“What mistake? What do you mean?”
Qin Man was stunned. Yang Xiaoyun looked completely serious—it didn’t seem like a joke at all.
Yang Xiaoyun took her hand and lowered her voice.
“Come back to the dorm with me first. I’ll explain there.”
The dormitory was empty.
Yang Xiaoyun helped Qin Man sit down on a chair to rest while she went to fetch some hot water.
Qin Man closed her eyes, her mind unusually clear.
When she had volunteered to save the patient, she hadn’t done it with any ulterior motive.
It had simply been an emergency.
But this was the 1970s.
Medical resources were limited.
Even at the provincial hospital, very few doctors were capable of performing a cesarean section.
Her appearance was simply too eye-catching.
Other talents might be explained away with clever words, but saving lives couldn’t.
Medicine required genuine skill.
The original Qin Man was only a high school graduate, not yet twenty years old, with no influential family background.
The only believable explanation was to attribute her medical expertise to the professors of medicine who had been sent down to her village during the political campaigns.
Thinking carefully, Qin Man remembered that the original owner had mainly studied under an elderly traditional Chinese physician.
She had little interaction with the other professors.
Just then, Yang Xiaoyun returned carrying a thermos of hot water.
She opened the wooden wardrobe, only to find it empty.
Looking disappointed, she sighed.
“I took all my clothes home to wash last night.”
“It’s okay.”
“I brought a change of clothes.”
Qin Man usually bought clothing in bulk because of her busy schedule.
She always kept plenty of spare outfits, especially undergarments, since she didn’t like borrowing such personal items.
Yang Xiaoyun immediately reminded her.
“Xiaoman, did you forget? Your bag with your clothes was lost.”
The night Qin Man had escaped, Yang Xiaoyun had volunteered to help capture her.
Afterward, she’d left Qin Man’s luggage at the nurses’ station.
With so many people coming and going through the hospital, someone had apparently stolen it.
“Those damned thieves!”
“They’re even stealing from hospitals now!”
Yang Xiaoyun’s face turned bright red with guilt.
She felt terribly sorry.
Qin Man fell silent.
She had completely forgotten about that.
“You said you made a mistake.”
“What exactly happened?”
She smoothly changed the subject.
Yang Xiaoyun’s attention shifted immediately.
She peeked outside to make sure the hallway was empty before lowering her head.
“Xiaoman…”
“I lied to Commander Tan.”
Yang Xiaoyun had always had a harmless habit of exaggerating things.
Usually it was nothing serious.
But this time…
She had gone far overboard.
“Our hospital already has plenty of people who got in through connections.”
“If you can stay here, you’ll really be saving lives.”
She thought of what had happened that night.
Director Zhang had been away.
The patient’s condition had been critical.
There hadn’t been time to transfer her elsewhere.
“I admit I have selfish motives.”
“But if you weren’t truly capable, I would never have said those things.”
Qin Man looked at her in surprise.
“You mean… you told Comrade Tan Zheng that I’d studied under several legendary medical masters?”
Ironically, Yang Xiaoyun had accidentally stumbled onto the truth.
Those experiences belonged to Qin Man herself—not to the original owner of this body.
Still, now that she had transmigrated into the novel, she and the original Qin Man had effectively become one.
A young woman with extraordinary medical skills would naturally arouse suspicion.
She had already prepared herself for that possibility.
Reviewing the original owner’s memories again, Qin Man recalled how she had frequently traveled through nearby villages treating patients.
She had been kind-hearted.
She often climbed into the mountains to gather medicinal herbs and treated poor villagers for free—sometimes even paying for medicine out of her own pocket.
Before she came to the provincial capital, the villagers had secretly collected money and stuffed it into her luggage after learning she was leaving.
When Qin Man found it, she quietly returned every last cent.
She had come to the city to get married.
Afterward, she had planned to find work.
The villagers already struggled enough.
She couldn’t bear to take advantage of them.
“Xiaoman…”
“Commander Tan already agreed.”
Yang Xiaoyun looked nervous.
“Will you blame me for meddling?”
