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Chapter 16 – The Female Military Doctor of the 1950s
Early September 1950.
It had been five months since Xu Wanchun arrived in this era.
She was now officially an elementary school student.
To be more precise, a lower primary student.
At the time, elementary school was divided into lower primary for Grades 1–4 and upper primary for Grades 5–6.
On the first day of school, while Xu Wanchun wore an expression of calm mixed with reluctant resignation, Xu Hehua was absolutely thrilled.
She not only prepared a hearty breakfast, but even spent ages agonizing over what clothes and shoes her daughter should wear—determined to make sure her daughter was the prettiest little thing in all of primary school.
And sure enough, as they queued at the school gates for registration, Xu Wanchun—wearing a floral dress and carrying a little schoolbag—was indeed the most eye-catching child among all the surrounding villages.
But in her opinion, it had little to do with her being good-looking.
The main reason was that way too many people had come to send her off—her Master, Mistress, and her mother were all there.
Probably no one else in the whole school made such a grand entrance.
Midway through the wait, Cao Xiu left briefly, and when he returned, he explained to the others,
“I just spoke with the teacher. Across all the nearby villages, there are only about thirty students total.”
Xu Lanca, who had been following closely while tugging her own daughter along, immediately asked,
“So how are they dividing the classes? Can my girl be in the same one as Peach Blossom?”
Hearing that, Xu Wanchun instinctively looked at the girl standing beside Aunt Lanca—probably named Li Yulan, the same age as her.
To her surprise, the girl was also looking right back.
Realizing she’d been caught peeking, Li Yulan’s round little face instantly turned bright red when their eyes met.
So easy to embarrass?
Xu Wanchun blinked and offered a sweet smile to show her friendliness.
In response, Li Yulan quickly ducked behind her mother with a swish.
Xu Wanchun: …
The adults didn’t notice this small interaction between the kids.
Cao Xiu continued relaying what he’d learned:
“The teacher said there won’t be any class divisions. Everyone starts from first grade, regardless of age.”
The group was briefly stunned, but soon nodded—it made sense. Most of the children were illiterate anyway.
Cao Xiu then gently patted his little disciple on the head.
“Lower primary has seven subjects: Language, Arithmetic, General Knowledge, Music, PE, Art, and Morality. There’s a lot to learn. Let’s see if you can keep up.”
“I’ll do my best, Master,” Xu Wanchun replied earnestly.
That was the deal between them—if she found the material too easy, she wouldn’t have to attend school every day.
As time went on, Cao Xiu grew increasingly fond of his disciple’s diligence and sensibility. He patted her little head again:
“Pace yourself.”
Xu Hehua didn’t fully understand what those four characters meant, but she knew her daughter’s Master had good intentions. She quickly echoed,
“Yes, yes, Peach Blossom, listen to your Master.”
Then Aunt Lanca cut in again,
“So when do classes actually start?”
Cao Xiu replied,
“Not today. After registration, the kids will pick up their textbooks. Formal classes start tomorrow morning.”
And so, once registration was done, the whole group once again trailed off in a big crowd to the classroom.
A few months ago, Xu Wanchun had come to visit the school with her mother.
The school was small and basic—just a few mud-and-thatch buildings.
But what truly shocked her was how spartan the interior was.
The classroom wasn’t big, and aside from some mismatched old benches, there wasn’t a single desk.
If not for the blackboard mounted on the front wall—
With only a large blackboard hanging on the wall, who could even tell this was supposed to be a classroom?
Facing the curious and somewhat doubtful looks from the parents and children, the two teachers looked a little embarrassed.
“Well… the budget is limited,” one of them said awkwardly. “If your family circumstances allow, students can bring their own desks from home.”
Everyone: …
Seeing the group stay silent, the middle-aged female teacher quickly added,
“But it’s alright if you don’t bring one—it won’t affect your studies.”
Everyone: …
On the way back, Xu Hehua was carrying her daughter’s schoolbag in one hand and holding her hand with the other.
“I’ll find someone to make you a desk later. For now, we’ll just make do for a few days.”
“It doesn’t have to be anything fancy,” Xu Wanchun said casually—she didn’t really care about the desk. Most of her attention was on her front teeth, one of which was loose and wobbly—it was incredibly uncomfortable.
Su Nan nodded in agreement.
“Our Peach Blossom is already smart and pretty—she’s going to stand out in class no matter what. A desk that’s half-new, half-old is good enough. Oh, right—Hehua-jie, now that she’ll be out and about at school, you might want to start putting some patches on her clothes.”
Xu Hehua was very socially savvy. She immediately understood the implication.
If a child dresses too well, it could be seen as flaunting wealth, and sooner or later, some leech-like person would cling to them.
She let out a sigh.
“This life… we really have to live it sneakily.”
After they got back—
Xu Wanchun didn’t even enter her house before being whisked away to the neighbors’ by her Master.
There, on the fence of the Cao family courtyard, was a thick roll of newspaper.
Cao Xiu was already used to this.
Whenever no one was home, the paper delivery guy would leave it like that.
He pushed open the gate, placed the newspaper on the stone table in the yard, then lifted his robe and sat down on the stone stool.
He pointed to the stool beside him.
“Sit here. Open your textbook and see if you understand it.”
Xu Wanchun lifted her short legs and climbed onto the stool.
She opened her language textbook and carefully flipped through a few pages before nodding.
“I can understand it.”
Cao Xiu knew his little disciple never made empty claims. He tapped the table with a knuckle.
“Then check the arithmetic.”
That would obviously be even easier.
Pretending to be a little kid when you’re actually a PhD student is no joke.
