Chapter 283 Do I Even Have a Face Left?

It was 8:30 p.m., the immovable bath time for Lu Ming.

Usually at this hour, Auntie would help with the bath.

But tonight, she had something come up at home and took the night off, so Lu Er had to take over.

“Lu Ming, bath time!”

Lu Er walked into the children’s room and called out to the little guy who was playing with blocks on the floor.

Lu Ming looked up, blinked his big eyes, and followed him into the bathroom.

When Lu Er tried to help him pull down his pants, Lu Ming tightly covered himself with both hands, his face full of alertness.

In a babyish voice he shouted, “No! I’ll do it myself!”

Lu Er chuckled. “Do it yourself? You can’t even reach the faucet. How are you going to wash yourself?”

“Then… then you turn around!”

Lu Ming’s little face turned bright red as he pointed to the corner, “No peeking! I’ll take off my pants myself!”

Lu Er laughed so hard he bent over, clutching his stomach, and said to Song Jingmo, who had followed in, “Look at this little thing—he’s even shy!”

Song Jingmo watched Lu Ming’s shy but stubborn little expression and his mouth curved into a small smile.

After laughing enough, Lu Er squatted down and said seriously to Lu Ming, “Baby, now Uncle feels reassured.”

“When you grow up, no bad guys will be able to trick you into taking off your pants. So safe!”

Lu Ming didn’t understand what Lu Er was saying, but seeing Uncle so happy, he also giggled a little.

But his hands still firmly covered his pants, refusing to let go.

Finally, Song Jingmo stepped in to mediate: “Okay, we’ll both turn our backs to you. You take off your pants yourself and then get into the tub right away. Deal?”

Lu Ming tilted his head, thought for a moment, and reluctantly nodded.

After some fuss, he finally got into the children’s bathtub.

The warm water barely reached his little belly, foam floated on the surface, and a few little yellow ducks drifted around.

The little guy soon forgot his shyness, playing happily, splashing water, and giggling nonstop.

Lu Er squatted by the tub, holding a small towel to wipe his back.

Song Jingmo stood nearby, handing him the body wash and playing along.

“Little yellow duck, swim, swim~”

Lu Ming grabbed one of the little ducks, pushing it back and forth on the water’s surface, mumbling to himself.

Just as Lu Er was about to say, “Good boy,” he felt something off.

A warm stream of water was precisely hitting the back of his hand from somewhere.

Lu Ming’s expression shifted from tense to relaxed, then he looked up at Lu Er with an innocent, angelic smile.

Lu Er’s smile froze.

He looked down at the rapidly spreading pale yellow in the tub, then at that innocent-looking little troublemaker smiling at him, feeling like he’d just been electrocuted.

Three seconds later, an angry roar exploded in the bathroom: “LU MING——!!!”

Startled, Lu Ming’s smile froze. Before he could react, a big hand scooped him out of the tub like a little chick.

Water splashed everywhere, his naked little body dangling midair, little legs kicking helplessly.

“You, you, you!”

Lu Er was so angry his face turned red. “You peed in the bathtub?! This is for bathing, not a potty!”

Only then did Lu Ming realize he’d caused trouble. He pouted, and his big eyes quickly filled with tears.

But Lu Er wasn’t swayed. He placed the little guy on a towel nearby and raised his hand to spank that soft little bottom.

“Smack!”

A crisp, loud sound.

Lu Ming froze for a moment, then burst into an earth-shaking cry.

Lu Er didn’t stop and gave two more: “Remember this! No more peeing in the bath! It’s a bad habit—you must stop!”

Lu Ming’s soft little bottom quickly turned bright red, shocking to the eye.

Crying, he reached his little hand out toward Song Jingmo, tears blurring his gaze.

Mumbling, “Uncle… hold me… sob… Uncle hold me…”

It was pitiful.

Seeing that reddened bottom and Lu Ming’s little face all scrunched up in tears, Song Jingmo’s heart softened.

He stepped forward and blocked another impending spank from Lu Er: “Stop hitting him.”

“He peed in the tub!”

Seeing Song Jingmo indulging him, Lu Er got even angrier. “What kind of bad habit is this?!”

Song Jingmo reached out to take Lu Ming.

The little guy, seeing his savior, wriggled desperately into Song Jingmo’s arms.

Lu Er’s anger hadn’t subsided. “Don’t stop me! This bad habit must be corrected from a young age!”

“If he can pee in the tub now, tomorrow he could pee at the dining table, the day after in bed! He needs a lesson to remember!”

“He’s little; he doesn’t understand.”

Song Jingmo tried reasoning, “And you’ve already spanked him—he remembers now.”

Lu Er refused to let go. One was holding the child, one was protecting the child—they were at an impasse.

“He’s three! He should know better!”

Lu Er insisted, “This marking-territory peeing everywhere is something only puppies do. It must be corrected, or he’ll form a habit!”

“Can’t we just talk to him nicely?”

Song Jingmo looked down at Lu Ming’s tear-streaked little face, heart aching. “Look, he’s crying so hard.”

“I didn’t hit hard.”

Lu Er argued, “He needs to remember. I already knew at two years old to go to the toilet!”

Caught between the two, Lu Ming cried even louder.

In a hoarse baby voice, he shouted, “Uncle… bad… you also… pee everywhere…”

Lu Er froze, dumbfounded. “I pee everywhere?”

Lu Ming hiccupped through his crying. “Uncle… the… bed… pants…”

The room went silent.

Lu Er slowly turned to Song Jingmo, eyes saying: “You better explain this.”

Song Jingmo’s expression blanked for a moment, then, rarely, a faintly embarrassed flush crept up his ears.

Lu Er squinted.

That morning, Song Jingmo had been drying clothes.

Lu Ming curiously asked, “Uncle, why are you washing your pants?”

Song Jingmo casually answered, “Because they got wet.”

“Why did they get wet?”

“Because…”

He paused. Explaining adult matters to a three-year-old clearly wasn’t appropriate, so he put it in terms a child could understand: he had wet the bed.

Who could have imagined that this little guy not only remembered, but at this critical moment, precisely spilled the beans…

Song Jingmo was at a rare loss for words.

Lu Er looked at him, and it was clear what had happened.

He angrily kicked Song Jingmo: “Song Jingmo! Every day, you’re teaching the kid all sorts of nonsense!”

Song Jingmo got kicked but didn’t dodge, helplessly arguing, “I didn’t really say anything…”

“You didn’t say anything?”

Lu Er pointed at Lu Ming. “He said I pee everywhere—isn’t that what you taught him?”

“If he goes home and tells his brother and sister-in-law, how can I even face it?”

Caught between the angry Lu Er and the helpless Song Jingmo, Lu Ming’s little brain worked quickly.