Chapter 109 The Republican-Era¹ Young Lady Stops Making a Fuss 20 Song Xuange Decides to Handle It

The reporters really did want to dig up something sensational.

But going into labor in the middle of an interview was simply too explosive.

The reporters froze on the spot.

For a moment, no one spoke. They looked at each other and saw the same confusion in one another’s eyes: We must have heard that wrong, right?

Mrs. Song was pushing herself that hard?

Yes, Mrs. Song really was that determined.

Her husband stood behind her, his voice frosted over, colder than the twelfth month’s winter air.

“Excuse me, I need to take her to the hospital.”

He Dusheng stripped off his overcoat, swept Song Xuange into his arms, and rushed toward the car parked not far outside the athletic field.

Only then did someone let out a dazed sigh. “She… she’s really having a baby?”

The person beside him said nothing. He took the camera from around his neck, stuffed it into his bag, and ran after the car.

The others snapped out of it and followed too.

They had been reporters for many years and had seen all kinds of strange and extraordinary things.

But someone like Mrs. Song, this really was a first.

This was worth reporting!

At the hospital, Nanny Wen was already waiting with two maids, carrying large bags of supplies.

Song Xuange was not about to give birth that quickly. She was just in terrible pain.

It was not until after she had her hair washed, taken a bath, changed into a clean, dry hospital gown, and lain down on the hospital bed that the doctor came to examine her and said it was still far too early for the baby to come.

He Dusheng was so anxious beside her that he wished he could take her place, but there was nothing he could do.

Leaning against him, Song Xuange endured the waves of pain.

Whenever the pain eased a little, he had someone fetch the doctor.

The doctor came over, thinking the mother must have had some new development.

He Dusheng asked in distress, “She’s in this much pain. I can’t just stand here and watch. Is there anything I can do to help?”

The doctor’s question died in his throat: “…”

Perhaps he was simply too speechless, because he actually said, “Help? Then go give birth for her.”

For some reason, He Dusheng actually took that seriously and thought about it.

“That would be best. Has medicine advanced enough to transfer pain now?”

The doctor realized he genuinely meant it and was left utterly at a loss.

Only then did he begin explaining in earnest.

After listening, He Dusheng looked rather disappointed.

Very seriously, he said to the doctor, “It would be wonderful if you could develop that kind of technology in the future. A woman already suffers enough carrying a child for so many months. The pain of childbirth ought to be borne by the child’s father.”

Doctor: “…”

Song Xuange patted him once, signaling for him to stop. Didn’t he see the doctor looking at him as if he were some delirious patient?

He Dusheng turned to her. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Heaven and earth, yin and yang, each has its proper role. That’s how it should be.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Afraid he would say something even stranger, the doctor seized the chance to cut in. “The pain can’t be taken for her, but you can prepare some food for the mother. When she’s not hurting, have her eat while she can. She’ll need the strength to give birth.”

“We’ve got some, we’ve got some. I’ve prepared everything.” Nanny Wen lifted out a food box from the luggage she had brought.

He Dusheng took it and fed Song Xuange.

Seeing how agitated he was, Song Xuange coaxed him. “All of a sudden, I want to eat something else.”

“All right!”

“What do you want? I’ll have someone go buy it.”

Nanny Wen also said, “Even if I go back and make it now, there’ll still be time.”

But Song Xuange wanted to send He Dusheng away.

“I want roast chicken from He Li Ji, clear-braised lion’s head meatballs and oil-braised winter bamboo shoots from Yinfeng Tower.”

“All right, I’ll have someone get them right away.”

Song Xuange caught hold of his slightly trembling hand. “You know my tastes best. Will you go buy them for me?”

Her face was damp with sweat, and she spoke softly, almost wheedling. “If someone else goes, I’m afraid they won’t get the right ones.”

He Dusheng did not want to leave, but he could not refuse her when she pleaded with him like that.

After hesitating for a moment, he agreed.

“All right. I’ll go and come right back. Be good.”

“Mhm. I’ll wait for you.”

He Dusheng rushed out.

Nanny Wen ran after him outside with his overcoat in her arms.

“Sir, your coat, your coat.”

In the end, she did not catch up to him.

Nanny Wen came back again, still holding the coat.

He Li Ji and Yinfeng Tower were on opposite sides, east and west. It was enough to keep him busy making the trip.

At least if he had something to do, it was better than staying here and worrying helplessly by her side.

But though he left quickly, he came back quickly too.

When he returned, his own hands and feet were ice-cold, but the lion’s head meatballs were still piping hot.

The time spent waiting for labor was agonizingly long.

Fortunately, they got the result they had been hoping for.

At nine that night, Song Xuange gave birth to a daughter in the delivery room.

Mother and daughter were both safe.

She had not let He Dusheng accompany her into the delivery room. After the baby was carried out, Song Xuange still felt to be in fairly good spirits.

