Chapter 660 - The Next Generation
After returning to Lingao, Tang Menglong checked into the Bopu Administrative Office's Second Guesthouse—the Transmigrator Quarantine Station, as usual. Liu San came to examine them.
"Welcome back, hero from behind enemy lines." Liu San joked, extending his hand.
"Please—that godforsaken place Jiazi Coal Mine was boring beyond belief." Tang Menglong shook it firmly. "Nothing but mountains and coal, plus the occasional view of the Nandu River."
Seeing the porters depart, Tang Menglong quietly said to Liu San: "Could you examine Jiang Wenli? She seems to..."
"I understand." Liu San immediately caught on. "We'll know shortly."
"Did you bring test strips?" Tang Menglong asked nervously.
"I don't need those." Liu San raised his hand with a slight smile. "Just read her pulse."
A moment later, he withdrew his fingers. "Indeed, it's a pregnancy pulse. Congratulations."
Tang Menglong could barely contain his joy: "Really?"
"Would I joke about this?" Liu San wiped his hands with alcohol cotton. "If you don't believe me, take her to the General Hospital for an ultrasound."
"So... what now?" Tang Menglong was suddenly at a loss—what was he supposed to do with a pregnant woman? In the old world, one would summon a mother-in-law to guide everything. But Tang Menglong had no mother-in-law to consult.
Liu San looked puzzled: "What do you mean, 'what now'?"
"How should I take care of her?" Tang Menglong murmured.
If the Organization Department didn't approve a transfer back to Lingao and he had to return to Jiazi Coal Mine, he couldn't take a pregnant woman to that godforsaken place with no proper doctor.
But if he left her behind, Jiang Wenli was a refugee bought from the mainland—no parents, no relatives. Having attached herself to him, she had nowhere to stay in Lingao. His own quarters were inside Bairren City—he couldn't send her back to Fragrant Garden to live in a student dormitory.
"Submit a request to the Administrative Office," Liu San advised. "The next generation of transmigrators is the future of the regime. The Administrative Office will take this seriously."
"Right, right. And pregnant women need extra nutrition, don't they? I've heard they should take folic acid, vitamins, cod liver oil... but we have none of that."
Liu San said solemnly: "Humanity has reproduced on Earth for millions of years without folic acid tablets, multivitamins, or cod liver oil, and evolved into what we are today—you don't need to worry."
"Yes, I know. But what about diapers? And formula? We don't have those here..."
"Diapers and formula only became widespread in China in the twenty-first century," Liu San said, half laughing, half crying. "The Chinese people have existed for at least three or four thousand years."
Tang Menglong was so flustered he didn't know what to do. In the end, even drafting the request was left to Liu San.
Of course, Xiao Zishan could only approve supply matters. Specific medical issues had to go through the General Hospital. After dispatching the request, Liu San immediately found Shi Naoren to report.
Dr. Shi was in the newly completed Third Medical Laboratory, apparently having just examined something under a microscope. He was rubbing the corner of his eye.
Shi Naoren listened to Liu San's report with a smile forming at his lips.
"Is that so? Excellent. I was worried the wormhole effect might have rendered us sterile."
"Is that a possibility?" Liu San asked.
"The wormhole did have some effect on male reproductive function." Shi Naoren smiled slightly. Behind him on the table were many test tubes with labels; Liu San was too far away to read them. "At first I had suspicions, so I conducted some private research."
"What did you find?"
"Low sperm counts," Shi Naoren said simply. "With a degree of universality—though my sample size isn't large."
"You mean counts have now recovered?"
"Not just now. From when I began this research, counts have been rising month by month." Shi Naoren's face bore a knowing smile. "Slowly at first, but faster than I expected. Even so, Old Tang is outstanding. Barring surprises, we should see our first baby boom next year."
Liu San shook his head: "How bizarre."
"This is science—based on experiments. Of course, whether the wormhole is definitively the cause remains uncertain. The mechanism of recovery is also unclear. It has a mystical quality." Shi Naoren stood, walked to the sink, and washed his hands. "Regardless, this is excellent news. Without offspring, there's no hope; without hope, no motivation."
Liu San nodded: "I'll have Runshitang develop and manufacture more menstrual-regulation medicines for the transmigrators. Life secretaries will definitely need them."
