Chapter 142 The Current Situation in Rural Areas and the Successful Development of Measles Vaccine
Looking at the eight junior brothers and sisters in front of him with excited expressions.

Wang Mengde nodded in satisfaction, and then said, "Don't make it public for now. When this matter is finalized in a few days, I will take you to study it together."

Although President Lu said that he would fully support his vaccine research, it was only a verbal promise.

If I speak without restraint now and talk nonsense outside, and someone with ulterior motives finds out and tries to do something bad, then even if Dean Lu and others still insist on letting me do my research, it would still be disgusting.

"Brother, don't worry, we will keep this matter secret."

Several people quickly assured.

He looked so serious, as if he was just about to swear to the heavens.

"Yeah." Seeing their attitude, Wang Mengde nodded with satisfaction and continued, "By the way, Junior Brother Huang, you studied Western medicine in school before, so you should be very familiar with operating test tubes and reagents."

Junior Brother Huang, also known as Huang Sizhong, wears a pair of thick glasses and looks like a researcher.

Last year, he graduated from the East China Pharmaceutical University, the first state-owned pharmaceutical college in Chinese history.

As a bachelor of western medicine, he was selected by the staff arranged by "President Zhou" not long after graduation, and was sent to the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine to become Pu Lao's student.

At the beginning, he still had a lot of emotions in his heart, but after studying with Wang Mengde for a period of time and compiling the "Barefoot Doctor Manual", he changed his mind.

Now he was extremely glad that he did not quit.

"Brother, I have been working with test tubes and reagents for four years at East China Pharmaceutical University. It is no exaggeration to say that I can operate these equipment skillfully with my eyes closed."

Huang Sizhong said proudly with his chest puffed out.

Because he was a Western medicine major, he was a drag among the eight people after coming to the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Even though Pu Lao and Wang Mengde took care of him, he studied very hard and would study until midnight every day when he got home. With the help of several other people, he still could not understand many things because of his weak foundation in Chinese medicine.

This caused him to feel a little inferior in the past few months.

Unexpectedly, this time he would have the opportunity to teach several other fellow brothers, which made him very excited.

"Okay, in the next few days, you will take everyone to the laboratory to familiarize yourself with these equipment and operations in advance."

Wang Mengde ordered.

"Yes, senior brother."

night.

After dinner and clearing away the dishes, the family sat in the living room.

The charcoal fire in the flowerpot stove was burning brightly. Although it was freezing cold outside, the house was very warm.

Wang Mengde took two white flour buns, cut them into thin slices, and slowly roasted them next to the stove.

At the same time, he also roasted two white-fleshed sweet potatoes together.

After a while, the fragrance filled the room.

The two greedy younger brothers scratched their heads and kept urging him, asking him if the food was ready.

Next to her, Ran Xiaomei was sewing shoe soles with a shoe clip in front of her, and He Shengnan was sewing a small flowered dress with needle and thread.

A few days ago, Wang Mengde took her pulse and felt that this baby was most likely a girl.

"Meng De, tomorrow is Sunday. If you have nothing to do, go back to Tiangezhuang to visit your grandparents. You haven't been back for a few days."

Ran Xiaomei rubbed the needle on her scalp and then gave instructions.

"Well, Mom, I'll go back tomorrow."

Wang Mengde agreed.

Ever since the communes and canteens were established in the countryside, my uncle's family no longer eats at home, so he and Wang Hao don't have to share their monthly high-brain oil with my grandparents' family.

Plus I've been very busy lately and haven't been back for two or three months.

It happened that the measles epidemic was about to end, and he had some free time now, so he went back to take a look at the current situation in the countryside so that he could make preparations for what to do in the future.

Early the next morning.

After breakfast, Wang Mengde went out fully armed, carrying a package, wearing a cotton coat, a cotton hat, and a scarf around his neck.

I rode my bike to Deshengmen first, then waited for a while and took the bus to Shahe.

Since several large oil fields have not yet been surveyed and discovered, and the country is currently facing a severe oil shortage, these buses all have a large gas bag on the top.

These gas-powered buses will not be gradually phased out until September next year, when the first oil field is discovered during exploration in Daqing Oilfield.

The vehicle drove slowly forward, and when it left the capital, it arrived in the suburbs.

Wang Mengde looked out through the window.

From time to time, not far away on both sides of the road, there were earthen blast furnaces standing there. These were built by various communes within a few months.

