Hard work after winning the lottery

The next day, Hua Shu drove his family's pickup truck, carrying his entire family, straight to the city.

The hospital was overcrowded, and the air was filled with the smell of disinfectant.

Hua Yun sat on a bench outside the ultrasound room, holding the registration slip, her palms sweating with nervousness.

Li Guifen and Grandma Hua were even more nervous than she was, asking her every now and then if she wanted water, and every now and then if her stomach felt uncomfortable.

"Number 32, Hua Yun!"

Finally, her name was called.

Hua Yun took a deep breath and, accompanied by her mother and grandmother, entered the ultrasound room.

The cold coupling gel applied to her belly made her shiver involuntarily.

The doctor was a woman in her forties, with a serious expression, skillfully moving the probe.

A blurry image appeared on the black and white screen.

Hua Yun couldn't understand, so she could only stare intently at the doctor's face.

Suddenly, the doctor exclaimed "Huh?" and stopped what he was doing.

She leaned closer to the screen, looked at it carefully, then changed the angle and checked it repeatedly.

This made Hua Yun and Li Guifen's hearts jump into their throats.

"Doctor, is...is there a problem?" Li Guifen's voice trembled slightly.

The doctor didn't answer immediately, but observed Hua Yun in silence for another half minute before raising his head and looking at her with a strange expression.

That look in his eyes was a mixture of surprise and disbelief.

"Young lady, didn't you... have a thorough examination done elsewhere before?"

"I...I only had it done twice at the hospital. I was still very young then, so they just checked the fetal heartbeat." Hua Yun's heart was pounding in her throat.

The doctor adjusted his glasses, seemingly organizing his thoughts.

Pointing to a few small, flickering dots on the screen, she dropped a bombshell, word by word.

"What's in your belly...?"

"Not one."

"There are three!"

"Three...three?"

Hua Yun's mind went blank for a moment with a "buzz".

She felt as if countless bees were buzzing in her ears, and she couldn't hear anything else.

Li Guifen was also stunned. Her mouth hung open, unable to close for a long time, thinking she had misheard: "Doctor, what...what did you say? How many?"

"Three! It's triplets! Look, one, two, three, all with good heartbeats, very healthy." The doctor pointed to the screen, his tone filled with surprise and joy.

Triplets!

This word struck the Hua family like a bolt of lightning.

Hua Yun's tears rolled down her cheeks without warning.

She didn't know whether she felt joy, fear, or both.

She instinctively covered her mouth, her body trembling slightly uncontrollably.

Three...

She and Zhou Yanjin had... three children...

What kind of expression would that aloof and noble man have if he knew that he had three children with the same blood at once?

The thought only flashed through my mind.

What followed was an immense, almost overwhelming, sense of fear.

The entire Hua family was in an uproar.

Hua Mutou and Hua Shu, two men who had always been as steady as mountains, paced back and forth in the hospital, repeatedly muttering, "God has eyes! God has eyes! Three at once!"

The joy was real and tangible.

They were suddenly blessed with three great-grandchildren, a truly incredible fortune that left them feeling overwhelmed.

However, after the joy came a deeper worry.

"Three children... Yun'er, your body is so small, how can you bear it..." Li Guifen touched her daughter's face, her eyes red, her voice full of suppressed heartache and fear.

Grandma Hua sat to the side, wiping away tears, muttering, "What a tragedy... Who was the wicked person who made my granddaughter suffer like this..."

Hua Shu, who had been so excited just moments before, calmed down. He stood at the door, looking at his pale-faced daughter on the bed, took a deep drag on his cigarette, and the joy in his eyes faded, leaving only a heavy worry as heavy as a mountain.

On the way back from the Municipal Maternal and Child Health Hospital, the car was eerily quiet.

The tension and anticipation I felt upon arrival have been replaced by a heavier, more complex emotion.

Hua Yun leaned back in the back seat, her hand gently resting on her abdomen, her eyes vacant as she stared out the window at the rapidly receding fields.

There, three little lives are being conceived.

This realization weighed heavily on her heart, like an invisible mountain, as well as on the hearts of everyone in the car.

Hua Shu was driving, his face, which usually wore a kind and honest smile, was tense at this moment, his brows furrowed into a knot, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles white.

Li Guifen and Grandma Hua flanked Hua Yun on either side, like two guardian angels, but they remained silent, their eyes filled with such deep concern and worry that they seemed about to overflow.

Back home, no one was in the mood to mention the online store orders anymore.

Li Guifen silently walked into the kitchen, and soon brought out a bowl of freshly warmed goat milk.

"Yun'er, have some drink to warm yourself up."

Orders for Xishan Muyun continue to pour in every day, but the atmosphere at home has become more cautious and somber.

As the pregnancy progressed, the power of triplets began to manifest in Hua Yun.

Her body, like an overstretched canvas, was groaning in pain from the unbearable strain.

The first thing to protest was her legs.

The swelling came on quickly and suddenly; my ankles and calves swelled up like steamed buns, and pressing on them left a deep dent that wouldn't bounce back for a long time.

The flat shoes that used to fit comfortably now won't fit, so I have to wear the largest size men's slippers my father bought me.

Next, the lower back.

It was a persistent, excruciating pain, as if every crevice of the spine was filled with shards of glass.

Whether sitting, lying down, or standing, she couldn't find a comfortable position.

At night, she would often wake up in pain, then lie awake in the darkness, feeling the inescapable torment until dawn.

Several times, she felt so much pain that she wanted to cry.

Before she could even shed a tear, the little ones inside her would unanimously give her a good "punch and kick".

The force grew heavier with each strike, brimming with vitality, as if protesting the mother's weakness.

"Bang!"

"Thump!"

Clear fetal movements, through the belly, imprinted the shapes of tiny feet or fists.

At these moments, all of Hua Yun's grievances and pain would melt away with an indescribable sense of happiness.

She would lower her head, place her palm on that high, bulging area where the skin was stretched and shiny, and whisper softly in a voice only she could hear.

"You three little rascals... can't you give your mother a break?"

Her tone was overflowing with tenderness, a tenderness she herself was unaware of.

It was really tough.

But it is happiness, and it is true happiness.

She embraced this sweet burden with joy.