Although she complained in her head, Xu Wanchun kept a serious expression and obediently turned the pages.
“I can understand this too.”
Cao Xiu was quite satisfied.
“Alright, here’s what we’ll do—start by self-studying for two hours. After that, your Mistress will give you a quiz. If you get everything right, I’ll talk to your teacher.”
Xu Wanchun’s eyes sparkled.
“You mean talk about letting me self-study at home?”
“In your dreams,” Cao Xiu said, giving her a playful flick on the forehead.
Seeing her exaggeratedly clutch her head, he chuckled.
“You still have to go to school at least two days a week. You’re too young to just stay home. School is important. Who knows? You might even make a good friend.”
Honestly, his little disciple had way too much self-discipline.
Most kids her age in the village, aside from doing a few chores, were running wild outside—
Playing with spinning tops, hopscotch, shuttlecock, hide-and-seek, iron hoops—so many fun games.
But his girl? Not interested in any of it.
She was like a little adult—always memorizing herbal texts or preparing medicinal ingredients.
That’s why, even though he knew she was far ahead of her grade level, Cao Xiu still wanted her to go to school and loosen up a bit.
He was genuinely worried she’d study herself silly.
Xu Wanchun had no idea about her Master’s wild imaginings.
She simply took out her language textbook and obediently started reciting.
As for that “two days a week at school” rule?
She didn’t quite agree with it deep down…
When it came to learning, Xu Wanchun had her own plan.
According to history, colleges stopped operating in 1966. To be safe, she decided she needed to finish university by 1965 at the latest.
That meant:
If she followed the standard track, that added up to 18 years—there wouldn’t be enough time.
Skipping grades would be essential.
But right now wasn’t the time to bring that up. She could only rely on future outstanding performance to earn the right to negotiate.
Just then—
“Stepped out for a bit and someone already plucked the peaches again. Only a few left on the tree…” Xu Hehua grumbled as she pushed open the gate to the Cao household.
But when she saw her daughter lying on the stone table reading, and Dr. Cao flipping through a newspaper beside her, she immediately zipped her mouth shut.
Su Nan, sipping tea off to the side, smiled and waved her over.
“No worries—go ahead and say whatever. It won’t bother them.”
But Xu Hehua didn’t sit down right away. She first handed two freshly washed peaches to her daughter, then took the rest and sat beside Su Nan.
She stared at her daughter, who was diligently studying, her face glowing with pride.
She was already mentally planning to offer more tribute at the Earth God temple.
Her daughter really was the best child in the whole wide world.
Xu Wanchun was oblivious to her mother’s rainbow-colored thoughts. Without even looking up, she took a peach and bit down.
“Mm.”
“You bit your tongue?” Cao Xiu looked up.
“No.” Her voice was muffled. “My tooth fell out.”
As she spoke, she reached for a tissue and spat out the tooth.
Xu Hehua walked over, confirmed that there wasn’t much bleeding, then took the little tooth with a smile.
“You keep studying. I’ll head back.”
“I’ll just rinse my mouth real quick,” said Xu Wanchun, jumping off the stone bench.
After rinsing her mouth and watching her mother toss the tooth onto the roof, Xu Wanchun returned to the Cao house.
But as soon as she stepped through the gate, she saw her Master slam the newspaper hard on the table.
“What happened?” Su Nan frowned.
Cao Xiu took several deep breaths, trying to suppress the fire in his chest, and finally said hoarsely,
“There’s war again.”
That made Su Nan jump up too. She rushed over,
“Who’s fighting whom?”
Xu Wanchun lowered her eyes.
She already knew. According to history, the war that would last for three years had already been simmering for months.
Xujiatun was remote, and news clearly arrived late here.
Cao Xiu had no mood to say more and directly handed the paper to his wife.
As she lowered her head to read, his face betrayed deep worry—
His older brother and Jingliang were likely to volunteer for the front lines.
At the same time—
In Shanghai, inside the boys’ dormitory at the Second Military Medical University—
Li Xiang stared at his friend, who was packing a suitcase, and frowned deeply.
“Jingliang, you’re an only child. They shouldn’t even consider sending you to the front. Besides, we’re cadets. They won’t deploy us unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Cao Jingliang continued packing without looking up.
“I know. I’m just getting ready in advance.”
“Ready for what?” Li Xiang asked, baffled.
Cao Jingliang zipped his suitcase, then finally met his friend’s eyes.
His voice was firm.
“You and I both know that the country is short on medical personnel. There’s a good chance we’ll be sent to the front. And if that day comes, I don’t want to have any regrets or unfinished business.”
“What kind of regrets?”
Cao Jingliang quietly retrieved a foreign doll from his drawer and carefully placed it in his bag.
“I’ve requested five days of leave from the instructor. I’m going home to see my parents.”
It might be the last time we see each other.
What he didn’t tell his friend was—
He had already applied for a leave of absence from school, and once he returned from home, he planned to head directly to the front lines with his uncle’s unit.
He had the courage to move forward without hesitation—
But he didn’t want his parents to live with the regret of never seeing him one last time.
Li Xiang still sensed something off.
“Are you hiding something from me?”
Cao Jingliang simply grabbed his suitcase and walked out.
“I’m running late—I’ve got a train to catch.”
“Hey! You brat!” Li Xiang chased after him for a few steps, but Jingliang was walking fast and clearly determined to leave.
Fuming, Li Xiang came to a halt.
Then he turned around and made a beeline for the instructor’s office.
@ apricity[Translator]
Immerse yourself in a captivating tale brought to life through my natural and fluid translation—where every emotion, twist, and character shines as vividly as in the original work! ^_^