"Haha—you've been feeding them so many tonic creams, the soil is quite fertile now. It's just a question of whether the seeds perform." Shi Naoren joked. "Don't forget to prescribe for the female transmigrators too."
"I will. I'll check the medical texts when I get back and find the best formula."
"Children are our future—the more the better." Shi Naoren said. "I should also speak with Director Ai."
Ai Beibei had been appointed concurrent director of the newly established Obstetrics and Gynecology Department—though her actual specialty was epidemiological research.
Since the beginning of the year, she had been training the first batch of native midwifery practitioners and nurse-midwives. The first group had recently been assigned to outpatient clinics serving natives, primarily those affiliated with transmigrators, while also serving ordinary Lingao residents.
Ai Beibei was promoting "hospital-based childbirth." House calls by midwives remained possible, but local natives' living conditions and hygiene standards were often terrible—far inferior to commune residents subject to mandatory hygiene inspections. Furthermore, both local natives and mainland immigrants brought by the transmigrators had poor birthing customs, some actively harmful. Since her first class of midwives completed training, Ai Beibei had devoted considerable time to this cause.
Though she possessed no miracle cures, scientific midwifery and postpartum care alone could dramatically reduce maternal and infant mortality. For a regime eager to rapidly grow its population, this was crucial civil welfare.
When she heard that a life secretary was pregnant, she was delighted.
"We'll soon have little ones. How wonderful!" She thought for a moment. "This should be our first baby. Have her come for an examination. I'll design a dietary plan based on her condition and recommend a special ration to supplement prenatal nutrition. That way we'll have a healthy baby."
Ai Beibei thought further: "I have a proposal, though I'm not sure if people will agree."
"Go ahead."
"Life secretary births will become more common, and some female transmigrators may give birth too. Female transmigrators will have their husbands to care for them, but life secretaries..." Ai Beibei trailed off, her implication clear: life secretaries had been assigned to meet physiological needs; emotional bonds with transmigrators remained minimal. And transmigrators ate at mess halls, slept in dormitories, and were still attended by their life secretaries—expecting them to care for pregnant women seemed unlikely.
"...Transmigrators are busy with work every day. People like Tang Menglong are posted far from Lingao. Pregnant women lack proper care." Ai Beibei continued. "Of course, working women of this era are hardy—laboring in the fields right up until delivery is common."
Ai Beibei proposed establishing a dedicated convalescent facility to centralize care for pregnant women.
"That sounds like a reproductive factory..." Liu San said uncomfortably. "I don't like that feeling."
For a moment he thought of Xuan Chun—though she wasn't pregnant—but he couldn't imagine her waiting to give birth in such a place. Then he thought of Wuyunhua, and suddenly deflated like a punctured balloon, falling silent.
"Isn't that essentially what it is?" Ai Beibei smiled faintly. "At least this ensures maternal and child health." In her view, older transmigrators might still cherish their women and anticipate children with genuine excitement. But those young men barely out of university probably weren't so considerate. For them, babies were often just byproducts of recreation.
"In that case, this could extend to unified infant care and childhood education. Children raised this way would probably lack emotional bonds with their fathers." Shi Naoren thought this seemed problematic. Also, life secretaries were part of transmigrator households—making the relationship purely transactional seemed improper.
Such a society would be too cold and rational. Almost chilling.
"How about this: pregnant women stay at home, but we maintain centralized records for management and special food rations." Ai Beibei reconsidered. "Regular health checkups."
Shi Naoren agreed. After discussion, they decided to establish a "Maternal and Child Center" within Bairren General Hospital—externally designated as the General Hospital's Third Outpatient Clinic. Reproductive, obstetric, and pediatric services would be consolidated under unified management.
This would be a center serving transmigrators exclusively for reproduction and pediatrics, under Ai Beibei's personal direction. The Bairren General Hospital would also undergo dedicated expansion for this purpose.
Liu San raised a concern: "How is our bioengineering progress? If we can produce tetanus serum, vaccine development should be prioritized. Otherwise, infant mortality will be very high. Smallpox is a major concern. If we can't develop cowpox soon, we could fall back on traditional human-pox inoculation—though it carries more risk."
"I spoke with the Biology Lab recently," Shi Naoren said. "They've begun essential vaccine development, but progress probably won't be fast. The cowpox issue is more tractable—let's have them prioritize that."