"Thank you, big sister," Ji Xinghuo accepted the gift.
He looked at Ye Dongyun, haggard from travel. She appeared capable but deep in her eyes lay an almost imperceptible exhaustion.
Thus, he expressed his concern, "Big sister, you need to rest more. Don't overwork yourself and ruin your health."
"Indeed," Zhong Ming nodded. "Big sister, don't push yourself too hard."
Ye Dongyun sat down and took a sip of water, sighing, "There's no helping it. The pressure on civil servants is increasing, and the competition is nearly as fierce as competing with mutants. If I don't do it, countless others are willing. If I relax even slightly, I'll quickly be replaced."
"Still, you shouldn't ruin your health over it; it's not worth it," Liangqiu Feiyan said anxiously.
"Don't worry," Ye Dongyun rubbed her hair. "I'm planning to carve out an hour every day recently to get back into my fitness routine."
Ji Xinghuo nodded, "That's good."
He was about to say that exercise is always beneficial, but Ye Dongyun's next words were, "Once I get in shape, I'll severely beat my colleagues at work, wipe them out!"
Everyone was speechless.
"All right, let's not talk about me anymore."
Ye Dongyun clapped her hands, assuming the role of the eldest sister, "Today is Xinghuo's birthday, and it's rare for us to be all together after reaching adulthood; let's be happy!" With that, she gestured to the server to bring the dishes, bustling about like she used to at home.
Delicious dishes were brought to the table, and drinks and wines were opened.
"Let everyone fill their glasses."
Ye Dongyun raised her glass, prompting everyone around the table to stand, and she said with a smile, "For the first toast, we wish Xinghuo a happy birthday!"
The atmosphere in the private room was both warm and lively.
The siblings ate delicious food, shared fun stories and jokes, laughing constantly, temporarily forgetting all their troubles.
Ji Xinghuo was in a very good mood, looking at them, he thought this is my family.
Even though they were siblings with different fathers and mothers, there was no difference from blood-related relatives, and legally, they were recognized as relatives.
Because they were a public family.
By the mid-1960s, the signing of the Ivangrad Treaty by four nations declared the end of the "Fourth World War," and global geopolitical structure gradually stabilized.
By then, the Asia-Pacific Community, a powerful nation, had been established for nearly twenty years, with a peaceful domestic environment, rapid technological advancements, and happy population. But gradually, a problem emerged.
Whether among the wealthy or ordinary citizens, nobody wanted to have children anymore.
It seemed like a self-imposed curse of humanity.
Since the onset of industrialization centuries earlier, regardless of the country or race, the more developed and civilized it became, the more inevitable was the decline in birth rate.
And once this decline began, it was irreversible.
No matter what policies or measures the government introduced, the decline in birth rate could only be slowed, never reversed.
In 2033, the opening of the Star Gate temporarily solved this fertility dilemma, as global turmoil ensued, and humanity faced an extinction crisis and two world wars lasting over a century.
During the war period, government methods were naturally less gentle than in peace time; to win a war, first and foremost, there had to be people.
More people might not secure victory, but fewer people ensured defeat!
For this reason, governments of various countries mobilized resources and enacted compulsory laws, supplemented by reproductive technology, to radically increase the population.
When humanity was in suffering, they became willing to reproduce once more.
This lasted for over a century.
After the war, governments once again faced the problem of declining birth rates.
However, in comparison to the difficulties of the early 21st century, the 22nd century already had means to address the issue. The biggest obstacle was no longer the biological process, but ethical and moral controversies.
Countries around the world offered differing solutions.
In the early 2070s, the Asian Communist Government proposed a vast and comprehensive "Continuation Plan," designating it as one of the nation's most critical policies, investing a staggering amount of financial and resources into it.
The Continuation Plan was divided into two parts.
The first part was "Birth."
According to the national policy requirements and population changes, a certain number of babies were cultivated every year and every month, using artificial womb technology.
All these babies were legal citizens, their political rights completely consistent with those of babies born in normal families, referred to as "public children." It was legislated that public children could not seek out their biological parents, and if they accidentally met, they had no legal family relationship.
The second part was "Nurture."
From birth, public children were raised by the government, divided into four age stages: 0-2 years were the infancy stage, 2-6 years were the toddler stage, 6-12 years were the childhood stage, 12-18 years were the adolescence stage.
Public children of the same age group made up a public family, consisting of four to six individuals.
Each stage of a public family had at least three "career parents" to take care of them, taking on the responsibility of both upbringing and education. This position was called "Nurturing Father, Nurturing Mother."
Nurturing Fathers and Mothers were professional custodians, requiring multiple rounds of assessments to qualify.
Of course, their salaries were extremely high.
To this day, it remains one of the best-paying jobs with the most benefits, and these professionals possess more political rights than ordinary citizens, with a social status at the forefront of the nation.
The younger the children in a public family, the greater the number of Nurturing Fathers and Mothers.
Infancy saw the highest numbers, generally one to two more caregivers than the infants themselves. As the children grew and became able to take care of themselves, the Public Families would rotate new foster parents at each stage, and the number of parents gradually reduced to two.
