Chapter 146: Sending Warmth

The movie and fireworks pushed the New Year’s Eve atmosphere to a climax. The cinema then showed a Hong Kong New Year comedy. At this time, the sound of firecrackers could be heard from near and far. Ma Qianzhu had no intention of watching any more movies. He got up and went out; he had things to do.

Outside, Wu De was already waiting with seven or eight laborers pushing wheelbarrows. Then Xiao Zishan and others arrived. Several of the more prominent members of the Executive Committee split up to “send warmth.”

As the Transmigration group’s operations expanded, they had to rely on locals in many areas. Keeping them loyal to the Transmigration group became a very important matter. The Executive Committee roughly divided the work, sending members to various places to conduct consolation visits.

Wang Luobin went to Yanchang Village, bringing New Year’s goods to Du Wen, who was running the salt field farmers’ workshop there, and to the small detachment stationed in the village. He also brought the military pay, consolation money, and letters for the young men from Yanchang Village serving in the New Army. Xiong Buyou and Yang Baogui went to Damei Village, bringing a cart of salt and a dozen barrels of fish as consolation gifts for the villagers. Damei Village was planned to be an important livestock base for the Ministry of Agriculture in the future, so Yang Baogui went to survey the local environment. Both groups set out during the day and returned at night.

Ma Qianzhu went to the hospital. More than thirty seriously wounded soldiers from the Battle of Bopu were being treated there.

The Bairen General Hospital was brightly lit. When Ma Qianzhu went in, he found that all the doctors, including veterinarian Comrade Yang Baogui, were in the hospital. None of them had gone to watch the movie or wander around. He was particularly moved. He hurried into the duty room and grasped Shi Niaoren’s hand:

“You’ve worked hard, Dr. Shi!”

Shi Niaoren was caught off guard and startled. Seeing it was Ma Qianzhu, he quickly said, “Commissioner Ma, you’ve worked hard! Coming to inspect the hospital so late?”

“I’ve come to visit the wounded and sick.” As he spoke, the laborers had already brought in various consolation gifts.

“The Executive Committee is very thoughtful.” Shi Niaoren had been thinking of reminding the committee, but now it seemed they had thought of everything. “Your visit will have a very good effect on stabilizing the morale of the wounded.”

“What? Are they emotional?”

“Didn’t I report the situation of the wounded? Ten of them will definitely be disabled.” Shi Niaoren rang a small bell, and a meek-looking woman entered. She was wearing the light blue cloth nurse’s uniform of the Ministry of Public Health, with a brimless round soft cap, and a blue emblem of a snake entwined around an olive branch on her chest. The Ministry of Public Health had decided not to use the Red Cross as a symbol because of its strong religious connotations, opting for the symbol of the World Health Organization instead. The blue color for the nurse’s uniform was chosen with local customs in mind, to avoid upsetting the patients—all-white was worn for mourning.

“Make tea for Commissioner Ma.”

The woman answered softly and went out. A short while later, she brought a cup of hot tea for Ma Qianzhu.

“Who is this? She doesn’t look like one of the public health school students assigned to you.” Ma Qianzhu was still very vigilant. The woman before him was in her mid-thirties, and women of that age were usually assigned to the commune’s labor department.

“This is Wu Nanhai’s woman,” Shi Niaoren said casually. “She also has a daughter, who is still at the farm. When I asked for this woman, that guy was reluctant to let her go!”

“What?” Ma Qianzhu’s jaw almost dropped in surprise. He knew Wu Nanhai well: chubby, kind-faced, a standard good person. To think he was involved with both a mother and daughter? Truly, you can’t judge a book by its cover.

Seeing his surprised expression, Shi Niaoren realized he had misunderstood and quickly explained: “She was transferred from Wu Nanhai’s agricultural department. She’s part of the mother-daughter pair that Wu Nanhai had Zhang Xingjiao rescue from the Gou family estate a few months ago.”

“Oh, it’s them.” He had forgotten about them. He took a closer look at the female nurse. Although she was thin, her features were delicate and pretty.

“Right now in the inpatient department, there are 17 wounded from the New Army and 8 wounded laborers. Ten of them will definitely be disabled,” Shi Niaoren said. “Their morale is very low. There’s a young soldier who keeps crying and asking why we saved him, why we didn’t just put him out of his misery on the spot.”

“Why? Is he severely disabled?” Ma Qianzhu found it strange.

“He was an artilleryman. Half of his face is severely burned, very disfigured.” Shi Niaoren sighed. “We don’t have anyone who does plastic surgery here—”

Ma Qianzhu nodded.

