The Chinese New Year is coming soon. The most important thing for our family this year is to install a telephone.

It's troublesome to write letters back and forth like this, and it also takes several days.

It would be better to install a phone so that you can just call if you have any problem in the future. It is much more convenient.

There is a telephone at the Navy swimming team training base where Sanwa works. There is also a small shop at the entrance of the school where Dawa and Erniu can make a phone call. It costs 50 cents per call, which is not expensive, but not cheap either.

So Shen Lie asked someone to install a phone at home.

The phone is red, and the wire is transparent. Shen Lie picked up the phone and asked Ning Tang, "Let's try to see if this phone works." "Who do you want to call?"

Ning Tang said, "Call Sanwa."

Sanwa had already gotten the phone number of the Navy Swim Team training base when he left for the first time.

Shen Lie took out a piece of paper with a phone number written on it from inside the house and dialed the number. The phone was connected with a beep. "Hello, this is the Navy Swim Team Training Base. Who do you want to call?"

Shen Lie said, "Hello, comrade, I'm looking for Comrade Shen Xiangdong from your swimming team. I'm his father."

Upon hearing that it was the father of Jin Nuda in the team, the operator immediately said seriously, "I will notify Comrade Shen Xiangdong for you."

Then there was silence on the other end of the phone. After a while, when the phone was picked up again, it was Sanwa's voice. There was a sense of fatigue in his voice, "Hello, Dad."

"Yeah." Shen Lie responded and asked, "What's wrong? Did you just finish training?"

"Yes," Sanwa said, and then asked, "Is this our home phone number, Xin'an?"

"Well, I called you right after the installation." Shen Lie said, "You're honored, right?"

Sanwa was happy, "I'm so lucky, but Dad, can you let me hear Mom's voice? I haven't seen her for half a year. I miss her so much."

Shen Lie: "You little bastard who only sees your mom and forgets your dad. Okay, I'll give her the phone number for you."

Ning Tang took the phone and said hurriedly, "Hey, you are a young athlete. How can I be so honored to receive your call?"

"Mom..." Sanwa stretched out his voice and laughed. "I am a young sports star. I am a young sports star, so you are the mother of a young sports star."

Ning Tang smiled with the corners of his eyes curved, "Hey, how are you over there? Are you tired from training? Are you going home for the New Year this year?" He asked three questions in a row.

The three children answered one by one, "I'm fine here. Training is tiring, just like usual."

As soon as she finished speaking, Ning Tang heard a young man's voice next to the microphone, "Auntie, just listen to him. We are tired from training, but he is not. He swims one body length equal to us swimming two body lengths."

Ning Tang was amused and said loudly, "You are Sanwa's teammate, right?"

The other end of the phone responded again, "Yes, Auntie, the dried mango, pickled mango, seaweed, and dried fish you sent were all shared with us. They were delicious, especially the dried squid. When we came back from training in the evening, we took a few dried squids to the kitchen and asked the chef to grill them for us. We tore them into squid strips, dipped them in soy sauce, and drank them with Snow Beer. Oh my god, there is only one word: absolutely delicious."

Ning Tang was even happier. "It's OK as long as you like it. I'll send it to you next time. You like dried squid the most, right? Okay, I'll send you two big packages. I guarantee that each one will be as big as two palms."

The person on the other end of the phone laughed a lot, and was obviously very happy. She kept saying, "Oh, thank you so much. It's only courtesy. Auntie, what Shanghai specialty do you like? Tell me and I'll send it to you."

Ning Tang said, "Oh, no need. Sanwa told you, his brothers and sisters are all in Shanghai. They often send me things. My house is full of Shanghai specialties, such as Chenghuang Temple pear paste candy, five-spice beans, and Gaoqiao pine cakes. I have them all."

The person on the other end of the phone sighed, "Ah, then, Auntie, do you still need anything? Tell me and I will definitely send it to you. Hehe, as long as you send us some more dried squid, that will be fine."

Ning Tang hadn't answered yet, and Sanwa was unhappy, "Ji Anguo, is this my mom or your mom? Go away, go play somewhere else, don't disturb me from calling my mom." He muttered, "The phone bill is expensive."

Ji Anguo then returned the receiver to Sanwa, "Here, for you." He called out again, "Auntie, see you later. Next time you come to Shanghai, remember to look for me. I'll treat you to Lao Zhengxing and we'll have authentic local cuisine."

Ning Tang was so amused by him that he couldn't stop laughing. He said to Shen Lie beside him, "Teammate Sanwa is quite interesting."

Sanwa yelled on the other end of the phone, "He's not interesting, Mom, look at me, I'm interesting."

Ning Tang was happy, "Okay? Okay? Okay? Interesting Sanwa, are you going to tell me something?"

