Chapter 011

011  

Li Xiuneng was already as jumpy as a startled bird, his face turning even paler. “Wh-what’s wrong, doctor?”  

“Don’t move, don’t panic. Just relax—inhale, hold it—Comrade, wait a moment. I’ll go get my supervisor.”  

Li Xiuneng felt utterly rattled. What? They needed to call for backup?  

Could this really be something serious? Was his life actually in danger? But he was only twenty-one, just starting his career. He hadn’t even gotten married yet, hadn’t properly repaid his parents for raising him, hadn’t…  

So when Qin Zhenhua, the head of the imaging department, entered the room, he saw a young man lying there with his belly exposed, his face deathly pale and trembling like a leaf.  

“Don’t panic yet. Let me take a look. I heard from Xiao Liu that you originally came to the hospital because of blurred vision. Why did you decide to get a liver ultrasound?” Qin Zhenhua wasn’t just making small talk—he wanted to distract the young man, ease his tension, and also get a better understanding of his medical history to aid in diagnosis.  

Li Xiuneng, still trembling, repeated what Qingyin had told him, especially the part about the liver hemangioma—six centimeters in size.  

Qin Zhenhua frowned at first. Anyone with medical training knew—what did a hemangioma have to do with the eyes? How could dry eyes and blurred vision lead someone to deduce a hemangioma? What kind of quack could diagnose a tumor just by taking a pulse, even pinpointing its size? Might as well set up a fortune-telling stall and make money faster!  

But as he examined the scans, his frown deepened—there was indeed a hemangioma on the patient’s left hepatic lobe.  

When he measured it, his brows knitted so tightly they could crush a fly—how was the diameter exactly six centimeters?  

No, he must have measured wrong. He changed the method and angle, measured again—still six centimeters.  

Measured once more…  

Ten minutes later, Qin Zhenhua stared at Li Xiuneng’s abdomen, then back at the screen. “Mind if I palpate it?”  

He suspected the so-called “fortune-teller” must have felt it during a physical exam. Some experienced doctors could roughly detect such things through palpation. But no matter how he pressed, he couldn’t feel it. The hemangioma was in an unusually tricky spot—undetectable by touch. If not for the imaging, he wouldn’t have believed it was there.  

“Your condition is most likely a hemangioma, and it is indeed six centimeters in diameter. Anything over five centimeters requires surgical consideration. I’ll personally escort you to the surgical department. But could you tell me—who was the person who diagnosed you by pulse?”  

By now, Li Xiuneng had moved past his initial terror. With the diagnosis confirmed, he actually felt calmer. So he gave Qingyin’s name.  

When Qin Zhenhua heard it was an eighteen-year-old high school girl, he simply grunted, dismissing it outright. He refused to believe it!  

She must’ve just gotten lucky—a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse.  

***  

Meanwhile, the staff carefully escorted Li Xiuneng to the surgical department, contacted his family, and arranged his hospitalization. Preparations began for further tests and surgery to remove the tumor. Qingyin, of course, knew nothing of this. She had finally received notice from the personnel department—her paperwork was complete, and she could start work.  

On Monday morning, Qingyin woke up early, grabbed her washbasin, and headed to the courtyard to fetch water for her morning routine.  

Though some alleys already had running water, Apricot Blossom Alley wasn’t one of them. The entire compound shared a single well, and the working young folks had to get up early to avoid the queue.

It was obvious that Qingyin had overslept. By the time she came out, many people were already lining up with washbasins in hand. But everyone moved quickly—swaying and shaking—as one bucket of water could serve three people. After fetching water, they would squat aside to wash up, making room for the next person.

“Oh, Qingyin, you’re up so early today?”

“Got work.”

Since they were all around the same age, they chattered away, asking if she was heading to the clinic and begging her to go easy on them if they ever needed injections. Everyone assumed she was going to be a nurse.

It was true that the Qing family had a long tradition in Traditional Chinese Medicine, but she didn’t seem like an old-school TCM practitioner.

Qingyin didn’t bother explaining. She filled her cup and squatted to brush her teeth.

“Sister Hongxing, why are you up so early? If you don’t have work, you should sleep in.” This was Qing Huihui, who had set aside a bucket of water for the Liu family while pointedly ignoring Little Aunt.

Liu Hongxing, her mouth full of toothpaste foam, didn’t respond, but her expression was far from friendly—especially when she rolled her eyes in Qingyin’s direction.

“Hey, Sister Hongxing, why are your eyes swollen? Did you cry last night?”

Qingyin nearly spat out her toothpaste. Qing Huihui really had a knack for touching the sorest spot.

Even someone like her, who was often out and about, knew that the Liu family had found a match for Liu Hongxing. They’d already met and were about to get married.

“Hongxing’s getting married soon. It’s only natural she’s sad about leaving home. You’ll understand when it’s your turn, Huihui. I cried for days before my wedding.”

Qing Huihui blushed and scanned the crowd of male comrades.

Unfortunately, Liu Zhiqiang didn’t even glance back. Outside, he always kept his distance, never getting too close to any female comrade, which earned him a sterling reputation in the compound—a pure, virtuous, untouched bachelor.

Qingyin was amused by the drama, cheeks puffed as she pondered how things would unfold.

In the original novel, after Liu Hongxing snatched her job, she went to the clinic but couldn’t do anything. Even after years, she couldn’t master the most basic injections, working haphazardly yet collecting her salary without a shred of guilt.

