Jiang Wanxi spent her days knitting sweaters and studying medicine. Before long, she had completely forgotten the uneasiness and irritation that Jiang Yu and Xie Jin’an had caused her.
One evening, just as she was preparing to go home, Jiang Hongtao, who hadn’t been home for more than a month, suddenly returned with two men.
Jiang Hongtao was delighted to see Jiang Wanxi. Over the past month, he had received calls from his wife almost every day, and during every call, she couldn’t stop praising their daughter.
He envied his wife for being able to spend every day with Wanwan.
Unfortunately, he was simply too busy.
“Dad! You’re back!” Jiang Wanxi exclaimed happily when she saw him.
“Wanwan, you haven’t gone home yet?” Jiang Hongtao looked her over before smiling with satisfaction. “Hmm, you seem to have grown taller. Good, good.”
He affectionately patted her on the head.
When Grandma Jiang heard that Jiang Hongtao had brought people over at such a late hour, she immediately became displeased.
“Bringing more trouble for this old woman again, are you? Where are they? Bring them into the back room. Wanwan, come with me.”
The old lady didn’t even spare her eldest son another glance before turning and walking inside.
Only then did Jiang Wanxi notice the two men standing behind her father.
The moment she looked at them, her eyes widened.
One of them was actually that incredibly handsome man she’d met before!
He was leaning against the other man, his face deathly pale.
Jiang Wanxi had no interest in exchanging pleasantries over their unexpected reunion. It was obvious that he was injured.
She quickly led everyone into Grandma Jiang’s “workroom,” the room where her grandmother usually taught her medicine.
The men helped the injured man onto the bed.
Grandma Jiang and Jiang Wanxi immediately put on white aprons.
Clearly, this wasn’t the first time Jiang Hongtao had brought someone here for treatment. Seeing that her grandmother didn’t ask any questions and considering her father’s position, Jiang Wanxi naturally realized that these two men were no ordinary people.
Grandmother and granddaughter quickly prepared the necessary instruments.
Without the slightest hesitation, Grandma Jiang pushed the tools toward Jiang Wanxi.
“Wanwan, you do it.”
Jiang Wanxi didn’t hesitate either. She walked to the bedside and asked, “Where are you injured?”
Jiang Hongtao knew that his daughter had been studying medicine under his mother.
But how long had she been learning?
Wasn’t this a little too reckless?
“Mom, shouldn’t we—”
Before he could finish, the old lady cut him off.
“Shouldn’t we what? Move aside and stop distracting your daughter.”
Jiang Hongtao knew his mother well. If she said Wanwan could do it, then she definitely could.
Still, the young man’s injury was on his leg, and his daughter was an unmarried young woman.
This seemed rather inappropriate.
Seeing that everyone was ignoring her question, Jiang Wanxi asked again, “Where exactly are you injured?”
“You’re such a young girl! How could you possibly treat our battalion commander’s wound?” the other man suddenly protested.
“Don’t underestimate me. Last year, one of our production team’s oxen was injured, and I was the one who treated it. By spring plowing this year, it was already running around perfectly fine.”
“You… How can you compare our battalion commander to a production team’s ox?!”
“What’s wrong with an ox? Both of them serve the people. Comrade, how can you look down on oxen?”
The man stared at her dumbfounded.
Jiang Wanxi continued without giving him a chance to respond.
“I can stitch up cowhide. Is your battalion commander’s skin even thicker than cowhide? Besides, your battalion commander is human and can understand what I’m saying. An ox can’t even talk, yet it obediently lay there while I stitched it up. If you keep talking, your battalion commander is going to lose too much blood before I even get started.”
Her rapid-fire response completely stunned the man.
He hadn’t expected such a refined and gentle-looking young woman to become so fierce the moment she opened her mouth.
He remembered that the girls in the cultural troupe were usually delicate and sweet-spoken too. But once, he’d seen them arguing, and they’d become just as fierce.
Could all women be like this?
His mother kept urging him to hurry up and get married.
After seeing this, perhaps staying a bachelor wasn’t so bad after all.
Jiang Wanxi’s attitude immediately changed when she turned toward the handsome man. Her expression became gentle and pleasant.
“Comrade, where are you injured?”
Lu Tingyao coughed awkwardly and looked toward Jiang Hongtao for help.
