299: Chapter 299 The Last One

Lin Fang looked at the daughter in her arms and was silent for a long time. "Qin Tian." Her voice was very soft, almost inaudible. "Tian, as in quiet and peaceful."

Wang Xiulan was the eleventh, and also the last.

Wang Xiulan gave birth to a boy.

Seven pounds exactly, his cry was loud and clear, just as cheerful as his mother.

Wang Xiulan held him, her smile so wide she couldn't close her mouth, turning her head to look at Lin Wanwan standing nearby.

"Wanwan, look."

Lin Wanwan, holding Qin Yuan, leaned in for a look and smiled: "Auntie, he's so chubby."

"Being chubby is good; it's healthy." Wang Xiulan gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"What's his name?"

Wang Xiulan thought for a moment and said, "Qin Zheng, Zheng as in expedition. I hope when he grows up, he can travel far to see the ends of the world. Not like me, trapped in one place for a lifetime."

Qin Lin looked at her without speaking.

But he knew that their next journey would surely be the sea of stars.

"What's wrong? Doesn't it sound good?" Wang Xiulan asked.

"No, it sounds very nice."

Wang Xiulan smiled, looking down at Qin Zheng in her arms.

Han Qing walked out of the Medical Room, leaned against the wall, and slowly slid down to sit on the floor.

Her face was full of exhaustion, with dark circles under her eyes, chapped lips, and her hair falling out of its bun onto her shoulders; she looked as if she had been completely drained.

She sat there with her eyes closed, her chest heaving.

Qin Lin walked over and squatted down beside her.

"Aunt Qing."

Han Qing didn't open her eyes, her voice raspy: "Don't call me, let me rest for a while."

Qin Lin didn't say anything else, sitting down next to her and leaning against the wall with her.

The corridor was quiet; the sound of babies crying in the Medical Room gradually subsided, replaced by the low murmurs of everyone talking.

Su Yuran was soothing Qin An, Li Ran was helping Xu Xue tidy the bed, and Su Yuling was carrying hot water in and out.

Han Qing sat for a while, then opened her eyes and turned her head to look at Qin Lin.

"Are they all born?"

"They are all born."

Han Qing let out a breath, a very long one, as if exhaling all the tension, anxiety, and fatigue of the past few months.

Then she slowly stood up, her legs a bit weak; she steadied herself by leaning against the wall.

"I'm going to see the children." She finished and turned to leave.

Qin Lin watched her back; the hem of Han Qing's white coat was wrinkled, her hair was messy, her gait was stiff, and her shoulders were slumped.

She pushed open the Medical Room door and went inside, her voice drifting out: "This swaddle is too thick, change it to a thinner one. This bottle's nipple hole is too big, change it to a smaller size."

Her voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear.

All thirteen children on the The Ark have been born.

[No. 001 Su Yuran: Qin An, boy]

[No. 002 Lin Wanwan: Qin Yuan, girl]

[No. 003 Han Yurou: Qin Yue, girl]

[No. 006 Xu Xue: Qin Xue, girl]

[No. 007 Li Ying: Qin Xu, boy]

[No. 008 Zhou Lingling: Qin Yao, Qin Yang, two boys]

[Zhou Yueyue: Qin Xiaoxing, Qin Xiaoyue, one boy and one girl]

[Xia Qiuyan: Qin Xia, girl]

[Lin Xiaoyue: Qin Yi, boy]

[Lin Fang: Qin Tian, girl]

[Wang Xiulan: Qin Zheng, boy]

Thirteen children: seven boys and six girls.

Cries echoed through the The Ark's corridors, rising and falling from morning until night.

Sometimes Qin Lin stood in the corridor, listening to the babies' cries, the women's voices, the footsteps, and the laughter, feeling that this place didn't seem like an The Ark sailing through the apocalypse, but more like a nursery.

After all the children were born, the The Ark entered another kind of busyness.

It wasn't the tense, imminent busyness of labor, but a trivial, continuous one that came in waves like the tide.

Feeding, changing diapers, soothing to sleep, burping, bathing, massaging—thirteen children, one round every two to three hours, from morning to night, and night to morning.

Once, Qin Lin passed through the living room at two in the morning and saw Su Yuran walking back and forth with Qin An, Su Yuling burping Qin Yuan, Wang Xiulan feeding Qin Yuan, and Han Qing changing Qin Xue's diaper.

Four people, four infants, busy under the dim light; no one spoke, but they coordinated like a well-trained team.

"Why are you up?" Su Yuran asked softly when she saw Qin Lin.

"I couldn't sleep; I heard crying." Qin Lin walked over. "Need help?"

Su Yuran glanced at him, the corners of her mouth curling up: "What can you help with? You don't have milk anyway."

Qin Lin was speechless.

Su Yuling laughed nearby: "Brother Qin Lin can change diapers; he's very good at it."

Su Yuran looked at her with a half-smile: "How do you know he's good at it?"

Su Yuling was stunned for a moment, her face turning slightly red; she didn't answer and lowered her head to continue burping Qin Yuan.

Qin Lin pretended not to hear the conversation and walked over to help change a diaper.

The mothers' bodies recovered very quickly.

The The Ark's Physique Enhancement System certainly didn't disappoint in this regard.

Su Yuran returned to normal less than two weeks after giving birth to Qin An, and so did Lin Wanwan, Han Yurou, Xu Xue, Li Ying, Zhou Lingling, and Zhou Yueyue.

The effect of the double blessing was indeed powerful; Zhou Lingling could get out of bed and walk around two days after giving birth to twins, and so could Zhou Yueyue.

The children also grew very quickly.

By the time Qin An was a month old, he had grown to over eight pounds; his face was no longer wrinkled, his skin was no longer red, but fair and tender, and his features increasingly resembled Su Yuran's.

Han Yurou said he was the most beautiful child on the The Ark.

Lin Wanwan held Qin Yuan and said, "Our Qin Yuan is the most beautiful." Li Ying held Qin Xu and said, "You guys keep arguing; my son is the most handsome."

No one could win an argument with Li Ying because her tone was so certain, as if it were a fact that required no discussion.

Han Qing performed a comprehensive check-up on every child—height, weight, cardiopulmonary function, nervous System—testing and recording them one by one.

She compiled all the data into a table. It was all green, all normal.

The The Ark's Health Management System and Passenger Physique Enhancement System played their greatest roles during these few months.

The mothers recovered quickly, and the children were generally healthy, with no premature births, low birth weights, or any complications.

When Han Qing handed the table to Qin Lin, the corners of her mouth were turned up, but her eyes were red.

Qin Lin looked at her: "Aunt Qing, you've lost weight."

She indeed had; over the past few months, she had hardly had a full night's sleep, spending every day either in the Medical Room or on her way there.

With eleven mothers and thirteen newborns, almost all medical records, health monitoring, and deliveries were handled by her alone.

Li Ran and Su Yuling helped a lot, and Han Qing said with a smile that without them, she might have truly died of exhaustion, but no one could do the core medical work for her.

Qin Lin looked at her, an indescribable feeling welling up in his heart.