MAC’60s Chapter 56

Wang Ying was somewhat surprised: “You want to make Xinghua a midwife?”

Wu Guihua: “Of course! I think having her stay at home doing household chores will just keep her stuck in the same routine. It’s better for her to learn a skill.”

Wang Ying hesitated: “But being a midwife…”

It wasn’t that Wang Ying had objections, but at that time, it was generally believed that midwives should be women who had already given birth. If a young unmarried girl took up this job, people would talk behind her back.

Since Wu Guihua had made up her mind to send her daughter to become a midwife, she had obviously considered this factor. However, she spoke confidently: “So what if she’s young? It’s good for young girls to see more things. I think being a midwife is a good job. Making money is secondary; the main thing is that she’ll learn something. Over the years, it’s a skill that can help her support herself.”

Wu Guihua wasn’t backing down, even though she knew what Wang Ying meant. In the countryside, women giving birth would inevitably face blood and messy situations. Some families, like the Tian Dazhu family, would even involve their domestic disputes in the process, which made the job stressful. For an unmarried young girl, seeing all this might make her less enthusiastic about marriage and childbirth.

Wu Guihua thought this wasn’t such a big deal. She just wanted Xinghua to see more, hear more, and learn more so that she wouldn’t be naive when she got married and suffer.

After listening to Wu Guihua’s reasoning, Wang Ying didn’t say anything further. Instead, she asked Tian Xinghua: “What do you think, Xinghua?”

No matter how much the adults spoke, it still depended on what the child wanted. The later obstetrics departments were prone to medical disputes. Although they were rare at the time, if one happened, it would be quite troublesome. Moreover, this job was physically demanding; a single delivery often took up a whole day and was exhausting.

Tian Xinghua’s personality was much shyer than Wu Guihua’s, but after being influenced by her mother, she was quite perceptive.

When she heard Wang Ying’s question, she nodded and replied, “Sister Wang Ying, I’m willing.”

There were things she didn’t understand, but she had live examples around her. One was Wang Ying, and the other was Bai Ling. Wu Guihua often compared the two, showing Tian Xinghua how things could turn out. Without much hesitation, Tian Xinghua leaned toward Wang Ying.

If… if she could have a skill like Sister Wang Ying and have her own little family, that would be the ideal life for a rural girl like Tian Xinghua.

Wang Ying saw that both mother and daughter were enthusiastic, so she agreed: “Then Xinghua can start by learning about medicinal herbs with me. When the health center offers midwife training in a few days, she can go and try it.”

In fact, this matter had little to do with Wang Ying. The barefoot doctors and midwives didn’t have a hierarchy; rather, they were different colleagues in charge of different tasks. But since Wu Guihua had come to Wang Ying to ask, she must have hoped that Wang Ying would guide her daughter and help her pass the exam to become a midwife.

Wang Ying readily agreed, which made Wu Guihua so happy she didn’t know what to say.

It was just like sending a child to school. She kept praising Wang Ying: “Alright! I’ll have her come over tomorrow to help you. You can arrange her as you like. She can run errands for you. I don’t need her to do anything at home, so you can have her help with tea, water, or whatever you need. If things get too busy, just put her to work. If she doesn’t do something properly, don’t hesitate to scold her.”

Wang Ying was practical. If she was in charge, she would definitely take this matter seriously. Wu Guihua felt extremely lucky; if her daughter learned the skill, she would essentially become a public servant.

It would be just fine to call Wang Ying “Master,” and since she was the teacher, it was only natural for her to have the student work.

Not only in the past, but even now, when you learn a trade, you usually have to serve your teacher and assist them before you can truly learn the craft. Plus, it would take years of patience for the teacher to teach the real skills.

Wang Ying: “You’re saying it like I’m doing a lot. I’m just helping her out, no need to put it like that.”

Wang Ying had always had a good impression of Wu Guihua. When she had the first conflict with Li Chunjuan, it was Wu Guihua who had stood up for her, even though it was from a perspective of not getting along with Li Chunjuan. Wang Ying always appreciated this favor.

Tian Xinghua was also very excited and immediately promised Wang Ying: “Sister Ying, I will definitely study hard!”

Wang Ying: “Hmm, I believe you!”

