The day before Su Ting's due date, He Dongchuan took a leave of absence to stay with her in the hospital. However, after waiting for a long time, there was no sign of the baby coming out.

He was worried that if he took too long a leave, it would be difficult to take another one after the baby was born. In addition, there were other things waiting for him to deal with in the camp, so after staying in the hospital for three days, He Dongchuan canceled his leave and went home.

Fortunately, there was a telephone in He Dongchuan's office, so it was convenient to contact her. Every day after work at the hospital and before he left the camp in the afternoon, he would call the hospital's obstetrics and gynecology office and have a brief conversation with Su Ting to ask about her physical condition.

In fact, He Dongchuan usually does not use the official phone for personal communication. He always queues up at the city post office to contact his family. But due to the recent special circumstances, he made an exception. Of course, the phone bill was paid according to the length of the call.

After arriving at the unit that day, He Dongchuan went to the camp cafeteria to eat as usual.

Although there were always people in the hospital, all medical staff would not arrive until after 8 o'clock, so the staff were more relaxed and it was more convenient for him to call at that time.

But this day was different from usual. After I finished breakfast and returned to the office, the phone rang within a short while after I sat down.

He Dongchuan thought the call was from his boss, but when he answered it, it was Aunt Wang's voice that rang on the other end of the line: "Your wife is about to give birth!"

He Dongchuan stood up immediately: "Now?"

"The pain started at 3 or 4 in the morning. I'm almost ready to go to the delivery room."

"I'll be right there."

After hanging up the phone, He Dongchuan immediately called the group leader to tell him about asking for leave.

It was no secret in the compound that Su Ting was about to give birth, and He Dongchuan even asked for a few days off for this purpose. His leader had already prepared for him to ask for leave again, so the leave was approved very readily. However, the leave was not long, only one week.

But at this time, He Dongchuan couldn't care less. Anyway, there wouldn't be enough vacation time, so he would just find a way to extend it.

After hanging up the phone, He Dongchuan rushed out and even ran after leaving the office.

He Dongchuan has always been a stable person. Apart from training, he rarely runs around in the camp. Moreover, when he runs, his eyebrows are tightly knitted, which makes people who meet him on the road think that he has encountered some big trouble and quickly ask him loudly.

"My wife is about to give birth!"

He Dongchuan answered every question, but he ran so fast that only the tail of his voice was left when it came back, leaving a group of people looking at each other in confusion, asking each other uncertainly: "Did he say that his wife is about to give birth?"

"It seems so?"

He Dongchuan ran all the way to the carport, got on his bike and went out.

When he reached the fork in the road, He Dongchuan wanted to ride his bike straight to the pier, but after turning the corner and feeling the wind, he regained his senses.

Although Su Ting brought money with her when she was hospitalized, she stayed in the hospital longer than they expected. When she called yesterday, she said that the nurse asked her to continue paying the fees and bring more money when she went to the hospital on Sunday. And since she would have to stay in the hospital for a few more days, she had to bring two more sets of clothes.

So he turned around and rode his bike towards the family compound.

After entering the yard of Building No. 66, He Dongchuan braked his bicycle sharply, strode into the house, and went straight to the master bedroom to pack his things.

During this time, He Yan was woken up and ran out with sleepy eyes. When he saw He Dongchuan, he rubbed his eyes in confusion and said, "Dad, why are you back?"

"Your mother is about to give birth. I have to go to the hospital quickly." He Dongchuan said as he packed his things.

He Yan suddenly came to his senses: "Really? What about me?"

He Dongchuan didn't think of his son at all, and asked back: "What?"

"You all went to the hospital, what should I do?" He Yan said hurriedly and came up with a solution, "I want to go to the hospital too!"

"What are you doing in the hospital? Not attending class?"

He Yan straightened his chest and said confidently, "I'm going to see my mother! And my sister!"

During Su Ting's pregnancy, Aunt Wang often asked He Yan whether he wanted a younger brother or a younger sister. He didn't care at first, thinking that it didn't matter whether it was a younger brother or a younger sister, as long as they could call him brother.

He just wants to be the boss!

Until one day, when he was playing with his friends, one of them brought his younger brother.

