offered this price because the previous nanny’s salary was twenty thousand a month.
Besides, she had a very good impression of Chen Yuan. He was a clean-cut young man who knew how to handle things tactfully, and her daughter seemed to like him a lot. She was more than willing to pay such a price.
"I can help you, but you can forget about the money."
"Didn’t you do part-time jobs before? Or are you not satisfied with the pay?"
"It’s not that. Once money gets involved, we’d become an employer and an employee. There’s no need for that."
He could easily make over 1,000 yuan a day just by doing a few tasks, so he had no need to earn money from Jiang Wanyi.
After all, taking someone’s money puts you in their debt. Chen Yuan’s principle was to have others owe him, not the other way around. The current arrangement was for the best.
Besides, he had a 210-month-old "baby" back at school. He had to spread the love evenly.
"But if you don’t accept, I’ll feel too embarrassed to ask for your help. I’ve already bothered you twice today. If something like this happens again, I really won’t have the nerve to ask."
Jiang Wanyi understood what Chen Yuan meant, but this was the only effective way she could think of to thank him.
He clearly didn’t want anything from her. He had helped her out so much at noon, yet he left without even staying for a meal.
Then this afternoon, she had to bother him to come over again. She might have to trouble him more in the coming days.
If she didn’t give Chen Yuan some money, she would feel uneasy.
"Don’t worry about it. Just tell me if you need anything. Besides, I’m not helping you for your money."
Chen Yuan changed the subject, saying:
"I suggest you buy a playpen and a floor mat, and some small toys for her. It’ll help her practice crawling, and it’ll make things easier for you."
"Let’s look together. Give me some suggestions. I’ll buy whatever you recommend."
Sliding her chair over, Jiang Wanyi sat down next to Chen Yuan and started searching for floor mats and playpens on her phone.
Chen Yuan’s mind began to wander. A pleasant, milky scent drifted from Jiang Wanyi.
It was a top-tier hit, straight to the lungs.
This wasn’t an exaggeration. It was a genuine milky fragrance.
The two of them looked at the relevant products together. There wasn’t much technical complexity to them. Chen Yuan measured the dimensions, confirmed the size, and then placed an order on JD.com. It would arrive the next day.
"I was thinking of buying a pacifier. What about this silicone one? It should be fine for the baby to chew on, right?"
"Don’t buy that," Chen Yuan said.
"If she gets used to chewing on it, over time she could develop a pouting mouth. In serious cases, it can even affect her facial structure."
Jiang Wanyi felt a twinge of fear. She had been thinking of buying one for a long time.
After dinner, there was nothing else for him to do, and it was getting late, so Chen Yuan prepared to leave.
"It looks like there’s nothing else, so I’ll be going now."
"If you’re not busy, why don’t you stay and keep me company for a while? I’m all alone at home. You can chat with me, and I can learn from your experience at the same time."
Ah Bin’s grades weren’t ideal...
’Is her husband on a business trip?’
From noon until now, they had talked about many things, but it seemed she had never once mentioned her husband.
Normally, even if the baby’s father was on a business trip, the mother-in-law should have come to help. It was odd that she was doing everything by herself.
Still, living under the same roof with someone like Jiang Wanyi was actually quite nice.
Chen Yuan stayed for a while longer. Jiang Wanyi washed some fruit for him, and their conversation remained focused on childcare.
Even though she was much older than Chen Yuan, she was very humble when asking for advice.
But Chen Yuan didn’t stay too long. He left a little after six.
After Chen Yuan left, Jiang Wanyi tidied up, put the baby in her stroller, and prepared to take her out for some fresh air. It wasn’t good to be cooped up at home all the time.
When they saw little Mili, the old ladies and young mothers in the residential complex all gathered around.
"This baby is so fair and clean, just adorable," a white-haired old lady said.
"How many months old is she?" a middle-aged woman asked casually.
"Eight and a half months."
"Her teeth are only just starting to show? That’s a bit slow. My son already had one at seven months."
"I looked it up online, and it is a bit slow. I wonder if it has to do with my low milk supply," Jiang Wanyi said, a little helplessly.
The female neighbor glanced at Jiang Wanyi’s chest and said:
"Haven’t you seen a lactation consultant? You need to have them properly massaged. That should clear things up."
"I’ve already seen three, and none of them worked. I guess this is just how my body is." Jiang Wanyi had already given up.
"Maybe you just hired the wrong people. Have you tried hiring a man?"
"Hire a man?"
Jiang Wanyi recalled the information she had just looked up online.
"My younger sister is a nurse at a hospital. She told me that men have bigger hands and more strength, so they’re more effective."
Since they were all women and there were no men around, the neighbor spoke frankly about the matter:
"To be honest with you, my situation was similar to yours. The first two I hired didn’t work either. I was too embarrassed to hire a man for something like this, so I decided to try one more woman. If that didn’t work, I was just going to bite the bullet and hire a man. Luckily, the third one worked out, and now my son has more milk than he can drink."
Jiang Wanyi’s eyes lit up. "Could you recommend her to me? I want to give her a try, too."
"I found her back in my hometown, so her contact info wouldn’t be of any use to you. You should just try a few more. If that doesn’t work, then hire a man," the neighbor said.
"Breastfed babies don’t get sick as often and have stronger constitutions when they grow up. Try your best to avoid formula."
"Okay, I’ll keep looking."
The neighbor left, and Jiang Wanyi continued pushing Mili’s stroller.
It would have been better if they hadn’t talked. The conversation just made her more frustrated. If she had a choice, she wouldn’t want to give her baby formula either; she felt like she was letting her child down.
Without any warning, Jiang Wanyi thought of Chen Yuan.
Once the idea popped into her head, it became uncontrollable.
’Maybe I should let him try?’
Jiang Wanyi understood the principle that one shouldn’t avoid the doctor when sick.
But Chen Yuan wasn’t a professional, after all. Combined with her traditional and conservative mindset as a woman, breaking through this barrier would certainly require some mental preparation.
’No, wait!’
’Why am I only thinking about myself?’
She had been through it a few times before and knew what the process involved.
It was hard work. These two things on her body were no different from decorations—completely useless. A single session could take one or two hours; it was by no means easy.
He would never accept money from her. The current situation was that even if she wanted to ask, there was no guarantee he would be willing.
That made it even harder to bring up.
This was too difficult.