◎ First Update ◎ 

The theft at the State Cotton Factory put the security department under significant pressure. Pang Lin was not only criticized by the factory director during the meeting but also had to assist the Public Security Bureau with the investigation. 

Fortunately, the three men eventually confessed to the crime. They were a small group of petty individuals who had no money to spend and had evil intentions. They actually sneaked into the State Cotton Factory after scouting the area and tried to steal money. 

Just when they were about to succeed, they were unlucky enough to be seen by Xu Shengjie and Hong Saner, who were working the night shift. 

Because of this incident, in the following days at the State Cotton Factory, the security department could be seen everywhere, patrolling back and forth from the factory gate to the side door. Especially in the middle of the night, they took turns patrolling with flashlights, which gave the workers a bit of peace of mind. 

However, due to this incident, the factory’s sports meeting was postponed to prioritize safety. 

After all, if someone could sneak in with a knife to steal, who’s to say they wouldn’t use it on a person someday? It’s a frightening thought! 

Liang Baozhen received the one hundred yuan reward that Xu Shengjie handed in, which was the factory’s recognition of his bravery and courage in fighting the criminals. However, being sensible, he handed the money over as soon as he got home. 

“You can keep it.” 

“Okay.” Liang Baozhen took it happily without any hesitation, stood up and sat by the bedside. She turned the pillow over, reached into the pillowcase, and pulled out a handkerchief.  

Opening it, she revealed the money they had saved over the past few months. 

They were both working, so they could still save a lot of money every month. They had saved one hundred eighty yuan in the past few months, and with these one hundred yuan, it was time to deposit the money in the bank. 

But after thinking about it, Liang Baozhen handed a large bill to Xu Shengjie, “Here, it’s for you.” 

“Why are you giving it to me?” 

“It’s a reward. The factory rewarded you one hundred yuan, and our family will reward you ten yuan.” Liang Baozhen felt that her husband was very capable. He could fight enemies on the battlefield and catch bad people in the factory. He could beat three knife-wielding criminals with his bare hands. Although she had been worried, she couldn’t help but admire him. 

“Alright, then I won’t hold back.” 

“Of course, you deserve it.” Liang Baozhen put away the remaining money, took out the passbook, turned to her husband, and said, “Look at you. For your act of bravery, you earned a total of one hundred and ten yuan. Not bad, is it?” 

“Indeed.” After Xu Shengjie finished speaking, he suddenly felt something was wrong. 

*** 

Liang Baozhen had been focused on her pregnancy lately. When she met a few pregnant female workers at the factory, she couldn’t help but talk with them. Coincidentally, one of them had a due date close to hers, and both were expecting to give birth in early May. 

This person works in the cotton combing workshop. Her name is Tu Min. She is 27 years old this year. It wasn’t easy for her to conceive this child. She had given birth to three children before, but only one survived. The other two were born prematurely and passed away after just over a year. Her whole family attaches great importance to this pregnancy and hopes that the child can be born safely. 

“Everything will be fine for sure. You look healthy, and your appetite is good.” 

“Yes, I feel different this time. The baby doesn’t bother me much, and I have had no problem going to work in the past seven months.” 

“Let’s see who delivers first when the time comes.” 

“Hahaha, sure! Maybe it’ll be around the same time.” 

While she was still able to move around, Liang Baozhen insisted on going with her family to watch Xu Shengwei’s match. The bus was crowded, but a kind elderly lady offered her a seat, so she rode all the way to Dongshan Stadium sitting down. 

Xu Shengya held her sister-in-law’s arm the entire time, worried something might happen to her or the baby. 

“It’s okay. The baby is being very cooperative. It seems the baby knows we’re going to watch Xiao Wei’s game, so the baby is behaving very well.” 

Yang Yan also brought her son to watch the match. Her husband is a section chief at the municipal construction bureau and is usually busy with work, so she often takes her son out to play. Ever since they signed Xu Shengwei up, her son Zhao Zhao has been curious about table tennis and wanted to come along to watch. 

The group happened to meet at the stadium entrance and walked in together. 