Since the conference in August this year officially decided to double the steel production in 1958 compared with 1957, reaching 1070 million tons.

For a time, there were crowds of people and blast furnaces everywhere, all over the country.

Everything makes way for the Iron Marshal's rise to power.

Whether it was factories, military units, communes, government agencies, schools, or even the diplomatic department, steel furnaces and iron plants were set up.

Regardless of gender, age, or professional or amateur, everyone became a steel worker. Many school students stopped attending classes and went to work at the blast furnaces.

In places where there was no coal, they cut down trees and burned them into charcoal. In the city where there were no trees, they took out furniture and bed boards and burned them.

An old cupboard and a bed board from Wang Mengde's house were taken away to make steel.

In the absence of iron ore, they smashed pots and tripods, collected all the ironware from every household, and even the iron hoes and sickles in the countryside were sent as materials for making steel.

Bricks and stones are needed to build blast furnaces, so all ancestral halls, temples, and pagodas were demolished, and even the city walls suffered.

Two months ago, Wang Mengde took He Shengnan to stroll along Wangfujing Street and found that all the bricks on the sidewalks on both sides of the street had been removed.

After asking around, he found out that one day, overnight, all the bricks on the hundreds of meters long land disappeared and were all on the earthen blast furnace.

According to later statistics, by the end of 58, the number of people fighting on the steel front across the country exceeded million, equivalent to about one-sixth of the national population.

After several months of reckless work, coupled with some false reports, it was finally announced that steel production reached 1108 million tons and pig iron reached 1369 tons.

But there were only 8 million tons of qualified steel and 9 million tons of pig iron, and most of the rest was waste.

In just a few months, the consequences were extremely serious.

It has not only caused serious damage and waste to the ecological environment and material resources, but also had a serious impact on rural grain harvests.

A large number of laborers appeared around the blast furnaces, so naturally no one was there to plant and harvest the crops in the fields.

Coupled with the fact that a large cafeteria has been set up and everyone can eat and drink to their heart's content, and for other reasons, life next year will not be easy.

Thinking of this, Wang Mengde withdrew his gaze and sighed in his heart.

More than an hour later, we arrived at Shahe.

Today, Shahe has become Shahe Commune, and Tiangezhuang has become a production brigade and several production teams.

After getting off the car, he soon arrived at Tiangezhuang.

"Meng De, you are here. Have you eaten yet?"

Just as he arrived at the gate of the courtyard, Uncle Wang Ning happened to walk out of the main room. After seeing him, he said with surprise.

"Uncle, I just had dinner."

"Come inside quickly, it's cold outside."

When he entered the main room, he found that his aunt, grandparents, and cousin Wang Mengqi were all getting ready to go out.

"Grandpa, grandma, where are you going?" Wang Mengde asked curiously.

"Meng De, you are here. We are just about to go to the village cafeteria for breakfast."

When Wang Tian saw him, she excitedly took his hand and explained.

"Meng De, you can also go to the cafeteria and try the food of our production team."

Wang Jinghui also said happily.

Looking at the rosy faces of these people, Wang Mengde could guess without thinking that their life in the countryside must have been comfortable in the past few months.

Although people can eat the food in the cafeteria, every household is not as frugal as before.

He remembered watching a TV series in his previous life, in which there was a plot where a bag of grain fell on the side of the road, but no one was interested in it.

Every villager who passed by, after seeing the bag was filled with food, remained indifferent and simply threw the bag back where it was.

Because at this time everyone felt that there was no point in asking for food, as there was a big canteen for meals, and the stoves at home had long been gone.

"Grandpa, grandma, I've already eaten, so I won't go."

Wang Mengde declined.

"Okay, then you wait for us for a while and come back after dinner."

A few people chatted and laughed as they walked towards the newly built canteen at the entrance of the village.

Half an hour later, grandparents and Wang Mengqi came back, while uncle and aunt had to go to work.

"Grandma, I brought you some brown sugar and cakes. You and Grandpa can have a taste."

"Oh, Meng De, why are you wasting money again? Let me tell you, since we opened the canteen, we no longer lack nutrition.

Not only are we well fed, but we also eat well. The day before yesterday our team killed a pig, and this morning we had meat buns for dinner. There were also several dishes and white flour for lunch and dinner.

