afterglow

Chapter 285 Pregnant!characteristic simplicity pragmatism
In Nanjing in July, the sun is scorching hot, and the cicadas attached to the trees are screaming desperately. The sun shines directly on the skin, as if being scorched by a raging fire.

More than ten days from last month to now, although the time is not long, a series of major changes happened in Daming one after another.

Under the emperor's instigation and impetus, the former head of the imperial court and prime minister Zou Zhuoyun resigned and retired to the third line, and Gao Qingkui, who was 55 years old at the time, took over.

The cabinet has also undergone a slight reorganization, but the main cabinet ministers have not been transferred, and the "top five ministers" of personnel, finance, civil affairs, foreign affairs, and national defense are still the same.

Gao Qingkui, a native of Xuzhou, was one of the top-ranked Jinshi candidates before the abolition of the imperial examinations and the unified national examinations. He then studied in the reorganized Taixue for two years. At the age of 22, he started his official career as a household engineer. He was later sent to Yanzhou to serve as a magistrate for three years.

He performed prominently in the Constitutional Council and was very popular.Because he has sufficient qualifications, and his political views are in line with the current situation, and he is relatively young, so he must be more energetic than the old men in their 60s.Therefore, it fell into the eyes of the emperor a few years ago, and finally entered the court today, becoming the head of the Ming court.

On July [-], the Advisory Council passed a combat readiness bill based on the "Advice to Expedite the Expansion of National Defense Armed Forces" to increase the issuance of national debts and vigorously expand the size of the land, sea, and air forces.

陆军现在共有44个步兵师、2个战车旅、3个摩托化步兵旅、7个野战重炮旅、3个攻城重炮旅、8个工兵旅以及若干其它单位，合计86万人，此次计划扩充8个步兵师。

海军此次扩充主要侧重于小型战舰和辅助舰艇，包括9艘驱逐舰、2艘防空巡洋舰、1艘潜艇母舰、4艘猎潜舰、14艘登陆舰，还有大量的扫雷艇、布雷艇、鱼雷艇。

In addition, landing fire support ships and frigates also appeared in the order plan for the first time.

The Air Force focuses on strengthening its ability to strike at sea. Originally, the Navy has always claimed that it is enough for the naval aviation to be responsible for the task of striking at sea, but now the Air Force has changed its previous attitude of letting it go.

除了常规的战斗机、俯冲轰炸机、水平轰炸机、运输机之外，空军方面亦计划下单240架双发鱼雷轰炸机、400条训练鱼雷、2200条448㎜航空鱼雷，以及1000枚500㎏半穿甲重型航弹和4500枚250㎏半穿甲航弹。

In addition to these military expansion plans, some unheard of "little things" have also quietly arrived.

The Advisory Council passed a "Copper and Aluminum Control Order", requiring private companies to reduce their copper consumption by 20% and aluminum consumption by 35% within three months.

It doesn't matter whether it is to replace alternative metals or directly reduce the total output. In short, these strategic resources must start to be used sparingly. The specific consumption must be carefully reported to the government for statistics, and those who cheat will be severely punished.

The time for entertainment programs on radio broadcasts was reduced by one hour, half an hour each in the morning and half an hour in the evening, and changed to "National Conditions Masters (National Conditions Analysis Experts) Preaching and Analyzing the World Situation".

To put it bluntly, it is something like interviews with famous experts.

People from the Renhe Party publicly appealed, suggesting that rural people can hoard some industrial necessities, while urban people should hoard meat, sugar, and oil.

In order to ensure stability, rice, flour, and salt are not to worry about, but the government has no time to ensure that every household has meat, sugar, and oil, and these three are the most obvious things to improve the quality of life.

Although there are still many people who are still obsessed with the peace and prosperity of singing and dancing, more and more people have already smelled the approach of gunpowder.

Standing at the upcoming turning point and looking back, the previous decades may not be called perfect, but after all, there is no need to worry about the disasters brought about by the flames of war.So, it seems understandable to call it a golden age?
Now, the days of peace and tranquility are drawing to a close.

"Hey, don't you sir, don't touch it, it hurts."

"Huh? What's going on?"

On the night of the third day of July, while enjoying the cool air in the small front yard, Xia Xiaoshi stopped Zhou from doing anything.

The latter replied in a low voice with some twitching: "For some reason, my chest... is a little swollen today."

Puzzled, Zhou Changfeng withdrew his hand, after thinking about it, he felt that she didn't seem to be suffering from any illness.

So he asked casually, "Xiaoshi, did you come this month? I remember it came a few days ago, right?"