Jiang Hongtao understood immediately.
“Mom, Xiao Lu injured his thigh. Wanwan is still an unmarried girl. Isn’t it a little inappropriate for her to treat him?”
The old lady gave her son a disdainful look.
“Do you want his injury treated or not? Take off the outer trousers. There is no distinction between men and women in a doctor’s eyes.”
Helpless, Jiang Hongtao could only look at Lu Tingyao.
Jiang Wanxi could see that her father was still reluctant. After all, people in this era were quite conservative.
“Why don’t we just cut the trousers open?”
Before anyone could react, she picked up a pair of scissors.
Snip! Snip!
In a few swift movements, she cut open Lu Tingyao’s trousers around the injured area.
The wound had already undergone basic first aid to stop the bleeding and had been wrapped in bandages.
Without another word, Jiang Wanxi snipped through the bandages as well.
The wound was quite long—roughly fifteen centimeters by her estimation—and appeared to have been caused by a sharp blade.
As Jiang Wanxi cleaned the wound, she fell into thought.
The problem was that Grandma didn’t have any anesthetic here.
Suturing such a large wound without anesthesia would be troublesome. If the patient couldn’t endure the pain and suddenly moved halfway through, things could become difficult.
When she had stitched up the ox last year, someone had already given it medicine that knocked it unconscious.
Otherwise, how would she have dared to stitch it up?
The animal would have kicked her half to death!
Surely she couldn’t give this man the same medicine.
Besides, there wasn’t enough time.
Suddenly, she remembered that the old traditional Chinese medicine practitioner had taught her acupuncture anesthesia.
She had even experimented with it on herself before, and it had produced a noticeable numbing effect.
Without hesitation, Jiang Wanxi took out Grandma’s silver acupuncture needles.
She felt around Lu Tingyao’s body through his clothes, located several acupuncture points, then inserted the needles swiftly and precisely.
This man was covered in muscles.
They must feel amazing to the touch.
Unfortunately, he behaved like an extremely virtuous and modest man. Just asking him to remove his outer trousers earlier had looked like a matter of life and death to him.
And with so many people watching, she couldn’t exactly shamelessly strip his clothes off herself.
What a pity!
Despite the wandering thoughts in her head, Jiang Wanxi’s hands never stopped moving.
Once she had finished cleaning and preparing the wound, she began suturing it.
Lu Tingyao had recognized her long ago.
She was the same girl who had nearly crashed into him the last time they met.
He remembered how timid she had seemed then. She had been so frightened that she stood frozen for a long time, unable to react.
Even after he’d walked quite a distance away, he’d had the feeling that she was still standing there in a daze.
Today, however, she gave him a completely different impression.
She was bold yet meticulous, and every movement was calm and methodical.
From where he was lying, he could clearly see every change in her expression.
One moment, she looked puzzled.
The next, realization dawned on her face.
Then she shook her head and sighed as though regretting something.
Her hands moved deftly over the wound on his thigh.
Lu Tingyao had no idea what method she had used, but throughout the entire procedure, he felt only a slight amount of pain.
Whenever Jiang Wanxi worked, she became completely serious and focused.
Even Grandma Jiang had to admit that her suturing technique was remarkably practiced.
More importantly, the stitches were incredibly neat.
It was the first time Grandma Jiang had ever seen someone suture a wound so beautifully.
It almost seemed as though the needle in Jiang Wanxi’s hand wasn’t a surgical needle at all, but an embroidery needle.
Jiang Hongtao was equally astonished.
Since when had his daughter become this capable?
When he’d first heard that his mother had arranged for Wanwan to help at the compound clinic, he’d privately muttered that she was being ridiculous.
But with medical skills like these, Wanwan could hold her own even at the military hospital.
Fortunately, he’d only said those words in private.
If his mother had heard him, who knew what kind of contemptuous look she would have given him?
Maybe he should arrange for his daughter to work at the military hospital?
No, no, that wouldn’t do.
To enter the military hospital, she’d first have to enlist.
A daughter this beautiful should be kept safely at home.
But he couldn’t keep her hidden away forever either.
His daughter would eventually have to get married.
Jiang Hongtao sighed inwardly.
What a headache.
He wondered which brat would be lucky enough to marry his precious daughter someday.