Qin Man gently rubbed the stack of ten-yuan notes between her fingers, hesitating.
The original owner’s small bundle contained only a little over ten yuan and a few scattered coupons.
If she wanted to stay in the provincial capital for a while, she’d need money for food and lodging.
Even so, they were complete strangers. She shouldn’t accept it.
Just as Qin Man was about to refuse, Tan Zheng said calmly,
“If the car had been a few inches closer, the wheel really would have run over your arm.”
Qin Man hadn’t been trying to extort anyone.
She had simply used her wits to call for help.
The traffickers had been too cunning. Anyone else might not have escaped so easily.
After saying that, Tan Zheng gave Qin Man a slight nod, turned around, and strode away.
Coming to her senses, Qin Man hurried after him for a few steps.
“Comrade Tan Zheng! I’ll treat these two hundred yuan as a loan. I’ll pay you back!”
Tan Zheng paused briefly before disappearing around the corner.
Back in the ward, the old woman from the neighboring bed sat up awkwardly.
“Young lady, I was blind. I let those traffickers fool me and thought you were lazy and spoiled. I owe you an apology.”
With that, she handed Qin Man two hard-boiled eggs.
Qin Man accepted them, then took an apple from Tan Zheng’s gift bag and offered it to the old woman.
“Auntie, please don’t say that. You actually did me a huge favor.”
If the old woman hadn’t brought the police, Qin Man wouldn’t have escaped so easily.
The news spread quickly.
Throughout the afternoon, people constantly came and went from Qin Man’s hospital room.
Doctors, nurses, and curious patients who had heard what happened all stopped by.
During the evening rounds, the young nurse following behind Song Qingsong stepped forward shyly.
Blushing, she said,
“Comrade Qin Man, I’m Yang Xiaoyun, a nurse from the surgical ward. I didn’t know the truth before and said some awful things to you. I’m sorry.”
She placed a pair of women’s cotton gloves on the hospital bed, covered her face in embarrassment, and ran away.
Song Qingsong sighed helplessly.
“Last night, Yang Xiaoyun worked the hardest to stop you. Just accept the gift and consider forgiving her. Otherwise, she won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
“All right.”
Qin Man put on the gloves.
They fit perfectly.
Suddenly remembering something, she took a folded piece of paper out of her bag.
“Doctor Song, you know Comrade Tan Zheng. Could I trouble you to give him this IOU?”
Qin Man understood Tan Zheng’s state of mind.
Giving her money was his way of settling the matter so neither of them would owe the other anything.
Song Qingsong wanted to tell her it wasn’t necessary, but seeing that she genuinely meant it, he nodded.
“Sure. I’ll hold onto the IOU for now.”
Tan Zheng wasn’t short of money.
He decided not to deliver the note just yet.
Two hundred yuan wasn’t a small amount.
What if Comrade Qin Man couldn’t repay it?
“Comrade Qin Man, we have plenty of empty beds in our department. If you don’t have anywhere to stay, you can remain here for the time being.”
Seeing how difficult her situation was, Song Qingsong wanted to help if he could.
He had heard Qin Man had come to find her fiancé, but he wasn’t optimistic.
The two families hadn’t been in contact for three or four years.
Besides, arranged marriages weren’t really encouraged anymore.
Too many things could have changed.
If the Zhou family had truly been sincere, why hadn’t anyone come to pick her up?
The fact that no one had appeared by now spoke volumes.
Lowering her head, Qin Man said dejectedly,
“It’s not that I’m trying to cling to him. Even if he doesn’t acknowledge the engagement, he should at least tell me himself.”
Years ago, Grandpa Zhou and the original Qin Man’s grandfather had arranged the childhood engagement between her and Zhou Huaimin.
Neither family had objected.
Back in the village, Qin Man had nearly become an old maid.
She was beautiful, and marriage proposals from nearby villages had nearly worn down the Qin family’s doorstep.
“My parents refused every proposal. They said the Qin family had to keep its promise.”
Mentioning the original owner’s parents filled Qin Man with sadness.
She had been an orphan in her previous life.
In this life, fate with her parents had once again been painfully brief.
Song Qingsong swallowed the discouraging words that had risen to his lips.
By dinnertime, the old woman in the neighboring bed was discharged.
Qin Man wandered downstairs.