"Not yet, it's three or four days late..." While talking, Xia Xiaoshi also thought of something, and said in surprise, "Ah, it shouldn't be..."

"I'm afraid it is." Zhou Changfeng said seriously.

Under the soft moonlight, Xia Xiaoshi's eyes reflected the faint light, she stared blankly for a few seconds, and then happily said: "Go to the medical clinic to check!"

"It's not an emergency. Why go to the hospital at night? I'll go tomorrow morning."

"Well, yes."

Although it is not yet certain that she is pregnant, Zhou Changfeng's intuition tells him that this situation is almost inseparable.

Women's sentimental characteristics are particularly prominent at this stage, and they should be happy, but when thinking of the gender of the child, Xia Xiaoshi can't help but worry.

She said gloomily, "It's better to be my son for the first time, otherwise I feel a lot of pressure."

"What are you panicking about? The odds are half open, whatever you draw is what you get. Again, my husband also likes daughters, and it's the same for boys and girls!"

"My daughter will eventually marry someone else's family. You are an only child. If you don't have a child, you will cut off the incense of the whole family." Xia Xiaoshi sighed softly, and said, "It would be great if the genders must complement each other. This time it will be a girl, and next time it will be a boy."

Tucao nature does not have a card draw guarantee mechanism?
Hearing this, Zhou Changfeng couldn't help but want to laugh a little bit.

He pretended to be profound and joked: "How can the metaphysics of heaven and earth be controlled by mortals?"

Xia Xiaoshi raised her head slightly, and proudly said: "That's not certain, I've made wishes since I was a child, and it's really come true." After finishing speaking, she looked at Zhou Changfeng jokingly, and said: "Otherwise, sir, you would have to be sent back in a small box the year before last."

hateful!This woman is bold!

"Snapped!"

A slap that was neither light nor heavy landed on the back of the lower body, which was particularly crisp in the quiet small house.

The next day.

Unlike Zhou Changfeng who wakes up naturally at a fixed time every day, Xia Xiaoshi always relies on the alarm clock to get out of bed, and sleeps at least until the sun rises during the two-day break.

But this day she woke up very early, and got up quietly before staying in bed.

With this movement, Zhou Changfeng also woke up.

So the two dressed and washed early, and then drove out.

From a vendor passing by on the way, the two bought sesame seed cakes, deep-fried dough sticks, and soybean milk for breakfast. The crispy outside and soft inside were wrapped in old newspapers, and the soybean milk was served in large paper cups.

In the Jiangning County Second Hospital, there were quite a few citizens who came to see the doctor, but they did not reach the level of crowds.

The doctor who received the consultation was a very young girl with a baby face, wearing a long light green dress, her hair was coiled up and tied with a wooden hairpin, and a stethoscope was hung around her neck.

"Ma'am, you look good, why are you here?"

"Well... the menstruation is four or five days late this month, and it was a little higher yesterday, and it still hurts if you touch it."

The female doctor looked at her, then glanced at Zhou Changfeng who was diagonally behind, and then raised her hand to signal her to extend her arm.

This is a routine step, but when taking the pulse, this seemingly fledgling female doctor was a little confused. She tried several times without making a sound.

Seeing this, Xia Xiaoshi felt very nervous and asked, "Ah? Doctor, is there something wrong with this pulse?"

The little girl replied with some embarrassment: "That's not true, it's just that your pulse is too subtle, I'm not sure..."

The rookie doctor had a big headache when she encountered a non-textbook case, so she got up and called for foreign aid.

After a while, she led an old doctor with gray hair and beard into the room.

"Master, her pulse is too shallow and weak, I can't take it out."

This time when the experienced master came into battle, he felt it a little bit, then smiled and said: "Although it is light and shallow, the smooth and fluent feeling is unmistakable. It is the slippery pulse. But the sign of the slippery pulse is not only a sign of pregnancy."

So he asked again, and learned that Xia Xiaoshi also had some unbalanced diet and poor spleen and stomach these days, so he nodded and said: "Weak spleen and stomach, stagnation of food, and slippery pulse will also appear. Madam, although the possibility is very high, whether there is joy...is still uncertain."

But it's not a big problem. Technology can help in the face of things that are beyond the reach of manpower.

More than ten years ago, in the 23rd year of Zhichang, the famous human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) was discovered by scientists. This is a hormone produced by the placenta. It has a high content in the blood and urine of pregnant women, so it can be used as a reliable marker for judging pregnancy.

But the problem is that in this era, reliable instruments and technologies for measuring hormone content cannot be popularized, so doctors and biologists brainstormed and thought of an excellent alternative method.