Next time you come, don't bring these things. Save some money and buy Shengnan some good things to replenish her body."

Wang Tian hurriedly gave instructions.

As he said this, he carefully took the things he brought and hid them in the bedroom.

"Grandma, if you eat like this every day, how much food do we have left in the brigade?"

Wang Mengde asked curiously.

"Why worry about how much food there is? As long as we have food to eat every day, that's enough."

Wang Tian said casually and nonchalantly.

Seeing that the two old men had the same expression, Wang Mengde didn't say anything more. He thought to himself that it seemed like he had to come back more often recently.

If the villagers continue to eat like this, the food supply will soon run out.

It is winter now, a time of scarcity. If there is a food shortage, young people can still hold on. But our grandparents are old and cannot survive the winter without food.

noon.

Wang Mengde ate in the brigade’s canteen.

Although it was winter, the canteen still prepared four dishes, one of which was a meat dish.

The staple food is steamed buns made from Erhe flour.

Hundreds of people gathered together to eat, which was quite spectacular.

Everyone was in high spirits, eating until their mouths were full of oil and they were burping.

Although there was not as much waste as in later generations, Wang Mengde found that both adults and children tried to eat as much as possible.

Until you are full.

After finishing their meal, villagers walked out in groups of two or three, complaining: "Why did the canteen make the two-layer noodles today? They tasted much worse than white flour buns."

"Hey, I only ate two steamed buns made of flour today, and I ate a small bowl of vegetables."

"Yes, next time I will eat more vegetables and less steamed buns."

"I heard from the accountant of the brigade that they are going to kill a sheep the day after tomorrow and make us some mutton soup to nourish us."

"Hip, the commune is still the best. Since the establishment of the commune and the cafeteria, I have gained weight."

Wang Mengde's heart sank when he heard them talking about how today's staple food had become steamed buns made from two kinds of flour.

He knew that the food supply of Tiangezhuang Brigade might not be much.

Otherwise, why would they suddenly mix cornmeal into the flour after eating white flour for several months?

In the afternoon, return home.

When Wang Hao asked about the situation in the countryside, Wang Mengde did not tell the truth, but forced a smile and said, "Dad, life in the countryside is very good now, just like what is advertised in the newspapers.

I had lunch in the village at noon, the food was very good, so I ate as much as I could. "

After hearing his words, Wang Hao frowned involuntarily, and then asked curiously: "That's not right. If we continue to eat like this, how much food and supplies will we need? Where can we get these in the countryside?"

He came from the countryside and knew that even in a year of good weather and good harvests, it was impossible to eat like this.

What's more, the supply of materials in the city has become increasingly tight in the past year.

Except for a few families, most people dare not eat to their heart's content and can only eat until they are half full.

Another week has passed.

Monday.

At the weekly leadership meeting of the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

When President Lu proposed at the meeting that Wang Mengde should be responsible for developing the measles vaccine, although most of the vice presidents and research institute directors did not quite understand it, they still approved it.

Only after the formal arrangement from the research institute did Wang Mengde start to appear in the laboratory.

"Junior Brother Huang, how are you getting acquainted recently?"

Coming up to his fellow junior brothers and sisters, Wang Mengde asked Huang Sizhong.

"Brother, everyone is already familiar with test tubes and reagents."

Huang Sizhong stopped what he was doing and replied quickly.

"Very good, we will officially begin developing the measles vaccine today. So, Junior Brother Huang, from now on, you will lead everyone in the experiment.

Let's first isolate and culture the attenuated strain of the measles virus. When doing experiments, everyone must pay attention to safety. Even if it's a little slow, it doesn't matter."

Wang Mengde instructed.

Then he told Huang Sizhong the general method.

"Brother, according to the method you mentioned, we will be able to cultivate the attenuated strain very quickly."

Huang Sizhong thought for a moment and said confidently.

For him, who had studied for four years and had a clear direction, simply repeating the experiments was a piece of cake.

Just as he said, a few days later, after the unremitting efforts of eight people, they successfully isolated and cultivated the attenuated measles strain.

Then, following Wang Mengde's instructions, the attenuated strain of measles virus was inoculated into primary chicken embryo cells. After careful cultivation, the virus fluid was finally harvested.

On the day approaching New Year's Day, Huang Sizhong came to Wang Mengde's office excitedly and said loudly:
"Brother, we succeeded."

(End of this chapter)