Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 814, Section 813: Cooperative Medical Agreement Reached
Wang Bo held his wine glass in his right hand and looked at the leader who came to toast him. He felt respected, a feeling he had never experienced before.

He felt he could risk his life for this feeling.

To avoid losing his composure, Wang Bo was gripping his thigh tightly with his left hand, using the pain as a reminder to himself.

If it weren't for the constant and clear reminder of the pain, he wouldn't have believed that what he was seeing was real.

"Comrade Wang, your report today was excellent. I hope you will continue your efforts and serve the people well." The leader who came to offer a toast noticed Wang Bo's nervousness and smiled encouragingly before clinking glasses.

"I will certainly live up to the expectations of my superiors." With an excited heart and trembling hands, Wang Bo felt his lips shaking as he said these words.

After toasting with the leader, the leader touched his lips with the wine, while Wang Bo, like the other delegates, tilted his head back and downed the whole thing in one gulp.

On the way back to the hotel after the banquet, Wang Bo was still in a daze, though that wasn't quite accurate, because he wouldn't dare to do something like that even in his dreams.

When Wang Bo came to Beijing this time, his first stop was Yan Xiongfei's house.

At his aunt's house, Wang Bo told her about Tang Zhitong going to the production team and also learned that Tang Zhitong was the one who had arranged for him to become a barefoot doctor.

Wang Bo was somewhat surprised by this, but only surprised by Tang Zhitong's youth. He felt little gratitude towards Tang Zhitong, because he was most grateful to his aunt and uncle.

If it weren't for my aunt's family, I wouldn't even know if I could have survived these two years, let alone become a barefoot doctor.

Although his father had supported his aunt's education back then, and his aunt had been giving back to the Wang family all these years, Wang Bo did not believe that his aunt was obligated to do so.

In this respect, Wang Bo was especially grateful to Yan Xiongfei. If Yan Xiongfei had not supported him, his aunt would have provided assistance to the Wang family in secret.

To express his gratitude, Wang Bo made preparations in advance.

The situation in the countryside is much better now than in the dead of winter. In addition to the wild vegetables that sprout in the fields, silkworm pupae, mole crickets, grubs, and cutworms found while turning over the soil have become the food of the commune members.

In addition, some resourceful members would have their children or themselves catch frogs after work to sell.

Wang Bo naturally wouldn't bring those insects to his aunt's house; what he wanted to catch were frogs.

However, due to overfishing by villagers, there are fewer frogs than in previous years.

Before coming to Beijing, Wang Bo spent a whole day walking along the river to catch about twenty frogs.

He originally planned to give half to his aunt's family and half to the surgical instructor at the hospital, but Wang Huiru stopped him and personally took Wang Bo to deliver the money to the surgical instructor.

The matter didn't end there. Wang Huiru even took her nephew to the mall to buy clothes and altered them overnight.

Even the draft of this report was revised by Yan Xiongfei before Wang Bo submitted it to the health department.

How could Wang Bo not be grateful to such a relative?

Although it was Tang Zhitong's first time attending a banquet of this caliber, he did not appear nervous, nor did he raise his hat and curse at anyone. He was simply surprised when the leader offered him a toast.

Before coming here, Tang Zhitong had participated in some banquets, and most of the time he would go to the leader's table to toast them, either by table or by department.

There are significant differences, but there are also commonalities—the leader's glass of wine is consumed extremely slowly.

"Xiao Tang, is your idea for cooperative medical care for your own personal gain, or for the benefit of the members?" Luo Qingquan asked abruptly after the leader who had been toasting them left.

He knew that Tang Zhitong was most likely doing it for the sake of the members, but he still wanted to confirm it again before taking action.

"Of course, it's about benefiting the members," Tang Zhitong blurted out without hesitation.

"You have the people's interests at heart." Luo Qingquan looked at Tang Zhitong, nodded with satisfaction, and repeated the evaluation he had given her during the meeting.

"Hehe, actually, there's a little bit of selfishness involved. I still have the title of representative of Beijing, so I thought I'd use this proposal to get by." Tang Zhitong always felt that this evaluation was too high for him, after all, he just wanted to be an ordinary person.

"Being in one's position means fulfilling one's duties and responsibilities. Very good! How about this, let's go over there later and communicate with the leaders in the health department." Luo Qingquan said to Tang Zhitong, observing the progress of the toasting.