They tried to inject the urine of the tested women into the immature mice. If it had an abnormal estrous response, it meant that there was HCG hormone in the urine, so it was judged that the tested subjects were pregnant.

However, for rodents such as mice to respond, the HCG hormone content must be relatively high, and the blood and urine of newly pregnant women do not have such high concentrations of HCG.

Hard work pays off. In Dongwanlu, the capital of Lanfang, the research team of Republic University found that HCG hormone can also act on amphibians, and it is easier to work and observe.After many experiments, they confirmed that Xenopus does not lay eggs spontaneously under normal circumstances, but injecting the urine of pregnant women into the subcutaneous layer of Xenopus can stimulate it to lay eggs, and the accuracy rate is very high.

Soon, this technology and detection method spread around the world.

As a middle-level hospital in the capital, Jiangning County Second Hospital naturally has such testing items.

Xia Xiaoshi, who usually has no social fear at all, had to accept this test shyly this time.

Led by a nurse, she went straight to the toilet beside her...

Because the result was not made on the spot, Zhou Changfeng and her went home first.

The feeling of waiting for the result to be "sentenced" is uncomfortable and uneasy, and it would be embarrassing if there is no joy.

As the sun was setting, when Xia Xiaoshi finished her work in front of the stove, the phone "Dinglingling" rang.

Zhou Changfeng strode forward and picked up the microphone directly.

After inquiring about her identity, the female voice over there announced with a smile: "It is tested that she is pregnant. Congratulations, both of you."

Oh open!

I'm so happy to be a father now, literally.

During dinner, the two also specifically recalled what they had done before, and finally concluded that they hit the target more than half a month ago.

After clarifying this matter, the lives of the two of them suddenly changed drastically.

Xia Xiaoshi almost dragged the reluctant Zhou Changfeng to Dabaoen Temple, offered incense and prayed for blessings, and returned after asking for several talismans.

"...How could people in ancient times have expected the present? Steel ships sail the sea, iron birds fly in the sky? One day there will be a way to decide whether to have a boy or a girl!" She said confidently.

In Zhou Changfeng's eyes, Xia Xiaoshi, who was still clutching the birth-safety talisman and child-seeking talisman, said this humiliatingly, which seemed very disobedient.

"Xiaoshi, are you... a materialist?"

"Ok?"

Zhou Changfeng, dumbfounded, pointed to the talismans in her hand, hesitating to speak.

The latter didn't care, complacent, "Sir, I only care about whether it is useful or useless, no matter what it is, practicality comes first."

Neither materialistic nor idealistic, is this the simple pragmatism with traditional Chinese characteristics?
Zhou Changfeng thought of the customs in some places - when there is a drought, the people will go to the Dragon King Temple to pray for rain piously; however, if repeated prayers for rain are ineffective, the people will put the Dragon King statue on the cart and parade the streets to show the public and whip them.

As the news spread, gradually, relatives and friends learned about the matter one after another.

Zhu Lingjing actually knew about it a long time ago—only a few hours after the hospital called Zhou's house.

She knew that Mr. Zhou was neither short of money nor fond of money, but right now she had nothing to give away, and only real money was the best choice to show her attitude.

In addition to the simple and rude fixed check, she also asked people to prepare a lot of special gifts from the royal family and sent them together, and she congratulated him in advance.

"Your Highness, if you want something, you can just say it directly. You can raise your baby with peace of mind, and the mother and child will be safe in the future."

This time it was Luo Fu's visit, and by the way, he delivered the enveloped check and more than ten boxes of exquisitely packaged things to the door.

"Thank you for her blessing."

Zhou Changfeng and he stood at the door of the small house. The latter took out a box of matches and wanted to smoke, but was stopped on the spot.

"Hey, my wife can't smell the smoke now."

"If you don't smoke, I will."

"No, it will still smell of smoke."

So Luo Fu had no choice but to clamp a cigarette to his ear, then threw the burning match on the ground and stomped it out.

"Okay, let's not talk too much, this time I have two good news for you."

"Oh? Double happiness?" Zhou Changfeng stared at him with a smile.

"First, the first batch of production-type heavy tanks for the navy has been delivered, and they are ready to be shipped." Luo Fu stretched out his second finger helplessly, "Second, you clamored for medium tanks a few days ago, and the army refused to let go, but after a few days of hard work, it has been negotiated to transfer 420 vehicles from the first batch of [-] vehicles to us."

"When will it be delivered?"

"Early next year."

Satisfied, Zhou Changfeng said with emotion: "Finally, the tank battalion of the marine brigade can be matched up and down."

　The big one is coming!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)