Chapter 3

Even after confirming the era she was in, Xu Wanchun didn’t feel much relief.

According to history, after Liberation there was no more chaos of war, and ordinary people’s lives became relatively stable.

The remaining bandits would also be completely eliminated within a few years.

But… life right now was really poor.

There were still twenty-eight years to go before the Reform and Opening Up. Just thinking about it made her feel suffocated.

Suddenly, remembering something, Xu Wanchun quickly turned to look at her adoptive mother, who was holding her hand. She opened her mouth several times, but still couldn’t bring herself to call out “Mother.”

Xu Hehua only thought the little girl was too tired to walk. She bent down and scooped her up in her arms.

Xu Wanchun simply skipped the form of address and asked directly:

“How much land… do we have?”

“Two mu.” After answering, Xu Hehua realized what the child had asked. She stroked her daughter’s now bare little head and smiled reassuringly:

“Don’t worry, I can afford to raise you.”

“Are we registered as poor peasants?” Xu Wanchun asked again. Her adoptive mother’s three brick-tile houses stood out far too much among the rows of mud-and-straw huts.

Xu Hehua nodded: “Yes, poor peasants… Did you remember something?”

Xu Wanchun’s breathing faltered for a moment. She rubbed her prickly little scalp and played dumb:

“I don’t know. It just suddenly popped into my head.”

Xu Hehua had only asked casually. Seeing her daughter in good spirits, she didn’t press further. Instead, she reassured her again:

“Two mu isn’t much, but our land here is fertile, so the harvest is good. After paying the grain tax, if we’re frugal, it’ll be enough for the two of us to eat. I also raise chickens, weave cloth, and grow some sorghum behind the house—we’ll manage. And if I have time, I can raise a pig too. That way, we’ll have meat for the year.”

But… that would be such a hard life.

Xu Wanchun had only been worried about their class status, but hearing this whole explanation made her heart ache. She couldn’t help but voice the doubt pressing on her chest:

“Why… why did you adopt me? Wouldn’t it be easier for you to live alone? Especially when… we’re not even related by blood.”

“What’s the point of asking why? Around here, it’s nothing rare for families to take in abandoned children.”

Of course, what Xu Hehua didn’t say was that she had always felt this child was guided to her by the gods. Some time ago, when she was cleaning the local Earth God Temple, although she hadn’t spoken her wish out loud, in her heart she had longed for a child.

And then suddenly—she had picked one up.

To gain a daughter without needing to marry, and even finding her by Tiedan’s grave—it felt like destiny. Naturally, she was happy to accept it.

As for why she never said it aloud—well, such precious fortune couldn’t be carelessly spoken of.

Xu Wanchun didn’t know her adoptive mother’s private thoughts. She completely believed her explanation.

After all, people of this era were generally simple and kind. And history itself had examples, such as the famous case of the “Three Thousand Orphans sent to Inner Mongolia” who were taken in by others.

So being adopted didn’t really seem strange at all.

Before, it had only been her modern mindset that made her doubt…

Back at home.

The setting sun had already hidden its head in the west.

Cooking smoke was rising from the neighbors’ homes.

Xu Hehua dared not waste time. She set the child down and immediately busied herself with chores.

After her parents passed away, Xu Wanchun had learned to cook, but she had never used a clay stove before.

So when her adoptive mother shooed her off to play in the courtyard, she didn’t listen. Instead, she sat upright on a little stool, staring intently as the woman lit the fire and cooked.

Dinner was made from what was left over from the morning: cornmeal porridge, two steamed cornbread buns, and a small dish of pickled vegetables.

Xu Wanchun, being weak and sickly, ate much finer food—besides polished rice porridge, there were also two eggs steamed with sesame oil.

As the food was placed on the table, Xu Hehua said while eating:

“It’s too late today. Tomorrow I’ll steam a few white-flour buns. Doctor Cao said you can eat those.”

This body’s condition was indeed terrible. When her hair was shaved earlier, Xu Wanchun had looked in the mirror.

Skin and bones, her features distorted, she looked no better than someone in the late stages of anorexia.

Though her real age was eight, she looked at most five.

She needed fine food and nourishment for several years to make up for the deficit.

Since it concerned her own health, Xu Wanchun had no way to refuse.

