Chapter 153: The Gap and the Effect of Measles Vaccine
“Why go abroad for medical assistance?”

"What good can it do?"

Qian Dayong asked with some confusion.

Due to the lack of information at that time, many ordinary people did not know that the country was tightening its belt and providing foreign aid.

At the same time, they don't know the meaning of doing so.

"Yes, we go abroad to provide medical assistance, mainly to prevent and treat schistosomiasis."

“As for the benefits, for a country, foreign aid can bring some gains in politics, diplomacy, economy and international status.

Moreover, this is also good for Chinese medicine. Once it helps foreign countries to prevent and treat schistosomiasis and achieves good results, Chinese medicine will be remembered by the local countries and its international influence will become even greater.”

Wang Mengde explained in a low voice.

"Oh, so that's how it is."

Qian Dayong said with a confused look.

He didn't quite understand that it could help the country's politics, diplomacy, economy, and international status, but he did understand that it could enhance the reputation of traditional Chinese medicine.

He lost interest instantly. If there was a need in China, he would have signed up without saying a word.

But people are somewhat reluctant to go abroad to provide aid.

Zhu Tao had the same idea.

Seeing the expressions of the two people, Wang Mengde guessed what they were thinking, so he continued: "Going abroad to provide aid will also be of some benefit to you personally.

In the future, if I have this item on my resume, it will definitely add color to it, and it will be a plus point politically.

We don’t know how many people will go this time, and the selection probably hasn’t started yet. If you are interested, please take the time to talk to Vice President Zhu.

I just got the news too. If you go too late, the number of places may be limited and all the places may have been taken internally, so you won’t have a chance then.”

Foreign aid has always been an important matter concerning a country's political and strategic layout.

Whether in this era or in the future.

There are definitely many benefits to being able to participate in it.

Moreover, participating in medical support is relatively safer than other aspects, and the benefits gained are not small.

In other words, his current position does not require it, otherwise, he would have to go abroad to gild himself.

After listening to his analysis, Qian Dayong and Zhu Tao's eyes lit up and they both understood the benefits.

"Meng De, thank you for your guidance. I know what to do now."

“Haha, you’re welcome.

By the way, going abroad is always dangerous, especially in Africa, so you should try to apply to go to Southeast Asia."

"Yeah, let's go talk to the teacher first."

After saying goodbye, Qian Dayong and Zhu Tao hurriedly went to Vice President Zhu to apply.

This kind of good thing should be done sooner rather than later.

More than ten days later.

Qian Dayong and Zhu Tao, together with three other people from the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, left by train.

They had to go to Shanghai in the south first, reunite, and then take a boat to go abroad.

Before leaving, the two of them found Wang Mengde and talked about the foreign medical aid.

They got some information that the first batch of foreign aid would consist of 120 medical personnel, divided into groups of 20, and going to six countries respectively.

All of these people are elite soldiers and have participated in the prevention and control of schistosomiasis in the southern region for at least half a year.

This is a pilot project conducted by the country. If the effect is good and the impact is great, there will definitely be a second and third batch in the future. . .

The number of people will definitely increase.

It is said that apart from Wang Mengde, there are only three vacancies in the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and they have been allocated early on.

Fortunately, they found Vice President Zhu in time, and the two of them, together with Wang Mengde, had supported the prevention and control of schistosomiasis in the south two years ago and made certain contributions.

Therefore, after reporting to the research institute, we were able to catch the last train of foreign aid.

They also set off with a large number of Chinese herbal medicines and osmanthus branches.

Time passes day by day.

Soon, it was late March.

The weather is gradually getting warmer.

He took off his big cotton jacket and cotton trousers, and Wang Mengde instantly felt a lot lighter.

At the same time, He Shengnan's belly swelled into a ball.

In two months, she will give birth.

Because of the sufficient nutrition, I can eat at least two eggs every day, and I have meat every now and then. The meals at home are also full of oil and fat.

This made her look like she was pregnant with twins again.

Sunday morning.

Wang Mengde stayed at home with his wife.

Ran Xiaomei and her mother-in-law took a few children, carried baskets, and went outside the city to pick wild vegetables.

Under the outer wall of the courtyard.

They moved two chairs and sat together, chatting and laughing quietly while basking in the sun.

At this time, Wang Mengwei walked quickly over from the west side of the alley.