Sanwa thought for a moment and continued what he had not finished saying last time, "I will go home for the Chinese New Year this year, but I will only stay at home for a week. I will go back after the seventh day of the Chinese New Year."

"Why?" Shen Lie asked beside him.

Sanwa smiled shyly, "After the Chinese New Year, our coach will take me to compete abroad."

Foreigners don't celebrate the Spring Festival. As the competition is approaching, Sanwa can't go home to celebrate the New Year. I guess he had to waste a lot of time and energy with his coach.

Shen Lie said, "That's great." He added, "Then you and Da Wa and Er Niu will come back together this Spring Festival."

"Yeah." Sanwa responded.

As Sanwa grew older, he participated in more and more swimming competitions. Although medals, trophies and prize money were sent home continuously, he rarely mentioned participating in swimming competitions in front of Shen Lie and Ning Tang. After all, to him, this matter was as important as eating and drinking water.

This time, Sanwa specifically mentioned going abroad to participate in a swimming competition. Shen Lie and Ning Tang looked at each other and estimated that it was not some small competition.

They actually guessed it right. If they won a place in this competition, it would be amazing. It would mean that Sanwa would officially have an international ranking and would be able to move from the Navy Swimming Team to the National Swimming Team.

As parents, this is the first time we feel powerless in this matter. Our words are even more pale. We can only cheer our third child up, "Work hard and keep a calm mind."

"Yes." Sanwa replied heavily, "I will."

After hanging up the phone, it was already mid-afternoon. Ning Tang went out with a basket of vegetables to buy them. The market would be closed for the New Year soon, so he had to stock up on more vegetables. After buying the vegetables, Ning Tang felt very regretful. If he had known he would have to buy so much, he would have asked Shen Lie to come and help him carry them.

Who would have thought that when she came back, she happened to run into Mrs. Luo. Seeing that she carried a lot, Mrs. Luo helped her carry some.

Ning Tang saw that Luo's wife was very happy and smiled, "Sister-in-law, what's the matter? You look so happy."

Mrs. Luo smiled so hard that she couldn't stop. "Qingqing said she wanted to go home for the Spring Festival this year."

Ning Tang: "Very good?"

She hadn't seen Zhao Qing for a long time. Zhao Qing and her husband both worked in Fujian Province and were busy with work. In addition, they had just given birth to a daughter two years ago, and the child was too young, so they did not take the child back by train to see Mrs. Luo and Political Commissar Zhao. Now that their daughter has grown up, Zhao Qing and her husband's work has become easier. As soon as they have time, they come to Hailang Island to celebrate the reunion year and visit Mrs. Luo and Political Commissar Zhao.

Just when Ning Tang was wondering whether Zhao Qing would return first, or Da Wa and the other three would return first, Zhao Qing came back.

She arrived on the afternoon of the day before New Year's Eve, with her husband and young daughter, carrying a lot of bags.

When she arrived, Mrs. Luo was busy frying sazi and sugar triangles in the kitchen.

Zhao Qing put the food down and went to the kitchen to help Luo's wife. While busying herself, she asked, "Mom, why are you making fried sazi and sugar triangles? No one in our family likes to eat them. Minsong doesn't like to eat them either, and An'an is still young. How can she chew them?"

Minsong was talking about her husband, and Anan was her daughter who was less than three years old.

Mrs. Luo smiled, "This is fried for the eldest, second, third and fourth children. They love it." She added, "An An is little, give her a piece to lick and taste it."

Zhao Qing knew that her mother had always loved the three children of the Shen family very much. She said "oh" and stopped talking, and went back to work.

She stopped talking, but Luo's wife was surprised and looked at her face. "What's wrong? What's going on?"

No one knows a girl better than her mother. Even though Zhao Qing is married and has children, her impetuous temper still cannot be changed.

Mrs. Luo privately thought that as soon as she came back, she would talk to her about this and that, either talking about what happened to Minsong or how cute An An was.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Qing remained silent. This is not her character.

Zhao Qing heard Luo's question and paused in her movements of clasping dough. A closer look revealed that her fingertips were trembling slightly and her voice was trembling. "We ran into Sun Minghui when we came back."

Mrs. Luo's eyelids twitched suddenly, she was extremely surprised, "Where did you meet him?"

Zhao Qing pursed her lips and said, "The train station." She said slowly, "When I met him, he was walking into the train station, and we bumped into each other face to face." After thinking about it, she said, "He probably didn't recognize me."

It's not surprising that Sun Minghui didn't recognize Zhao Qing. Zhao Qing has changed a lot in the past few years. She has become much plumper and her skin has become whiter. His attention was not on the "passerby", so it was normal that he didn't recognize her.

Seeing that Luo's wife didn't respond, Zhao Qing continued, "When I met him, he was walking side by side with his wife. His wife was holding a little girl in her arms. Her belly was bulging. She must be pregnant."

