Chapter 50: It’s a First Time for All of Us

June 8th, the second day of the fifth lunar month. Su Qinghu woke up feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep. Seeing that Chen Lie was already making breakfast, she headed straight to the bedroom door of Da Dan and Er Dan and shouted inside, “You’re late! You’re late! Get up, hurry!”

A flurry of chaos erupted inside. In less than three minutes, the two kids had thrown on their clothes, opened the door, and dashed to the table in the living room to grab their schoolbags, ready to bolt out the door.

Su Qinghu said, “It’s only six thirty.”

The two of them froze. Da Dan shot Su Qinghu a fierce glare, his carefully maintained “little adult” image crumbling in an instant.

Er Dan put his bag down, clutched his chest, and flopped into the nearest chair. “Oh, my poor little heart, you’ve had such a fright! Dad’s useless, can’t even afford to buy you a treat to calm your nerves~~~”

He kept sneaking glances at Su Qinghu between his dramatic lines.

Su Qinghu waved her hand. “We’ll talk about pocket money later. Go wash up first.”

“Okay!” Er Dan cheered, jumping off the chair and running over to Su Qinghu. He grabbed her hand. “Let’s go, my little heart is all better now.”

Su Qinghu couldn’t help but laugh. “Your little heart sure is tough.”

“Of course!” He patted his chest and lifted his chin proudly. Then he turned to Da Dan. “Come on, bro, let’s go wash up!”

Da Dan frowned and stepped forward, about to say something, but Er Dan pouted and shot him a reproachful look.

Meeting Er Dan’s eyes, Da Dan swallowed his words about being thrifty. You can’t expect to get pocket money every day—let it go for today, let her be extravagant just this once.

What Da Dan didn’t know was that in the days to come, not only would Su Qinghu keep giving them pocket money, but she’d give them more and more.

For now, though, he just kept his thoughts to himself and followed the two to wash up.

After washing up, the three of them came out of the bathroom. Da Dan and Er Dan were about to head to the kitchen to find their dad when Su Qinghu pulled them back. “Wait, you haven’t put on face cream yet!”

Da Dan struggled. “I don’t want to!” That’s something only little girls like—it smells kind of nice, and it’s not manly at all!

Er Dan blinked and let Su Qinghu steer him back into the room. “We never did this before.”

They’d never used anything scented before, and their new mom didn’t seem to use it either. “Mom, when did you buy it?”

“At the department store,” Su Qinghu replied casually. “Just some little things, you probably didn’t notice.”

There are all kinds of face creams at different prices. Not wanting to hear Da Dan nag, she’d found an excuse to have Chen Lie watch the kids, picked out a slightly pricier cream, and bought it without much of a wait.

This explanation blew Da Dan’s mind. As Su Qinghu dragged him by the collar back into the room, he was still in a daze—when did she spend the money? He hadn’t noticed at all…

Su Qinghu opened the children’s face cream, scooped out a bit, and dabbed it on their faces. “Rub it in yourselves.”

Then she opened her own and started applying it.

Er Dan rubbed his face with both hands, grinning. “It smells a little, but it’s not like the girls in my class.”

Da Dan rubbed his face in silence.

He was still so young. Even if he went to Houhai to help people look at things for money, it wouldn’t be enough for her to spend…

Su Qinghu had no idea about Da Dan’s complicated thoughts. She just smiled and said, “I picked one especially for boys—it won’t smell too strong.”

“This kind of subtle scent is tasteful and elegant,” Su Qinghu said, tilting her head. “In a few years, when our country’s developed a bit more, I’ll show you more about this stuff. Or, when I start working, maybe I’ll ask if there are any perfumers in the capital and take you to learn a thing or two.”

Er Dan: “Okay!”

Da Dan stayed silent. Go broaden our horizons? Isn’t that just another excuse to spend money?

Su Qinghu gave Da Dan a mysterious look and chuckled inwardly. Just wait—if she couldn’t cure his miserly ways that were affecting his quality of life, she wouldn’t be worthy of her surname!

Just then, Chen Lie walked in and caught Su Qinghu’s mischievous grin. He couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, but all he said was to call everyone to breakfast.

Su Qinghu waved him over. “Come here.”

With his long legs, Chen Lie crossed the room in three steps. “What is it?”

Before he’d finished speaking, Su Qinghu stood on tiptoe and smeared some cream on his face. “Rub it in.”

This man was several years older than her. She couldn’t control what he did outside, but at home, she called the shots—he had to take care of himself.

Good looks are one thing, but time spares no one. You have to take care of yourself, just like a machine needs oil.

Chen Lie: “!!!”

He froze, staring at Su Qinghu, looking utterly lost. In his whole life, aside from smearing on camouflage paint, he’d never done anything so girly!

“Rub it in,” Su Qinghu said, baffled by his reaction. “One hand or both, whatever.”

Chen Lie swallowed, opened his mouth as if to say something, but finally just let out a heavy sigh, rubbed the cream into his face in a couple of quick motions, and turned to leave.

No, he really couldn’t stand it—he felt awkward all over!

He needed to go outside and do a set of punches, or his muscles wouldn’t cooperate!

Su Qinghu was amazed. She looked down at the two kids. “…Seriously? Your dad’s never used face cream before?”

That was just unfair!

Su Qinghu was full of envy. No skincare, always out in the wind and sun, and still such good skin? Not to mention, his good looks didn’t suffer one bit!

“We haven’t either,” Er Dan said, looking up with bright eyes. “Today’s the first time for all of us.”

Su Qinghu looked at Er Dan’s face, then at Da Dan’s, and sighed dramatically. Some people really are just favored by the heavens, huh?

Both kids’ faces were clean and smooth, not a trace of chapping or roughness.

Or maybe they were just dark, so you couldn’t see it?

Thinking this, Su Qinghu bent down and examined Da Dan’s reluctant but unyielding little face, then looked at Er Dan, who grinned up at her, totally cooperative.

Now she was sure—these three father and sons were all heaven’s favorites. Their skin was amazing, even if they were a bit dark!

“Mom, what are you looking at?” Er Dan asked curiously. “If we use this cream, will we get even better looking?”

If you listened closely, Er Dan said “even better looking”—the “even” was the key, meaning he was already confident about his looks.

Su Qinghu caught that and shot him a look from above. “Nope! What are you thinking!”

“Then why do we have to use it?” Da Dan grumbled. “Only little girls need smooth, pretty faces!”

“Wow!” Su Qinghu exclaimed. “Da Dan even knows little girls have smooth, pretty faces!”

She was just teasing him now.

Da Dan turned and walked out. “I don’t want to talk to you anymore! You’re just a grown-up brat!”

“Hahaha~~~”

Su Qinghu burst out laughing. Finally, this little rascal got a taste of how helpless she felt when he nagged her!"