Because he has little patience, He Yan doesn't usually play with children who are two or three years old. Therefore, he has always had a filter towards his younger brothers and sisters. He thinks that babies born by their mothers must be soft, cute and adorable, and he can do whatever he wants with them.

But the friend's younger brother broke his filter.

The child is so annoying. He can’t run or jump, and he always cries if you don’t play with him. The most unbearable thing is that his nose is always full of snot!

As soon as he got home that day, He Yan said angrily that he didn't want any brothers or sisters anymore.

Su Ting was embarrassed after hearing this: "What should we do? The brother and sister are already in mom's belly. They can't disappear. They will come out sooner or later."

He Yan didn't know what to do and his expression was very conflicted.

Seeing this, Su Ting continued to ask him why he didn't want a brother or sister. He Yan then told her about his friend's brother, and then said with a look of disgust: "He also eats snot!"

Su Ting couldn't accept the idea of ​​eating snot. After digesting it for a while, she told He Yan that every child has a different personality. Some like to be clean, while others are rather sloppy. The reasons for such personality differences include innate characteristics and differences in parental education. In addition, girls often like to be clean more than boys.

Of course, she thought that her children, whether boys or girls, would not be so sloppy.

He Yan took Su Ting's words to heart. Over the next period of time, he paid close attention to the children in the compound and found that some were clean while others were dirty.

She also discovered that girls are generally cleaner and more well-behaved than boys. Although they sometimes like to cry, girls are also very cute when they cry.

So after the inspection, He Yan returned home and announced that he wanted a younger sister, not a younger brother.

In order to express his expectation for his younger sister, He Yan no longer called the baby in Su Ting's belly "baby" which is a gender-neutral term, but directly called her "sister".

Su Ting also wanted a daughter, but during her pregnancy, she kept telling herself not to restrict the child's gender too much, because the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment if the child's gender did not meet expectations.

She hopes that when her child is born and she is told his gender, her first reaction will be surprise.

Whether it is a boy or a girl, it is a gift from God to her.

But after hearing He Yan calling her "sister" for a few days, Su Ting was gradually led astray. Now when talking about the baby in her belly, she tends to use "she".

In order to convince his father to take him to the hospital to see his mother and sister, He Yan racked his brains and started to make a fuss: "Besides, you and mom and grandma are not here, leaving me at home. What will I eat and drink for the next few days? How will I take a shower at night? Who will wash my clothes? When you come back, I will be starving and stink!"

Although He Yan was a little too forward, the question he raised was indeed very important. He Dongchuan pondered for a moment, then stepped back and said, "Pack your clothes yourself. Hurry up. I have to leave soon."

"Yes! Leader!" He Yan gave a not-so-standard military salute, turned around and ran into the room to pack his things.

He Yan was growing up, so he could only wear his clothes for half a year. When he put them away for the next year, his pants would be shorter. So the clothes he often wore were all bought that year. There weren't many of them, just three sets, as long as he could change them.

Therefore, He Yan packed his clothes quickly, but he couldn't find a bag and didn't know how to fold them, so he just rolled them up and carried them to the master bedroom and asked his father to help him pack them.

He Dongchuan didn't have time to fold the clothes after receiving them. After taking the clothes from He Yan's hands, he directly stuffed them into the woven bag according to the shape of the clothes he rolled.

After stuffing his clothes into his closet, He Dongchuan opened the closet and took out Su Ting's box of money and tickets. He opened it and took out two large bundles of grain tickets, meat tickets, and industrial coupons. He took everything he could use.

After packing his things, He Dongchuan picked up the woven bag and walked out, and He Yan hurriedly followed.

After only taking two steps, He Dongchuan stopped, turned his head and looked at He Yan for a while, staring at him until he held his breath, fearing that his father would change his mind and not want to take him.

He Dongchuan certainly didn't change his mind. He just remembered something: "Take your schoolbag with you and put all your homework books in it." Don't think you don't have to do your homework when you go to the hospital.

He Yan wailed in his heart but didn't dare to shout out loud. He turned around and went back to get his schoolbag obediently.

…

Although time was tight, He Dongchuan still rode his bike and took a detour to Teacher He's home to ask for leave for He Yan. He then rode his bike all the way and arrived at the pier just in time to catch the ferry.