“All the disabled have this kind of sentiment. Those who have lost legs or arms all say, ‘How can we live our lives now? It would have been better to just die quickly—’”

“The disabled, of course we will take care of them. What more is there to say?” Ma Qianzhu said with a generous air.

“The problem is, they don’t know that,” Shi Niaoren took a sip of tea. “Director-General, why aren’t policies like this explained to everyone beforehand? It really affects morale.”

Ma Qianzhu was a little ashamed. “When you don’t encounter such things, you don’t think of them.”

“It’s a good thing you’ve thought it through.” Shi Niaoren breathed a sigh of relief. “Since you’re here, I won’t bother anyone else. Our medicine problem needs to be resolved as soon as possible.”

“What are your requests? Tell me, and we’ll resolve them all at the planning meeting after the New Year.”

“To be honest, there are too few things we can resolve locally right now. It will be difficult to maintain our medical standards if this continues,” Shi Niaoren said.

So far, they could only supply distilled water, medical alcohol, cotton cloth bandages, and absorbent cotton. Strictly speaking, the cotton cloth bandages were just substitutes and couldn’t compare to gauze. The absorbent cotton was a batch made as a byproduct when Li Di was making nitrocellulose last time.

“It’s not appropriate to have the industrial department handle these things. They have no concept of medical products. We need to establish a pharmaceutical supplies factory under the management of the Ministry of Public Health.”

“Done!” Ma Qianzhu knew this was a reasonable request and agreed readily.

“There’s also the issue of glassware.” Shi Niaoren said, “The pharmaceutical factory will need a large amount of glassware for producing medicine. I hope the Executive Committee can give more priority to the Ministry of Public Health—I know that glass will be a money-making project for us in the future, but if we can mass-produce modern antibiotics, their ‘lethal power’ will be far greater than that of glass cups and mirrors.”

“What did you say? Mass-produce antibiotics?” Ma Qianzhu became excited. In this era, having penicillin was like having an atomic bomb. With this, the transmigrators would have an unparalleled medical advantage and could use modern medical means to infiltrate and transform all levels of society. Back then, Western missionaries in underdeveloped areas used two main methods for proselytizing: education and medical care. The effects were very obvious.

“That’s right, antibiotics,” Shi Niaoren said with certainty. “The Ministry of Public Health has many bacterial strains, but our current conditions are limited, and we can’t cultivate and mass-produce them on a large scale yet.” He seemed to have read Ma Qianzhu’s mind. “Actually, it’s not just antibiotics. Many other medicines are not difficult to manufacture. When the time comes, we can have a ‘medicine to the countryside’ campaign—”

“Excellent, excellent! The masses lack doctors and medicine, this is what they need most!” Ma Qianzhu stood up excitedly, then suddenly remembered his original purpose. “Come, take me to visit the wounded and sick.”

Ma Qianzhu visited several wards in turn. Although the Ministry of Public Health was in the 17th century with simple conditions, the construction of the entire hospital was not at all ambiguous. The hospital was a two-story ring-shaped building with an open-air courtyard in the middle. The courtyard was paved with green bricks and had benches where patients could sunbathe and get fresh air. The inpatient department was in the rear building. The floors were all wooden, scrubbed clean, and the walls were painted snow-white with lime. The wards had four beds each, and rather luxuriously, each ward had electric lighting—this was for ease of care and observation.

Ma Qianzhu first visited the lightly wounded, giving them consolation gifts. There was nothing special, as there were no canned goods, health supplements, or even candy. He gave them salt tickets and rice tickets wrapped in red paper. The wounded soldiers were all smiles when they received them. Although they were injured, they had survived and hadn’t lost any limbs. They were living here with good food and drink, being treated by the “chiefs’” doctors, and being cared for by young “nurses” with great attention to detail. They wouldn’t trade this for working for a landlord.

The area for the disabled patients was much more somber. Ma Qianzhu distributed red envelopes, but he saw that the faces of the people on the beds were all gloomy. After a long while, someone spoke up: “Thank you for your kindness, chiefs, for treating our injuries and having people take good care of us with food and drink. As soon as we can move, we’ll leave—”

“Leave?” Ma Qianzhu was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood that these disabled soldiers thought the red envelopes were severance pay. His heart was filled with mixed feelings. Don’t let heroes shed blood and then tears. These men might not be heroes, but they were injured and disabled for the sake of the Transmigration group. He raised his hands and said loudly:

“Don’t let your minds wander,” Ma Qianzhu said with a sincere expression. “You were injured and disabled for the Transmigration group, and the Transmigration group will support you for the rest of your lives! Not just support you, but let you live with dignity and honor!”