"Alright!" Tang Zhitong readily agreed. Of course, the sooner this matter was settled, the better. The sooner it was settled, the sooner the commune members would benefit.

After the leaders finished toasting, Luo Qingquan seized the opportunity and pulled Tang Zhitong to find the leaders of the health department to discuss the idea of ​​cooperative medical care.

"The health system should strike while the iron is hot and make a leap forward!" Tang Zhitong proposed, and Luo Qingquan was responsible for persuading him.

"Xiao Tang's idea is excellent, and I'd like to express my support. However, Lao Luo, the health department doesn't have any spare money either." The leaders of the health department certainly knew this was an achievement, but there were also difficulties. If Tang Zhitong's plan were implemented, the health department would have an extra expense out of nowhere.

"This is just a trial run. A production team of about a thousand people, can't your health department afford a thousand yuan?"
The achievements of the cooperative medical care system are also attributed to your health department. Since you've contributed money, you'll have more confidence when you speak in the future, won't you?

If you don't publish it, then our editorial board will; we offer royalties.

But don't regret it later.

Seeing that the health department was unwilling to pay, Luo Qingquan used both soft and hard tactics to persuade them.

"Fine, we'll cover the cost." The health department leader was helpless. The barefoot doctor issue was already somewhat passive, and if the editorial board of the manual had to pay for it again this time, then he would really be out of a job.

"That's more like it." Luo Qingquan smiled when he saw him relent, and pointed at Tang Zhitong, saying, "Little Tang is a representative of our Beijing and one of the initiators of the Handbook. The cooperative medical care issue was his proposal this year, and our editorial board strongly supports it."

"You old Luo, you were just waiting for me here, weren't you? Fine, I understand." The leader from the health department pointed at Luo Qingquan and said with a wry smile.

"I just wanted to let you know so you wouldn't be in a passive position later. You should be secretly happy that Xiao Tang is helping you cover your tracks," Luo Qingquan said frankly.

After finalizing the cooperative medical arrangements, the group exchanged a few more polite words and returned to their respective tables.

"Uncle Luo, is this settled?" Tang Zhitong was surprised that the cooperative medical arrangement was finalized so easily. He hadn't even needed to give the reasons he had prepared.

"The arrow is already on the bowstring and must be released. If the health department doesn't take this opportunity, they'll be in an even more passive position later," Luo Qingquan said with a smile.

"What will happen to this money once it's really rolled out? Considering the population, it's no small amount, it could be over a million." The health department had already agreed to provide funding for the trial run, but the bulk of the cost would come later, and Tang Zhitong was still worried. He worried that the funding wouldn't be effectively implemented, and that the burden would fall entirely on the commune members. "Give them some time. If the trial is successful, they'll naturally include it in their year-end budget. I think when it's truly rolled out, they might ask the commune to contribute a little more, but they won't be stingy," Luo Qingquan explained to Tang Zhitong, understanding the intricacies of the situation.

"Hey, that's alright." Tang Zhitong was quite satisfied with the result; at least not all the expenses were borne by the members.

"When you submit this proposal, you need to revise the wording. The achievements should definitely include some credit from the health department," Luo Qingquan advised.

"Okay, this can be changed." Tang Zhitong nodded in agreement. The reason why Luo Qingquan said that he was a representative, that the cooperative medical care was a proposal, and that the editorial board was very supportive was to exchange information with the health department. They deserve credit for the work, but the proposal was his own.

When the health department leader said "I understand," it meant he acknowledged the deal; this is called tacit understanding.

The meeting lasted for two and a half days. On the second day, the meals consisted of four dishes and a soup, unlike the dinner on the first day. However, this was still much better than most families, and no one complained.

On May 12th, the awards ceremony was held, and outstanding units and representatives came forward in droves to receive their awards.

After the awards ceremony, the conference successfully concluded, and the host announced that everyone could leave after lunch.

During the meal, some people even lamented why the meeting wasn't extended for more days.

Tang Zhitong smiled when he heard this. There's a common saying that many people like to attend meetings because they're provided with meals.

This legend is not unfounded; at least this gathering of heroes provided meals, and no meal tickets were required.

This practice is not unique to Beijing; it exists almost everywhere, from top to bottom, especially at the bottom.

The subsidies for grassroots cadres are far lower than those in big cities, so many grassroots cadres suffer from edema. In some places, under the pretext of holding meetings, the key members of communes and production teams are gathered together for several days at a time.