She seemed to recall something terrible, and suddenly looked at Mrs. Luo, "Mom, I remember you told me that after I broke up with Sun Minghui, he got married within two months, and his wife got pregnant right after the marriage. She also gave birth to a daughter, right?"

Mrs. Luo was stunned for a moment, then responded, "Yes."

When Zhao Qing took the college entrance examination again, she was still afraid that Zhao Qing would not give up and wanted to rekindle her relationship with Sun Minghui, so she asked someone to inquire about Sun Minghui's news. The news she got was that Sun Minghui left in disgrace and married another woman in less than two months. She got pregnant as soon as they got married. Zhao Qing gave up then, turned her grief into motivation, and was admitted to the university.

Zhao Qing, "According to the time, Sun Minghui's eldest daughter should be around 7 years old now."

Mrs. Luo did some calculations in her head and confirmed what she said, "Right?"

Zhao Qing's lips trembled slightly, "Mom, do you know? I saw the little girl that the couple was holding at the train station. How old was she?" Without waiting for Mrs. Luo to answer, she continued, "She looked just over three years old, about the same age as An An."

Zhao Qing closed his eyes, exhaled, then opened his eyes and said coldly, "They gave birth to a dwarf!"

What she said was not groundless. Zhao Qing attended none other than Fujian Medical University. After graduation, she went to the endocrinology department of the City Central Hospital, which is the department that patients with dwarfism usually go to.

It was precisely because of the knot in her heart about Sun Minghui that she made this decision.

I entered the department with a doubtful idea at first, but I learned a lot of knowledge from many senior doctors. I learned from them that children with dwarfism develop more slowly than normal children.

For example, Sun Minghui's daughter is seven years old but looks only three years old. When she reaches a certain age, she will stop growing. Only by injecting expensive growth hormone can she promote growth, but the effect is very limited. At most, it can make dwarfism patients grow a little taller. It is absolutely impossible for them to be like normal people.

Zhao Qing thought of this and sneered. Given the Sun family's preference for boys over girls, would they give Sun Minghui's eldest daughter expensive growth hormones? That was absolutely impossible.

After sneering, she felt a wave of fear again. A gust of cold wind blew across her sweaty back, and her arms were covered with goose bumps. If she had not listened to her father, her mother, and Ning Tang's advice, she would have married Sun Minghui and given birth to a dwarf child!

An An smelled the aroma of food, and ran into the kitchen on her short legs. She looked at Zhao Qing, tilted her head, and said eloquently, "Mom, grandma, what is your mom making? Food, can you give An An one?"

When Zhao Qing saw the healthy and lovely An An, he suddenly squatted down, hugged her little body, and sobbed softly.

An An didn't understand what she meant and asked anxiously, "Mom, why are you crying? Who bullied you?"

Zhao Qing sniffed, wiped away her tears quickly, and forced a smile, "It's okay, it's just that the fumes in the kitchen are too strong and it irritates my eyes." Then she added, "An An, go to the living room. Mom will bring you food in a while."

An An nodded, and ran to the living room with her short legs, saying as she ran, "Then mom, hurry up."

Zhao Qing smiled and looked at her back.

She herself is tall, and Minsong is not short either. An An inherited two of his traits. At the age of three, he is already half a head taller than his peers, and his calves are very long. I believe he will grow up to be a tall and long-legged beauty in the future.

Mrs. Luo looked at the mother and daughter, and didn't say anything like, "See, it's all right. I advised you at the beginning, "If it weren't for me, you would have married Sun Minghui and given birth to such a disabled child." She just said, "Okay, wash your face quickly. You are already a mother, and you still cry in front of your daughter. You are so grown up."

Zhao Qing washed her face with water and said with a smile, "No matter how old I am, I am still your daughter. It is not shameful for me to cry in front of my own mother and my own daughter."

After chatting and laughing, she continued to make sazi, thinking while kneading the dough.

Although Min Song is not as eloquent as Sun Minghui and is rather dull, he is a man of action. Although he doesn't say it, he actually loves her and their daughter very much, and they have a bright future. He is also a doctor, one level higher than her, and is the attending physician.

Both husband and wife are doctors and have a smart, cute and well-behaved daughter.

Her best days are still ahead.

She couldn't help but recall the woman who stood next to Sun Minghui in her place.

Wearing bulky winter clothes, with yellow skin, chloasma all over the face, and thick finger joints, life must be quite unhappy.

She almost, almost became that kind of person.

Zhao Qing looked at the half of her face reflected in the glass window. She was not as pretty as before, and had become much plumper. However, if her life was not satisfactory, she would not have the opportunity to gain weight.

Finally, after thinking about it, she thought of Sun Minghui's wife's bulging belly and sighed. She wondered if there would be another dwarf in there.