Chapter 397 Are you satisfied now?
Even though it was Zhao Zhao who was competing, she seemed to have no idea what nervousness was.
For the past two weeks, besides attending classes at Zhuo's house every day without fail...
Eat and play as usual.
Even though the official competition is tomorrow, she still spent half the afternoon having a snowball fight with the children in the compound.
Fortunately, thanks to the conditioning provided by the spiritual spring water over the past few years, Zhao Zhao's face was only rosy when she returned, and her health was not seriously affected.
"Alright, it's getting late. You have a competition tomorrow."
Just as Jiang Si leaned down to tell Zhao Zhao to go to sleep, Zhao Zhao suddenly propped half her head up from under the covers.
"Mom, will Dad be able to come back tomorrow?"
Sensing the expectation in her voice, Jiang Si touched her little face. "To be honest, even Mommy isn't sure."
Since Huo Tingzhou was transferred back to the Beijing Military Region, his core work has shifted from tactical execution to strategic command.
Although we don't have to go on missions anymore, we're still really busy.
Especially after receiving a secret order last week, he hasn't been home for a week.
However, Jiang Si could understand this, as a very important person would be visiting China at the end of this month.
At this point, relations between the two countries will begin to normalize.
Huo Tingzhou is responsible for the airspace security of the entire Beijing area, including the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan region. When necessary, he is also responsible for the patrol and guidance of special aircraft, so it is normal for him to be busy.
Seeing that her mother didn't speak, Zhao Zhao roughly knew the answer.
She sensibly tucked her head back under the covers, saying, "It's okay, even though Daddy's not here, Zhao Zhao will behave well."
Jiang Si smiled and deliberately said, "Dad is busy, but Mom, brother, and great-grandparents will all come to cheer you on. So many people, can't they compare to one dad?"
"No~ Mom, you know I love you the most!"
"Alright, go to sleep, it's getting late." As she spoke, Jiang Si tucked the blanket around her.
"Mmm." Zhao Zhao nodded obediently.
Just as Jiang Si was about to turn off the desk lamp, she suddenly heard light footsteps downstairs.
It's almost 10 p.m., and the only person who could be back at this time is Huo Tingzhou.
Zhao Zhao clearly realized it too, and her eyes snapped open. "Mommy, is Daddy back?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the light at the bedroom door went out.
"dad!"
The moment Zhao Zhao saw Huo Tingzhou, she immediately climbed out of bed and opened her arms to pounce on him.
Huo Tingzhou quickly took two steps to catch his daughter, saying, "Slow down, Daddy's cold, go back to bed."
But Zhao Zhao didn't care at all, and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.
"Dad, why are you back?"
"I missed you all, so I came back to visit."
As he said this, Huo Tingzhou's gaze remained fixed on Jiang Si.
He paused for a moment, then asked, "Have you been a good girl and listened to your mother these past few days?"
Zhao Zhao nodded vigorously, "Yes, I was obedient!"
Jiang Si chuckled, "Be good, then hurry up and lie back in bed."
Zhao Zhao said "Oh" and quickly did as instructed.
After the father and daughter chatted affectionately for a while, Jiang Si asked, "Are you done with your work?"
Huo Tingzhou shook his head, "Not yet, I only managed to squeeze in two hours, I have to leave soon."
After saying that, he looked at Zhaozhao.
He had promised his daughter that he would go to the stadium to cheer her on, but plans don't always go as expected.
"Zhaozhao, Daddy broke his promise this time. Next time you have a competition, Daddy will definitely come to cheer you on, okay?"
"It's okay, Dad."
Zhao Zhao said in a mature tone, "Mom said you're doing something very, very important. I'm already so happy that you came back to see me!"
Fearing her father wouldn't believe her, she proudly added, "Dad, Zhao Zhao's cheerleading squad already has so many people!"
"Yes, Zhao Zhao is such a good girl."
Huo Tingzhou took out a few chocolates from his pocket and placed them in her palm. "This is a reward from your father. Take this with you tomorrow."
Zhao Zhao's eyes brightened noticeably. "Thank you, Daddy! I love you so much, Daddy!"
After saying that, he turned to Jiang Si and said, "Mom, I love you so much too!"
Jiang Si couldn't help but chuckle. It was admirable that she still knew to be impartial at a time like this.
"Alright, it's really getting late. You need to go to sleep, or you won't be able to get up tomorrow."
Zhao Zhao is great in every way, except she's a bit grumpy when she wakes up, especially when she hasn't slept well; she doesn't smile once all day.
Zhao Zhao nodded, "Okay, I'll go to sleep right away."
Perhaps her wish had been fulfilled; just a second ago she was saying goodnight to her parents, but within two minutes she was asleep.
Listening to his daughter's soft breathing as she slept, Huo Tingzhou kissed her little face and then turned the bedside lamp to its dimmest setting.
Before going downstairs, Huo Tingzhou tiptoed to his son's room again.
She kissed his little face again, then put the chocolate from the other pocket on the bedside table before quietly leaving the room.
Knowing that he was too busy to eat, Jiang Si said, "You sit down first, I'll go cook you a bowl of noodles."
She can't cook complicated dishes, but she can easily cook noodles.
"I'm not hungry, you don't need to do anything else." Huo Tingzhou took her hand. He had to leave in half an hour. "Just talk to me for a bit."
“Cooking some noodles won’t stop us from talking.” Jiang Si grabbed his hand and pulled him directly to the kitchen.
The air force compound uses gas, so the fire is very strong.