By the age of eighteen, the foster parents would resign.
At the same time, they also lost guardianship and no longer had any familial relationship with the public children.
To ensure the physical and psychological health of public children, psychological evaluations were conducted nearly every month, along with high-frequency random checks. Cameras with no dead angles were installed in homes, monitoring every move within the Public Family.
Unqualified foster parents were immediately stripped of their qualifications, and those who committed serious offenses were sent to court and given heavy sentences.
There were also a series of laws and regulations related to Public Families, covering all bases.
The "Continuation Plan" initially started as a trial.
By the 1990s, the first batch of public children entered the workforce and made many contributions to society and the nation, just like children from natural families, all being intellectually normal, psychologically healthy citizens.
The Continuation Plan was a great success, and years of investment paid off.
The Asian Communist Government immediately expanded the scope of the plan, and by the 23rd century, they had finally resolved the population issue!
To date, the population of the Asia-Pacific Community has reached 5.6 billion.
Among them, public children accounted for 20%, and the government adjusted the Continuation Plan based on finance and resources, with the population increasing annually.
Ji Xinghuo and his four siblings were all public children.
But he was slightly different.
Ji Xinghuo was not cultivated in an artificial womb; he was born naturally. However, his parents lost their guardianship and handed him over to the government for upbringing.
There were quite a few people like Ji Xinghuo.
In the 1990s, the success of the Continuation Plan relieved the Asian Communist Government, but it also led to a negative consequence—more people were reluctant to have children.
There was another factor.
At the founding of the Asia-Pacific Community, legislation was enacted to prohibit abortion. A couple must pass a test on how to become qualified parents to obtain "guardianship." These two contradictory laws were also a major reason for the decline in birth rates.
Thus, many parents who had unplanned pregnancies and failed the test were stripped of their guardianship.
Some couples also voluntarily gave up their guardianship, leaving their children to the government.
Commonly known as managing birth but not upbringing.
Children who left their biological families were included in the Continuation Plan and were also considered public children, generally called "foster children."
Ji Xinghuo was a foster child, which he found out when he was eighteen.
By law, foster children, upon reaching the age of 22 and graduating from university, if psychologically mature, could get the opportunity to contact their biological parents.
After making contact, if both parties agreed, they could reestablish legal familial relations and return to their biological families.
Therefore, this birthday was of significant importance to Ji Xinghuo.
He was about to face a major life decision.
His siblings at home also knew this, and today they all set aside their affairs, gathered together to celebrate Ji Xinghuo's birthday and stay by his side.
Ji Xinghuo received numerous messages of blessings from close classmates and friends.
The birthday banquet was halfway through.
His former foster parents also made a video call—those from his teenage years, childhood, and infancy, up to seven or eight, all former parents who had cared for and educated this public family. Seeing all five siblings together made them very happy, and they sent their birthday wishes to Ji Xinghuo.
Only the foster parents from his teenage years knew Ji Xinghuo was a foster child. After they left this family, they each entered another public family, taking on new responsibilities.
Being professional parents was a very busy job with not much time for rest.
They also had their own families and children.
During his university years, Ji Xinghuo had met his foster parents only two or three times. Although they kept in occasional contact, as his mind matured, his feelings for them inevitably faded somewhat.
Whenever there was something to discuss, he also consulted with his siblings.
At ten o'clock in the evening.
The restaurant delivered a bowl of longevity noodles and a big cake. The siblings gathered to sing a birthday song for Ji Xinghuo and then lit the candles on the cake.
"Third brother, make a wish!" Liangqiu Feiyan shouted loudly.
Ji Xinghuo stood in the middle, smiling, "I've made a wish every year, and not once has it come true. Let's skip it this year, shall we?"
"How can that be!" Liangqiu Feiyan aimed the floating camera at Ji Xinghuo, "This is a tradition of hundreds of years—eating longevity noodles and cake on your birthday and making a wish. Today is such an important day, you need to take it seriously. Maybe it'll come true this time?"
Ye Dongyun also laughed, "Xinghuo, just do as Feifei says, don't delay."
Ji Xinghuo could only agree.
Wang Zizhen turned off the lights in the private room, and the whole room suddenly darkened.
Zhong Ming said, "Make a wish."
Ji Xinghuo stood in front of the cake. Even in the darkness, he could see clearly, his gaze sweeping over his siblings' faces before settling on the window outside.
Endless Tower soared into the clouds.
At that moment, looking outside, the world was divided into two parts: below was a brightly lit, skyscraper-filled supercity; as he lifted his gaze, a spectacular galaxy hung in the night sky, billions of stars adorning the heavens, dazzling and mesmerizing.
Ji Xinghuo closed his eyes, thinking, "May my family be safe and healthy, happy and prosperous, and may everyone achieve their career aspirations; may I reach the peak of life's evolution, experience the grandeur of the Galaxy, explore the extraordinary scenes of the Star Realm, and live a life well-lived!"
After making his wish, he gently blew out the candles.