Lu Jiande squatted outside the operating room. He had been there for one hour, thirty-eight minutes, and twenty-one seconds… twenty-two, twenty-three seconds.
During this time, he sat, lay, and squatted in various positions, and even chatted for a while with an older brother from Northeast Province.
His wife had only been inside for half an hour, but the older brother's face was already as haggard as a ghost.
Until now, they had suddenly fallen silent, both dead tired but forcing themselves to stay awake.
The hospital corridor floor was made of gray-green tiles, reflecting dim lights, giving it a damp texture that reminded Lu Jiande of dirty puddles by the roadside.
Besides him and the Northeastern man, there were only three cleaning robots wandering around, looking like dirty, clumsy, silver-gray disks.
Why are cleaning tools often not so clean themselves? Lu Jiande began to let his mind wander.
Last night, Sun Hui had contractions and couldn't sleep, so Lu Jiande stayed with her the whole time, not closing his eyes.
She entered the operating room at four in the morning.
Lu Jiande had done his homework and knew that the second stage of labor usually meant delivery in about one to two hours.
He had now waited for… Lu Jiande raised his phone, one hour, forty-one minutes, and eight, nine…
Lu Jiande fell asleep.
In a daze, he saw a field of rapeseed flowers, with the distant, rolling Jiangnan hills a beautiful dark green.
A gentle breeze carried the scent of earth and plants, so soft it could melt one's heart.
Sun Hui pushed aside waist-high cogongrass, wearing a camisole and holding a chubby little boy, like a white kangaroo.
She put the child on the ground, and he stumbled towards Lu Jiande, calling "Daddy."
Lu Jiande squatted down, intending to pick up his son, and then saw this tiny person execute a daring leap, followed by a mid-air side-body rotation of seven hundred and twenty degrees, landing a powerful side-kick on Lu Jiande's face, which was oily from staying up all night.
Lu Jiande, lying on the bench, jolted, rolled over, and fell to the ground, crying out, "Ow!"
Opening his eyes, the LED lights on the ceiling were blindingly bright.
Then, he remembered there was a replica of Van Gogh's Sunflower on the wall, supposedly to make patients feel pleasant and aid recovery by looking at warm paintings… wait, the painting was blocked, a stretcher, the woman on the green sheet looked a bit familiar…
"Get up quickly, don't be embarrassing," Sun Hui was so annoyed she wanted to stuff her son back into her belly.
The doctors and nurses nearby chuckled.
Lu Jiande scratched his head, some drooling sounds escaping his throat.
He sat up, his mind still not very clear, "You've given birth?"
"Yes, and you're dead meat," Sun Hui pouted, lay back on the stretcher bed, and closed her eyes, seeking some peace.
His survival instinct forced Lu Jiande to squeeze out a smile, and a middle-aged, balding male obstetrician revealed an understanding and sympathetic expression.
"I just dreamed the little guy could run, and he even kicked me."
"Consider that kick from my son as a kick from me."
Lu Jiande didn't retort, taking the swaddled baby from the nurse.
Cradled in soft white cotton towels was a tiny, wrinkled human infant.
Lu Jiande recalled his junior high biology class, where the teacher used his holographic PPT to display the human evolution chart.
Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Mammalia, some subclass, Primates, some suborder, uh, Hominidae, Homininae, Homo, Homo sapiens.
From those ancient, primitive forms to today's coordination and diversity, from natural evolution to acquired adaptation, and then to genetic modification, step by step to today, it all starts with such small infants.
They are hope, they are wonderful Easter eggs.
A sense of honorable mission to propagate the species suddenly surged into his heart, and Lu Jiande smiled very mysteriously, making Sun Hui speechless once again.
Lu Jiande was good in every way, except his thoughts were not quite like normal people's.
Sun Hui, despite her anger, eventually started to laugh.
Modern people are good in every way, except they lack a certain foolishness; everyone lives very shrewdly.
It was precisely Lu Jiande's natural simplicity that Sun Hui found attractive.
The nurse reminded the couple to settle their scores back in the ward.
Lu Jiande, nervously holding the baby, followed behind the stretcher.
At the end of the corridor, the morning sunlight streamed in through the window, reflecting on the gray-green floor in a kumquat color, like a vast field of rapeseed flowers.
…
Lu Jiande brought his wife and child home, opened his notifications, and his phone's operating system, ROS, alerted him to sixty-one unread emails.
Most were congratulatory messages for the new arrival, but there was also a reminder from HR that his leave was ending.
Lu Jiande and Sun Hui initiated a holographic video call.
With both families combined, including direct relatives within three generations, there were seventy-three people.
Excluding the thirty or so younger ones, everyone began discussing the child's name.
It was fine for this son to take either his father's or mother's surname; society no longer emphasized such things.
The focus of the discussion was on the name's meaning and pronunciation.
Sun Xu-ying, Sun Hui's second maternal grandaunt, took the lead, "Call him Sun Zhi.
This name is good.
Nowadays, people need to make a living, and other things are hard to say, but you must rely on your brain.
Call him Sun Zhi, and in the future, he'll achieve great things, become a postdoctoral fellow, and develop in the National Science Department.
Then he'll be a Level Five Social Credit holder!
The country will give him a house and a car, and his life will be so carefree, who knows how wonderful!"
The second maternal grandaunt's words were in a soft Wu dialect, full of spirit, making one recall the bustling Shanghai nightlife just by listening to her speak.
"No, it sounds like 'grandson,' absolutely not!"
The second maternal granduncle immediately rejected it.
The old couple began to argue again, and the others, accustomed to it, continued to offer suggestions.
Lu Tingchu, Lu Jiande's paternal uncle, raised his hand, "How about Lu Puxuan?
Pu from 'universal,' Xuan from 'greeting.'
Pu means from sun and together, near and far are the same.
Xuan means elegant and honorable, bringing glory to the family.
One is dark, the other is bright…"
He was an elder and highly respected, carrying significant weight with his words.
In the cradle in the corner of the projection room, Simon looked at the virtual screen before him.
"As a new life, you can choose a nice name for yourself:"
Simon entered his name from his previous life, then looked at the confirm option.
The option lit up, and Simon said "confirm" in his heart, after which the name field disappeared.
"Naming successful, dear Simon user, welcome to the chinese parents system.
This will be your life, and the system will provide you with certain conveniences, but it will not interfere with any of your decisions.
Please use it with confidence."
After the text on the virtual screen finished displaying, it automatically vanished.
Simon blinked, feeling a little sleepy, then drifted off to sleep.
At this moment, Lu Jiande's eldest paternal cousin gently caressed his smooth, round bald head, "Dad, if you ask me, how about Zhengkang?"
"Zhengkang?" Everyone was puzzled, "Is there any special meaning?"
The eldest paternal cousin's pale head flushed red, "Uh, it sounds nice.
Oh, my Chinese Language isn't good, but a child's health is most important, right?
Call him Zhengkang, proper and healthy, how good is that!"
The paternal uncle's gaze was fixed on his son, making the eldest paternal cousin feel a tingling sensation all over.
"No, not good? Or perhaps you should name him?"
Lu Tingchu snorted, seemingly smiling, or perhaps angry at his foolish son, "Alright, it's quite good.
Let's call him Simon.
What about you all? If you have any opinions, bring them up."
"None."
"Probably none."
"We'll all listen to you."
Lu Jiande and Sun Hui secretly exchanged glances.
Lu: Weren't you going to name our son yourself?
Sun: How dare I? That's your paternal uncle!
Lu: Oh.
Sun (coldly): Idiot!
Lu:????
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