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Chapter 319: Chapter 309 The Remarkable Old Lady on the Train (Part Two)
By a little past eight o’clock in the evening, it was time for little Pangpang to go to bed, yawning one after another, his big eyes becoming groggy.
Seeing her child like this, Shen Yunfang started to prepare for the mother and son to go to sleep.
She took out a sling and placed her child on her chest again. 𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
"What are you doing? If you’re heading to the bathroom, you don’t need to bring the kid. You can leave him on the bed; we can watch him for a while," the old lady didn’t speak until she saw Shen Yunfang strap the child to her front.
Without turning her head, Shen Yunfang replied, "No need, granny. My child is shy with strangers, and he’ll cry if I’m not around. Better to take him with me. It’s not far anyway."
In just a few hours, she had figured out what kind of people the mother and daughter opposite her were. How could she trust them to watch her child? Better to keep him close for peace of mind.
"You’re so stubborn, why don’t you listen to advice? Oh well, if you get too busy, just call me," the old lady said with a look that suggested Shen Yunfang was being overdramatic.
Shen Yunfang did not respond. She stood up straight, took her black bag down from the overhead shelf, and started to take out the baby bottle and milk powder, preparing to make a bottle of milk.
Basing it on the usual amount her child ate, she added the milk powder and then filled the bottle with boiled water from her enamel jug, which had cooled down. Therefore, she still needed to go to the hot water heater to add some more boiling water.
"Go and fetch the water, I’ll take care of this for you. Don’t worry," the old lady said cheerfully, taking the bag of milk powder from Shen Yunfang’s hands, "Oh, what brand of milk powder is this? I’ve never seen it before. Where is it made?"
Shen Yunfang, seeing her squint at the packing bag under the light, didn’t have the heart to ask for it back. She thought it might be better to let her look and walked towards the hot water room with the baby bottle in hand.
At this time, there weren’t many people sitting in the carriage corridor, and walking through wasn’t as difficult as it had been during the day.
The old lady peeked out to make sure that Shen Yunfang was far enough away, then she quickly withdrew her head, hurriedly removed the tie from the bag of milk powder, and poured a handful into her hand. "Baby, quick, milk powder, hurry up and eat," she whispered to her grandson beside her.
The little child, just over two years old, seeing his grandmother’s hand full of milk powder, pressed his little face up to it and began to lick her hand.
"Yuanyuan, come have a few bites too," the old lady didn’t forget to call her daughter over.
The child’s mother glanced at the old lady’s hand, which was wet from being licked, and said with some disdain, "Mom, it’s not good if she comes back and sees this. Hurry up and let baby clean it up."
"Don’t worry. When have I ever been caught in my dealings? I’m pouring some more for you; hurry up and have a few bites. This is good stuff," the old lady said with full confidence.
Finally, the child’s mother let go of her reservations and took a couple of bites as well.
Their family of three were poking around in the lower bunk, and how could the person on the upper bunk not see? The scholarly gentleman glanced at the trio’s behavior, shook his head, turned over, face inward, out of sight, out of mind.
When Shen Yunfang returned with the milk bottle, the old lady had already neatly resealed the milk powder bag with a leather strap and put it in her black bag.
Initially, Yunfang didn’t notice anything, as she hadn’t expected these people to have such poor character. When she shook the milk bottle a few times and felt the temperature was about right, she sat on the bed to feed the baby. She happened to glance up and noticed a white smear at the corner of the other child’s mouth. Taking a closer look, she wondered why it looked so much like milk powder. She scrutinized the people and their bedding across from her and saw some milk powder granules on the child’s bib and in front of the bed.
"I notice your child’s formula isn’t a local brand, I haven’t seen this one before," said the old lady, seeing Yunfang’s eyes glance over and quickly starting a conversation to change the subject.
"Yeah, my child doesn’t eat that one. Eventually, we had no choice, so my child’s dad asked someone to buy a couple bags of a different brand of formula. I hadn’t seen it before either." This was a complete fabrication, as she simply disliked the local formula for being too sweet and feared it was bad for her child’s teeth, so she had chosen an expensive brand at the store. Her son Pangpang had been drinking this brand of formula since birth.
"Well, your man is really good to the child," what she really meant was your family must be wealthy, "but I must tell you, you shouldn’t indulge children like that, not eating and all. Let him go hungry a few times and see if he doesn’t eat then," said the old lady with an air of experience.
Yunfang actually agreed with this perspective, thinking a few meals missed and there’d be nothing a child wouldn’t eat. But of course, that applied to other people’s children. How could she bear to let her own son go hungry?
Yunfang listened to the old lady’s wealth of experience and seeing that her child had finally finished the bottle of milk, quickly held him upright to burp him before putting him back down on the bunk.
"Your child sure can eat," observed the old lady after the child guzzled down a whole bottle of formula. "He’s got quite the appetite."
"It’s alright, our child has a pretty good appetite," replied Yunfang as she resecured her child to her chest, rummaged in her bag for a small piece of gauze and her toiletries, then took the formula and put it away in a different spot. She frowned as she zipped up the bag and placed it back on the luggage rack. If she left it below, she figured the milk powder bag would be empty by the time she returned – the formula seemed lighter already.
"Granny, you go ahead with your things, I’m gonna go brush my teeth and clean the baby’s bottle," Yunfang quickly interrupted the still-chattering old woman, scooping up her son and her stuff to leave.
In the washroom, she first washed the bottle, then used it to collect some hot water. After adjusting the temperature, she began to brush her child’s teeth. This meant just tying a piece of gauze to her fingertip and gently rubbing it on Pangpang’s gums.
Pangpang was used to this routine, and even in his drowsiness, he nibbled on his mother’s finger as she cleaned. Yunfang quickly finished up with her child, then it was her turn to brush her teeth.
After both mother and son were tidied up, Yunfang filled a basin with more hot water and returned to their sleeping berth with her child and the bottle in hand.
After unstrapping her son and tucking him into the berth, Pangpang immediately drifted off. Yunfang spread out the blanket she brought and covered her child with it.
Then, she got up, took her bag down from the luggage rack, and started to tidy up the unused items on the table.
The old lady, noticing that Yunfang had produced another sheet from somewhere, reached out to touch it. "Hmm, this is made of cotton, the quality is quite good, and it’s even double-layered," she remarked.
The old lady’s grandson, seeing his grandmother touch it, also took a feel. But his little hands were quite dirty, and he left a small handprint on the clean cover.
"Oh dear, what are you doing? Look, you’ve dirtied aunty’s bedsheet," the old lady exclaimed upon seeing her grandson’s handiwork, afraid Yunfang would be upset. She quickly slapped her grandson’s hand lightly as a reprimand. Having disciplined the child herself, she figured Yunfang would hardly have cause for complaint.