During meetings in the city, pork is served every two or three days; if the meetings last four or five days, pork can be eaten twice.

Fat and protein are good remedies for edema; the swelling will subside in a few days.

Therefore, many rural grassroots cadres look forward to attending meetings in the county.

Because the cadres went to the city for meetings and stayed in the county town, the commune members had no idea that the cadres were going to the city for meetings to recuperate.

Tang Zhitong did not witness it firsthand, but he had heard related rumors on and off.

Everyone says seeing is believing, but Tang Zhitong felt that this matter couldn't be fake, because in addition to these rumors, Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House published a book called "A Life of Ups and Downs" in the year 2000, which clearly mentioned this matter on pages 156-157.

The author's identity is rather unique; his surname is Deng.

After lunch, most people went home to their own families, while a small number of people, including Tang Zhitong, were notified in advance that they would have to attend a closed-door meeting in the afternoon.

The members attending the closed-door meeting were mainly representatives from Beijing who will be attending the National Conference of Outstanding Workers in Education and Culture next month. The meeting emphasized the precautions for attending the meeting, including but not limited to eating manners, sitting posture, discipline, etc.

They were notified to gather here on the afternoon of the 31st, and that the group would attend the meeting on the 1st.

Tang Zhitong scratched his head after hearing this. He lived in Beijing and had to come back to the dormitory on the 31st.

However, no one else spoke up, so Tang Zhitong did not raise any objections.

While the meeting was in progress, a plane that had taken off from the Soviet Union landed at Beijing Airport, and a negotiating delegation sent by the Soviet Union emerged.

There were no flowers, no elementary school students standing on both sides of the aisle to welcome them; only people from the Science and Technology Commission gave a simple welcome.

Regarding the supermagnetic field, the two sides have been in frequent contact and making rapid progress, but there are still some people who strongly oppose it.

The reason for the opposition is simple: if the Russians had supermagnetic materials, their rate of uranium-235 extraction would increase dramatically, and the potential threat to us would grow exponentially.

Opponents were even more direct: "Just because of the supermagnetic missile negotiations, does that mean they won't have nuclear weapons anymore? Does that mean we won't be a potential threat? Their current nuclear arsenal is more than enough to threaten us! Our goal is to use their technology to develop our own nuclear program! There's a primary and secondary contradiction here!"

"We are not afraid of threats, but we must also accelerate our own nuclear program. We still need to talk." In the end, the leadership overruled all objections and scheduled the meeting.

Now, in addition to theoretical problems, nuclear engineers also face the challenge of refining materials.

Theoretical breakthroughs may not be achieved yet, but refinement must not become an obstacle to development.

The Chinese people have been preparing for this for five years in order to refine it!

Starting in 1955, the Second Ministry of Machine Building dispatched a geological team of more than 20,000 people to conduct a large-scale survey across the country, searching for uranium deposits everywhere.

In reality, the number of people involved in mineral exploration is far more than 20,000, as many cities and counties have also formed geological teams and actively participated in mineral exploration.

With the whole nation united as one, they actually managed to collect quite a bit of uranium ore.

Since no factory had been built and no equipment was available at the time, the project ultimately resorted to rudimentary uranium refining methods involving the entire population.

Ultimately, it was successful, laying the foundation for subsequent experiments. However, when it came to the stage of refining uranium-235, mobilizing the entire population was no longer an option; advanced technology and equipment had to be relied upon.

If we don't do this, all our previous efforts will be in vain. We will not only fail to live up to the country's financial and material support, but also to the scientific researchers on the front lines, and even more so to the people who participated in the rudimentary uranium refining process!

Which people don't want their country to be strong?
Perhaps it's someone like Qin who's an exception.

Wu Aijun's mission was over. Using Qin as bait, he successfully captured a "small fish" and, based on the information this small fish provided, wiped out all the traitors in this line.

After catching the "small fish," Qin wanted to talk to the police officers, asking if his punishment could be reduced because of his meritorious service.

But no one gave him that chance; they sent him directly to the detention center and gave him a single cell.

Even now, Qin still harbored illusions, believing that the private room was a privilege, that he had performed meritorious service, and that he hadn't leaked any core secrets, so he was sure he would be fine afterward...

Little did he know that in the expensive detention center, the reason he was put in a solitary cell was simply to prevent him from letting loose and making the matter of the supermagnetic device known to everyone.

(End of this chapter)