In order to save time, He Dongchuan did not get off the bus and asked He Yan to go to the window to buy the ticket. When he came back, he reached out and grabbed his son, put him steadily on the front bumper, and rode towards the gate. Fortunately, he got on the boat before the gate was closed.

After getting on the boat, He Dongchuan felt free, but his anxiety was getting worse. In order to ease the mood, he walked back and forth.

He Yan, who was sitting on a stool, was dazzled by him and couldn't help but raise an opinion: "Dad, can you sit down?"

As He Yan finished speaking, he saw his father stop, turn around, and look down at him seriously. He couldn't help but feel frightened and said with his head down, "Dad, you should continue to turn."

But this time He Dongchuan did not listen. Instead, he sat down beside him, rubbed his eyebrows with his hands, and turned his head to look at the shore from time to time.

After waiting for the ferry to stop, He Dongchuan quickly lifted up the bicycle and let He Yan sit on it. The ferry had just stopped and there were many people getting on and off the boat. He did not ride his bicycle to the boat as he did before, but just pushed the bicycle slowly forward along with the flow of people until he reached an empty place, then rode his bicycle and drove out of the pier quickly.

He Dongchuan hurried all the way and finally arrived at the hospital before Su Ting was pushed into the operating room.

At that time, Su Ting was three fingers dilated and her whole body was wet with pain. She lay on the hospital bed, holding Aunt Wang's hand, and kept calling He Dongchuan's name, asking him why he hadn't come yet.

Aunt Wang was also anxious. She consoled him by saying, "He'll be here soon!" She looked toward the door of the ward. Suddenly, she saw a flash of navy blue passing by the door. Her eyes lit up instantly and she shouted, "Here he comes! Xiaochuan is here!"

Sure enough, just as she finished her words, He Dongchuan entered the ward carrying a blue and white woven bag, with a little tail following behind him.

Seeing Su Ting screaming in pain on the bed, He Dongchuan threw away the woven bag, strode to the bed, held Su Ting's hand, and stroked her sweaty cheek: "I'm coming, Tingting, I'm coming."

"Mom, I'm here too!" He Yan shouted, and then asked anxiously, "What's wrong with Mom and Dad?"

Su Ting was in so much pain that her eyes were blurry. She looked for a long time before she recognized the father and son lying beside the bed. She held He Dongchuan's hand tightly with her right hand, then slowly stretched out her left hand, touched He Yan's head, gritted her teeth and squeezed out a smile, saying, "Mom is fine."

"Really?" He Yan pursed his lips, his expression showing obvious disbelief.

"real."

As soon as Su Ting finished speaking, she felt the pain intensify. Her nails dug into He Dongchuan's hand and she swallowed back her scream.

He Dongchuan let her pinch his right hand, and stroked her hair with his left hand. He turned his head and asked, "When can we go to the operating room?"

"It should be soon. I'll go ask." Aunt Wang said and left the ward.

After a while, a female doctor came in hurriedly, asked Su Ting some questions, asked her to get ready to go to the operating room, and left. Shortly after the doctor left, two nurses came over with a bed and took Su Ting to the operating room.

Because He Dongchuan was there, there was no need to trouble the two nurses to do anything. He directly carried Su Ting to the bed and followed her to the operating room.

Aunt Wang followed behind holding He Yan's hand, and was eventually separated outside the operating room door.

He Yan asked anxiously: "Aren't we going in?"

"Only your father can go in. We'll wait for the results outside." Aunt Wang said, pulling He Yan to sit on a chair outside the operating room.

But He Yan was very anxious and couldn't sit still. He stood up as soon as his butt touched the stool and asked, "What result are we waiting for? Why is Mommy screaming all the time? Is she in pain?"

Hearing his innocent words, Aunt Wang couldn't help laughing: "Of course I'm waiting for my younger brother and sister to come out. Giving birth is so painful, it will be fine after the baby is born."

He Yan's eyebrows furrowed even more tightly: "Is childbirth always so painful? Why would mom want to give birth if it hurts so much?"

"Silly boy, if your mother didn't give birth to a child, how could you be born? How could you have brothers and sisters?" Aunt Wang consoled her, "Don't worry, every woman has to go through this, you just have to get through it."