Xinghua had graduated from junior high, could read and write, and was quite sharp. Wang Ying thought that this was good. The commune couldn’t be without a midwife forever, and autumn was coming soon, which meant many people would be giving birth. What would happen if everyone came to her? She might not be able to handle it all alone, no matter how much she worked.

After discussing Xinghua’s matter, Wang Ying brought up her own idea.

“It’s going to be the hottest time soon. I was thinking, we should hold a few meetings in the commune to talk about heat prevention and cooling measures, as well as some sanitation and epidemic issues, to prevent people from getting sick from eating contaminated food.”

What Wang Ying didn’t mention was that she felt the hailstorm earlier in the year wasn’t a good omen.

This wasn’t superstition; it was just that natural disasters often led to epidemics.

The hailstorm had been widespread, affecting both upstream and downstream areas of small rivers. The hail had damaged not only houses and crops but also livestock and poultry. If not properly managed, the hot weather could easily breed epidemics. Anyone downstream of the river might be at risk of contagion.

Wang Ying: “I think the health center will soon be carrying out related work. We should take preventive measures early. Especially for children, it’s not good for them to eat random things on the mountain in the summer. We need to establish good hygiene habits early.”

Wu Guihua nodded repeatedly, agreeing that this was a good idea, especially for families with children. In previous years, there had indeed been cases like what Wang Ying described. Some children would go to the mountains to pick things to eat, getting stung by bees or bitten by snakes. Others would eat spoiled food from home, causing the whole family to suffer from dehydration and diarrhea.

Wu Guihua readily agreed: “I’ll take care of the arrangements! But, will you be the one to give the talk?”

Wang Ying: “I’ll start, but you should take over the arrangements. It’s best to change the format so that everyone can accept it.”

Wang Ying felt that if she just gave a regular lecture, the members might not remember much. It would be better to find ways that everyone could easily accept, and that would be more effective.

“You could ask a few young people to act something out, or get some educated youth to make a catchy rhyme. Or you could have some children perform—it would definitely get everyone’s attention.”

At that time, there was a lot of work in the fields. After finishing their tasks, people just wanted to go home and rest. If they were asked to attend a serious lecture, not many would show up. But if it involved a catchy rhyme or a performance by children, it would be much more attractive.

Since there were no radios in the village, everyone was still interested in lively events. Who wouldn’t want to see something interesting?

Wu Guihua’s eyes lit up. Wang Ying’s suggestion was practical, and just imagining it made Wu Guihua sure that everyone would come to watch.

Since she had become the Women’s Director, she had noticed that people were becoming less enthusiastic about these large meetings. It always took multiple reminders before everyone would show up.

This idea was great! Although the format had changed, it was like going to the movies—people would come for the excitement, and they wouldn’t resist.

Wu Guihua hurried off, eager to discuss this with the team leader and the party secretary.

Wang Ying also started teaching Xinghua about medicinal herbs, planning to go over the common ones first before teaching her the techniques for massaging pregnant women to help with fetal positioning.

Xinghua was learning diligently, and Wang Ying was pleased.

The only person feeling a little jealous was Cheng Yu.

When Wang Ying visited her, Cheng Yu tried to squeeze herself into Wang Ying’s arm and mumbled, “I thought I was the only one learning medicinal herbs from you, Sister Ying.”

Now Wang Ying had taken on another apprentice?

Cheng Yu grumbled, “I should be the senior apprentice…”

Wang Ying laughed and tapped her on the head: “But didn’t you want to be an actress? If you become my disciple, you’ll have to be a doctor for life. Have you thought about it? If you’re ready, then you can be the senior apprentice.”

Cheng Yu was now much more confident and energetic. She seemed to be in good health, her voice clear and pleasant. Occasionally, she would show Wang Ying how well she could sing, and her voice sounded sweet and melodious.

Cheng Shufen had noticed that Cheng Yu, once pitied and loved, was now full of ambition and confidence.

Cheng Yu was bursting with confidence, thinking she would eventually become an actress, and a lead one at that!

When Wang Ying said this, Cheng Yu sighed and pretended to be dramatic: “Sigh, what can I do? I’m just too talented. I’m good at identifying medicinal herbs and also good at singing. It’s hard to balance both!”

