Yang Shunsheng was dumbfounded. He had always thought Chen Momo was weak and non-confrontational. When he married her, he had valued her submissive, easily controllable nature, as well as her gentle and virtuous demeanor. He never expected today's Chen Momo to be like a completely different person!
After finishing her words, Chen Momo turned and went into the bedroom to start packing her and her son's belongings. This house, once a warm haven, now chilled her to the bone. She took out three suitcases and packed away everything belonging to her and her son, leaving absolutely nothing behind.
In the apocalypse, Chen Momo had memorized the locations of the top ten shelter bases. This house was too far from the closest one, so she planned to sell it and rent a place much nearer to the base. That way, when the apocalypse arrived, she and her son could escape immediately.
In her previous life, it was precisely because she had trusted and relied on Yang Shunsheng too much that she had to watch helplessly as her son slipped away from her. The memory still brought her endless remorse and agony. In this life, she would never allow the same tragedy to happen again!
"Mommy, what are you doing?" Xiao Bao had returned from his skiing lesson, running inside with a rapid PATTER of footsteps. Seeing Chen Momo bent over packing a suitcase, he ran over and wrapped his chubby, lotus-root-like little arms around her head. He pressed his small face tightly against hers, refusing to let go for a long time.
Noticing her son's unusual behavior, Chen Momo asked with concern, "Xiao Bao, what's wrong?"
Xiao Bao replied pitifully, "Xiao Bao doesn't want to be separated from Mommy."
Chen Momo thought he had gotten into an argument with a classmate. She said patiently, "Mommy won't ever be separated from you. Tell Mommy, what exactly happened?"
In a sweet, childish voice, Xiao Bao whispered into her ear, "Xiao Bao had a dream. I dreamed of a whole lot of snow. I was lying in Mommy's arms, and I was so, so cold."
Chen Momo's packing movements came to a sudden halt as she realized in shock that Xiao Bao had also been reborn!
Trying hard to keep her voice from trembling, she freed her hands to hug her son tightly. "What else did you dream about?" she asked softly.
Xiao Bao pouted pitifully. "I didn't want to leave Mommy. But I was so cold, so sleepy, and my tummy was so hungry. In the end, I just fell asleep."
Hearing her son's warm breath and words against her ear, Chen Momo's heart trembled violently. The mother and son held each other tightly, neither willing to let go.
After a while, Chen Momo finally said softly, "Don't worry, Xiao Bao. Mommy will never be separated from you."
Xiao Bao was thrilled to hear this. He pressed his little mouth against her cheek and gave her several kisses with a loud SMACK SMACK SMACK.
As Chen Momo held her son, everything felt incredibly real. In her previous life, she had forced him into numerous extracurricular classes in the name of giving him a good upbringing. Xiao Bao had clamored to go to Disneyland so many times, yet she had always brushed him off. It wasn't until the moment she watched her son close his eyes in her arms in her past life that she realized how absurd her past actions had been.
As it turned out, true love for a child was simply being by their side!
Chen Momo said softly, "Do you want to go play at Disney? How about Mommy takes you to Disney?"
Hearing this, Xiao Bao looked at her in disbelief with his large, beautiful dark eyes. "Mommy, are you really going to take me to Disneyland?"
Chen Momo smiled. "Of course. Mommy will definitely keep her word this time."
Xiao Bao cheered happily. "Yay! Mommy is taking Xiao Bao to Disneyland!"
Then, as if afraid she would go back on her word, Xiao Bao stuck out his little pinky finger. "Mommy, pinky promise!"
Looking at her son's innocent face, the gloom that had previously clouded her heart was swept away entirely. Chen Momo extended her pinky and hooked it with his. "Alright. Pinky promise, it won't change for a hundred years!"
Xiao Bao ran out of the bedroom and into the living room to play with his building blocks. Yang Shunsheng was no longer home. Chen Momo guessed he had gone to look for Huang Yuqing, but she didn't care in the slightest anymore. She went back to packing all their belongings into the suitcases.
Her son's toys, the laptop he used for online classes, and her own tablet were packed into a separate suitcase. Everything she and Xiao Bao could take with them filled one large thirty-three-inch suitcase and two medium twenty-eight-inch suitcases.
That night, Chen Momo booked tickets for Disney online. The two tickets cost over a thousand yuan in total. Normally, she would never have been willing to spend so much money just to take her son to Disney. However, having survived the apocalypse once, she now understood that her son's happiness and health were more important than anything else. As for the money she had once treated as precious, it would be no different from scrap paper in the apocalypse.
Yang Shunsheng did not return that night either. Only Chen Momo and Xiao Bao were left in the house.
After her son fell asleep, Chen Momo turned on the computer and began searching online for the location of Guan Shan Kou Men's Vocational Technical College in Han City.
During the apocalypse, Han City's shelter base had been built at Guan Shan Kou University, which was over twenty kilometers away from her current location. She had to move her son to a place near Guan Shan Kou University so they could escape immediately when the apocalypse descended!
Having made up her mind, Chen Momo started looking for nearby apartments around Guan Shan Kou University. She finally settled on a residential community called Dongfang Garden, which was situated right next to Guan Shan Kou Vocational College.
It was a newly built complex developed by one of the top-ranked real estate companies in the country. It was right across from Guan Shan Kou University, less than a ten-minute walk away. The community's security measures were excellent, and its residents were mostly nearby white-collar workers and students from Guan Shan Kou University.
After scheduling a viewing with a real estate agent, Chen Momo told Xiao Bao the next day that they were moving. She first took him to his school to process his withdrawal.
The bespectacled female teacher said with some regret, "Xiao Bao's mom, Xiao Bao performs very well in school. Both the teachers and his classmates like him a lot. Please make sure he doesn't fall behind in his studies after you move."
"Thank you, teacher," Chen Momo said gratefully. "Once we settle into our new home, I'll arrange for his schooling as soon as possible." With that, she turned to her son. "Xiao Bao, hurry and say goodbye to Teacher Zhao."
Xiao Bao tilted his round little face up and waved his small hand, saying in a sweet, soft voice, "Goodbye, Teacher Zhao."
Teacher Zhao waved back reluctantly, her eyes filled with affection.
After completing the withdrawal procedures, Chen Momo took her son to the police station to process a name change. She changed his last name from "Yang Xiaobao" to "Chen Xiaobao."
From now on, her son belonged solely to her. His life was her life. She would protect him with everything she had. As mother and son, they would definitely survive the apocalypse safe and sound. She was going to be by his side to watch him grow up healthy and happy!