Chapter 252 The Guardian of the Gobi Desert
Outside the red brick building of the research institute, the magnolia tree has sprouted its first bud of the spring.
The light in the easternmost window on the third floor had been on all night.
Gu Baobao leaned against the headboard, her forehead hair damp with sweat and plastered to her temples.
Her hand was gripped tightly by Lu Zhanming, and that large hand, which was used to holding steel guns, was trembling violently at this moment.
"Almost there...baby, just hang in there a little longer..."
His voice was hoarse, and his eyes were bloodshot, but he stared at her without blinking, as if he wanted to share all her pain with his gaze.
The delivery bed was a temporary conversion, and the doctors and nurses in the institute's medical room were on high alert, while armed guards patrolled outside the window in the darkness.
This is the highest level of security:
She was protecting not only Gu Baobao, but also the two children in her womb who carried so many expectations.
At 3:17 a.m., the first cry broke the silence.
It was a boy, and his cries were as loud as a bugle call.
Three minutes later, my younger sister arrived, her cries soft and gentle, like a stream just thawing in spring.
When the nurse brought the two wrinkled little ones wrapped in swaddling clothes to Gu Baobao, a weak smile bloomed on her pale face, but tears rolled down her cheeks silently.
Lu Zhanming did not look after the child.
He leaned down, his trembling lips pressed against Gu Baobao's sweaty forehead, murmuring again and again:
"Wife...you've suffered so much...my baby has been through so much..."
This man, who hadn't even flinched amidst gunfire, was now crying like a child.
Large tears fell onto Gu Baobao's face, mingling with her sweat.
Three days later, Gu Baobao was able to get out of bed and walk around.
Lu Zhanming took her and the child back to the family compound behind the research institute.
It was a separate courtyard with high walls and a guard at the entrance 24 hours a day.
After settling his wife and children, the first thing Lu Zhanming did was go to the General Hospital of the Military Region.
"ligation?"
The old military doctor adjusted his glasses and sized up the young officer in front of him, whose shoulder insignia gleamed.
"Director Lu, you're only thirty years old, and your child has just been born... this..."
"I'm sure." Lu Zhanming's voice was calm, but his eyes were unwavering and left no room for doubt.
"Let's have the surgery."
The surgery was simple, under local anesthesia. He lay on the operating table, looking at the pale light on the ceiling, recalling Gu Baobao's deathly pale face in the delivery room, and the pain of her fingernails digging into his palm when she gripped his hand.
There can't be a next time.
He couldn't bear even the slightest possibility of losing her.
After the anesthesia wore off, he struggled to walk back to his family compound.
Gu Baobao was leaning against the headboard, breastfeeding her daughter. The morning light shone through the gap in the curtains onto her face, as soft as a painting.
"Where did you go?"
She looked up, her voice still weak from childbirth.
Lu Zhanming sat down on the edge of the bed, took her free hand, and pressed it against his face.
The palm of my hand felt the prickly touch of his stubble, and... a slight, almost imperceptible tremor.
"I had a minor surgery."
He said softly,
"I will never let you suffer like this again."
Gu Baobao was stunned, then realized what was going on.
She put the child down, wrapped her arms around his neck, and buried her face in his shoulder.
"Fool……"
Her voice choked with emotion.
Lu Zhanming tightened his arms, pulling her and the child into his embrace.
The spring sunshine outside the window is bright and beautiful, and the magnolia flowers are in full bloom.
He said to himself:
In this lifetime, I will stay by her side and by these two little ones.
No one can separate them.
The wind in Northwest China in the winter of 1970 was like a knife.
The jeep bumped along the gravel road for six hours before finally coming into view of the low-lying concrete buildings. This was base codenamed "702," the birthplace of the heart components of the Republic's nuclear submarines.
Gu Baobao was wrapped in a heavy military overcoat and holding a specially made medical kit in her arms.
Lu Zhanming sat beside her, his hand always on the holster at his waist. Along the way, the sentries, both overt and covert, were changed three times, and the escorting convoy consisted of four vehicles.
They came because of a encrypted telegram sent from the base three days prior:
"Chief Engineer Qian suddenly developed a high fever, suspected of acute radiation sickness, critical condition."
"Chief Engineer Qian" - Qian Jin, the chief designer of China's first generation of nuclear submarine reactors.
They were received by the base commander, an old soldier whose face was tanned bronze by the wind and sand.
He gripped Gu Baobao's hand with astonishing strength:
"Dr. Gu, Old Qian can't fall ill! The reactor criticality test is next month..."
"I'll do my best."
Gu Baobao only said three words.
The ward was a temporary conversion with basic conditions, but aseptic measures were in place.
On the hospital bed, Qian Jin had fallen into a coma, his face was ashen, and his arms were covered with fine bleeding spots.
Gu Baobao underwent a quick examination, and her heart sank. It was a typical case of acute myeloid radiation sickness, and her white blood cell count had already dropped to a dangerous level.
"Did you bring Strong Shield II?"
She asked her assistant.
"I brought three."
"Use them all. Also, prepare for a blood transfusion; I need fresh type O whole blood."
As she gave the order, she took out a flat aluminum box from the bottom of the medicine box. Inside was a crude extract of cell growth stimulating factor that she had secretly prepared based on information from later generations and the conditions of this era.
This was something she kept hidden away, and it had never appeared in any report.
For the next 72 hours, Gu Baobao barely slept.
Lu Zhanming stayed by her side, handing her equipment, recording data, and supporting her when she was too tired to stand.
The doctors at the base were initially skeptical of the young female expert, but after she precisely adjusted the medication regimen and stabilized Qian Jin's heart rate with a unique acupuncture technique, everyone fell silent.
On the morning of the third day, Qian Jin's body temperature began to drop.
On the fifth day, the white blood cell count showed signs of recovery.
On the seventh day, the old man opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was Gu Baobao standing by the bedside. He opened his mouth, but his voice was weak:
"……reactor……"
"The data has been saved."
The base commander, his eyes red, leaned closer.
"Old Qian, you've been saved thanks to Doctor Gu."
Qian Jin turned his gaze to Gu Baobao, looked at her for a long time, and slowly raised his withered hand to give a somewhat imperfect military salute.
Gu Baobao stood up and solemnly returned the greeting.
When I left the ward, it was just getting light.
The sunrise over the Gobi Desert is breathtakingly magnificent, with a huge red sun leaping from the horizon and gilding the entire wasteland with gold and red.
Lu Zhanming draped his military overcoat over her shoulders and held her cold hand.
Is it worth it?
On this trip, they risked crossing half of China, arriving at this desolate place when the storm was at its fiercest.
Gu Baobao gazed at the red sun and whispered:
"Do you know what the first thing he asked when he woke up was? Not his own life, but the reactor."
She turned her head and looked at her husband:
“Husband, the people we protect are these very fools. They risk their lives to become the backbone of the nation, and I use my medical skills to save their lives. How could this trade not be worthwhile?”
Lu Zhanming didn't say anything, but just held her hand tighter.
In the distance, the base's loudspeaker began playing "The East Is Red".
A new day begins in the most secluded corner of this republic.
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