Hearing this, the eyes of a few soldiers brightened for a moment, then dimmed again. The young soldier with half his face wrapped in bandages said, “My face is ruined. Who would want to marry me now?”

“There will be someone, there definitely will be,” Ma Qianzhu said decisively. “If you really can’t find anyone willing, we’ll buy you a virgin girl to be your wife!”

After saying this, he himself felt like a beast. If Little Du were here, she would definitely give him a swift kick in the groin.

“Really? You’re not lying?!”

“When have we transmigrators ever lied?” Ma Qianzhu said with great confidence. “Not just you, but all our disabled brothers, we will get you wives, build you houses, and let you live good lives. I give you my word.” Seeing that everyone was still doubtful, he made a solemn oath: “If I don’t, may heaven and earth strike me down!”

“My hands are still good. You don’t need to support me. Just find me a job I can do sitting down!” someone said.

“Even with only one arm, I can still drive a cart or something.”

…

The wounded soldiers all started talking at once, expressing their determination not to be idle. The atmosphere became lively. This made Ma Qianzhu’s heart stir with emotion: What good comrades! The hearts of the working people are truly the most beautiful. However, the issue of how to arrange work for disabled soldiers had not been finalized, so he couldn’t make any rash promises. He quickly raised his hand again and said, “We will consider everyone’s opinions and will definitely ensure you all live stable lives. The only thing you need to do now is to rest and recover. The transmigrators and the people will not forget you.”

Wu De, leading a few men, collected the “sending warmth” supplies from the Planning Committee. He already had a plan in mind. There were many people in the commune, so he couldn’t visit every household. But he had long decided which families to visit: the bachelors and those from other places, who were homeless, without family, and had no one to turn to. The New Year was especially bleak for them.

In the bachelor dormitories, most people were still awake. They were continuing the tradition of “shousui” (staying up on New Year’s Eve), lighting oil lamps in their rooms, drinking a little wine, and listening to the distant sound of firecrackers. Wu De’s appearance surprised everyone. They didn’t expect the highest official of the commune to visit their dormitories on New Year’s Eve, a time for family reunions. Even those who had already gone to bed were woken up.

Wu De saw that Lin Xing was also there. The deputy commune chief was also a bachelor with no family. He had specially changed into new clothes today and had even put up a New Year’s painting by his bed, giving it a bit of a festive feel. Wu De smiled and said, “Your place actually has a bit of a New Year’s atmosphere.”

“I started working as a laborer at fourteen,” Lin Xing said with a smile. “Just making the best of a bad situation. Even without a home, you have to pretend you have one.”

“Good, well said. Even without a home, you have to pretend you have one.” Wu De looked at the commune members and laborers staring at him with surprised eyes. “Since everyone is making a living in the Bairen Commune, this is everyone’s home. Come, let’s have a drink.” He opened the wine jar he had brought with him. “Fill them up, let’s all have a bowl together.”

The wine was sweet glutinous rice wine brought from outside, sweet to the taste and not very strong. It was nothing for Wu De. After a drink, the laborers, who had been a bit reserved, gradually became lively. Wu De took the opportunity to distribute the various consolation gifts he had brought. There was nothing particularly good, just things like betel nuts, dried small fish, dried sweet potato strips, and sunflower seeds. But even so, it was enough to move everyone. On New Year’s Eve, the great kūnzéi chief had come to visit them, these rough, hard-working men. Never mind the food, the honor alone was enough! When they worked for landlords, there was never such a respectable thing.

After leaving the collective dormitories, he led his men to the families with elderly members and children, giving each household a 5-kilogram rice ticket and a cloth ticket for one bolt of cloth. According to the regulations, the elderly and children of commune members who could not be assigned work were not entitled to meals at the cafeteria. Although the laborers could receive extra work points as compensation for their dependents, their lives were always tighter than those of ordinary people.

“Lin Xing, do you think those families with many young children have enough to eat?” Wu De asked on the way back after visiting the last family.

“They can eat their fill, but the food is a bit poor,” Lin Xing said frankly.

“Oh? A commune member’s daily work point coupons shouldn’t be enough to buy that much grain—”

“Eating plain rice for every meal is of course not possible, but each family has a private plot where they can grow sweet potatoes and other things to supplement their diet. It’s enough.”

“That’s still too hard.” Wu De felt this was still too harsh on the laborers.

“It’s not hard,” Lin Xing said, a bit surprised. “Growing sweet potatoes doesn’t take much effort, and you can harvest a lot in three or four months. In the past, we were always worried about our next meal. Sweet potato porridge was considered a good meal.”

“The children are too thin,” Wu De sighed.