He Yan pursed his lips and said nothing, he just walked to the door of the operating room and looked inside through the crack. But the door was closed too tightly, he could not see anything, he could only hear the shouting coming from inside.

But he did not step back. He clenched his hands into fists, raised his chin, stood against the door, and listened to what was happening inside.

Aunt Wang had seen many women giving birth, and she was always very smooth in delivering babies, so after Su Ting was pushed into the operating room, she gradually calmed down and was even in the mood to joke.

But seeing He Yan's fidgeting look, she couldn't help but get anxious again. She couldn't sit still any longer, so she stood up and paced back and forth, occasionally advising him, "Don't stand here, sit for a while."

He Yan said nothing, just shook his head against the door.

After an unknown amount of time, the shouting in the operating room gradually died down. He Yan's eyes lit up, and he turned around and asked, "Grandma, has Mom given birth?"

Aunt Wang raised her wrist to check her watch. An hour had passed since Su Ting was wheeled into the operating room. She smiled and said, "It's possible."

As he said this, he walked to He Yan's side and listened to the movement inside by sticking his mouth against the door.

There was no baby crying, only Su Ting's hoarse and weak cries could be vaguely heard.

The more Aunt Wang listened, the more solemn her expression became. Based on her experience, she knew that Su Ting was out of strength.

This is not a good sign.

He Yan didn't understand this. When he heard Aunt Wang say this, he thought Su Ting had given birth. He looked up and asked happily, "Is the mother about to come out?"

Aunt Wang forced a smile, patted his head and said, "It should be soon, just be patient and wait."

He Yan nodded vigorously: "Yeah!"

Unconsciously, the big and the small moved in sync, but the small one had a smile on his face, while the big one looked anxious and looked down at his watch from time to time.

One minute, two minutes...time passed by.

Suddenly, a baby crying was heard inside.

Hearing the sound, Aunt Wang lowered her head suddenly and asked: "Did you hear the crying?"

"What's that crying sound?" He Yan asked confusedly.

"The baby's crying must mean that he's been born."

He Yan asked doubtfully: "Didn't mom give birth a long time ago?" After all, he still tilted his ears to listen.

As he listened, his brows relaxed: "Yes! Yes! It's my sister crying!"

Because she was in a good mood, Aunt Wang deliberately had bad intentions and deliberately hit He Yan by saying, "How do you know it's a sister? Maybe it's a brother."

He Yan puffed up his cheeks: "I just want a sister!"

…

"It's a girl."

While the two were arguing outside the operating room about whether the child was a brother or a sister, the exhausted Su Ting was leaning to the side and squinting at the child the nurse was holding in front of her.

The little girl was wrapped in a swaddle with only her head exposed. Her skin was red and wrinkled.

So ugly.

Before falling into darkness, these two words flashed through Su Ting's mind.

She woke up in the ward. She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the sunlight refracted through the glass. It was a bit dazzling, but it made her feel happy.

Su Ting's lips curled up. Before she regained consciousness, she heard He Dongchuan's voice: "Are you awake? Are you thirsty? Are you hungry?"

Su Ting turned her head and opened her mouth, her voice a little hoarse: "I'm a little thirsty."

Hearing her voice, He Yan, who was sitting on the bed next to her and doing his homework at the dining table, turned around, jumped off the bed, threw himself in front of Su Ting's bed and asked, "Mom, are you awake?"

"Yeah." Su Ting nodded, and seeing the pen in his hand, she asked, "Are you doing your homework?"

"Yeah," He Yan nodded quickly, raised three fingers to take credit, and said, "I wrote three pages of homework!"

Su Ting was very supportive and showed a surprised expression: "So many? Xiao Yan is so good!"

He Yan raised his chin proudly and never mentioned how reluctant he was when his father forced him to do his homework at the beginning.

While the mother and son were talking, He Dongchuan prepared some warm water, put it on the bedside table, and asked, "Do you want to sit up?"

Su Ting said without hesitation: "Yes."

Although she had slept for several hours, she could still feel the tearing pain down there. After opening her eyes, she didn't dare to move at all. She could only tilt her head to talk to He Yan, as her line of sight was too low and it was very inconvenient.

