My Mother Is a Barefoot Doctor

(This novel was written in memory of the author's mother, who worked as a barefoot doctor for forty-three years.)

A tribute to the rural barefoot doctors of that era!

This is a story adapted from real life.

Zhang Yueqin is the barefoot doctor of Renjia Village. After advanced training in the provincial capital, she returns home to practice medicine.

The mountain village lacks doctors and medicine, and at first the villagers are unsure whether to trust her.

She visits homes one by one, makes calls in the dead of night, and wades through floodwaters to save patients, gradually earning their trust.

She makes her own tools, faces danger while gathering herbs, and delivers medical care through snowy nights, steadfastly remaining at her post.

When rumors spread, she neither argues nor protests, answering doubts with results.

When an epidemic strikes, she leads the effort to prevent its spread, carrying on even after collapsing from exhaustion.

When people from a neighboring village stir up trouble, she turns hostility into goodwill with compassion and skill.

Year after year, she cures countless villagers, yet refuses a lucrative offer to move to the city.

Even in old age and frail health, she trains apprentices and records her medical cases to pass on her knowledge.

On her deathbed, she is still concerned for the villagers' health. Her final wish is to keep serving her community.

She lives in poverty, but becomes the village's beloved spirit of medicine.