A nurse came to wipe the sweat from her and said to her, “The baby’s father out there isn’t doing much better than the mother. He looks like he gave birth himself. He’s completely drained.”

Song Xuange wanted to laugh, but the movement pulled at her wound and made it hurt.

He Dusheng had picked the baby’s name long ago. It was Liuzhi, and she would take Song Xuange’s surname.

Song Liuzhi.

It felt a little awkward on the tongue, and Song Xuange had wanted to give her a nickname, but He Dusheng said it with boundless delight.

Lu Zhu was the same.

Once things at the school were over, she came straight over.

Squatting by the little bed, she even sang little tunes to the baby.

“Little Liuzhi, little Liuzhi, so you’re Song Liuzhi.”

“Hahaha, I’m Song Liuzhi’s auntie now, hahaha. Mom, I’ve made something of myself, do you know that?”

After muttering to herself for a while, she started humming again.

Song Xuange had never heard that tune before. She had probably made it up herself.

But the joy in it was impossible to miss.

“You’re this happy just to be an aunt?”

“Hehe, of course it’s not just that.”

“Then what else is it?”

For some reason, Lu Zhu suddenly seemed overflowing with heroic spirit.

“This year is 1921², after all.”

Song Xuange did not understand.

“What’s so special about it?”

Lu Zhu’s eyes darted around. She opened her mouth several times, only to close it again.

At last, she stood up and pointed out the window, up at the sky.

“Look, in the eastern sky, there’s a star.”

The moon was bright tonight, and there were not many stars in the sky.

Song Xuange also did not see the star in the eastern sky that Lu Zhu was talking about.

“I can’t see it.”

“It doesn’t matter. Right now, clouds are covering it. Give it a little more time, and it will shine brighter than any other star in the sky.”

Sigh, this silly child is spouting nonsense again.

Song Xuange felt drowsy and gradually fell asleep.

Lu Zhu turned back around. When she saw Song Xuange’s sleeping face, her voice softened.

She said gently, “You will. Everyone will. The whole world will see it.”

–

If you asked whose fame was burning brightest in Shanghai lately, it would be none other than Fenglong Industries.

On the day Song Xuange founded the school, she went into labor, and the next day’s front-page headlines were all about it.

People talked about it with endless fascination.

Shen Bao³

#Fenglong’s Double Blessing Shocks Shanghai, Principal Goes Into Labor at the Podium#

The Eastern Times

#Fenglong’s Female Principal Gives Birth Mid-Ceremony, Publicly Declares: “Allow Me to Raise the Citizens First”#

New Women’s Daily

#One Kicking in Amniotic Waters, One Growing on the Blueprint of Education#

Originally, the founding of a small school inside a factory should not have stirred up much discussion.

It was no different from the old-style private family schools.

You could fuss around however you liked on your own turf.

Who told the principal to be such an extraordinary woman?

Having a child wasn’t the issue. The problem was that she happened to give birth on the very day the school was founded.

Because of this bizarre incident, the people of Shanghai began paying attention to Workers’ School and wage reform.

What employer would build a school for workers?

Wasn’t that just having too much time and money on their hands?

If the workers went off to study, who was going to do the work?

As for this matter, some supported it, and some were just waiting to laugh.

Among the supporters were people with pens in hand, voicing their support for Fenglong Industries in the newspapers.

They likewise believed that improving workers’ conditions would greatly benefit industrial development, and they called on other factories to follow Fenglong’s example.

But even more people opposed it, or watched coldly for the joke to unfold.

Those people didn’t believe a woman like Song Xuange could make any real waves. Surely it was that man surnamed He stirring things up behind the scenes.

He had so brazenly raised workers’ wages and disrupted market pricing. What were factories like theirs supposed to do now?

If the workers got spoiled, would they still be able to hire labor cheaply?

Behind closed doors, they dragged He Dusheng out and cursed him who knew how many times.

That damned He Dusheng!

He was smashing the rice bowl of the entire industry!

And this Workers’ School was even more absurd.

Once people know too much, their first instinct is not gratitude, but resistance to authority. If workers could all read and write, would they still obediently submit to foremen’s control?

That question did not trouble them for long.

Because all of Fenglong Industries’ factories had already begun quietly abolishing the Foreman System one after another.

By the time the other capitalists found out, all of Fenglong’s foremen had already been replaced by Level Two and Level Three workers who had passed the Workers’ School graduation exams.

Some of these people wanted to gather the demoted foremen and stir up trouble, but He Dusheng had been prepared for that long ago.

Beforehand, he had secretly sent a sum of money to the Green Gang⁴.

Go cause trouble for Fenglong?

Heh, it was already a blessing if Fenglong didn’t turn around and use the Green Gang to provoke them instead.

And that still wasn’t the end of it.

To celebrate the hundredth day of Fenglong Industries’ young miss,

that damned He Dusheng went completely insane and started discounting cloth.