He Dongchuan bent down and found the mechanism, lifted up the upper part of the bed, and then put another pillow under Su Ting's head. Then he brought the cup of warm water to her lips.

This posture was much more comfortable. Su Ting let out a long breath, lowered her head and started drinking water.

In fact, she was very thirsty, but He Dongchuan was afraid that she would choke, so he brought water very slowly, so she could only sip the water in small sips.

After drinking for more than a minute, Su Ting turned away and said, "That's enough."

He Dongchuan put down his water cup and heard Su Ting's stomach growling. He took the initiative to say, "Auntie Wang went to get food. She should be back soon."

Su Ting's cheeks were slightly hot, and she responded softly, then she thought of her child and asked, "How about slowly?"

"What do you mean by slowly?" He Dongchuan didn't know that his wife had already given their daughter a nickname.

Hearing his question, Su Ting remembered that she had not told him about this matter yet, and explained: "She never came out, so I gave her a nickname, Manman, which means fast and slow."

He Dongchuan: "This..." Is this name too careless?

But looking at the expression on his daughter-in-law's face, He Dongchuan decisively swallowed the question and praised her insincerely, "This is a good name." Then he turned around and picked up his daughter from the bed next to him.

When He Yan was just born, He Dongchuan specially practiced the posture of holding a baby. Although he did not hold the baby many times, after so many years, the muscle memory is still there.

In the operating room, his mind was all on Su Ting and he had no time to hold the baby. But after returning to the ward and settling Su Ting, he quickly regained his muscle memory under the guidance of Aunt Wang. In just a few hours, he was able to hold the baby quite well.

The child in the cradle looked similar to the one Su Ting saw before she fell into a coma, with a lot of hair, thick eyebrows, and long, curled eyelashes. Although his eyes were closed, his length showed that he was not too small. His nose looked high, his lips were chubby, and he had a slightly pointed chin.

Su Ting felt that her daughter was good in every way except her skin, which was red and wrinkled, making her appearance score only 60 points out of 100.

Su Ting couldn't help but sigh.

He Yan sighed: "Mom, do you also think your sister is ugly?"

Although there was a mother's filter, looking at the lady's face, Su Ting couldn't say anything offensive, so she could only say euphemistically: "It doesn't look good."

He Dongchuan didn't like what he heard, so he defended the girl by saying, "What's wrong with Man Man? Her nose, eyes, and mouth are so much like yours."

He Yan said: "But her face is wrinkled and red."

Although Su Ting didn't say anything, she nodded in agreement.

He Dongchuan said with a serious face: "This is because she was just born. It will be fine in a few days. When you were just born, your skin was redder than hers. Now it is fine too."

"Impossible!" He Yan touched his face and refused to admit that his father was talking about him.

He Dongchuan said: "If you don't believe me, ask Grandma Wang."

In fact, Su Ting had vaguely heard that newborn babies have wrinkled skin, but she had never actually seen a newborn baby. Even if colleagues or friends who already had children posted photos of their babies on WeChat Moments, the photos were basically filtered, so the baby's original skin could not be seen.

So when Su Ting suddenly saw the girl with red and wrinkled skin, she was so shocked that she didn't think about what she said at all. All she felt in her heart was endless worry about the child's future.

Hearing He Dongchuan's confident words, Su Ting believed it about 70% in her heart, but she was still a little worried. She asked to confirm, "Will our daughter really become whiter and have smoother skin in the future?" She glanced at He Yan and said, "It will be fine if she is half as white as Xiaoyan."

He Yan had naturally fair skin. Last summer, he often ran around with the other kids in the compound. As a result, after the summer, the other kids turned as dark as coal balls, but his skin became whiter the more he stayed in the sun.

Su Ting felt that with her ladylike facial features and half the whiteness of He Yan, she would definitely look good in the future.

He Dongchuan was very confident about the girl: "She will definitely be whiter than her brother in the future."

Hearing what his father said, He Yan couldn't help but turn around and look at himself in the mirror on the bedside table. Then he turned his head to look at his sister with red skin in his father's arms and spread his hands helplessly.

Although he said nothing, from his hair to his outstretched hands, one could tell:

I really don't know who gave his father the courage~