The Sister Who Went to the Countryside Has Returned

Everyone in the neighborhood says the old Shu family on Willow Lane is full of promising children: The eldest became a writer, the second grew rich, and the third was a stunning beauty who married the son of a machinery factory director. Only the youngest sister was a good-for-nothing. Years later, when people talk about her short, tragic life, they all say that if she'd treasured her blind-date opportunity and found someone in the city to settle down with, she wouldn't have died alone in a foreign land. Shu Jinyue was the good-for-nothing everyone talked about: she took her third sister's place in the countryside and died there miserably. Only after her death did she learn she had been living in a period novel starring her third sister. The man who went on a blind date with her sister-in-law had originally been meant for her, but she'd rejected him because of his poor background. Her third sister, however, had recognized his potential and met the future big shot early, and the two had supported each other through thick and thin. Reader review: She turned down such a promising catch. What a good-for-nothing. Shu Jinyue wakes up and finds herself back at nineteen. At this point Her eldest brother is still an underpaid teacher at a neighborhood elementary school, her second brother is still a temporary worker at a vegetable shop, her third sister is still a nurse working exhausting night shifts at the district hospital, and she is on a train about to go on a blind date with her “third sister's future husband”... This time, she makes a different choice from the one she made in her previous life Who needs a promising catch or a powerful patron? She's got medical skills. Why suffer through marriage? She'll join a grassroots disease prevention and control station and become a disease-control worker in the 1970s: fight schistosomiasis, contain tuberculosis, eradicate malaria, develop patented medicines... Traditional Chinese medicine has plenty of potential. But it turns out that infectious diseases aren't the only thing in her line of work. Her practice keeps expanding, and all sorts of strange illnesses come knocking. Even the biggest behind-the-scenes mastermind in the book shows up... [P.S. The medical cases in this story are fictionalized. If you feel unwell, be sure to see a qualified doctor. See a doctor, see a doctor, see a doctor.] ***Coming next: Please add my new novel, I'm a Temporary Worker at the Neighborhood Office*** After Han Zhenzhen, an ultrasound doctor, dies suddenly from overwork, she becomes the second daughter of the old Zhao family in a crowded courtyard complex in the 1970s A father obsessed with having a son, a domineering and sharp-tongued mother, a beautiful and sweet-talking older sister, and a clever, quick-witted younger sister. Han Zhenzhen is the silent workhorse caught in the middle, unloved by both parents and burning herself out to keep the whole family afloat. Right away, she faces two choices: go to the countryside as an educated youth or hurry up and get married. The family's job is being saved for an imaginary “younger brother” who doesn't even exist yet. The original owner had a chance at a temporary job, on the condition that she be adopted by her childless great-aunt and care for her in her old age. But the original owner cried and begged her parents not to send her away. To prove how determined she was, she hanged herself from the roof beam with her waistband. Real workhorse Han Zhenzhen is furious: A temporary job is still a job! Where else could you find such a great opportunity? So the neighbors are astonished. The day before, Han Zhenzhen was trying to kill herself. The next day, she's moved into her great-aunt's main house, eating meat, and, best of all, working as a temporary employee at the neighborhood office! Han Zhenzhen, who no longer has to work in her field and only wants to slack off, discovers that at the neighborhood office she's become a walking human ultrasound machine, also known as X-ray vision A woman who's been bedridden for three years is wheeled in to apply for benefits, but she turns out to have perfectly healthy limbs and is full of energy; A worker, childless for years after marriage, insists on getting a divorce so he can apply for a referral letter, but it turns out he's congenitally impotent; A young wife, five months pregnant, comes to apply for a birth permit. Wait a minute, don't go to all that trouble. Get to the hospital for surgery. That's no baby in your belly, it's a tumor; The parents of a baby who won't stop crying, terrified that their home is haunted, come asking for mediation so they can move to a house with better feng shui. Forget the feng shui, call the police! There's a nail in your child's head! Before long, Han Zhenzhen's exceptional mediation, or rather, X-ray vision, skills make her the famous Director Han, known far and wide. The old Han family is both panicked and delighted, telling everyone they meet that she's their daughter. Someone: “She's part of your family? Her name's on the same household registration as mine.” Theme: The glorious life of a disease-control worker