Unlike modern hospitals, the provincial hospital of the 1970s had weathered blue-gray walls streaked with age.
A bright red slogan reading “Heal the wounded and save the dying” hung prominently in the outpatient hall.
Only a handful of people remained in line at the registration counter.
As Qin Man walked farther down the corridor, the aroma of millet porridge drifting from the cafeteria reached her.
She rubbed her stomach.
She was hungry.
Without any fat or oil in her diet, two eggs simply weren’t filling enough.
“Comrade Qin Man! I’ve been looking for you!”
Yang Xiaoyun had just come out of the cafeteria carrying a mesh shopping bag.
The moment she spotted Qin Man, her eyes lit up.
“Xiaoyun, thank you. The gloves fit perfectly.”
Calling everyone “Comrade So-and-so” still felt too formal to Qin Man.
She decided to address Yang Xiaoyun more naturally.
People in this era were straightforward and sincere.
Once they realized they had misunderstood her, several people had come to apologize.
Yang Xiaoyun had apologized directly.
Others had been too embarrassed to say anything, quietly leaving gifts before hurrying away.
“You were looking for me?”
Having finally figured out where the cafeteria was, Qin Man quickened her pace.
If she missed dinner, there’d be nothing left except boiled vegetables.
Yang Xiaoyun grabbed her arm and whispered,
“Come on, let’s eat together. I got braised pork!”
The hospital closed at five every evening.
Normally, Yang Xiaoyun would go home for dinner.
After hearing about Qin Man from Song Qingsong, she’d decided to stay behind and keep her company.
Qin Man had come from the countryside.
She figured Qin Man probably didn’t have enough money or food coupons.
The moment she heard the words “braised pork,” Qin Man instinctively rubbed her stomach.
“How could I possibly impose on you like that?”
Inside her medical storage space were mountains of rice, flour, meat, beans, cooking oil, and other daily necessities.
Right before transmigrating into the novel, Qin Man had just purchased a huge shipment of supplies, planning to deliver them to an orphanage to visit the elderly and children there.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t take any of it out right now.
“Why would that be imposing? I misunderstood you before and nearly caused a terrible mistake. You didn’t even hold it against me.”
Back in the ward, Yang Xiaoyun skillfully filled a thermos with hot water.
She found a clean glass jar and poured Qin Man a drink.
Opening her aluminum lunchbox, she revealed a generous serving of glistening braised pork.
“Xiaoman, look at this.”
Yang Xiaoyun beamed.
“It’s rich but not greasy. Our hospital hired a master chef away from the state-owned restaurant. His braised pork is absolutely incredible.”
No one else would receive this kind of treatment.
Yang Xiaoyun’s older sister, Yang Xiaohui, was the daughter-in-law of the cafeteria’s head chef.
Thanks to that connection, Yang Xiaoyun practically had VIP privileges in the hospital cafeteria.
Qin Man picked up a piece with her chopsticks.
The layers of lean and fatty pork belly melted in her mouth.
She nodded repeatedly.
“Thank you, Xiaoyun. This braised pork is delicious.”
“I told you not to be so polite.”
As they ate, Yang Xiaoyun quietly observed Qin Man.
Her floral padded jacket looked somewhat rustic.
But Qin Man carried herself gracefully and spoke with confidence.
She didn’t seem like someone who had never seen the world.
“I was a barefoot doctor in my village.”
Noticing Yang Xiaoyun’s curiosity, Qin Man briefly explained the original owner’s background.
Her grandfather had once been a veteran revolutionary.
Later, after being disabled in the war, he refused to burden the army and voluntarily returned to the countryside to farm.
More than ten years earlier, he had saved Zhou Huaimin from drowning in an icy river.
He never made it back out.
The original owner’s eldest uncle had also been a soldier.
He left with his unit and was never heard from again.
Her parents were kind, honest people who often secretly brought food to an elderly traditional Chinese physician who had been sent to the countryside for labor reform.
Feeling indebted, the old doctor taught the original owner medicine for several years.
After mastering those skills and graduating from high school, she stayed in the village as a barefoot doctor.
When Yang Xiaoyun finished listening, she set down her chopsticks.
“Xiaoman, tomorrow happens to be the weekend. Doctor Song and I are both off duty.”
“We’ll go with you to visit the Zhou family.”