All cloth was sold at prices reduced by 10%-20%.

At that price, even Japanese cloth couldn’t compete.

A buying frenzy for cloth swept through Shanghai.

It wasn’t just ordinary people buying. Large numbers of out-of-town merchants also came to stock up.

Cloth was the kind of thing that could be stored for a long time, so no one thought they had too much no matter how much they hoarded.

The money in ordinary people’s hands was limited. If they spent it on cloth, they had no money left to buy anything else. Other trades were hit as well.

“This is the advantage of monopoly.” He Dusheng teased the baby as he told Song Xuange about all this. “Right now, by my own power alone, I can rally the strength of an entire industry to fight foreign capital.”

Song Xuange could not help worrying. “Be careful. What if those Japanese get desperate and do something reckless?”

He Dusheng let out a sigh. “It would be great if I could force them that far.”

“How long are you planning to keep up this price-cutting strategy?”

He Dusheng buried his face in the child’s milky-scented little belly and rubbed against it over and over, making the little girl break into peals of laughter.

The little thing had already started recognizing people, and she really liked this one. Every time, he could amuse her for a long while.

He Dusheng found himself smiling along with the child.

“Since this is to celebrate our Little Liuzhi, of course the longer the better.” He reached out and poked the little girl’s smooth cheek again. “From the moment I decided to cut prices, I never planned to restore the original prices.”

The little girl laughed again, and then as she laughed, she spit up milk.

He Dusheng picked the baby up and skillfully used a cotton gauze handkerchief to wipe her face and clothes.

Little Liuzhi stared at him with bright black eyes without blinking, and unlike when Nanny Wen cleaned her up, she showed no resistance or displeasure.

He Dusheng said it casually, but Song Xuange was alarmed.

Everyone, including her, had thought the price war was only temporary.

After settling the little girl back in place, He Dusheng finally stood up and spoke to Song Xuange.

“Don’t worry. Lu Zhu found new machine tools, and the machine parts we’re making are better now. Our factory’s efficiency can support it. Besides, there is all that unsold stock piled up in the warehouses of the spinning mills we acquired. This is a perfect chance to clear it out.”

Then he added cheerfully, “Isn’t it great like this? Everyone in Shanghai is blessing our Little Liuzhi. Today when I went to inspect the cloth shops, I even heard customers saying they hoped our Little Liuzhi would grow up good and obedient, and live to a hundred. That way, maybe if her parents get happy, there’ll be a discount when she grows teeth, another when she learns to walk, another when she learns to talk, and one more every year on her birthday…”

Song Xuange felt happy listening to it too.

The people buying cloth only wanted a bargain.

But what mother would ever think her child was receiving too many blessings?

The two of them kept talking and ignored Little Liuzhi.

The little girl waved her tiny hands in displeasure.

She started fussing and whining, on the verge of tears.

He Dusheng had no choice but to stand by the crib with one arm stretched out, shaking his sleeve. “Little Liuzhi, look, what’s this?”

Sure enough, the little girl was distracted and began grabbing at his sleeve to play with it.

She really was easy to fool.

Song Xuange was speechless.

“Stop teasing her like that. Every time after you leave, it takes forever to soothe her. Who has the time to play with her all day?”

He Dusheng shook his sleeve even more vigorously.

“What’s wrong with that? She lies there by herself all day, how boring is that? Of course someone should keep her company and play with her.”

“Then stop going to work and stay home to play with her.”

Little Liuzhi had no idea how she recognized people.

If it was Song Xuange or He Dusheng playing with her, she would go along nicely and even grace them with a smile.

Just waving a sleeve in front of her like her dad did could keep her happy for quite a while.

But if it was the maids instead, then when she was in a good mood, she’d simply shut her eyes and fall asleep. If she was in a bad mood, she’d start bawling at the top of her lungs.

He Dusheng rubbed his nose and didn’t dare argue.

The two of them really were busy now.

Song Xuange had already gone back to work a month ago.

The Workers’ School was running quite well.

But there were still problems.

Conflicts often broke out between the male and female workers, mostly because the men started trouble and harassed the women.

Even when the men involved were punished or dismissed afterward, the same issues still kept cropping up.

Then there were the workers’ children.

According to the original plan, these children were supposed to be the school’s regular students.

But Lu Changxin, who was helping out at the school, told her that because the school provided free meals, the workers were willing to send their children over and register them.

The problem was that many of the girls only ate in the school cafeteria and didn’t attend class at all.

Cases like this were becoming more and more common.

Sometimes it was obvious that the girls learned much faster than the boys and were more motivated too. Even so, their families would still keep the boys on as apprentices, while the girls were left at home to handle the housework.

This kind of conflict wasn’t something that could be solved with a few rounds of mediation.

Song Xuange decided to open a girls’ school.

Girls who attended school would receive a subsidy.

Translator’s Notes