But with a stable, respectable job, she was a hot commodity in the marriage market. She landed a match with a local official, and their life was sweet as honey. Later, her husband climbed the ranks—from the neighborhood office to the district, then the city, and eventually, with help from Liu Zhiqiang and Liu Hongmei, even reached the provincial level.

Speaking of which, Liu Zhiqiang’s success wasn’t just due to his cunning and resourcefulness. His three sisters and their spouses played a huge role. Once he made money, he repaid them, helping them reach their own peaks.

In the novel, it was a tale of siblings lifting each other up. But for Qingyin, the scapegoat, it was a web of nepotism that trapped her in an inescapable fate.

Now that Liu Hongxing’s stolen happiness was gone, Qingyin was curious to see what kind of match she’d find and how the Liu siblings would “lift each other up.”

After washing up, she had a quick breakfast with Qing Huihui—just a bowl of coarse corn porridge. As Lin Suifen put it, times were tough, and they couldn’t maintain their old standard of living.

Qingyin didn’t mind. In her past life, she’d have had to pay extra for whole grains.

After finishing her meal, Qing Huihui didn’t wait for her and followed Liu Zhiqiang out. Qingyin first straightened her clothes and tied her hair into two braids hanging over her shoulders. The original owner had thin wispy bangs that made her look harmless, but Qingyin didn’t like them, so she pinned them up with small black clips, revealing her smooth, full forehead, which instantly made her appear more mature.

Her eyes, which had always looked timid like a little white rabbit’s, she deliberately practiced not letting the corners droop.  

She wanted to appear more intimidating, preferably like Gu’s Mother, but her features just didn’t allow for it. Any attempt ended up looking comical, like a child pretending to be an adult.  

The Shucheng Steel Factory wasn’t far. Turning right out of Apricot Blossom Alley and walking down the main road, one could soon see two towering chimneys. Past the large iron gate was the factory area. At a leisurely pace, it took only fifteen minutes. If she walked at her usual brisk speed from her past life, she could make it in just seven or eight minutes.  

Inside the gate, to the left on a small upwind slope was the residential area and the small Western-style houses where the leaders lived, surrounded by flowers and birdsong. To the right was the production area, where the chimneys stood. With such a large factory nearby, the air quality wasn’t great, but fortunately, Apricot Blossom Alley was a bit farther away and upwind year-round, or prolonged exposure would have caused health issues.  

Straight ahead was a tarred road wide enough for two trucks. The clinic was located in the office area of a five-story building, with the factory warehouses further back.  

Qingyin walked straight to a door on the first floor labeled “Clinic” and knocked lightly twice. A middle-aged woman with deep nasolabial folds, a cold gaze, and short hair looked up.  

Qingyin smiled. “Hello, I’m here to report for duty.”  

The woman didn’t speak, sizing her up for a few seconds before adjusting her glasses. “You’re Dr. Qing’s sister?”  

The woman was Lin Li, head of the clinic. Originally a battlefield medic, she had been assigned to the steel factory clinic after liberation and worked alongside Qingyang to manage the entire clinic. They should have shared a deep camaraderie.  

But her icy, standoffish attitude made Qingyin suspect either she and Qingyang didn’t get along or she simply disliked Qingyin.  

In the original owner’s memories, she had only visited the clinic a few times and had little interaction with Lin Li, so there shouldn’t have been any conflict.  

Keeping her thoughts to herself, Qingyin remained polite. “Yes, I’m Qingyin. I’m ten—”  

Lin Li cut her off coldly. “Let me brief you first. Currently, the clinic has only one doctor—me—and three nurses: Xiao Zhang, Xiao Yang, and Xiao Li. You’ll get to know them gradually. The workplace is a collective, very different from home.”  

“This building is the office block. All the rooms on the first floor belong to our clinic. For now, you’ll share a room with Xiao Zhang and the others. Mind your relationships with colleagues—this isn’t home.”  

She emphasized “this isn’t home” twice. In a flash, Qingyin remembered something—Lin Suifen had a cousin who, according to family gossip, worked at some clinic.  

Looking again, there was indeed a slight resemblance between the two.

However, Qingyin wasn’t intimidated. Although there were unwritten rules in the healthcare industry, this era still largely valued competence. As long as she abided by the law and operated reasonably and compliantly, even if Lin Suifen was in cahoots with her, they couldn’t truly do anything to her.

Thinking this, Qingyin smiled even more sweetly: “Yes, leader.”

“And from now on, don’t call me ‘leader.’ You can just call me by my name,” Lin Li frowned.

Qingyin then said, “Yes, Director Lin.” Since you don’t like it, then everything will be strictly professional from now on.

At the same time, she was curious about how others in the clinic addressed Lin Li—was she the only one being singled out, or was Lin Li indiscriminately hostile to everyone?

But when she arrived at the nurses’ office, she was in for an eye-opener—

The nurse knitting a sweater, surnamed Zhang, called Lin Li “sister-in-law.”

The one sprawled on the desk reading a Soviet novel, crying her eyes out and deeply moved, surnamed Li, referred to Lin Li as “second sister.”

The empty seat by the window, whose occupant had once again gone out to a matchmaking social event, belonged to someone surnamed Yang—Lin Li’s cousin.

Qingyin: Great, just great. So I’m the only outsider in the whole unit, huh?