“Thank you. I’ll work hard too,” she said. In truth, she wanted to say she’d work hard to earn money, but with this frail little body, talking about making money sounded like pure bragging.

Xu Hehua pushed the untouched egg custard closer to her daughter’s side.

“No need to rush into work. Get healthy first.”

“Alright.” Xu Wanchun wasn’t used to eating everything by herself. She scooped half of the egg custard into her adoptive mother’s bowl before burying her head in her own meal.

That made Xu Hehua so delighted that she kept praising her daughter as a good girl.

Xu Wanchun felt both amused and embarrassed. After all, she was the one being fed for free.

Thanks to one small bowl of egg custard, the newly formed mother and daughter warmed up to each other a lot.

They were just discussing whether they should sleep together or separately that night when a voice calling at the gate came from outside the courtyard.

Xu Wanchun instinctively put down her bowl and got up to open the door.

“You keep eating, I’ll go.” Xu Hehua pressed her daughter back into her stool. Once the child sat down again, she quickly left the kitchen.

Seeing this, Xu Wanchun simply put down her chopsticks, deciding to wait until her adoptive mother returned before eating more.

Xu Hehua was back very quickly—only a minute or two later.

She first placed a small stack of clothes she carried into a clean winnowing basket, then sat back down at the table, picked up her bamboo chopsticks, and explained while eating:

“Sister-in-law Su brought over some clothes her son wore when he was little, for you.”

“So many?” Hand-me-downs from relatives or neighbors were normal. Xu Wanchun had no problem accepting them. After asking, she curiously followed up: “Who is Sister-in-law Su?”

Xu Hehua said, “Her family’s conditions are good. They only have one boy, so of course they have lots of clothes… Oh, right, you should call her Auntie Su. She’s Doctor Cao’s wife.”

“…Tomorrow, I’ll take you to thank her,” Xu Hehua said.

“Of course,” Xu Wanchun agreed readily, then asked, “Is Doctor Cao really skilled?”

“He’s amazing! Don’t look at him being only in his thirties—many important figures specially seek him out for treatment…” Xu Hehua said. Then she dragged her stool closer to her daughter and lowered her voice: “I heard from Grandpa Tun that the Cao family’s ancestors even treated the emperor himself. Otherwise, how could an outsider have such high prestige in our village?”

Xu Wanchun also whispered in return: “So Doctor Cao isn’t from around here?”

Xu Hehua: “No, he came over from Shandong more than ten years ago.”

Now was 1950. More than ten years ago had been the peak of the Northeast Migration. After sorting this out in her mind, Xu Wanchun asked more questions.

Thus, dinner ended amidst their back-and-forth chatter.

After the meal, the last trace of the sunset disappeared from the horizon.

Mother and daughter bathed together in the twilight.

Xu Wanchun insisted she could wash herself.

But a small child had no say. With her thin, reed-like limbs, she had no strength to resist her adoptive mother’s grasp. Xu Hehua simply lifted her up and scrubbed her down from head to toe.

Born and raised in the South, Doctor Xu had never experienced such a scene before. She wanted nothing more than to dig a hole and crawl inside.

She could only keep consoling herself… I’ll get used to it, I’ll get used to it.

Yet once she slipped into the smooth, warm bedding and rolled around comfortably twice, all her shame and awkwardness completely vanished…

=

With so many worries weighing on her heart, Xu Wanchun thought she wouldn’t be able to sleep.

Unexpectedly… she fell asleep instantly.

When she opened her eyes again, it was already broad daylight.

She stared blankly at the reed roof above her head for a long while before finally accepting reality. She lifted the quilt, got dressed, and got out of bed.

Pushing open the bedroom door, she looked around inside and outside the house, and when she was sure no one was there, she headed into the kitchen.

There was warm porridge in the pot, along with the white steamed buns her adoptive mother had promised the night before, and another boiled egg.

This meal wouldn’t even count as bad in later times.

Xu Wanchun sighed softly. While she ate breakfast quickly, she was also secretly working out ways to make money.

After finishing her meal and washing the dishes, she planned to sweep the courtyard and do what little she could.

But to her surprise, the house inside and out—even the donkey shed—was already spotless.

She didn’t dwell on it. Instead, she simply opened the courtyard gate and headed straight for Doctor Cao’s house.

This body was too small, too weak. Just rice and eggs weren’t enough to nourish it.