Both Wang Ying and Cheng Shufen laughed out loud. Cheng Shufen said, “Look at how proud you are. Learning medicine is much harder than singing. Identifying medicinal herbs is just the beginning; there’s still prescribing medicine to learn. If you’re really going to learn from Sister Ying, there’s a lot more to study than just singing.”

Cheng Yu, acting like a little adult, responded: “In that case, forget it. I’ll stick to singing. I want to be an actress.”

In reality, learning medicine wasn’t easy. While remembering medicinal herbs was manageable, Cheng Yu felt that her education level wasn’t high, and hearing Cheng Shufen talk about prescribing medicine made her head hurt. She just didn’t like writing!

Now, Cheng Shufen was teaching her and the older girls how to read. Cheng Yu was the oldest but had the worst handwriting. On the other hand, Daya wrote neatly, and Erya had secretly told Cheng Yu that she had seen Daya practicing with a stick in the dirt when she went back—she was very serious about it.

Cheng Yu felt that she just wasn’t cut out for this.

After teasing Cheng Yu, Wang Ying began reminding Cheng Yu and Cheng Shufen that they wouldn’t be involved in the public hygiene meeting, so she would explain the details to them.

She told Cheng Yu a few medicinal herbs, asking her to pick them and prepare water for boiling. Cheng Yu nodded and promised she would remember.

Then Wang Ying went to see Qian Juhua, who was currently very enthusiastic about raising pigs.

A few days ago, Tian Youfu had visited and was very pleased with her progress. The pigs in the pen were big and fat, much better than the ones raised by the commune members themselves.

Tian Youfu also mentioned that since Qian Juhua’s pigs were so good, when the busy farming season came, he would take one of the pigs and give it to the commune members. If the pig reached 150 pounds, he would credit Qian Juhua with the highest work points.

It’s important to know that nowadays, only a few people can earn full work points from working in the fields. Most people can’t even earn the highest points.

Qian Juhua could earn full work points just by raising pigs, which made her very happy.

When Wang Ying arrived, she didn’t see Daya and Erya and was puzzled.

Qian Juhua said, “They went out to play.”

Qian Juhua didn’t like interacting with people in the commune, but she thought children should get out and play more. In the past, when they lived at Tian Dazhu’s house, Daya and Erya rarely went out to play; they mostly stayed at home. Now, after being influenced by Cheng Yu, they had become much livelier. Qian Juhua didn’t want her daughters to just help her all the time, so she often sent them out to play.

Wang Ying glanced at the little girl on Qian Juhua’s back. Though she was a premature baby, she had been carefully raised and was now a chubby little child.

The baby, with big round eyes, looked around curiously without crying or fussing.

Wang Ying smiled and picked her up. Qian Juhua’s first two daughters weren’t raised as carefully, but now that she had one child of her own to care for, she was starting to enjoy the experience of raising a child.

Looking back, when Daya and Erya were little, they didn’t cry much either. It felt as though these three girls were all born to repay her, never causing her trouble.

Wang Ying took the opportunity to check the baby’s health. Seeing Qian Juhua’s anxious expression, she reassured her, saying everything was fine, which relieved Qian Juhua.

Qian Juhua lovingly hugged her daughter and said, “Sometimes I feel like I really wronged Daya and Erya… I wasn’t very good to them back then.”

At that time, she had been so focused on wanting a son that she had just gotten by with raising her daughters, not being a very competent mother.

Wang Ying comforted her, saying, “It’s not too late now. Besides, you weren’t doing well yourself back then.”

With a unreasonable mother-in-law, troublesome sisters-in-law, and a clueless husband, Qian Juhua had been stuck in a difficult situation.

Before they could say anything else, Daya and Erya returned.

Wang Ying casually said a few words to Qian Juhua before getting ready to leave. However, Daya and Erya, unlike usual, insisted on seeing her off.

As they walked out of Qian Juhua’s house, Daya hesitated, unsure of how to start the conversation, while Erya had an angry look on her face.

Wang Ying sighed, “What’s wrong?”

It was clear they wanted to see her off but seemed upset, so there was definitely something they wanted to say.

Before Daya could speak, Erya blurted out, “We just saw my dad… Tian Dazhu!”

Erya’s face showed disgust, “He said he’s going to get married and that he’s going to have a little brother for us soon. He asked if we wanted to go back with him.”