CHAPTER 503: CHAPTER 352 SURPRISE!

In the afternoon, there were always people around, so there was no chance to talk about getting the funds to build a new ship.

Once back in the room, Han Xiangning immediately closed the door, hugged Han Yu’s neck, and excitedly said: "San’er, I have a surprise for you. I’ll give you three chances to guess what the surprise is."

Task completed, Han Yu felt relieved and instinctively hugged Xiang Ning’s noticeably thicker waist, looking towards her slightly protruding belly and asked: "Couldn’t resist asking someone to check?"

"Check what?"

"Boy or girl."

"You’re thinking too far ahead, I promised you I wouldn’t ask and I didn’t. Besides, if I really wanted to know, would I need others to check for me? Last time I had an ultrasound, my mother took me and stood by the computer during the check-up. Even if others couldn’t understand it, she could. Actually, she knew about it long ago."

To others, checking the gender of a fetus before birth is against the regulations.

But the mother-in-law is the head nurse at People’s Hospital, she would inevitably be concerned about whether her daughter was carrying a boy or a girl, and could "accidentally" find out, so the question of following or not following regulations doesn’t arise.

Sisters-in-law are also nurses, and the brother-in-law is a surgeon. With three medics in the family, it’s impossible not to know the gender of the baby in Xiang Ning’s belly, which made Han Yu laugh.

Carrying a baby and traveling laboriously through several provinces in Southern China was all for this moment. Excitement arrived, Han Xiangning urged: "Stop laughing, hurry up and guess, you have two more chances."

Besides soon becoming a father, what other joy could there be at home, Han Yu racked his brains and smilingly asked her: "Is Mengmeng also pregnant?"

"No, don’t talk about her. She was eager to marry Liang Xiaojun, but after getting married, she doesn’t want to have children. Let’s not talk about her, keep guessing, this is your last chance."

"Could it be Yu Zhen is pregnant, and Xiao Yu is going to be a dad?"

"Always pregnancy, pregnancy, what else do you think about? Can’t you think of anything else!" Han Xiangning said laughingly but helplessly as she pushed him away.

Han Yu sat down on the bed, pulled Xiang Ning into his arms, gently stroked her belly, greedily inhaling her familiar and pleasant faint hair fragrance, feeling deeply moved.

"Thinking of you and the baby in your belly, Dutch crew members on the sea can call home using a satellite phone, Navy and Russian experts although can’t make phone calls, at least they can look at their family photos."

Han Yu took a deep breath and continued: "I was called urgently to carry out a mission while on a business trip in East Guang; I wasn’t prepared and didn’t have a single photo with me. I should buy a wallet and keep your photo in it so I can look at it whenever I miss you."

Han Xiangning didn’t expect him to say these things; she was both delighted and distressed, her eyes welling up with tears.

"Ningning, why are you crying?"

"Nothing, I’m just happy. Why do you smell like kitchen grease?"

"Really?"

Han Xiangning leaned on him and sniffed, pretending to disdain: "Not just diesel, but also the smell of cooking oil. Were you cooking on the ship?"

Thinking back on the past two months at sea, Han Yu embarrassingly said: "I often cooked, every day."

"Your First-level Merit came from cooking?"

"Not just from cooking. Mainly because you can’t light fires in a submarine to cook, so the crew could only eat meals provided by the semi-submersible ship’s kitchen. They weren’t used to Western food and had to abide by the rules of confidentiality, not getting too close to the Dutch crew. Even without the rules, they wouldn’t be able to communicate as they don’t speak English well. I had more freedom, and got along well with the Dutch Captain and crew, so I used their kitchen to cook some hometown meals for them."

"Have you ever been inside a submarine? Are the instruments very advanced?"

"Crew members must abide by confidentiality, and so must I. During those two months, every time I opened my eyes, I saw submarines, but I never went inside."

Han Xiangning, curious, asked: "Then what were you mainly responsible for?"

Han Yu laughed: "Doing odd jobs. Since the submarine was being transported as cargo, the General Staff Equipment Department and Navy were the shippers, Cosco acted as the freight forwarder, and I was supervising the transport as a representative of Cosco. Mainly involved in loading, responsible for communication between the crew and the ship side.

During the voyage, like participating in a guard mission, watching the Captain and Chief Officer plan the voyage, quietly supervising the engine department’s operation to ensure safe navigation. I also had to be familiar with the regulations of countries we sailed through and port entry rules, reminding the crew to be careful, so that we wouldn’t be detained over trivial matters."

Han Yu stated it lightly, but Han Xiangning, who studied maritime transport and has always been involved in water traffic transport management, knew this task was not simple.

Not to mention, being familiar with the regulations of the countries through which they sailed and port entry rules was very important.

Some countries are keen on protecting their fishing resources, prohibiting fishing. If crew members fish in their waters without knowing, whether they catch fish or not, they would be heavily fined if discovered.

Some countries value marine environmental protection. If crew members are unaware of related regulations and urinate into the sea from the deck, they would face heavy fines if discovered. If a cargo ship is in poor condition and leaks oil, leading to pollution, the issue becomes even more severe.

Some countries prioritize firefighting safety. If you light a fire without permission at their dock or anchorage—let alone welding, even smoking a cigarette on the deck—can lead to heavy fines and even detention.

Some countries focus on wildlife protection. There was once a deep-sea cargo ship docked at a port in India where several monkeys ran onboard. Despite the efforts of a dozen crew members, they couldn’t be chased away, resulting in a delay of several days and almost a million US Dollar loss.