“Grandma, Grandma, look at my badge!” Xu Shengwei had already confirmed with the event staff that he would be competing in twenty minutes. Now, he had a player badge around his neck that looked particularly impressive. 

There are a total of forty contestants in today’s competition, which will be held in the indoor gymnasium of Dongshan Sports Stadium. 

First, after the draw, the contestants were divided into two groups. Twenty games are played in the first round, and half of the players are eliminated. Ten more games are played in the second round to determine the top ten. In the third round, the five players from each group would compete in a round-robin format to rank the top two from each group based on points. The fourth round would be the semifinals, followed by the finals in the fifth round. 

Considering the large number of contestants, if one wants to enter the finals, they have to play five rounds, which requires a lot of physical strength and endurance from the participants. Because of this, the organizers of the competition decided that the first four rounds will adopt a single-game system, and whoever gets twenty-one points first will win. 

Only the semi-finals and finals of the fourth and fifth rounds are three-set matches. 

The city’s youth table tennis competition was well organized, with a large venue and scale. They even invited the director of the sports bureau to give a speech, which ignited the enthusiasm of many young players. 

Even in the audience, Zhou Yun clapped excitedly. She had always thought her grandson was just playing around, but now he was participating in such a significant competition. 

The applause from all around was overwhelming. Zhou Yun spoke to her family members at the top of her voice, “Look at Xiao Wei standing there. He looks different standing there!” 

“Yes, I’ve never seen Xiao Wei so energetic.” Liang Baozhen straightened up and looked over, only to see Xu Sheng Wei standing in front of the table with a ping-pong ball in his hand, focused and determined. Opposite him was a boy who was taller than him. 

The two were about to compete in the first round. 

“Come on, Second Brother! Come on, Second Brother!” Xu Shengya shouted softly, and basically only the people in the two nearby rows could hear it. Although it was noisy, she was too shy to shout out loudly. 

The match was in full swing. It was Xu Shengwei’s first time playing in front of so many people, and he felt a little nervous, especially since his opponent was quite skilled. They were tied at fifteen points, and the battle was intense. 

*** 

“Brother, you can do it!” Suddenly, a girl’s crisp voice was heard from the audience. She raised her voice to cheer for the young man standing opposite Xu Shengwei. 

Xu Shengya looked in the direction of the voice and saw a cute little girl, who looked to be about eleven or twelve years old, with a charming smile. The dimples on her lips were faintly visible when she spoke. 

The score remained close. Xu Shengwei felt some tightness in his hand, and his performance was somewhat unsteady as he struggled to keep up with the score. It was now nineteen to eighteen, and it was time for him to serve. 

“Come on, Second brother!” The gymnasium was bustling with noise. Ten games were going on at the same time, and with so many spectators, the noise was deafening. Xu Shengwei suddenly heard a familiar voice. It was his sister’s. 

Turning his head, he saw Xu Shengya cheering loudly for him. On the other side, the family of the young man opposite him was also cheering just as loudly. 

“Go, brother!” 

“Come on, Brother!” 

The two younger sisters also started to compete with each other. 

Xu Shengwei smiled, as if their encouragement relieved his tension and restraint. He took a long breath, tossed the ping-pong ball high, and scored directly with a low and fast side-spin serve! 

The opponent didn’t catch it at all! 

Twenty to eighteen, Xu Shengwei got the match point. 

“Yes!!!” 

The Xu family was so excited when they saw Xiaowei score directly from his serve. Even his grandmother, Zhou Yun, waved her arms in joy for her grandson. Xu Shengjie looked at his brother on the court with a bit of pride in his eyes. 

Having completely gotten rid of his nervousness, Xu Shengwei pressed on and won with 21 to 18. 

In the next few games, Xu Shengwei, who had never received professional systematic training, won all the games and unexpectedly made it to the semi-finals. 

He became one of the top four in this competition. 

Xu Shengwei’s achievement surprised both his family and himself. Many of the participants had undergone systematic training or had been playing table tennis for years. Xu Shengwei, who had only obtained his first proper paddle half a year ago, managed to reach the top four, which was truly impressive. 