She needed meat. Even better would be milk.

But whether it was fish, meat, or milk, everything required money.

Xu Wanchun couldn’t dump all of that burden onto her adoptive mother. After all, the woman owed her nothing—and she didn’t have the shamelessness to ask.

So she had to find a way to make money.

Before 1966, writing articles was actually a high-income path—but as an illiterate eight-year-old child, there was no need to even consider it.

In the end, the only method that suited her small body and could bring in quick money was… selling herbs!

But as a cardiothoracic surgery resident from the modern era, a little Western doctor who still had to call for backup when encountering tricky cases, she didn’t actually recognize many herbs at all.

So—learning from the neighbor was absolutely necessary.

She’d start with… knocking on their door to ask the time.

=

The morning sun shone bright, with no wind stirring across the fields.

Perhaps because her mindset was different now, today Xu Wanchun even had the mood to admire the scenery.

Even just a few meters of distance didn’t stop her from gazing far off at the blue sky, white clouds, and the little village.

Doctor Cao’s home was also a siheyuan (courtyard house), though not as large as Grandpa Tun’s.

When she arrived, she found the gate standing wide open.

In the yard stood several tall, wide wooden racks.

On top of them were placed many shallow bamboo trays.

Each tray was filled with herbs.

From this distance, she couldn’t make out the specific kinds.

Shifting her gaze left, her eyes landed on Doctor Cao himself.

He wore a long gown again today—different from yesterday’s navy blue, this time it was dark gray.

At the moment, Doctor Cao sat upright at the stone table in the yard, carefully slicing rhizome-like herbs with a knife, his focus absolute.

Just as Xu Wanchun was hesitating about whether she should come back another time, a graceful figure emerged from the kitchen.

In that instant, watching the beautiful woman draw closer, Xu Wanchun finally understood what “grace as if steeped in books” meant.

The woman didn’t wear a traditional bun but had clean, shoulder-length short hair.

On top, she wore a dark-blue, floral, cross-collared long tunic that reached her knees, fastened with frog buttons. On the bottom, a pleated black ankle-length skirt, paired with buckled black cloth shoes.

The whole person looked like a young lady stepped out of a Republican-era magazine—completely out of place in the countryside.

Her adoptive mother had said this woman’s son was already seventeen or eighteen years old, but she didn’t look it at all.

Such a beauty… compared with her own shabby appearance, the contrast was crushing.

Xu Wanchun, rarely shy, said softly: “Hello, Auntie.”

“Ah! You must be Wanchun, Hehua’s little girl next door? Come on in!” Su Nan smiled, waving her over.

It was her first time visiting; showing up empty-handed wasn’t polite, and relationships had to be built step by step. So Xu Wanchun shook her head: “Thank you, Auntie, but I won’t go in. May I ask, what time is it now?”

“Of course.” Since the child didn’t want to come inside, Su Nan didn’t insist. She lifted her wrist to check and smiled: “It’s 9:15.”

Having achieved her purpose of showing her face, Xu Wanchun didn’t linger. With her childish voice, she piped up politely: “Thank you, Auntie. I’ll be going now.”

The little sprout-like girl toddled quickly on her thin legs, leaving Su Nan smiling at her husband: “Hehua is blessed—this girl is so well-behaved.”

In the village, it was rare to see such a clean, tidy, and polite child.

Doctor Cao glanced at his wife, his usually stern brows softening: “She really is.”

Xu Wanchun had no idea that the Cao couple already had a very good impression of her.

At the moment, she had no mind to care anyway.

Because in just the short time she’d been gone, an old lady had shown up at her house.

The old woman was standing at the kitchen door, eyeing her, drooping brows and eyes, her whole face a picture of misery: “So that wretched Hehua girl really did pick up a child?”

Xu Wanchun: “…And you are?” According to transmigration rules, wasn’t this the stereotypical troublemaker’s entrance?

But to her surprise, the old lady acted as if she hadn’t heard. With a heavy thud, she plopped down on the threshold, bawling and rubbing her eyes, muttering over and over:

“That stubborn girl… already divorced, it’s hard enough for her to remarry, and now she even dragged home a girl to raise. How’s she supposed to ever find a good husband now? …What’s a woman to do if she doesn’t marry, ohhh…”

Xu Wanchun: …!