After the water boiled, Jiang Si put in half a tube of noodles and then cracked three poached eggs into it.
While the noodles were cooking, Huo Tingzhou quickly prepared a soup base with soy sauce, lard, and chopped green onions.
Even though he was busy with his hands, he didn't stop talking. "The day after tomorrow morning, Xiao Lin will drive you to the airport."
He paused for a moment, then added, "I might be a few days late. Once I finish my work, I'll head back to Shanghai."
Jiang Si nodded, indicating that he could serve the noodles.
Once seated at the table, she said, "You don't need to worry about things at home. Work is more important. If you really don't have time during the New Year, then forget it..."
"I can go back for the New Year," Huo Tingzhou said.
We can't go into details about the job, but returning to Shanghai is a certainty.
This was on the other party's itinerary; once his work here is finished, he has to return to Shanghai.
There are still many things to coordinate with the air defense side.
Since he had already said that, Jiang Si didn't ask any further questions. "Eat quickly, while it's hot."
Huo Tingzhou said he wasn't hungry, but his body language betrayed him, and he finished a large bowl of noodles in just a few minutes.
"Put the bowls and chopsticks there, I'll wash them later." Before Jiang Si could finish speaking, Huo Tingzhou had already taken the empty bowls to the kitchen.
After doing all this, he glanced at the time and said, "Then I'm leaving."
Jiang Si nodded.
It's cold outside, so she won't go out to deliver it. "Drive carefully on the road."
Huo Tingzhou pursed his lips and stood there for almost a minute.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Si asked, puzzled by his gaze.
Seeing that his wife still didn't react, Huo Tingzhou cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deeply.
He only let go when Jiang Si gently pushed him.
Jiang Si looked over with amusement, "They've been married for four or five years..."
Before he could finish speaking, Huo Tingzhou said with a serious expression, "It will be like this for forty or fifty years."
Then he asked, "Don't you have anything to say to me?"
His posture suggested that he would stand there and not leave unless she said anything.
"I'm scared of you." Perhaps because she had heard the two children saying "I love you" to each other every day, what she said next didn't sound so awkward.
Jiang Si said, "I'll miss you. Are you satisfied now?"
Huo Tingzhou nodded.
...
After a good night's sleep, when Jiang Si woke up the next day, the two little ones had already dressed themselves and gone downstairs.
Since there was a match today, I didn't eat anything oily or heavy this morning.
After breakfast and checking what they needed to bring, Jiang Si led them to the competition venue.
The competition venue was chosen to be the Beijing Abacus Association. I had heard beforehand that there would be many participants, but I didn't expect there to be so many.
Even though it wasn't the weekend, the area outside the association was still packed with people, three layers deep.
These are all people who came to cheer on their own children.
I thought that with so many people there, it would be a lot of trouble to find the old man and the others.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Jiang Si got out of the car, she saw an extremely conspicuous banner.
The top of the sign read Jing Yan's name, and the bottom was filled with encouraging words.
Upon closer inspection, the old man and his third uncle were holding up a banner, with Grandma Huo and the others standing beside them.
Jiang Si quickly brought her child to join them.
Before I could even say a few words of encouragement, staff members came out with a megaphone.
He was reading out the competition rules.
Overall, apart from a slightly higher number of participants this year, the rules remain largely unchanged.
Regardless of whether it's the preschool group, the youth group, or the adult group, all participants must go through two rounds of elimination matches.
The first round of the test consisted of addition and subtraction, with a total of thirty questions and a time limit of ten minutes.
You will automatically advance if your accuracy rate is greater than 90%.
The second round is a competition of multiplication and division, with the same rules as the first round.
After two rounds of elimination, the competition organizing committee will be responsible for verifying all the questions and the number of qualifying candidates. Once everything is confirmed to be correct, the final competition will be held that afternoon.
The final round will also be ten minutes long, with no restrictions on question type. Whoever answers the most questions within the allotted time will be the winner!
If players are tied, an overtime period will be played.
In addition, in order to create a good competition environment for the children, parents are not allowed to watch the knockout stage.
Family members were allowed to enter the finals in the afternoon, but only one person per family was permitted.
It should be noted that since the finals are held indoors, making noise is prohibited during the competition. If any parent violates the rules, the contestant will be disqualified.
There's no other way; if we don't make these rules, the competition will probably become a complete mess.
After the competition rules were read out, all the contestants lined up to enter the venue according to their assigned race tracks, guided by the staff.
Jiang Si had said those encouraging words countless times over this period of time, and led Zhao Zhao to the area where the youth group was queuing.
"Go ahead, just do your best."
Zhao Zhao nodded, then suddenly clenched her little fist and made a cheering gesture towards the old man and her third uncle not far away.
"Zhaozhao will do her best!"
The little girl's voice was clear and loud, and coincidentally, a staff member standing nearby immediately looked over upon hearing it.
"Little friend, you're in the wrong line. This is the youth group, and the preschool group is over there."
Zhao Zhao: "That's right, I'm in the youth group."
As soon as he said that, the entire line in front of him turned to look.
The staff member was clearly shocked as well. "Little friend, how old are you? Why did you register for the youth group? Did you accidentally check the wrong box when you registered?"
Just as Jiang Si was about to explain, a strange male voice suddenly came from the crowd.
"Teacher, she's not little anymore! She's already four years old this year."
A person next to him chimed in with a grin, "No, no, no, he's not even four years old yet. If we're talking about his age in years, he's not even two and a half."
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