However, since he had never received any professional training, he was always far behind others in stamina and tactical skills. In the end, he lost in the semifinals by a significant margin. 

Concerned that Xu Shengwei might be upset, his family exchanged glances after he finished, unsure how to bring up the topic of the competition. Xu Shengjie patted his brother on the shoulder, “It’s not a big deal; you can win next time.” 

Although he had previously told Xu Shengwei not to compete unless he could get first place, he was surprised to see his younger brother playing so hard and still fighting when the opponent reached match point. It seemed that Xiaowei had really grown up and become a capable man. He was no longer the little kid who only knew how to play in his eyes. 

Xu Shengwei laughed and wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. “Brother, I’m fine! I’m so happy. Fourth place! I never even dared to dream of this before.” 

Among the top ten contestants in this competition, nine were from the Youth Palace table tennis class, with only Xu Shengwei being the exception. Just this alone was enough to make him feel on top of the world. 

“Well done to our Xiao Wei! Grandma thinks you are no worse than the first place.” In Zhou Yun’s eyes, her grandson is the best. 

During the finals, Xu Shengwei watched the game intently, his heart pounding. He really wanted to compete with them! When the game ended and the family was walking out, the Youth Palace coach approached Xu Shengwei. Upon learning that he was a middle school student who had not received formal training, the coach immediately recognized his potential, even though he was a bit older. 

Sports training should start early. Many children start at the age of four or five. Starting at Xu Shengwei’s age was indeed late, but it was still possible to cultivate his skills. 

“Comrade Xu Shengwei, do you want to join our Youth Palace table tennis training team?” 

Another purpose of this competition is to form a youth table tennis training team, which will have higher requirements and more rigorous training than the current table tennis classes. 

“Really? I can go?” Xu Shengwei suppressed his excitement. He had heard about it before, but he heard that only the top three would be selected. 

“Yes, you have such great potential even without any training. You should definitely join us to see how much further you can go.” 

“Of course he will go!” Zhou Yun, who had once been the most opposed to her grandson playing table tennis, was the quickest to agree at that moment.  

After watching the competition all day, she understood that her grandson had found the right place! 

After taking a long bus ride back to the courtyard, many people were aware that Xu Shengwei had participated in a competition. When they saw the Xu family returning, they couldn’t help but ask. 

“How did Xiao Wei do?” 

“He must have done fine. I heard from our Biaozi that Xiaowei is unbeatable in our entire alley.” 

“Aunt, I got fourth place.” 

“Oh wow, that’s impressive!”  

Most people didn’t quite understand what the table tennis competition was all about, seeing it as just a group of kids playing and not taking it too seriously. 

Xu Shengwei was so proud that day that he put down his paddle and went to show off to Fang Zhibin and the others. 

After a long day of running around, Liang Baozhen was tired, and Xu Shengjie helped her back to the house to rest. When they were about to enter their house, they saw Liu Nianhua running back in hurriedly with a flushed face. 

“Sister Hua? What happened?” 

Liu Nianhua looked up at the two of them, without saying a word, shook her head, ran to her home, and then slammed the door. 

“What’s going on?” Liang Baozhen was surprised. She had never seen Liu Nianhua like this before. “Could it be that Zhou Guoping is here again?” 

““That’s impossible; Zhou Guoping was sent to labor reform after being criticized,” Xu Shengjie replied. He didn’t have any connections, so he would have to accept his punishment honestly and wouldn’t come back to bother Liu Nianhua.” 

Before he could finish his words, Zhou Qingdang walked into the courtyard. He looked dejected, and when he saw Liang Baozhen and Xu Shengjie, he simply nodded in greeting.  

“Zhou Qingdang seems a bit strange too.” Liang Baozhen didn’t know what was going on today.  

Xu Shengjie helped his worried and curious wife back to the house to rest before speaking. “Have you noticed that Zhou Qingdang seems to have feelings for Sister Hua?” 

“Feelings? What kind of feelings?” 

Xu Shengjie noticed that his usually clever wife seemed a bit confused. He smiled slightly and said, “You know, like wanting to date her.”