He also had a basket slung over his arm.

"My cousin is here."

Wang Mengde stood up and greeted with a smile.

At the same time, he held down He Shengnan who wanted to get up.

My wife is already seven months pregnant, so there is no need to care about these etiquettes.

"Meng De, Sheng Nan, I've brought you some wild vegetables. I'll bring you some willow buds and Chinese toon buds in a few days."

Wang Mengwei walked up to the basket with a smile on his face, removed the cover from the basket, revealing a basket full of juicy shepherd's purse and leeks.

"So many shepherd's purse and leeks." Wang Mengde said in surprise, then he thought of something, his face changed slightly, and he asked hurriedly:

"Cousin, isn't it a time of shortage of food in our hometown? Why did you bring so many wild vegetables here? If other people in the village knew about it, would there be trouble?"

Now is the era of communes and canteens. Everything is collectively owned and no one can make decisions on their own.

Moreover, in most rural areas of the country, people have been hungry for half the winter and their eyes have already turned green.

Now that wild vegetables have grown, the brigade and villagers will definitely not let go of this life-saving thing.

"Meng De, don't worry. Grandma knows that Shengnan likes to eat shepherd's purse dumplings, so she went to the wild yesterday to pick a basket of them and asked me to bring it to you early in the morning.

As for the villagers, they have no objection. If it weren't for the bag of brown sugar you sent to their families, at least three or four more people would leave our village in winter."

Wang Mengwei looked around and found that there was no one around, so he explained in a low voice.

It turned out that during the period before and after the New Year, the Tiangezhuang canteen served noodle porridge or rice porridge every day. Of course, the so-called rice porridge was so clear that the rice grains could be counted and the porridge was so clear that it could be used as a mirror.

Their family had a better life because Wang Mengde would bring things back every now and then, and he also worked at the Shahe Meat Processing Factory.

Although I feel hungry from time to time, I can still hold on.

But it’s not the same for other people in the village. After eating, they basically lie in bed, motionless, and reduce their activity.

Even so, there were still seven or eight elderly people who could not bear it any longer. After Wang Tianshi knew about this, she discussed it with Wang Jinghui and decided to donate the pound of brown sugar that Wang Mengde had taken back.

Thanks to the brown sugar water, four out of seven or eight elderly people finally survived the winter.

Several elderly people in the neighboring village almost couldn't make it.

"Ah? Grandpa and grandma took out the brown sugar, why didn't you try to persuade them and didn't tell me?"

Wang Mengde's face suddenly turned bad.

He went back to Tiangezhuang many times, but he had never heard his uncle or others mention this matter.

What's more, human hearts are unpredictable. No matter what era it is, doing good deeds may not necessarily bring good rewards.

If there is someone with bad intentions who makes use of this incident in the future, the Wang family will not have peace.

"Meng De, my dad and I persuaded them for a long time, and grandpa and grandma agreed on the surface, but they turned around and secretly gave the brown sugar to the team."

Wang Mengwei said somewhat aggrievedly.

He really didn't know how to complain about the two old people's behavior.

Rubbing his forehead, Wang Mengde also felt a little helpless. He said, "Cousin, let's go home first."

As he said this, he supported He Shengnan and walked towards the yard with his cousin, carrying a chair.

When she got home and saw so much shepherd's purse and leeks, He Shengnan couldn't help but swallow her saliva.

This winter, our house basically had radishes and cabbages, with occasional bean sprouts and tofu vermicelli. It was so hard to see these green vegetables.

Suddenly, the gluttony in her stomach was aroused.

Thinking of dumplings stuffed with pork and shepherd's purse, my mouth starts watering.

Wang Mengde naturally noticed her greedy look, so he said, "Cousin, eat at home at noon and go back in the afternoon. It just so happens that this month's meat coupons have just been issued, so I'll go to the grocery store."

As he said this, he went to the bedroom, got a few meat tickets, and went out on his bicycle.

After a while, we arrived at the grocery store in Nanluoguxiang.

There was already a long line at the place where pork was sold.

Since 59, not only fresh pork, but also chickens, ducks, and eggs have been frequently out of stock in both vegetable markets and grocery stores.

Therefore, many people went to buy meat immediately after receiving the meat coupons.

Some people would even start queuing at three or four in the morning in order to buy some good meat.