“Xiaoyun…”
“You only did it because you wanted to help me.”
“How could I blame you?”
Right now, Qin Man genuinely needed a stable job in the city.
And thanks to Yang Xiaoyun’s story, she now had a plausible explanation for her medical abilities.
One of the elderly professors who had been sent down to the countryside had indeed been a renowned obstetrics specialist.
He had even performed surgeries for villagers in a neighboring village.
Unfortunately, the old professor hadn’t survived those difficult years.
Even if Tan Zheng investigated, he wouldn’t uncover anything suspicious.
Thinking this through, Qin Man felt considerably more at ease.
“I heard Doctor Song say that even people with connections have to pass the hospital’s assessment.”
“But if it’s you, Xiaoman, you’ll definitely pass!”
Yang Xiaoyun was so excited she looked happier than if she’d found a job herself.
After chatting a little longer, she grabbed her bicycle key and hurried out.
Locking the dormitory door behind her, Qin Man closed her eyes and rested for five minutes.
Then her consciousness entered her medical space.
She began searching through her supplies.
Inside were modern medical equipment, medicines, and a fully sterile operating room.
One warehouse was packed with relief supplies she had never had the chance to distribute.
There were countless varieties of rice—white rice, millet, glutinous rice, red beans, mung beans, soybeans, and more.
Flour.
Dried noodles.
Soybean oil.
Peanut oil.
Rapeseed oil.
Sugar.
Brown sugar.
Honey.
Large quantities of meat filled the warehouse almost to capacity.
The reservoir contained fresh fish, shrimp, crabs, and shellfish.
The warehouse preserved everything in perfect condition, as though time had stopped.
After searching for a while, Qin Man found stacks of instant noodles, self-heating meals, sausages, and various prepared foods piled in one corner.
She was too exhausted to have much of an appetite.
She opened a can of Red Bull, drank it in one go, then ate a piece of chocolate.
Little by little, her strength returned.
While Yang Xiaoyun was still away, Qin Man entered the space and enjoyed a long, hot shower.
When she came back out, she used the hot water Yang Xiaoyun had brought to wipe herself down again.
She found a white camisole similar to the one the original Qin Man would have worn and quickly put it on.
It was already ten o’clock at night.
The hospital had grown quiet.
Footsteps echoed heavily down the corridor.
Tan Zheng carried an aluminum lunch box and an enamel mug as he walked steadily toward the dormitory.
He raised his hand and knocked.
Knock. Knock.
“Coming.”
Qin Man’s gentle voice came from inside.
“Xiaoyun? You’re back?”
A moment later, the door opened.
Tan Zheng’s gaze froze instantly.
Qin Man was wearing nothing but a close-fitting white camisole.
Under the warm light, her fair skin glowed softly.
His Adam’s apple bobbed involuntarily.
His heart tightened, and for a split second, his mind went completely blank.
Years in the military had trained him to maintain perfect composure.
Not a trace of emotion appeared on his face.
He simply turned around mechanically.
Only then did Qin Man realize what had happened.
People in the 1970s were extremely conservative.
Opening the door dressed only in an undershirt would certainly be considered scandalous.
Oh no…
He doesn’t think I was trying to seduce him, does he?
The misunderstanding was enormous.
Coming to her senses, Qin Man slammed the door shut.
She quickly pulled on a sweater before calling through the door,
“Comrade Tan Zheng, I’m sorry.”
“I thought Xiaoyun had come back.”
Taking a deep breath, she slowly opened the door again.
Tan Zheng stood quietly outside.
Listening to the rustling sounds inside as she got dressed, the tension in his body finally eased.
His expression remained calm.
He handed her the lunch box without mentioning the awkward incident.
“Comrade Qin Man, thanks to you, my cousin and her baby were saved.”
After a brief pause, he added,
“If there’s anything you want, the Tan family will do everything we can to make it happen.”
After returning home and explaining everything, his family had all wanted to come personally to thank Qin Man.
But it was already too late at night.
Arriving empty-handed and without proper preparation would have been discourteous, so they had decided to wait until the next day.