Fatty Guo skillfully cut pieces of pork with a knife and completely ignored the customer's request for more fat.

An attitude of not caring whether you want it or not.

Despite this attitude, customers dare not say anything and have to put on a smile for fear of being held responsible and being harassed the next time they buy meat.

Half an hour later, it was finally Wang Mengde's turn.

When he saw him, Fatty Guo smiled from the bottom of his heart: "Meng De, how much meat do you want?"

After saying that, he pulled out half a piece of fresh meat from under the chopping board.

"Give me a pound of pork belly to make dumplings."

Wang Mengde took out sixteen taels of meat coupons from his pocket. These coupons were the total amount of meat earned by all the people in his family in the middle and late part of this month. He added seventy-six cents and handed them to him.

The price of pork has increased slightly compared to the previous two years.

"okay."

Fatty Guo gestured with the knife, then cut towards the fattest part of the pork belly.

I put it on the scale and it was exactly one pound.

Seeing this delicious piece of meat, the customers queuing behind were very envious.

After handing the meat to Wang Mengde, Fatty Guo motioned him to wait outside the door, then took off his apron, wiped his hands with a towel, and walked out leisurely.

As for the customers, if they are willing to wait, they can wait. If they don’t want to wait, just leave. There will be no problem selling the meat anyway.

Outside the door, the two people found a place where no one was.

He took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it with a match, exhaled a puff of smoke, and asked with a smile: "Meng De, a relative came to our house today, and he actually bought a pound of meat at one time."

After the new meat ticket policy was implemented this year, nominally as long as one had a Beijing household registration, one could receive 1 to 3 taels of meat tickets in the first, middle, and last ten days of each month.

But in practice, only one tael of bills were issued every ten days, let alone three taels, and even two taels were not issued.

All in all, it’s only three taels a month, which is half the six taels last year.

"Well, my cousin from my hometown is coming over."

Wang Mengde asked, "Are you busy now?"

"I'm so busy. I don't know why, but the amount of pork brought in every day is much less than last year. I often sell out the day's meat in the morning, and then I go home for the rest of the day."

Fatty Guo spat on the ground and said casually.

He didn't know the reason, but Wang Mengde knew the problem clearly.

In September last year, large canteens were set up in rural areas, and coupled with hunger in the winter, all the pigs were eaten, resulting in a sharp decrease in the number of live pigs in the country this year.

Naturally, there is not much pork left.

After chatting for a few minutes, he was in a hurry to go home to make dumplings. Wang Mengde threw him a pack of Panda cigarettes and hurried home.

When he got home, before he could start chopping the dumpling stuffing, Ran Xiaomei and Zhou Xiaoyan, along with a few children, came back dejected.

"Mom, didn't you go to pick wild vegetables?"

Wang Mengde asked curiously when he saw that there were only a few small wild vegetables in the basket.

“Gone out of town.

Hey, Meng De, you didn’t see that there are more people outside the city than wild vegetables, including men, women, young and old, and even whole families, all digging wild vegetables. We can’t get any of them at all.”

Ran Xiaomei explained.

"Brother-in-law, we searched for a long time before we found these seedlings."

He Yanan said somewhat unhappily.

She was very excited at first, but when she got outside the city, she found that the ground was bare and even the newly sprouted buds could not be seen.

"Mom, my cousin sent me a basket of shepherd's purse, and I bought a pound of meat. Let's have dumplings for lunch today."

Wang Mengde said with a smile.

"Yanan, how about pork and shepherd's purse dumplings for lunch?"

"Brother-in-law, I want to eat pork and shepherd's purse dumplings."

He Yanan clapped his hands and said happily.

The last time she had meat dumplings was during Chinese New Year, and now she's been craving for them.

Early April.

Chinese Medical Research Institute.

In the dean's office.

Dean Lu had a cheerful expression on his face. Opposite him, Mr. Pu and Wang Mengde were sitting on the sofa.

"Comrade Wang Mengde, after more than four months of clinical trials, the measles vaccine you developed began to produce antibodies one week after injection and reached its peak in one month. The positive conversion rate is over 1%, and those with positive antibody conversion can be free from the disease."

"After a meeting, the higher-ups decided to start mass production of the vaccine and vaccinate infants and children across the country."

(End of this chapter)